Tour Guide

A tour guide is a professional qualified to explain during on-site tours the historical, cultural, religious, artistic, culinary, and manufacturing heritage, both tangible and intangible, belonging to a specific territory.

BECOME QUALIFIED

The Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) approved by the ECOFIN Council of Ministers on the 13^th of July 2023, provides for the tour guide professional reform to be done by the 31^st of December 2023.

RECOGNITION OF A FOREIGN QUALIFICATION

The procedure differs depending on the applicant’s country of origin, as does whether it concerns temporary or permanent services.

Temporary and occasional performance

Interested parties may request recognition of their professional qualification or experience for the purposes of occasional and temporary freelance work by sending a “prior declaration” accompanied by all the necessary documents to the dedicated e-mail address professionituristiche@ministeroturismo.gov.it.

The recognition of the qualification or the experience for the purposes of occasional and temporary performances can be required only by those professionals that have obtained a license in an EU-country or by those that can proof to have at least 1 year of experience over the last 10 years.

The Office will verify the completeness of the documentation and will enter the name of the temporary professional in a List which is constantly updated and published on the institutional website of the Ministry of Tourism in the dedicated section on this page.

It should be noted that a prior declaration is not required for the occasional provision of services by tourist guides, whereas it is required for the request for recognition of the professional services of tourist guides.

1. List of temporary guides
2. Prior declaration of temporary movement

Right of establishment

Interested parties may request the recognition of their professional qualification or experience for the purposes of exercising the right of establishment by sending an application to the Ministry at the dedicated e-mail address professionituristiche@ministeroturismo.gov.it, accompanied by all the necessary documents. 

The required documents differs depending on the applicant’s country of origin, as does whether the profession is regulated in the country or not.

The relevant Office will check the completeness of the documentation, inform the interested party and, in the event of a positive preliminary investigation, publish the relevant recognition decree within the established timeframe (within 3 months from the receipt of the complete documentation).

The recognition decrees will then be sent to the interested parties, to the Regions for the possible organization of the compensatory measure preliminary to the issue of the Italian license and are also published on the institutional website of the Ministry of Tourism in the dedicated section on this page.

1. Request for recognition of the professional qualification of tour guide obtained in a non-EU Country
2. Request for recognition of the professional title of tour guide obtained in an EU Country

List of tour guides recognized by the Ministry of Tourism (Year 2023)

List of tour guides recognized by the Ministry of Tourism (Year 2021-2022)