History Of The Canadian Tour Guide Association of British Columbia

The first try at forming the CTGA of BC was by Trish A., Shirley H., Ann C., Jeff V. and others in 1982. The attempt was short lived and it wasn't until April of 1989 that the present formation began.

At that time Shirley H., the owner of Select Guide Services, and George B., the owner of Bell Tours, were approached by Ms. Gerry C. and Mr. Greg S. They both had a background in motor coaches, tour guides and tourism and had an idea to start a tour guide association.

By 1989 tourism was fast becoming the second largest industry in British Columbia as a result of the world wide exposure generated by the successful 1986 World's Fair, held in Vancouver as Expo 86.

Tour guides were becoming more recognized as ambassadors to the city, province and country. It was time to create a gathering place...to come together and share our knowledge...to network and to be seen as professional tour guides.

For the next six months members all exchanged ideas, worked on the constitution, applied to the BC Societies Act for the name, and set the meeting format. Two new members were added to the board, Roxanne A. and Pat K.

Ms. Gerry C. took on the position of President and Shirley H. became the Vice-President. Each member of the board had a department...membership, locations, newsletter, and fund raising. Our format was based on the very successful Vancouver AM Tourism Association of which Shirley was a member.

On October 2nd, 1989 the first open information meeting was held at the Landmark Hotel in Vancouver with about 40 tour guides present. With great enthusiasm the CTGA of BC was born! The first member who signed up that night was Trish A.

Over the next year monthly member meetings were held at a variety of venues, attractions, restaurants and special events. The bylaws were written; discussions about policies, membership and future goals were held at several Board of Directors meetings (17 in total between April 1989 and November 1990). While going through these growing pains, the CTGA of BC received the official certificate from the BC Societies Act in August of 1989.

On November 15th, 1990 the first Annual General Meeting and elections were held at the Fantasy Gardens in Richmond. As with all first AGM's the board stumbled through all the proper procedures with a copy of Roberts Rules always handy. The first official election was concluded with the members voting in Ms. Gerry C. as President, George B. as the Vice-President and four others who were also elected.

In 1991, at the suggestion of the then Pacific Rim Institute of Tourism (part of which went to the former Hospitality Industry Education Advisory Committee, now called Go2, www.go2bc.ca), some of the members volunteered to be on the founding committee for British Columbia as part of a country wide group who would help to set the standards for Local Tour Guides. Over the next four years they put in hundreds of hours revising the standards, setting up pilot exams, and reviewing evaluation results for the Certified Local Tour Guide process.

In March of 1993 after the first pilot program, seven local tour guides, all members of the CTGA of BC, were awarded their certificates and pins in recognition of completing the skills necessary to receive this professional designation.

Also in 1993, after much discussion between all members and after many months of work, our bylaws were rewritten.

Until 1996 our membership was always around 50 or so...but since then (and especially in the last couple of years) we have grown to over 145 members.

1996 was also the year that the CTGA of BC joined the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations. Formed in 1985, they represent over 22 thousand professional tour guides in more than 20 countries around the globe. For more information on the World Federation please visit their website at www.wftga.org.

In 1998, we changed our name from The Canadian Tour Guide Association of BC to the Canadian Tourist Guide Association of BC. In late 2003, we changed back to our original name.

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