Tour guides, 8,300 candidates at the written test

Nearly 17 thousand aspiring tour guides had registered for the national qualification test (the second after last year's) scheduled yesterday in five cities: in the two written test sessions scheduled for the day 8,346 took the tests, with an attendance rate of just under 50%.

The five examination venues were Caserta (4,353 expected participants and 1,883 admissions with 43% attendance), Rome (5,556 expected participants and 3,132 admissions with 56% attendance), Milan (4.716 expected participants and 2,258 attendance with 48% attendance), Catania (1,783 expected participants and 839 attendance with 47% attendance) and Cagliari 444 expected participants and 234 attendance with 53% attendance).

"The procedure, simplified and rationalised with respect to the previous edition," emphasises the Ministry of Tourism, which is organising the selection with the support of Formez PA, "has provided for non-notionistic tests, aimed at verifying basic knowledge of Italy's main tourist sites, with the elimination of penalties for incorrect answers. The aim is to respond to the needs of operators in the sector, who have been reporting a shortage of certified tourist guides for years, also in order to more effectively combat abusive practices'. There are approximately 14,000 tour guides registered in the single list introduced in 2023 with the reform of the sector. In 2025 tourist presences in Italia were 476.9 million (+4.3% compared to 2024).

On Monday 8 June, the calendars for the oral and technical-practical examinations will be published and will start by the end of June. "Excellent news. Forward like this," is the comment of the Minister of Tourism Gianmarco Mazzi. Just over 12,000 people took part in the first examination for tourist guides. To obtain the qualification were 222.