With the warm season, in spring and summer, outings and walks in the open air increase. If you are passionate about immersing yourself in nature, discovering its beauty and disseminating it and you want to make it your profession, we at Jopla will explain how to become an environmental hiking guide. This could be the right job for you! 🙂
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A HIKING GUIDE?
That of the environmental hiking guide (Gae) is a fairly new figure and increasingly in demand, and therefore has good employment opportunities.
Post lockdown, the demand for itineraries in nature has increased, away from cities, from the chaos of traffic and from unhealthy air. In fact, more and more people like to relax by taking paths and trails, but in the company of those who can best describe the area and educate about the environment and sustainability, in the company of a Gae indeed.
To be an environmental hiking guide it is not enough to love nature a lot, even if it is an excellent starting point, but it is necessary to have technical and cultural preparation, orientation and communication skills and be in good physical shape. In fact, a single excursion can last only a few hours or even several days, with accommodation included.
But now let’s see what a guide does, his duties and responsibilities, what are the useful courses, the laws on the subject and the trade associations in Italy. Continue reading if you are interested in finding out.
What hiking guides do
The figure of the environmental hiking guide is part of the tourism sector. He can work on his own, therefore in a free profession, or as an employee.
The main task is to safely accompany people, alone or in groups, in areas of environmental interest, even in the snow. For example, La Gae takes people to visit:
- parks and protected areas;
- reserves;
- oasis;
- eco-museums;
- mountains;
- hills;
- plains;
- aquatic and underwater environments (river, lake, sea).
As for the excursions, what characterises them is sustainability, because the use of motor vehicles is not foreseen. In fact, the itineraries face each other:
- standing;
- by bicycle or mountain bike;
- by canoe or kayak;
- in the water, even when snorkelling;
- on horseback or with pack animals.
Having said and clarified this, now let’s see, even more in detail, what are the duties and characteristics of an environmental hiking guide, based on the specialisations:
- has excellent communication, problem solving, orientation skills;
- speaks foreign languages;
- knows topography and cartography;
- identifies, organizes and programs excursions;
- plans and organizes workshops;
- carries out dissemination and environmental education activities, sometimes even for schools, and educates about sustainability;
- prepare support materials to be provided to people on excursions;
- explains in depth a territory with its environmental, natural, cultural, anthropic characteristics, making use of scientific information;
- gives technical assistance along the routes and evaluates whether the equipment of the hikers he accompanies is suitable;
- monitors any risks of the itinerary and takes the necessary precautions;
- intervenes in the event of illness or accident with first aid actions;
- accompanies people with disabilities on excursions;
- actively participates in communication projects of protected areas.
And instead, what can’t an environmental hiking guide do?
He cannot accompany people on routes and activities that involve the use of tools (crampons, rope and ice ax) and the use of mountaineering techniques.
Becoming an environmental hiking guide: law 4/2013 and regional laws
Juggling the information available online to understand how to become an environmental hiking guide is not easy. There are in fact some Regions that have laws regarding training and exams for environmental excursion guides, and Regions that do not have them. How to do then? The best thing is to inquire by contacting your Region but also the local Chamber of Commerce, if you want to work on your own. Those who open a VAT number can have the Ateco code 79.90.20 (Activities of tour guides and tour leaders).
At a national level, in Italy, there is a reference legislation for the profession of environmental hiking guide: it is the law n.4/2013 (read the text here), entitled “Provisions concerning non-organised professions”. This law:
- establishes that the hiking guide is a free profession, not subject to an authorization regime (a license is not required). But remember that it is good not to improvise hiking guides and that there are requirements for the exercise of the profession.
- on the other hand, it does not solve both the coexistence of different rules regarding this profession and the existence of differences in entry training. It also does not define common job requirements.
At European level, the environmental hiking guide is a recognised profession, thanks to the adoption of the ISCO-08 regulation through the Regulation (EC) n. 1022/2009 of the Commission.
How to become a hiking guide: courses and how much they cost
of quality and protection, also in terms of training.
The main body in Italy is the Aigae-Italian Association of Environmental and Excursion Guides, which organises professional training courses, but also gives its recognition and patronage to courses of other accredited training bodies.
Enrollment in Aigae is not mandatory, however it guarantees a qualification and a title that can be spent after passing the course and the access exam.
It is important to know that to participate in a professionalizing course, organised by accredited bodies, you must have:
- at least 18 years of age;
- Italian citizenship or citizenship of a European Union state, or have been officially and permanently resident in Italy for at least five years;
- at least a secondary school diploma;
- the psychophysical suitability to face the excursions, presenting a medical certificate of
- suitability for non-competitive sports practice.
Professional courses for environmental hiking guides (here a list on the Aigae website), usually theoretical and practical, last from 3 to 6 months, for a total of 150 or 300 hours. They cost between 1,000 and 1,500 euros.
For this figure, however, there are not only vocational courses, but also specialization and mandatory refresher courses.
Le associazioni professionali di categoria delle guide escursionistiche
Come abbiamo visto, in Italia la più importante associazione di categoria del settore è l’Aigae, riconosciuta dal Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (Mise), secondo quanto previsto dalla legge 4/2013.
Ma nel nostro Paese esistono, a livello nazionale, anche Lagap-Libera Associazione Guide Ambientali Escursioniste Professioniste, iscritta agli elenchi del Mise, e AssoGuide, la più recente per nascita, che include tra gli associati anche guide e accompagnatori turistici.
A livello europeo, invece, segnaliamo Agae-Associazione Guide ambientali Europee.
Where a naturalistic guide finds work
An environmental hiking guide, or naturalistic guide, can find work by collaborating with travel agencies, tour operators, schools and public bodies, accommodation facilities, associations, parks and eco-museums. But also by offering its services directly to people who want to explore a territory and to companies who, for example, want to do team building.
Now that we have given you a complete overview of this profession, if you are a hiking guide and you are looking for work, you are in the right place. Find your clientele and open your profile on Jopla. It’s free and we don’t charge you any commission costs!
We too, like you, promote environmental sustainability.
If, on the other hand, you are looking for a hiking guide, you can find one on Jopla!
