| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: The Czech Republic has been selected for a case study of a country without legal rules on tour guide practice. Especially Prague has seen widespread operation of illegitimate tour guide services, which leads to economic costs and damages the city’s reputation. The data consists of primary sources, laws and transcriptions of formal debates on the new legal rules. In the analysis, we assessed the new legal rules qualitatively, analysed the parliamentary debates in the Czech Republic, and compared the state of legal regulation of tour guide practice in EU countries. The new legal rules will provide for official checks on tour guides. In the legislative process, tour guide associations lobbied with a view to making the rules more stringent. They achieved to make it compulsory for all tour guides to carry IDs in plain view. Tour operators and travel agents were opposed to the legislation. They achieved to prevent amendments to the Trade Licensing Act. As a result, tour guides without professional qualifications will continue to be allowed to operate, only with a registration and an ID. |
