THERE is no doubt the Philippines has a very rich historical tradition. Furthermore, it should be an inspiration to Filipinos young and old, because it can instill in them a sense of pride for the Motherland.
Late last year outdoor apparel brand Merrell, together with Bridges Travel and Tours, organized an event, dubbed Walk in the City, in historic Intramuros, Manila, not only to promote Merrell’s products but also drum up interest on the famous Walled City and the city’s history, as well.
Merrell invited several influencers, such as Ira Oyco, Kas Perez and Joseph Tabor, to reach out to the millennials. To make the tour more interesting, Merrell and Bridges organized a photo-scavenger event among the participants.
Ronnie Gador and Dennis Geronimo Maristany, both London Blue Badge-trained guides and members of the Mabuhay Guides, acted as tour guides and provided very interesting insights and trivia during the tour. Being former professors, Gador and Maristany made the tour interesting in a casual and relaxing manner.
Based on their observations, Gador and Maristany agreed it is a challenge to handle millennials in guided tours. “They usually [only] listen and rarely interact, unless they didn’t catch the story wholly in my commentaries,” Gador said in an e-mail interview with the BusinessMirror.
Selfies
FOR Maristany, millennials give priority in taking selfies before listening to the short lecture given by the guides. “Aside from a short attention span, they want to listen to more salacious details,” he said in a separate interview with the BusinessMirror. As a former History teacher, Gador said the low interest of students, particularly millennials, in studying could be traced to the poor teaching methods of the subject. He added the past teachers had on the students, as well as on the subject.
“Either they were not that interesting enough or at least enthusiastic while teaching history subjects,” Gador explained.
Maristany concurred at some extent that there is weakness in the system of teaching. He experienced different types of students during tours, from the serious, who required him to research, to some who are really more into what he calls a “showbiz orientation”.
“You can tell who the readers are from the slackers,” he noted.
Maristany expressed concern, because a great majority of students remain misinformed and uninformed.
“Let’s face it. History is not top of mind when they go on the tour,” Maristany said. “I find that students now are not as ‘well-rounded’ compared to my generation.”
Reading
BECAUSE of time limitation, only the trivia segment or other light stuff has been retained in the millennials consciousness, according to Maristany. However, he admitted that the credentials and background of the tour guide are also important to be convincing and truthful.
“You cannot create a very good guide overnight or with just a few training or seminars or for the sake of earning that accreditation annually, if he or she doesn’t love to read or do research,” he said.
Maristany added that a tour guide must also be a voracious reader to enable him or her to deliver relevant commentaries.
“I believe that a good guide is no different from an academician. The only difference and challenge is, we only have a few minutes and not a semester to amuse the guests,” he said.
In the age where social media is the new normal and millennials and other young people are more interested in trending topics, it is a quite a challenge to teach history.
However, some become interested when they mention personalities in history. Thus, history becomes alive for them. They become interested when he tells they are actually in Rajah Sulayman’s former crib.
“Of course, we have to adapt by relating to their ‘language,”’ Maristany said. “Sometimes, we quote [National Hero Jose] Rizal’s hugot lines in Mi ultimo Adios. That gets their interest.”
He added, “Sometimes, you crack a joke or two.”
Spark
TO qualify as a tour guide, Gador revealed that he or she has to undergo under a grueling panel interview from the experts of the travel industry and the Department of Tourism. Moreover, Mabuhay Guides was envisioned by its late project manager, Susan Calo Medina of Travel Time, and former Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, to name a few.
“In other words, we are sensitive enough to our clients, we tell them the basic information definitely. When they raise questions, that would mean we sparked their interests,” Gador said. “We cannot dictate the minds of our guests, as well. We only make sure that we are entertaining enough, friendly and very knowledgeable on a particular topic or subject.” By being a Mabuhay Guide, Maristany say they help millennials and other individuals understand history in a way that they can’t do if they’re just sticking to books. He and his colleagues have to understand that everything is available on social media.
“If they care to read from Google, but it’s not all accurate, so they have to be discriminating about their facts. How does one do a cross-reference online?” he pointed out. “Tour-guiding’ is like a walk through history, especially if the sites, ancestral homes are right in front of them. Then history becomes tangible.”
Gador believes putting trivia is important to spark interest in the tour. Nevertheless, he stressed a guide needs to be careful of statements and they must be backed up by academic references/researches.
He also reminded these funny stories need a constant validation and deeper research.
For Maristany, there are times a guide needs to infuse trivia to cut the monotony. “As Mabuhay Guides, we do not follow a memorized spiel. Our commentaries are sometimes specifically geared to our guests. You need to lighten the mood somewhat, so they’re just chilling and not memorizing facts.”