Tourist guides: "Since March 2020 we don't touch anything anymore"

The Louvre pyramid (Paris Ier) is far behind the security barriers.

No one can pass.

And no tourist is in sight.

“Yes, I am nostalgic for our profession as a guide.

It is at the same time the passion, the sharing and the elegance of the places visited.

Since March 2020 and the Covid crisis, a page has turned.

Our job as a tourist guide will never be the same again ”, already predicts Noha Escartin, 62 years and twenty-five years of experience.

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“We weren't very well paid but it was rewarding.

We were exhausted at the end of the day.

But happy ”, continues Rola Cusson, 57 years old, around twenty years between the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre or the Palace of Versailles (Yvelines).

However, this variable salary depending on the activities and status of these professionals - in SARL, self-employed or contract with the mission - our two speaker guides would like to receive it again.

“Since March 2020, we have not touched anything.

We are in the blind spot of state indemnities, ”denounce the two women.

Their profession is under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, Foreign Affairs and Labor… “And everyone seems to be passing the buck.

"

"In a country which put forward its 80 million tourists in 2019, it is not possible to let an entire profession disappear", insists Noha Escartin.

Yet, it appears to be the case.

In 2020, the number of visitors fell to 17 million, of which 13 are French people who do not request the service of guides.

"Such trips are often prepared a year in advance"

So the atmosphere of the visits is only a distant memory.

“My last group were American students.

We had all the trouble in the world to get them to take the last plane before the borders closed, ”recalls Rola.

And the next one?

"We may see small groups of tourists in 2022. But for groups of students, schoolchildren, contracts of around thirty people, we will not see them before 2023. Such trips are often prepared for a year. in advance.

However, today, no one has any perspective. ”

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Stéphane Bern praised this profession: “Without guides, monuments remain silent.

But this profession is also at the end of the chain.

“In order for us to resume our activity, hotels and restaurants must be working, museums and monuments must be open, borders must allow people to pass and airports must be functional.

However, it is not for tomorrow ”, decline the two frustrated professionals.

Without pay, without allowances, the tour guides play the D system. One of them, crossed under the Carrousel du Louvre, films Paris to make a panoramic visit which will then be sold by a Brazilian agency.

Others do little side jobs.

Soon virtual tours

Noha Escartin still trains guides in Nanterre, Cnam or Cergy-Pontoise.

“The 2020 and 2021 promotions will not have had any experience.

They have entered a profession in peril.

In the future, there is concern that the visits will be pre-recorded or virtual.

We will be Uberized, ”fears Noha, who is preparing her retirement file.

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Rola, she would like to take advantage of this empty time to prepare for the future with the mayor of Paris.

“When I see these streets now closed to tourist buses, I am worried.

Today is the time to work on the safety, mobility and comfort of our future tourists… ”