“The Sindhudurg Guide” is one of its kind private initiatives launched for tourism industry in Sindhudurg to be sustainable. The program is launched to form a consortium or a community of tourist service(s) providers. The initiative aims:

1. To provide desired supplemental income sources and economic growth to the natives.
2. To increase the quality of life with a variety of activities and services through expanded community development amenities.
3. To develop tourism industry, but not at the cost of the pastoral, serene, relaxing standard of living.
4. To offer environmental sustainability so that Sindhudurg’s incredible assets can be enjoyed by future generations of residents and visitors.
5. To empower residents to offer professional assistance to visitors.
6. To outline strategies that will contribute to the residents’ vision of their district’s economic, cultural and environmental future.
7. To build a consortium or community for the development of tourism industry in the district.

The Beginning
The Sindhudurg Guide program was launched in February 2012. We began with, what any other tourism development corporation would do, training. The exclusively designed entrepreneurial training and workshops for the youth of Sindhudurg district, are far different than the job oriented programs conducted in metro cities of India.

These training programs are designed,

• To understand the perspective of operating The Sindhudurg Guide program
• To learn the basics of tourism
• To learn to develop tourist product
• To communicate with guests & service providers (verbal & non verbal communication skills)
• To Handle visitors professionally & courteously
• To understand visitor’s needs from tourist services provider
• To learn geographical & historical background of Sindhudurg
• To gather information on attractions & experiences in the district (field trips are organized by course conductors).

Besides training them on generic topics mentioned above, the conductors also brief them on parallel activities one can offer while working as a tourist guide.

• tourist taxi operators
• tourist accommodation (bed & breakfast / serviced apartments)
• agro tourism concept development
• tourist services booking facilitators (hotel booking / car booking)
• activities facilitators (snorkeling / water sports booking)
• packed local cuisine (homemade food)
• auto rickshaw tour packages

The insights are provided, on operating such parallel businesses, for free. The aim is to support as many entrepreneurs & small scaled businesses as we can for the development of tourism as an industry in the district.

The Sindhudurg Guide has trained 60 guides so far. Almost half the force is actively working on field and catering to tourists. Rest of the team supports day-to-day operations of the organization.

Our USP’s

• Son of soil Program: Considering resident’s knowledge of twisted lanes / by lanes, curvy roads, people, cuisine, hidden scenic treasures, the tourists are in safe hands and get to see more of Sindhudurg with the son of its soil.
• One of its kind programs: India has observed no other program or initiative launched by a political leader in the interest of developing region as a tourism destination & empowering entrepreneurship.
• Our non-commercial approach makes us a complete destination management company who has built a community of service providers on regional level. Once full-fledged & fully developed, it can work as a sole entity to the benefit of tour operators, event management companies & film units from India & abroad.
• The uniforms: The specially designed & tailored uniform makes our crew stand out in the crowd. Its been observed that the visitors prefer uniformed guides more than the local guides dressed in civil attires.
• Our interactive portal is working towards being a consortium bringing hotels, guides, car rental services, attractions, agro tourism sites from all over the district to offer it to visitors at a single mouse click. Again one of its kinds, bringing privately run individual entities from a single region to be offered as a tourist product in world wide web scenario.
• Forthcoming airport can act as a major pull to bring foreign charters to explore unexplored attractions & experiences.
• Forthcoming sea world can divert major tourist traffic to the destination.
• A combination of attractions & experiences can make this destination a 365 days destination.