ROME TOUR GUIDES

 It was many years ago, naturally, when "Historical Drinking Tours" (touring the Irish pubs of Rome) took off. It soon became clear that a thirsty traveller and a pint of cold Guinness after a hot day of sightseeing were inseparable.

 Let it be known that Rome's historical centre is as brimful of Irish pubs as it is of Irish tour guides, the Emerald Smile never more than a few streets away. The Irishmen and women who guide in Rome, not all of whom are flame-haired and feisty, have had their say in the ways, whys and wherefores of our tourism sector for decades. They are of strong mettle, simply brilliant guides. Indeed, several of our own Rome tour guides are from Dublin.

 Far from the green fields of Rome, our city has long had a reputation as a magnet for illegal tour guides of every colour, creed, and nationality.

 Several thousand chancers come to Rome every year to develop black market tourism. Many stay on and settle here. They are wilful. They misuse the trusted TripAdvisor reviews community. They break the law.

 Some of them know how to code. Their websites sell tours of Rome and have been around for a long time. They scream "Irish owned", "Irish-American owned", "Irish-ANYTHING owned", abusing the good nature and reputation of our Irish communities.

 These sites and those who own them contribute less than nothing to Rome. Don't line their pockets with money. Don't support their activities.

 If you do, the ruins that they lead you through will eventually crumble and collapse because Rome does not have the funds to pay for restoration works.

 Let's go back... When in Rome, tours that needed gatherers and promoters to fill groups were the virus and the scourge of our city between 2009 and 2019, a lawless time when tourism in Rome was a free-for-all.

 These drinkers and drifters loitered near the Vatican Museums, the Colosseum, and our other landmarks, flogging "guided activities" to the exhausted and the unaware. They represented untaxed "agencies" that operated from shared office space. Some didn't have premises of any kind. Street corners was where cash was counted, tickets touted, and a last minute guide found who may well have been a just landed tourist with a map, just like you.

 Once you had been gathered (captured), you'd have had to wait a long time while other gatherers trawled the streets in search of lost tourists to fill your group. "Fill" meaning that your tour would not depart unless a specific number of travellers had paid enough cash to make it profitable.

 All these surreptitious activities by Rome ticket touts should have stopped for good back in July, 2019 when new laws were passed, but within hours, black market dealers were back on the streets.

 Since then, nothing has changed. A few of the untaxed tour operators have either sold up, merged, gone legit, or disappeared. The leading lawbreaker ran away to Switzerland to hide from the Guardia di Finanza and continues to trade digitally under a new name.

 There are many outstanding tour guides in Rome. You won't find them unless you play your part and support those who support Rome. Always book tours of Rome on or through an established and trusted Rome tours website, managed by a licensed and taxed Rome tour operator based in Rome.

✍ By Fox Mulder on July 30th, 2023.

Related shared Rome tour:
Irish pubs and Colosseum ticket