Tourist guides, the new national badge arrives

An official badge to recognize a qualified tourist guide.

That's right, even Italian tourist guides will have a national identification document in plastic format. Starting from August 26, the Ministry of Tourism has activated the procedure to request the new qualification badge, created in collaboration with the State Polygraphic Institute and Mint. This step completes, at least on an operational level, one of the most important innovations introduced by the reform of the profession initiated with the 2023 law. It can be requested by guides already regularly registered in the National Register of Tourist Guides (ENGT), which includes both professionals who already had a regional qualification before the reform and those who have passed the new national exam, as well as foreign guides whose professional qualification has been recognized in Italy.

It is not merely an "aesthetic" novelty.

The National Register, which is public, allows for the verification of truly qualified guides, and in light of this, the new badge, which is valid for 10 years, becomes a concrete tool to make it easier to recognize the professional by tourists, museums, cultural sites, agencies, and industry operators. Furthermore, it is also one of the tools identified by the Ministry to enhance the profession, ensure higher quality for visitors, and combat illegal practice. And for this reason, the Ministry specifies that qualified guides are required to carry it with them during the exercise of their professional activity. 

The procedure is entirely online. The guide must log into their profile on the Tourist Professions Platform and, in the “Tools” section, select the function dedicated to the plastic badge. From there, they are directed to the portal of the State Polygraphic Institute and Mint, where they complete the request, make the payment, and can track the shipping status.

The cost is 30 euros. For the photograph, ICAO standards are required, so not just any simple photograph: the image must be recent, in color, with precise characteristics for format, background, face position, and lighting. The platform also performs a photo verification before allowing the procedure to be completed.

The introduction of the national qualification has created strong interest among those aspiring to practice as tourist guides. There is still no consolidated official data on the total number of new qualified guides in the past year, also because the process involves several phases and data is published by the Ministry in relation to individual exam sessions.

The available numbers, however, tell a good story about the demand for this profession. The first national call in 2025 had gathered just under 30,000 applications, a result far exceeding initial expectations.

In 2026, the Ministry then recorded 16,852 candidates expected for the verification test on June 5: 8,346 actually showed up, about 50%, and 7,844 were deemed suitable for the written exam. These candidates then had access to the subsequent oral and technical-practical tests necessary to obtain national qualification. The data primarily reflects the interest in a profession central to Italian cultural tourism. And precisely in a country that boasts thousands of museums, archaeological sites, art cities, and UNESCO heritage, having a nationally verifiable system can represent an additional guarantee even for those coming from abroad who want to rely on a qualified professional. The new badge, therefore, is more than just a simple card: it is the visible piece of a reform aimed at making the figure of the tourist guide more recognizable, verifiable, and uniform across the national territory.

Photo credit: https://unsplash.com/it/@marcosllerena