Note to Correspondents

Note No. 5654 15 March 2001

NEW GUIDES JOIN MULTILINGUAL TOUR OPERATION AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS

UN Now Offers Tours in Over 20 Languages

A new group of 26 multilingual tour guides joined the staff of the Public Affairs Division at United Nations Headquarters this week. The new guides supplement the existing team of guides who conduct tours for the nearly half a million visitors who are attracted to this popular tourist destination each year.

The Guided Tours Unit, part of the United Nations Department of Public Information, now offers tours in over 20 languages, more than any other tour operation in New York. The guides have long been considered the Organization's "ambassadors to the public", and, as such, their linguistic and geographic diversity adds a valuable dimension to the operation.

The new guides come from 15 countries, increasing the total number of guides to 60. The 31 nationalities now represented by the staff are: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, China, Colombia, Comoros, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Russia, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe. Albania and Iraq are among the countries represented for the first time.

This year's recruitment of guides also reflects the changing pattern of visitors to New York. The increasing number of Chinese visitors to the United Nations, for example, has required an additional seven Mandarin-speaking guides. There are also four new Japanese guides. To become a United Nations guide, an applicant must be fluent in English and in at least one additional language. College education and public speaking skills are also required.

In the course of their two-week intensive training programme, the new guides are immersed in the history and functions of the United Nations main organs, as well as the current activities of the entire United Nations system.

The guided tours are conducted every day of the year, except on Thanksgiving Day, the year-end holidays, and weekends in January and February. During the hour-long lecture tour, guides also answer a myriad of questions about the role of the United Nations in current events and describe the unique collection of artwork on display throughout the tour route.

By 2002, which marks the 50th anniversary of the guided tours operation, over 38 million visitors will have taken a guided tour of United Nations Headquarters.

For more information, please contact Helene Hoedl, Chief of the Guided Tours Unit, Tel: (212) 963-3242, E-mail: hoedl@un.org, or visit www.un.org/MoreInfo/guide.htm#tours.