A recent post on The Bonnie Blue Blog “10 Careless Lies Told by Careless Guides” details a handful of the “casual lies” frequently peddled by tour guides in Savannah.
The post includes a few wild stories, like one about feral pigs or even humans being barbecued in Wright Square, and more mundane but no less entertaining yarns like Savannah’s Jones Street providing the basis for the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses.”
As the Bonnie Blue post made the rounds on Facebook a few weeks ago, plenty of other embellished and outright incorrect stories were shared.
All Savannah tour guides are forced to pass a test and pay a fee before being allowed to do business, but that doesn’t mean they are passing along accurate information to visitors.
And it seems likely the city’s requirement would be struck down as an abridgment of free speech if anyone files suit.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit recently found in favor of operators of a Segway tour company who contended the District of Columbia’s test, which is similar to Savannah’s, is an abridgment of freedom of speech and “the record is utterly devoid of evidence” the rules “actually accomplish their intended purpose.”
For an article by Eric Curl in this newspaper, Savannah city officials said the ruling would have no effect here. That’s a puzzling and problematic position given the sweeping nature of the court’s opinion and given the simple fact that local tour guides themselves see so many problems with current licensing procedures.
Savannah’s testing requirement was actually cited in a brief filed by the losing lawyers for the District of Columbia. Only four other cities were specified in that brief as having mandated tests for tour guides: Charleston, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia. The court noted, however, that Philadelphia seems to have given up on enforcement.
The District of Columbia argued eleven specific points dealing with various aspects of tourist welfare and consumer protection, but the court’s strong, occasionally mocking decision rejected those arguments strongly.
“Despite the District’s seemingly talismanic reliance on these asserted problems,” wrote the court, “the record contains no evidence ill-informed guides are indeed a problem for the District’s tourism industry.”
The only point the decision conceded was that “guides with criminal convictions might pose a danger, though no evidence exists they actually have.”
Of course, one could counter that propagating incorrect information, like those stories noted in the Bonnie Blue blog, causes some sort of demonstrable harm to the tourism industry. But that argument collapses pretty quickly since Savannah already has a test in place.
The U.S. Court of Appeals also noted “scores of other U.S. cities that have determined licensing tour guides is not necessary to maintain, protect or promote the tourism industry.”
“Also puzzling is the applicability of the exam requirement to specialty tour guides, such as those focused on ghost, food or movie tours,” wrote the court. “A general exam requirement is ill-suited to ensuring such specialty guides are well informed.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals also suggested the free market itself could adequately police “seedy, slothful tour guides” (their words, not mine) and argued that consumer websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor incentivize quality work.
I’ll add that the tour business has been forever altered by the fact that many, if not most, tourists are walking around with smartphones that can provide immediate fact-checking, location services and consumer reviews. I’m sure many members of tour groups are posting to social media even while tours are in progress.
The court’s opinion also noted that the District had ample other “less restrictive” options that would could be conceived and implemented with “no creativity.”
The opinion suggested that harsher punishments for fraud or restrictions on business solicitation could help prevent some abuses. The decision even noted that a city-operated “voluntary certification program” could achieve the desired ends.
I will add that reputable tour companies could even join forces to create their own standards for training, certification and ongoing education. Such qualifications could then be used for marketing much more effectively than the one-size-doesn’t-fit-anyone and probably unconstitutional test that we have now.
If I were a local tour guide, I think I’d soon be talking to colleagues and competitors about such options. If the city of Savannah’s current licensing process gets challenged in court, it could be met with the same derision we saw in D.C.
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.