Some guides taking tourists around the Lithuanian capital may be working illegally: not paying their taxes or telling nonsense about Vilnius.
The Gates of Dawn – a small chapel that houses a miraculous portrait of Virgin Mary – is particularly popular with tourists and is the starting point of many tours around historic Vilnius.
It is usually buzzing with tour guides who, in order to work legally, must have a guide’s certificate and pay taxes. To conform to the latter rule, they need to take out the self-employed business license (verslo liudijimas) or individual activity certificate (invidualios veiklos pažymėjimas).
Last weekend, agents from the State Labour Inspectorate and volunteers were checking if the guides taking tourists around Vilnius were observing the rules.
Illegally operating tour guides are a burden to those who work by the book, says Ričardas Garuolis, chairman of the guides’ union Solidarumas.
“They dump prices, agree to work for a lower fee, and then they force other guides who pay taxes to accept less income,” he says.
During the raid, inspectors fined two guides. In the first case, the guide was certified and had a business license, but it was not valid for that particular day.
“Well, yes, the group was supposed to come on Monday, but it came today [weekend], I didn’t have enough time to take out another license,” says the guide, who is now facing a fine of several hundred euros.
In another case, the guide working in central Vilnius could not present proof that he was working legally.
All the other guides approached by the inspectors had the necessary documents. Some of them were thanking the inspectors for organising such raids.
“It is very important that you check and catch them, because we have been out of work for several years, we have been living on benefits, and they have been working illegally, they don’t pay taxes and they have been giving bad publicity to Lithuania,” said one. “Thanks to your work, we have a job.”
Volunteers working with the inspectors say catching illegal guides can be difficult, because they warn each other about planned raids.
“Illegal guides often tell tourists not only things that are incorrect but may also be demeaning to Lithuania,” says Garuolis. “There have been cases [of guides from Russia and Belarus] spreading nonsense about Lithuania’s history and so on.”
Most tourists come to Lithuania once. If their tour guide provides bad service, they will not recommend the country to their friends or family, industry reps say.
LRT English
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