St. Augustine Adjusts Certified Tour Guide Rules

Tour guides in St. Augustine no longer have to be certified by the city, but they can be if they want to be.

As a result of a law passed by the Florida Legislature in 2021 sunsetting local testing and licensing of occupations, the City Commission approved a resolution creating voluntary certification program for tour guides in the Ancient City.

According to the new ordinance, anyone who did not hold a guide license from the city before July 1, 2023, and wants to become a St. Augustine Certified Guide has to comply with the requirements of the certification program and pass a city examination to be licensed as a certified guide. The program is voluntary in nature.

Vice Mayor Roxanne Horvath asked if there was a way to acknowledge people who voluntarily took the exam to become certified tour guides.

“We can post the names of people who successfully passed the exam so people can know they are hiring a certified tour guide,” said City Attorney Isabelle Lopez.

Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline went a step further and said she wants to see if there is a way to preserve the city’s certification system for tour guides.

“I want to put in a legislative request for a carve-out for St. Augustine since it is so important to maintain our integrity and authenticity,” she said. “It’s worthwhile to try and save it.”

Sikes-Kline said she has received a lot of feedback from residents about the state law preempting local control of licensing programs.

“There is tremendous disappointment in the community this is happening,” she said. “We are being preempted from being able to regulate these licenses.”