Start & Run a Tour Guiding Business. Barbara Braidwood, Susan Boyce & Richard Cropp
memories are almost as important as the holiday itself, and a competent, knowledgeable tour director will ensure there are many pleasant ones.
2. Different Types of Tours
2.1 Cruising
A cruise is one of the easiest group tours to arrange and manage, ideal for the first-time tour director. It is the ultimate all-inclusive package: once your group is aboard there is no checking in and out of hotels, no luggage problems, no arranging meals, and entertainment is available on board virtually 24 hours a day. In fact, it is often easy to forget this is a working trip. A tour director’s job on a cruise is more of a congenial host than a manager.
2.2 Rail tours
The days of the Orient Express are returning with a vengeance! Travel by rail has a unique, soothing sense of intimacy. Space on board is more restricted than on a cruise ship, but there is still room to move around, avoiding the cramped inactivity often associated with air travel. The sense of intimacy encourages people to strike up friendships with fellow passengers. As well, scenery is more dramatic because you are so close to it physically. For example, there is an amazing difference between viewing remote areas of the Canadian Rockies by train and by road. When you are on a bus there is a sense of separation, but on a train it often seems you are alone in the wilderness, so close to the trees that you could reach out and touch them as they whisk past.
2.3 Bus tours
Also known as motorcoach tours, travel by bus is a perennial favorite group tour method. For the guide, it is also more demanding than cruise or rail travel. You will be checking your group in and out of hotels daily throughout the trip, so organization and superb planning skills are essential, and you will be responsible for the logistics of the entire tour (e.g., route, entertainment, accommodation).
2.4 Adventure/eco tours
“Getting back to the land” is enjoying a new wave of enthusiasm. According to the National Tour Association, based in Kentucky (see Appendix 1 for information on the NTA and other travel organizations), wilderness travel now ranks among the five most popular types of tours in North America, along with evening entertainment, historical, heritage/cultural, and beautiful gardens. Many city dwellers want to experience nature but lack the survival skills to travel safely in remote areas.
While the sound of an eagle’s cry overhead may be awe-inspiring, the reality of packing 60 pounds of gear dims the exhilaration all too quickly if the traveler is not accompanied by an expert to look after things such as firewood, shelter, food, and water.
2.5 City tours
City tours are usually four- to eight-hour bus tours conducted by a local step-on guide, though some are walking tours. They give tourists an overview of the history and interesting features of a city.
2.6 Theme tours
Most tours have some element of theme, but a true theme tour is organized around one idea — anything from the latest science fiction fad to Chocolate Lovers Anonymous. One example is a recent gravesites tour arranged for a group of Korean War vets.
3. Different Types of Guides
There are two basic divisions in the tour guiding business — local guides and tour directors. Both guides and directors can work on their own or for a tour operator.
3.1 Local guide
Local guides are on the front line for sightseeing adventures. They are the ones who give commentary and make visitors feel welcome in a specific destination. They can be divided into four subcategories.
(a) Site guide
Site guides work at a specific location such as an historical site (the Little Bighorn battlefield) or an entertainment attraction (Paramount Studios). They are often volunteers but are sometimes employed directly by the owner/manager of the attraction. A site guide is responsible solely for providing commentary to people going through the attraction. This is a great way to gain some volunteer experience.
(b) Step-on guide
City tours and single-day events require a step-on guide — literally someone who steps onto the bus and provides commentary. These are often freelancers working on contract but may also be guides employed directly by a tour company and paid an hourly rate. Many people break into professional tour guiding here. Some love it and stay without ever having a desire to become a long-distance tour director. A step-on guide works close to normal hours, is home every evening, and still has all the excitement of meeting people from around the world. If you want to see how you like this type of work, try taking a group of out-of-town relatives or friends around your hometown. Better yet, take a group of people who live there. If you have uncovered enough fascinating information to hold their attention and can impress them with the charm and wit of your delivery, you have taken the first big step to becoming a successful step-on guide.
(c) Driver guide
A driver guide does all the same things a step-on guide does, but drives the bus as well.
(d) Meet-and-greet guide
Just as the name implies, a meet-and-greet guide assists when groups are arriving and leaving a destination. Visitors arriving at an airport will often be welcomed by a meet-and-greet guide who will ensure everyone is present and all luggage has arrived, then assist with customs clearance and transportation to hotels, cruise ships, or other accommodations where the tour director will take over.
3.2 Tour director
Multiday tours require a tour director. Also called tour manager, tour escort, tour leader, or tour host, this is the job most people are envisioning when they say “tour guide.” A tour director is a guide with all the additional headaches of planning accommodation, meals, and long-distance travel. This is a demanding job which requires outstanding organizational skills, endless patience, physical stamina, and a great sense of humor about life’s foibles. Chapters 5 through 10 describe the demands on a tour director in detail.
3.3 Tour operator
Tour operators — also known as tour companies, tour packagers, tour brokers, or tour wholesalers — design and market tours that they sell either direct to the public or through travel agencies. (Chapters 14 through 23 provide information on setting up as a tour operator.) Whether you work as a direct employee or as a freelancer on contract, you will most likely be working for and paid by one or more tour operators. Since most people who become tour guides or directors are bored by sameness and routine schedules in their workplace, it is common in the industry to freelance for several different operators at the same time. What is not wonderful with one company will be fantastic with another.
2
Can You Really Do This Dream Job?
The travel industry is built on dreams — dreams of exotic destinations, thrilling adventures, and eternally happy people. Being a tour guide or director will allow you to become part of this incredible world most people only dream of.
But, and it is a very big but, there are also long, long hours behind the scenes, high levels of stress, frequent burnout, intense physical demands, and often not a lot of money.
In short, there are many nonglamourous aspects to this glitzy profession. Before you decide to quit your day job and make the leap into the tour guiding business, let’s look at some