TOUR

GUIDING
WHAT IS TOUR
GUIDING?
 OVERVIEW OF TOUR GUIDING
A tour guide refers to the person that
takes the tourists on sight-seeing
excursions with limited duration. It is also a
person who guides visitors in the language
of their choice and interprets the cultural
and natural heritage of an area which
person normally possesses an area-
specific qualification usually issued and/or
recognized by the appropriate authority.
Tour Conducting is about managing
tours, it involves traveling with groups
while staying with groups, controlling
and entertaining people dealing with
problems and at times guiding tours.

Tour Guiding is usually for a shorter

length of time. It refers to the specific
activity at a sight or an attraction for a
scheduled portion of time.
 KINDS OF TOUR GUIDES

There is the generic definition of “tour guide”

which was established earlier. Tour guides
should be certified, and assist the visitor in
seeing the place in an excellent, unique way.
Mostly all tour guides should see the career
as being an international tour guide. After all,
the type of visitor to the attraction or sight may
be local, regional or international. Let us
investigate the many kinds of tour guide.
On-site Guides
The person who takes you on tour of the
sight is called an on-site guide. This guide
conducts the tour of a specific building or a
limited area. These tours can be taken by
trams or walking. Usually in travel and
tourism, these sights are called attractions.
Another type of on-site guide working free of
charge or volunteering may be called a
docent. A docent specifically works at a
museum.
City Guides
For pleasure and discovery a traveler can take a
tour of the city by motor coach, van, taxi or hop-
on, hop-off bus, or as part of a walking tour. The
person who points out and comments on the
highlights of the city is called a city guide. When
the city guide doubles the duty by driving the
vehicle, that person becomes the driver-guide.
Another type of city guide is the personal or
private guide. These are sometimes taxi drivers
who uses their vehicles to conduct an exclusive
tour or arrange the tour based on the client’s
needs. In small island states, this may be known
as an island-tour.
Specialized Guides
This category of guide has particular
skills that are highly unique to match the
client’s needs. These guides may
conduct bike tours, white water rafting
trips, hiking expeditions or on tours that
are more physically demanding and
unusual. This will be backpack hiking in
the Grand Canyon National Park in
Arizona in the United States of America.
Step-on Guides
This kind of guide is a free-lanced
guide. They are considered specialists
who come on-board a motor coach or
van to give informed overviews of the
city being toured. This would usually be
for tour groups that are taking in more
than one state or province during the
trip.
Shore excursions Guides, Land
operators or Receptive Operators
Guides that work for cruise ships can be
classified as cruise ship tour guides or
shore excursion guides. Guides that
work for tour companies or ground
operators may be called land operators
or receptive operators.
Cruise ship Tour Guides
Talk of cruise ships bring to mind not only a
booming accommodation type hat is not land-
based, but an all-inclusive type of
accommodation. Due to the good salaries
earned from working on these vessels, many
people are interested in getting employment
on them. For this reason, a closer look will be
given to the job of the cruise ship tour guide or
shore excursion
guide
THERE ARE FIVE ROLES OF A TOUR GUIDE:
The Leader
The effective tour guide creates the right environment when
they are felt heard, and feel inspired and empowered to
venture their feelings and experience new place on their own.
The guide act as the shepherd and provide special access to
the tourists. The guide also have to manage tension by
integrating the group and keeping the humor and morale high
and entertains the tourists.
o Visionary
o Shows direction
o Leads the group
o Manages the group to meet their objective
o Not a strict disciplinarian
The Educator
Tourists always seeks pleasure in
learning about the host community’s
culture and the guide act as the
educator who facilitates learning. The
guide should be able to awaken the
tourists curiosity about the place being
visited but does not overload their minds
with too much information. Tourist often
look for guides for cues on social mores,
local dress, foods, and etiquettes.
The Public Representative
Tour guides acts as the ambassador or
ambassadress of goodwill of the country.
They are a representation of the country
to the tourists that welcomes and tour
them around the place and therefore
should create a positive image of the
country.
The Host
Tour guide is task to receive the tourists and
act as a companion, mediator, advocate,
concierge and entertainer. As a host, tour
guide must enjoy being around with people
and has the innate ability to create an
environment that people feel comfortable.
Tour guide also should know how to bring
out the best in people, extend a helping
hand, and facilitate connections and
sensitive to the needs of others.
The Conduit
Tour guide connects the tourists to the
local culture and experience. As a conduit,
the guide assumes all of the other roles.
Guides must subordinate themselves to
the tourists and the experience. They
should know when to be silent, when they
should step back, when to encourage and
when to move on. Guides must build a gap
to the tourist and respect the tourists’
personal space.
 ELEMENTS OF A TOUR
Pre-tour. It consist of all the preparations
necessary for the arrival of the visitors. It
includes cash advances, receiving and
reviewing instructions and inclusions, the
review of the rooming list and tour
itinerary, reconfirming arrangements with
tour suppliers, and checking the list and
schedule of optional tours that may be
sold to the visitors.
Tour Proper. It starts with tourist arrivals and departures.
 Arrival procedures
- Reception- greeting of guests at the gateway and assisting
them to move to their place of lodging and to undertake the
check-in procedures.
- Meet and Assist
i. Identification and gathering of guests
ii. Identification and handling of each individual’s
luggage
iii. Check the type and size of vehicle
iv. Provide basic information
- Check-in- it involves the preparation of the registration
card, distribution of room keys and handling of luggage
Touring activities
- Reporting time- report at least 30 minutes before the tour schedule and
execute the following: (a) check the vehicle, equipment and brief the
driver (b) assemble the people; and (c) have time to make last minute
adjustments.
- Boarding- position yourself strategically so you can greet and count
heads.
- Tour commentaries- there are four types of commentaries:
i. Required- includes introducing yourself and the driver and a
brief description of the day’s tour, designated stops and points of
interest.
ii. Informative- these are facts and figures on sites and sights en
route and walking tours.
iii. Requested- these include all answers to questions posed by
the tourists.
iv. Optional- these are adlib commentaries, jokes, witty stories,
legends and trivia.
- While on tour- alert the tourist on the approaching
sight of interest and give appropriate commentaries
only when the sight is visible to most.
- During stopovers- always supervise disembarking.
Allow time for picturetaking, toilet breaks and trinket
shopping. Gather most of the tourist before giving
commentaries.
- End of tour- before disembarking give a reminder
of the next activities and a thank you speech.
Departure Procedures

- Hotel Check-out- it involve collection of room

keys and request for preparation of the personal
charges.
- Send-off Assistance
A tourist attraction is defined by
Tourism Western Australia (2006) as
either “a physical or cultural feature of a
particular place that individual travelers
or tourists perceive as capable of
meeting one or more of their specific
leisure-related needs, or positive or
favorable attributes of an area for a given
activity or set of activities as desired by a
given costumer or market, including
climate, scenery, activities and culture.
 4 Categories of attractions:

• Geo-physical (Landscape)
• Ecological (biological)
• Cultural (Historical)
• Recreational
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