A Complete Roadmap for How to Becoming a Tour Guide- International Guide Academy

 

Step 1: Find out if you really want this job and if you have the skills to do it.

Step 2: Find out what kind of travel guide job you want

Step 3: Get your training and certificate.

Step 4: Get a job as a travel guide (or start your own travel guide business)

Step 5: Start working and keep learning!

International Guide Academy

Over the past few years, many of us have had to reevaluate what we want our future to look like. Are you tired of working in an office, having a boss constantly checking up on you, and the monotony that comes with a job that doesn't challenge you or inspire you? Maybe it's time to consider a career in the travel industry.

Being a tour guide is much more exciting, engaging, and interesting than you might think! Being a tour guide is exciting because you get to spend your days out in the world interacting with people who are excited to hear what you have to say. Unfortunately, it's not a job that pops up on every career quiz, which is why so many of us find out about it by chance.

At International Guide Academy, we believe that tour guides are the “face” of the travel industry, and they’re the ones who make your travel experiences come alive and memorable. If you’ve taken a great tour and had a great time, maybe you thought “Hey, I could do that!” or maybe you’ve been working in an office for a long time and you’re ready to take the plunge into a non-cub

 

Let’s get started! Are you interested in becoming an international tour guide? Do you need to go through a tour guide training program? How much will you earn as a tour guide? How do you get work and how do you get hired? We will answer these questions and more in this article. It can be easy to jump straight into the job market and start looking for tour guide jobs.

However, it is important to understand how the industry operates, how to get the best job as a tour guide and if an international tour guide certification course is right for you. Let’s break down the job and how to become a tour guide!

 

Step 1:

Find out if you really want this job and if you have the skills to do it.

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking you'll get paid for traveling, but that's not the case. This is an occupation that rewards hustlers, people who know how to network, and people who don't mind the gig economy's unpredictability.

Communication: Your product is your voice and presence. You can't be quiet and boring, or your audience will turn away from whatever you have to say. Travelers want to feel something about a place. You might be the best historian in the world, but you'll still have to sell something.

Storytelling: Storytelling on tour is not the same as telling a story in a classroom or at a dinner party. You'll need to be good at summarizing and structuring your knowledge into entertaining, pertinent information.

You should be passionate about knowledge and learning. Some people do this job by memorizing a script and their 5 fun facts and getting away with it. However, the most inspirational tour guides have a passion for learning new things. It’s easy to tell when a guide is learning more than what they are saying. And it’s amazing when a great guide uses everything, they know to create a personalized story for their target audience.

At International Guide Academy, we built our entire guide training program around lifelong learning. You should have a customer service approach.

 

Organize and be punctual. You don't want to be late for a tour. A tour is what it's advertised to be because it's one part of their overall vacation. Delivering it as stated will be appreciated. Be flexible. You can be very organized but not so organized that when something happens that is unexpected, you get angry or frustrated. Stay positive and understand that guests may be late, or they may need a restroom on the tour even after being told there will be no comfort stop. This is all part of the customer service side of things. Be energetic. This is related to the performance side of things. It's your job to get people excited about wherever you're showing them.

 

To be successful in this industry, you need to put yourself out there. Network, participate in social media groups, attend conferences, and affiliate with organizations.

Do you want to be a tour director who travels weeks at a time? Do you have the financial means to weather a period of time when you're not getting work? It's a life full of hustle and bustle, just like an actor. You're always thinking of new sources of income and maybe other companies you can work for if the one you're currently working for goes under.

 

Step 2:

Find out what kind of travel guide job you want

So you're not intimidated by all the jobs you'll have to do, and the skills you'll need to learn. Next, you need to decide what kind of job you want. What are your passions and interests? What fits with your schedule? Do you plan to travel to new places, or do you want to develop work in your home town? There's a lot to think about. Some of the main and common types of tour guides are:

• A walking tour guide is someone who works in a city and knows a lot about its history. They lead a group from one stop to the next, and there are thousands of them out there (experience first or context travel).
• A motor coach city guide is someone who rides a motor coach, usually with a mic, and narrates a drive through the city.
• A museum guide is someone who walks around a museum, talking about art and natural history.
• An adventure guide is someone who loves the outdoors and leads tours that include hiking through national parks or rafting through exotic locations (intrepid travel leads these tours all over the world).
• Tour Director – This is a completely different type of job. A typical tour guide spends 3 to 8 hours with a group and then leaves. A tour director, on the other hand, will spend several days, or even weeks, with a group. The opportunity to build a relationship with a tour director comes in many different forms.

All of these tours may be marketed in a variety of ways, including:

 

Public Tours are groups of 5 to 30 (or more!) who travel together from all over the world. They don't know each other and have just bought a package from a tour company. They will only be together for a few hours.

On the other hand, a private tour is a tour booked by a small group of people who know each other and want the peace of mind that the guide will not be shared with anyone. This could be a family of 4, or a group of 40.

In conclusion, you can work in a variety of ways, such as:

Tour companies are referred to as tour operators. You may be hired by an operator to work for them on a semi-annual basis. For example, you may be hired to lead a tour of the Statue of Liberty for 4 days per week for the same operator. You may be hired for a particular tour. A company may need a guide and contact you to lead one tour.

For example, as a tour director, you could be hired for 10 days per week. On other days, you may only be hired as a "fill-in". You may work as an "independent contractor" (the most common) or an employee. It is more cost-effective to hire someone with benefits, so most people are hired as independent contractors. You are entitled to accept or decline work as you please. Keep in mind that if you refuse too many jobs, you may not be hired later. You will be subject to self-employment tax for the income earned.

At the end of the day, you could start your own tour company. We teach an entire workshop on how to start a tour company because there is a lot that goes into starting a tour company. The world of tourism is very competitive and you need to be prepared to put in a lot of effort and time if you want to grow your tour business. It can also be the most fulfilling experience of your life. There is nothing better than being an entrepreneur and knowing that your future is right in front of you!

 

Step 3:

Get your training and certificate.

As a training company, International Guide Academy clearly believes in the value of training in guiding skills within the framework of a training program. But don’t be fooled by any prospective program that tells you that you need to have a certificate or certification in order to start working as a guide. No, you don’t! International Guide Academy was founded to provide you with all the experience and knowledge we’ve gained over decades in one place, giving you an edge over the competition. Take a tour guide boot camp class here.

 

Step 4:

Get a job as a travel guide (or start your own travel guide business)

So you've decided to pursue this career path. You've done your research, you have your licenses or training completed, and now it's time to hire and start working! Let's start with the fact that the tourism industry is huge. The global market is estimated to be in the billions of dollars. The US tours and activities sector alone is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Millions of tour guides work in this industry, so you're part of a huge industry.

Getting Hired by another company

At International Guide Academy, we have over 20+ years of experience leading and creating tours. Here are some tips to help you navigate the recruitment process with a tour company: 1. Don't be shy the first thing you need to do is get out there and talk to people. Ask for their advice, help, or even just information about the industry in your area. Most people will be willing to share what they have learned.

Start your own travel guide business

As mentioned in the previous section, starting a business is only a good idea if you’re ready to put in the hard work, have the passion to be an entrepreneur, are willing to put in long hours, don’t care if your business doesn’t succeed and are creative and excited about building your brand. If you’re looking for a great place to start, look no further than our start a Tour Business Workshop. However, many guides only embark on this journey after a few years of learning the ins and outs of the industry.

Step 5:

Start working and keep learning!

It’s a job where you’re constantly learning new skills and gaining new knowledge. The more tours you develop and lead, the more valuable you are to future employers. That’s why you’ll always be reading, taking other tours, and getting out there and learning your own secrets about where you live. Today’s guests love being shown “hidden gems” and “places only locals know about”. So be curious about what is new in your city. And don’t forget to build relationships with local store owners and restaurants so you can give your tour guests an insider’s view of a place. The more knowledge you have, the more relationships you build with others in the industry, the more successful you’ll be. Simple, and hard.

Source- https://medium.com/@bepaidtotravel8/a-complete-roadmap-for-how-to-becoming-a-tour-guide-international-guide-academy-436dc084509f