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What is a Tour Guide?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

A tour guide is someone who shows visitors around an area, with the guide using extensive local knowledge to share the area with visitors. Tour guides are hired to help people navigate unfamiliar areas, and to make trips special, as a good tour guide sets a positive tone for a trip and shows people things they would not have discovered otherwise. Using a tour guide while traveling can also be useful because tour guides are very knowledgeable, and they can provide facts and information which help visitors interpret and understand the places they see.

Some tour guides work primarily locally, focusing on providing services to tourists by request. They may work in museums or similar locations, or they may work with or for companies which take tourists out on day trips of an area. Tour guides might lead visitors on tours of local religious sites, castles, gardens, or other sites of interest, tailoring the tour for the visitors. Locally-based tour guides are also often able to open doors which would otherwise be closed, and their local knowledge can be helpful for people who are unfamiliar with the culture and traditions of an area.

Knowing several languages can be helpful for a tour guide.
Knowing several languages can be helpful for a tour guide.

Other tour guides travel with their clients, guiding them to, around, and from various locations. For example, a group of people who want to hike in the rainforest might hire a tour guide who travels with them, guides them through the forest while providing information and assistance, and travels back. Tour guides of this type often work with travel agents, with the agent handling the logistics of transportation, lodging, and so forth, while the tour guide focuses on caring for the clients.

Many people hire a tour guide to take them around the Forbidden City.
Many people hire a tour guide to take them around the Forbidden City.

Guided tours with groups can vary in cost, from free tours in many cities in the world provided by public service organizations to much more expensive organized trips such as treks in Nepal. It is also possible to hire a private tour guide who works with a client or group of clients to develop a customized tour, which tends to be more costly, but includes personalized and detailed attention, which some people enjoy while traveling.

A tour guide may lead a hike.
A tour guide may lead a hike.

Being knowledgeable in several languages is useful for a tour guide, as tour guides may work with multilingual clients, or may need to translate for clients while traveling in a country where a foreign language is spoken. In addition to having language skills, tour guides also need to have excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to work tirelessly for their clients from the moment the engagement begins to the time that the clients are safely seen on their way.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a PracticalAdultInsights researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a PracticalAdultInsights researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

anon239997

It's not easy to be a tour guide in Europe. Most of old cities have internal regulations of employing guides. For example, in Warsaw (Poland) you need to have a license to work as a tour guide.

icecream17

GreenWeaver- There are also wireless tour guide options.

When I went to Rome and visited the Coliseum, they offered wireless tour guide headsets so that you can listen to the historical lesson while you walked on the monument.

The advantage of this method is that you can go at your own pace and do not have to be dependent on the tour guide’s schedule.

I think that being a Chinese tour guide must be interesting because not only does China have so much history, but I also wonder how censored the tour information is because I am sure that there are some topics that are off limits because it is a communist country with no freedom of speech.

GreenWeaver

I think that working in Europe as a tour guide would be a fun job for a retired person with an Art History background.

Although there are tour guide training opportunities it is best to have a working knowledge of historical sites and artifacts. People seeking tour guide information want access to the knowledge that you have and the more interesting and relevant you can make the presentation as a vacation tour guide specialist, the more enjoyment you will have as well as your clients.

Sometimes a bus tour guide is helpful whlen the terrain in not conducive to a lot of walking. Here the tour guide provides historical information while vacationers are seated in the bus.

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    • Knowing several languages can be helpful for a tour guide.
      By: Guillaume Baviere
      Knowing several languages can be helpful for a tour guide.
    • Many people hire a tour guide to take them around the Forbidden City.
      By: Ilia Torlin
      Many people hire a tour guide to take them around the Forbidden City.
    • A tour guide may lead a hike.
      By: BabylonDesignz
      A tour guide may lead a hike.
    • Particularly in major cities, guides offer specialized tours that can add immensely to the travel experience.
      By: Freesurf
      Particularly in major cities, guides offer specialized tours that can add immensely to the travel experience.
    • A destination-based tour guide should have an encyclopedia knowledge of the area.
      By: Maridav
      A destination-based tour guide should have an encyclopedia knowledge of the area.