When it comes to exploring cities and learning more about history, there isn’t really a better way to do it than by joining a walking tour. For those of you wondering what these tours are, well, they’re just like any other tours led by an experienced guide, except these are done by foot instead of a bus or some other form of transportation service.
For those of you who are not really familiar with tour guides, we’re going to explain everything that you need to know in this article, so make sure to read until the end if you’re eager to learn more. Let’s take a look.
Contents
What is a Tour Guide?
A tour guide is a person who leads a certain tour whether a walking tour around the city center or to a certain place by bus and as simple and easy as it sounds, it’s quite a complicated job and requires a lot of skill and practice. Let’s take a look at some of the things that make up a great tour guide.
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Knowledge of the place
The point of a tour guide is to explain everything to the other tourists about the place that they’re currently at, whether it has historical value or any other form of attraction. The tourist guides usually have a speech planned and they talk about each place as they walk past it. However, sometimes some of the members of the tour will ask a question that might strike you unprepared, and a good toura guide should be able to handle this, says Elias Zuluf, whom we consulted on the topic.
Sometimes people ask questions about the backstory of a certain place, and if you as a tour guide don’t answer those correctly, you lose the status of being legitimate and trustworthy. It isn’t as scary as it sounds, but definitely make sure that you know at least some of the background for the places your tour goes through. Sometimes tourist guides “sugarcoat” some of the things they say in order to make the entire experience a lot more enjoyable for the rest of the people in the tour, but that’s just a part of the job and what makes a great guide.
Source: prociv-form
Authority and respect
This is not the military, but even in this profession the tour guide should be respected by the members and have authority over them. When he’s speaking the others need to listen, and they should be interested in what the guide has to say. However, some guides are not really interesting to hear so people just start chatting in the middle of the tour. A great tour guide should be fun to listen to but also to recognize when it is time to rest and give the group a break.
Source: Ulduz Tourism
The ability to control a crowd
It’s not really easy to be dealing with a lot of people, and even those that are not tour guides know this. However, if you really want to be good at what you’re doing, practicing your social skills and group management abilities is crucial for this particular profession. Make sure that you are able to control the crowd and practice these skills regularly. During your tour, make sure to talk to all of the curious tourists, don’t just focus on one person and let the others feel left-behind.
