Tour director vs event manager

The differences between tour directors and event managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an event manager has an average salary of $51,117, which is higher than the $49,279 average annual salary of a tour director.

The top three skills for a tour director include yellowstone, travel arrangements and public speaking. The most important skills for an event manager are customer service, event logistics, and event planning.

Tour director vs event manager overview

	Tour Director	Event Manager
Yearly salary	$49,279	$51,117
Hourly rate	$23.69	$24.58
Growth rate	20%	18%
Number of jobs	5,034	8,230
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	34	38
Years of experience	-	2

Tour director vs event manager salary

Tour directors and event managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Tour Director	Event Manager
Average salary	$49,279	$51,117
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $102,000	Between $33,000 And $77,000
Highest paying City	-	New York, NY
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	VMware
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between tour director and event manager education

There are a few differences between a tour director and an event manager in terms of educational background:

	Tour Director	Event Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	San Diego State University

Tour director vs event manager demographics

Here are the differences between tour directors' and event managers' demographics:

	Tour Director	Event Manager
Average age	34	38
Gender ratio	Male, 49.3% Female, 50.7%	Male, 36.2% Female, 63.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 9.8% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 16.6% Asian, 6.0% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	16%

Differences between tour director and event manager duties and responsibilities

Tour director example responsibilities.

Cover all national shows, obtain credentials, VIP tables, parking as appropriate, manage meet and greets, etc.
Manage communication and event preparation with partners, venues, artists, and staff ensuring logistical requirements are manage effectively.
Perform administrative cruise staff duties when not acting as in-house DJ.
Develop, organize, and execute group and personalize VIP tour programs in Russian.
Use creativity (such as costumes and jokes) to host lively bingo sessions that ensure guests return for the fun.
Host many events throughout the duration of a cruise, consisting of trivia's, games, parties and bingo sessions.

Event manager example responsibilities.

Manage FOH staff during the lunch rush - correctly handle any customer complaints or issues.
Manage successful closing of NYC block to control traffic flow and allow celebrity red carpet entrances.
Coordinate and manage maintenance, bartending, catering, schedules, calendars, and supervise staff.
Create BEO's and lead weekly team meetings for support team laying out the direction and objective of upcoming events.
Manage delivery schedules, outside vendor orders, and budget requirements for the sales, operations, and culinary staff.
Manage all logistics and communications from beginning to end with clients, including sending invitations, monitoring RSVP, and hosting.

Tour director vs event manager skills

Common tour director skills

Yellowstone, 30%
Travel Arrangements, 11%
Public Speaking, 9%
Tour Operations, 7%
Tour Guides, 6%
Expense Reports, 6%

Common event manager skills

Customer Service, 15%
Event Logistics, 10%
Event Planning, 9%
Audio Visual, 6%
Onsite, 5%
PowerPoint, 4%