Tour guide education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a tour guide. Tour guides usually study business, communication, or psychology. 70% of tour guides hold a bachelor's degree, and 11% hold an high school diploma. We analyzed 20,233 real tour guide resumes to see exactly what tour guide education sections show.

The most common colleges for tour guides are the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania State University.

There are also many online tour guide courses to help get the education required to be a tour guide.

There are certain tour guide certifications that you should consider. These tour guide certifications include First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor and Travel and Tourism Professional (TTP).

What education do you need to become a tour guide?

What degree do you need to be a tour guide?

The most common degree for tour guides is bachelor's degree, with 70% of tour guides earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are high school diploma degree at 11% and high school diploma degree at 10%.

Bachelor's, 70%

High School Diploma, 11%

Associate, 10%

Master's, 5%

Other Degrees, 4%

What should I major in to become a tour guide?

You should major in business to become a tour guide. 13% of tour guides major in business. Other common majors for a tour guide include communication and psychology.

Business, 13%

Communication, 9%

Psychology, 9%

History, 8%

Other Majors, 61%

Most common colleges for tour guides

Tour guides often get their degrees at Pennsylvania State University, University of Wisconsin Colleges, and Brigham Young University. Here are the most common colleges for tour guides in the US based on their resumes.

Tour guide common college	Percentages
Pennsylvania State University	7.03%
University of Wisconsin Colleges	6.80%
Brigham Young University	6.21%
University of Rhode Island	6.21%
New York University	5.98%

Show more common tour guide colleges

Best majors for tour guides

Rank	Major	Percentages
1	Business	12.9%
2	Communication	9.4%
3	Psychology	8.5%
4	History	8.1%
5	English	6.5%

Show more common tour guide majors

Best colleges for tour guides

The best colleges for tour guides are Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Northwestern University.

A tour guide with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for tour guides. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become tour guides.

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

4. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

5. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

6. George Washington University, The

Washington, DC • Private

In-state tuition

$55,230

Enrollment

12,161

7. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

8. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

9. Yale University

New Haven, CT • Private

In-state tuition

$53,430

Enrollment

5,963

10. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

20 best online courses for tour guides

Advertising disclosure

1. Guided Tour of Machine Learning in Finance

This course aims at providing an introductory and broad overview of the field of ML with the focus on applications on Finance. Supervised Machine Learning methods are used in the capstone project to predict bank closures. Simultaneously, while this course can be taken as a separate course, it serves as a preview of topics that are covered in more details in subsequent modules of the specialization Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning in Finance. The goal of Guided Tour of Machine...

2. How to foster conversation in Facebook community groups

In this guided project, you will learn about Facebook community groups and how to build effective communities, learn how to create your own community group, learn how improve your group engagement, learn how to create meaningful conversation in your community group and how to avoid mistakes. By the end of this project, you will have learned about the importance of using community groups, build your own community group, and make your group powerful to increase engagement...

3. Group Life Coaching Certification (Accredited)

4.7

(1,578)

Training for life coaches who want to grow their business through offering life coaching groups...

4. Group Discussion Strategies

(340)

Group Discussion helps understand a subject more deeply and improves the ability to think critically...

5. Group Life Coach Practitioner Certification (ACCREDITED)

4.6

(288)

Discover the power of helping more people at once through the process of Group Life Coaching & become Fully Accredited...

6. Cisco CUCM Quickstart Guide To Admin Services Phones Users

4.7

(251)

Cisco Call Manager Guide For Cisco CCNP Collaboration CLCOR CCT CUCM Cisco Unified Communication Manager CLCOR CLACCM...

7. Public Speaking Training & Facilitator Certification

4.6

(1,480)

World-class public speaking training: Learn presentation skills, engage your audience, develop confidence, facilitate...

8. Fear of Public Speaking: Never Fear Public Speaking Again

4.3

(623)

Public Speaking Fear. You will deliver presentations/speeches with confidence and ease. Never be nervous again...

9. The Complete Guide to Conquering the Fear of Public Speaking

4.7

(321)

Deliver Confident Speeches by Conquering Your Fear of Public Speaking and Going from Phobic to Epic Presentations...

10. Public Speaking & Communicating: Skip Theory, Master the Art

4.6

(2,476)

Public Speaking,Presenting,Communicating. After years in the Making: The Spark Words method has been proven by Thousands...

11. Mastering Group Policy on Windows Server

4.7

(2,427)

An IT person's guide to managing Active Directory Users and Computers with Group Policy...

12. The Art of Public Speaking

4.7

(270)

Master Public Speaking: Deliver Unforgettable Speeches & Presentations With The World's Most Decorated Public Speaker...

13. Public Speaking Skills: Give a Great Informational Speech

4.4

(737)

Public Speaking - You can confidently present information in a way that is understandable and memorable...

14. Active Directory & Group Policy Administration for IT Techs

4.5

(651)

Active Directory & Group Policy Administration Basics for Helpdesk and Desktop / IT Support Technicians...

15. Entity Framework Core - A Full Tour

4.4

(367)

Learn how to use and take advantage of the full feature set of Entity Framework Core in your .NET Core applications...

16. Accredited Group Chakra Healing Practitioner Professional

4.7

(276)

Learn everything you need to know to offer Chakra Healing events as a Group Healing Practitioner - the complete business...

17. Public Speaking and Presenting at Work

4.5

(6,108)

Master professional presentation skills, develop confidence, command the room, facilitate meetings & design your speech...

18. Public Speaking for College Students: Become a Great Speaker

4.2

(262)

Public speaking may be the single most important skill for long-term success and you are unlikely to learn it in college...

19. Public Speaking for People Who Hate Public Speaking

4.3

(293)

Public Speaking for People Who Hate Public Speaking - Presentation Skills - Communication Skills and Storytelling...

20. Brilliant Customer Service: How to Impress your Customers!

4.7

(12,891)

Enhance your customer support and truly differentiate yourself from your competition!...

Top 10 most affordable universities for tour guides

The most affordable schools for tour guides are SUNY Farmingdale, california state university - bakersfield, and brooklyn college of the city university of new york.

If the best universities for tour guides are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for tour guides.

1. SUNY Farmingdale

Farmingdale, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,306

Cost of attendance

16,091

2. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

3. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Brooklyn, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,240

Cost of attendance

13,991

4. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Cost of attendance

14,046

5. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

6. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,942

Cost of attendance

14,469

7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$8,987

Cost of attendance

25,527

8. SUNY Polytechnic Institute

Utica, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,238

Cost of attendance

21,567

9. Hunter College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,182

Cost of attendance

13,998

10. USF Sarasota-Manatee

Sarasota, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,587

Cost of attendance

13,043

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for tour guides

The hardest universities for tour guides to get into are Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Northwestern University.

Some great schools for tour guides are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for tour guides based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,497

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,492

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,508

4. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

5. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

13%

SAT average

1,445

6. Yale University

New Haven, CT • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,517

7. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,520

8. New York University

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

20%

SAT average

1,419

9. Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, MO • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,506

10. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

Admissions rate

22%

SAT average

1,420

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for tour guides

The easiest schools for tour guides to get into are Oklahoma Wesleyan University, notre dame de namur university, and holy names university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a tour guide without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for tour guides.

1. Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Bartlesville, OK • Private

Admissions rate

68%

SAT average

964

2. Notre Dame de Namur University

Belmont, CA • Private

Admissions rate

82%

SAT average

983

3. Holy Names University

Oakland, CA • Private

Admissions rate

70%

SAT average

849

4. Notre Dame College

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

994

5. LIM College

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

83%

SAT average

1,061

6. Nyack College

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

98%

SAT average

999

7. Presentation College

Aberdeen, SD • Private

Admissions rate

97%

SAT average

1,050

8. D'Youville College

Buffalo, NY • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,072

9. Life University

Marietta, GA • Private

Admissions rate

94%

SAT average

979

10. Oregon Institute of Technology

Klamath Falls, OR • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,139

Average tour guide salary by education level

According to our data, tour guides with a Associate degree earn the highest average salary, at $37,421 annually. Tour guides with a Bachelor's degree earn an average annual salary of $36,623.

Tour guide education level	Tour guide salary
High School Diploma or Less	$32,866
Bachelor's Degree	$36,623
Some College/ Associate Degree	$37,421

Tour guide education FAQs

What is the best college for Tour Guides?

Have more questions? See all answers to common personal care and attendants questions.

Search for tour guide jobs

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse personal care and attendants jobs