What does a tour guide do?
As their title describes, tour guides offer guided tours to individuals or groups of visitors. Tour guides undertake research and plan tours, provide sightseeing advice, and organize excursions. They transport and accompany their guests to the tourist spots in specific destinations. They are expected to be experts on the historical background and culture of an area. A useful tour guide must be equipped with enough enthusiasm, punctuality, keen sense, strong communication skills, and a steel-trap memory.
Tour guide responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real tour guide resumes:
- Manage the canoe landing including guests, workers, and canoe traffic in a way that all run smoothly and safely.
- Aid clients with matters regarding passports and visas.
- Receive multiple positive reviews on the company Facebook page.
- Complete extensive training as well as first aid, CPR and a certification.
- Maintain alertness for any problem solve calls via radio and communication with management.
- Spearhead all creative activity for online marketing (Facebook), and other social media sites5.
- Master coursework, absorbing tens of rescue procedures, as well as CPR and first-aid operations.
- Perform clerical duties such as filing, typing, operating switchboards, and routing mail and messages.
- Used skills such as memorization and recitation while staying in a cheerful mood on a moving trolley car.
- Instruct guests on the proper way to ride a Segway so that each guest is safe and comfortable.
- Train newer team members on in-house software, vendor booking systems, and phone etiquette with clients and vendors.
- Perform EMT medical per pack proto call unassist or with team.-Perform SAR and EMTs as regular part of duties.
- Serve as a university ambassador to lead campus wide tours to prospective students, faculty, alumni, and other visitors.
- Work extensively with public scheduling reservations.
- Vacation ownership, timeshare, surveys presentation, verification
Tour guide skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Tour Guides are proficient in Local History, Customer Service, and Safety Practices.
We break down the percentage of Tour Guides that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Local History, 22%
Guided visitors through a half mile of passages informing them of both the geological and local history of the cave.
- Customer Service, 19%
Executed premium customer service by accommodating the guests with positive energy, organization, extensive knowledge and flexibility.
- Safety Practices, 16%
Monitor visitors' activities to ensure compliance with establishment or tour regulations and safety practices.
- Public Speaking, 8%
Exercised public speaking and guest relation skills through energetic tours of baseball bat factory Perceived audience's interests and tailored tour accordingly
- Front Desk, 4%
Assist in front desk operations and the application processing department of the Admissions office on an as needed basis.
- Facebook, 3%
Handled promotion of the business through online channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Search Engine Optimization, and TripAdvisor.
"local history," "customer service," and "safety practices" are among the most common skills that tour guides use at work. You can find even more tour guide responsibilities below, including:
The three companies that hire the most tour guides are:
- Context Travel
8 tour guides jobs
- Anheuser-Busch7 tour guides jobs
- Travel and Transport6 tour guides jobs
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Compare different tour guides
Tour guide vs. River
Escort is a service provided to accompany an individual, group of people, or vehicle to provide guidance and protection or mark of honor. Military Escort services accompany deceased military personnel to show respect--a healthcare escort sometimes accompanies patients to their destination for ongoing care safely. A Security Escort, commonly called close escort duties, is performed by bodyguards to accompany individuals like VIPs, Celebrities, Sports stars, Heads of State whenever they make an appearance and travel around. A Security Escort usually has special training in evasive driving, close combat, firearms, and first aid.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a tour guide are more likely to require skills like "local history," "customer service," "safety practices," and "public speaking." On the other hand, a job as a river requires skills like "pos," "css," "charles," and "epa." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, rivers reach similar levels of education than tour guides. Rivers are 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Tour guide vs. Museum attendant
Each career also uses different skills, according to real tour guide resumes. While tour guide responsibilities can utilize skills like "local history," "safety practices," "public speaking," and "facebook," museum attendants use skills like "patrol," "cash handling," "museum visitors," and "museum events."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Museum attendants tend to reach similar levels of education than tour guides. In fact, they're 2.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Tour guide vs. Escort
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from tour guide resumes include skills like "local history," "customer service," "safety practices," and "public speaking," whereas an escort is more likely to list skills in "patients," "emergency situations," "safety hazards," and "law enforcement. "
Escorts earn the highest salary when working in the manufacturing industry, where they receive an average salary of $35,462. Comparatively, tour guides have the highest earning potential in the education industry, with an average salary of $37,620.escorts typically earn similar educational levels compared to tour guides. Specifically, they're 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Tour guide vs. Docent
Types of tour guide
Updated January 8, 2025
