How to Succeed as a Tour Guide

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There is an increasing demand for tour guides due to more and more people pursuing adventures in South East Asia. Most tour operators will hire you if they feel convinced that you appeal to their target market.

Whether you're working in Thialand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bali or Vietnam, as a tour guide, when marketing yourself, it is important to identify a market niche that you want to work in and understand what different tour operators are looking for.

Besides your experience and personality, the following will help you stand out as an exceptional tour guide that every tour company wants to work with:

Make your Tour Guide Planning Beautiful

Most tour operators seek to hire individuals with unique skills. How well can you promote an existing tour? Do you have the ability to introduce a distinct new tour?

Using tour guide planning templates to present your tour proposal will increase your chances of being hired. Templates make it easy to add images and videos, making your presentation more engaging.

Also, templates allow you to add an interactive quote for the company to see what the pricing looks like. Presenting the various tour options will increase interest in the tours you are guiding.

Identify Tours that Work Best for You

Knowing what you are good at will help you to sell your tour services more easily. Think about the audience you would like to be spending your better part of the day talking to.

Do you want your audience to be individuals, families or groups? Know who you want to work with, to give your clients the best experiences and your talents are fully utilised.

Strive to be a Good Storyteller

No guest would want to spend hours hearing historical data with no context.

Overloading your guests with information will only make them long for the end. You can always come up with interesting angles and build informative narratives regardless of the tour’s nature.

Involve your Audience

A short ice breaker will make your guests more comfortable during your tour. When introducing yourself, give your audience detailed information about you.

Maybe this could include information about your previous jobs and how you ended up being a tour guide.

Most travellers are looking for an authentic experience during the tour. Letting them participate in something unique and fun will give them great satisfaction.

Involve people by encouraging them to ask questions. You can also teach them phrases in the local language.

Catering for Children

Travelling with children is filled with smiles and happiness most of the time. Giving free water bottles and snack packs to the children in your audience will go a long way to endear yourself to the parents and kids alike.

Bring things that you think children need, but parents might forget to carry. If your tour is children-friendly, be sure to mention it on the tour descriptions.

Using pictures of children will make your potential customers understand that you cater for families.

Have a passion for your tour destinations

Every traveller looks forward to experiencing destinations and cultures like a local. You will only be able to deliver that if you love the destinations.

Be sure to point out anything that you like along the way. Talk about specific dishes that you try and ask the travellers to try them out.

Do not shy away from sharing your enthusiasm with the audience.

Be ready for questions

Allow time for your tourists to ask questions. Do this by stopping at certain intervals and allowing time for questions to be voiced.

If you are unsure about certain things during the tour, admitting so is far better than fumbling your way through an answer. The later will not be good for your reputation.

Instead of giving travellers false information, refer them to reliable resources where they can find the answers they are looking for.

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