Throughout my career, I've been on a lot of tours, and the majority of those tours' quality was average. Prefer to listen & watch? This article has a video version. Video please That's not to say that most tours are bad. Those tours' quality is totally acceptable in
How often do you get applause at the end of the tour? For me, applause is the ultimate sign of a job well done. Visible, real-time approval, directly from your customers. Prefer to listen & watch? This article has a video version. Video please And here's the secret;Getting applause
A tour theme is one of the most important ingredients and yet is often missing from tours. Prefer to listen & watch? This article has a video version. Video please One of my favorite formulas from Sam H Ham's 'Interpretation' is his TORE Model which says that, in order
To be honest, I've never been asked "How to talk politics" on a tour as most tour guides shy away from politics (and/or many Managers direct their guides to stay away from politics). Prefer to listen & watch? This article has a video version. Video please I talk often
In this article for Checkfront I layout two strategies for taking advantage of your power to educate and your guests, turning them into responsible travelers. For further reading, check out this technique for changing your guest's perspective. See the original article over at Checkfront. Read Article Related articles:
The ability to influence people and change their perspective is a powerful yet underutilized tour guide ability. Prefer to listen & watch? This article has a video version. Video please Learning to (or training your guides to) educate travelers can be simple, incredibly impactful, and easily added to any
In Episode 6 of the podcast, 'Through the Eyes of the Guide', I talked about important skills that are often overlooked, best practices, Responsible Tourism and what I really wish guides would stop doing... Read more here about why I think guides should always be improving their skills. Listen to the podcast
If you've never thought about ethical storytelling, you're not alone, but you can easily change that (and greatly improve the impact of your tours). Prefer to listen & watch? This article has a video version. Video please This article was inspired by a feature in Unearth Women's 'Consent Issue'
In my experience, it's uncommon to find a more diverse history represented on a tour. Prefer to listen & watch? This article has a video version. Video please It's not intentional, but tours are usually created once and then passed on from guide to guide. Rarely are tours
To be a tour guide is to be so many things and yet most tour guide training focuses on very specific core skills. Tour guides are educators, entertainers, anthropologists, cultural translators, couples counselors, psychologists, social connectors, hosts, etc. And they’re often ALSO archeologists, historians, art historians, museum docents, safety-certified, and