What is the life of a tour guide?


What is the life of a tour guide? Tour guides may lead groups or individuals through historical sites, museums, geographic destinations and on outdoor excursions. Typically, tour guides posses relevant cultural, historical and practical knowledge they can share with tourists.


Do tour guides expect tips?

Tipping guides in North America In the U.S. guides depend on tips to earn a decent income and therefore, the tipping culture is widely prevalent here across all services including tours. Expect to tip $10-$20 per person per day, adjusting for the duration and group size.


How would you describe the life of a tour guide?

Tour guides accompany groups of visitors to tourist attractions, whether on day trips or longer visits, and give them information and insights that help them make the most of the experience. Potential tour guides should be fit and healthy with lots of energy and confidence.


How big is the tour guide industry?

FORTUNE — According to brothers Daniel and Jonathan Yaffe, there are 400,000 full-time, accredited tour guides around the world who account for a $16 billion market, but just 5% of them have any online presence.


What is the average age of tour guides?

Tour Guide age breakdown The average age of tour guides is 20-30 years years old, representing 45% of the tour guide population.


How much should a tour guide charge?

A half-day tour with a private guide usually costs $100–300. Guides generally don't charge per person, so hiring one isn't nearly as budget-straining if you can split the cost with fellow travelers. (To get some of the same local info for less, join a group walking tour or hop a sightseeing bus.)


How do I become a successful tour guide?

7 Tips To Be a Better Tour Guide
  1. Skip lengthy introductions or setups at the beginning of the tour.
  2. Bring information to life through a story.
  3. Face guests when sharing information.
  4. You don't have to know everything.
  5. Avoid exaggerating information.
  6. Provide anecdotes when possible.
  7. Be punctual (and ideally early)


Can tour guides make a lot of money?

The average tour guide salary ranges between $18,000 and $55,000 in the US. Tour guides' hourly rates in the US typically range between $8 and $26 an hour. Tour guides earn the highest salaries in Alaska (40,533), California (39,666), and Connecticut (37,782).


Is it easy to become a tour guide?

Most tour guide roles require high school diplomas as the minimum qualification. However, other tourist guide jobs require degrees. For instance, to become a museum guide, you may need a college degree in a program relevant to museums.


Why tour guiding is hard?

Your tour guides are going to be faced with a huge variety of challenges as they go about their job. It's more than just addressing crowds, but also answering individual questions, handing out advice, problem-solving and much more, all whilst attempting to hold the attention of your guests.


Do tour guides get paid well?

Generally speaking, tour guides can earn between $50 and $150 per day taking a lot of factors into consideration such as experience, locations, training, type of tour, and others. Aside from this, many tour companies encourage their passengers to tip the tour guides, so this can bump up your salary dramatically.


What do you call a tour guide person?

Tour guides are often called docents or those who show. In addition, they are sometimes called tour directors or tourist escorts, but these terms also have other meanings. Tour guides work primarily with tourists and visitors but may also work with locals interested in learning more about their city or town.


Where do tour guides make the most money?

Highest paying cities for Tour Guides near United States
  • Los Angeles, CA. $26.94 per hour. 38 salaries reported.
  • Washington, DC. $26.62 per hour. 71 salaries reported.
  • San Francisco, CA. $26.44 per hour. 62 salaries reported.
  • New York, NY. $26.40 per hour. 68 salaries reported.
  • Memphis, TN. $26.33 per hour. ...
  • Show more nearby cities.


Is tour guide a professional?

The career of a professional tour guide is a prestigious and essential profession in all countries. It is worth noting that this profession requires you, along with your academic studies, to be a fan of this job and a lover of landmarks and history, passionate about learning more about cultures and tourist attractions.


Can you make a living as a tour guide?

Most entry-level tour guides only earn about $8-$15 per hour. But, there are experienced tour guides that earn upwards of $60,000 per year. These people often work for tour companies as managers. Since this is in the same service industry as restaurant workers, tipping is factored into wages.


How much do you tip on a 2 hour tour guide?

About.com has a Tipping Guide for travelers that further suggests that the tour guide should receive a tip of 10% to 20% of the tour cost. As a last thought, the guide still needs to earn his or her tip. Just with any other profession, the tip should match the level of service.


How much do you tip a 3 day tour guide?

  • For a tour that only lasts a few hours, tip your guide 10 percent to 20 percent the cost of the tour. ...
  • For a multi-day tour, you should tip your guide $5 to $10 per day on the last day.
  • If there was a driver in addition to a guide, tip them $1 to $5 per day.