Tourist guide
Tourist guides show visitors around places of interest in towns, cities and the countryside, like historical buildings, parks, art galleries and museums.
What you'll do
Day-to-day tasks
As a tourist guide, you would:
- guide people and groups around sites of historical and cultural interest
- give details about the history, purpose and architecture of a site
- tell the stories of people and events associated with a site or building
- take groups on coach day tours
- answer visitors' questions and give advice on other places to visit
- act as a driving or cycle guide for individuals and groups
- accompany themed outings, like food and drink, ghost stories or literature tours
Working environment
You could work at monuments and castles, in a museum, at an art gallery or in parks and gardens.
Your working environment may be physically active, outdoors some of the time and you'll travel often.
Career path and progression
With experience you could work for a tour operator as a regional tour supervisor or manager. You might also set up your own tour guiding business.
You could move into related jobs with the organisation you worked for as a tour guide. Examples include, marketing officer, volunteer co-ordinator or visitor attraction manager.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- customer service skills
- excellent verbal communication skills
- to be flexible and open to change
- an interest and knowledge of history
- a desire to help people
- sensitivity and understanding
- a good memory
- physical fitness and endurance
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
How to become
You can get into this job through:
- a college course
- volunteering
- applying directly
- specialist courses run by private training organisations
You could take a college course to learn some of the skills and knowledge needed in this job, for example:
- customer service in leisure, travel and tourism
- travel and tourism
Entry requirements
Entry requirements for these courses vary.
More Information
Local visitor information centres, national parks, museums and sites of cultural and historical interest often have volunteering opportunities to work as a tourist guide.
Many people become tourist guides as a second career, for example students who want to work during holidays or actors who are between acting jobs.
An outgoing and friendly personality will give you an advantage when applying for jobs. Experience of dealing with the public, giving presentations or speaking in public can also help.
You could take training through the Institute of Tourist Guiding to get your tour guide badge. There are 3 levels of training, that vary in length:
- White Badge - 2 to 3 months
- Green Badge - 5 to 6 months
- Blue Badge - 12 months
You can also apply to local tour guide associations, private training providers, or major tourist attractions that run their own schemes, for example Guide London, York Minster and the National Trust.
Career tips
A second language or a history qualification can also be useful for this type of work though is not essential.
Further information
You can learn more about how to become a tourist guide from the Institute of Tourist Guiding.
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This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.