How to be a Good Tour Guide
How to be a tour guide
You might think that a good guide needs to have a PhD in Art History or a family that dates back for seven generations in the area. Neither could be further from the truth. If you are reading this, you already have the best quality in a guide: curiosity. A good guide is curious about his/her surroundings and likes to learn about new things. Wherever you live can be boring or full of things to explore. The difference is your perspective. A good guide is also curious about meeting new people. Beyond curiosity there are three main qualities that make for a good local guide.
A good guide is sensitive to the needs of others.
A good guide is well organized.
A good guide has knowledge of the local area.
A tour guide can be as gregarious and funny as Robin Williams or as knowledgeable as a professor but neither talent will make for a great experience unless the guide is sensitive enough to realize when someone’s feet hurt. A good guide always tries to think about the needs of the people he/she is hosting before their own agenda.
For example, lets say you are to provide a tour of San Diego Bay. You plan to walk the couple you are hosting along the boardwalk down to Seaport Village and then down to see the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier and to the old merchant ship the Star of India. After this you are planning on taking the ferry over to Coronado Island. Your couple shows up and they are in their 70’s and she has a cane. If you try to carry out your planned agenda all three of you will quickly be tired and frustrated. Instead you can dump your plan and ask them what they are interested in seeing. Once they have expressed an interest in seeing the Star of India; you could mention to them that this is a very long walk and that hiring a Pedi cab would provide them with a great way of getting over there while still being able to see the scenery of the bay from the boardwalk. You might then give them a shorted version of your San Diego Bay history talk while you wait for the Pedi cab. You then send them on their way and tell them you will meet them over there in 15 minutes if they have not offered to hire you a Pedi cab as well. After seeing the Star of India the ferry ride provides a nice view of the USS Midway Carrier and you can continue to talk and tell them about the history without having to risk either one of them falling on the treacherous passages inside the Carrier.