Present status of Tour Guides: Tour guiding is a recognized profession now. Tour guides work as freelancers or are attached to a particular company. Companies also look for a good tour geode, which can assist tourists as well as know many languages. Currently, there are three kinds of tour guides:-
- Guides with the general linguistic capabilities
Guide with general linguistic capabilities must know tour management techniques. Good command over English and Hindi. He must have contact list of all stakeholders he usual deals with. Knowledge about rescue work and first aid box. Guide should be able to tell or narrate stories beautifully.
- Specialised language speaking guides
There is great scope of language guides in India. Mainly French, Spanish, German speaking guides are available commonly. More number of people are learning Russian, Manadrian, Japanese, Thai language etc. There must be good facilities for language learning all over the country.
- Guides having state government licenses
Guides are issued license after completing training. License is a kind of recognition form authority that you have completed required training for tour guiding. You must know the validity period of license and find out dates of refresher courses (if it is mandatory by the authority) to continue license. Refresher courses are basically helps us to unlearn many unwanted things, we are following and learn new things. It is good to update our knowledge. We have a chance to meet professor of history, iconography, culture etc.
Monument guides, for example guides working at a particular monument like Jai Vilas Museum at Gwalior, Slarajung Museum, Hyderabad or Rajpipla Palace. These guides are allowed to work by the local authority. Monument guides must know facts and figures. He must have good knowledge of history.
- Adventure Tour guides
Adventure tour guides work at various places. These guides have the knowledge of food, treks, places, weather, flora and fauna, and do’s and do not’s. Adventure guides have good knowledge about the activity. For e.g., a trainer of white water rafting is an expert in rafting. These guides have good contacts with the locals. Adventure tour guides are also usually physically strong.
Adventure tour guides are more activity centric. He guides his clients, shares stories, tells them about past happenings, celebrates with people, travel to remote areas and interact with nature. He must have knowledge of government rules related to government fee for mountaineering, major peaks, main rivers etc. Guide must also have technical details of equipments used for activities. Like:
what are the dimensions of raft/ Kayak/ Canoe
He must know different terms used in connection with weather conditions like: dew, snow, ice, altitude, valley, mountain, hill, hillock, water stream, pond, reservoir etc.
He must have an idea about the land slide, avalanche, thunder storm, Tsunami, high tide and low tide, low pressure conditions in the sea. Knowledge about rescue work and first aid box.
In India, tour guides work on the basis of their skills and they must have a guiding license. Unauthorized guides are not encouraged. A guide’s work mostly depends on the season and his contacts with travel agents. Some guides are attached to travel agencies and others work as freelancers. Both the ways have their pros and cons.
There must be an emphasis on personal clothing, regular medical checkups besides having a license in the pocket. Few tour guides have a license just for name sake, they are into associated businesses like hotels, taxi etc.
Toru guide is a profession in demand at present. There is stiff competition to become a tour guide. Many applicants want to work. They know languages. Many see bright future as a tour guide. In Tour guiding, someone can work flexibly (as it is not a 0900 to 0500 job). You have an opportunity to visit many places with tour groups. You can interact with international visitors. There are thousands of tour guides working very hard to put forward golden past of India.
Present status of Tour Guides
Also read Tour Guiding
