Would you like to spend your time visiting your local tourist attractions
and talking to people? Tour guides do that sort of work every day.
Don Dietz is a self-employed tour guide in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He started
his guide career by volunteering with an organization that hosts foreign visitors.
"After a while, I asked local tour operators if they needed a tour guide.
They said yes."
Two years later, Dietz started his own business. Clients from all over
the world contact him for tours. "This profession is a combination of education
and entertainment," he says.
After 17 years, Dietz still discovers new things about his region. Recently,
a client asked him about a stone carving containing a Hebrew script said to
be a version of the 10 Commandments. Dietz located the relic using directions
found on the Internet. "You can learn something from a client," Dietz says
with a laugh.
Touring can be tough when one or two people are late. Sometimes people
want to see all there is to see in the area, but they don't realize the distances
involved. Still, Dietz loves the area and enjoys talking about it.
Dietz needs business skills to market himself and to operate his business.
He attracts clients through word-of-mouth recommendations, through his website
and through recommendations from concierges at local hotels.
Dietz says that wannabe guides should find a place that interests them
and learn all about it. If sharing that information with people interests
you, then tour guiding might be a good career.
Cheryl Sampson and her husband "Captain Billy" operate a tour guide business.
After the Sampsons retired a few years ago, they opened their own tour company
because they loved showing off their beautiful city.
First, they took guide training and bought a van. "I started out doing
the books, but I became a driver-guide myself in 2001," Sampson explains.
She conducts tours of the city and of surrounding attractions. It's important
to be a people person. "If people drive you crazy, you don't want to be in
this business," says Sampson.
"We talk to people, we get them relaxed. If people are interested in a
certain thing, we might detour to show it to them....Tours are never the same
with us."
Sometimes the Sampsons pick people up at the airport and drive them around
the city before they catch a connecting flight. Other times, they might pick
people up at the cruise ship terminal.
"Once, we picked up a group of Japanese skiers at the airport. They were
tired, so we took them to buy their groceries and drinks, then drove them
up to Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort.
"It's fun. You'll never get rich, but you'll meet the nicest people."
Stefanie Beninato has been a self-employed tour guide in Santa Fe since
2007. In the beginning, Beninato noticed an ad in the paper for a tour guide
with one of the local guide businesses. With a doctorate in southwest history
and a love of teaching, she was a natural for the tour guide business.
In time, she opened her own business.
"I get paid to walk and talk," she says. "You have to read your audiences.
You have to figure out how much information people want. And humor is a good
approach to teaching."
Moving large numbers of people can be stressful -- especially if someone
straggles and upsets the schedule for the tour. But the experience is "mostly
wonderful," says Beninato.
Beninato offers several tours. She has developed many of them herself.
The Ghost Tour is a favorite. "People say they don't believe in ghosts, and
then they end up telling me ghost stories from their experience."
It's important to be flexible and creative when things don't go right.
Beninato often takes tours to the Taos pueblo. Sometimes the indigenous people
who own the pueblo decide to close it down an hour before she arrives.
"It's their right to close it whenever they want," Beninato says. "But
then I have to make people understand that this is a different entity than
they are used to dealing with."
Beninato explains that tour guides need a lot of knowledge. You can slant
your stories to suit the group's interest. Good guides need good communication
skills, good organizational skills and good management skills. "You need
to know how to get up in front of a group of people and present. There is
almost an acting component."
Jeff Veniot has been a driver-guide for 28 years. He works for a tour company.
"I drive the bus and talk at the same time," he says. "Sometimes I do step-on
work. I stand behind the driver, hold the microphone and give commentary."
Personality is what gets you by when you're dealing with the public, Veniot
says. The more into it you are, the more into it your tour group will be.
"You give the same information over and over, but because it's always a different
crowd, you feed off their energy."
Sometimes you have to research a subject before you conduct a special tour.
Once, Veniot had a group of dairy farmers from New Zealand. They wanted to
tour dairy farms in the Fraser Valley. Veniot researched the area in advance.
"Once they were off the bus, I toured with them and learned all about the
dairy industry."
Although work opportunities are tight, Veniot says there are ways to get
your foot in the door. Tour guide training is an advantage. Contact a destination
management company and ask about temporary work when a big event comes to
town.
Then, network with the tour guides and managers that you will meet. Join
the local tour guide association. Find brochures of sightseeing tours and
learn who the tour companies are in your area.
"Or go to a local tourist destination and wait for a tour bus to pull in.
When the guide has a few minutes, go and say hello," says Veniot.