Tour Guides play an eminent role in tourism industry. Let’s have a review of different types of tourist guides and best characteristics one can have to make the best out of a tour for travelers.
Since hundreds of years ago, guides have played an undeniable role globally in the process of traveling from one destination to another. At those times even the routes were unknown to most of people, so caravans and travelers could easily get lost and never reach where they had planned.
The importance of tour guides in modern days has not decreased at all as they not only guide visitors in the language of their choice but also interpret the cultural and natural heritage of an area (maybe just a museum or even a country). These tour guides or as World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) referred to as tourist guides work in different parts of this industry and they have usually passed certain qualifications and are certificated by official organizations in their countries of origin.
Tour guides can be categorized by what they do, the type of tasks or the form of their work style. They are whether Professionals or Amateurs based on their experience of guiding tours or being a newbie. Some tour guides work as Private or Personal guides and some work with travel agencies as a Staff guide or a Freelancer who gets paid per trip. These freelance guides are connected to a number of travel agencies in destinations where tourists travel and they accompany the tour for just a day or the whole trip. Although these guides are considered as Local from the point of view of a tourist, especially from another country but generally a Local guide refers to a community tourist guide in the city of destination where he or she accompanies the tour only in that destination and leaves the group as they depart. If the tour guide also drives the vehicle then is called a Driver Guide. However, driver guides are those who drive four door sedans, minivans and vans but not a mini-bus or a bus.
There is also a controversial topic of using terms “Tour Leader” and “Tour Guide” interchangeably. Tour leader is often used to describe the tour director or manager who leads a group overseas to ensure the people get what they paid for, such as the transportation, accommodation and achieving the overall good experience. They are hired by the tour operator to be their responsible person cooperating with the local guides for the best result. Here is the point where these two positions can get mixed! Usually tour guides have both responsibilities of leading and guiding the group throughout the tour like in the case of Iran. Although many groups of tourists coming to Iran have also a tour leader with them, most groups (especially smaller ones) are just managed and guided by Iranian Tour Guides. These tourist guides are officially certified by Iran Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO). Iran tour guides are available in various languages such as English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, etc. and they can interpret Iran’s numerous cultural and natural sites to visitors and show them Iranians’ hospitality and friendship.
