Handbook for Tour Guides PDF

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Summary

Tourism is becoming increasingly competitive. Today countries, states and regions compete with each other to create a superior tourist experience, that can increase inflows of foreigners and locals. A key factor in this effort is to create a large resource base of professionally trained Tour Guides...

Description

Tourism is becoming increasingly competitive. Today countries, states and regions compete with each other to create a superior tourist experience, that can increase inflows of foreigners and locals. A key factor in this effort is to create a large resource base of professionally trained Tour Guides. Although there are several institutional mechanisms available for training Tour Guides, aspirants desirous of entering the profession have for long felt the need to possess a comprehensive handbook that can enhance their skills. This handbook is therefore unique in its structure and content. In addition to basic inputs required for becoming a successful Tour Guide, it contains a wealth of knowledge on the hundreds of Do’s and Don’ts, necessary to observe while guiding tourists. Moreover, though these guidelines have evolved over several years, efforts to document them in a single source were missing. THIS HANDBOOK IS A MUST FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN GUIDING TOURISTS. It addresses several critical and important aspects, including: What do tourists expect of a good Tour Guide? What are the key roles and responsibilities of an effective Tour Guide? Preparations required before embarking on any tour. Dynamics, mechanisms and key aspects of tour guiding under different scenarios, including traditional, recent and emerging formats. Tricks of the trade, including handling of questions, emergencies and difficult tourists. All encompassing, useful, practical and skill-enhancing information for Tour Guides.

2013 publi catio n Pape rback | 234 page s

Contents...

` 295 | $ 7.95 ISBN: 978-9 3-813 20-13 -6

Foreword | Preface | Key terms | Tour Guide training | Summary of tour guiding resources

Section A: Introduction 1. Introduction

2. Role of a Tour Guide

3. Tourist – the customer

Section B: Preparing to be a Tour Guide 4. Steps to becoming a Tour Guide 5. Presenting yourself 6. Making sense of cultural differences

Section C: Guiding a Tourist Group 7. What is interpretation? 8. Dynamics of commentary 9. Practical tips 10. Mechanics of tour guiding 11. Tools of the trade

Section D: Guiding Scenarios 12. General dos and don’ts for tour guides 13. Guiding on a walking tours 14. Guiding on a coach 15. Guiding at a museum 16. Guiding at a religious place 17. Guiding at an archaeological site 18. Guiding on a nature walk 19. Helping with transfers

Section E: Tricks of the Trade 20. Handling difficult tourists 21. Handling questions 22. Handling emergencies 23. Search for information 24. Responsible guiding

Section F: Practical Information 25. How to plan an itinerary? 26. Partners in business 27. Setting up a tour guiding business 28. Code of conduct for tour guides in India (by MoT) 29. List of MoT, GoI offices and Tourism Departments of the states 30. Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) 31. Addresses of IITTM Centres 32. WFTGA

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Tour Guide Training…

Over the years IITTM has trained thousands of tour guides all over the country earning useful experience. This has been supported by interaction with tour guides and their associations, and federations. Guides have been coming `back 295to us | $for 7.95 refresher programmes. IITTM has also engaged with various agencies and state tourism boards ISBN 978-93-81320-13-6 and tourism departments advising them on guide training system. We have designed and delivered training programmes for various states. IITTM has also discussed issues with leading guide training agencies around the 9 789381 320136 60000 world including WFTGA. A lot of academic researches on issue of guides and guide training have been carried out under the aegis of IITTM. All this has allowed us to evolve our range of guide training programmes. While The Regional Level Guide Training Programme (RLGTP) is organised as per the guidelines provided by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, IITTM has developed training modules that can be customised to address the specific requirements of State Governments or a Union Territory Administrations. These training programmes are targeted at novices who are interested in investing time in tourism as guides. Interests range from full time tour guiding to participating on a part time basis. Such participants may be trained to be licensed as a state level Tour Guide. These programmes may also benefit individuals who are so far practising guiding without any license or are operating as tour escorts.

The training programme The training programme has a few important components – basic tour guiding skills and related information; knowledge of local/regional tourism products; sensitisation for responsible tourism; and hands on tour guiding experience. Guiding skills

Profile and role of Tour Guide; guest arrival and departure formalities; tour arrangement procedures; pre-research; commentary; guiding at a monument, guiding at museum, guiding at religious place, guiding on a moving vehicle; first aid and emergency medical care; map reading; itinerary planning.

Knowledge of tourism products

Art and archaeology at the destination, monuments at the destination; religion and religious places; history and geography of the destination; culture of the state – music, wedding, cuisine, socio-cultural traditions, art and craft; main tourist circuits of region; fairs at the destination; history and geography of India.

Interpersonal skills

Verbal and non-verbal communication; complaint handling; art of listening and handling questions; handling cross-cultural differences; manners and etiquettes; dos and don’ts.

Tourism trade

Tourism trade; components of tourism value chain; Indian tourism; tourism in the state; trade terminology; ticketing and bookings; travel insurance, etc.; accommodation and meal plans.

Guide’s context

Relation with travel and tour companies; role and function of state and national government; role of state government and tourism development board; Dos and Don’ts for a guide.

Sensitizing

Responsible tourism; Dos and Don’ts for a tourist.

Expected outcome The expected outcome of the Tour Guide training programmes includes: 

Participants are made to appreciate and are exposed to the traits and characteristics necessary to be an effective Tour Guide.



Equip learners with knowledge of local tourism products at the destination.



Improve the guiding and communication skills of the learners.



Learners are able to handle visitors and take good care of them.



Participants are also sensitised towards responsible tourism.

Salient features of the training Some of the high points of our training programmes are: 1.

Large component of practical guiding.

2.

Details observation exercises.

3.

2-day communication seminar where each candidate is video graphed and play back used to improve communication skills.

4.

Practical guiding at a destination – moving vehicle, monument guiding, guiding at a museum, and guiding at a religious place; with expert trainers who provide real time feedback.

5.

Research and real time practice.

6.

Evaluation of trainees based on performance in real time.

The Author… Nimit Chowdhary

([email protected]) is a Professor with Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Gwalior. Widely acknowledged as a prolific researcher and writer, he is also a qualified trainer in Tour Guiding by the World Federation of Tour Guide Association (WFTGA) and has been associated with the Regional Level Guide Training Programme (RLGTP) for over six years. Prof. Chowdhary has engaged with various state governments in designing and conducting numerous Tour Guide training programmes. Currently supervising a number of doctoral level researches on tour guiding at prestigious Indian universities, he has taught at several international universities, including Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico; Global Entrepreneurship Academy (GEA), Slovenia; Shaoxing University, China; University of Gotland, Sweden and University of Girona, Spain. Recipient of the prestigious AICTE Career Award for Young Teachers, he is globally acclaimed and extensively published in the area of tour guiding. Widely travelled throughout India and in over 30 countries, his areas of special interest include, Destination Marketing and Strategy, Tourism Entrepreneurship and Research Methodology.

Other titles by the author… Starting a Tourism Company is the first title of a two book series and has been developed as a step-by-step guide to start a small tourism company. As opposed to the ‘why entrepreneurship’ approach the authors follow a ‘how entrepreneurship approach’. While most other books on entrepreneurship discuss the theories on entrepreneurship, its definitions, classifications, characteristics etc., this book provides several tourism business ideas and takes the reader through the process of research and analysis to develop a bankable business plan. Divided into four segments:



Section A introduces the reader to the concept of tourism entrepreneurship by sharing various business ideas.



Sections B & C provide detailed guidelines for developing effective business plans supported by strategy, marketing, operations, people and financial plans, besides supporting them with existing and original case studies.



Section D addresses practical steps, issues and government guidelines to set-up a small tourism related business.

The book is a practical guide for serious entrepreneurs desirous of either venturing into this lucrative business sector or for those wanting to enhance their competitive edge.

Managing a Small Tourism Business is the second title of the two book series and focuses on the critical aspects of management, important for any small business including, strategy, organisational structure, operations, human resource management, marketing, and financial management issues.



In the backdrop of the current tourism business scenario and government policy, the introduction builds a strategy which will encourage private enterprise.



The reader is guided to build a sense of direction for the business by – developing vision and mission, identifying competitors and customers, discussing steps to design a strategy and detailing the process of market research, segmentation, targeting and positioning for small tourism firms.



It discusses the 7Ps of tourism marketing in detail, dealing with – product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, people and process. The authors creatively weave an important 8th P of tourism marketing – Partnering, a key element of any small tourism company.



The book showcases marketing efforts of a successful merchandiser, a Tour Guide, a Bed & Breakfast operator, a safari operator, MPSTDC and an event management company.



Detailed segments on human resource requirements; selection of location and design of premises; financial planning; use of IT to advantage; inputs for developing a website; a discussion on responsible tourism and some useful tips for success make the book complete.

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