Communication for Tourism: Tour Guiding

Known for its sweetest mangoes not only in the Philippines but in the world; the mango capital of the
Philippines.

Home of the most preserved example of a planned Spanish Colonial town in Asia.

Known as the “paradise of the north” and the country’s smallest province, both in terms of land area
and population.

Home of 1,268 cone-shaped hills known as the “Chocolate Hills”

The host city of “The Panagbenga Festival” , the Philippine’s summer capital.

Dubbed as the “Fruit Basket of the Philippines”. “City of the Land of Promise”.

Recognized by the World Conservation Organization as a community conserved area because of its strict
conservation rules and forbidden/sacred lakes and beaches.

Where Yamashita surrendered to Filipino- American Forces in 1945.

Known as the Queen City of the South

Home of the underground river known as one of the seven wonders of the world.

Tourism is a travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. Like other business, tourism is highly
perishable. Hotel with no booking, buses and airlines with no passengers lose their value. Promotion of
tourism, therefore, is necessary to sustain the industry.

Tour guides, to be effective, must possess good communication skills, in fact, communication is their
main tool.

Communicative Goals in Tour Guiding

1. Inform, remind and advise

1. Receiving telephone calls

The way one handles a telephone may be the first impression that a company makes on prospective
client. The tips below will help create a good impression.

Always have a notepad and a pen near the telephone

Pick up the phone after 2 to 3 rings

Communication Skills for Tour Guides

Tour guides need to communicate effectively. It is of utmost important that your travellers
understand the information and ideas shared by you. Take a look at the few components of
communication skills for tour guides to communicate effectively.

Communication Skills for Tour Guides

Open Communication

An important part of the communication skills for tour guides is having open communication. For
communication to be successful, always encourage open communication. You can have open
communication by engaging your travellers, asking questions, inviting their feedback and point of
view. Do not use a convincing or superior tone as open communication means accepting the
different point of views. This will help to increase understanding of the different type of travellers
you meet. It will also help to collect more knowledge about different culture, places and things, thus
improving yourself as a tourist guide.

Active Listening

Being a good listener is one of the best ways to be a good communicator. By listening, you can
understand the needs of your travellers better. Always practice active listening. There are three
steps of active listing. Step one, pay close attention to what your traveller is saying. I think as guides,
we will tend to rehearse what we want to say in our heads. As a result, this cause us to be distracted
and unable to listening attentively to what travellers have to say. Step two, ask questions to clarify.
If you are in doubt as to whether you understand, always ask questions to clarify. Step three,
paraphrase what your traveller is saying to ensure that both parties are on the same page and have
the same understanding.

Listening is an important part of the communication skills for tour guides. Of course, as tour guides,
you cannot be only listening as it is your job to guide and tell stories to your group.

Speak Clearly, at the Desired Pace

As tour guides, we always have a lot to say and eager to share. However, at times, your travellers
might not be native English speakers. Also, they might be tired from all the travelling and have a
short attention span. Therefore, always remember the 5Cs and KISS. Keep the information and
storytelling clear, concise, correct, complete and concrete. By that, you do not beat around the
bush, use difficult words or tell false information. In addition, always remember to keep it short and
simple (KISS). As a guideline, the desired pace is 110 to 140 words per minute.

Non-Verbal Communication

Other than what you speak and hear, it is also important what travellers see and how you portray
yourself as a tour guide. Non-verbal communication is also an important part of the communication
skills for tour guides. Your body language, eye contact and hand gestures are all part of the message
and stories a tour guide is conveying.

Some tips for tour guides include always adopt an open stance, showing hands as it depicts a
welcoming and trustworthy message. Never fold your arms as it implies that you impatient or angry.
Maintain eye contact with everyone in the group. This is especially so for big groups as you want to
include everyone and make sure no one feels missed out.

1.4 Reasons for communicating

As a tour guide, communication will be your main tool in informing and guiding guests around sites
and keeping their interest. Below, we have some suggested reasons why communication is so
important in a tour guiding context. After reading through them, why don't you tackle the activities
which follow, which are based on some of the main reasons for communicating in tour guiding.
to inform, remind and advise

You will use communication to present your country to tourists. As a tour guide you will have to
answer many questions, handle queries and present information to tourists. Among these types of
information will be :

giving directions and commentaries;

explaining procedures and itineraries;

providing advice on safety and security; and

describing tourist attractions.

This information to guests can be: helpful suggestions to prepare themselves for a tour, advice
about personal belongings to take, medical advice on preventative medicines, and information
about available services at tourist destinations.

to clarify, and to avoid confusion and misunderstandings

Communication helps to clarify facts so that there is no confusion or misunderstandings. Also,

to promote and persuade

Communication is also the tool you’ll use to promote the tourism products and services of your
country, such as the destinations and events they will visit and enquire about. Remember, tourists
visit your country in order to see what attractions the country has to offer and to perceive and
experience the country from your perspective. As a tour guide, therefore, it will be your
responsibility to motivate and reinforce the tourist’s interest in your country. Your commentaries
 are the « eye » through which tourists will see the country and you are the representative of the
people of your country.

to build relationships

How well you communicate with your tour group will determine the success of the tour and how
successful you are in your career as a tour guide. Conversations help to develop rapport which will
build interpersonal relationships This is important for sustaining the tourism activities.

to evaluate your services. Communication will enable you to collect relevant feedback from the
tourists with a view to gauging the interests and expectations of the tourists. This feedback obtained
can be communicated to all concerned. From this you will be able to explore ways of improving
subsequent tour activities.

10 QUALITIES EVERY TOUR GUIDE SHOULD HAVE

STRONG COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Being a guide is all about having strong communication skills. It’s ok to be a quiet person, but if you have
to communicate with new people on a daily basis, you just have to be able to do it well. On a basic level
guides should be great at projecting their voices across a group, and be able to do so in a clear and easy
to understand way. On an interpersonal level, being great at knowing how to communicate well with
people is a huge asset. This leads us to skill #2…

2. PERSONABLE & OUTGOING

This skill takes communication to the next level. Guides shouldn’t just be able to communicate well, they
have to be great conversationalists with outgoing personalities; what we call the “Star of the Show”
quality, which isn’t something you can teach. There can be a bit of social awkwardness when a new
group of strangers show up, and a guide should be able to break that immediately to help people feel
comfortable talking to each other and their guide. This ensures later on they feel open to add comments
or add questions along the way.

3. A MEMORY LIKE A STEAL TRAP

Tour guides need to retain a lot of stats and facts when walking people around a city- but they also need
to be a great story-teller. Guides simply can’t get the information wrong, spend extra time trying to
remember it or spend the whole tour reading from a piece of paper. Their memory should be so good,
that it seems as if they’ve just always known these facts when they recite them. But most of all, the
story needs to sound like it’s their own.

4. IMPROVISATIONAL SKILLS

We’re not demanding your guides put on an improv show, but the ability to change things up on the fly
and play off the energy of the group is important. Attendees will likely have additional questions or
comments along the way. These things shouldn’t throw your guide for a loop, they should be able to
adjust their script as needed. Sticking too closely to it, could end up making your guests feel like there’s
no room for them to say anything at all.

5. JUST ENOUGH ENTHUSIASM

Just as guides will often play off the energy of the group, your attendees will likely feed off the energy of
their guide. Your guide has be enthusiastic about the thing they’re talking about, but not so enthusiastic
that they fail to sound genuine.

6. HUMOR

Just like being outgoing and enthusiastic, humor can be the perfect tool to cut any tensions and as
always add an extra layer of entertainment for guests.

7. PUNCTUALITY

Punctuality is a can’t do without quality for tour guides. If your guide isn’t on time to meet arriving
attendees at the meet up location there will be confusion, frustration and unhappy tour goers.

8. A KEEN SENSE OF DIRECTION

9. THE KNOWLEDGE OF A LOCAL

Anyone can memorize and recite facts. Though it’s not a requirement, some of the best guides are locals
themselves. What’s great about this quality is that in addition to the planned facts and statistics, they
can bring their own knowledge, experience and personal anecdotes to the tour. This can make a tour
feel particularly special for guests who are looking for a genuine experience outside the typical tourist
attractions.

10. PASSION FOR THEIR CITY

Last but certainly not least, true passion and interest can take a tour from typical to outstanding.
Anyone can point and recite facts, but those who really love what they do can pass that passion onto
tourists and locals to make them feel it too. Plus those with passion for their city, bring their own
experience to the tours they give.