Educational Requirements

The First requirement for a guide is an inquisitive mind and a love of knowledge across the widest range of subjects. The quest to build up knowledge is never ending. If a guide ever feels she/he knows it all, it is time to give up guiding. She/he has “burned out”.

Every professional guide should have fundamental knowledge in certain basic subjects:

Geography

History

Flora and Fauna

Architecture

Economics of the Area

Traditions and Customs

There must obviously be specific detailed knowledge of the sites, walks/trails and bus boat routes that are covered.

A guide, as he/she builds on experience, should listen to the client’s questions and think about them through the client’s eyes. Correct, objective answers should be sought by reading, listening to experts, including the older generation.

Without knowledge the art of guiding cannot be practiced. Commentary cannot be learnt by heart.

Generally, on-the-job training is provided for persons in these occupations. Some positions may require completion of secondary school. Self-directed learning of appropriate skills or completion of an outdoor recreation program is generally necessary to work as an outdoor guide. Knowledge of laws concerning wildlife is necessary for wildlife and hunting guides. Fluency in more than one language is often an asset. Special vehicular licences and first aid certificates may be required.

Secondary Education

There are no specific secondary educational requirements for tour guides. Knowledge of a second language, History, Geography and outdoor education qualification (if working in adventure education) may be helpful. Tour Guides working in Jamaica should have an excellent command of the English Language.

Tertiary Education

While many tour escorts have a college degree, tour companies almost never require it. It does, however, help convince employers that you have the speaking skills and ability to learn the fundamentals of guiding a tour. Advanced degrees in certain areas, such as ecology, history, or foreign languages, can be extremely helpful or even required for certain specialty tours. If you don't have a college degree, there are still plenty of opportunities available. In the tour business, personality and experience count for a lot.

Useful Experience

Useful experience for tour guides includes:

• Work in the tourism and hospitality industries

• Work involving contact with the public

• Public speaking

• First aid training

• Travel experience

• Experience dealing with people from other cultures.

Other Attributes that Help to Make a Great Guide

Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

History and Archeology — Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Public Safety and Security — Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Training on the Job

Skills such as first aid, basic team rescue, fire-fighting and cultural etiquette may be learned on the job.

The Role and Personality of Tour Guides

Task & Duties of tour guides Tour guides accompany visitors on local tours and services and guide within a specific country, region, area, city or site.

They provide special information on matters relating to such things as history, archaeology, monuments and works of art, the environment, culture, natural and built attractions, places of interest and any general matter of interest to the visitor.

Tour guides may perform the following tasks:

• Meet members of a tour on arrival and make introductions

• Coordinate pre-arranged accommodation and transport, and make sure that tour members are comfortable

• Lead tour groups, advise tour members of local interest points and prepare and present tour commentaries

• Coordinate pre-arranged touring activities such as visits to local attractions, restaurants or shops, train rides, cruises and extended tours

• Research and share general information on Jamaica’s Indigenous cultures

• Attend to operational problems such as booking errors and amendments, lost luggage or illness, and if needed, provide first aid

• Keep in touch with transportation companies

• Maintain written reports of daily activities and carry out other administrative work.

Skills Tour Guides need to have:

• Planning and organizational ability

• Time management skills

• Public speaking skills

• Leadership and crisis management skills

• Communication, listening and observation skills

• Problem-solving and conflict resolution skills

• Numeracy and sales skills

• Business skills if managing a tour company.

Abilities

Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Personalities

Does the perfect escort personality type exist? Probably not. Some tour conductors have achieved success by being intensely outgoing, others by perfecting their ability to deliver information, still others by juggling a thousands concerns in a calm low-key manner. Furthermore, each tour operator has its own favored guide personality type some companies seek out individuals who have strong entertainment skills – who can lead sing-along, tell jokes, and organize games. Other operators like guides who can weave cultured and informed narration, for them, the ability to entertain is useful but not fundamental.

In general Tour guides need to be:

• Friendly, polite and trustworthy

• Responsible and safety conscious

• Patient, helpful and perceptive to visitors' needs

• Outgoing and able to put people at ease

• Able to work well under pressure

• Calm in an emergency

• Well organized and have an eye for detail

• Able to relate to people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds

• Good listeners and able to deal with people's complaints.

In brief, the professional guide will seek to retain interest by passing on information in an enjoyable and entertaining manner, combining the skills of the teacher and the entertainer.

If there is one major quality within a guide’s personality, it must be ENTHUSIASM. Enthusiasm backed by expertise will lead to confidence, both in oneself and in the client.

Physical Requirements

Tour guides need to have clear speech, good hearing and a clean and tidy appearance. They also need to have a reasonable level of physical fitness, as there may be a lot of walking involved.

People in this career frequently:

• Walk while leading tours around sites.

• Sit while leading bus tours.

It is important for people in this career to be able to:

• Speak clearly so listeners can understand.

• Recognize and understand the speech of another person.

• See details of objects whether they are nearby or far away.

• Focus on one source of sound and ignore others.