Job Description

What: One of the easiest modes of entertainment is traveling. Traveling has become very easy these days. The growth of travel and tourism industry has opened up many job opportunities. Career as a tour guide is preferred mostly by young aspirants. The job of a travel/tourist guide is both remunerative and challenging. An efficient tourist guide can make any place look beautiful and captivating to the tourists. However for achieving this, he must uphold the cultural traditions and heritage of the place, along with social customs and even local legends. A travel guide must have extensive knowledge of the popular tourist destinations particularly those associated with art, architecture, and culture. Possessing a pleasing personality and the ability to entertain tourists of any age group is always an added advantage for students opting for tourist guide as a career. A travel / tourist guide’s job is both delightful and challenging. A tourist guide has to make the tourist spots aesthetically appealing, whether it the narrow and filthy lanes of a historical city or the striking landscape of Himalayas.
He has to uphold the cultural traditions and heritage of the place being visited and also talk of social customs, even local superstitions. In this job, it’s important to satisfy the curiosity of a tourist, especially the first timers. To put it in precise terms, a tourist guide’s profession is endowed with immense potentials. Travel guiding is a field, where initial struggle does pay rich dividends. Earnings of tour guides vary depending on skills, abilities, professionalism, and customer satisfaction. Regional tour guides may charge anywhere from Rs. 400 and above for an eight hour day. They may earn between Rs. 30,000 – 40,000, and even more, in the 3-4 months of tourist peak seasons. How: The tourism department holds examination which consists heavily of general knowledge, history and culture etc. The candidate should possess good linguistic skills especially verbal along with a pleasing personality. Knowledge of foreign language is an added advantage. The candidates are selected generally on the basis of a written test. The pre-requisite for the test is a graduation degree in any discipline. Ministry of Tourism provides licenses to the tourist guides and also organizes Regional Level Tourist Guide Training Programmes. Many of the states in India have made registration of tourist guides mandatory.Job opportunities are also with the various State Tourist Development Corporations in the respective states like M.P. State Tourism Development Corporation, U.P. State Tourism Development Corporation, and ITDC. For Eligibility Criteria there is no maximum age limit. Preferably graduation degree in any discipline, preferably art, archaeology, history and culture. Where: One can build a career as a tourist guide in both public and private sector organizations. Tour guides can find job opportunities in tourism departments and tourism directorates of the union and state governments. Apart from these professions, good prospects also lie with airlines, hotels, and transport services. Tour guides can work as travel journalists, travel writers, and freelance tour guides too. Self-employment is a good option in this sector. Generally, after gaining adequate experience and recognition in an established travel agency, agents usually start their own firms. Institutions: (see below)