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When it comes to private sightseeing tours, the tour guide can be challenged to provide an interesting initial program. How can you design great sightseeing tours program that is desirable to your specific clients everytime?
Ask and listen
You may have guided the classic/common sightseeing tours in your city hundreds of times but remember, every person has their own travel needs. Especially with clients who require a private sightseeing tour. So take the effort to confirm: Is it your first time to the city? Do you have any special interests e.g. art, history, nature, local market? Are you ok with long-hour walking or alert to any foods ……
Q. Do listen to your clients’ needs, otherwise you won’t be successful with the sightseeing tours proposal.
Design the sightseeing tours program
Now that you know your clients interests and requirements, you can start to design a tailor-made program. Here are some tips when putting together the “things to do”. Try to put all information on one page. It is like resume, simple and clear is the best. Make a short note besides the scenic spot name e.g. (Shanghai, China) Yuyuan Garden, traditional Chinese garden established 400 years ago. A tour guide is familiar with all sites. Yet your client may not.
Do not put very similar sites or activities in the same day tour unless your client required so E.g. visiting the history museum in the morning and art museum in the afternoon may be too much museum activity in the same day. Balance walking with driving time. Long hour walking will fatigue travelers as well as the tour guide. Too much time on transportation will make people boring. Do the distant sites first and nearby sites later. It is not clever to visit far away sites while your clients are catching a flight/train on the same day - stress in not fun for any person.
Leave the evening free. You may suggest activities, but do not make a program detailed into 24 hours. Leave some free time for the travelers to enjoy themselves. Tour guides also need a break and prepare for the next day - refreshed and full of energy.
Alternatives and Cancellation
Offer alternatives. People like to have choices. E.g. select their preferred local performance among several options. Tour guides also need to consider activities limited by weather or other conditions. E.g. the outdoor activity not fit for raining days. Notify your clients of cancellation rules if any. It is better to inform in advance, avoiding conflicts or displeasure.
Confirm signtseeing tours in advance
When you are responsible for a sightseeing tour with everything included, do confirm all the details in advance. Confirm with travel clients the program details in full. Book the car and driver earlier when required. Check with restaurant availability and order the table if it is a popular place.
No. 1 = Clarify the needs of clients.
No. 2 = Then build the tour towards meeting these needs.
Then you will come out with a great and workable sightseeing tours program.
Monday 21 September 2009
Friday 4 September 2009
Client Feedback - How to ensure a superb sightseeing tour
Happy clients recommend great tour guides and sightseeing tours to friends. How can you ensure you have a happy client willing to recommend your services after the sightseeing tours are complete?
ACTUAL FEEDBACK FROM A REAL CLIENT
Before the sightseeing tour
As previously mentioned, the tour guide did contact me within a few hours of me sending a question and booking the tour. This seemed very professional to me.
I also mentioned that she contacted me via Instant Messaging soon after the booking. You may want to recommend this to other tour guides as it did help made build trust in her as a tour guide and the fact that she was going to turn up on the day … definitely help me feel that I was not going to get "stood up" on the day of the tour.
Another good point is that she promised to call my hotel the day before the sightseeing tours to confirm the meeting place and time, which she did.
At the start of the sightseeing tours
The tour guide was punctual, which is very important.As soon as we met, the guide was instantly very friendly.
The tour guide had the good sense to first sit with me, before we went out, to confirm what I wanted to do and we discussed a rough itinerary. Again, good another tip to suggest for tour guides, because if she did not know my expectations, then I might not be satisfied at the end.
The tour guide also confirmed that my clothing was suitable, since we were visiting temples etc. Another possible hint tip is to get guides to recommend appropriate clothing etc before the day of meeting.
The tour guide also allowed me to decide if I wanted them to pay for things along the way (and I pay at the end) or if I simply wanted to pay as we go. It was nice that they offered this option.
[Advise Summary: Be punctual. Attentive to details. Mind the cultural background of your clients.]
During the sightseeing tours
The tour guide did seem to know her city and was quite confident in showing me around. She was constantly talking and telling me information and was answering most of my questions.
In fact, I think she was so enthusiastic to tell me what she knew, that she often quickly dismissed or brushed over what I really wanted to know. Tip: tell your tour guides to "listen" to the customer as it will be the customer that that will ultimately evaluate them on the website and with their tip.
A tip might be how to handle the situation when the sightseeing tours finishes early (not getting the full value) or if the guest wants to spend more time … I guess an hourly rate could be suitable in this case.
[Advise Summary: Be knowledgeable but not overwhelming with everything. Listen to your clients and focus on their interest.]
At the end of the sightseeing tours
The next day (after the tour), the tour guide called my hotel room at approximately 8:30am to follow up and see if they could help in any other way. Some people may have found this very professional, but since I had a very big night in Bangkok the night before and arrived to the hotel late, I was a little annoyed that they rang me so early on my holiday when I was actually relaxing and sleeping in.
[Advise Summary: Follow up in the right time. Provide your full contacts to your clients, so they can find you when they need. Offer further help at end of the tour when you are with the clients. An email follow up with thank and feedback request is a good option.]
ACTUAL FEEDBACK FROM A REAL CLIENT
Before the sightseeing tour
As previously mentioned, the tour guide did contact me within a few hours of me sending a question and booking the tour. This seemed very professional to me.
I also mentioned that she contacted me via Instant Messaging soon after the booking. You may want to recommend this to other tour guides as it did help made build trust in her as a tour guide and the fact that she was going to turn up on the day … definitely help me feel that I was not going to get "stood up" on the day of the tour.
Another good point is that she promised to call my hotel the day before the sightseeing tours to confirm the meeting place and time, which she did.
At the start of the sightseeing tours
The tour guide was punctual, which is very important.As soon as we met, the guide was instantly very friendly.
The tour guide had the good sense to first sit with me, before we went out, to confirm what I wanted to do and we discussed a rough itinerary. Again, good another tip to suggest for tour guides, because if she did not know my expectations, then I might not be satisfied at the end.
The tour guide also confirmed that my clothing was suitable, since we were visiting temples etc. Another possible hint tip is to get guides to recommend appropriate clothing etc before the day of meeting.
The tour guide also allowed me to decide if I wanted them to pay for things along the way (and I pay at the end) or if I simply wanted to pay as we go. It was nice that they offered this option.
[Advise Summary: Be punctual. Attentive to details. Mind the cultural background of your clients.]
During the sightseeing tours
The tour guide did seem to know her city and was quite confident in showing me around. She was constantly talking and telling me information and was answering most of my questions.
In fact, I think she was so enthusiastic to tell me what she knew, that she often quickly dismissed or brushed over what I really wanted to know. Tip: tell your tour guides to "listen" to the customer as it will be the customer that that will ultimately evaluate them on the website and with their tip.
A tip might be how to handle the situation when the sightseeing tours finishes early (not getting the full value) or if the guest wants to spend more time … I guess an hourly rate could be suitable in this case.
[Advise Summary: Be knowledgeable but not overwhelming with everything. Listen to your clients and focus on their interest.]
At the end of the sightseeing tours
The next day (after the tour), the tour guide called my hotel room at approximately 8:30am to follow up and see if they could help in any other way. Some people may have found this very professional, but since I had a very big night in Bangkok the night before and arrived to the hotel late, I was a little annoyed that they rang me so early on my holiday when I was actually relaxing and sleeping in.
[Advise Summary: Follow up in the right time. Provide your full contacts to your clients, so they can find you when they need. Offer further help at end of the tour when you are with the clients. An email follow up with thank and feedback request is a good option.]
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Tour Guide Survey - Martina Gregorcova, Prague Sightseeing Tours
1. What is the best thing you like being a tour guide? – I like to be tour guide because I meet people from all over the world, I am freelance and my work is my hobby!
2. What is your most memorable moment in guiding so far? – The most amazing experience is – I took around a family from LA in my Trabant Car, 3 weeks after they returned from Prague back to USA, they sent me a little car toy – which looks exactly like mine – Trabant Junior! – I have it in my car till today and I show it to everyone.
3. What is most challenging for you in this career? Have you coped with it? – my dream is to be private guide for Beyonce Giselle Knowles – because I am her really big fan, she performed in Prague April 2009, went for short sightseeing but without tour guide, I would like to be her private guide if she comes back to Prague.
4. What is your favorite place/thing that you want to show your travel clients? – Hidden parts of Prague Castle
5. What if you were not a Prague tour guide? What do you imagine yourself to be? – I studied in Art & Music school in Slovakia, I would be definitely doing something with design or singing and dancing.
Friday 21 August 2009
Knowledge Preparation for City Sightseeing Tours
City sightseeing tours are different from safari travel or mountain trips. On one hand, it has less physical requirements on travelers but on the other, it demands a tour guide of a deeper knowledge level about the city and sights.
So what shall a tour guide prepare before offering city sightseeing tours? Place names and local terminologies are the basics. You are familiar with the local name of a place, but be aware that your clients may call it differently based on their knowledge. For instance, the famous steel bridge in Shanghai with over 100 years history was known as “Wai Bai Du Qiao” among citizens. However, it was originally named as “Garden Bridge” by the British. Do some research in advance, and try to avoid a misunderstanding for such cases. For basic background information like the name, location, establishment date, history, etc. - a tour guide needs to stick to facts and be as accurate as possible.
But the travelers are not coming for a lesson, are they? Therefore, a great tour guide tells interesting stories and anecdotes during the sightseeing tours. These stories may be true or partly true. They help to arouse interest of travelers and make the place fondly remembered.
City sightseeing tours can not be complete without noticing people and the life in and around the city. At the sightseeing spot, or during transportation in the city, tour guides can introduce how people live and work here. Local traditions and customs are often welcomed. It is best to combine such introduction with what you see along the way. Offer some fair and mutual opinions by yourself, as you are a local fully engaged in the daily life.
There is other general knowledge a tour guide should prepare, either for city tours or other sightseeing tours. For instance, toilets in each stop, taxi stands or public transportation you need to take, entrances/exits of scenic spots…
Good tour guides welcome all questions from travelers. The more knowledge you have, the better travelers will experience your city tours. But don’t worry. Rome was not built in one day. With proactive study and practical experiences, you will be a great city tour guide.
Have you any top tips to share with OurExplorer please?
Friday 14 August 2009
The perfect greeting to start sightseeing tours
Your method of greeting your clients is very important for a tour guide. The client gets a direct first impression of you and perhaps even of your city, from this initial greeting. It is not as simply as a basic introduction. A tour guide should consider timing, boby language and the surroundings in which to present a customized greeting to your travel clients.
Pick Up Location
First, consider the pick-up location. When you meet your clients at the airport, it is usually a long-drive to the city centre. In that case, a tour guide shall prepare enough content to introduce themselves. Besides the basic facts of the city, you may talk some more about local culture, customs, upcoming events etc. Choose some fun topics, so that the travelers do not get bored after the flight. When you meet at the railway station, bus station, or cruise port, the driving routes are different from each other. It is best that a tour guide combines their prepared greeting with the sights along the way.
Another common meeting point is the hotel lobby where your clients are staying. This can be very broad and you may not know every hotel in the city. Do some homework before meeting the client. Know the distance from their hotel to the first sight, and the route you are going to cover.
Time of the Day
Timing is also a consideration of your greeting speech length. When a tour guide picks up clients at day time to start some sightseeing tours, you are often expected to talk more. Your clients are excited to hear about this new place. If you meet travelers at night time, you talk less and give your clients time to rest. Save the best for the following morning when they are refreshed. If even later, it’s a mid-night arrival- perhaps ask them are they tired, if yes, will you keep silent completely? No, it is recommended to give a brief greeting. With just one or two sentences, your clients will appreciate your greeting in a strange place.
So how do you start your greeting speech, with a big smile and welcome or something extraordinary and eye-catching. Let us know some of your techniques?
Pick Up Location
First, consider the pick-up location. When you meet your clients at the airport, it is usually a long-drive to the city centre. In that case, a tour guide shall prepare enough content to introduce themselves. Besides the basic facts of the city, you may talk some more about local culture, customs, upcoming events etc. Choose some fun topics, so that the travelers do not get bored after the flight. When you meet at the railway station, bus station, or cruise port, the driving routes are different from each other. It is best that a tour guide combines their prepared greeting with the sights along the way.
Another common meeting point is the hotel lobby where your clients are staying. This can be very broad and you may not know every hotel in the city. Do some homework before meeting the client. Know the distance from their hotel to the first sight, and the route you are going to cover.
Time of the Day
Timing is also a consideration of your greeting speech length. When a tour guide picks up clients at day time to start some sightseeing tours, you are often expected to talk more. Your clients are excited to hear about this new place. If you meet travelers at night time, you talk less and give your clients time to rest. Save the best for the following morning when they are refreshed. If even later, it’s a mid-night arrival- perhaps ask them are they tired, if yes, will you keep silent completely? No, it is recommended to give a brief greeting. With just one or two sentences, your clients will appreciate your greeting in a strange place.
So how do you start your greeting speech, with a big smile and welcome or something extraordinary and eye-catching. Let us know some of your techniques?
Tuesday 4 August 2009
Tour Guide Industry trends & Events Update
Here are a selection of tour guide and sightseeing tours trends
First Tour Guide in Xitang (China)
Xitang, the thousand-year old town located in eastern China's Zhejiang Province had just started to develop tourism in that year.
"People asked who that girl was and why she was always shouting with a loudspeaker, followed by a group of strangers," she said, recalling the first year of her career life as a tour guide when reporters from CRI interviewed her on Monday.
The reaction was understandable since before 1997 only peddlers who collected used bottles and old newspaper used loudspeaker to attract new business. Tour Guide details
Get paid to travel (Malaysia)
How many of us dream of having a fun job where we get to travel to interesting places, make new international friends and get a healthy sum of money for doing so?
"But overall, it's a fun, rewarding and an eye-opening job, so I'd give it a try if I were you!"
Australia's most eccentric tour guides (Australia)
Sometimes on a tour, it's not about the where or the what, but the who. A good, entertaining tour guide can make all the difference, and some of them become legends in their own right.
Responsible Tourism Day (Worldwide)
WTM World Responsible Tourism Day, the only global day of action of its kind, is being supported by the UNWTO and leading industry associations. The day is vital – for business, for profitability and for our planet. It means taking care of a world that we seek to promote, preserving our heritage and cultures and taking into account the views and needs of local communities.
How Search Is Key To Booking Travel Plans (Worldwide)
The majority of personal travelers still plan to travel just as much or more throughout 2009, compared with 2008. Booking behavior has changed, however. Travelers will shop around more and wait for the best deal before they book.
First Tour Guide in Xitang (China)
Xitang, the thousand-year old town located in eastern China's Zhejiang Province had just started to develop tourism in that year.
"People asked who that girl was and why she was always shouting with a loudspeaker, followed by a group of strangers," she said, recalling the first year of her career life as a tour guide when reporters from CRI interviewed her on Monday.
The reaction was understandable since before 1997 only peddlers who collected used bottles and old newspaper used loudspeaker to attract new business. Tour Guide details
Get paid to travel (Malaysia)
How many of us dream of having a fun job where we get to travel to interesting places, make new international friends and get a healthy sum of money for doing so?
"But overall, it's a fun, rewarding and an eye-opening job, so I'd give it a try if I were you!"
Australia's most eccentric tour guides (Australia)
Sometimes on a tour, it's not about the where or the what, but the who. A good, entertaining tour guide can make all the difference, and some of them become legends in their own right.
Responsible Tourism Day (Worldwide)
WTM World Responsible Tourism Day, the only global day of action of its kind, is being supported by the UNWTO and leading industry associations. The day is vital – for business, for profitability and for our planet. It means taking care of a world that we seek to promote, preserving our heritage and cultures and taking into account the views and needs of local communities.
How Search Is Key To Booking Travel Plans (Worldwide)
The majority of personal travelers still plan to travel just as much or more throughout 2009, compared with 2008. Booking behavior has changed, however. Travelers will shop around more and wait for the best deal before they book.
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Interview with Tour Guide - Flora Lin from Shanghai
Shanghai Tour Guide Flora Lin
1. What is the best thing you like being a tour guide?
Travel, Freedom, Meet and interact with people from all over the world and have good friendship. It’s a happy job.
2. What is your most memorable moment in guiding so far?
Once I had several days sightseeing tours with a US family, when i take them to the airport and say goodbye,everyone didn't wanna me to leave and they told me I would be their family member and they invited me to visit them in US.
When the earthquake happened in May last year,one of my guests sent me an email at once and was worried about me - "r u ok?".
I also received the gifts,postcards and thanks letters from some guests after the trip,sending by post from Egypt, US, Sweden etc.,which all make me so moved.
3. What is most challenging for you in this career? Have you coped with it?
Actually I enjoy this job a lot and always having good time with guests.
I think the most challenging is the different inquiries and demands from the guest.
Good communication,updating my knowledge all the time,understanding and devoted by the heart helps a lot.
4. What is your favorite place/thing that you want to show your travel clients?
The best thing is to get into the local life while you travel.The old town,local stone-framed gate houses,alleyways,watching people cooking,playing mahjongg game,visiting the wet market,flea market will be fun things to do in shanghai.
5. What if you were not a tour guide? What do you imagine yourself to be?
G.O.at Club Med. Tour Leader. I love travelling,will do anything related with travel.
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