How to promote sightseeing tours via video

Using video to promote sightseeing tours is not as hard as one might think. Thanks to the developments in camera and internet technologies people are used to watching and sharing videos online. A travel video can be more vivid than static photos. Tour guides should take advantage of such modern technologies to promote various sightseeing tours via video and build client trust to book them.

See tour guide with video

1. Choose a tool to record the video.
A video camera can provide high quality movies, but it is not a must. One consideration with video camera is the file size. The bigger the video file is the faster your internet connection is required to save it. No one wants to spend a whole day uploading one video, right? Cameras are widely available. Most cameras nowadays have a video option and the quality is pretty ok. Many mobile phones also have a camera tool. Some computers have built-in cameras which you can use directly. Remember the purpose is to promote your unique sightseeing tours or show your personality and English fluency to potential clients. Blurred images create nothing but negative impression. Choose any recording tool that is convenient and fit for the purpose of your sightseeing tour promotion.

2. Select the best background and thing to say in the video
What will help your clients confirm the tour and increase client bookings for you? Again, do not forget the purpose of your videos. This is not destination promotion but to promote your tour service. The clients will be more confident when they see and hear you directly. You can show your favorite part in the destination where travelers can’t find in any guide books. The most famous or impressive scenic spots may also work with you doing the introduction. It is easy to identify the sightseeing tour location when you present by the most famous views.

3. Some editing work may increase the promotional effect.
For example, add a subtitle to tell where you are or who you are, edit video length to present the key information, reduce noise in the background to complete a higher quality presentation … Microsoft system has windows movie maker for easy editing. Ulead VideoStudio software is also a good choice for beginners. Short videos less than 3 minutes are good. Also put the best content or most important messages at the begging. Because, 1) the file is not too large to upload onto the internet, 2) leave more sightseeing tour introduction to your actual meet with clients, 3) internet surfers may not be interested enough to complete the whole video, or their website connection is too slow to load.

4. viral your videos
You can upload your video to platforms like YouTube, DailyMotion, MetaCafe… Share your video link among friends or networking sites like FaceBook. Tell more people via social media sites e.g. Digg, StumbleUpon. Promote through tour guide websites like OurExplorer, where video presentation is allowed.

Think creatively! Videos allow the tour guide to present sightseeing tours in a vivid way and motivate a client to booking your tour services.
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Tour Guide Survey with Jose in Acapulco

1. What is the best thing you like being a tour guide?

The best thing be a tour guide is to have the opportunity to meet people from other countries and tell them about the history and customs of our people.

2. What is your most memorable moment in guiding so far?

The most memorable moment well there are many ones, I had great experiences when we had big groups of tourist coming and we didn’t stop doing tours all day long for six months.

3. What is most challenging for you in this career? Have you coped with it?

It’s a challenge to take the same tourist to different tours and still they enjoy them.

4. What is your favorite place/thing that you want to show your travel clients?

My favorite place is the cliff divers show, the tehuacalco archeological ruins and the museum of san diego fort.

5. What if you were not a tour guide? What do you imagine yourself to be?

I don’t know my first job was a taxi driver at the age of 18 years old and I loved the experience.

See more on tour guide Jose in Acapulco

OurExplorer started a Tour Guide Photo Contest!

Have you got some memorable travel experiences with your local tour guides?
Did you take fun pictures of your guide during your overseas trip?

OurExplorer present you a great opportunity now to win 5 free private tour guides for your next overseas trips - you can activate them anytime.

Join Tour Guide Photo Contest 2010 – OurExplorer Now!
Submit a photo of you with your tour guide or just the tour guide on his/her own. Put in a phrase what best describes your tour guide in the photo.
Example = “my best tour guide”, “my funniest tour guide”, “my most clever tour guide”...

The deadline is 31st August 2010. Waiting for your great photos!

With a private tour guide, you can have an authentic yet customized adventure overseas. OurExplorer has now over 2,100 local tour guides in 140 countries.

Win client bookings - Critical Information

When you create your tour guide profile on OurExplorer.com, you have input a lot of information e.g self introduction, tour guide license, tour guide services, sightseeing tours... This is all necessary information to let clients know you and trust you. The more information, the more trust you will build up with potential travel clients but do you know which elements are critical to win a final client booking?

From OurExplorer client feedback, they usually choose the tour guides with a personal photo, highest "tours booked" number and some positive ratings/reviews given. As we know, most important elements shall be put at the top position of the page. You can see that tour guide photo and tours booked are displayed above the fold of the webpages. Moreover, a most recent client review has been presented directly following the tour guide self introduction. Thus, visitors don’t need to scroll down to the bottom of the page reading important client testimonials. In most cases, web surfers do not finish all the page contents to the very end of the page. That’s why we design the tour guide profile layout as you see now.

What can a tour guide do with these fields to win more client bookings?

A happy smiling photo is best to give a good first impression to your clients. You can display a welcoming smile photo like tour guide Diana in Athens, or a cheerful photo of you with happy clients like Nairobi tour guide Paul. It is also fun to display you in your working environment. See Kasane tour guide Clive playing with the elephant.

"Tours booked" numbers and client reviews are closely related to each other. The more bookings a tour guide receives, the more client reviews after the sightseeing tour is completed. When a tour date and terms are agreed, ask the clients to confirm by booking at your profile webpage. When the tour is finished, ask your client to rate your service on OurExplorer.

The clients also have more confidence in booking a tour guide with a license and video presentation. A scan of your tour guide license/certificate builds more trust. What can be better than a brief video of you taliking passionately about your job? It adds great value because clients like to see and hear the tour guide. With a live video, tour guides can present their character and language skills. See Istanbul tour guide Nesrin and Bangkok tour guide Choojai .

If you are a tour guide, do you agree with the critical elements mentioned above? Any tips to better present yourself for more client bookings?

Tour Guides globally celebrate OurExplorer 2 year Birthday

Thank you all for your kind 2 year birthday wishes, here are just a few examples from around the world.

Tour Guide - What questions may help your tour guide service?

When tour guides are showing travelers around a destination, what do you talk about besides the standard guiding content?

Perhaps exchange personal information is a good idea to get to know your client more and build trust and friendship. It is quite ususal for tour guides and travelers can become friends after several days together. What else shall a tour guide choose to talk about during sightseeing tours? If you have enough time with your clients, it will be great to cover some of the below topics.


Q. How did you find/locate my tour guide service?
If not mentioned in previous communication, it is important to know how your clients locate you. Is it via an internet search, a friend referral, a newspaper advertisement …? You can then focus on the more efficient channels to receive future clients.

Q. How do you usually learn about a destination when you travel around?
This question is for client segmentation. You possibly already know the purpose of their trip before meeting them e.g. business trip or cruise vacation. Ask a bit more about their general travel methods so that you can target your client group more clearly in future e.g does the client usually use a group guide, guide book or private guide new in a new destination? When marketing it is good to be focused with certain groups. Do you have more business tourists? Do independent travelers or cruise passengers require your service more? Do senior travelers prefer your sightseeing tours offered?



Ask for feedback at end of the tour.
Have a summary of the day trip, the areas covered and ask if they enjoyed the day. Did they expect something more? If you are confident they had a great tour with you, why not ask for a written or video testimonial? Travelers are happy to talk about their trips, especially a memorable experience with a wonderful local tour guide. For clients from OurExplorer, why not reminding them to save a rating and review on the website after the tour? Client feedback is good for a tour guide to improve their service level. A testimonial adds great value to build trust with future clients.


What questions do you usually talk about with your clients?

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Tour Guide Jobs - How to become a professional tour guide?

Summer is coming and we are entering peak holiday season in Europe, Americas and Asia. There is a big demand of professional tour guides. Big events like the Fifa World Cup 2010 in South Africa and Expo 2010 in Shanghai have brought more tour guides job opportunities and relevant jobs in tourism and travel.

If you are interested in a tourism career, becoming a local tour guide can be a good start. Ask youself – do you have the passion to show your city and is your personality fit? Although tour guide jobs requires various skills, it is a job to have face-to-face communication with travelers. When you don’t have the passion to show your city, people, customs and life in this city, you would easily get bored going the same routes. If you prefer dealing with computer/numbers to real people, a tour guide job will not fit you. Being passionate and fit for the job, you can go on the next step to get qualified as a tour guide.

How to become a licensed tour guide? The requirements vary with different cities and countries. The best way is to check with your local tour guide association or tourism administration. It usually requires passing the exams (written and/or oral), or certain training programs. WFTGA.org (World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations) has members of official tourist guide associations in many countries around the world.

In many countries, the qualified tour guide will acquire a license/certificate to go on daily guiding jobs. Practical experience is important to develop your career as a tour guide. You learn how to deal with different clients and needs, get mature on addressing to various questions, grow experienced to handle emergent situations… Day-to-day guiding work will distinguish excellent tour guides from poor-performing ones. Tour guide job requires as well continuous learning. The information is changing and the city is growing. A professional guide needs to be equipped with latest information, so that you can show your travelers in an up-to-date way.

Career prospect of a tour guide. Career prospect applies not only to a tour guide, but to any one who is seeking personal development in his/her job. For a tour guide, what can be your career prospect? You can focus as a tour guide, and become expert in the field. For example, in China there are different guide qualification levels of junior, middle-level, senior and superior tour guides. Kenya safari guides are noted with bronze, silver and gold levels. Another development is mastering other languages to be a multi-lingual tour guide. If you want more adventures in this career, you can turn to a tour leader for overseas trips. With your first-hand experience as a tour guide, you can design unique sightseeing tours with your specialty. In this way, you are shifting to a tour manager or marketing person for your own tours.

There are many tour guide jobs in tourism and travel. Start learning to be a licensed tour guide first, and practice to be a top excellent tour guide in your career.