Summary: Adventure tour guides know everything about the places to be visited and are responsible for the success or failure of an escorted tour.
An escorted tour is one wherein the tourists paid extra money for the convenience of having someone along who knows a specific geographical area and who is familiar with the details and preferences of a group travel. Being in tours that run for a week or two involve quite a bit of work, so having the service of an adventure tour guide is a big help. Tour guides meet people arriving from other countries, and often function as unofficial spokespersons for the travel company. Additionally, tour guides serve as educators and all-around experts in the history, geography, and culture of the places to be visited. The Adventure Tour guide working with a tour company actually travels as a member of the group.
In an adventure tour, the scope of work of an adventure tour guide is to organize and lead the tours to exotic places, makes all travel arrangements that include dining and lodging reservations, scheduling of activities, arranging for visas, educating the tourists on cultural customs, coaching each of the group on the basics of the different adventurous activities, such as mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, skiing, horseback riding, diving, sailing, cave explorations, and white-water rafting. Usually, a tour guide is described as part entertainer and part troubleshooter, and always a tour company’s representative.
Adventure tour guides should have effective communication and people skills. These are the most important skills a tour guide should possess because he/she travel with them and spend several days with the group. Dealing with different kinds of people with different culture is not easy, which is why a tour guide should be a people person. This trait is needed so he/she gets along well with the travelling group. In addition, contagious enthusiasm and experience in a variety of adventurous disciplines ensures a successful trip.
As you may think, escorting tours is not at all luxurious travel and glamour. As an escort, it means leading a group of people, with not less than 20 individuals, from location to location, looking after their needs, answering questions, and dealing with emergencies. As a leader or a guide, you must be reliable and trustworthy to build the group confidence necessary for successful completion of potentially dangerous activities. Otherwise, the whole tour will be a failure. But, failure is not an option to adventure tour guides. An adventure tour guide must do his best to ensure success in every activity in the tour. It is important to use good judgment under pressure and be resourceful when dealing with any emergency situations that may arise.
The job of a tour escort is not an easy profession but if you are inclined to adventure, being an adventure tour guide is a good deal. Not only will you get to meet different people and see different places, but also you get to have ADVENTURE again and again!
