Is Tour Guiding a profession?

Tour Guiding is not considered a profession. As you can see from this program, 196 hours of training is

considered by TESDA to be enough to work as a tour guide. Even without formal training, a person can

work in this field as long as he/she has excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. There are a

some skills that need to be developed, however, they are not difficult to learn nor are they considered

specialized. Common careers include working as a Tour Guide, Tour Escort, Tour Coordinator and Travel

Agent.

What skills, traits and attitude will help you succeed in this
course?

o Interpersonal skills – establish and maintain positive mutual working relationships with
clients, supervisors and workmates.
o Comfortable rendering service to others
o Love of nature, outdoors and adventure – since you will be exposed to different places
or environments, cultures and people you need to love being in the outdoors and trying
new things.
o Oral and written English skills – as a tour guide you will most likely encounter many
tourists, so communicating in English (or any other foreign language) is a big advantage.
English is also required for job related tasks.
o Patience – you may encounter irritable and demanding clients, therefore you must be
patient enough to deal with different types of people.
o Administrative skill – basic abilities in organization and planning, computing and
scheduling
o Computer Literacy – most transactions are processed with the use of computers thus
it’s essential to have knowledge of computer use

Career Opportunities for Tour Guiding Services NC II

graduates
 o Sightseeing Tour Guide – escort individuals or groups on sightseeing tours or through
places of interest, such as mountains, waterfalls, public buildings, markets, churches,
museums and antiquities.
o Adventure and Sport Tour Guides – escort groups in adventurous outdoor activities
such as hiking, biking, climbing, diving, caving and other similar activities.
o Eco Tour Guide – escort groups in natural environments such as forests, mountains and
nature reserves, and educates the tourists on eco-systems, plants, animals and
conservation efforts.
o Shore Excursion Guide – works on board a cruise ship or a charter yacht. Takes groups
of people from the ship onto the shore at various ports along the journey and shows them
the main attractions.
o Freelance / Independent Tour Guide – escort individuals or groups on tours. The
difference from a regular tour guide is that you are your own boss, and responsible for all
aspects of your operation.
o Tour Coordinator – provides a variety of secretarial, clerical and receptionist services
and coordinates group tours of a facility.
o Travel and Tour planner – help their clients make the best decisions about travel
arrangements. They make suggestions on where to go, methods of transportation, car
rentals, hotel accommodations, tours to take and attractions to see.
o Tour Manager/Director – responsible for planning and organizing tours on behalf of
tour operators.

Career Opportunities Abroad

There are not many tour guiding jobs for Filipinos abroad, at least at the time this was written (2017).
Searches in JobStreet and other internet sources did not yield any results.