Professional Tour Guides are “masters of their art. They take an aerial image of a place and inject it with intense meaning by zooming in on one spot, one period of a time, one texture, and one story”. – Anita Mendiratta.
I first read the above quote in a book, Tour Guiding: The Ultimate Guide to Theory & Practice authored by ‘two seasoned practitioners’, one of whom I have the pleasure to delve into the conversation which follows.
Mr. Kwaku Passah Snr. is the founder and CEO of Exotic Adventures LTD, one of Ghana’s leading tour operating companies. He is a graduate of the University of Ghana and a recipient of the prestigious National Tour Guide of the Year Award 1997. He is a member of the Tour Guides Association of Ghana (TORGAG), and served as its President for two terms. He is also a long-time member of the Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA) and was the Financial Secretary for three terms. He has held several leadership roles including facilitator for Ghana’s Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations Training Program for tour guides.
HOST: Mr. Passah Snr, we are honoured to have you; welcome to ghhospitality.net. I know you have been following this blog at your own pace. Thank you for your interest. First, I would like you to debunk the following common myths about being a tour guide.
- They (tour guides) have all the free time in the world for personal exploration.
- Tour guiding is no job.
- Everyone can be a tour guide.
- Tour guides are fluent in every language under the sun.
GUEST: Tour guiding is an art, a vocation and profession. It is not for the faint-hearted. It is for those with a genuine passion for the tourism industry; those who love people and the environment. Like everybody else, the Tour Guides have 24 hours, but they manage the time to suit their day-to-day movements. NOT, I repeat NOT, everyone can be a Tour guide; nor should a Tour guide be fluent in every language under the sun. Tour guiding is one of the best jobs.
HOST: Those are few words coming from you to debunk these myths, thank you. Becoming a tour guide comes with its share of challenges. Earlier you indicated that its not for the fainthearted. Acknowledging the challenges is a crucial part of the career journey. Tell us a few of them.
GUEST: The greatest challenge is time management. A guide can be called upon at a short notice to guide a tour. A guide needs time for research, for family, for hobbies, and above all, manage the tour itinerary. A guest becoming sick during a tour suddenly; arriving at a restaurant when meals ordered and confirmed are not ready, a vehicle breakdown and uncooperative driver are a few of a tour guide’s challenges. Sexual harassment may be direct or indirect.
HOST: I’m not sure whether it’s because you are a male, but would you say conducting a tour can be physically demanding? And I guess depending on the educational background of the tour guide, thinking on one’s feet can be challenging too. What are your thoughts?
GUEST: It’s physically demanding for both male and female. Apart from being on bus/hike/walk with guests, the guide has to find time to catch up getting some information for him/herself or one promised a questioner. The guide has to find time during a lunch break or after dinner to go somewhere to check and confirm some arrangements (you can’t always trust everyone on the tour route). In doing all these the guide has less time to sleep.
Thinking on one’s feet can be challenging; but guides have a way of telling the truth and getting answers to “difficult questions” later. These days you can call a colleague for help.
HOST: I like the team effort. In Ghana, what formal training opportunities are available to become a tour guide?
GUEST: Some of our Universities run tourism programs with an aspect of tour guiding. But the Hotel, Catering, & Tourism Training Institute (HOTCATT) located at Adabraka is the best training place for professional tour guiding.
HOST: That reminds me, I covered HOTCATT on this blog when it reopened in 2021. I think the article was lamenting on challenges HOTCATT had gone through. It’s good to know they are standing tall in tour guide training in 2024!
In the hospitality industry, personnel easily brand guests as ‘difficult’ customers. Do you have a similar situation occurring in the tour guiding sector? What are your views about it?
GUEST: Yes, we have “difficult” customers. Most of the issues in the difficulty is not the creation of the tour guide. The perception or expectation of the visitor of the host environment creates a difficult situation when those perceptions or expectations are not met – service quality, transportation, hotel accommodation, restaurants. Cultural differences create difficult situations too.
HOST: I must confess I was hoping you would say there are really no difficult customers! However, I see you taking the stance I take to defend the so-called difficult customer/tourist. We tend to create very high expectations, generally promising them the moon or at least a really photogenic sunset! Consequently, they are disappointed because their expectations are not met and they become demanding, wanting value for what they know they have paid for.
Interacting with people from all over the world and learning about different cultures is one of the main attractions of working in the tourism industry. However, lack of knowledge about guests’ culture can cause potential offence and lead to serious issues with customer satisfaction. How should one navigate this complex issue?
GUEST: A knowledge of the background of the customer/client is ideal. Unfortunately, a guide may not have this information before the arrival of the customer/guest. A pre-tour orientation by an expert or the ground handler for the customer/guest and the tour guide helps. During such an orientation the visitors are formally welcome and introduced to the country. The itinerary is previewed and dos & don’ts discussed.
HOST: It’s just occurred to me that both of us are using different terminologies in making reference to the tourist, namely, customer, client, visitor, guest. Each term looks at the tourist differently, right? Which is most appropriate and why?
For the response to this question look out for the continuation of this conversation next week.
In the meantime, I would appreciate your feedback on the AI-generated images below.