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Tourist guide
Tour guide, Blue Badge guide
Tourist guides show visitors around places of interest like cities, historic buildings and art galleries.
Average salary (a year)
£18000
Starter
£30000
Experienced
Typical hours (a week)
28.0 to 30.0 hours
seasonal
Work Hours
freelance / self-employed
flexibly
How to become
Explore the different ways to get into this role
You can get into this job through:an apprenticeship; a college course; volunteering; applying directly; specialist courses run by private training organisations
College
You could do a travel and tourism qualification like
Level 2 Certificate in Travel and Tourism, Level 3 Diploma in Travel and Tourism
This will give you an insight into the tourist industry and help you develop some of the skills to work as a tourist guide.
Having a language like French, German, Italian or Spanish, or a history qualification can also be useful for this type of role.
Entry requirements
You may need:
  • 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course
More Information
search for courses|/find-a-course
funding advice|https://www.gov.uk/further-education-courses/financial-help
equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
Apprenticeship
You may be able to gain some of the skills needed in this role through apprenticeships like
Level 2 Customer service practitioner, Level 3 Event assistant, Level 3 Cultural learning and participation officer
Entry requirements
To get onto an apprenticeship, you'll find it useful to have:
  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
More Information
equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
guide to apprenticeships|https://www.gov.uk/apprenticeships-guide
Volunteering
Organisations like the National Trust and English Heritage offer opportunities to gain experience as a tour guide through volunteering.
Direct Application
Many people become tourist guides as a second career, for example teachers who want to work during school holidays or actors who need work between acting roles.
If you have customer service, teaching or language skills or you have experience of working with people, you may be able to apply directly.
Other Routes
You can do 3 levels of training to get a tour guide badge
level 2 - white badge, level 3 - green badge, level 4 - blue badge
You can apply to local tourist guide associations for training, or major tourist attractions that run their own schemes.
Guide London offers blue badge training, which usually takes around 18 months, and some heritage organisations, like York Minster, have their own training courses.
More Information
Career Tips
An outgoing and friendly personality, plus being able to speak a second or third language, will give you an advantage when applying for jobs. Experience of dealing with the public and giving presentations will also help.
Further Information
You can find out more about becoming a guide from the Institute of Tourist Guiding.
What it takes
Find out what skills you’ll use in this role
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
    Customer service skills
    Excellent verbal communication skills
    Patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
    To be flexible and open to change
    Sensitivity and understanding
    An interest and knowledge of history
    A good memory
    Knowledge of english language
Digital Skills Level
to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
What you will do
Discover the day-to-day tasks you’ll do in this role
Day to day tasks
In this role you could
guide people around a castle, gallery, historic house or garden, escort groups of tourists around a site, give information about the history, purpose and architecture of a site, accompany groups on day tours to a number of places of interest, answer questions and suggest other places to visit, organise or arrange for additional trips and visits
Working environment
You could work at monuments and castles, in a museum, at an art gallery or in parks and gardens.
Your working environment may be physically active, outdoors some of the time and you'll travel often.
Career Path & Progression
Look at progression in this role and similar opportunities
With experience you could work for a tour operator as a regional tour supervisor or manager.
Job profile data provided by The National Careers Service.
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