Do you work as a tour guide? or do you want to be a Tour Guide? …or do you wish to work as an Egypt tour guide? This tour guiding training course is beneficial to anybody interested in learning more about tour guiding in Egypt or pursuing it as a profession. What is the best way to guide tourists in Egypt? Is it true that you studied leading but are not yet a guide, that you have not taken the first step, or that you are still preparing for it? This is a basic training course that will help you connect what you learned (at university, school, institution, or simply while surfing the internet) with what is waiting for you to face, enjoy, and achieve success.
Starting has always been a difficult task (the beginning of everything is Hard). Because this training course is in English, you should be at least proficient in the language.
Let us begin by preparing you for a career that requires you to engage with foreigners and people of other ethnicities, all of whom have quite distinct mentalities.
Where do I begin? What the hell is going on? It’s too difficult! Someone called me for a group that I’ll be leading tomorrow! I believe I would spend the entire night revising my knowledge and would not sleep till the next day….this is incorrect; you will lose your ability to talk if you are exhausted and keep in mind that English is not your first language, so sleep well and eat properly.
The tour bus, and what is stated inside the bus as an introduction for the trip, for the country, for the city, and throughout the drive from the hotel to a location, or from one site to another, is an important element of a tour guide’s employment.
Good morning is a basic and straightforward statement to start with while speaking with a tour group. My name is———-, and I’d like to welcome you to Egypt. Then, in very short, crisp, and clear phrases, introduce yourself with a large grin on your face, preferably a permanent smile.
Then begin telling the group about the location (Egypt and/or the city you are driving through), letting the English language flow from your mouth (this is the time to show them you studied English, and don’t worry, you are allowed to make some grammatical mistakes (as I previously stated, English is not your native language), introduce yourself and what you know about your country, tell them the names of the streets in Arabic, and so on.
Break the Ice:
This step is usually simple with small groups, families, and individuals because you can easily ask them one by one about their professions, why they came to Egypt if this is their first time seeing it, and so on. Do not ask questions just to ask questions; instead, get answers to each question and then answer the same question they already asked you. When you first meet the tour group, one of your first goals should be to draw a grin on their faces before they get to know you and remember that *the first impression is always strong! Finish your speech (on the bus), which should be completed 1 to 5 minutes before your arrival time.
What type of information should the guide provide and when should it do so? This is a very delicate situation; you must always be full of information; do not give away everything you know in one area; instead, arrange the information you have and distribute it across several locations. For example, if you have 20 pieces of information and 20 places to visit on the tour program, you should distribute one piece to each location; however, if there are 10 places to visit on the tour program, you should distribute two pieces of information to each location; this simply means that the more information you have, the better guide you are.
Is it straightforward to run a tour (as a tour guide)? The representatives that represent the tour business, not the guides, are in charge of managing the group; nonetheless, a guide should be informed of the entire procedure. Managing a tour group is simple if you follow a few simple guidelines: Picking up a tour group from the airport; you should not be concerned about this because the person in charge is not you; nevertheless, accompanying him to the airport to pick up the group is beneficial for you as a guide because it allows you to get to know your group quickly and easily.
If you were doing it, it would be much better, and it would still be extremely simple because drivers are familiar with all Egyptian airports. All you have to do is carry a sign with your business name, group name, or whatever name your firm gave. Inside the airport, guides have never assisted groups with formalities, visas, or customs, so don’t be concerned.
Checking the group into a hotel; the ideal method for a tour agency to accomplish this is to contact the hotel a few hours before the group arrives and have the rooms ready with keys, as well as checking the group into the hotel’s system one by one so that everyone is settled before they arrive. Again, if you’re handling the entire process, relax, prepare yourself with the hotel’s phone numbers, call the hotel once you’ve picked up the group (it takes an average of one hour from the airport to the hotel, whether downtown or in the Giza Area), tell the hotel that you’ll be there in 15 minutes with the group, let them work for you, and prepare the rooms, at the very least call the hotel once you’ve picked up the group.
When you arrive, double-check that everyone has their belongings and that none were left on the bus, inform them about tour schedules, where they can eat if their hotel dinner is included or not, and then direct the group to a place where they can sit and enjoy a welcome drink. If you are unfamiliar with the hotel, simply go to the reception desk and they will tell you where to take the group.
Finish the check-in procedure with the receptionist, who has already completed half, if not all, of it and is just delivering you the keys to the rooms; you should then put names on the keys and on the rooming list you have received from your firm. Later, the receptionist will request a copy of the rooming list.
Show them around the hotel, including the location of the breakfast restaurant, the pool, the bar, and how to get to their rooms (just quick notes). Do not leave the hotel until you are certain that there are no complaints and that everything is in order.
When you go to meet the group the next day, arrive at the hotel at least 20 minutes early to ensure that you are on time and that everything went successfully. Begin your day by leading and offering information on the locations you’ll be seeing. We’ll return to this topic in greater depth later.
When the excursions are over, the procedure of checking out of the hotel should be considerably easier; all you have to do is tell the receptionist of the check-out time, baggage drop-off, and group breakfast time (this is done the night before the group leaves the hotel). When the group checks in and out of hotels in each city, this will be repeated.
Always keep in mind that there is anything you haven’t done or forgotten about; birthday parties, honeymooners, gifts for the kids, etc. They demand a lot from their good-looking, clean tour guide.
Give them free CDs with Egyptian music and MP3s, or purchase some Papyrus bookmarks for them (they’re so cheap anyhow :), but they’ll enjoy it—the free things.
