The Tour Leader’s services and characteristics

A Tour Leader is just one of the three tourism professions existing in Italy, not to be confused with a tourist guide, nor with the Italian profession of a “GUIDA AMBIENTALE-ESCURSIONISTICA or GAE” (=a Nature Walk Guide or a Guide leading Nature Walks)

The main characteristics of a skilled Tour Leader are as follows:

• The authority of a real leader, knowing how to convince others. In order to keep to a programme and for the safety of all concerned it is often essential to follow the tour leader’s instructions;
• Being a mine of practical information: the country/ area codes to be dialed in the country visited, how to exchange money, how to avoid being taken in by the false friends of the Italian language, what to eat, what is worth buying, what to do and what to avoid, and so on;
• Quick reactions, able to make decisions and be adaptable, with a marked organizational spirit, able to respond autonomously in face of the most diverse circumstances that can arise in a group during a journey (hotel rooms not available, coaches not arriving on time and transport delays in general, programmed visits cancelled due to bad weather, local tourist guides who do not speak the group’s language, people feeling unwell, travellers that cannot live without their own national food, etc.);
• Clear and precise communication of directions to the group, able to capture the interest of the group;
• Looking after public relations in the different contexts that arise (knowing how to negotiate with coach drivers, local contacts, traffic wardens, police, local guides, check-in staff at airports, flight assistants, hotel managers and Hotel Reception staff, cloakroom staff, hotel porters, museum custodians, etc);
• Diligently keeping up to date for the scheduled destinations, so as to avoid wasting time and any mistakes, as far as possible;
• Able to tune into the group’s wavelength to share their likes and interests.