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In survey after survey, when people are asked what they would do if they had more time and more financial resources, the top answer is "travel." Unfortunately, for most people, the dream of seeing exotic locales and exploring the sights and sounds of distant places continues to be just that - a dream. However some people select to change their travel dreams into reality by getting tour guide training and becoming a tour director or getting any one of numerous other travel jobs.

Kinds of Tour Guide Jobs

Travel and tourism training makes way for any number of tour guide jobs. Leading tours can really mean sightseeing and bus tours, adventure tours, sporting tours, and cruise ship excursions either near your home, within the United States, or internationally. With tour director training, you are able to find work as varied as being a cruise host to assuming a management position with a tour company. The companies you can work for consist of tour operators, destination management companies, and event planners.

Who Makes a good Tour Director?

One of the fantastic things about the travel and hospitality industry is that it involves a diversified variety of jobs and draws people from many different backgrounds. In order to succeed in the field, you merely have to love travel, enjoy working with people, and have the right travel and tourism training. A few tour guides have extensive travel experience prior to starting, while others simply have natural curiosity and the desire to travel. Many take tour guide jobs on a part-time basis, either during vacations from school, after retirement, or during the "down time" of seasonal careers. Other people work locally as full-time tour directors or travel the world on cruise ships. There is not a single career path which results in becoming a good tour director; certainly, it's tour guide training that makes all the difference.

Finding the right Tour Guide Training

While some community colleges and universities offer tour guide training, you can likewise earn a certificate as a tour director via online courses. The best online courses offer the selection of getting credit for the course via an accredited college or university in your community.

When looking at travel and tourism training selections, check into the background of the instructor. Preferably, you will find somebody with more than a decade of extensive travel experience throughout the world as a cruise host and international tour director. He or she should also have substantial tour guide training experience.

A reputable tour director training course ought to last around 6 weeks. It should cover the expectations, requirements, and procedures associated with tour directing and guiding, and also techniques for group management, creating and delivering interesting narration, and handling challenges which arise. The course should also go into depth regarding pre-tour planning, multi-day tours, facing emergencies anywhere in the world, and governmental regulations and procedures. Lastly, a good tour guide training course will explore the career opportunities available for a tour director, which opportunities are a great fit for your needs and interests, and how to best write a resume, network, and interview for travel jobs.

Getting paid to travel is a dream job. And, with the right tour guide training, you can make that dream become a reality!