Annual Salary
£18,000 to £30,000
Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)
Swap to Leisure or Sports or go back to all job sectors
Tourist guides show visitors around places of interest like cities, historic buildings and art galleries.
Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: freelance / self-employed; flexibly
There will be
0.5% fewer Tourist guide jobs in 2027.
In this role you could:
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.
You can get into this job through:
You could do a travel and tourism qualification like:
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.
You may need:
You may be able to gain some of the skills needed in this role through apprenticeships like:
To get onto an apprenticeship, you'll find it useful to have:
Organisations like the National Trust and English Heritage offer opportunities to gain experience as a tour guide through volunteering.
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.
You can do 3 levels of training to get a tour guide 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.
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.
You can find out more about becoming a guide from the Institute of Tourist Guiding.
With experience you could work for a tour operator as a regional tour supervisor or manager.
You can find out more about becoming a guide from the Institute of Tourist Guiding.
You'll need: