Second Semester – Module 1

Learning Modules
In

Prepared by:

GRETCHEN V. LAURENTE, LPT

Subject Teacher

Module 1:

Name:_________________________

INTRODUCTION
Unit III provides a discussion on the tourism value chain, tourism suppliers, and career
opportunities in the tourism industry, including tour guiding, thereby presenting a background on
industry system and relevance of tour guiding as a tourism profession in modern days,

Moreover, the role of the tour guide as a communicator is presented in this unit. It provides an
overview of the communication process and explains the tour guide’s purpose for
communication as well as the importance of communication skills in the tour guiding profession.
While the unit presents theoretical bases, it likewise introduces techniques and strategies to hone
the learner’s communication and analytical skills for practical applications in tour guiding, such
as in research, development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of tour itineraries and
commentaries.

UNIT 3

ACCOMPANYING VISITORS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TOUR ITINERARY

CHAPTER 1: IDENTIFY THE ELEMENTS OF TOUR GUIDING

LESSON 1: ELEMENTS OF TOUR GUIDING

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

1. The activities in each of the four stages of tour guiding services described.
2. Tour guides’ activities when dealing with supplies are identified.

LESSON 1: ELEMENTS OF TOUR GUIDING

TECHNICAL TERMS

eye contact - looking at the eyes of the person being spoken too but not staring

gestures - hand and arm movements that convey meaning

inbound tour - bringing in nonresidents traveling in another country

monotone - unchanging sound of voice without expressiveness

outbound tour - taking residents from a certain country to travel in another country

tonality - tone of voice which includes the pitch and the volume of the voice

Success

ELEMENTS OF TOUR GUIDING

There are many specific traits that are needed in making tour guiding a success. Although
trainings can help aspiring tour guides and enhance the skills of experienced tour guides must
have.

A. Communication Skills

It has been mentioned that tour guiding is a form of public speaking. Tours may be composed
of 5 to 50 people or even more. Tour guides do commentaries in order to describe a place,
explain interesting events, and even expound on some ideas. Some professional guides refer to
this as narration skills. Tour guiding involves a lot of storytelling. Storytelling is one of the key
elements in this job, especially for historical places. In doing commentaries, tour guides must
connect to their tourists by engaging them with exciting and fascinating stories. These stories
become more attractive when accompanied with proper verbal and nonverbal cues.

a. Verbal communication is the use of sounds and language to relay a message. It includes
vocabulary, tonality, rate of speech, pronunciation and articulation. In communicating
thoughts during commentaries, the following guidelines must be considered:

1. Vocabulary. It is best that tour guides work on their vocabulary and pattern his or her
explanations based on the profile of the tourists. There is no need to be verbose or wordy when
he or she is talking to tourists who can hardly understand the language he or she is using. For
instance, an English or Chinese-speaking tour guide leads a group of some Filipinos and mostly
Japanese senior citizens to the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. The tour guide must find out if
majority of the tourists know how to speak and understand English or Chinese. If majority can
understand, then he or she can do prepared speech or commentary using a language most
common to tourists. Normally, English is the language used. Otherwise, this is quite a challenge
for the tour guide. In a scenario where most tourists do not understand even the English
language, there is no need to speak long sentences. The tour guide must just focus on the
important ones and must do a lot of nonverbal cues such as hand gestures. It is also important to
be mindful of the choice of words. This refers to the appropriateness of expressions and
terminologies used. For tourists consisting of professionals a tour guide must be professional in
his or her approach too but not exactly in the same manner as for children-tourists. A tour guide
can probably ask a child. "What do you want?" in a pleasant manner. The same statement is
impolite if uttered to professionals, even if spoken in a nice tone, tour guide is suggested to name
of the guest is even much better like saying "Mr. Salome, is there use "Is there something I can
help you with sir/ma’am?," instead. Using the name of the guest is even much better like saying
“Mr. Salome, is there something I can help you with.
2. Tonality. Communications experts refer to this as tone of voice that has a great impact on
engaging the audience when speaking. When doing commentaries, fascinating stories must be
expressed in an exciting manners as these stories are meant to delight the tourists a great impact
on engaging the audience when speaking. Tour guides must avoid speaking in monotone and
must have a good vocal variety which is pleasant to hear. Tour guides' voice must not be weak
and squeaky. A pleasant vocal variety is a well-modulated voice that has an appropriate volume
for the listeners.

3. Rate of speech. A moderate speech rate is not too slow and not too fast. In the book, English
for Hospitality and Tourism by Verzosa, it has been explained that announcements are
consciously done in a rate where speaking speed is understood by the listeners. It is really
important that the audience is able to comprehend the announcement or commentaries for that
matter (90). Rate of speech is also complemented by timing. Appropriate pauses must be done
especially when emphasizing an important idea.

b. Nonverbal communication. This involves any form of body language, gestures, and
facial expressions. They are as important as the words being expressed. Excellent
narration is accompanied with gestures and facial expressions from time to time.

1. Eye contact is regarded as part of nonverbal communication. Making and maintaining eye
contact is important when doing commentaries to tourists. It does not mean staring at the
audience for a long time, but, to look at each one of them every now and then.

Proper eye contact is the most powerful tool of a speaker in exuding confidence, showing
sincerity, gaining respect, projecting authority, and ultimately persuading the audience.
Furthermore, eye contact is one of the best ways to build rapport with the audience.

On the other hand, interpretation of eye contact varies from one region to another. For example,
in most Middle Eastern counties, women are discouraged to look at men intensely as this can be
misconstrued as a romantic implication. In India and other countries, a wink may mean flirting,
More, in Japan, it is disrespectful for lower ranks to have an eye level contact with their
superiors. Hence, tour guides should be familiar with their guests' culture in order to apply
proper use of eye contact.

2.Gestures are one of the best accompaniment or even alternative of the spoken words. They are
normally movement of the hands and arms. An example is the movement of the hands towards
the chest is an indication of the speaker. When tour guides shepherd tourists, which involve
gathering the group and leading them to a direction, several gestures are put in action. These
include pointing the direction to the left or right signal to stop or proceed, signal to gather
together and many more. This skill is best accompanied by the use of communication tools such
as megaphones and public address system. Furthermore, the use of flags, hats, umbrellas, bells,
or whistles to group them together is also helpful especially when they are mixed in a big crowd.
This is part of shepherding tourists.

When speaking with a group, the bigger the crowd, the bigger the gesture. While it is true that
narrating stories are well depicted with nonverbal cues, it should not be used very often. A tour
guide who constantly moves his or her arms while explaining something can be an annoying
sight.
3. Facial expression is the strongest in all nonverbal cues. It creates countless expressions like
happiness, excitement, passion, and sincerity that are important in relaying a message to guests.
Facial expressions also project boredom, anger, and sadness but these expressions are not
necessarily needed to show during tour guiding. Facial expressions should be in sync with what
tour guides say. If they say that the next activity is going to be exciting then they should look
excited. If conflicting, it may create mistrust and doubt on the part of the guests. Expressions are
infectious; hence, tour guides should project how they want guests to feel. Tour guides must
always try to display a pleasant disposition no matter how tired he or she is.

B. People Skills

Tour guides build rapport with their tourists. It starts with communication from the time they
meet their guests. By the end of the tour, tour guides have already built relationships. In building
relationships, certain elements must be present. These include being diplomatic, polite, friendly,
patient, positive, sensitive, caring, tactful, and ethical. They show genuine concern for other
people and are normally energetic. These skills go hand in hand with communication skills.
Sensitive tour guides know when to talk, how to answer, and when to keep quiet, and more
importantly, they constantly remain pleasant throughout the tour They are people-oriented who
know how to deliver excellent service.

C. Knowledge and skills

Education is a component of a travel. Learning is achieved when tour guides are competent and
knowledgeable. Tourists are well-informed because their guides are great sources of information.
Tour guides must not only be ready with their prepared commentaries, but also be prepared in
answering queries of tourists.

a. Research is important Knowledgeable tour guides are able to supplement their explanations
with updates and latest information by researching and doing further studies. Attending seminars
and interaction with other tour guides are great ways to gather new trends.

b. Safety is another component of a travel. It is highly recommended that tour guides are
knowledgeable of first aid and hazard preventive measures. Safety in travelling is achieved with
the help of competent and skilled tour guides. In terms of safety, basic skills needed for a tour
guide include the following swimming, basic Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)-
emergency procedure done when heartbeat stops, and management of choking, burn, and
bleeding. The tour guide must also be knowledgeable of the ins and outs of the place to visit. He
or she should know which area is best and which is unsafe. An adventure guide, for example,
knows exactly where to bring his or her tourists if they want to walk among the ruins of Mt.
Pinatubo or to experience snorkelling in the marine-rich waters of Palawan. They are led to see
not only amazing sights, but also to harmless and protected places in their destination.

c. Basic courtesies. Tours can be inbound or outbound. This means that tour guides may
encounter foreign guests visiting the tour guides country of residence (inbound) or tour guides
may act as tour managers and bring resident tourists to foreign countries (outbound). Tours can
be local and international, and this is great news for tour guides. This means that they are not
only confined to his or her own locality. Being out in a foreign place needs knowledge of the
local people too. They have their own culture and languages that are new to tourist. Whichever is
the case, tour guides must familiarize themselves with basic courtesies of the country they are
visiting or the basic courtesies of the tourist they are handling and inform tourist about these.

For example, Korea and Japan, bowing is a sign of respect; the lower the bow, the higher the
respect. Tourists appreciate it if they are taught basic courtesies and simple greetings like
annyeong haseyo and ni hao which means 'hello' in Korean and Chinese. Xiexie, arigato, and
gracias are simple 'thank you' in Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish, respectively. Although it is not
a must to know several languages, it would be an advantage to be skilled in basic foreign
languages, culture, and courtesies. It does not only show competence in a guide but more
importantly, relays his or her messages in a relatable and understandable manner to the guests.

d. Problem solving. Knowledge also involves knowing what to do in certain situations. There
are different problems that may arise during the tour like the breaking down of the vehicle, a lost
luggage, or a sick tourist who needs to be rushed to a hospital. A competent tour guide knows
what to do and is ready to face such challenges. He or she remains alert yet calm and proves to
be a problem solver. Decisiveness is one of his or her strengths.

D. Organizational Skills

These skills involve more than just paper work. It involves time management as well as financial
management. Having good organizational skills is about making the best use of your time. Tour
guides must know how to multitask. They have other jobs to do more than just guiding and doing
commentaries. The previous lesson explained the different stages of tour and the corresponding
duties they have to fulfil. In all these stages, there are documents which have to be accomplished
and submitted back to the tour operator. Thus, they have to be thorough and concise in their
reports.

During field operation, however, they have to practice their organizational skills too. They act as
managers and overseer of the whole operation. Time management is an integral part of the tour
and the itinerary has to be followed. Tour guides must be conscious of the time and details so as
to be able to complete everything stipulated in the itinerary.

POST TEST: SELF CHECK

Choose the one that is not appropriate. Encircle the letter of your answer. The following words
and phrases are given different definitions and description d moderate speech done in a rate
where speaking speed is understood by

1. Communication skills of tour guides a. flag, whistle, bell

A. can be verbal or nonverbal b. eye contact

B. commentaries must be memorized
C. modulated and appropriate tone of
voice
D. moderate speech done in a rate
where speaking speed is understood
by the listeners
2. Organizational skills of tour guides
c. mega phone
d. to you right, to your left
7. Great choice of words for senior
tourists
a. Give me your name please.

A. proper and accurate documentation b. Your name.

B. time management
C. financial management c. What is your name, madam?
D. field operations
d. May I know your name please?
3. Knowledge and skills of tour guides
8. Elements of tour guiding
A. research
b. safety a financial skills
c knows several languages
b. people skills
d. problem solver
c organizational skills
4. People skills of tour guides
d. communication skills
a. building rapport
9. Greetings and forms of gratitude and
b. polite, caring, sensitive, friendly their origin

c nonstop talking a. wai-Thailand

d. service excellence and people- b. bowing-Korea

oriented
c. xiexie-Japan
5. A form of greeting
d. gracias-Spain
a. Wai.
10. Tone of voice
b. Ni hao.
a. monotone
C Annyeonghaseyo.
b. modulated
d. Give me your name.
C expressed in an exciting manner
6. Nonverbal cues and communication
d. appropriate volume for the listeners
tools

Generalization
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You have completed all the tasks in this module. Now you are very much
prepared to learn new things on the next module.

God bless and see you soon. Stay safe.