Documentation necessary for the tour theme

To develop each stage, certain requirements are made. The work is completed when all necessary documents are prepared. Below are the documents that are needed when developing each tour theme.

1. References on the topic. Lists all books, brochures, articles that were used in preparing this guided tour.

2. Cards (passports) of attractions included in the route. Information characterizing the attraction. The type of the attraction, its name, the event with which it is associated, location, short description, designers and the time of the attraction foundation, sources.

3. The main guided tour script. The material selected and verified by sources, revealing the topic. The content of the text reveals sub-topics and basic questions, serves as the basis for individual texts.

4. An individual guided tour's script. The material presented by a specific guide in accordance with the tour guide's manual, depicting the structure of the tour, its route, based on the main guided tour script, characteristics of attractions and events. It contains the introduction, the main part, the conclusion, the logical bridges.

5. The map of the route. A separate sheet shows the path of the group. The beginning and the end of the route, attractions, places for their observation, stops are indicated.

6. ―Guide‘s  Portfolio.‖  Folder  with  photos,  diagrams,  maps,  drawings, reproductions, copies of documents, product samples of enterprises, other visual aids.

7. The tour guide's manual. Recommendations on carrying out the tour are given. The guiding techniques of presentation and narration are defined, the sequence of the attractions demonstration is set, a list of visual aids is made up.

8. Materials of the guided tour. Materials on the topic: abstracts, references, tables, digital material, excerpts from documents, copies, quotes from literary works.

9. List of guides who are allowed to conduct an guided tour on the topic. This list is replenished as far as the admission to the excursion of new guides.

Questions

1. What should a list of references contain?

2. What does an attraction passport indicate?

3. What is the main tour script about?

4. What does the guide‘s script contain?

5. What does the tour route map show?

6. What does the guide‘s portfolio contain?

7. What is a guide‘s manual like?

Guiding techniques

The effectiveness of any guided tour in many ways depends on the technique of its conduct. A number of requirements are imposed on the technique of conducting the guided tour:

- acquaintance of the guide with the group (greetings);

- the correct arrangement of the group at the attraction (placing excursionists);

- exit of tourists from the bus and return to the bus or to another vehicle (hop on, hop off);

- use of the microphone (mic);

- observance of the time allotted for the guided tour as a whole and the disclosure of individual subtopics (time management);

- answers to tourists‘ questions.

Greetings

On getting on the coach the guide gets acquainted with the group. He/she greets the tour participants, introduces himself/herself, names the company that he/she represents, introduces the bus driver the tourists i.e. begins the tour with an introduction. It is important that from the very beginning the guide sets up  the

established rules of communication with the group. He does not immediately begin to

speak. There is a pause, which lasts from ten to twenty seconds. There is a first acquaintance, the further contacts of the guide with the group in many respects depend on him. The excursionists should know the subject of the guided tour.

Each topic has its own introduction. If the composition of the group is different (for example, the local population and visiting tourists, adults and children), the same tour will have different introductions.

Questions

1. What guiding techniques are used in guided tours?

2. What should a guide begin a tour with?

3. What does the introduction depend on?

Hop off

For hop off stops tourists should be prepared in advance. If it‘s not done properly some tour participants may stay on the bus without leaving for on-site presentation. It is necessary to mention the number of stops during the tour to get the tour participants interested in visiting all of them.

At the stops, the guide leaves first, showing an example to the group and determining the direction of its movement towards the attraction. In case of other stops, for example, sanitary ones, or for the purchase of souvenirs, the guide gives the exact time for the coach departure. It is necessary to require the tourists to observe the rules of the tour, which affects the schedule of the coach along the route. If the time of parking in the out-of-town excursion is reduced or increased for some reason, the guide informs all the excursionists about this.

Questions

1. Why is it very important to prepare excursionists for hopping off?

2. Who is the first to get off the coach?

3. What is the guide supposed to inform the excursionists about?

Placing of excursionists

When designing the tour, as a rule, several options are identified for placing the group to observe the sightseeing attraction. This is done if the place, determined by manual, is occupied by another group or when the sun's rays shine in the eyes, making it difficult to inspect the attraction. In the hot time, there should be options to place the group in the shade. In case of rain, there is an option of placing tourists under the roof or under the crown of trees. In some cases, the technique requires that several points be selected to inspect the attraction: the furthest (distant) point, if the attraction is shown together with other attractions; the closest point, if you explore individual parts of a building, structure, terrain, object of nature. These features are reflected in the column "Organized guidelines for methodological development." Each guide carefully studies these instructions and instructs the tour participants before hopping off. The guide should also instruct the tourists about safety rules when exploring the attractions and when crossing the motorway.

At the simultaneous arrangement of several groups in front of the attraction a certain distance should be kept for the tour participants not to interfere with each other.

Questions

1. Why is it necessary to think of different variants of placing excursionists?

2. What is the best place for the excursionists to stand on a hot, sunny day/ on a rainy day?

3. What should be done to avoid the collision of several tour groups in front of one attraction?

Excursionists’ movement

The place of the guide is in the center of the group. It is important that the group does not stretch: the distance between its head and tail should not exceed 5-7 meters. The guide must ensure that the movement of the group on the route does not

violate the integrity. The pace of movement of the group depends on the composition of the group (children, youth, average age, elderly people), etc.

In the walking tour, the pace of the tourists' movement is slow, as the attractions to be presented are located close to each other. It is more difficult to establish the necessary pace of the group's movement in the coach tour. Getting off the bus, the guide doesn‘t start moving immediately, especially if the attraction is located in the distance. First he/she waits for most of the group to get off and then starts movement. Coming up to the attraction, he begins his story after the whole group has gathered.

Questions

1. What is the best place for a tour guide when moving from one attraction to another?

2. What is the distance between the head and the tail of the group?

3. What does the pace of movement depend on?

Hop on

During the movement the group is headed by the guide. When the group hops on the guide stands to the right of the entrance and makes the head count of the sightseers who get on the coach. The guide is the last to get on.

Questions

1. Who usually heads the group of excursionists?

2. Why should the guide head count when the excursionists hop on the coach?

A tour guide‘s place

The guide on the bus should take such a place, from where he can clearly see those attractions, which are referred to en route, and see all the tourists. At the same time, all sightseers should see the guide well. Typically, the front seat next to the driver is usually assigned to the guide. Neither the guide nor the tourists are allowed to stand during the coach movement.

Questions

1. Where is the tour guide supposed to sit in the coach?

2. What is not allowed to do when the bus is moving?

Time managing

The tour guide‘s manual indicates the exact time allocated for the disclosure of each sub-topic in minutes. Everything is provided here: the presentation of attractions, the narration of the guide, the movement along the route to the next attraction and the movement of the group around the attractions. The ability to keep within the allotted time does not come immediately. This requires a lot of practice, including a timing of the tour with a watch in hand. It is necessary to keep the time limit during the logical bridges, when highlighting a single sub-theme and the main issues.

Questions

1. Why should tour guides be good time managers?

2. In what way can timing help tour guides?

Commentary technique

The guidespeak while driving on the coach should be carried out through a microphone. If the equipment does not function well or the microphone is not available at all, the guide should not use the narration during the driving. The noise of the engine and the shaking of the bus prevents from hearing, so that explanations will be heard only by sightseers who sit near the guide. In this case, the guide will give the materials about the nearest part of the route before the movement starts, and in the course of the movement only reports the names of the attractions. In the presence of important facilities or settlements, it is necessary to stop the coach, turn off the engine and only after that give explanations. This must be agreed with the driver in advance.

Questions

1. What device should the guide use when speaking in the bus?

2. What should the guide tell the excursionists before the bus starts moving?

3. In what way does the guidespeak depend on the bus movement?

Questions & Answers

In excursion practice there is a certain classification of questions. They are divided into four groups:

- the tour guide‘s questions to the excursionists;

- the tour participants‘ questions asked during the guide‘s narration;

- rhetorical questions, which are put to keep the tourists‘ attention;

- questions asked by the tour participants on the sub-topics.

The first three groups of questions are related to the methodology for conducting guided tours and only the fourth group of questions relates to the technique of conducting guided tours. Their content is different - sometimes they are associated with attractions, sometimes - with the lives of famous personalities, and often - with the events not related to the theme of the tour. The main rule of dealing with such issues is not to interrupt the narration and give an immediate answer to them, nor should you answer questions after completing each of the sub-topics. This distracts the attention of the listeners from the perception of the content of the disclosed topic. Therefore, the guide should answer questions not during the tour, but at the end. The answers should not be controversial, i.e. to evoke in tourists the desire to argue, to continue the topic touched on in the matter. Making an introduction to the topic, the guide tells his listeners about the order of answers to questions.

Questions

1. What types of questions are used in tour guiding?

2. What is the best time to answer the questions?

Tour breaks

The guide should not speak non-stop. There should be small breaks between separate parts of the narration, logical bridges and the attraction description and events associated with it.

The breaks pursue the following tasks:

- the first is a semantic one, when the time of breaks is used by people to think over what they heard from the guide and saw with their own eyes. To fix the factual material in memory, formulate its conclusions and remember what they saw. It is important that sightseers have each time free of show and story time for self-examination, preparation for the perception of what will be shown and told at the next stop;

- the second - to give short-term rest to excursionists. It does not bear any semantic load.

Pauses in country guided tours are combined with rest, which according to the existing order is given to the guide: 15 minutes after the end of each hour of work (for the guide the hour of the excursion is 45 minutes). This time can be summarized and used by the guide at the end of the excursion. In excursions there can be also breaks for free time, used for purchase of souvenirs, printed products, thirst quenching, and also for sanitary stops in long tours.

Questions

1. Why do you think it is important to have tour breaks?

2. What can excursionists do during the breaks?