Saturday 23 February 2019

What does a tour guide do ?

Other common names for this position: Tour Escort, Travel Escort, Establishment Guide, Boat Tour Guide, Bus Tour Guide, Calèche Driver, Sightseeing Guide, Travel Guide, Adventure Travel Guide, Tour Interpreter, Walking Tour Guide

Description

Tour Guides offer company and information to individuals or groups of travelers. They are knowledgeable and savvy about the places they show to tourists. On tours that include sightseeing historical buildings, sites, and locations, Tour Guides must be able to provide travelers with all the information they should know about the place they’re visiting. Most Tour Guides work on a pre-established route and visit a selected list of locations. They are usually employed by tour operators, hotels, resorts, and other establishments such as museums or historical landmarks. However, some Tour Guides work independently or are self-employed.

Tour Guides are expected to provide tourists with information regarding the place they’re visiting, answer questions they may have, and adhere to a pre-designed route to avoid getting lost.

Some Tour Guides work with city sightseeing companies that take tourists around a city and show them the main landmarks. A few of these tours are performed from a bus, while others are on foot. Tour groups may vary in age, from teenagers to senior citizens, and country of origin. Tour Guides can be limited to specific establishments such as museums, parks, or historical places, while others take people on adventure trips in the wilderness, like in a safari; these are known as Adventure Tour Guides and they must have some extra qualifications due to the nature of their work field.

Primary Responsibilities
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of common tasks Tour Guides are required to complete.

  • Attending briefing meetings with the Tour Manager about important information about the tour group (e.g. age group, interests, and special needs).
  • Greeting tourists before starting the tour:
  • Learning their names;
  • memorizing their faces; and
  • checking the number of people in the group.
  • Explaining emergency procedures to the group and making sure they understand them.
  • Distributing promotional material about the trip to the tourists.
  • Escorting individuals or groups on sightseeing trips:
  • Providing information about the history and culture of the places they visit;
  • describing points of interests; and
  • answering questions tourists may have.
  • Managing groups of up to thirty people:
  • Being able to keep the group focused;
  • making sure no one gets lost or left behind; and
  • making sure the group is safe.
  • Driving a motorized vehicle like a bus or a boat when necessary.
  • Making sure that the group adheres and follows local laws, regulations, or rules of specific destinations.
  • Responding to emergency situations:
  • Providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or first aid to tourists if needed;
  • remaining calm during stressful situations; and
  • handling a group of panicking people.
  • Assisting tourists with special needs like senior citizens, people with disabilities, and people with small babies.

Daily Tasks

  • Pre-briefing about the group.
  • Meeting the group.
  • Going over emergency procedures with the group.
  • Explaining points of interest during the trip.
  • Answering questions about the tour.
  • Distributing promotional material.
  • Making sure the group stays together and is safe until the end of the tour

  • Tour Guide jobs on neuvoo.ca.

why you need a professional tour guide !

By 
A majority of people in the contemporary world love touring. Visiting tourism sites to just view the nature which includes animals, plants or vegetation, valleys, rivers, and other water bodies as well as hills and mountains is one of the best experiences. However, this experience cannot be complete without the help of tour guides. They take the client from one place to another in the entire walking tour the tourism sites in an orderly manner.
They have vast knowledge on how to deal with animals and the general appearance of the site, they have considerable knowledge of the cultural heritage of the place which you are visiting and they know how to make you spend an unforgettable trip. Tour guides dealing with nocturnal wildlife ensure that the client sees as many animals as possible within the time paid for. They are trained in searching and focusing for small animals in branches of trees for example or in the caves too.
How to Choose a Suitable Tour Guide
We don’t just pick anybody to be our tour guide if we are wishing to enjoy our walking tour. It is therefore advisable that we do enough research on the type of the tour guide we want, how and where to get him/her.
While searching for tour guides for exotic areas with plenty of wildlife, the following key points should be considered:
  • Always go for a person who has a wide knowledge of the entire animal family. The person with that knowledge will be in a position to take you through and explain to you the daily lives of these animals and how they behave towards people. Some animals are very dangerous and they, therefore, need to be handled with caution.
  • Another thing that we should not forget is that some animals as I mentioned earlier are dangerous and can attack the tourist if mishandled. It is said that prevention is better than cure. Therefore, we should always go for that guide who is trained on how to deal and handle these animals in case they attack the tourist he/she can rescue you. This is very important because such attacks are unpredictable and it is, therefore, safe to go with that person who can help you escape.
  • The prices charged by tour guides are different. It is therefore very important to consider the price charged by several tour guides, compare them and pick the tour guide who charges what you can afford. Always remember to operate with your means to enjoy the tour. While choosing of a tour guide with the best and cheap prices, there are many accounts and innovative apps which contain a variety of prices charged by different guides depending on the duration of the time taken in the entire walking tour or traveling tour. There are also many tour guides that operate for free. I once choose Strawbery Tours services when I visited Mexico City, and it was completely free, which was surprising. The innovative apps, on the other hand, help customers view the best tourism sites where he can enjoy and relax his minds.
  • The last thing that is important is language. It is easier to communicate with somebody who you share a common language because he will be able to explain and converse with you without any difficulties hence as easy time.
Importance of Hiring Local Tour Guides
The following are the importance or benefits of hiring local tour guides:
1. Experienced guides make trips enjoyable and educative
This is because they have a wide history concerning the tourism site. They have been in the profession for a good number of years which means they know everything about the site, unlike the new guides who could be still in the process of learning these sites. Therefore the client is able to learn a lot in the entire walking tour or travelling tour with the help of the experienced guide.
2. Tour Guides Help you Save time
It can be tiring queuing a line for hours to be a tour guide on the same day you are to go for the trip. Therefore hiring a tour guide earlier which is done through online booking by logging in to the tour guide advisor account can be a great deal to help you save your precious time. This time is then spent well on the trip where you get to learn a lot at a good pace because you have adequate time.
3. Tour Guides Are Flexible
Flexibility is one of the greatest advantages while hiring local tour guides. They operate as per your request. This means that you are the one to inform him/her of the best time and place you are comfortable with to do the touring. 

How Atiku lost in Agbaje polling unit

The All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Presidential candidate, Muhammdu Buhari has won the Presidential election in Jimi Agbaje’s polling unit in Lagos.
Agbaje is the PDP’s governorship candidate in Lagos. He lost his polling unit 004 Hinderea Road, Liverpool area, Apapa Lagos to APC.
Announcing the results after delays in sorting the votes, the Polling Officer, Mr Omolain Ehichioya, said the APC polled 83 votes in the presidential election at the unit while PDP got 80 votes.
In the Senatorial results, the APC got 88 votes, the PDP 79 while Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and People’s Trust (PT) got one vote each.
However, the PDP got the highest vote of 84 in the House of Representatives results, followed closely by APC with 74 votes.

Read why this woman pound yam at Mama Afrika Restaurant , Newark, New Jersey

•Why I pound yam at Mama Afrika Restaurant —Dupe  Ogundare
 By Wale Alarinka
As a new corner in New Jersey with a base in Newark and having been treated to various foods at Popeyes,  MacDonald, Wendy’s  and the Chinese, the tactile organ pressurised one for a taste of pure African meal  with good African chilli in the the white man’s land where cold seemed to have given one away as a Jonny Just Come .
The hotel’s meals, though of buffet continental breakfast, is of no different from those ones got from the fast food dispensing shops.
So where is the place in Newark, where one can eat a truly homely meal?
A few calls made to some Nigerians made options so easy “You have this and that and this, but as you are an Ekiti man, your best bet is Iya Ekiti at Ellis Junction, Irvington. Just find your way to Ellis Avenue Junction, Irvington, Newark, the woman is the only one that pound yam, as in pounding yam in a real sense.”
Without wasting more time, I trekked to the taxi park, engaged the cabman who happened to be from Haiti. “I know the place. Mama Afrika Restaurant. You are from where in Africa”
“From Nigeria, “I announced proudly.
“That woman knows how to cook African fooda. I am her regular customer and I do convey many whites, you know those whites that marry blacks there. Sure Restaurant.”
As the centre bar filled up, I secured a place at the inner room, where very few customers were discussing on how best they could breakthrough in their cabbie business
I made an order of pounded yam. I emphasised that I needed pounded yam not poundo yam, (remember I have been told, which I don’t even believe) .
The lady, Tomi, nodded.
I re-affirmed: “Pounded yam please, (making a gesture of a pounding act).”
She confidently said ‘Yes’
Being unable to buy a bottle of my stuff, I ordered for three pints of Double Black on Ice.
And within 15 minutes, a bowl of pounded yam was placed before me with a chilled bottle of coke.
Sincerely, the yam was pounded. Yes, pounded. I could feel the texture, the freshness and the steam
Iyan Ololo in Newark! I smiled.
And the stage shifted to the who prepared it.
“Ma, I am surprised that I am eating real pounded yam here, right in the US. I thought you were going to serve me pounded yam or machine tilled   pounded yam.”
“Not at all. Since you demanded pounded yam, the one pounded in the mortar and beaten with pestle, it is our speciality here,  although, we serve poundo yam too. It depends on your order,” said the woman, later identifies as Mrs Dupe Ogundare.
Why do you think it is necessary to carry mortar and pestle all the way from Nigeria to Newark, just because you want to sell pounded yam when there are machines and poundo yam?” I ask.
Ogundare replies: I think what is worth doing at all is what doing well. Pestle and mortar is the traditional instrument meant to pound yam. That is why I am a traditional cook and restaurateur having sold food in Ibadan and served at The Polytechnic, Ibadan Guest House.  You know there are some people whose preference is yam pounded with a mortar. The only instrument I know which is for pounded yam is pestle and mortal. So, it is a  normal thing for me to carry it to wherever I am practising this trade. Look, my brother, any Nigerian restaurant without pestle and mortar is not a Nigerian restaurant. Do you know that no matter how small the mortar is, our Igbo brother will have to talk of me? A typical Ekiti woman born into the art of cooking good food? And you know, in Ekiti land, pounded yam is the king of all food and it is mixed and  pounded in a mortar with a pestle.”
What value has the pounding added to your outfit
Look, you are one of the values which our act of pounding yam has deserved has added to this place. You came here purposely because of the information that you can get the real pounded yam here. That is why you boarded a taxi to feel it yourself and thankGod, you saw it, felt and tasted it. What more value can I use to indicate this. Also, it is not the same as poundo yam. And I am informing you that that has been the niche for this restaurant, Mama Afrika Restaurant or Mama Iyan Ekiti.”

AIso the pounded yam served with only vegetable soup?
Please follow me and let me show you some of the varieties of stews and soups we have here (we leave for the kitchen). We serve with various types of soup as you can see egusi, ogbono, vegetable, okro, edikaikon, fisherman soup, Ofe Owerri, ila lasepo,  ewedu and gbegiri, just to show you  that here you will have the best.
Which one is your trade name Mama Afrika of Iya Ekiti pounded yam?
Both. The fact is that Mama Afrika is the name registered with the State of New Jersey but my customers call it Iya Ekiti Pounded Yam Centre just because of the pounded yam.
Is this restaurant all about pounded yam?
Mrs Ogundare: You are just asking that question for asking sake. You see that man eating amala with abula, look at the man beside us, eating eba and the other person here having rice and dodo. We cook for parties and events. We are the major cook for most of the leading African churches here for any event. The fact is that, people believe that for you to have that traditional food cooked with the best of traditional ingredients and seasoning like iru and efinrin, Mama Afrika, opposite Ellis Avenue Junction, Irvington, Newark is the best. And It is, or is it not?
And  I concur. “It is ma, Mama Afrika Restaurant, Irvington New York, Is It. I testify.

Buhari wins remaining polling unit in Aso Rock

Buhari wins remaining polling unit in Aso Rock
Saturday, February 23, 2019 11:55 pm

President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has won the remaining polling unit inside Aso Rock as declared by the INEC’s polling officer.
The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar had earlier won polling unit 0021 inside Aso Rock, scoring 525 votes as against Buhari’s 465 votes.
In the result of Polling Unit OO21, Buhari defeated Atiku by polling 552 votes as against 505 votes scored by PDP.
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