What did tour guides do in 2020?

We love our TripSchool family, which is made up of small business owners, the staff at large tour operators companies, but most of all the tour directors and guides at the front lines of our industry. Guides are the face of in-person travel experiences, the rock stars that make a place come alive to groups of travelers. 2020 hit guides harder than nearly any other part of the travel industry. On basic human level, guides are often freelancers, and only earn an income when travelers book them or their company for a tour. With few to no running tours in 2020, what have tour guides been up to? We at TripSchool spend most of our time helping guides and the companies they work for, so we asked them: what have you been up to?

Here’s a rundown of how our community has made the most of a terrible year.

Some are still giving tours!

Let’s start positively! Our most-attended webinar this year was hosted by us and ToursByLocals, a platform (like Travel Curious, and Withlocals, etc.) that allows guides to sell their tours to families, couples, and other small private groups. The work has been slow; Donna had a few step-on tours in Chatanooga, while also working as a math consultant via Zoom.

Maria has been busy:

I’ve been hosting small group tours and hikes on Airbnb and MeetUp, signed on with ToursByLocals and Travel Curious and now have started tours for homeschoolers in my region which is building nicely.

And Haydee actually had a busy summer, since her guiding work was all outdoors!

I spent the summer being an adventure guide, riding ATV’s in the Rocky Mountains. Business was extremely busy for them, but the season just ended. I also guided in a museum, but that place wasn’t busy at all, in fact they decided to close early for the summer.

And let’s not forget virtual tours! Many guides have been busy creating online experiences. Ceptembre created an AirBnB online experience helping people find their inner cowboy or cowgirl! Amy created a London Roman Wall audio tour for your smartphone. At the start of covid-19 we launched a TripSchool Guide Show & Tell Series that proved very popular, and you can still watch the replays. Many other guides have created private online experiences to maintain relationships with the schools and clients they have.

Starting their own tour companies

Local D.C. guide Dawn  shared with us that she

started my own local walking tour company catering to newly arriving military families in the National Capitol Region. It is going really well! I’m guiding, on average, 3 times a week in DC and Alexandria and always trying to build in well told stories and wow moments. Word of mouth recommendations are my #1 source of new customers so I think the stories and the wows are working!

We’ve had a flood of people over the months completing our Start a Tour Business Workshop. It’s become an incredible community of insanely creative individuals! From Miriam’s Escape Upstate holiday boxes she’s shipping around the country, to David leveraging his many years working in government positions in D.C. to create Off the Record Tours, we’ve watched so many people use this time to learn new ways of doing what they love to do. Each week on our YouTube Channel we’re featuring interviews with our entrepreneurs doing interesting things.

Continuing to Learn

In addition to all the public events we’ve hosted, the TripSchool team has been busy teaching small workshops on topics like video production and storytelling among other topics. Guides have been busy reading new books, refreshing their material, and organizing what they already have. Julie put it best:

I’m so organized it stinks!!! Tours and new commentary all digital. Books and pamphlets organized. Took a few online classes to learn new things – Video Intro and Editing, using Tech on Tour, make your own videos, etc. House is clean. Painting done. Yard looks great. I started with getting done “1 thing a day” so I have done 231 “one things” since my last tour in March!

Kevin found himself in California, and decided to take walks and hikes to learn new destinations, like visiting Yosemite for the first time. Another Californian, Jessica set about getting her TEFL certification and considered getting her Bachelors in Sustainable Tourism at CSUMB.

Meanwhile, Mary M.

spent 3 weeks exploring National Parks out West getting ready for 2021, online classes and local exploration. Best time spent has been volunteering with our Food Bank at large drive through food distributions, about 12 different times. Each time, each car is a very humbling and rewarding experience.

Lynsey is an interesting guide who lives out of her van as she works throughout the country, and this downtime gave her some much needed van maintenance time! And Janet in NYC has been pounding the city’s pavement. She joined a local hiking group and a book club, as well as volunteering at a hospice.

And many guides have been continuing to learn in general. Suzanne has been taking website coding classes and Jane has been learning Spanish.

Starting podcasts and interview series!

• Shelba started a podcast just to have fun with her lifelong friend, called A Hoot And a Holler.
• In India, Ashwani created an interview series called The Tourism Story, interviewing guides and trainers around the industry (including an interview with TripSchool’s own Mitch!).
• Tour Director and Guide Nicole Flores created a podcast called Through the Eyes of the Guide interviewing guides and industry figures from around the world. She’s found some really fascinating figures!
• Finally, over in Berlin, Wouter Bernhardt created the Low Season Podcast to share the story of guides around the world.

Reconnecting with (and helping) family.

Tour directors spend so much of their year traveling around. So for many this has been a time of remembering what it feels like to be home. And some of our guides have had health issues themselves, or had to cope and deal with family illness.

Dixie has volunteered around her community in Sacramento, doing everything from helping the poor and elderly to helping her region cope with the wildfires, all the while staying positive and creative and joining for several TripSchool classes as she thinks about how she can invent new ways of touring through her rural area.

Neetu lives in New York but hails from India. Her guiding work relies on inbound tourists from Asia, which ground to a halt in March. Times were tough, but she pivoted to using the time to learn more about her family traditions, learning recipes and more about her family history:

First few months, some days were good (thankful for home, family, food & safety) same not so good (worried that the world was going to end & I will never have tours again) some days just gloomy & depressing. However, I sailed through & thanks to my Mommy, Pappa & Hubby who kept me going and encouraging me to learn family traditions (as I really got married very young) pray, be thankful and stay grounded and stay fit in any circumstances. I learnt life surviving skills from Mommy along with tons of family secret recipes. Though I am not making any money I learnt to live in simple, minimal ways. The Pandemic taught me materials are not important but life, family and friends are precious. I am not contributing anything towards tours and travels but am realizing how important our work is and I am looking forward to go back once it opens up. Life is beautiful. I thank TripSchool for all the positivity and keeping the tour family connected ❤

Work new jobs, or several.

Kristin opened a wine store in Brooklyn with her husband! Kathy started working as a landscaper. Christine is teaching English online. Marie “combined 2 of the things I love: massage therapy and vacation. I was put up in a beautiful timeshare all summer while working as a massage therapist.” Not bad! Karen says she’s working as a babysitter, channeling her former life as a nanny back in her 20s! Renae unfortunately had to become a hurricane debris removal specialist, enduring 5 major storms in Louisiana, and lending a hand. Pam has been working at a motor inn, and lent her video editing skills to her local DMO, the Monadnock Travel Council.

Mary and Devon are competing for most hours worked in a week!

Mary: “I always work 60 hours a week at a CPA office 2/15-4/15, but this year, we worked 35 until July 15th. I’ve been working 50 hours a week delivering groceries for Safeway and cashiering/waitressing at my friend’s cafe. I’m exhausted! I’ve also been working as an associate producer for a local film company getting the “talent” for our documentary interviews and doing the PR. First film about the Baltimore Colts premiered in September and the next one about the Eastern Shore of MD will premiere around Thanksgiving.”

Devon: “After a few trial and error jobs, I’ve finally settled into a schedule of about 55-60 hours a week doing two part time jobs. I am LOVING working on the events team at Stone Tower Winery in Leesburg, VA, using a ton of skills I had already developed from tours. To supplement, I shop and deliver groceries for Shipt, which is like Door Dash, but for your groceries! It’s a fun combo but I definitely miss traveling and having an itinerary!”

Returned to their old careers.

Jolene went back to her work in the education field, working as an education director at a preschool. Eileen has temporarily pivoted, and gone back to her college degree in marketing. Gillie returned to managing a dental practice in Old Town Alexandria, but also taking time to learn French!

And Marsha returned to horsing around!

I started out by immediately getting a job with Amazon in a warehouse. I loved working there and would go back, however I am currently busier than ever as a horse hair dresser, braiding the manes and tails of about 35 horses per week.

Greg got is tour director certification from TripSchool in September 2019, was hired by half a dozen companies for tours in the U.S. and England, and then it all came to a halt. So he’s returned to his musical theater roots:

I have been teaching musical theater and voice classes on Zoom, along with teaching private voice lessons to high school and university students. The real fun was to have been selected to conduct the Michigan State Middle School Honors Choir later in the spring, virtually, of course. Meanwhile, spending lots of time reading books on history!

For those just entering the industry, it was a hard start. Nora is an example of someone who was testing the waters of joining the industry, just as everything all started to unravel.

decided to take the pandemic as fate telling me most definitively that tour directing is most definitely not my next step. Went back to IT project management, canning, and discovering my state, again. But continue to read about the native Americans in NE. Could have skipped the global event, but I guess I’m hard headed.

And finally, Jeff also graduated from TripSchool’s Tour Director Certification, had time to lead one tour, and then it all crumbled… but he took those crumbs and returned to a passion of his, baking! Not only that, but he’s so good that he was recruited to be on a reality TV show, the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship!

If you need anything, please reach out, or call a friend.

This has been a year like none other in our industry. Everyone is going through something similar to you, and don’t be shy right now if you just need a friendly face or voice to talk to.

We’re always here just to have a chat if you would like! Just send us a note.