Tour Guide Jobs

Meeting and greeting visitors and inviting them on the tour. Customer service that includes briefings on trip itineraries. Formulating routes after considering tour duration and weather forecasts.  doing all necessary planning, such as reserving a time to visit and  purchasing tickets in advance, before planning a trip to a protected area such as museums, galleries, or other tourist destination.

CFO jobs

Coder jobs

GCC jobs

Director jobs

There are three categories of guides: Site Guides have the minimum qualifications to lead tours in a limited geographical area, such as going to Soweto or a drive to the Panorama route. Provincial Guides are qualified to take tourists around an entire province, such as Limpopo or Gauteng. National Guides are allowed to lead tours all over South Africa, crossing all provincial boundaries. 

The guiding industry is further divided into three primary subfields: guided historical tours, guided corporate tours, and guided nature or eco-tours. Tour guides in the field of history take groups of tourists to various points of interest, such as museums, historical landmarks, religious or archaeological sites, and historical neighbourhoods.

According to Tourism Second Amendment Act no 70 of 2000, anyone who wants to be a tourist guide must apply to the provincial registrar.

South Africa's minimal requirements for registering a tourist guide are:

Must be at least 21 years old, a South African citizen or have a valid work permit, trained by a CATHSSETA-accredited training provider, have a valid first aid certificate from a Department of Labour-approved institution, submit four passport-sized photos, pay an R240 registration fee, and submit a completed and signed registration form and code of conduct and ethics upon registration.

The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) governs tourist guide qualifications. NQF has two qualifications:

• Guiding national certificate (NQF2)
• Guiding national certificate (NQF4)

Several unit standards in different specialisations have been clustered together to establish skills programmes addressing specialisations and geared at people who just want to finish the specialised minimum area of learning required to guide. CATHSSETA (The Culture Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sports Sector Education and Training Authority) certifies these skills programmes. NQF registers relevant unit standards. Registering as a culture, nature, or adventure guide requires distinct unit standards.

Tour guides can improve their people skills, travel to and learn about different destinations and is not office bound. On the flip side, people can be difficult to deal with. There is not much job security and it is not a high earning job.

Is tour guide a good career?

One of the best jobs in the world is that of a tour guide. You get to do what most people only do on vacation for a living, but it's also one of the least appreciated jobs out there.

Are tour guides in demand?

The demand for tour guides are closely linked to the dynamics of the tourism in South Africa and can be impacted by issues like the recent pandemic and lockdowns as well as global recessions.

How much does a tour guide earn?

South African tour guides earn an average of R 258 000 yearly, or R 132 per hour. Salary ranges from R 165,150 per year for entry-level employment to R 258 000 per year for the most experienced employees.