Logical Arrangement of a Tour and Its Importance
To arrange a tour logically means finding sound reasons and criteria to arrange the tour schedule based on the attractions and the flow of the tour story. Look at the following map:
How can you “logically” arrange the tour itinerary for this city if you want to go to all points, from A to E? One way to do the tour is to start at point A (the church) and then move on to B, C, D, and lastly, E. another way is D-C-B-A-E. However, you cannot go D-B-E-C-A. Why? This route requires the tourist to pass by the City Hall (B) and Church area (A) at least twice. It would be waste of time, energy, and resources. Avoid arrangements like these as much as possible.
Another consideration is the logical flow of a story. If you want to focus on the life of the national artist, you can start the tour at the ancestral house. Then, you can proceed with the samples of his work displayed at the museum and how he contributed to the development of the church and the local economy. If you want to focus on the influence of religion on the lives of the local people, you can go from A to E.
Therefore, the logical arrangement of an itinerary follows the flow of an interesting story in an efficient and time-saving manner. Efficiency means achieving the best result using the least time resources. Hence, when planning a tour, the following elements must be considered:
- Time and Distance
- Time to move within the attraction. How long will it take for the tourists to move within a tourist attraction and gain appreciation of it? For example, how long does it take for an average person to have a tour inside the Baclayon Church Museum in Bohol?
- Time to move from one attraction to the next. How long will it take the tour group to move from one attraction to next? For example, how long does it take to move from Baclayon Church Museum to the jump-off point for the Loboc River Cruise?
- Time to start and end of the tour. What time does the tour start and finish? Is meal served before, during, or after the tour? In arranging the Bohol countryside tour, one particular consideration is the time of the day when the tour starts, because it has an effect or when the tourists can have lunch. Lunch at the Loboc River Cruise is one of the tour’s main attractions and only accommodates guests from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
- Flow of the Story
- Interpretation does not only refer to translation form one language to another. It also refers to the provision of meaning and explanation to tourists to help them gain better appreciation and understanding of a particular attraction. A tour guide helps tourists understand the meaning of the things within the tourist attraction. For instance, without a guide’s interpretation services, church ruins would just be a pile of stones. This service thus spells the difference between a guided tour and a non-guided tour.
- Keeping the guest’s interest and attention. Tour guiding is like storytelling. There are five parts of the story: characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. In tour guiding, the setting includes the general information about the country and the city, its people and culture, and how these relate to the tourists’ background. The plot is the itinerary. The characters can be famous people like celebrities and heroes, but they can also be the tour guide and the guests, depending on how the tour guide will tell the story. Conflicts are interesting addition to tour commentaries. These can include intriguing facts or challenges that the local community faces. But at the end, the commentary must offer a resolution to the conflicts presented, such as how tourists can contribute to the local economy, such as by buying locally made souvenirs. Note that unforgettable commentaries and tourist experiences stem from the ingenious arrangements of the tour commentary. Tour guides must therefore prepare commentaries that provide meaning to unfold like a story as the group reaches each tourist attraction.
- Profile of the Guests
Know your group. How old are they? Can they climb stairs? Are they women who love shopping? Are there children in the group? How will their profile affect the itinerary?
- Weather
Know the weather on the tour day. It pays to check the daily weather forecast about one week before the tour. Weather can greatly affect the arrangement of a tour. For instance, while it is sunny all year round in Bohol, sometimes it showers in the afternoon; hence, visiting Chocolate Hills is usually first in the itinerary, as it requires a hike to the top of an open-air hill where the viewpoint is located. The tour guide or tour planner can either prepare plan B for inclement weather conditions, or prepare an all-weather itinerary.
- Cost
Tourism is Business. Itineraries should match the budget of the tourists and the cost of going to particular tourist attractions. Moreover, the travel agency must make a modest profit from the tour without making the tourists feel ripped off.
Here is an example of a logically arranged itinerary:
Upon arrival at the Tagbilaran Airport at 10:45 AM, we will travel for about 30 minutes to Loboc River, where we will have buffet lunch of local cuisine while cruising the river, serenaded with live local music. After lunch, we will proceed to the Chocolate Hills, a thousand limestone hills that look like scoops of chocolate ice cream in summer. We will pass by the man-made forest along the way. Then, we will visit the sanctuary of Tarsiers, one of the smallest primates in the world. From there, we will proceed to the historical sites, such as Blood Compact Shrine and the Baclayon Church and Museum. We will stop by a souvenir shop before we visit the Bohol Bee Far for a sumptuous treat of a healthy organic dinner and malunggay ice cream. The tour ends at your hotel at around 8:00PM.