Tour guides interact with different kinds of people. Hence, it is important to develop their communication skills. Such skills could be vastly improved by applying the following strategies:

Listen. Listening is different from hearing. Hearing refers to how your brain receives the sounds that your ear catches, while listening is the deliberate interpretation of these sounds into meanings. Here are some tips for active listening:

• When your guests are talking to you, give them your full attention and stop doing other things. Face them and maintain eye-to-eye contact.
• Review mentally what you already know about what the guests are talking about and organize your thoughts accordingly. This enables you to respond appropriately. Set aside prejudices and keep an open mind to learn from the guests.
• Nod to show that you are listening, and verbally confirm what you have heard.

Clarify. If you could not understand what the guest said, clarify by paraphrasing what the guest said and confirm if your understanding was correct. Remember what the Pacific Hotel staff did to clarify the room reservation? Aside from the day of the week, the staff also mentioned the specific date to ensure that the message was understood. You would know if the message was understood when you receive an appropriate feedback.

Be clear. Use correct language structures, simple sentences, and words that are not confusing. Work on your pronunciation and voice projection.

Be consistent. Your actions and body language should be consistent with what you are saying. Do not smoke when you warn that the place is not a place for smoking. Remove your own shoes when you ask the group to do so. Smile when you are talking about blissful things; do not smile when you are talking about sad events.

Be confident. Know your tourism product by heart and ensure the accuracy of your commentaries. Do your research properly prior to the arrival of the group. Gather information from reliable sources. Be proud of your own city and country, but not arrogant. Do not hesitate to apologize. Learn from your mistakes and shortcomings.

Pay attention. Some guests may be too polite to say honestly what they feel. So pay attention to their body language and facial expressions to understand them better.

Be appropriate. Wear appropriate clothes, use respectful language, and behave in a responsible manner. Learn about the places that you are going to vist as well as the cultural background of your guests before their arrival. For instance, your clothes and tone of voice will vary when visiting a temple and when hiking along a forest trail.

Be open. One of the benefits of being a tour guide is meeting people from different cultural backgrounds. Keep an open mind and learn from them as well. Find differences and similarities, and broaden your own perspectives.

Attend to complaints with care. As a tour guide, you will also receive a number of complaints. Here are some tips to handle them: (1) acknowledge what you heard and the guests’ right to feel and think as they do:; (2) confirm the incident; and (3) provide feedback on action(s) taken.

Use proper equipment. If you are using a microphone, ensure that it is working properly and that you are confident in using it.