Personal Care and Service · Holland code SEA
Tour Guides and Escorts
Escort individuals or groups on sightseeing tours or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, and art galleries.
Also called: Docent, Historical Interpreter, Museum Guide, Tour Guide, Art Museum Docent, Discovery Guide, Guide, Museum Docent.
O*NET 39-7011.00
At a glance
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 31% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Describe tour points of interest to group members, and respond to questions.
- Escort individuals or groups on cruises, sightseeing tours, or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, or art galleries.
- Monitor visitors' activities to ensure compliance with establishment or tour regulations and safety practices.
- Conduct educational activities for school children.
- Provide for physical safety of groups, performing such activities as providing first aid or directing emergency evacuations.
- Research various topics, including site history, environmental conditions, and clients' skills and abilities to plan appropriate expeditions, instruction, and commentary.
- Assemble and check the required supplies and equipment prior to departure.
- Greet and register visitors, and issue any required identification badges or safety devices.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Speaking3.9 / 5
- Active Listening3.3 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.0 / 5
- Monitoring3.0 / 5
- Critical Thinking2.9 / 5
- Writing2.3 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.4 / 5
- English Language4.1 / 5
- History and Archeology3.6 / 5
- Communications and Media3.2 / 5
- Education and Training3.2 / 5
- Geography2.9 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic39
- Investigative23
- Artistic41
- Social73
- Enterprising44
- Conventional31
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- tourist animator · DE Touristenanimateur/Touristenanimateurin · FR animateur touristique/animatrice touristique
- mountain guide · DE Bergführer/Bergführerin · FR guide de montagne
- tourist information officer · DE Touristeninformationsmitarbeiter/Touristeninformationsmitarbeiterin · FR agent d’accueil en office de tourisme/agente d’accueil en office de tourisme
- tour operator representative · DE Mitarbeiter eines Reiseveranstalters/Mitarbeiterin eines Reiseveranstalters · FR représentant à destination/représentante à destination
- tour organiser · DE Reiseveranstalter/Reiseveranstalterin · FR guide accompagnateur/guide accompagnatrice
- travel agent · DE Reisevermittler/Reisevermittlerin · FR agent de voyage/agente de voyage
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Travel agency managers and proprietors (1225)10,400 employed
- Garage managers and proprietors (1252)17,700 employed
- Hairdressing and beauty salon managers and proprietors (1253)20,400 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Clerical support workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €40,035 |
| Austria | €38,296 |
| Germany | €37,844 |
| Netherlands | €35,854 |
| Sweden | €33,483 |
| Ireland | €32,144 |
| Italy | €29,311 |
| France | €25,943 |
| Spain | €22,026 |
| Portugal | €12,602 |
| Poland | €10,250 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.36. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (39-7011).
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