Personal Care and Service · Holland code SEC
Travel Guides
Plan, organize, and conduct long-distance travel, tours, and expeditions for individuals and groups.
Also called: Guide, Tour Escort, Tour Manager, Travel Consultant, Cruise Counselor, Naturalist Guide, Tour Coordinator, Tour Operations Specialist.
O*NET 39-7012.00
At a glance
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 46% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 2 of 5
- Some 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.
- Explain hunting and fishing laws to groups to ensure compliance.
- Lead individuals or groups to tour site locations and describe points of interest.
- Pilot airplanes or drive land and water vehicles to transport tourists to activity or tour sites.
- Arrange for tour or expedition details such as accommodations, transportation, equipment, and the availability of medical personnel.
- Plan tour itineraries, applying knowledge of travel routes and destination sites.
- Resolve any problems with itineraries, service, or accommodations.
- Sell or rent equipment, clothing, and supplies related to expeditions.
- Attend to special needs of tour participants.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Speaking4.0 / 5
- Active Listening3.9 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.3 / 5
- Writing3.1 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
- Active Learning3.1 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.3 / 5
- English Language3.3 / 5
- Sales and Marketing3.2 / 5
- Administrative3.0 / 5
- Transportation2.9 / 5
- Administration and Management2.9 / 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.
- Realistic24
- Investigative22
- Artistic24
- Social64
- Enterprising60
- Conventional55
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 information centre manager · DE Fremdenverkehrszentrumleiter/Fremdenverkehrszentrumleiterin · FR directeur d’office de tourisme/directrice d’office de tourisme
- travel agency manager · DE Reisebüroleiter/Reisebüroleiterin · FR directeur d'agence de voyage/directrice d’agence de voyage
- 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
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 +0.61. 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 (39-7012).
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