tour guide qualifications uk

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• Home: Explore careers

Tourist guide

Alternative titles for this job include tour guide, blue badge guide.

Tourist guides show visitors around places of interest like cities, historic buildings and art galleries.

Average salary (a year)

£18,000 Starter

£30,000 Experienced

Typical hours (a week)

28 to 30 seasonal

You could work

freelance / self-employed flexibly

How to become

How to become tourist guide.

You can get into this job through:

• an apprenticeship
• a college course
• volunteering
• applying directly
• specialist courses run by private training organisations

You could do a travel and tourism qualification like:

• Level 2 Certificate in Travel and Tourism
• Level 3 Diploma in Travel and Tourism

This will give you an insight into the tourist industry and help you develop some of the skills to work as a tourist guide.

Having a language like French, German, Italian or Spanish, or a history qualification can also be useful for this type of role.

Entry requirements

You may need:

• 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
• 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course

More Information

• search for courses
• funding advice
• equivalent entry requirements

Apprenticeship

You may be able to gain some of the skills needed in this role through apprenticeships like:

• Level 2 Customer service practitioner
• Level 3 Event assistant
• Level 3 Cultural learning and participation officer

To get onto an apprenticeship, you'll find it useful to have:

• some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
• 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
• guide to apprenticeships

Volunteering

Organisations like the National Trust and English Heritage offer opportunities to gain experience as a tour guide through volunteering.

Direct Application

Many people become tourist guides as a second career, for example teachers who want to work during school holidays or actors who need work between acting roles.

If you have customer service, teaching or language skills or you have experience of working with people, you may be able to apply directly.

Other Routes

You can do 3 levels of training to get a tour guide badge:

• level 2 - white badge
• level 3 - green badge
• level 4 - blue badge

You can apply to local tourist guide associations for training, or major tourist attractions that run their own schemes.

Guide London offers blue badge training, which usually takes around 18 months, and some heritage organisations, like York Minster , have their own training courses.

Career tips

An outgoing and friendly personality, plus being able to speak a second or third language, will give you an advantage when applying for jobs. Experience of dealing with the public and giving presentations will also help.

Further information

You can find out more about becoming a guide from the Institute of Tourist Guiding .

What it takes

Skills and knowledge.

You'll need:

• customer service skills
• excellent verbal communication skills
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• to be flexible and open to change
• sensitivity and understanding
• an interest and knowledge of history
• a good memory
• knowledge of English language
• to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

What you’ll do

What you'll do, day-to-day tasks.

In this role you could:

• guide people around a castle, gallery, historic house or garden
• escort groups of tourists around a site
• give information about the history, purpose and architecture of a site
• accompany groups on day tours to a number of places of interest
• answer questions and suggest other places to visit
• organise or arrange for additional trips and visits

Working environment

You could work at monuments and castles, in a museum, at an art gallery or in parks and gardens.

Your working environment may be physically active, outdoors some of the time and you'll travel often.

Career path and progression

With experience you could work for a tour operator as a regional tour supervisor or manager.

Current opportunities

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Tour guide: Key Skills, Qualifications and Career Path

Jump to section, what is a tour guide, how do i become a tour guide, what would you like to know, what does it take to become an tour guide.

Skills, education, personality, career progression

Job demand for an Tour guide

Job ads, popular location, season to apply

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• In-depth knowledge of local attractions and landmarks
• Strong organizational and time management abilities
• Ability to handle and resolve customer complaints or issues
• Proficiency in multiple languages (if applicable)
• Flexibility and adaptability to changing schedules and itineraries
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills
• Ability to provide exceptional customer service
• Confidence and public speaking skills
• Attention to detail and ability to provide accurate information

Qualifications & Education

• No formal academic entry requirements
• Spoken fluency in a foreign language required for some positions
• NVQs/SVQs in travel services available at Levels 2 and 3
• On-the-job training provided

Career Path

Frequently asked questions.

To become a tour guide in the UK, you need to first determine if you have the necessary skills and interest for the job. Then, decide what kind of guiding job you want. If required, obtain any necessary training and licenses. Once you are prepared, start looking for travel guide job opportunities. Once you secure a job, continue to learn and improve your skills.

Being a tour guide can be a challenging job, especially in terms of the long hours and the need to constantly be attentive to the needs and safety of the tour group.

To become a tour guide in the UK, it is beneficial to have a good knowledge of the subject area you will be covering. Fluency in at least one foreign language, particularly German, Italian, French, or Spanish, is highly advantageous. In some cases, a high level of language ability may be required.

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How to Become a Tour Guide

Do you love visiting museums, art galleries and historic locations? Are you great at remembering facts and sharing them in an interesting, engaging way? Then a career as a tour guide could be just what you’ve been dreaming of. 

Tour guides show groups of visitors around museums, castles, art galleries, and cities, sharing interesting facts and stories that both entertain and educate. The career of a tour guide is so diverse that there is ample opportunity to learn new things as well as find tour guide jobs that suit your interests. 

Whether you love history, art, or science, or want to entertain visitors with ghost stories or funny tales as you guide them around the city, you can discover the ins and outs of this exciting career and see how you can become a tour guide. 

What Does a Tour Guide Do?

Tour guides help tourists to make the most of their holidays by giving educational, entertaining, and interesting tours around local attractions, national parks, and places of interest. Usually hired by visitors bureaus and tour operators, they help create an unforgettable experience for tourists, bringing history to life through their performance. 

There are also self-employed tour guides who offer their experience and expertise to travellers by offering walking tours, museum tours, cruises, and bus tours. Tour guides provide a valuable service to tourists, offering entertainment and education, with many adding comedic elements to their presentation. 

They also answer questions from visitors and build rapport with their tour groups. Many of the walking tours are also themed, so travellers can choose from visiting historical sites or learning about haunted locations.

What Qualifications are Needed to Become a Tour Guide?

There are some tour guide job opportunities that do not require qualifications, however, there are a number of useful qualifications which can help you in your tour guide career. Having at least 5 GCSE’s at grades A*-C including maths and English can help you enrol on a Travel and Tourism course. 

For example, you can enrol on the Travel and Tourism Level 2 Certificate or the Level 3 Diploma in Travel and Tourism. Being able to communicate in other languages will also be useful.

There are several online Travel and Tourism courses that are available to everyone (including the Level 2 Travel and Tourism certificate), whether you have previous qualifications which are unrelated, have a little experience, or have no previous qualifications. 

These courses, as well as the online Tourism courses , are available to undertake entirely online through distance learning so you can study flexibly around your current work and family life. They offer valuable knowledge and help learners to develop key skills needed as a tour guide.

There are also sometimes opportunities to work directly with organisations in the travel industry, such as tour companies and museums. These opportunities include courses run by them as well as apprenticeships. 

Some qualifications also require more qualifications such as a Bachelors or Master’s degree in history, depending on the site and depth of knowledge their tour guides require.

What Is Blue Badge Tour Guide Training?

The most common way to become a qualified tour guide however, is through the badge system. There are specific training courses on which you can enrol on, and upon completion, you will be at a certain level of your guide. 

There are white badge tour guides who are qualified to guide groups around specific sites. Green badge tour guides are qualified to provide walking and museum tours around a particular city, and blue badge tour guides are qualified to offer all types of tours in a larger area.

Specific tourist sites and organisations often run these courses, and you must pass an exam by the Institute of Tourist Guiding. However, if you have a tourism qualification, then you are one step closer to becoming a badge-qualified tour guide.

How Much Do Tour Guides Earn?

The average salary for a tour guide is between £18,000 and £30,000 a year, according to the National Careers Service . This varies depending on the type of tours provided, your experience, and where the tours take place.

What Skills are Needed to Become a Tour Guide?

There are several skills needed in order to be a successful tour guide. If you do not feel that you have these skills, then the online courses mentioned above can help you develop them. 

It is also important to bear in mind that these are general skills that will vary depending on your specific types, and bringing your own personality to your role can make a world of difference.

• Knowledge of the tour area, including locations, key facts, and interesting stories
• The ability to engage a group of people
• Excellent problem-solving skills
• Public speaking skills
• Effective communication skills
• A friendly, approachable, and charismatic personality
• Organisation and timekeeping skills
• The ability to improvise and adapt
• The ability to memorise a lot of information and learn new facts quickly

Does a Tour Guide Need any Work Experience?

Work experience isn’t essential to beginning your career as a tour guide. However, having some experience of working with the public is greatly beneficial, even if it is in a shop or other seemingly unrelated environment. You can develop key skills in customer service jobs as well as in school, college, and university, such as developing good communication skills.

A great way to gain experience is by seeking out voluntary or apprenticeship opportunities. Many museums accept volunteers to guide visitors, protect exhibits, work in the gift shop or reception desk and assist in the development of specific exhibitions. This is a great way to gain valuable experience of working with visitors and tourists as well as learning and communicating interesting facts and information.

Career Prospects for Tour Guides

There are a huge number of different locations and sites available for tour guides to work in. As a guide, you can work in history museums, art museums, botanical gardens, or castles, as well as walking or bus tours such as ghost walks and comedy walks. You can also work your way up to being a tour leader, supervisor, or manager and create itineraries or sidestep into other travel and tourism roles, like working in cabin crew or as a travel agent .

Whether you want to be a full-time sightseeing tour guide in New York City or a part time tour guide in London, the tourism industry could be looking for someone just like you. You could offer an incredible experience to visitors and instil in them the passion you have for your city, museum, or attraction.

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• How to Become a Tour Guide
• Career Advice
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More than just an umbrella and a script, becoming a tour guide is one of the most rewarding jobs for retired individuals, offering the chance to meet new people, entertain, and impart knowledge to an eager audience.

Around the UK and the world at large, many retirees find work as a tour guide an enriching experience that is a pleasure in itself.

With many tourists happy to pay for guided tours, however, there are financial benefits to the arrangement too.

Getting started as a tour guide is relatively easy, but there are a few things you need to know first.

Here, we’ll explain how to become a tour guide, the benefits, skills, and pay you can expect, as well as some tips on finding your feet, including good locations, some courses, and job scouting.

What Does a Tour Guide Do?

Tour guides show visitors around places of interest, including cities, museums, historic buildings, and galleries. Tour guides will take groups on excursions around these locations and impart their expert knowledge as they do so. This knowledge can be on almost anything but the most popular tours tend to be historical, natural, cultural, religious or even culinary in nature.

While film and TV would have you believe tour guides are disinterested script-readers ushering a crowd of people through a city or museum, the reality is usually far different.

A good tour guide will turn an average trip, visit, or holiday into something truly special, bringing a place to life.

The common duties of a tour guide include:

• Speaking knowledgeably on a location
• Guiding groups around a location
• Ensuring the safety of tour attendees
• Communicating in an effective and entertaining manner
• Provide enriching experiences to groups visiting a location

People are looking for a variety of different tour guides. Knowing a certain aspect of a place inside-out is valuable knowledge that many people are happy to pay to have shared. While an intimate knowledge of a city’s history is a guaranteed hit, there are plenty of people who would like to have the natural geology of the local landscape explained to them, or dive deeper into the exhibits in a museum. With modern tourists looking for a variety of experiences, there are plenty of gaps in the market for all sorts of tours.

Your job as a tour guide, therefore, involves leaving people happy that they now know a place a little better than before. This can be achieved in a number of ways and is dependent on your personality. Some guides will rely on humour, charm, and delivery, while others will win over customers with the finer details, professionalism, and expertise. The most popular tour guides tend to combine a bit of both.

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Types of Guide

The most common type of tour guides are:

This type of guide will typically walk, cycle, or bus their way around a city with a group taking in the various significant landmarks and points of interest. This sort of guide will usually have intimate, first-hand knowledge of the city they are giving tours on and know a thing or two the guidebooks may not.

Historical Guide

History tours are always a popular choice with a lot of visitors looking to the past to understand the present. These tour guides will take groups around areas of historical importance such as the site of a battle, the ruins of a Roman villa, medieval Cathedrals, stately homes, and even neolithic groundworks. Visitors look to history tour guides to bring vibrancy and liveliness to these places, helping understand the larger context as well as the interesting tidbits.

Museum/Curation Guide

Many find their experience of a museum or art gallery heightened when they are taken around by a tour guide. Giving background information on the history of an artifact or art piece, tour guides will often curate the finest these locations have to offer, fielding questions, and allowing a better appreciation.

Nature Guide

Nature guides tend to take groups through natural landscapes, explaining the various aspects of the environment. This includes local wildlife, geology, and the prehistoric life that inhabited the area. For a lot of retirees, this sort of tour can prove a great way to keep active, with short and long nature hikes popular amongst tourists.

You can, however, become a tour guide on almost any subject, especially if you choose to go down the freelance route. Tour guides have found success imparting knowledge on all manner of things including, afternoon tea tours, paranormal tours, crime and murder tours, pub tours, and even cemetery tours if notables are buried within your city. There is room for creativity and expression when it comes to giving tours.

Skills You Will Need

Success as a freelance or an employed tour guide requires having a certain skill set. These skills are:

Timekeeping

Ensuring you are where you need to be at all times is one of the trickiest parts of being a tour guide. With some guides fitting multiple tours into a day, starting and finishing on time is vital. This of course needs to be balanced with giving patrons a valuable experience that doesn’t feel rushed. Good timekeeping, therefore, means you can give your group the best value for money and your undivided attention.

Communication

It’s no good having expert knowledge on a subject if you can’t express it. Good communication, then, is a necessary skill in becoming a tour guide. Speaking clearly, loudly, and in an effective manner works best, knowing just the right amount of information to convey without getting bogged down in uninteresting details. However, these skills can be learned over time through practice and engagement.

Expert Knowledge

In-depth knowledge of the tour’s subject is essential. People don’t want to feel like they’re just having an encyclopedia read to them. Instead, they want the personal, engaging, and intimate knowledge of an expert. For employed tour guide work, this knowledge can be acquired and studied, improving your understanding over time, with organisations often giving training and courses. For freelance work, it is best to stick with subjects you already have a deep knowledge of.

Some of the best tour guides not only leave their groups feeling more knowledgeable, but also happier. Winning over your group can be done in a variety of ways. Some guides choose to express their passion for a subject, exciting their group, while others choose a dry-wit that keeps their patrons chuckling.

When taking a group on a tour, they will look to you to lead them. This involves adopting a certain air of authority for the duration of the tour. Not everyone is comfortable doing this but it is necessary for good timekeeping and the safety of your group. On a city tour, for example, shuffling your group out of the way of passers-by and away from nearby traffic will reassure your group you are a professional and have their best interest in mind.

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Benefits of Becoming a Guide in Retirement

Most find that becoming a tour guide is a mutually beneficial arrangement, especially for those in retirement . While groups get to experience a deeper understanding of a place, you as the tour guide get to talk about a subject you are interested in, expand your knowledge, and interact with like-minded people regularly.

Being a tour guide means being paid to talk about something you are passionate about to a captive audience. This is a big responsibility, of course, but is massively rewarding. While loneliness and isolation are often problems for some in retirement, tour guide work is a terrific outlet to interact with people and enrich their experience of a place, often leaving a lasting impression on patrons.

The work is flexible too, especially if you choose to freelance. While maintaining a schedule does help keep bookings flowing, the work is very forgiving when it comes to taking time off. With most tours taking just one or two hours, too, tour guide work can often fit around other commitments such as family duties.

Tour Guide Salary/Pay

Tour guides can expect to make anywhere between £18,000 to £30,000 a year depending on their level of experience, location, and amount of hours worked

Tour guides working in popular tourist cities such as London, York, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and Manchester can expect to earn more than guides working in quieter locations.

Earnings from being a tour guide will not be consistent, with more money earned in certain seasons than others. This is typically the summer months when people go on holiday , take day trips, and do more travelling. Good financial planning is therefore necessary.

You can run a tour almost anywhere, but tourist hotspots will prove to be the most lucrative.

The UK’s rich and diverse history as an island makes almost any town or city suitable for tour guiding. With plenty of stately homes, prehistoric sites and natural landscapes, those who live in more rural areas should also not have any trouble finding tour guide work.

Being a tour guide in the UK does not require a license but tourists do tend to look for some form of accreditation.

As one of the world’s most visited places, London is an ideal place to become a tour guide, offering plenty of opportunities to those in retirement.

To guide in London you don’t need a license. However, in order to earn the trust of customers, you will need a City of London Guides Badge and ideally at least a Green Badge from the Institute of Tourist Guiding. A Blue Badge is recommended, however, as it is recognised internationally as a mark of quality and puts tourists at ease knowing they are in the hands of a professional.

These qualifications ensure you are capable of conveying historical and cultural information accurately and in a manner that represents London best.

Aside from the big landmarks and tourist favourites, London also presents the opportunity to host tours on even the most niche subjects. These include Harry Potter tours, Jack the Ripper murder trails, legal tours, and even a tour of the Capital’s public toilets.

The many major towns and cities of Europe are equally suitable for those interested in becoming a tour guide. For those who have chosen to retire abroad , this presents a great chance to impart your local knowledge with tourists looking to get to know a place better.

Like London, capitals and major cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Rome and Paris will always have high demand for tour guides. Each country has their own laws regarding tour guiding, with some requiring a license, such as France.

A good place to start is the  European Federation of Tourist Guiding Association  which provides training and advice on to how to become a tour guide in Europe.

International

Internationally, becoming a tour guide is simply a matter of researching your country of interest, including its rules and regulations.

India, for example, requires a regional license to be held to tour guide following a training course and is issued by the Indian Government’s Tourism Office. This license is only valid for 3 years before needing to be renewed.

Other countries, such as Japan, require no license or accreditation, meaning you can get started right away providing you have enough experience and knowledge.

Tour Guide Courses and Accreditations

There are no legal requirements to becoming a tour guide in the UK. You can simply set up a website or social media page, advertise locally, and start as soon as your first bookings come in.

This is often the route taken by freelancers looking to get started quickly, confident their area of expertise will attract groups. If you have proven experience in your tour subject, this will go a long way to instilling confidence in potential patrons.

While there is no need for a formal qualification, there are plenty of courses up and down the UK that offer training on how to become a tour guide. These courses will instruct you on how to handle large groups, what level of knowledge is necessary, delivering information concisely, and setting up your business or getting a job.

For those who want to acquire this form of accreditation, the  Institute of Tourist Guiding  is the go-to body, providing three levels of certification:

White Badge

Paid or voluntary guiding around attractions such as stately homes and cathedrals, and even  commercial sites .

Green Badge

The green badge accreditation is recommended for city and town tour guides, delivering walking tours on a full or part-time basis.

The most well-regarded tour guide accreditation, the blue badge is recommended for tour guides in busy cities and sites of interest, especially those that require taking groups on various forms of transport.

In order to become a blue badge accredited tour guide, you need to pass a course approved by the Institute of Tourist Guiding or the Scottish Tourist Guide Association. This typically involves up to two years of training and self-study followed by a series of comprehensive exams. These exams involve both written and practical exercises.

The badges can be obtained from various organisations in collaboration with the Institute of Tourist Guiding. The British Guild of Tourist Guiding has a list of course providers  here .

Finding Tour Guide Jobs

There are two ways to get work as a tour guide:

Freelance tour guides will handle the advertising, networking, and business side of things themselves. Getting bookings is a matter of having a website with a form, taking private messages on Facebook and other social media platforms, and receiving phone calls. It will be up to you to ensure your tour is being found, whether this is through word of mouth, online advertisements, being featured in local brochures and magazines, or interacting with potential visitors online.

Employed tour guides will tend not to have to deal with the day-to-day running of the business and are usually paid a regular wage, regardless of how many bookings are taken. The upshot of this is potentially less stress and admin. The downside is you may earn less than your freelance counterparts, and you might not be able to be as flexible.

Finding employed work as a tour guide can be achieved through:

• Job websites such as  Indeed ,  Jooble  and  Linkedin .
• Reaching out to museums, cathedrals, galleries, and other places of interest directly.
• Getting in touch with your  local tourist board  and asking about tour guide opportunities.

Offering flexibility, fair pay, and the opportunity to engage with people as passionate as you about a subject, being a tour guide is a great choice, especially for retirees.

Abbie Jessop is the former Head of Events at Rest Less Events, moderating many of the weekly events. As an avid reader and keen musician, she also runs the Book Club and Desert Island Discs events. She loves chatting to Rest Less Events members at the community events, and relishes the challenge of leading the Book Club Q&A every month.

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Job descriptions and industry overviews

Tour guide: job description.

targetjobs editorial team

25 Jan 2023, 13:39

Tour guides accompany groups of visitors to tourist attractions, whether on day trips or longer visits, and give them information and insights that help them make the most of the experience.

Potential tour guides should be fit and healthy with lots of energy and confidence.

What do tour guides do? Typical employers | Qualifications and training | Key skills

Due to Covid-19, you may find it difficult to gain work or experience as a tour guide. As we explain here , however, recruiters will not view time out of work due to the pandemic as a 'gap' in your CV. For guidance on searching for work during this difficult time, take a look at our advice for job hunting during a pandemic .

Tour guides show groups round attractions such as historic monuments, cultural centres and beauty spots, and provide them with background information to help them make the most of their visit. They may work with day-trippers or on walking tours, or support tourists on longer visits that involve overnight stays, perhaps to rural or remote locations. Tour guide jobs sometimes also call for chauffeuring and language skills. Typical responsibilities include:

• undertaking research and planning tours
• preparing and giving presentations
• offering sightseeing advice
• organising and leading excursions
• problem solving
• translating and interpreting
• transporting and accompanying tourists.

Many tour guides work on a seasonal basis and combine tour guiding with other work, but there are full-time roles available.

Adverts appear in specialist press publications such as Travel Trade Gazette or Travel Weekly , as well as their online equivalents. It is advisable to make speculative applications.

Qualifications and training required

A degree is not required for entry into this profession. However, it could be an advantage to have national vocational qualifications or a degree in an appropriate subject such as leisure, travel, tourism, or languages.

Work with the general public, or experience gained within the hotel, tourism or travel trades is usually beneficial.

There are accredited tourist guide training programmes that cover a range of destinations, including London, and that enable you to qualify at three different levels for three different types of guiding: at sites, on guided walks, and on a moving vehicle. Blue Badge holders are qualified for all three modes, while green badge holders can offer guided walks and can also act as tour guides at sites in a specific area. White Badge holders can either provide guidance at a specific site or on a walk along a fixed route. The Institute of Tourist Guiding has more information about these qualifications.

Key skills for tourist guides

Potential tour guides should be fit and healthy with lots of energy and confidence, be able to work effectively without supervision, possess a calm 'customer focused' manner, and have excellent interpersonal skills.

Language and first aid skills are useful, as is a driving licence.

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• Tour Guide Training
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Unleash your potential in the Tour Guide Training industry. Develop job-ready competencies for a high-demand career with this Tour Guide Training Course.

The Tour Guide Training career may be the road for you if you’ve always wanted a gratifying profession. Tour Guide Training skills have become more essential than ever as the Tour Guide Training  industry continues to create revolutionary services and products. If you’re a problem-solver who enjoys winning, Tour Guide Training career will be both rewarding and profitable.

Even if you’re seeking to change careers, Tour Guide Training will be a rewarding career choice. Expertise in Tour Guide Training  also means flourishing in a rising, competitive, and data-driven work environment.

• Why Choose Imperial Academy?

Imperial Academy offers you the benefit of —

• Learn with an engaging voiceover and visual elements to facilitate your learning process.
• Get a year's worth of unlimited access to the course.
• Receive round-the-clock access to expert assistance.
• Participate in quick assessments and get instant feedback on your progress.
• Study on your own schedule from the convenience of your own home.
• Who Is This Course For?

Tour Guide Training course assists you in becoming job-ready, whether you’re trying to start a new career or improve your existing one. You can learn at your own schedule, whenever and wherever suits you best. You will discover all the expertise you’ll need to thrive in an ever-changing Tour Guide Training sector with this online Tour Guide Training course.

• Endorsement

The Quality Licence Scheme has endorsed this course for its high-quality, non-regulated provision and training programmes. This course is not regulated by Ofqual and is not an accredited qualification. Imperial Academy will be able to advise you on any further recognition, for example, progression routes into further and/or higher education.

Imperial Academy is an approved reselling partner for Quality Licence Scheme courses under One Education.

Certificate of Achievement

• Quality Licence Scheme Endorsed Certificate of Achievement

Upon successful completion of the Tour Guide Training course, you can order an original hardcopy certificate of achievement endorsed by the Quality Licence Scheme. The certificate will be home-delivered, with a pricing scheme of  —

• 119 GBP within the UK
• 129 GBP for International Delivery (Postal Fees Included)
• CPD Certification

After successfully completing the assessment of this Tour Guide Training course, you will also qualify for the CPD Certificate from Imperial Academy, as proof of your continued development. Certification is available in PDF format, at the cost of £9, or a hard copy can be sent to you via post, at the cost of £15. International students will have to pay an extra £10 as postal fees.

The Tour Guide Training course has been endorsed under the Quality Licence Scheme.  This means that One Education has undergone an external quality check to ensure that the organisation and the courses it offers meet defined quality criteria. The completion of this Tour Guide Training course alone does not lead to a regulated qualification but may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills gained. The Learner Unit Summary may be used as evidence towards Recognition of Prior Learning if you wish to progress your studies in this subject. To this end the learning outcomes of the Tour Guide Training course have been benchmarked at Level 5  against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of demand/complexity involved in successful completion by the learner. 

The Tour Guide Training course itself has been designed by One Education to meet specific learners’ and/or employers’ requirements which cannot be satisfied through current regulated qualifications.

The Quality Licence Scheme endorsement involves robust and rigorous quality audits by external auditors to ensure quality is continually met.  A review of courses is carried out as part of the endorsement process.

• Requirements

No formal entry requirements! No prerequisites or relevant experience is required!

This course is accessible to anyone with an eagerness to learn. All you require is —

• A smart device with a stable internet connection
• A keen interest in this topic.
• And being over the age of 16.
• Career Path

You will gain a well-rounded grasp of all core aspects of the Tour Guide Training sector during this Tour Guide Training course, which will help you prepare for your dream Tour Guide Training role. Develop a good balance of conceptual expertise, as well as Tour Guide Training skills that are in great demand by employers.

Course Curriculum

Learners will get an certificate of achievement directly at their doorstep after successfully completing the course!

It should also be noted that international students must pay £10 for shipping cost.

CPD Accredited Certification

Upon successfully completing the course, you will be qualified for CPD Accredited Certificate. Certification is available –

• PDF Certificate £7.99
• Hard Copy Certificate £14.99

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How To Become A London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

To become a registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide  working in London, you will need to take a course and gain accreditation from the Institute of Tourist Guiding .

The Course:  The course typically lasts about 18 months and involves lectures in London and practical site visits, along with periods of self study. Its main focus is London, but it also covers the major tourist destinations across the South East, so it helps to have a reasonable knowledge of London and destinations such as Windsor, Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge and Stratford. It can also be useful to have language skills as a large number of Guides provide tours in more than one language.

Applying For The Course: There is lots of interest in the course, so candidates are assessed by exam and interview before being awarded a place. You will find further information on the course fees and timelines on the Institute’s website.

Programme Content: As part of the course you’ll learn how to develop and present highlights tours of London’s major attractions, including Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, the British Museum and the National Gallery, together with a City of London walk and a panoramic coach tour. The practical side is matched by lectures covering a wide range of topics related to London, the various regional sites and the techniques of guiding.

Exams: During the course you’ll take a number of written and practical exams and if you’re successful you’ll be awarded a Blue Badge, which is the industry’s recognised symbol of professionalism in tourist guiding. It is also possible to take the exams without doing the course, but there are many benefits to doing so, not least the opportunity to meet and work with guiding colleagues.

Contact the Institute of Tourist Guiding directly for more information.

Why choose a Blue or Green Badge Tourist Guide?

Our Members are exceptional tourist guides. Entertaining and informative, reliable and professionally qualified with local and up to date knowledge, their wealth of experience is respected by discriminating tour operators and travel agents throughout the world. Whether it is for an individual or a group, business or pleasure, a Blue or Green Badge Tourist Guide makes a good experience exceptional! FIND YOUR GUIDE TODAY

Here are just 10 reasons why you should experience the difference:

1. Professionally qualified

The Blue and Green Badge is a symbol of quality and excellence in UK tourist guiding. All Blue and Green Badge tourist guides have undergone a rigorous selection process and they have trained intensively for over 18 months, achieving the highest tourist guiding qualification in the UK awarded by the   Institute of Tourist Guiding . Their knowledge is kept up to date through a comprehensive and bi-annual programme of Continual Professional Development.

2. Famous Sites

Due to their peerless professionalism, knowledge and customer service they are the ONLY external guides permitted to guide at major sites, including Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. They bring sites to life, often telling the stories that are not in the guide books or audio tours. With your own knowledgeable and entertaining guide, you can ask questions and find out more about what interests you. They offer bespoke guided tours of world famous sites in London and across the UK, combining the iconic with the contemporary.

3. Bespoke to you

No one tour is the same. They offer tailor-made tours for clients that speak to each client’s passions and interests … For those with limited time, a highlight tour will ensure you don’t miss anything important and will put your visit in context. Alternatively you may prefer an in-depth tour of a particular aspect of a collection. Many of our guides have particular specialities. From literature to the Beatles, film locations, legal or medical tours, our guides can design a tour that is right for you.

4. Locally made

They have an in-depth knowledge & love for their local areas – the best local sites the best local eateries and pubs, the best shopping, things to do… They’re your local tourist guides.

5. Speaking your language

Our diverse community of tourist guides offer guided tours in over 30 languages. So, wherever you are from, you will receive a warm welcome in your own language.

6. Passionate experts

This is more than just a job, our tourist guides are lifelong cultural & social historians, heritage interpreters, contemporary commentators, entertaining story tellers, passionate explorers and simply inspirational! They love showing what a fascinating and vibrant place contemporary Britain is. Discover music, architecture, fashion and multi-cultural Britain with one of our expert guides.

7. No ordinary tour

They offer much more than just your ordinary tour. They know all the unknown gems, the hidden stories, the curios & curiosities, every detail, helping you to learn more, explore more and enjoy more.

8. From solo to group tours

Our guides are just as comfortable touring with solo travellers as they are with couples, families & friends, colleagues, large groups.

9. Any mode tours

On foot, by bike, private car, coach, boat, helicopter … Our Blue or Green Badge Tourist Guide are versatile and will give you an entertaining and informative tour in any mode and help you discover things you would not have found on your own.

10. Customer care

Your wellbeing is important to them. They work within professional Codes of Conduct & are fully insured. Our driver-guides are subject to annual inspections by local licensing authorities.

FIND YOUR GUIDE TODAY

• 01786 447 784
• [email protected]
• 01786 451 953
• [email protected]

Guide Courses

Are you a great communicator? Passionate about Scotland? Love travelling? Thirsty to learn more? 

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then becoming an STGA tourist guide could be the career for you. 

First you’ll require the right training and qualifications in order to become a fully qualified guide and a member of the Scottish Tourist Guides Association. 

Types of Tourist Guide Training Courses

Blue badge course.

• 18 month course
• Trains and accredits guides to guide anywhere in Scotland 
• Classes held in the field and online 

Green Badge Course

• Trains and accredits guides to guide in specific region of Scotland
• Regions include Orkney, Shetland and North-East Scotland 
• Courses run regularly 

Yellow Badge Course

• Trains and qualifies guides to guide on specific routes or venues 
• Bespoke guide training for our venue, route, or business

Get in Touch

For all Training enquiries, please contact a member of our Training office team:

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• [email protected]
• 07944 470 371
• Training Support Administrator

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OCN NI Level 3 Certificate in Tour Guiding

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Qualification Code

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Qualification information.

The OCN NI Level 3 Certificate in Tour Guiding qualification is to develop and enhance tour guiding skills for learners. It will build on the OCN NI Level 2 Award in Tour Guiding which focusses on walking tours. It will introduce learners to the skills required to deliver tours on a moving vehicle.Learners must successfully complete all 4 units for a total of 13 credits to achieve this qualification.

Individual Units

Available centres, advanced education • awarding qualifications.

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Induction for early career teachers (England)

Guidance for appropriate bodies, headteachers, school staff and governing bodies.

Applies to England

Induction for early career teachers, england.

PDF , 384 KB , 65 pages

This statutory guidance is for:

• headteachers
• school staff
• appropriate bodies
• governing bodies

It applies to:

• local-authority-maintained schools
• academies and free schools
• pupil referral units
• independent schools
• sixth-form colleges
• further education colleges

The guidance covers settings that:

• are required to offer induction to their early career teachers
• choose to offer induction to their early career teachers

This guidance replaces the previous version, which can be found in The National Archives .

Updated 'Induction for early career teachers, England' to include legal corrections and add minor clarifications on existing guidance. The changes are listed in the 'What's new from April 2024' section on page 10.

Removed ‘secure children’s home’ from the list of institutions where induction cannot be served (page 15), to correct error.

'Induction for early career teachers, England (from 1 September 2023)' was added.

First published.

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Getting your training course approved

The accreditation process − +.

• The Institute of Tourist Guiding is the professional standards and qualifications body for tourist guides. It was formed in 2002 with the endorsement of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, to set the highest possible standards for tourist guiding
• The Institute awards Blue, Green and White Badge qualifications for tourist guiding in England, Northern Ireland and Jersey, and accredits the training courses and examinations that lead to those qualifications
• As the Institute is the accrediting, standard-setting and examining body, it does not run the training courses itself. Training courses are run by training providers across the country
• Any organisation/person can submit a training course to the Institute for accreditation. If the course is approved, the Institute undertakes to provide appropriate examinations for candidates wishing to gain the qualification.

How is training managed? − +

• All courses must have a Training Provider and a Course Director
• A Training Provider might be, for example, a local authority, a local tourist guide association, or similar organisation. The British Guild of Tourist Guides is one such example
• The Training Provider’s role is to approve and work with the Course Director and Administrator, to deliver the full course on budget, and to maintain a monitoring and advisory role. The Training Provider has ultimate financial responsibility for the course
• Maintaining student attendance records
• Ensuring candidates are entered for examinations
• Running the training programme in accordance with the course syllabus
• Recruiting trainers, tutors, lecturers and mentors
• Managing all financial dealings
• Maintaining ongoing pastoral care for all trainees

What do I need to do next? − +

Your first decision - Which qualification category is your course designed for?

The Institute recognises four types of qualification, referred to as Blue Badge, Green Badge, White Badge and an Endorsement.

For each guiding qualification, tourist guides will reach the same degree of guiding skill, knowledge and professionalism. The difference between the coloured badges relates to the extent and range of their area of qualification in terms of location and geography.

White Badge: For a single site, e.g. religious building, museum, zoo, art gallery, wildlife centre, historic house and garden, or a restricted single route tour, e.g. by boat, land-train

A White Badge course needs to have a minimum of 28 hours of contact time and will often run part-time over 2-3 months. It is assessed by a written paper and practical guiding exam on the site.

Green Badge: Walking tours in a town, countryside or defined area, including guided tours of town attractions, e.g. religious buildings, museum and sites

A Green Badge course needs to have a minimum of 80 hours of contact time and will often run part-time over 5-6 months. It is assessed by a written paper, a tour planning project and two practical guiding exams.

Blue Badge: Covering a wide geographical area or metropolitan area, including flexible tours of sites, towns and tours throughout the area from a vehicle, e.g. car, coach or train

A Blue Badge course needs to have a minimum of 600 hours which will be comprised of a minimum of 360 contact hours plus private research and learning. It will often run part-time over 12 months. It is assessed by 2 written papers, a tour planning project and at least four practical guiding exams

Recognised Course: A development course for existing Institute-qualified guides, leading to an Endorsement.

An Endorsement course needs to have a minimum of 20 hours contact time and will often run full time over a week or part-time over a longer period. It can be assessed by written exam, practical guiding exam or both.

Who is going to run your course? − +

Are you planning to run the course yourself?

YES - Check you meet the requirements laid down by the Accreditation Committee in the corresponding accreditation pack below.

NO - I don't want to run the course myself. If you require help with the design and delivery of your training course, please contact an Accredited Trainer . Please be aware the Trainer may charge for their time.

How to draw up your application for a training programme accreditation − +

Please download the appropriate accreditation pack for detailed instructions on how to complete your application

Accreditation Fees - can be found in our accreditation fees document

Once your Training Programme is accredited the Accreditation is valid for FIVE years. Each time a course is run within the FIVE year period, it is necessary to apply for Course Re-Validation , for which you will need to include:

• A description of the course with rationale and list of any changes
• The application form (indicate re-accreditation)
• Confirmation of the payment of the fee

Accreditation Packs

• White Badge
• Accreditation Fees
• Green Badge
• Endorsement

Case studies from previous courses

See all case studies

Blue Badge Tourist Guide

I have always had a love for history and mixing this with storytelling and the organisational aspect of guiding, I knew I had found the ladder I wanted to climb.

Bury St Edmunds Green Badge Guides

Cambridge green badge.

The Tourism Service in Cambridge has trained guides to Blue Badge and Green Badge level since the 1970’s.

Southampton White Badge

Southampton has a long tradition of qualified guiding, White, Green and Blue Badge and the Southampton Tourist Guides Association will in a couple of years reach its fiftieth birthday.

Tower Bridge White Badge

For Tower Bridge, the partnership with the Institute has been a fundamental cooperation to train, develop and assess on guided tour content and delivery for the benefit of our customers.