Cuba is a great spot to visit, offering an off the beaten path experience if you are willing to wonder past the Havana boundary line. It is also one of the places where having a tour guide is an essential component of a great trip. A local guide can be a wealth of knowledge, information and a valuable resource when you are visiting and learning about this destination. A quality tour guide will not only share his significant knowledge, but will also provide an engaging experience for guests.
What can you be expecting of an exceptional tour guide?
Knowledge of the Tour Area
A tour guide who knows their stuff can greatly enhance your adventure. Couple that with local, current knowledge and insight and you may just find yourself discovering things you didn’t even know existed. Such tour guide will take you on a journey and communicate the history and interesting facts with engaging enthusiasm and help you create life-long memories.
One of the main reasons for going with a guide is that you don’t have to do the extra work of researching. A great tour guide:
- Shares local experience and expertise and knows their country intimately
- Knows a lot about a variety of topics and can hold a conversation
- Can help you uncover exciting details to keep everyone’s interest
- Thoroughly explains facts, history, landmarks, figures, local customs, and more
They are also able to answer additional tour-related questions that may come up during the trip with a smile and a sense of humor. Knowledgeable guides add tons of value to your tour and help make your trip insightful and memorable.
Ability To Communicate Effectively
Effective communication is an absolute must for a great tour leader. Knowing how to present themselves while speaking loudly and clearly so everyone can hear is essential as well as checking in to see that everyone could understand what they were explaining. They must be able to articulate information while commanding the attention of multiple people of various ages and cultural backgrounds.
They need to be able to think on their feet in some instances and ensure that unplanned situations are handled well.
A great tour guide also needs to know how to help prevent any misunderstandings amongst the tour-goers by being able to read the group, be approachable, know when someone needs extra attention and be willing to give such.
Strong Empathy and Understanding
As we just touched on, tour guides interact with people from all over the world. Groups often include tourists from various walks of life, including different:
- Age groups
- Cultures
- Nationalities
- Backgrounds
- Languages
It is important that they have an understanding of cultural differences and how to manage such to ensure that each individual gets the most out of the tour and that you can enjoy your time together.
When possible, a tour guide may tailor information and the form of its delivery to what would be most applicable and interesting. The best guides are aware that two tours are never the same, and will make each delivery unique to their guests.
Not only do cultural differences present a unique aspect, but accommodating any guests with special needs also requires extra empathy and understanding. A great tour guide will be ready to alter the planned programming to ensure each person is included and has a positive experience.
Charismatic Personality
Our Cuban tour guides are experts in their field, with many years of experience. Whilst such experience is important, so is their charismatic personality. It’s a must for an excellent customer experience for them not only to be able to deliver their topic and deliver it well. We expect your guide to be entertaining and able to engage charismatically. Each day and every tour will be unique, so guides must consistently find opportunities to be charming, engaging, delightful, funny, and friendly. Engagement helps groups enjoy one another and get the most out of their investment.
Keen Ability To Improvise and Adapt
This is an absolute must in Cuba as sometimes even the most well laid plans won’t go as needed. In any situation, there is the possibility of detours. Conditions, groups, and atmosphere can change quickly from day to day, so flexible guides who can think fast on their feet will make these unplanned transitions go as smoothly as possible. Our seasoned tour guides are familiar with improvising and are able to adapt to changing situations and find the best possible outcome.
Focuses on Building Rapport
We know that you are excited to be embarking on once-in-a-lifetime journeys. Often the anticipation builds up a level of expectation of what a tour should look like. Whilst we encourage all to arrive with no expectations and ready for an adventure, our guides are there to help you throughout our excursions. Guides will build rapport by encouraging effective conversations, asking questions, providing information, and demonstrating passion. Our guides are known to go the extra mile to get to know you and work extra hard to make your trip everything you hoped it would be.
Having repeat customers and sharing your memories with others is the highest compliment anyone can give to tour guides.
Engaging Storyteller
It’s a must that our tour guides have passion for what they do. They have enthusiasm for learning the history of all areas we visit and know them intimately and are excellent at sharing the stories in an engaging way.
One of the things we hear from our travellers is how much they love learning about various fun facts and little-known secrets about the area they will be touring, and we ensure that we can deliver. Guides will demonstrate the ability to convey passion, act positively, and tell multiple interactive stories. Anyone can get information from a book, but it takes someone with stage presence to bring it alive for others and create an exciting experience.
Timeliness and Punctuality
Whilst some things may run on Cuban time, we understand that being punctual is a necessary quality in order to have you at designated areas at specific times. We have a schedule for each day with various timeframes, whilst your tour guide must make specific allotments for these timeframes to help you get to where you need to be on time, we are also not rigid with every minute.
We also understand the need for respecting the time of people in the group is a common courtesy and considering the needs of others goes a long way to making things run as smoothly as possible.
Eagerness To Learn and Willingness To Teach Others
Our guides aim is to keep the group well informed, learn new things and gather insights while they are traveling. A good guide aims to continue learning about how to make each tour distinct and unique from previous ones. They care about identifying needed improvements and pay attention to what you gain from their excursions. They will seek your opinion, advice and input to fine tune their craft and enhance your tour and their future tours alike.
Whilst our guides are experts in their field, they are continuously working to improve and update the tour by being curious themselves and getting excited about sharing what they know with you and each other.
They also love hearing about where you are from and how your life differs from that of people in Cuba. They are curious to hear about you as much as they are there to teach you about their side of the coin.
Professionalism
We expect that our guides maintain rapport a professional attitude at all times. Even when not working, they shall exhibit behaviors that represent who they are and our brand. Professionalism helps audiences see the tour guide as a credible and reliable source. Being professional includes essential attributes such as being:
- Informed and knowledgeable
- Honest
- Well-groomed
- Punctual
- Attentive
- Courteous
Using appropriate language and communicating respectfully about all topics is how guides can keep tours professional with a focus on the content rather than opinions or other current hot topics.
We understand that having a good tour guide can be central to a great experience, which is why we hand picked the best in the field. Join us for a life-enhancing experience through one of our tours!
