What does a tourist guide do?

I'm curious about what a tourist guide does exactly. Is it mostly leading groups around popular sites, or does it involve a lot of planning and research as well?

A tourist guide's primary role is to guide visitors in a specific area, for instance, a city, historical site, or museum, amongst other popular locations. They provide detailed information about the area's culture, heritage, and history, engaging visitors with intriguing narratives and facts. While public speaking is a vital aspect of this job, there's also plenty of planning and research involved.

To execute tours effectively and make them interesting, guides often conduct extensive research about the specific locations, history, architecture, culture, and customs of the area. This includes understanding details such as the significance of art pieces in a museum or the history and architecture guiding the design of particular landmarks. They also need to stay updated on any current events or changes in their area that could affect tours.

As part of their planning, they arrange the logistics for each tour, such as deciding the route, estimating the timing for each portion, managing group sizes, and dealing with reservations where necessary. They'll also need to be prepared to modify these plans based on the specific needs and interests of each group.

A tourist guide's role can vary greatly depending on where they work – for instance, guiding a rafting tour will be quite different to leading a city tour, and will require different skills and knowledge. Ultimately, however, they aim to provide an informative, enjoyable, and safe experience for all visitors.