Tour guides are professionals who work with groups of people during an excursion, tour or trip, which can be national or international. Its main function is to advise travelers or visitors, with guidance and presentations about the locals or points. How did they reinvent themselves during this difficult time?

Since the Coronavirus crisis in March started to take its toll, there have been many promotions and campaigns being run by airlines and travel agencies. What little was said was the professionals who were most affected by this entire crisis, who were the tourist guides, who work in a sector that had a strong impact.

Tour guides were used to a job that brought joy and knowledge to people. Drivers and guides were forced to look for alternatives, so that they could finish the month with some money in their pockets. They had to reinvent themselves this season, which was quarantined, in Brazil and around the world.

Many have moved on to other businesses and do not think about returning to being a tour guide, given the success of the new business they chose. Some of these businesses chosen by the tour guides that we researched were guides who became graffiti artists, crab collectors in the mangroves or opening some online sales business.

There is a certainty for tour guides, travelers and everyone. Nothing will be the same as before and we will move to a new normal. Guides and the entire tourism industry did not go unharmed and a new normal is expected for this sector, which will need to reinvent itself and which will not go back to the way it was before or which will take a long time to take off during this pandemic.

The personalized work of the guides

Guides will have to be very creative and rethink what their work will be like. Health and safety issues will be very latent, as well as the opening up of this sector which should be gradual, with small groups, which will be reduced and in places with few crowds of people. Whoever has the most creativity in this sector will survive.

The guides always took people or even the residents of a place to see the attractions, which often not even the residents knew about. From today and going forward, guides must do personalized work, in a new tourism that is expected to emerge. This is assessed by many experts who are in the tourism sector.

The difference between a guide and a driver is very different. According to the definition given by the Ministry of Tourism, a tourist guide is a professional who has a registration in Cadastur, which is the Register of Tourist Service Providers, with a course that is specific training so that monitoring, a guidance and information can be transmitted.

What we said above is at the regional, national and international spheres. A guide must also go through a course that is at least 800 hours long, so that theoretical and pedagogical knowledge can be guaranteed within their area of expertise. He is the only professional in the tourism sector that must be regulated by law, which provides even more guarantees.

On the other hand, the driver is the one who has the qualifications to be able to work in a specific unit that is conservation or attractive, to guide visitors through spaces that are natural or in areas that are fully and legally protected. They are also found in large quantities throughout our country, given all the natural wealth we have.

What do the guides think about this situation

The entire tourism chain is suffering, not just tour guides, at this time due to a disease that has been decimating many families, not only in Brazil, but throughout the world. A disease that is very cruel and does not choose its victims, we are all prone to catching this disease and as long as all distancing and hygiene precautions are not taken. 

There are also many discussions about who can contribute to possible ways to recover this sector. However, nothing is yet certain. It's all still very new. There are now no ready-made answers or formulas that are magical. What is known in relation to tourism businesses is that they will undergo a structural change.

This structural modification will be related to sanitary care, controls on the number of visitors and even with regard to consumption patterns. Enterprises that focus on offering unique experiences in a destination, with respect for the natural environment and local traditions, seem to be the most appropriate for this new global reality.

There is a belief in this structural modification that is thought of by tour guides, in the consumption and offering of products or services, which are made in a different and very innovative way. In tourism, the national scenario is configured as an opportunity for unique development, as many tourists will give preference to sections that are internal, at first.

The expected effects on tourism

Today it is still very difficult to predict what effects this pandemic will have on tourism guides and the entire sector. Such is its proportion in Brazil and the world. What we can say is that people are being invited to change all their behavioral patterns, their ways of interacting, working and traveling.

Even communication is being done more broadly and effectively. The changes in this entire sector and for tour guides are real and we are all experiencing these changes in remaining in quarantine, in a reality that is completely new. Travel and tourism consumption is being modified and a new connection in our travels is taking shape.