Do you dream of adventure? Do you love travelling? Do you want to explore the world while you work? Are you interested in history? Are you into the environment and conservation? Are you passionate about learning about other cultures? Are you interested in learning new languages? Do you like meeting people from different backgrounds? Do you enjoy responsibility and challenges? Do you want to earn your living by doing what you love? YES!

Have you considered a career as a tour guide? There is an amazing spectrum of training and job possibilities in the field of tour guiding. You can create your own career path - mix and match the elements that suit your personality and your ambitions.

Consider these possibilities:
- museum guide
- trek guide
- fishing tour guide
- amusement park guide
- tour manager
- bi-lingual or multi-lingual guide (that means a guide who can speak two or more languages)
- ski tour guide
- boating guide
- bushwalking guide
- extreme sports guide
- art and culture tour guide
- health spa guide
- resort recreation guide
- environmental tour guide.

Tour guiding is an important way that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander people can share their living cultures with other Australians and overseas tourists. Tour guiding is also an excellent way to educate people about our natural environment - what better way to learn than actually getting out there and experiencing it!

Check out this profile of tourism students studying at the Blue Mountains Campus of TAFE NSW - Western Sydney Institute. They are offering guided tours with a twist.

A newly qualified tour guide can expect to earn around $20 000 per year. Your earning potential will increase as you gain experience and specialise in profitable areas of tour guiding. You also have the potential to operate your own business, which offers you great earning opportunities.

You can research NSW awards on the NSW Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) website
or you can contact the NSW DIR Award Enquiry Service or your local NSW DIR office.

WageNet gives you information about Federal awards. You can ask for help by filling in an online enquiry form or you can contact the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) WageLine.

If you are interested in beginning your career as a tour guide while you are doing your HSC, consider taking the part time school-based Vocational Education and Training (VET) traineeship:
Certificate II in Tourism - Sales and Office Operations.

TAFE NSW offers specialist tour guiding courses, so you can learn the technical side of having fun and exploring!
Certificate III in Tourism - Guiding
Certificate IV in Tourism - Guiding

TAFE NSW also offers courses in Travel and Tourism.

Tourism Training NSW
Level 6, 1 Chandos Street
St Leonards NSW 2065
T (02) 9439 3299
F (02) 9439 3438
E ttnsw@ttnsw.com.au
www.ttnsw.com

Professional Tour Guides Association of Australia
PO Box 34
Armadale North VIC 3143
T (03) 9614 0806
F (03) 9614 8877
E ptgaa@aton.asn.au

Institute of Australian Tourist Guides Inc
PO Box W128
Warringah Mall NSW 2100
T (02) 9401 1051
F (02) 9401 1050
E iatg@optushome.com.au

Tourism Training ACT and Regions
GPO Box 2092
Canberra ACT 2601
T (02) 6241 6777
F (02) 6241 4392
E ttact@interact.net.au
www.tourismtraining.com.au/