Leading group travel isn’t a job everyone can do.
Successfully managing a group travel experience requires what Liam Neeson might call “a very particular set of skills.” And while some of those skills may seem intuitive to you as a group leader, others may not come so naturally.
Whether you lead every trip yourself, hire a tour director or partner with a tour company that sends its own escorts, you are ultimately responsible for making sure the person taking your groups on the road has the skills to do it right. That means you need to work on developing these skills in yourself and in the other tour directors you rely on.
Here are five key skill areas that separate great travel leaders from average ones.
Organizational Skills
Trip leaders have a lot of details to keep track of on the road. They have to manage the itinerary, give the driver directions, communicate with hotel and restaurant staff and ensure that no luggage — or travelers — accidentally go missing along the way. Ideally, they’ll do all this behind the scenes so they’re available to be fun and friendly with their travelers. It takes top-level organizational skills, as well as smart use of organizational tools, to do this well.
Communication Skills
Tour directors communicate a lot of important information to their travelers. They must make sure everyone knows where to be and when. They prepare people for what they should wear the next day, help them find the best restaurants for free-time meals and must always be able answer the all-important question, “Where’s the restroom?” Communicating all this information clearly — and in a way that people will hear and remember — takes considerable skill. And it often requires saying the same thing multiple times in different ways to make sure nobody misses it.
Navigation Skills
Trip leaders don’t necessarily need to be experts in the places they’re taking groups, but they do need to have the navigational skills necessary to show them around. They should be well versed in using maps and GPS apps, and they should familiarize themselves with places they’re visiting ahead of time to be able to help direct travelers to important sites. They also may need to give instructions to a driver or another colleague during the trip, so having a good sense of direction is important.
Emergency Management Skills
Though they’re not frequent, emergency situations do come up from time to time during group trips. Whether it’s a passenger who falls ill or gets injured, a hotel or restaurant that loses a reservation, or a weather event that makes part of the planned itinerary impossible, unexpected issues could cause significant disruption. A good trip leader needs the presence of mind and resourcefulness to handle these problems without panicking so that customers never see them sweat.
People Skills
Leading a group trip isn’t just about handling logistics. One of the most important jobs of a tour director is making sure the people on the trip are having a great time. That requires people skills, such as an outgoing personality, an empathetic ear and the ability to help a group bond while making even quieter travelers feel included. Everyone in the group wants to feel like they’re personal friends with the trip leader, so it’s important for the leader to be friendly and foster those relational connections.
