The guided tour is a tourist concept in which the public is not only immersed in a given cultural context (it can be a visit to historical sites, or exposure to a specific art collection, etc.), but is also accompanied by a specialized person who will explain a whole range of facts and knowledge related directly to the subject of the visit. The guided tour is inseparable from the profession of tourist guide or cultural guide, which is why we will focus our content and research specifically on this profession.
To put it simply and define it in a few words, cultural guides (also known as guide lecturers or female guide lecturers) are individuals whose activity is to accompany visitors in their discovery of tourist sites or heritage sites, and provide them with a commented presentation. Most of the time, the visitors in question are groups of adults, but children can also participate and learn lots of things (during school holidays, for example...), and some sites provide dedicated school visits (during the school year...) with guides experienced with younger audiences.
For some background information, it should be noted that this profession of the guide is relatively recent, developed only towards the end of the 19th century, and specifically during and around international expositions. During these international events, onlookers liked to hire local people's services to discover the city, but also to understand the various elements presented during these expositions.
In France, it was with the creation of the first tourist office on July 23, 1875, that the tourism activity began to be organized in a concrete way. From there, the profession of the guide was formalized by training programs since 1992, thanks to the action of professionals, such as the founder of the training program at the Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée University or the founder of the training program at the Lumière Lyon-II University. In 2012, these programs were standardized. They are university training programs with national recognition. Furthermore, the different professional cards have all been replaced by the guide-lecturer card.
The core of the guide's profession is the presentation of heritage in all its forms (it can be in the form of material, or immaterial form) to different types of audiences, tourist or non-tourist. The guide thus allows the visitors he accompanies to better understand and know the local heritage through visits that he designs and animates; he must therefore possess a solid general culture, especially since the fields of knowledge covered by the profession are extremely varied and sometimes extremely complex. Among these famous fields of expertise are of course history, art history and styles, architecture, geography, ethnography, gastronomy, and literature...
As an interpreter of art, the guide must also be able to speak to a wide audience by speaking in a foreign language (it is not uncommon for a guide to be able to speak 2-3 foreign languages fluently...). In France, most professional guides of truly important sites speak English and a second language is often also spoken, often Spanish, Italian, or German. However, the majority of more modest sites do not necessarily require a multilingual guide.
It should be noted that the guide can choose to exercise his profession independently, but can also be employed by a local institution (a municipality, a tourist office, a museum, a historical site...). The accompanying guide can accompany visitors on excursions, tours, or organized trips designed by coach transport companies or incoming agencies.
