The Tour Commentary

The tour commentary is the tour guides primary tool of trade. Excellent tour guides pay attention to how they delivery their commentary on every tour by striving for continuous improvement. The slide explores some of the ways a tour guide can use his or her tour commentary to achieve excellence in guiding.

1. The Tour Commentary
‘The Guide’s Speak’
The Tour Commentary : Preparation, Planning and Delivery

2. The Tour Commentary
•Preparation & Planning
•Delivery of Commentaries
•Attention, Participation & Enthusiasm
•Responding to Special Needs Visitors
•Keeping the Commentary updated

3. What is a Tour Commentary?
The Tour Commentary
A tour commentary is a narrative used by a tour guideto
describea site and provide information about various
aspects of a country to tourists while on a tour. They are
generally referred to as the “guide’s speak” and include
general informationand local stories about attractions or
sites, events and personalities in a country.

4. What are the contents of a Tour Commentary?
Parts if a Tour Commentary
•The Introduction
•The Briefing
•The Presentation
•The Closing
A tour guide should prepare the tour commentary before
beginning a tour and it is composed of the four main parts:

5. How does a tour guide prepare a tour commentary?
•Establish the needsandinterests of the group.
•Confirm the itinerary.
•Access sources of information about sites to be
visited.
•Researchon the facts about the attractions to
be visited.
•Prepare the text of the tour commentary based
on the established facts.
Preparing a Tour Commentary
The procedure for preparing a commentary is as follows:

6. The following guideline should be ensured :
•Distractionsor interruptionsincluding questions
from the audience will leave you floundering.
•Learn the conceptsand meaningsexhaustively
and deliver them with an inflection that reflects
both enthusiasmand authority.
•This helps you answer any questions and segue
back into your spiel.
Planning the delivery of a Commentary
Know the contents of your tour commentary backwards
and forward but do not memorize in verbatim

7. Project the right Body Language
•They way you deliver the commentary can be
just as important as what you say, take your
time to work on it.
•Stand straight to convey confidence in your
product as you pitch your tour commentary.
•Maintain confidence, yet an easy going body
language so you appear approachable but not
aggressive.
•Take your cues from the tourists to see if your
body language is mirrored or if you need to
tone it down.
Planning the delivery of a Commentary

8. •Whether a single person or a group, pay
attention to their reactions, especially their facial
expressions and body language as you delivery
the commentary.
•Watch for signs of boredom or discomfort to
adjust your commentary accordingly e.g.
yawning, fidgeting and checking the time.
•Recapture attention by interrupting the spiel to
relate to a short personal experience or by
moving about to focus their attention to you.
Build natural rapport with your audience
Planning the delivery of a Commentary

9. Planning the delivery of a Commentary
•If you are extremely confident and talking to
one person, you can grasp his arm or shoulder
while making an important point as if to take
him into your confidence.

10. •Confirm the interestsand expectationsof the
visitors at the outset of the tour.
•Introduce yourself by clearly state: your name,
designation, purpose of the tour, distance to be
travelled, locations, events, expectations and
activities.
•Present the spiel in a conversationalrather than
noted or memorized way.
•Make the commentary interesting, relevant,
simple and deliver it in logical sequence.
•Be sensitive to the group’s interests and tailor the
commentaryto the group.
Delivery of Commentaries On-Transit

11. •Seek feedback throughout the tour to foster the
visitors’ attention.
•Respond to enquiries accurately andpositively,
when an answer is not available, refer to the field
guides and other information sources.
•If an answer is still not available for a query,
apologizeand refer the enquiry to an alternative
sourceof information.
•Focus on what you know, be specific and
express the information in terms of what the
visitors can see.
Delivery of Commentaries On-Transit

12. •Be accommodatingandflexible towards visitors
allowing for different points of view and ways of
doing things.
•Allow enough time at each stop for visitors to
fully enjoy and gain information with private
time at the stop.
Delivery of Commentaries On-Transit

13. •Start with greetingsand introductions.
•Deliver the spiel in ways that makes visitors
interested.
•Use good sense of humor to deliver the spiel.
•Remember that spiels help people appreciateand
understandwhat they see.
•Face the entire group, not a few, speak slowly and
clearly with an audible voice.
•Always maintain eye contact with the visitors.
•Prepare yourself for questions that may be asked.
•Take control of your breathingand emphasize on
important words.
Delivery of Commentaries On-Site

14. •Use synonymsand examples when making
explanations.
•When mentioning a local name, repeator spellit.
•Maintain silence if the need arises.
•Listen carefully to questionsand other concerns.
•Neverargue or debatewith the visitors.
•Always end the tour by thankingthe visitors and
wishing them a good day, evening or night.
•Issue the visitor questionnaire to obtain their
views, feedback, opinions and recommendations
of the day’s tour.
Delivery of Commentaries On-Site

15. Fostering Attention & Participation

16. Change your voice Speed
•A consistent pace of voice can make the
commentary delivery ineffective.
•Vary the speed of your voice depending on the
touristsand purposeof the communication.
•To gain attentionand excite the visitors, speak
quickly and enthusiastically.
•Speak slowlyto enable visitors to pay attention
to your words.
Fostering Attention & Participation

17. Punctuate with Pauses
•It is important to break the flow of information
during commentary delivery so that visitors
can understandwhat they just heard.
•A pause is taken when the guide has conveyed
an important point or wants the visitors to
anticipate.
Fostering Attention & Participation

18. Articulate Clearly
•It is important that your spiel is clear to the
audience.
•Avoid technical terms unless explained and
often use the simplest word.
•Learn basic foreign terms and phraseseven if
you are not a linguist.
•Have expertise in pronunciationand articulate
each word clearly when you speak to gain
more confidence and clarity.
Fostering Attention & Participation

19. Posture
Shift the Pitch of your Voice
•Frequency of speech is called voice pitch.
•Depending on the aim of the speech, you can
use highand low pitches at times.
•Using extremescan tarnish the success of your
commentary delivery.
Fostering Attention & Participation
•A guide has to cultivate and maintain elegance
in way of standingand walkingas it conveys
messages about personality.

20. Control your Voice Volume
•Volume of voice create a direct impact on the
audience.
•An averagevolume should be used in general.
•It can be loud or soft depending on the aimof
the commentary.
•When a mix of loudness and softnessis used, it
adds special effects to the commentary.
Fostering Attention & Participation

21. •A gesture can communicate all that the guide
feels, consciously or unconsciously.
•Shaking of hands, head, holding, embracing or
patting on the back all convey varied messages.
Use of Gestures
•Facial expressions are most natural and
unconscious.
•They continually change during interactions and
are observed constantly by the audience.
•Smiling is considered to be pleasant and helpful.
Facial Expressions
Fostering Attention & Participation

22. Paraphrasing
•Paraphrasing is simply explaining statements or
remarks in shortenedor renownedversions of
facts so as to clarifythe meaning visitors need.
Fostering Attention & Participation
A group of visitors on a scenic tour intend to visit
the NdereIsland National Park. On-route, the bus passes
through Port Victoria on the west of the Island in
Kisumunear the site of the British landing in 1945. The
tour guide had previously read the following extract and
wishes to paraphrase the facts to the group.
Paraphrase Case Study:

23. •People seek enjoymentin travel, so present the
facts in a wittyand humorousfashion.
•However, do not be a stand-up comedian,
always modulate your voice for variationand
emphasis.
Keep the Commentary Light
Keeping Visitors Enthusiastic
The tour duration affects the amount of energy the
guide needs to use with the idea being having visitors
happy and enthused throughout the tour. To keep
the visitors enthusiastic, the guide needs to:

24. •Each country or county has its problems, do not
dwell on them, constantly highlight
improvementsand progressbeing made.
Keep the Narrations Positive
•Tailor the information to each particular group.
•If the group is composed of farmers or
accountants, point out sites they might find
most interesting.
•Schedule and allow many photo opportunities.
Know and Involve your Audience
Keeping Visitors Enthusiastic

25. Be Accurate and Specific
Personalize the Information
Keeping Visitors Enthusiastic
•Present the information in a scholarlyway that
is accurateand specific.
•Quizthe visitors on the spiel to add some
entertainmentandinterest.
•Groups are curious about the guide’s personal
and professionallife.
•Turn their curiosity to an advantage and weave
some personal information into the commentary.
•Be aware that your life does not become the tour.

26. •Have a masteryof the subject, visitors will
respect a guide who knows his subject well.
•Adopt a friendly attitude and take responsibility
for creating and maintaining harmony.
•Let visitors know that their enjoymentis your
primary concern.
•Respectothers and be a carefuland concerned
listener.
•Establish and environment where visitors feel
free to contribute, is more interestingand
advantageous to all, in this way visitors are
more likely to approach a guide with minor
issues before they become major problems.
Developing Rapport, Cohesiveness & Order

27. “we’ll be leaving in about ten minutes” guarantees a late
departure. A clearer approach is to say “we’ll be departing
at eleven sharp, according to my watch it is ten forty.”
Developing Rapport, Cohesiveness & Order
•Give clear instructions, a guide who says:
•Follow through on promises, it is best to be
conservative with promises and do not mention
places and events visitors may not see.
•Avoid playing favorites and treat everyone the
same.

28. Developing Rapport, Cohesiveness & Order
•Do not give ultimatums that cannot be
enforced, e.g.
Telling visitors that if they are late,
they will be left behind, will they?
•Although leaving behind a perennially late
person may be extremely popular with other
tour members, it should never be done without
considerable warningand care.

29. Keeping the Commentary Updated
Keeping the spiel updated is fundamental to
enjoying the tour guiding job and ensuring the
spiel remains top-notch for repeat visitors. A spiel
can be kept lively using the following ways:
•Current issues can be of a subject matter or at a
site.
•Keeping updated on current issues gives some
measure of energyto the tour guide and
subsequently to the narration.
Keeping updated on current issues

30. Keeping the Commentary Updated
Striving for continuous Improvement
•Reviewthe daily performance.
•Take an informal poll of the visitors and make
amendments with each tour.
Look at the attraction through the visitor’s eyes
•Remember most visitors may be seeing the
attraction or site for the first time.
•Imagine what can be improved, what may be of
interest and anticipate questions so that the
answers may be ready.

31. Keeping the Commentary Updated
As a performer, draw on the group’s energy
•The guide may feel renewed during the many
hours of the tour by looking at visitor’s reaction,
feelingstheirenthusiasm, asking open questions
to ensure active participation and eliminate
boredom.

32. The Tour Commentary
Take Home Assignment
Upon learning on the planning and delivery of the
tour commentary, you are required to develop
a commentary on the following sites:
Brian Mumo Saiwa Swamp National Park
James MutevuKakamega National Reserve

33. Guiding Visitors with Special Needs
•Growth of Disabled Travelers
•Visitors with Special Needs
•Guidelines for working with Disabled
•Types & Responding to Disabled Visitors
•Do’s and Don’ts in handling the Disabled

34. Thank you for being meticulously responsible
Thematic Areas
•Tour Guiding and Interpretation
•Tourism and Travel Law
•Travel and Tour Operations
•Wildlife Tourism
•Sustainable Tourism
•Marketing for Travel and Tourism
•Social Media Marketing
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