Tour operators, also known as tour guides, are essentially escorts for groups of travelers, overseeing everything from coordinating their trip logistics to narrating their vacation experience. Here’s a quick run-down on some of the possible employment opportunities:

Sightseeing/Bus Tours
The most common type of organized tour is a land tour, usually by motor coach, combined with air transportation to the destination and overnight hotel lodging.

North America tours can and do happen almost everywhere — from major urban centers like New York City and San Francisco; to major historical and cultural sites in cities such as Washington, D.C. or Williamsburg, Virginia; to national parks like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.

Shore Excursion Tours
Passenger ships offer travelers their tour experience by sea. Tour guides are often hired by these ships to provide port-of-call orientation — from leading a group of cruisers on a shopping expedition on a Caribbean Island or guiding a train tour of Denali National Park. The biggest advantage of being a shore excursion tour guide is that you typically can live and work in the same place, as opposed to constantly moving around and living out of a suitcase. Even multi-day trips are finite and you return home at the end of them.

Adventure/Sporting Tours
More and more individual tourists and family groups are booking specialty tours that combine vacation plans with outdoor adventure. Everything from voluntourism to eco-tours to outward bound adventures falls under this heading. Guides on adventure tours typically have extensive outdoor experience and nature/survival training.

Learn more about tour guide jobs and opportunities at JobMonkey’s free tour guide job board.