Before creating the tour script

Before starting to write the script, you should be aware of at least these 2 elements:

1. Make sure to have identified all the places of interest (ex: town hall) and topics (ex: gastronomy) that you want to introduce throughout the tour.

2. Make sure to have ordered all the places and topics to create your tour itinerary, taking into account a coherent structure and the shortest distance between each stop (max. 2-3 minutes).

If you have any questions about that, we strongly advise you to read this post first to define the itinerary of your tour.

1. Create a great introduction

Think about it as if it were the first few minutes of a movie or the first pages of a book. You have to create the “WOW” effect.

Your tour introduction has several goals:

• Captivate your travelers: you have to show travelers how special this experience will be with you and that it was worth booking. Make it clear that you will exceed the expectations they have.

• Break the ice: travelers don’t know you yet, they don’t know your city, or the other travelers in the group. It’s important to reduce this tension from the beginning.

• Give confidence: You must show your professionalism and credibility so that travelers can trust what you explain.

This introduction is usually short (5 minutes) and is normally structured like this:

1. Say hello, welcome them, thank them for booking with you, introduce the tour and get the travelers’ interest.
2. Introduce yourself to the group (and sometimes the travelers among them): here you have to show your credibility (experience, studies, time spent in the city …) so that the travelers know that they made the best decision booking your experience.
3. Tour structure (key sights) and practical information (duration, if there will be a break to go to the bathroom, the payment concept, …). You make sure travelers know what to expect from you and to show them your professionalism.
4. Get travelers’ interest and give time for some practical questions.

Then, in the same place, gurus usually start with their first explanations (most of the time, it’s an historical introduction of the city and the country). This explanation is normally a bit longer than the others (10-15 minutes) and serves to put the context for the rest of the tour. It’s also important to start at the meeting point so late travelers can still join.

2. Balance the types of content 

It’s important to find a balance between the different kinds of content to include in your tour so it’s easy for them to follow you. 

These are the different types of content that your tour must include:

• History: it’s usually the main focus for the content of your tour and helps to introduce the rest of your explanations. In many cases, travelers have already read part of the story before joining the tour in their travel guide or online but it’s important to explain it as travelers expect it and to put everything in context. It can be both the history of a building or monument, as well as the history related to a topic (specific period, important social movement, gastronomy, …).

• Anecdotes and curious legends: that’s what makes the difference for travelers and what they will remember, since it’s usually something that surprises them and that they don’t usually know about. It touches travelers’ emotions and keeps their attention. This kind of content is usually explained after the historical context.

• Customs and recommendations: Travelers who participate in a free walking tour don’t just want to listen to stories. They also want to be able to understand the city as a local, live as a local and go to places that are not as touristy. That’s why it’s important to include some local customs and personal recommendations in your tour.

You can balance the content both from one spot to another and within the same explanation of the place! (Ex: have a moment to talk just about recommendations or include recommendations after an historical overview). 

3. Find the content and write the tour script

Now that you know the type of content you need, it’s time to search for it.

There is no miracle, you will have to read a lot, watch many documentaries, visit many places, talk to the tourist office, experts … and that takes a while.

While doing this research, also consider the following things:

• Keep only the most essential and relevant information: you can talk for hours about some places, so it’s important to select only the most interesting part for the traveler. 

• Open your search beyond the content of the tour: If you read more than the content of your tour, you’ll be able to show to travelers that you are a true professional by answering all their doubts, which often go beyond what you explain on the tour.

• Verify the data: you can’t trust just one single source of information. Cross-check the data to ensure your script’s content is reliable.

• Write in an understandable way for everyone: sometimes travelers don’t know anything about the topics you are dealing with on your tour, so you have to explain it in a simple and clear way and avoid technical words.

• Think of practical information: free walking tours give travelers a general overview of what the city can offer, so they can then visit some places on their own. That’s why it’s important to know the practical information of the most important places in your city and to include them in your tour: opening hours, ticket prices, how to get there, …

4. Think of the best way to explain your stop

Just as you did by selecting the type of content for your tour, you must also balance the different ways of transmitting this content, which will create a much more enjoyable experience.

Maybe you can explain a personal story, or perform a historical event with travelers, even teach them how to prepare a traditional recipe, or make a quiz … You can find more information on this topic by consulting this post on how to create a more interactive tour and in this post on how to create amazing explanations.

In addition, you can include your travelers better by asking them questions, as we explain in more detail here.

5. Create natural transitions in your itinerary

Maintaining the logic between your explanations can be achieved when you have good transitions, because it gives a common thread to the whole tour. Your experience is not just going from one place to another, you have to see it as a set where each explanation tells a story that supports the overall idea of ​​your experience, like a movie with different scenes.

Good transitions allow travelers to better remember key facts and will help make the journey more meaningful. It also helps you memorize your speech better and will keep travelers interested to follow the whole tour.

You have to add these transitions at the end of the stop or when starting the next one. It can also serve to get travelers’ attention and surprise them, as we explain in this post.

6. End the tour with style

The final part of the tour has to be the cherry on top. Like a good movie, the final part is essential and will be the last impression travelers get before paying you. It’s important to make an emotional ending, so travelers realize how awesome this experience has been with you.

Many gurus achieve this by choosing a very special place to end their tour, such as a vantage point with a spectacular view of the city. Others choose a site that is relevant to the common thread of their tour, because of the history of that place.

What is usually said at the end:

1. Summarize the most important elements of the tour, show travelers that the experience was amazing and that they have learned a lot with you.
2. Give options on things to do after the tour.
3. Remember that they will receive an automatic email from GuruWalk to leave a review on your profile and explain why it’s so important they do so (it allows you to get more bookings).
4. Thank them and wish them a good stay.

If they give you an applause, it means that the tour and its ending have been a success. 

7. Control time, practice and improve the tour script

Remember, the best free walking tours last between 2 and 3 hours. Shorter than that, travelers will feel that the experience was not complete and longer, you will tire them out too much and they will end up bored.

With Google Maps, you can approximate the time you will need to walk. In this example of an itinerary in Brussels, which is a 2-hour tour, you walk about 40 minutes, leaving 1h20 to tell stories. Only the main stops are represented there, but there are about 10 stops, which makes 10 minutes per stop, taking into account that the first stop is usually longer, so it’s fine.

So, you can put a timer so that each stop on your script is no more than 10 minutes. It is not an absolute rule. There are places that require more time and others less.

Now that you’ve added or removed content from the tour script, it’s time to practice it at home and learn it well.

Once you have it ready, practice it with a friend or family member in real conditions. This person can also give you valuable feedback to improve your speech. Look at the time before starting the tour and halfway through the tour, verify your progress at the halfway point to make sure you are on target. If not, you will have to add or remove content.

You have to constantly review your tour script. With practice, you will realize what is more or less interesting to travelers.

However, keep in mind that the speed of the group is always different. So you have to identify less important explanations or places that you could skip or add to meet the duration of the tour.

It’s important to memorize the tour script perfectly. In front of the group of travelers, you can’t doubt or read something from a notebook. Otherwise, you may lose all your credibility (and money… ).

What’s next? 

Do you have your tour script ready and are you learning it? Before doing your first tours with travelers, check out this post about the most common mistakes when starting as a tour guide and how to avoid them.

1. Choose the main topic of your guided tour?

The first step is to define the central topic of the tour you want to organize with the travelers in your city.

The typical free walking tour shows the most emblematic places and the city’s historical evolution. 

But there are many more topics possible! ?

Gastronomy, street art, architecture, key periods, famous persons, … 

In this post, we explain what the typical free walking tour is made of with the most successful alternatives that best suit your situation! ?

Click here to see the full article

2. Plan your tour route ?

Once you have chosen the central topic of your tour, it’s time to plan it! 

It’s important to define at least 10 stops and structure them to create a common thread without having to walk too much. 

In this post, we explain how to create your tour itinerary step by step, based on the experience of our best gurus. ?

Click here to see the detailed article

3. Write the script for the tour ?

We almost have your tour ready! 

The last stage is to write the script of your tour ?

Your tour experience should be like a movie: every word counts to convey your speech in the best way. 

In this post, we explain how to choose the best content to create an incredible experience and get paid well.

Click here to read the detailed article 

4. The most common mistakes of new guides ?

We all make mistakes when we start out as guides. 

But the worst thing is, we don’t even realize them. ?

Now that you are learning your script, please review this post carefully to avoid these mistakes before you receive your first group of travelers. 

We wrote it talking to over 100 new guides. 

Click here to read the full article

Bonus: best tips from an experienced tour guide (English subtitles available)

What’s next?

It’s important to keep improving your tour. On our blog, you will always find more interesting and updated content to achieve the best experience possible. 

We are also waiting for you on our Facebook group with more than 1000 guides. Our community will gladly answer your questions!  

If you don’t know how to get to the tour edition section, we made a post about it here.

Structure and content

Try to write the description of your guruwalk with the following structure.

1. Introduce your tour

This part is the most important one. You must hook travelers to keep reading. You have to sell your tour, in just a paragraph.

Answer the following: Why is my tour the best in the city? What am I going to show to travelers or what am I going to tell them, and in which way?

Here you have to open the travelers’ curiosity.

Moreover, think about what travelers want from a tour and put it in your description.

Ex: we will go on a slow pace, without stress, we will have fun, with a small group, there will be time to take pictures, it will be a fun experience, this tour is designed for everyone (families and retired people included), they will have the best recommendations to know what do after the tour and where to go to eat …, etc.

Good introduction examples

Arthur in Kampala, Uganda.

Christine in Florence, Italy.

Donkey Tours in Barcelona, Spain.

2. List of places

After a good introduction, you should put the main stops of your guruwalk, so that travelers can get an idea of what they are going to see.

This list can indeed convince travelers to book as they could have these sites on their list of things to see in your city.

It’s not necessary to put all the stops (especially those that are less known). Otherwise, it can make the tour description very long.

To continue opening curiosity, do not hesitate to end with words like ‘and many more things / curiosities / surprises / hidden gems / places that only locals know’.

However, if you think you need to put more details, put them. This way travelers will have better expectations.

You can write everything in a text, although it’s easier to read with bullet points.

Example

Karla in Rome, Italy.

3. Invite travelers to join

After the list, you should continue selling your guruwalk. To close the tour description, we advise you to invite travelers to join the tour using one of the following formulas:

• “See you soon in X!”
• “Looking forward to meeting for you here in X”
• “Can’t wait to show you…”
• “Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to know… ”
• “If you want to learn and have fun in X, this guruwalk is for you!”
• “Join my tour and discover what…”
• …

4. Additional details

In most cases, you don’t need to put anything after the third point. Don’t forget that the goal of the description is to sell! We recommend to put all additional details, that don’t help that goal (Recommended shoes / clothes,…) in the automatic welcome message that is sent once the booking is done. However sometimes, depending on your tour or your city, you have to specify some more details.

• If you have to pay something extra: a transport, a museum ticket, a meal, … You must mention it and put the price of everything.

• Put YouTube videos. People like it very much! It has a great impact on travelers to see images and videos of the tour. In addition, Google likes to provide value to the user, and it will help your tour to rank better.

Example of Agora, in Palermo

Style and form

You already did the most important thing, but some details are missing in order to get the most convincing tour’s description.

Shape

• The description should be easy to read. Forget large blocks of texts and think about small paragraphs of 4 lines maximum. It should be short, otherwise travelers are not going to read it. However, make sure to add all relevant information.

• Do not hesitate to vary the words you use. Instead of always writing ‘tour’, use also ‘guided tour’, ‘walk’, ‘free tour’, ‘free walking tour’, …

• The tour description must be grammatically correct. Your experience can lose all its credibility with just a little misspelling. We invite you to read it several times to make sure that everything is correct.

• To give more life to your description, you can use symbols. In this web, you only have to copy and then paste the symbol in your text. However, be careful with the use of symbols! Your tour description should always look professional.

• Verify the automatic translation of your text into Spanish. It’s always better to check it as the translator is not always perfect. It will give you more visibility.

Style

You already know it. The description should be attractive, make travelers want to book your guruwalk. Travelers should feel your enthusiasm and your passion reading your tour description and be curious to know more.

What you can’t write in the tour description

• Do not explain what a free tour is, we already explain it. If you look at the page of your guruwalk, you will see a grey box with the explanation ‘What’s the price?’.

• Do not write that the tour is free. Do not downgrade your work. The tours of GuruWalk are ‘free to give what travelers want’, but not ‘free of charge’. If you advertise that your guruwalk is free of charge, it goes against the grey box mentioned earlier. You will also attract the kind of people who will pay you the least.

• Do not put a time in advance to book. Example: “you can’t book 6h before the tour starts”  is not allowed. In the case that you can’t do the tour, you just have to block the date in the calendar.

• Do not copy/paste. Be original. If you copy and paste you are not adapting the content to the user of GuruWalk, and it will lower your conversion. In addition, your tour will not be positioned on Google because the duplicate content is ignored by the search engines.

• Do not put links (TripAdvisor, etc), although you can recommend another of your tours at the end of the description.

• …

Example of a good tour description

A good example is the tour’s description of Krakow Explorers, in Krakow, Poland. In this case, they didn’t write the list of monuments but they include what travelers are going to discover, which is good too. However, they could have write more names of famous places/monuments.

This description opens curiosity, and is very attractive. It could maybe be a bit longer and have a finish line to invite the traveler to join the guruwalk.

Another good example, shorter and more personal, is the description of Arturo‘s tour in Stockholm, Sweden. It makes you want to book his tour directly, and discover this surprise that he prepared us!

What’s next?

So you now have the best description for your tour? Maybe it would be time to think about your profile description, right? If you improve it, travelers will know better who you are and that will increase your bookings Have a look at the detailed post we have!