Tour Guide Certification — Self-Paced and Online. Start the Day You Enroll.
Founded 1973 · Students have come from almost 100 countries · Self-Paced Online Program · Active-Industry Instructors
Have Questions Before You Enroll? Talk to Daniel.
Daniel Slater, the president of the International Guide Academy, will personally answer every question you have about the Tour Guide program. No sales pitch — just honest answers. Prefer to explore on your own first? Request a free catalog and review both certification paths at your own pace.
What is a Tour Guide?
Self-paced and online. Start the day you enroll, finish on your own schedule.
A Tour Guide provides local expertise and does walking tours, step-on motor coach narration in their city, meets and greets at an airport, works at seminars and conventions, etc. Tour Operators and Destination Management Companies hire them.
Is this Course for Me?
Tour Guides are knowledgeable within a specific locality such as a city, region, state, specific geographic area, or a special interest such as Adventure, Food and Wine, Photography, and so much more.
Tour Guides provide walking tours, step-on guide service, local driver guides, on-site tours, and/or may work special events, airports’ “meet and greets”, and more.
Tour guides are rarely away from home overnight.
If you want to be a Tour Guide, whether working in the USA or other countries, this is the course to take. Click here for your scheduled Tour Guide Classes for 2026.
Who Becomes a Tour Guide?
Tour Guides come from every background and walk of life.
What they share is a passion for one specific place or subject — and the desire to share it with people who came from somewhere else. If you can answer “what makes this place special?” with conviction, you have what it takes to become a Tour Guide.
What will I Learn?
The beginning modules in this certification program include:
- Travel Industry Terminology and Tourism Industry Overview
- Types of Assignments for Tour Guides
- Conduct and Ethics, Dress Codes, Leadership
- Commentary Skills, Research, Presentation Formats
- Teamwork, Physical Aspects of Guiding, Public Speaking, Group Welcomes
- Master your role as the “Local Expert.”
- Industry Relationships
- and more…. With IGA you learn by doing.
YES! You can Be Paid To Travel and share your passion with others.
- Hourly pay from Tour Company (minimum 4 hours)
- Cash gratuities from the travelers
- All expenses paid per Tour Company’s policy.
- Travel Industry Perks
How a Self-Paced Program Teaches a Live Skill
Guiding is a performance skill. It is learned by standing up, speaking, and being corrected. That part has not changed.
What changed is when the rehearsal happens. Nine videos show the technique. The workbook walks you through it. Then you practice on your own time, as many times as it takes, instead of getting one pass in front of a classroom on a Tuesday afternoon.
When you are ready, you deliver three 10-minute presentations live, online, to an active-industry instructor who corrects you in the moment. That is 30 minutes of real, graded performance in front of a working professional — and you arrive at it prepared instead of cold.
Between now and then, an instructor is a phone call or a video chat away, any time you have a question.
Your future workplace is local. A Tour Guide sleeps in their own bed, in their own home, almost every evening, while a Tour Director travels with the group for the entire tour. The training now fits that life. You learn where you live, around the job you already have.
How the Program Works
One workbook and nine videos, yours from the day you enroll. There is no start date to wait for and no deadline to finish. Access does not expire.
Certification is earned two ways: a written exam, and three 10-minute presentations delivered live, online, to an instructor — 30 minutes of graded performance in total.
An instructor is reachable by phone or video chat at any time, for any question, from the day you enroll.
What Is The Cost?
- The registration fee – $100 non-refundable
- Tuition – $795
- Total Cost – $895
After You Are Certified
Every Tour Guide graduate receives personalized cover letter and resume assistance, plus job leads as they come in. Free, for life.
Terms & Conditions:
- We accept Credit Cards, Checks, PayPal, Zelle, Money Orders, and Cash.
- Each course carries its certification leading to rewarding careers. All books, materials, etc. required are included in the tuition.
- Lifetime job placement assistance is available free for all of our graduates.
- Consider checking with your tax accountant or advisor to see if you are eligible for the IRS’s Lifetime Learning tax credit.
- Take BOTH Tour Guide AND Tour Director courses in 12 months and receive an additional tuition discount. This means you can take both the Tour Director course and the Tour Guide course for only $2,590.
- Both courses are independent of each other and lead to separate career paths. They do, however, complement each other. Course content is different in both classes offered.
Ready to Become a Certified Tour Guide?
Earn your Tour Guide certification on your own schedule. Start today.