Tag: Tourist guide

Join my Context Conversations travel talk about Bolivia on March 20

It feels like a lifetime away after a year of lockdown.

But there was a time when we all travelled freely and I set out on a South American odyssey.

I spent much of that time in Bolivia and the various journeys I undertook included retracing the final journey of Che Guvara.

The Cuban revolutionary met his end in a remote Bolivian pueblo in 1967 — that’s me [above] pictured at the end of the Che Guevara Trail in La Higuera.

With international travel still off limits, I’ll be recreating that journey, amongst others, for a new travel talk hosted by the American travel specialists Context Travel.

My talk, Unexpected Bolivia, forms part of a wider programme of South America specials under the Context Conversations strand.

It will be hosted via Zoom on Saturday, March 20 at 4pm UK time. But what to expect?

  • The last days of Che Guevara
  • The Salar de Uyuni
  • The little-known tinku festival
  • On the trail of Butch and Sundance

Book your place here. It’s a one-hour talk, followed by 15 minutes of Q&A for Bolivia travel tips when we can all – finally – travel again.

Download my new Haunted Chester audio tour — now available via VoiceMap

My lockdown project is complete.

I used quieter time over the last few months to tinker away at a creative project, creating a new audio tour to my home city of Chester.

The result is Haunted Chester, a 60-minute circular walking trail based on the tours I lead for Chester Ghost Tours.

Those tours have been in hibernation during lockdown, returning hopefully in May.

But, meanwhile, you can download this self-guided tour to your smartphone and explore with just my voice and a detailed map to accompany you.

It’s the ultimate in social distancing.

VoiceMap uses local writers and guides to create quirky walking tours that offer local-knowledge insights and insider tips.

Here’s what my new tour promises:

If you like ghostly goings-on and spooky stories, then this walking tour around the centre of the historic city of Chester offers tantalising tales of the supernatural.

We’ll visit some familiar landmarks — but don’t expect a dry history lecture.

I know my home city well and will be highlighting some of the hidden corners that you don’t find on typical tours. After all, I’m a local boy and I’ll be sharing my insider knowledge.

On this tour, you’ll hear about:

• Roman soldiers still guarding their historic garrison
• The grisly tale of Chester’s last public execution
• The ghostly monk that haunts the city’s spookiest passageway
• Chester’s only official exorcism

Allow one hour for this walk. There are plenty of cafes and bars along the route for a quick coffee stop.

Whether it’s your first time in the city, or you’re a local keen to learn more about your home, Haunted Chester is the perfect way to see it in a different light.


Download the VoiceMap app to your phone and search for Haunted Chester, or use this link:

https://voicemap.me/tour/chester/haunted-chester-a-spooky-stroll-around-the-roman-walled-city

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Travel Trends: The rise of the high-tech tourist guide marks a new frontier

February 21 marks International Tourist Guide Day, celebrating tourist guides as cultural ambassadors for their home regions.

But guides — and that’s me pictured above, leading a ghost tour of Chester — haven’t had much to celebrate of late. As tourism fell victim to the pandemic, many guides found their livelihoods taken away overnight.

Some refused to give up, however. They adapted their craft for virtual tours and continue to embrace evolving technology to reinvent tourist guiding for the post-Covid recovery.

Virtual reality

London Blue Badge Pepe Martinez was an early adopter, reimagining his themed walking tours, such as London’s old East End and Street Art, for a locked-down audience last spring.

He has since trained over 400 guides in technology-enhanced guiding skills. “I’ve guided more people in the last year than I had in the last ten. It has really opened my eyes to the value of virtual tourism,” he says.

“While they can’t recreate the visceral experience of face-to-face tours, virtual tours do offer a unique level of connectivity and interactivity that my clients have readily embraced.”

Another convert is Bath-based Fred Mawer, a Blue Badge Guide to the Southwest of England.

Fred, who is developing new, themed walking tours around Bath, sees the value of virtual tours both in their own right, and as teasers to entice potential clients.

“Virtual tours can sometimes be more effective than live tours, for example bouncing people around between locations, or zooming into details,” he says.

He has also found new practical applications having honed his virtual skills. He was recently approached by a company to conduct virtual tours of the University of Bath campus to prospective international students.

“Even when so-called ‘normality’ returns, I expect to see sustained demand for virtual tours.”

Live broadcast

As well as the professional guiding skills of local knowledge and engaging storytelling, the secret to successful virtual tours is to keep the technology relatively simple.

While some tourist boards have invested in VR technology, Pepe guides with just Keynote (for presentations) and Zoom loaded onto his iPad. This even works for live-remote tours, such as broadcasting live from a museum.

“VR is phenomenal,” he says, “but it’s still three steps ahead of where my clients are right now.”

For Emma Fox of Manchester Guided Tours, pivoting to online tours required a new skillset.

“Keep it concise — 45 minutes with a Q&A to end. I use strong, engaging visuals, and like using Google Maps and Street View to add value,” says Emma, who is currently planning virtual tours of Worsley village in advance of the opening of RHS Garden Bridgewater in May.

“While I miss the chemistry of live tours, I’ve found the format allows for more creativity and flexibility.”

There will always be a place for the eye-to-eye contact of guides in situ of course.

Indeed, the Institute of Tourist Guiding (ITG), which represents members across England, Northern Ireland and Jersey, recently launched a pay-it-forward Blue Badge voucher scheme to gift a tour to friends and family once restrictions ease.

But, at a time of vaccine passports and £1,750 hotel-quarantine bills, technology-enhanced tours are more than just a stop gap, relieving pent-up demand for travel experiences.

Audio tour

Is this a chance to reinvent tourist guiding for a whole new chapter in the travel journal?

I believe so. I had started training as a Green Badge Guide to Chester and North Wales, combining my love of storytelling with street-level knowledge of my Roman-heritage home patch.

With UK staycations set to be popular again this summer, I’ve used my time during the current lockdown to develop a VoiceMap audio tour, Haunted Chester, to download to smartphones.

“Looking to the future, I think guides will work with fewer large groups and be busier in the winter months as virtual tours evolve,” says Pepe.

“And I guarantee that delivering virtual tours will be included in most, if not all, guide training in the future.”

As one of the new-generation trainee guides, it feels like guiding is overdue for a major shake-up. So, park the coach and retire the giant follow-me umbrella, the future of tourist guiding is a blended approach.

I’ll see you on Zoom.

Read the edited feature, Take a tour guide … to the places you plan to visit published in the Daily Mail.

Get stuffed! A tastebud-tickling tour of nourishing North Wales

Local produce is a major draw for visitors to Wales.

Indeed, there’s a host of local suppliers and independent producers celebrated each year by the Great Taste Awards Wales.

In particular, the artisan food and drink sector has grown in recent years with a turnover of £4.8bn in 2018-19 and 78,000 people employed in the food and farming sector, according to figures from Food & Drink Wales.

This themed tour would be ideal for an autumn departure around the time of the annual British Food and Drink Fortnight, The Conwy Honey Fair or one of the smaller harvest festivals staged across North Wales.

This route is designed to form an overarching narrative on the theme of food and drink.

It describes the rise of independent businesses, highlighting the range and quality of local flavours, and the human story of our local food heroes.

It builds in rhythm from site visit in Llandudno, via a coach-based scenic tour in the Valley and lunch stop, to a town-centre walking tour of Cowny with time for souvenir shopping before departure.

Along the way we will enjoy product tastings, guest talks from local chefs and an opportunity to meet and sample the goods of local independent food producers in North Wales.

If your group would like to join this independent tour, then please do get in touch.