Delivering a visitor-centred experience

When you hear the word 'tour guide', what springs to mind?

Do you picture a knowledgable expert spinning tales of history and mystery while a captive audience listens intently, hanging onto every rehearsed word?

Or, do you picture a more dynamic scene, where the audience is not just present but participatory? Where the tour guide is not just a lecturer, but a facilitator who sees their task as skilfully fostering the perfect conditions for discovery and exchange?

Last week's Tour Pro Talks focused on the evolving role of the tour-guide. I enjoyed every minute of my conversation with Max Dubravko Fijacko , charismatic and multi-award winning trainer for interpretive guides.

Based in Croatia, Max is an award-winning trainer for interpretive guides. He has years of experience in tourism, marketing and sustainable travel. Last year, Max spoke at the SmartCulTour Final Conference on Redefining Cultural Tourism for Sustainable Destinations. He has twice won the award for creativity in new Thematic programs for tourists and earlier this week scooped a prestigious national award for his latest project, 'Zagreb in New Wave 80's Songs - Thematic Tour'.

In short, Max is an absolute legend in tour guide training circles, and it was an honour to have him on Tour Pro Talks. We had loads of great feedback on the broadcast, but no worries if you missed it – you can catch up here.

We should think about this where our guests are. Not where we expect them to be or where we want them to be, but where they really are. Max Dubravko Fijacko

How to make your tours more participatory?

Creating a visitor-centred experience is an art. To do it right, you need to be adaptable and knowledgable. You also need to understand that each guest brings their own unique perspective to the tour. Here are some of the tips Max shared for putting your visitors at the heart of the tour experience.

1. Treat Every Visitor as an Individual: "Guests are not one mass of people; every person is individual," says Max. This principle should be at the heart of every tour guide's approach. A visitor-centred tour adjusts its focus based on the audience of the day, whether they are experts in the subject or just out for a bit of fun.

2. Prepare for the Unexpected: Max compares handling a tour to being a stand-up comedian—while you can prepare jokes (or facts), it’s the interactions that can lead anywhere. He references the book "Never Split the Difference," discussing the three levels of unexpected situations, from anticipated issues like rain to the utterly unforeseen 'black swans'.

3. Exercise restraint in what you share with visitors: "You should know a lot of things. But that doesn't mean that you need to say all these things that you know," cautions Max. Overloading visitors with information can be overwhelming. Instead, open a space for exchange and be ready for questions that emerge naturally from the conversation.

4. Guide Discovery, Don't Dictate It: As Max puts it, "Show your visitors where to look, not what to see". Encourage guests to engage with the environment and discover their own interpretations. Doing this is more likely to create a space for conversation and mental processing, rather than presenting everything up front and stifling dialogue.

5. Ask the Right Questions: Opening tours with questions (rather than ending with a Q and A) can prevent visitors from falling into a passive listening mode. Max also advises tour guides to think carefully about the types of questions they ask visitors, suggesting, "It's better to ask questions that don't have a correct answer". This way, guests are more likely to share their experiences and opinions without feeling they'll be judged if they get things wrong.

Guests are not one mass of people; every person is individual and every tour actually is different. Max Dubravko Fijacko

Interested in finding out more? Max, a certified trainer for interpretive guides, is keen to stress the value of undergoing training and in joining organisations like Interpret Europe , which advocate for making cultural and natural heritage meaningful and relevant to visitors. If you're a freelance tour guide who's interested in developing your skills, get in touch with Max, either here or on Instagram.