We firmly believe that our tour leaders are the best out there – and with a Wanderlust Guide of the Year winner in their midst, we’re not alone! In fact, we’re always proud of the consistent praise they receive from clients, who tell us that not only do these inspiring tour leaders have an unbeatable blend of knowledge and people skills, they also know just how to uncover the hidden sides to all our destinations that make your trip unique.
What makes our tour leaders different?
Every year we receive hundreds of applications to become a Journey Latin America tour leader. Those successful are chosen based on a number of criteria and skills we feel will truly enhance your experience of Latin America:
- All our tour leaders must be fluent in Spanish and/or Portuguese.
- We look for people who have lived in Latin America and know it like a local, so they can offer a real insight into the countries they take you to.
- They must be sociable, great company and possess the right temperament to help a group gel, relax and have fun.
Their knowledge of Latin America must rival the local guidebooks.
- Most of all, they must love sharing their enthusiasm and passion for Latin America and take pleasure in showing clients hidden restaurants, undiscovered viewpoints and secret ways to get the most, and best, out of each country.
We demand a lot from our tour leaders, but it is a job they are passionate about. So much so that many of our tour leaders have been with us for years (several over a decade) – and one, Etienne Frans, has been leading our tours for a quarter of a century. They love what they do, and it shows in their performance and in the fantastic feedback we are proud to receive from our clients.
The best of the best
The latest figures speak for themselves:
- 95% of clients rate the leader’s overall performance as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
- 94% of clients rate the leader’s local knowledge as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
- 96% of clients rate the leader’s social skills as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
What’s more, every year almost all our tour leaders are nominated for Wanderlust’s Guide of the Year Award, the ultimate accolade in the industry. In 2009, two of our tour leaders, Lucho Diaz and Pete Selman made it onto the final list of nominations, and in 2010, Pete Selman made it all the way to become Guide of the Year, achieving first place out of a total of 1,500 global guide nominations sent in by clients.
But what means the most to us is that our clients consistently praise our hard-working tour leaders for their dedication, enthusiasm and insider knowledge, repeatedly attributing a large part of their enjoyment of the tour to their tour leader. Here are just a few of the things they had to say:
“Berner Torres is a fantastic ambassador for your company. His enthusiasm, passion and wealth of knowledge made the tour for us!”
SS, Windsor
“A world-class tour leader – nothing was too much trouble for him…I cannot praise our tour leader Bill Hill highly enough.”
JC, London
“Sarah White was far and away the most helpful, knowledgeable, reliable and well organised guide we have ever encountered and a delightful personality to boot. She elevated an excellent tour to a wonderful holiday.”
AM, Moreton-in-Marsh
Etienne Frans: “He was absolutely the BEST guide.”
JK, Stockport