LocalGuiding connects travellers with local, independent tour guides in a new, more personal way.
I like to connect with local people: to talk about their points of views, thoughts, customs and culture – to experience the local culture as it is and not how mass tourism companies masquerade it. The best option to do this for me is to hire a local tour guide who is knowledgeable, easy going and likeable. Private tours last at least a couple of hours and if the local guide isn’t likeable and knowledgeable in my fields of interests, the encounter wouldn’t be of much value for both of us.
So how to find a local tour guide and get in touch with him or her before travelling?
Of course you can go to your travel agency around the corner and hire a private tour guide, but that’s not satisfying:
First of all you won’t get to know more about the tour guide than his first name. You probably won’t be able to contact the guide directly to inform him or her about your travel interests and wishes. So the guide can’t custom the tour for your special interests because he doesn’t know them. The encounter at the meeting point is then like a blind date. Both do not know anything from each other: What kind of person is he, what are the expectations, etc.
But thanks to the new possibilities of the internet there came up some good websites helping travellers and locals to connect with each other. Thanks to the local travel movement these websites have a voice to make their idea and values public to a broader audience. LocalGuiding is proud to be part of it.
We from LocalGuiding.com want to help travellers to connect with local, independent tour guides in a new, more personal way: That’s why every local tour guide on LocalGuiding has an own public profile with reliable, detailed information about personality and interests, guiding and travelling experiences, guiding education and much more. You get to know the local tour guide before you go and then can decide if you like the guide to go on a tour with or not.
To help you evaluate the quality and competence you’ll find reviews from previous clients. They experienced the tours first-hand and are independent from any commercial interest. These reviews serve also as a motivation guarantee / incentive: Tour guides depend on receiving good customer reviews otherwise the chances to get further clients are low. So for all tours booked via our website the local guide will probably be highly motivated to provide a good tour.
Moreover, to demonstrate their local knowledge they give local advice in the LocalGuiding travel question and answer forum and they write travel tips to demonstrate their expertise. This might help you to pre-assess the service quality of the tour guide.
With hundreds of local tour guides registered on the site it’s easy and comfortable to locate a private guide that suits your travel interest and book one of their tours without the risk of being hood winked. All tours are categorized and you can filter your search by country, region, category, price and much more. Have you found a guide that suits you best, can you contact him directly to arrange a custom tours, or you can book one of the tours listed on LocalGuiding.com
You then book the tours directly from the tour guide.
LocalGuiding.com connects tour guides directly to customers like you. We give local guides a mouthpiece and market access without any middlemen. Therefore local guides get higher wages than typically paid by mass tourism companies. As there are no middlemen the prices at LocalGuiding are anyhow lower than what travellers normally pay at their travel agency. Other industries (like for example the coffee industry) are calling this approach fair trade. The local travel movement can be seen as a fair trade advocate for local travel. Their values contain all these key principles of fair trade. LocalGuiding.com is a member of the local travel movement and supports these values.
Learn more about LocalGuiding.com
Nice article. Just to add on the this article is the website http://www.GuidedByALocal.com. This non-profit site connect locals with travelers to give them free local tips and trips.
At this moment they have local in more than 210 cities across the world.
Posted by Aukje | March 12, 2011, 1:04 pmAdventure travel specialist, Oficial Local Tour Guide Machu Picchu. I offer a wide range of services, from specific treks and expeditions to fully customized programs around Peru, among others. For trekking lovers, our offer ranges from the traditional Inca Trail to Machu Picchu to the less known Ausangate or Lares treks, the enigmatic Vilcabamba expedition or any tailor-made trek that you may dream to do.
Posted by Hernan | October 13, 2014, 2:10 amWelcome to Siem Reap-Angkor, the home of the Angkor world heritage site and the center of the former Khmer empire.
Let me please present myself. My name is Chantrea (Mr.). I’ve been a tour guide since 2007 and I have a vast knowledge of the local area, the people and the history of the Angkor complex. Our expertise provides you with the opportunity to learn about our ancient heritage, the temples and so many more magical experiences and sights that Cambodia has to offer.
We can arrange the spectacular tours for you that will be treasured forever. If it’s just a one day tour to a week tour or more, we’ll take care of everything. These tours will included all the major attractions in and around the temple complex or something else that is more suited to your interests or needs.
We aim to add value to your journey and never cut corners. We assure our customers that they can see differences and diversity of culture, customs, languages and landscape by our well –trained, knowledgeable and enthusiastic local guides. Especially, our service-minded and friendly teams are expert in planning and arranging of various travel components such as hotel reservation, bus, ticketing and transportation hiring ensuring a headache free time. We arrange the tour guide speak the language you request for. Tours off the beaten track and special day trips to other places of interest can be organized separately or included in your tour package. We remained flexible and committed to fulfilling the needs of our clients at a competitive price and unbeatable quality of services. For all of us, the most important measure of our success is the satisfaction of our clients. Therefore, we are the team with a sincere commitment to high quality service and keep our prices highly competitive over the market.
We will give you the chance to see so much more than temples. You will be able to experience rustic markets, floating villages, the largest fresh water lake in South East Asia, Tonle Sap Great Lake, bird parks, cultural dances and so many more breathtaking sights. With our trust worthy service and recommended expertise, we aim to give our customers the chance to sit back, relax and fully enjoy your time spent here in Siem Reap. Let us manage and organize your tour for you and provide you with a service that’s hassle free, here at this awe-inspiring world heritage site.
If you are looking for a vacation rental in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos or Vietnam we are glad to help you organizing the wonderful trip for you that will be a treasured forever. Please contact us should you have any question or suggestion, anytime at your convenient. I look forward to hearing from you.
Warmth regards,
Mr. Chantrea CHHUON (Mr. Moon)
Managing Director
Founder/Director (FWEC)
English & Japanese speaking tour guide
Siem Reap-Angkor, Cambodia
Tel: +855 92 706 760/ +855 97 299 5151/ +855 93 62 53 54
E-mail: info@cambodiatour-guide.com
chantrea@cambodiatour-guide.com
chantrea@fwe-cambodia.org
Facebook/Yahoo Messenger: chantrea_jpikes@yahoo.com
Skype ID: Chantrea7
Website: http://www.cambodiatour-guide.com
http://www.fwe-cambodia.org
Posted by Mr. Moon | October 24, 2014, 4:54 pm