Multiple surveys find that people, especially Millennials and Generation Zers, enjoy paying for experiences more than spending money on material items. But as travel information moved increasingly online in the early 21st century, suddenly anyone could turn up details on foodie walks around Porto, Portugal, or Google Shop Hop BA, which leads one-on-one visits to the crafts ateliers and vintage shops of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Private guides had long been available to the wealthy or connected. Somewhere along the way, guided tours earned a rep for being stodgy, sites-by-the-numbers itineraries.
Flat bottom boats ( bateaux mouches) with prerecorded spiels launched in Paris in the mid 20th-century hop-on, hop-off tour buses cruised the streets nearly everywhere by the 1980s and jumbo cruise ship excursions now herd hordes around historic sites from Venice to Mexico. A personalized approach to toursĪs tourism became a major economic driver in the 20th and 21st centuries, mass options were created to cater to crowds. Here’s why citizen guides have become more common, what kind of experiences and insider information they offer, and how to hire one during your next trip. “But these guides can take you to more places in less time than when you are alone with your Lonely Planet book and a brochure from the tourist information office,” says Núria Galí Espelt, who studies tourism as an art history professor at the University of Girona. You can always see Pompeii, Italy, with an archaeologist or Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown with a historian. Some tours are more conventional, of course. Some experiences are unconventional, to say the least: A kayak trip down the Nile to see Cairo, Egypt a hike with a herd of goats in Death Valley, California. ( Delve into the Indigenous women upending Canada’s tourism industry.) Tourists have long connected with private guides, but internet-driven companies such as ToursByLocals and Airbnb Experiences are introducing younger travelers to more personalized, locally connected experiences by creating platforms where citizen guides can offer their services. Herdyana is a citizen guide, a savvy resident whose small group tours can give travelers a fresh, often inexpensive introduction to a new place.
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