The Pros and Cons of Group Tours 3

Every summer during my student days, I would go back to my hometown in Northern Ontario, Canada, so that I could enjoy the great outdoors. I always loved going back to my hometown because of the cool weather, blue skies and endless sunny days. However, I didn’t have as much time to spend outside frolicking in nature as I wanted, because I spent three long summers, and the majority of every sunny day, underground.

I worked at a family friendly science center for four months every summer. I had a variety of tasks that included entertaining children with simple science experiments, like making pop bottles explode like rockets and watching paint mix into strange colors. For the most part I enjoyed working at the science center during the day, when I was above ground. But one of my other duties was to take groups of kids, tweens, teens and adults from all walks of life down into the underground model mine and give them a tour that covered mining history and technology.

Being a tour guide was cool at first, I felt very professional wearing my long green trousers and bright yellow helmet and headlamp. I carried a walkie-talkie in my pocket in case of emergencies and held the keys to every secret door. But to be honest, it was one of the hardest jobs I had ever done.

Leading a group tour can be a lot of fun when you have an audience that is engaged and interested in learning about what you have to teach them. You can have a group of lively little children wide eyed and curious about the underground world, or an inquisitive student interested in throwing out his theories about standard mining safety policy or how the evolution of mining has shaped the town over time. When your audience is willing to go along for the ride without much hesitation, leading a group tour can be a fulfilling meeting of minds and a satisfying exchange.

However, most of the time I usually dreaded the 45 min long tour. Down in the mine it was cold, dark, damp, and up to 40 people could be packed together in a tiny elevator, and it only got worse if the elevator got stuck or had maintenance problems. A lot of people on my tour weren’t as enthusiastic as I had hoped. Some people complained of not being able to hear properly, even though I spoke in a loud voice and tried to command my audiences’ attention. But when children are whining, parents are complaining and babies are wailing, it can be hard to maintain an enthusiastic attitude.

Overall, I would much prefer a one-on-one guided tour to a group tour. I think one-on-one interaction is better in almost every social situation. There is a sense of depth and more personal exchange that can be had when you are focused on having an exchange in a small group or with only one other person. If you are in a big group, it can feel like you are just a face in a crowd and deprived of any personal attention and the experience can be less rewarding and less exciting.

Kailey

Vocabulary

inquisitive (adj.) ? having or showing an interest in learning things; curious.
wide eyed (adj.) ? inexperienced; innocent.
enthusiastic (adj.) ? having or showing intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval.
deprived (adj.) ? lacking a specified benefit that is considered important.