Aspiring Tour Guides Don't Have To Travel Far To Gain Skills For Top-Paying Careers With The 'Get Paid To Travel' Online Class

Booming tourism around the world demands more highly-trained tour guides and tour directors than ever before. A unique online class called "Get Paid to Travel" gives hundreds of colleges in the United States and Canada an affordable skill-building class to offer students who wish to pursue a travel guide career.

Lake Forest, CA (PRWEB) November 4, 2007 -- Booming tourism around the world demands more highly-trained tour guides and tour directors than ever before. A unique online class called "Get Paid to Travel" gives hundreds of colleges in the United States and Canada an affordable skill-building class to offer students who wish to pursue a travel guide career.

Tourism accounts for a majority of travel around the world each year. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), about 52 percent, or around 395 million people, traveled for the purpose of leisure and recreation in 2004. Consequently, the career opportunity for aspiring tour guides, tour directors and cruise hosts has grown tremendously.

"Get Paid to Travel" is being offered online at more than 1200 colleges in the United States and Canada. The class gives students an opportunity to train as tour directors and guides for local, domestic and international tours. Students can easily take the class online from a computer without interfering with their other college studies.

The course was developed by Cherie Anderson, owner of Professional Tour Management Training and author of the "Tour Director Training Guide." Anderson has been working in the travel industry leading tours and cruises around the world since 1984. She began introducing her tour management training to colleges in Southern California in 1993, and now many of her past students are leading tours around the world.

Anderson realized the need for an extensive training course that is not only convenient for everyone, but also covers the skills needed for a variety of tourism careers. She feels there are vast differences among travel careers that many people misunderstand and a targeted training course for tour guides, directors and hosts was long overdue.

"The skills are very different for travel agents and tour directors. For example, a tour director needs special skills to work with tour groups. The director must also understand tour group procedures and how to work with local suppliers, tour operators, tour guides, and assist with challenges and emergencies wherever they travel. On the other hand, the travel agent makes appointments from an office and arranges reservations. The two careers are entirely different, so the skills required are different as well," states Anderson.

"Get Paid to Travel" targets a wide audience of students that are interested in a travel career. Whether they want to become a local tour guide or work abroad, students gain the skills needed to enter their field of choice. Some might prefer to travel around the world and direct a variety of tours from week to week, including African safaris, cruises, European tours, etc.

Though very affordable, Anderson's online class helps students gain the required skills to land a well-paying travel job with a potentially bright future for those who work hard and are dedicated to
their career. The average income for an experienced international or domestic tour director is $250 to $400 per day, including salary, tips and commissions.

Students that have already enrolled in the class were amazed at the detailed training provided. As one student acclaims, "Cherie Anderson's course 'Get Paid to Travel' far exceeded my expectations. It was very in-depth and concise. This has been one of the most exciting, educational, and rewarding classes I've taken in the last five years in my pursuit of my B.A. of Geography with a Travel/Tourism concentration. Cherie is an open and honest person, a quality that seems hard to find these days. Thank You Cherie!"

Anderson says, "'Get Paid to Travel' inspires students that are interested in a travel career to pursue what they love doing most while equipping them with the knowledge they need to become a great tour guide or director."

More information is available at the Web address below:

http://www.tourtraining.com/

For an interview or more information, please contact Cherie Anderson
by phone or by email.

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