* Calculations use average data for Russia

49 000 ₽

Starting investments

121 500 ₽

81 000 ₽

Net profit

2 months

Payback period

City walking tours are a leisure activity that allows you to delve deeper into the history of the streets. In the business plan, we will consider excursions with performance elements that can bring from 80 thousand rubles.

1. PROJECT SUMMARY

This business plan deals with a project to provide walking tours in a city with a population of more than 1 million people. The project is holding events in the format of “excursion + street performance”. The financial resources required to start the project will amount to 49 thousand rubles. and will be used for the purchase of excursion equipment, the creation of presentation materials, the purchase of actors' costumes and stage attributes.

The projected amount of revenue per month for one excursion per week and the participation of 15 tourists in it will be 121.5 thousand rubles, net profit is 81.5 thousand rubles. The financial plan is designed for a three-year period of activity. After that, it is planned to expand the types of excursions and update the program of events. The project will require a preparatory phase for a period of 3 months, necessary for writing a script, conducting test tours and rehearsals, as well as creating advertising products and pre-filling social networks.

Table 1. Key indicators of the project

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY AND COMPANY

City walking tours are a growing type of tour that allows participants to delve deeper into the history of the streets, explore objects and imagine being part of past events. Unlike bus tours they allow for more agile routes and give competitors a logical and consistent line of sight. The length of such routes usually does not exceed 6 kilometers, while the duration is no more than 3 hours.

From the point of view of organization, walking tours require much less financial and time costs, since there is no need to conclude an agreement with a transport company, coordinate the driving time with the driver, and adjust the tour route to the rules of the road. At the same time creating walking route requires a more elaborate script. Display objects should be fairly close to each other. Tourists need physical readiness, and the guide needs the ability to keep pace and prompt those who lag behind the group in time. A feature of the excursion business in largest cities, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg is a high level of competition. In other million-plus cities and regional centers with a population of less than a million inhabitants, the competition is not so significant, but it is quite difficult to immediately stand out against the background of existing proposals.

This project proposes the organization of events, the format of which will combine an excursion with a thematic performance on the theme of the history of the city. The choice of this format was due to high competition among the organizers of excursions. On the one hand, such an event will require a lot of time and money to organize, on the other hand, if well positioned, it will attract public attention and can become one of the landmark cultural events in the city. The project will be implemented on its own on the basis of the organizer's knowledge of the history of the city and interest in local history, the presence of some skills in this area, a certificate of completion of courses for guides, as well as personal connections with creative personalities of the city who will be involved in the performance in as partners.

3. DESCRIPTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES

At the initial stage, two scenarios of excursions will be developed, each of which will include a small 30-minute street performance on the theme of the excursion. The duration of one of the events will be 3 hours, the other - 2 hours 30 minutes. The cost of participation will be divided for children and adults (see Table 2). The cost was determined taking into account the analysis of competitors' offers. So, the cost of an ordinary walking tour in the regions varies from 400 to 650 rubles, the cost of bus tours or tours with any additional services, including a quest, a coffee break, etc., ranged from 1100 to 1500 rubles. Thus, 800-950 rubles is, with one, a more expensive option compared to ordinary excursions, but at the same time more profitable against the background of similar offers.

Table 2. Description of goods and services

We also note that at the start of the project it is planned to carry out two or three free tours to draw attention to the project, when the tourists themselves determine the level of remuneration for the guide. In addition, audio and photo materials offered by the guide during the tour, incentive prizes for activity during the tour (badges, souvenirs, key rings, etc.) will be available to the tourists free of charge.

4. SALES AND MARKETING

The target audience of the project will be, on the one hand, an age audience that is actively interested in the history of the city (mainly women aged 35-40 years), on the other hand, creative youth from 18 to 30 years old, as well as tourists and guests of the city. The process of organizing sales and advertising will require the implementation of several stages.

Preparatory stage. At this stage, two months before the start of sales, pages are created in social networks Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki and Instagram, which are planned to be used as main stream generators during the main period of work. Communities are filled with thematic content on the history of the city, a preliminary selection of the target audience is made, advertising messages are published about a set of trial free tours. A one-page site is being created with basic information about the cost, time of excursions, route and contacts for pre-booking. Advertising templates are created and advertisements are printed.

First stage. Two or three free tours are held, during which photographs are taken, feedback from participants is collected, and gaps in the organization that have arisen along the way are eliminated. If possible, the attention of the Internet media and television is attracted. Further, advertising posts are published in popular groups of the city in social networks. There is an active distribution of advertisements in places visited by tourists.

Main stage. Current advertising activity using all available channels to reach the target audience. At the same time, contacts are being established with the heads of museums, cultural and entertainment institutions, anti-cafes, which can advertise on their own sites, and announcements are being distributed. As additional channels for the influx of customers can also be used:

own blog of the guide on the history of the city;

partnership with travel companies with the transfer of clients for a percentage;

partnership with information tourist centers(transfer of clients for a percentage, placement of advertisements or business cards).

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Table 3 presents the approximate costs for advertising purposes in the main period of work. It is planned to organize filling the content of groups in social networks and updating information on the site on our own. Applications for participation in the tour will be accepted by phone, payment will be collected by the organizer before the start of the event. In the future, it is planned to use special services (timepad and others).

5. PRODUCTION PLAN

At the initial stage, excursions-performances are planned to be organized once a week - on Saturdays or Sundays, in the daytime. To create performances, it will be necessary to hire actors from among the volunteers of the acting circle at one of the city's universities. The cast will include five regular cast members and three people who either play bit parts or are called in as replacements. To start the activity, you will need to purchase the necessary stage and excursion equipment. Expenses for these purposes will amount to about 39.2 thousand rubles.

Table 4. List of required equipment and inventory

When conducting one excursion per week, taking into account the participation of 10 adult tourists in it, with an average check of 900 rubles, the monthly revenue will be 81 thousand rubles. This plan is planned to be followed during the first year of operation. The plan for the second year of work will be 15 participants per tour, i.e. 121.5 thousand rubles per month In the future, with an increase in the number of participants and the organization of two excursions per week, the planned revenue can be increased by one and a half to two times.

6. ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN

The project will require a preparatory period of 3 months, during which the tour route is created, the script for performances is created, rehearsals are organized, actors are selected, etc. Unlike many countries of the world in Russia, a license for the provision of excursion services is not required. In order for activities to be carried out within the legal framework, only registration of an individual entrepreneur is necessary. OKVED activity codes:

• 79.90.2 Activities for the provision of excursion tourism services
• 79.90.22 Activities of independent guides and guides for the provision of excursion tourism services.

The term for processing documents for registration of IP will be 3 days. State duty - 800 rubles. The most appropriate taxation system for this type of business is simplified, where the object of taxation is 6% income.

Documents for business on walking tours:

Here is a list of documents required for conducting activities within the legal framework:

contract for services, where all offers of excursions, their obligations and those points for which the company is not responsible will be indicated;

job description for employees. It describes in detail the job responsibilities for each position and the action plan in the event of an emergency situation;

contracts with employees. Not necessarily according to the Labor Code, but the contractual basis must be fixed;

for employees (preferably) - a document that confirms the status of a teacher of history / culture / philology, etc. or the right to engage in tourism business.

Additionally, it is necessary to draw up a memo for customers, rules for safe behavior on the route and a list of possible sources of danger that you may encounter. Also, in some cases, tour guides require accreditation. For example, to conduct excursions, foreigners need a special state-issued permit.

The project team

The project team will include two organizers and simultaneously performers of the project in the person of the guide and the head of the theater troupe, as well as the actors themselves.

Guide. This is a person with a historical or philological education, who knows English language, who is fond of local history and the history of the city, has a certificate of passing guide courses from a specialized training center that trains personnel for the tourism industry. Personal qualities: sociability, competent speech, good voice, creativity and resourcefulness, talent as a teacher and psychologist, patience.

Theater troupe leader. He has experience as a director in a student theater, the talent of an organizer, advertiser, designer.

Actors. A group of actors of eight people (five regular actors, three on a stand-in), participants in major theater competitions, city performances, a troupe at the student theater. Actors will be paid 500 rubles per performance. Based on the experience of similar projects, it is recommended to select a reserve troupe for all roles (in case of illness of the actors, absence from rehearsals/performance for family or other reasons, etc.).

7. FINANCIAL PLAN

The financial plan takes into account all the income and expenses of the project. Starting investments in the project will amount to 49 thousand rubles. The expenses of the main period of work will include the remuneration of the actors - 22,500 rubles, the cost of advertising and promotion of the project. A detailed financial plan of the project, taking into account tax deductions, is given in Appendix 1.

Table 5. Investment costs of the project

	NAME	AMOUNT, rub.
Equipment and inventory
	Excursion equipment
	Performance equipment
Intangible assets
	Registration of IP
	Flyer printing
	Funds for paying actors (for the first 2 excursions)

Table 6. Expenses of the main period

8. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Thanks to minimal investment, the project is able to pay off already in the second month from the start of sales of excursions. The annual turnover of the project in the first year will be 972 thousand rubles, net profit - 521.8 thousand rubles. Profitability - 53%. Annual turnover in the second year - 1458 thousand rubles, net profit - 978.2 thousand rubles, profitability - 67%.

9. RISKS AND WARRANTY

The project will require minimal investment in opening, there are no costs for rent and binding to any real estate and material values ​​(the product is intellectual and acting work), and therefore all financial risks are minimal. Most of the possible difficulties can be associated with internal problems - errors in the organization, incorrect promotion, incorrect presentation of information by excursionists, etc. These risks are prevented, firstly, through careful preparatory work, which should include writing a high-quality script for the excursion and the performance, and their test “running”. Secondly, a competent analysis of the market is important: monitoring of all existing offers in the field, analysis of the pricing and advertising policies of competitors, their methods of smoothing the seasonality factor, and so on. The key factor for the main period will be work on improving the quality of services, expanding the list of services, providing feedback from customers and advertising.

There are also external risk factors - competition, an unfavorable situation in the country's economy, affecting the solvency of the population and forcing them to give up leisure, and so on. To minimize these factors, it is necessary to promote high-quality promotion from the first days of the project’s existence, and in the future, gaining status and recognition of the event as a significant cultural event of the city, which is attended by representatives of medium and large companies and which is actively advised to tourists and guests of the city.

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Creating a new interesting excursion is not an easy task. It is necessary to break the planned event into two equivalent stages - this is the preparation and conduct of the excursion.

To develop a new excursion route it is necessary to decide on the purpose of the excursion, the type (in terms of content - overview, thematic; in terms of the method of movement - pedestrian, bus) and display objects. The text of the excursion, its duration and saturation with facts will depend on this. This should not be done by one person, but by a creative group, which should include from three to seven people.

First steps to planning an excursion

When the objects are selected, we start collecting information on each of them and compose the most convenient route for transitions (crossings, etc.). Now, from a large amount of information on objects, you need to make an excursion text for each of them and a card for the object. Such a card is an indispensable part of the tour guide's portfolio, it contains brief information about the object and possibly a photograph of it.

After the excursion texts for the objects are written, it is easier to create an interesting and concise excursion text, to connect the parts with competent transitions.

After preparing the materials, a methodological development of the excursion is made - this is a document describing the excursion, its main parameters. The manual includes a topic, a route map, its length, type of excursion, safety rules, purpose, tasks and time. It also includes a table - a plan for the tour:

• route;
• display object;
• stop;
• time in minutes;
• enumeration of the main issues, names of subtopics;
• organizational guidelines;
• methodical instructions (logical transitions).

After that, the training manual must be certified by the management, it serves as a confirmation of the quality of the excursion.

Tour guide portfolio

Before you conduct a tour, you need to collect a "guide portfolio". This is the professional name for a set of visual aids to simplify the conduct of the tour. These can be reproductions of paintings, photographs of people who are related to this topic, maps depicting enterprises or military operations, geographic Maps, geological samples, product samples, tape recordings and other materials to help saturate the tour.

Material requirements

The criteria for selecting visual material are low: safety, unusualness, expressiveness, the need for display and cognitive value. These are the main qualities of these criteria. It is very important to have good materials on objects that have not survived to this day or have changed a lot. This will make the material easier to understand. It should be borne in mind that reproductions, maps and photographs must be on a cardboard base, the image must be clear with a size of at least 18 * 24, preferably 24 * 30 cm.

Now that all the material is ready, let's figure out how to properly conduct a tour. Usually each guide has his own technique for conducting an excursion, based on personal experience and observations. But the method of conducting an excursion is a whole system of requirements and tasks, methods of telling and showing. All this is necessary to achieve maximum digestibility of the material. A well-developed methodology is a kind of list of rules for the guide when conducting a specific excursion. But it is worth paying attention to the fact that the methods of conducting an excursion should differ slightly depending on the age characteristics of the group and the interest of the tourists.

For school-age children, it is better not to overload the text with facts, it will be more interesting for them to see visual material and hear interesting legend or history. It is also worth preparing for questions, there are a lot of them from children. It is important to be able to keep the attention of sightseers-schoolchildren. To do this, you need to ask questions: “Do you know?”; “Have you heard about…?”; “Do you like…?” etc. In this case, the guide has a dialogue with the tourists, and so you can keep your attention for quite a long time.

Tourists of the older generation, as a rule, behave quietly and calmly, and it is quite difficult to understand whether the story is interesting to them or not. In the event that these are not professors and scientists, it is advisable not to overload the text of the excursion with a large number of dates and numbers. Always allow time for photography, just five to seven minutes will be enough.

Tour guide receptions

There are generally accepted methods of conducting an excursion, they include storytelling and demonstration techniques. Display techniques allow you to draw the attention of tourists to the most important details, evaluate the general appearance of the object and its combination with the environment. Narrative techniques, in turn, help to recreate a more accurate picture of events in the imagination of the tourists. Key words: “Imagine…”, “It was… a year…”, etc.

Safety regulations

But besides interesting material and a pleasant guide, the event should be safe.

Safety during excursions, especially walking tours, is very important. The basic rules of safety and behavior on the route can be found in the methodological development of the excursion. But the guide is obliged to notify the group about safety measures immediately before the tour. Tell about all the nuances of the route. The most banal phrases about not sticking your head out the bus window and jumping out on the go should definitely be heard. Since the guide takes responsibility for the group during the excursion, it is his task to tell about the safety rules.

What to warn tourists about

Particular attention should be paid to road crossings and crossings (cable bridges, caves, tunnels, etc.). If the excursion is conducted in nature, then fire safety rules should be warned. It is also necessary to talk about the fact that you can not try mushrooms, touch various insects and animals with your hands, drink water from open reservoirs and walk barefoot.

It is worth taking care of household items of the local population and the surrounding nature at the place of the excursion. In addition, people who have undergone preliminary briefing and medical examination, as well as people who do not have health-related contraindications, should be allowed to take excursions.

I drink coffee and stick cloves in oranges - I'm getting ready for the tour ..

Aromas of citrus and cloves remind others of winter. People smile as they pass by my table. The orange-clove therapy works on me too: I joyfully run out into the street, and there is snow... the first one this year.

Hello Christmas Tour! No, today is my birthday. The kids are amazing and the parents are amazing!

I am often offered to lead excursions with children, considering this to be something rather complicated. In my opinion, a children's excursion is an amazing thing, simple and complex at the same time, but it is important that you immediately feel the return, appreciation and love from children.

What is the most important thing in a children's excursion?

A few tips for moms, dads, grandparents who walk around St. Petersburg with their children and want the children to listen and hear your historical stories:

1. Think in vivid images that are understandable to children.

First, you yourself must see the image of what you are talking about. The picture should be in color, detailed and evoke feelings for you personally.

For example, the gardener Eliseev grew strawberries in the greenhouse for Count Sheremetyev on Christmas Day. The guests are in amazement, the count exclaims in excitement: "Ask what you want!"

I imagine everything very vividly: the count's camisole, and the wicker basket, and snow outside the window, frost down to -40 and the aroma of wild strawberries. So it's easy to tell. And by themselves questions are born to the children: "What happened next, what do you think?" If the picture is bright, then the guys easily come up with and immerse themselves in the story. Where did the Eliseevs go when they became free? What did they start doing? Was it easy for them in Petersburg? And what would you do in their place, if you had 100 rubles? And here it would be good to move from words to deeds.

2. Find a thing, a detail that characterizes your hero, a story.

It is easier, of course, to use an illustration, a picture, a photograph. But it is best to find a thing that you can touch, smell, guess the riddle associated with it. For example, with the merchants Eliseevs, I give the guys an orange, the letters of the surname are laid out on it with a carnation. The letters are scattered and it is necessary to make a word out of them (Eliseev began to sell oranges on Nevsky Prospekt).

When talking about Peter I, I like to give children a map of the area of ​​St. Petersburg of the 18th century and suggest laying out a rough plan of the city (this is for older children, of course). When we go to the Photo Salon, I give a photo and offer to find the point from which it was taken. AT summer garden I invite the children to sculpt some of the sculptures on their own. Everything that the children touched, made efforts to unravel - they will remember for a long time.

It is not easy to find something that falls into the top ten, as they say, but the process itself is worth it! For me personally, this is the most interesting part of the excursion: the process of searching for that very historical detail.

3. Less is better, but better.

Children do not remember the date, especially when they are standing, they listen to even the most interesting stories from the strength of 5-7 minutes. Therefore, the whole historical story it is necessary to put it in 15-20 minutes, and the whole excursion in 1.5 hours maximum.

And after such an immersion, leave the children with a desire to learn more, but on their own. Not so, "that I told you everything, but I also remembered, listen to me carefully." Not! Fill your communication with dialogue, searching, running, taking photos and discovering places.

4. Encouragement, prize, yummy at the end of the historical walk.

After the tour, we go for lunch, dinner or an afternoon snack. It's great if the food you offer the guys is related to today's walk. Let not all, but again, the detail will be remembered for a long time and will make the meal "historical" and exciting. And even if you feel that the children are tired of historical information, you can simply say that our hero loved this.

If you have boys and you have visited the Suvorov Museum, then eating buckwheat porridge and cabbage soup in bread is a must. And if emperors are your heroes, take a lace napkin and a couple of porcelain plates with you. Even in military campaigns, the emperors ate simply, but always with silver and porcelain. And this day will be special.

5. And lastly, my favorite: it's easy to forget everything that you are told and everything that is shown, but we will never forget the atmosphere when we feel good.

Be surprised, play, discover the story with the children! Love for the city is inside of us, and the child feels and understands everything, just talk about this love creatively. I have about the same approach to adult excursions. And although colleagues in the shop do not always understand this, it is very exciting to wake up the inner child in a serious adult!

On the splash screen is a photo fragment jasoncedit/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

2.5. Excursion technique

The effectiveness of any excursion largely depends on the technique of its conduct, the relationship between the methodology and technique of conducting. A number of requirements are imposed on the technique of conducting an excursion. These include the introduction of the guide to the group, the correct placement of the group at the object, the exit of the excursionists from the bus and returning to the bus (other vehicle), the use of a microphone by the guide, keeping the time allotted for the tour as a whole and the disclosure of individual subtopics, answering questions from the tourists, etc.

Acquaintance of the guide with the group. The guide, entering the bus, gets acquainted with the group. He greets those present, calls his last name, first name, patronymic, the excursion institution that he represents, introduces the tourists to the bus driver, that is, he begins the tour with an introduction.

It is important that from the very beginning the guide subordinated his actions to the established rules of communication with the group. He doesn't start talking right away. There is a pause that lasts ten to twenty seconds. The first acquaintance takes place, further contacts of the guide with the group largely depend on it. The sightseers gradually fall silent, sit down more comfortably, their attention switches to the guide. Tourists estimate what the guide is capable of, what interesting things he will tell them, and the guide thinks about how to interest these people, how to rive their attention to the topic.

With the correct organization of excursion work, preparation for it should take place in advance. This is done by tour organizers or travel agents.

The plot of the excursion must be known to the excursionist in advance. The excursionist must know the topic of the excursion. It is extremely important that advertising activities and the purchase of a tour package be separated from the tour by one or two days. This is significant in the sense that during this period of time a certain psychological attitude of the excursionist will occur. He will have time to think and get used to the plot of the tour.

Each topic has its own introduction. If the composition of the group is different (for example, the local population and visiting tourists, adults and children), the same excursion will have different introductions. The guide pays special attention to the preparation and execution of the introduction, which gives a specific setting to the tourists, allows you to establish contact with them.

The exit of tourists from the bus (trolleybus, tram). Tourists need to prepare in advance for the exit. In cases where this is not done, a significant part of the group remains on the bus, not leaving to observe the monuments at their location. Thus, tourists lose the opportunity to personally get acquainted with the object.

At stops where the exit of the excursion group is provided, the guide leaves first, showing an example to the group and determining the direction of its movement to the object. In cases where other stops are arranged in the excursions, for example, sanitary or for the purchase of souvenirs, the guide reports the exact time (hour and minutes) of the bus departure. It is necessary to require tourists to comply with the rules of the tour, which affects the schedule of the bus along the route. If the parking time in a country excursion for some reason is reduced or increased, the guide informs all sightseers about this.

Arrangement of the group at the object. When developing an excursion, as a rule, several options for placing a group to observe the excursion object are determined. This is done in the case when the place determined by the methodological development is occupied by another group or when the sun's rays shine into the eyes, making it difficult to inspect the object. There are other reasons that prevent the use of the recommended place. In hot weather, opportunities are used to locate groups in the shade. In case of rain, the option of placing tourists under the roof, under the crown of trees, is provided. In some cases, the technique requires that several points be selected to inspect an object: far, if the object is shown together with the environment or other objects; near, if individual details of a building, structure, terrain, natural object are analyzed. These features are reflected in the column "Organized guidelines for methodological development." Each guide carefully studies these instructions and, before going on the route with the group, clarifies issues related to the arrangement of the group to observe objects. It is also necessary to ensure the safety of sightseers when inspecting objects and when crossing motorways.

With the simultaneous location of several groups near one object, such a distance must be maintained between them so that one guide does not interfere with the other with his story, so that one group does not obscure the other object of observation. Known difficulties in observing this condition are the placement of groups to show the museum exposition.

Movement of sightseers from the bus to the object, from the object to the bus, between the objects is carried out by the group. The guide's place is in the center of the group, a few people go in front, a few are nearby, the rest are behind. It is important that the group does not stretch: the distance between its head and those who go last should not exceed 5-7 meters. The guide must ensure that when the group moves along the route, integrity is not violated. With a long group, not everyone will hear the guide's story, his explanations and logical transitions that are presented along the way. Experienced guides skillfully guide the movement on the route.

The pace of the movement of the group depends on the composition of the group (children, youth, middle age, the elderly), on the terrain, for example, climbing uphill, poor roads, overcoming ditches of dangerous zones in working shops, etc.

In a walking tour, the pace of movement of tourists is slow, unhurried, since the display objects are located next to each other.

It is more difficult to set the required pace of the group's movement on a bus tour. Here, getting off the bus, the guide does not start moving immediately, especially if the object is located in the distance. He allows most of the sightseers to get off the bus and then, slowly, but not too slowly, leads the group towards the goal. Approaching the object, he does not begin his story immediately, but after the whole group has gathered.

The guide directs the movement of tourists and in the course of their independent work on the route. Tourists walk around the object to read the inscription on it themselves, to enter inside it, to see the peculiar features of the architecture. They climb a hill to determine its height, climb a bell tower, a minaret, to make sure of the unusual "step" of the steps of a steep staircase, go down into the moat to determine its depth, etc. These movements of sightseers enrich them additional information and new impressions, make it possible to experience the unique features of the objects, the features of the events to which the excursion is dedicated.

The return of tourists to the bus. During the movement of the group, it is led by a guide. When a group boards a bus, it stands to the right of the entrance and counts the sightseers who enter the cabin. This is done invisibly. After making sure that all the participants of the excursion have gathered, he enters the bus last and gives a signal to the driver about the start of the movement.

It is necessary to avoid counting tourists who have already taken their seats on the bus. This introduces unnecessary nervousness, sometimes causing comical situations, thereby disrupting the course of the excursion.

Tour guide location. The guide on the bus should take a place where he can clearly see the objects that are discussed on the tour, but so that all the tourists are in his field of vision. At the same time, tourists should see it. Typically, this is a dedicated front seat next to the driver (the seat behind the driver is reserved for another driver). The guide is not allowed to stand while the bus is moving (as well as sightseers) for safety reasons.

On a walking tour, the guide should be half-turned to the object. Conducting a display of visually perceived objects requires that they be in front of the eyes of the guide, because he analyzes them based on his visual impressions. This is especially important in out-of-town excursions, when the guide, while the bus is moving, sitting in his place with his back to the sightseers, looks into the front window of the bus and talks about what the sightseers already see or are about to see.

Compliance with the time in the excursion. The methodological development indicates the exact time allotted for the disclosure of each subtopic in minutes. Everything is provided here: showing objects, the guide's story, moving along the route to the next one and the movement of the group around the observed objects. The ability to meet the allotted time for the guide does not come immediately. This requires a lot of practice, including conducting an excursion with a watch in hand: at home, at a specific object. It is necessary to achieve compliance with the time when conducting a logical transition, highlighting a single sub-topic and main issues. Helps the guide timekeeping the time spent on individual parts of the tour. On the basis of such timing, taking into account the comments of the listener, the guide makes appropriate adjustments to his story. Everything superfluous is removed from the tour, which leads to a waste of time. Often, for reasons beyond the control of the guide, the tour is significantly reduced in time. The reason for this is the protracted gathering of the group, breakfast served to tourists at the wrong time, the bus being late, etc. As a result, the tour starts late. The guide has only one way out - to reduce the time allotted for the disclosure of the topic. This should be done by keeping everything important in the content of the excursion and removing the secondary. To do this, you need to prepare in advance for a possible reduction in the material of the excursion.

Technique for conducting a story while the bus is moving. The story while driving on the bus should be conducted by a guide through a microphone. If the equipment does not function well or there is no microphone at all, it is useless for the guide to talk while driving. The noise of the engine and the shaking of the bus limit the audibility, so that the explanations will be audible only to the sightseers sitting nearby. In this case, the guide gives materials about the nearest section of the route before the start of the movement, and during the movement he reports only the names of objects or areas. If there are important objects or settlements it is necessary to stop the bus, turn off the engine and only then give explanations. This must be agreed in advance with the driver.

Answers to the questions of tourists. In excursion practice, a certain classification of questions has developed. They are divided into four groups: the questions of the guide, which are answered by the tourists; questions posed during the story, which the guide answers; rhetorical questions that are posed to enhance the attention of tourists; questions asked by the participants of excursions on the topic. The first three groups of questions are related to the methodology for conducting excursions, and only the fourth group of questions is related to the technique of conducting excursions. Their content is different - sometimes they are associated with objects, sometimes - with the life of famous figures, and often - with events that are not related to the topic of the excursion. The main rule for dealing with such questions is that you should not interrupt the story and give an immediate answer to them, and you should not also answer questions at the end of each of the subtopics. This scatters attention and distracts the audience from the perception of the content of the topic being disclosed, since not everyone in the group is concerned about these issues. Therefore, the guide should answer questions not during the tour, but at the end of it. The content of the answers should not be debatable, i.e., make the tourists want to argue, continue the topic raised in the question.

Making an introduction to the topic, the guide informs his listeners about this order of answering questions.

Breaks in the tour. The tour guide should not talk continuously. There should be small breaks between the individual parts of the story, the story and the excursion information on the way, the logical transition and the story about the object and the events associated with it.

Pauses pursue the following tasks:

The first is semantic, when the time of breaks is used by people to think about what they heard from the guide and saw with their own eyes. To consolidate the factual material in memory, formulate their conclusions and remember what they saw. It is important that the sightseers have time free from showing and telling each object for self-examination, preparation for the perception of what will be shown and told at the next stop;
- the second - to give a short rest to the tourists. It does not carry any semantic load. This is especially important for those who are not yet accustomed to such an active form of cultural and educational work as an excursion.

Pauses in out-of-town excursions are combined with rest, which, in accordance with the existing procedure, is provided to the guide: 15 min. after each hour of work (for the guide, the hour of the tour is 45 minutes). This rest can be summarized and used by the guide at the end of the tour. There may also be pauses in excursions - free time used to purchase souvenirs, printed materials, quench thirst, as well as for sanitary stops on long excursions.

The technique of using the "guide's briefcase". The content of the "portfolio of the guide", its significance and role in the use of methodological techniques of the show is related to the methodology for preparing and conducting the tour. Each exhibit - a photograph, a drawing, a reproduction of a painting, a portrait, a drawing, a copy of a document - has its own serial number. This determines the sequence of demonstration of this exhibit to the tourists.

The exhibit can be shown by the guide from his workplace, handed over to the tourists in the rows for a more detailed acquaintance.

Sometimes, in accordance with the methodological development, the guide organizes the playback of tape and video recordings. It is important to check the serviceability of the equipment in advance, the availability of the necessary records, to ensure audibility for all participants in the tour. The guide must be able to use this equipment.

During the tours, elements of the ritual (a ceremonial developed by folk customs) are used. Tourists at burial sites and memorials honor the memory of the dead with a minute of silence, are present at the changing of the guard of honor, participate in processions and rallies, and listen to mourning melodies. The guide needs to know the procedure for laying flowers, the passage of sightseers at the locations of mass graves and obelisks, participation in the guard of honor, in a minute of silence, the rules of conduct at the Eternal Flame and at the burial sites of heroes of the Civil, Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) and others wars. Before the start of the tour, the guide informs about everything, emphasizing the importance of observing the ritual when visiting historical sites.

findings

The importance of issues related to the technique of conducting excursions can hardly be overestimated. Neither a fascinating story about objects, nor methodical methods of displaying monuments will give the necessary effect if all aspects of its implementation are not seriously thought out, if conditions for observing objects are not created.

test questions

1. The concept of "excursion technique".
2. Contents of the column "Organizational instructions".
3. Organization of the guide's work with the group.
4. Skillful use of excursion technique.
5. Skills in using the technique of conducting excursions.
6. The pace of movement of the group, its significance.
7. Using the microphone. Work in the absence of a microphone.
8. Establishing the necessary order in the group.
9. Use of free time during the excursion.
10. Answers to the questions of tourists.
11. Technique for using visual aids.

Photo: Official portal of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow

How to see among skyscrapers and cars ancient city? Where is the utopia house located? Who comes up with city tours and who goes on them? How to lay a route correctly and make a person listen carefully? Larisa Skrypnik, the leading guide of the City Excursion Bureau of the Museum of Moscow, spoke about the pros and cons of the work of a guide, about the mysteries of Moscow and the best sightseers.

- It seems that everything has already been said about Moscow, all the city labyrinths and nooks and crannies have been passed, and suddenly new route, new excursion— how is this possible?

— The Museum of Moscow, where I work, is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year. And all these years, the museum staff has been studying the city, its history, following all the changes that are taking place in the metropolis. Our collection contains thousands of documents, books, photographs that are still being researched. This alone already gives many reasons for a new look even at the most trivial excursions.

There is, of course, a mandatory block of excursions. As a rule, this sightseeing tour in Moscow, along Red Square, along the historical center, which are designed specifically for the first acquaintance with the city - for those who want to learn about the city in which they live. There are quite a few of them - as experience shows, Muscovites often do not know the city well. It seems to a person: I'm here, I'll manage everything - and he passes by interesting places without paying attention to them. But, when interest is shown, a person, as a rule, becomes our regular client. That is, the one who came once, begins to walk all the time. It is very joyful to see how the popularity of walking and bus tours is growing from year to year: more and more citizens want to learn about the capital as much as possible.

But there is another block of routes - those that we come up with on our own. These are always unusual walks on which we show the city from a new side. They can be thematic, timed to coincide with certain dates, events. So, we constantly have new routes through unexplored Moscow. We really want to show our beloved city from different angles; I want the participants of the walks to fall in love with Moscow just like we do. And such excursions are, as a rule, very much in demand.

— Can you tell us more about these routes?

- Was interesting story during the celebration of the anniversary of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. We were asked to come up with a walking tour of Gogol's places. Moreover, they asked to show not only the monuments to the writer, which are located at a distance of 400 meters from each other, not only the temple of Simeon the Stylite, whose parishioner was Gogol, but something else unusual. This is in a sense a challenge, I really love such things. It was necessary to make a walking tour and tell a lot about Gogol. As a result, with great interest for myself, I discovered more than 20 places associated with Nikolai Vasilyevich on the Arbat. Not in Moscow as a whole, but only on the Arbat. Exclusive excursions are born, for example, from such an offer - to help someone with a topic.

Or, for example, an excursion dedicated to 1612 in Moscow. She was not particularly in demand, no one ever asked to drive to these places. But when the request nevertheless appeared, it turned out that it was really very interesting excursion. Of course, excursions are also born because you yourself really like something. I love architecture and of course I came up with the Art Nouveau walking tour. Routes may appear after you have read an interesting book. Now there are a lot of memoirs, all kinds of works by pre-revolutionary Muscovites, which we did not know before. You are reading and suddenly you see the area completely different, not the way you imagined it, and you have an idea to make a tour of this place and show Moscow from some, maybe unexpected side.

— And how does it happen? How is the tour prepared?

- First, the search for material begins: reading special literature, diaries, going to libraries and, of course, studying the area itself that you are going to talk about. Sometimes, when you walk the streets, you go into alleys, courtyards, you discover absolutely incredible treasures that people have not seen. For example, Nikitsky Boulevard is such a facade street. But once, when I was preparing a tour there, I saw a metal gate with a door, behind which it was written that there was a repair of shoes or some kind of hardware. In general, a completely unpresentable door. But when I entered this gateway, I realized that this is a whole city with labyrinths. Who would have thought that this could be? People are always very interested in it. It’s as if you are plunging into the past, and you can imagine how you would feel if you lived in this house and your windows overlooked this courtyard….

- You said that you have developed a tour of Art Nouveau, but this is not exactly the Moscow style, what are you showing?

— Because it hiking, then it passes between Ostozhenka, Prechistenka and in lanes. This is the profitable house of Isakov Kekushevsky, and the own house of the architect Kekushev. This is the profitable house of the peasant Loskov. We had such wonderful peasants who could invite the best architects and build houses in the northern modern style. There are really not enough of them in Moscow, mainly this style is common in St. Petersburg.

- It seems to me that the most difficult thing in your work is to make people listen, not all guides and not always succeed.

- You just need to know and understand: people cannot endlessly listen to a set of some facts, even if they are quite interesting, they still need some kind of detente. But it is important not just to giggle about something, but that it be tied to the topic. And by the way, on excursions sometimes the participants themselves help to find such relaxing moments. Once, on a tour of the Arbat and Arbat alleys, I had a wonderful girl of seven years old. On the Arbat, every building has a history, and I want to tell about everything. I started talking about the house with the knights across from Tetra Vakhtangov and said that, unfortunately, not all the knights survived, and this girl says to me: “But I can tell where this knight has gone.” I ask: where? She says: “The fact is that he fell in love with this princess - and there is a fountain “Princess Turandot” near the Vakhtangov Theater - he fell in love, went downstairs, bought her jewelry, but she did not accept the gift. So the knight got upset and left.” This is a charm! Now I always tell this, such a vivid perception of Moscow with its history by a child.

How long does it take to prepare a tour?

- It depends on the topic. There are those on which a huge amount of literature has been written, and here you just need to select what you are interested in. There are topics that require serious preparation, perhaps even inquiries, meetings with some people who have information on a particular area. Interesting things are told by the residents themselves. It's always a lot of work.

The selection of material is one of the most exciting moments, and here it is important to control yourself. You search, read, and it is so captivating that by three o'clock in the morning you can find yourself somewhere on the other side of Moscow. Because when you are preparing material, one fact clings to another: but the surname slipped through, and not to clarify whether ... It is very difficult, but it is even more difficult to choose something when you have collected great amount material and you understand that it is impossible to tell everything - it is always a pity to remove some of the information.

Then comes another very important moment: you have to connect all the objects... It is clear that if the tour is thematic, for example, our Moscow Embassy, ​​then everything is more or less clear. And if this is a tour along the street and there are absolutely heterogeneous buildings, absolutely different stories, but you have to somehow connect them together, you should get a story.

I had a wonderful tour, I led it along Volkhonka, and one of the excursionists, as an intelligent person, warned me in advance that she needed to pick up the child from kindergarten, so she will leave quietly in English in 50 minutes. And I'm leading a tour and I understand that 50 minutes have passed, an hour has passed, and the woman is still with us. And I say to her: “Excuse me, please, but it seems to you that the child needs to be taken away from the kindergarten.” She says: “You understand, I can’t leave. You finish the story and are so catchy with the next one that we will now see further that I can’t leave in any way. ” That was the right excursion, since it happened.

There are also purely technical points, special ones that also need to be taken into account: how to stand up correctly so that everyone can hear you, so that you can respond to facial expressions, eyes, so that you can see the sightseers and at the same time not prevent them from seeing objects; how to stand up to show the object as much as possible; how to stand up so that you can talk about several objects without leaving your seat. When preparing a tour, it takes extra time. For example, I walk down the street and start, to the surprise of passers-by, running from one place to another, crossing the street, coming back in order to understand where it is better for me to put the group. And here you need to show imagination.

There are many other nuances. For example, you need to take into account the location of pedestrian crossings: where are they located, is it convenient for you to cross from this side to the opposite one, so that later you do not return to this crossing through another crossing, somehow go further along the route, because people are not interested in the same place to go back and forth. All in all, this is a really big job.

- Let's try to name the pros and cons of your profession.

- I was asked this question on excursions ... But it turns out that the minuses turn into pluses. Of course, this is a job that requires great physical exertion, because you need to move a lot both in the process of preparation and during the excursion. And they last sometimes two or three hours, and sometimes six or seven.

The weather that we do not choose, and our Moscow weather does not please, let's say, most of the year. The next thing is that you always work, because you have to be in the topic of modern Moscow, to know everything new that appears, new books about Moscow, new information, new objects. There is so much material that you will never be able to master it completely, but you always strive for this. As a result, you constantly train your memory, your mind, you are always on the move and constantly in the fresh air.

And yet people are different, and you make a lot of effort in order to keep attention. When this happens, I feel a tremendous moral upsurge, because I give my energy to people, and in return they give theirs. I always feel emotionally charged after the tour. Everything is interconnected here, and if you like it, then you enjoy it more.

Today, the city excursion bureau has developed more than 80 topics dedicated to the history and modernity of Moscow and its famous citizens.