How to Become a New York City Tour Guide

Did you know that you need a license to be a tour guide in New York City? That’s right! It is illegal to lead a group of people around New York City without a NYC Sightseeing license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). Tour guiding is a fun and flexible job that many people love, but it might be a bit tricky to begin. So here is everything you need to know about how to become a New York City Tour Guide.

How to Pass the NYC Sightseeing License Exam

The first step to becoming a tour guide is passing your licensing exam. From the NYC.GOV website, “You must have a sightseeing Guide license to guide or direct people to any place or point of public interest to describe, explain, or lecture about any place or point of public interest to any person in connection with any sightseeing trip or tour within the city.”

So, how do you sign up for for the Sightseeing Guide exam? Visit https://www.nyc.gov/site/dca/businesses/license-checklist-sightseeing-guide.page to sign up for your exam. The exam will cost $50 and you must be at least 18 to take the exam. The sightseeing exam itself will take place in-person at an agreed-upon date. The sightseeing exam is multiple-choice. How many questions are on the NYC sightseeing exam? The NYC sightseeing exam is 150 questions and you need a score of 97 to pass. In summary, you need to score approximately 66%. While this may sound easy, don’t be fooled… Some of these questions are very difficult. Many of the questions are accompanied by long paragraphs of historical detail. Focus. Stay on task. There are many websites with study guides. For example, Quizlet.com has enough to let you pass.

What are some sample questions from the NYC sightseeing exam?

*Where is the Diamond District (47th St. between 5th and 6th Ave)

*Where are the great Works of Picasso Found (Gagosian Gallery)

*What book did Jacob Riis write? (How the Other Half Lives)

*Where is the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton? (7 State St.)

In addition to studying flashcards such as these, immerse yourself in NYC history. Watch the Ken Burns documentary “New York: A Documentary Film.” The DCA provides you with a huge list of very heady (and somewhat outdated) books to study from. The official study guide is “Blue Guide New York,” but fair warning: it’s pretty intense. Also, make sure you’re familiar with train, bus, and traffic routes.

If you fail, that’s ok! You can take the exam again at no extra charge within the next 10 days.

What to Do After You Pass your NYC Sightseeing Exam

The best advice for any budding tour guide is to take a lot of tours. This might seem counterintuitive, but it will be the best way to learn. First of all, there are endless types of tours given in New York City. You will learn about bus tours, boat tours, helicopter tours, bike tours, fitness tours, food tours, ghost tours, history tours, theatrical tours, and more. There is truly a tour and a tour style for everyone. Taking tours will also give you wonderful ideas of how to transform facts into engaging stories, and even teach you new ways of looking at iconic landmarks. No two tour guides will share exactly the same information about the Empire State Building. Taking tours is also the best way to network as a tour guide. When you take a tour, introduce yourself to the guide. Make friends. You could even invite them out for coffee so you can pick their brain. If you’re lucky, they may offer to pass your information along to their boss!

How Much Money Do NYC TOur Guides Make?

It is impossible to answer the question “how much does a NYC tour guide make” because every company pays differently. Usually when you are just starting out as a guide, depending on the company you work for, $25-$50 an hour is pretty good. The more experience you have, the higher you will be on that spectrum. Remember though, you may just work something like an 8-hour week depending on the season. If you have a speciality or have written a book on a topic, you might be able to command much more money. On the highest end is usually $250 an hour, though some might go higher.

A great way to advertise your tour guide business is to use a Times Square billboard. You might think it’s too expensive to advertise on a Times Square billboard, but Welcome to Times Square makes it far more affordable than you might think! You can advertise your business on a Times Square billboard for just $250 a day! In addition to the hundreds of thousands of people who will see you on the billboard, you can always make social media content to target and amplify your message even further.