Mission Statement

Our mission as guides is to provide professional guiding services to individuals, groups and companies that hire us. This means we give entertaining, accurate commentary about our city, our province and our country within a schedule as required by our client. This also means we dress like professionals, pay close attention to safety issues and deal courteously with our clients and our colleagues such as bus drivers and tour managers.

Our mission as an association is to offer Toronto and Niagara tour guides a community to discuss issues relevant to our profession, offer opportunities to improve our knowledge, provide employment opportunities, and lobby for improvements to our professional circumstances.

Membership Profile

We are an association for tour guides based in Toronto, Canada’s largest city. Our members provide tours of professional calibre to locals and visitors to our city and surrounding area. 

Our association believes that we should give every guest the best experience possible, considering particular needs and interests of our clients, and adhering to the recommended health and safety protocols of our industry

Our association provides professional development opportunities for members including tour guide education in partnership with organizations outside our association. We maintain a program of learning and social events for members at attractions within our area.

Our members believe in the importance of accreditation and have introduced a certification program for guides in Toronto. We also support licensing of tour guides in the Niagara area and many of our members have the Niagara Parks Commission tour guide licence. Only licensed guides are permitted to lead tours to Niagara Falls within the territory of the Niagara Parks Commission.

Our members are versatile and among our membership you will find guides who can lead walking tours, "step-on" motorcoach tours, food & drink tours, bicycle tours, private vehicle tours, school tours, gallery and museum tours, and corporate events. Among our members there are 15 different languages spoken so we can accommodate most clients who desire a tour in a language other than English. Our members have a variety of educational, employment and other backgrounds, but all can be considered tourism professionals.

If you are looking for a professional tour guide in Toronto, you'll find one here with the Tourist Guide Association of Toronto!