Will AI replace Tour Guides and Escorts?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
37/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 58% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 2% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 40% of the work
What the job involves
Escort individuals or groups on sightseeing tours or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, and art galleries.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(1)
- Perform clerical duties, such as filing, typing, operating switchboards, or routing mail and messages.
Within reach(5)
- Describe tour points of interest to group members, and respond to questions.
- Provide directions and other pertinent information to visitors.
- Research various topics, including site history, environmental conditions, and clients' skills and abilities to plan appropriate expeditions, instruction, and commentary.
- Conduct educational activities for school children.
- Provide information about wildlife varieties and habitats, as well as any relevant regulations, such as those pertaining to hunting and fishing.
Out of reach(13)
- Escort individuals or groups on cruises, sightseeing tours, or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, or art galleries.
- Monitor visitors' activities to ensure compliance with establishment or tour regulations and safety practices.
- Select travel routes and sites to be visited based on knowledge of specific areas.
- Provide for physical safety of groups, performing such activities as providing first aid or directing emergency evacuations.
- Greet and register visitors, and issue any required identification badges or safety devices.
and 8 more
Also called
Guide · Establishment Guide · Page · Plant Guide · Sightseeing Guide · Tour Conductor · Tour Escort · Historical Interpreter
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics