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The Blue Badge
Specified area: Traditionally a Tourist Board Area
Professional Blue Badge Tourist Guides began to be trained in London after World War II in response to a demand for visitors wanting bomb site tours. Needless to say, the range of what we show people and the kind of work we do has increased somewhat since then!
Undoubtedly, some of the work that guides get asked to do around the country is traditional tourist guiding e.g. city tours by coach, guiding around cathedrals, castles and other heritage sites. There is also firm support for walking tours, not only from visitors but also locals.
Many guides are experts in a field e.g. will specialise in guiding art galleries or work primarily for groups like NADFAS. Some guides are architects and will concentrate on architectural tours. Some are antiques experts and will be engaged by visitors with a similar interest.
Another area where there is a lot of expertise (and enthusiasm) is in sport. Wimbledon Tennis Club uses Blue Badge guides for their award winning tours. The NFL American football fixture played at Wembley in 2007 and used Blue Badge guides to help look after the teams, their supporters and all the media. There are also nearly 100 multi-lingual guides who have taken a course specialising in the Olympic Games in order to be able to show visitors what is happening in London and around the country for the 2012 Games.
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