NEW ORLEANS — They are everywhere, especially in the French Quarter, and they usually seem to know what they are talking about. But many did not start out that way. That is because the process of becoming a licensed tour guide in New Orleans is more complicated and tightly-regulated than many believe.
Tony Bentley, a longtime Fair Grounds racetrack announcer and actor, has been leading volunteer tours for Friends of the Cabildo for about a year. “It’s a long process,” he said, “but there’s a reason for that.”
The City of New Orleans requires tour guides to pass a test on New Orleans culture and history with a 70% to obtain a license.
It is not strictly necessary to take a class beforehand, but if you elect not to, “you're not going to know how to conduct a tour, you're not going to have the basic regulations, you're not going to know how to gather your group,” said Robi Robichaux, Friends of the Cabildo Lead Tour Facilitator and Tour Manager at Gray Line New Orleans.
The FOC offers a 100-hour tour guide course which involves classroom instruction, mentoring, and on-the-ground training. Robichaux added that it emphasizes public speaking skills, so its future graduates will learn “how to be entertaining and tell a story as opposed to just listing facts.”
The class runs from 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for almost a month in the spring. Tony Bentley was one of the many students to complete the course. “It can be grueling because it’s a lot to learn,” he said, “but stick with it because it’s a lot of fun when you eventually get out there and start doing it.”
Tour guide courses are offered at other places around the city as well, including a 40-hour course at Loyola University. Many are geared toward a specific theme, such as food and haunted legends.
Robichaux said even people from New Orleans often still have much to learn. “You'd be surprised at how many people take this class and realize, wait a second, ‘my mama told me this and now you're telling me it's not right,’” he said with a laugh.
Some bypass the test altogether. Robichaux added that since the pandemic began, there has been a growing problem with unlicensed tour guides operating in the French Quarter. “Post-COVID,” he said, “there is very little enforcement of the laws.”
All tour guides are required to wear their licenses around their necks.
If you are interested in taking Friends of the Cabildo’s tour guide course, click here.
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