The Egyptian Tour Guide

By Lamia Ali Moselhy

As-Salamu Alaykum.

My name is Lamia and I’ve been working as a tour guide in Egypt since 2002.

The tour guide profession is quite new in Egypt. Guides started to work effectively during the seventies after the war in 1973. Tourism flourished in Egypt around this time and tour guides became of great value to tour operators, since there were only a few numbers of guides fluent in several languages, specially English, French, German and Italian.

Before tourism became a fully developed industry in Egypt, tours were organized by local residents of the different touristic cities, notably around Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, accompanying archeologists and history lovers visiting Egypt since the 19th century.

This early tour guide was known as Torjoman, literally a translator. They could understand European languages and learn about their ancient ancestors from foreign archaeologists. A present day Torjoman can work as a guard in temples and around the pyramids.

Tour guides in modern Egypt are university graduates of three main faculties: Archeology faculty, Languages faculty or Tourism and Hotels faculty.

Tourism faculty graduates can get their license immediately after graduation. The other graduates have two options: get a diploma of Egyptian history which takes two years, or pass an oral exam in the ministry of tourism. The latter is a difficult option for tour guide aspirants because they must prove competency in eleven subjects, besides language and general knowledge.

Nowadays the number of tour guides have become so high that only guides knowledgeable of rare languages can find good opportunity of work in this field.

From my point of view, the tour guide should enjoy his/her mission as an Egyptian host. The successful tour guide is that who can make the tour group appreciate Egypt and its people, inspire them to speak some works in Arabic, savor authentic Egyptian cuisine and get a fulfilling experience of ancient Egyptian civilization, our natural wonders and our modern way of life.

Enjoy your tour to my country.

You may contact Lamia Ali Moselhy at Discover Egypt

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