A tour guide (or tourist guide) provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest.^[1] They (normally) have a recognized national or regional tourist guide qualification.

The CEN (European Committee for Standardization) definition for "tourist guide" (part of the work by CEN on definitions for terminology within the tourism industry) is:

Tourist guide = person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural andnatural heritage of an area, which person normally possesses an area-specific qualification usually issued and/or recognized by the appropriate authority, March 2010

CEN also produced a definition for "tour manager":