Membership

Benefits of Membership

National networking and job referrals Access to Tour Guide Liability Insurance Discounted fees to attend NFTGA tour guide conferences featuring speakers, workshops, lectures and panel discussions as well as opportunities for an informal exchange of information Representation for tourism-related legislative affairs at the National level Access to Membership in the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) Receive the NFTGA-USA Newsletter that includes articles of national importance and information about what is happening around the U.S. in its member associations

Member Associations

To be a full voting member of the NFTGA-USA, you must be an association of tourist guides. Each member association has a lengthy official name, so most use an acronym.

The names of the current NFTGA-USA member associations, their acronyms and provided contact information can be found below. For your convenience, the associations have been listed alphabetically.

The latest NFTGA brochure is currently under construction.  Please check back periodically for the latest brochure.

Please note: If the member association itself does not have a telephone number or e-mail address specifically for their organization, the name and contact information for the President or another officer of that organization has been provided.

The guide associations in the U.S. were founded independently in diverse metropolitan geographic areas. The first to be established were the Licensed Battlefield Guides of Gettysburg in 1916. The next organization founded was the Guides Association of New York City in 1974. Many others got their start in the 1980’s and 1990’s, although one or two were just formed in the past few years.

The number of members in each association, the types of membership, annual dues fees, and the organizational structure vary quite a bit from member association to member association. The smallest organization has only about a dozen members and the largest counts nearly 500 members in diverse member categories. Please use the website links below to find out more about the NFTGA member associations.

In some areas of the United States, guides are required to be licensed. The areas that require guide licensing are: Charleston, Gettysburg, Miami ( Dade County ), New Orleans, New York, Savannah, Washington D.C, and Williamsburg. Philadelphia is considering requiring that all tour guides be licensed.

In other parts of the country, the local guide organization has established a certification test to measure the breadth and quality of knowledge of their guides. When certification testing is offered, participation is voluntary. Guide certification testing is being developed or offered in Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Florida, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C.

Metro Area	Official Association Name	Acronym
Austin, TX	Austin Tour Guide Assn. Howie Richie, President E-mail: zow@io.com Phone: (512) 383-8989 Website: www.austintourguides.org	ATGA
Boston, MA	Greater Boston Tour Guide Assn. Cheryl Tobie, President E-mail: cdt@att.net Phone: (617) 846-5965	GBTGA
Chicago, IL	Chicago Tour-Guide Professionals Assn. Donna Primas, President E-mail: primascopy@aol.com Phone: (630) 717-9004 Website: www.tourguidesofchicago.com	CTPA
Dallas & Fort Worth, TX	Dallas/Fort Worth Area Tour Guide Assn. Wally Williamson, President E-mail: wallywmson@att.net E-mail: dfwtourguides@yahoo.com Phone: (214) 571-1088 Website: www.dfwtourguides.com	DFWATGA
Denver, CO	Rocky Mountain Guides Assn. Barbara Foos, President E-mail: LBFOOS@comcast.net Phone: (303) 979-7594 Website: www.rockymountaintourguides.com	RMGA
Florida	Professional Tour Guide Assn. of Florida Kevin Doran, President E-mail: twofoottours@bellsouth.net Phone: (305) 868-8433 Website: www.ptgaf.com	PGTAF
Houston, TX	Professional Tour Guide Assn. of Houston Denise Hodges, President E-mail: ski4fun@flash.net President: (281) 772-9526 Website: www.ptgah.org	PTGAH
Las Vegas, NV	Las Vegas Tourist Guides Guild Art Chesmore, President E-Mail: chesmore_art@yahoo.com Phone: (702) 647-0497 Website: www.lvtgg.com	LVTGG
New Orleans, LA	Tour Guide Assn. of Greater New Orleans, Inc. Gene Reyes, President E-mail: gene_reyes@bellsouth.net Phone: (504) 443-6640 Website: www.neworleanstourguides.net	TGAGNOI
New York, NY	Guides Assn. of New York City Tony DiSante, President E-mail: info@GANYC.org Phone: (212) 969-0666 Alternate Website: www.GANYC.org	GANYC
Philadelphia , PA	Assn. of Philadelphia Tourguides Edward Mauger, President E-mail: philaonfoot@cs.com Phone: (215) 925-7866 Website: www.phillyguides.org	APT
St. Louis, MO	Professional Tour Guide Assn. of Metropolitan St. Louis Dea Hoover, President E-mail: stltourgirl@mac.com Phone: (314) 304-3508	PTGASTL
San Antonio, TX	Professional Tour Guide Assn. of San Antonio Katie Otten, President E-mail: katieotten9@hotmail.com Phone: (210) 633-2036 Website: www.sanantoniotourguide.com	PTGASA
San Diego, CA	San Diego Professional Tour Guide Assn. Joyce Bell, President E-mail: sdtourguides@yahoo.com Phone: (619) 685-5159 Website: sdptga.com	SDPTGA
San Francisco, CA	San Francisco Tour Guide Guild Michele McCurry, President E-mail: mush72576@aol.com Phone: (405) 753-8600 Website: www.sftgg.org	SFTGG
Salt Lake City, UT	Utah Tour Guide Assn. Tony Burdett, President E-mail: burdettassoc@msn.com Website: www.utahtourguides.org	UTGA
Washington, DC	Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, DC Shirley Timashey, President E-mail: dcguide@cox.net Website: www.washingtondctourguides.com	The Guild

Affiliate Members
Any "for-profit" and "non-profit" tourism-related organization and/or business that wishes to maintain contact and be affiliated with the NFTGA-USA, may apply for Affiliate Membership.

Our current Affiliate Members are listed below:

International Assn. of Tour Managers, Ltd. (IATM) North American Region Scott McGraw, Chairman- IATM North America E-mail: chairman@tourmanager.org Jo Curran, Secretary/Treasurer E-mail: secretary@tourmanager.org Phone: (206) 725-7108 (Pacific Time Zone) Website: www.tourmanager.org

NFTGA Friend

Any individual who supports the goals and standards of the NFTGA, who may or may not be a guide OR may or may not have access to a local NFTGA member association in his/her area, may join as a non-voting "Friend."

How to Join the NFTGA
Please click on the above title to jump to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) where you can learn more about joining the NFTGA-USA and download member applications.

Important Information: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contact information presented. However, the member and contact information contained in this section are only updated quarterly. It was last updated March 2009.