New routes to recovery for Britain’s tour guides

Lockdowns saw tour guides lose 99% of their business, but many are now turning to more specialist or virtual tours to survive a second Covid summer

A normal sunny day in June would see the Tower of London as busy as a beehive, with 50 or more of the capital’s Blue Badge guides leading tour groups around the Jewel House and the Bloody Tower. Since it reopened on 19 May, the Tower has seen just a handful of tours, and Britain’s tour guides are facing a bleak time as the pandemic enters its second summer.

The first year of Covid was devastating for the tour guiding industry. Tourism from overseas collapsed, locals went into lockdown, and social distancing rules left guides without a single booking. Now, with the crisis in its second year, many are wondering how long the industry can survive without any tourists to guide.