Submitted by Miles Phillips, Oregon Sea Grant/Oregon State University Extension for the May 2025 NET Newsletter Western Region Spotlight.
In today’s tourism landscape, destinations across the United States are striving to align with the principles of sustainable development—ensuring that tourism generates positive economic, social, and environmental outcomes. The “Triple Bottom Line” framework—economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental stewardship—offers a compelling way to assess the impact of tourism practices and policies. One of the most effective yet underutilized strategies for advancing these goals is the professionalization of guiding services.
Professionally guided experiences not only enrich the visitor journey but also serve as a foundation for building resilient, well-managed, and economically viable tourism destinations. Equipping guides with the tools to lead responsibly is essential—and now more accessible than ever through the nationally available Guide & Outfitter Recognized Professional (GORP) training program.
The Triple Bottom Line: Professional Guides Make a Difference
Sustainable tourism isn’t just about doing less harm—it’s about creating positive change. Professional guides contribute meaningfully to each component of the Triple Bottom Line:
- Economic Impact: Guided experiences consistently lead to higher visitor spending. For example, in Oregon, guided visitors spend approximately 20% more per trip than non-guided travelers ($1,020 vs. $826), according to Travel Oregon. This increased per-capita spend reduces the strain on resources while boosting local revenues.
- Social Impact: Local guides are deeply connected to the places they work. Their employment supports small tourism businesses, sustains local jobs, and enhances community capacity. As cultural ambassadors, they foster respect and understanding between visitors and host communities.
- Environmental Impact: Professional guides help minimize tourism’s ecological footprint. They guide visitors to appropriate locations, educate them about conservation, and promote stewardship. In environmentally sensitive areas like Hawaiʻi, guides are crucial to reinforcing values such as mālama (to care for the land).
Despite these benefits, guided experiences are often overlooked in destination development and marketing. Untrained seasonal workers are frequently used in place of trained professionals, resulting in inconsistent quality and missed opportunities to elevate sustainable tourism.
GORP: A Scalable Solution for Guide Training and Certification
To fill this training gap, the GORP (Guide & Outfitter Recognized Professional) program was developed as an affordable, flexible, and nationally accessible online certification program for professional guides and outfitters. Designed to be scalable and adaptable, GORP is an excellent resource for Extension agents, tourism educators, and local tourism stakeholders to promote within their communities.
Key Features of GORP:
- Nationwide Access: The program is available across the U.S. and can be used in any state or region.
- Online & Blended Learning: GORP’s online modules can be completed independently, or combined with in-person local workshops facilitated by trained local instructors, making it easy to customize the learning experience to meet local needs.
- Modular Content: GORP consists of four short online modules (2–4 hours each) covering GLOBAL, U.S., STATE, and LOCAL topics. This structure ensures participants gain both broad and specific destination knowledge.
- Multilingual Options: A Spanish-language version of the GLOBAL module is available to expand access.
- Customizable for States and Regions: States like Hawaiʻi, Oregon, Wisconsin, and South Carolina have already implemented full GORP certification with local and state-specific content, and new regions can easily create tailored add-ons.
GORP has already trained hundreds of guides, many of whom report the training is concise, relevant, and impactful. One guide shared, “I would recommend the GORP Program because it is not time-consuming but highlights a lot of valuable information.”
Additionally, GORP offers a free 25-minute Practical Customer Service training, perfect for onboarding new or seasonal staff to ensure all visitor-facing employees have the tools to succeed.
Why Extension Agents and DMOs Should Promote GORP
For Extension professionals and tourism stakeholders, GORP offers a powerful way to support sustainable tourism development at the local level. Here’s how it can be leveraged:
- Workforce Development: Use GORP to equip aspiring and existing guides with standardized training, enhancing the quality of local tourism experiences.
- Community Capacity Building: Offer live GORP workshops in your area to complement the online training and strengthen local engagement.
- Partnerships & Marketing: Promote GORP-certified guides as part of your region’s sustainable tourism brand, working with tour operators, hotels, and visitor centers to build integrated visitor experiences.
- Policy Integration: Encourage local governments and land managers to recognize or require certification for guiding on public lands and waters.
- Data & Evaluation: Track the impact of guided experiences on visitor satisfaction, spending, and sustainability outcomes.
Conclusion
Professional guides are not just tour leaders—they are interpreters of place, stewards of the environment, and vital connectors between visitors and communities. Their role is indispensable in ensuring that tourism enhances rather than erodes local values.
The GORP program provides an accessible, high-quality pathway for training and certifying guides across the country. Whether used independently or in combination with locally led workshops, GORP is a valuable tool for building the future of sustainable tourism.
Let’s equip and elevate the people who guide our visitors—together, we can build stronger, more sustainable, and more vibrant tourism destinations.
For more information or to bring GORP to your community, visit http://gorpguide.org.