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.

Click here to download and print the current NFTGA brochure which includes the roster and member association contact information shown below.

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.

Official Association Name	Acronym	Metro Area
Austin Tour Guide Assn. Anne Dilworth E-mail: actionanne@hotmail.com Phone: (512) 241-1984	ATGA	Austin, TX
Chicago Tour-Guide Professionals Assn. Donna Primas, President E-mail: primascopy@aol.com Phone: (630) 717-9004 Website: www.tourguidesofchicago.com	CTPA	Chicago, IL
Dallas/Fort Worth Area Tour Guide Assn. Helen Fratena, President E-mail: dfwtourguides@yahoo.com Phone: (214) 571-1088 Website: www.dfwtourguides.com	DFWATGA	Dallas & Fort Worth, TX
Greater Boston Tour Guide Assn. Cheryl Tobey, Board Member E-mail: cdt@worldnet.att.net Phone: (617) 846-5965	GBTGA	Boston, MA
Guides Assn. of New York City Tony DiSante, President E-mail: info@GANYC.org Phone: (212) 969-0666 Alternate Website: www.GANYC.org	GANYC	New York, NY
Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, DC Ellen Gold, President E-mail: dcguild@washingtondctourguides.com Website: www.washingtondctourguides.com	The Guild	Washington, DC
Las Vegas Tourist Guides Guild Art Chesmore, President E-Mail: achesmore@yahoo.com Phone: (702) 647-0497 Website: www.lvtgg.com	LVTGG	Las Vegas, NV
Professional Tour Guide Assn. of Florida Kevin Doran, Board Member E-mail: twofoottours@bellsouth.net Phone: (305) 868-8433 Website: www.ptgaf.com	PGTAF	Florida
Professional Tour Guide Assn. of Houston Esther Vargas Porter, President E-mail: evphoutx@aol.com President: (713) 562-3892 Website: www.ptgah.org	PTGAH	Houston, TX
Professional Tour Guide Assn. of Metropolitan St. Louis Dan A Rothwell, President	PTGASTL	St. Louis, MO
Professional Tour Guide Assn. of San Antonio Patrick Absher, President E-mail: pabsher@att.net Phone: (210) 680-0940	PTGASA	San Antonio, TX
San Diego Professional Tour Guide Assn. Harry Bair, President E-mail: sandiegotourguides@yahoo.com Phone: (619) 685-5159 Website: sdptga.com	SDPTGA	San Diego, CA
Tour Guide Assn. of Greater New Orleans, Inc. Madeline Axtman, President E-mail: Madeline_NewOrleanslady@yahoo.com Phone: (504) 835-4456 Website: www.neworleanstourguides.net	TGAGNOI	New Orleans, LA
Utah Tour Guide Assn. Mary Ellen Elggren, President E-mail: meelggren@comcast.net Phone: (435) 425-3950	UTGA	Salt Lake City, UT

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 in October 2007.