Sjannie and Barnaby met during a tour leader training in San Francisco. And they soon wondered: “How can we share our training and experience with tour leaders worldwide?”
Distance, cost and visa issues prohibit many fabulous tour leaders from training abroad. So they developed a training programme to bring sustainable local employment directly to you. To off-the-beaten-track and emerging destinations.
EastguidesWest was born. Below are our expert team of trainers and consultants.
Co-Founder & Owner EastguidesWest
Lead tour guide trainer at EastguidesWest. ITMI-certified in tourism, Sjannie holds an Executive MBA of Rotterdam School of Management, a Master in European Tourism Management and a Bachelor in Tourism and Economics. She speaks fluent Dutch, Spanish, German, English, and has conversational French.
Co-Founder & Owner EastguidesWest
Lead tour guide trainer at EastguidesWest. Barnaby holds a Professional Award in Training the Trainer from the Institute of Leadership and Management. ITMI-certified in tourism. He’s also a Bill Gove Professional Speaking graduate and multi-award winning speaker.
Tauck
ITMI Certified in tourism, Gina Pillsbury has been a tour leader for 18 years, travelling all over the world. She’s an expert in event coordination. She also served as a member of the board for non profit safari organisation, Dazzle Africa.
The Simon Connection
Lisa Simon is president and owner of The Simon Connection, LLC, specialising in strategic planning, coaching and tourism market development. She is also the Executive Director of the International Inbound Travel Association (IITA), and has served as president of NTA (National Tour Association).
Tauck
A born and bred South African, Zach has made his career working in safari tourism throughout Africa. He uses his knowledge and experience of the group travel industry to operate tours for Tauck, and to create tailor-made tours for small groups.
Chris is the Founder and Director of Care Highway International, a non-profit humanitarian organization. He has worked in tourism for 25 years, covering more than 30 countries, and he has trained hundreds of tour managers. Recently he was awarded a BCE – British Citizen Award – for amazing service to his country.
