Through lockdown, Western Cape tourist guide, George Meyer, found a way to continue his passion for guiding by creating virtual tours on YouTube.

Just over five years ago, Meyer went through a massive career change when he left corporate banking and found his passion for guiding. “I had friends who were in the guiding industry and I always used to gravitate toward them at braais because they had the most interesting stories,” he said.

Meyer put himself through guide school and guided his first trip in Cape Town in December 2014. It was a few hours into this first trip when a guest from America told him, “I can see you’ve been doing this for years,” confirming to Meyer that he was in the right career.

At the end of that first tour, he confessed to his guests that they had been his first group and thought they would be horrified. After leaving his guests on the last day, Meyer reached into his pockets and found bundles of cash – his guests had left an overjoyed Meyer with around R5 000 (€260) in gratuities. “I hadn’t earned a salary in months, I couldn’t believe it.”

With nothing to do during South Africa’s lockdown, Meyer took to the Internet and started his YouTube channel. Finding it impossible to sit down and do nothing, he learned to edit and create his videos on his mobile phone. “That’s the part that most people can’t believe.”

Having no previous editing experience, he is completely self-taught and gets better with every episode of his virtual tours. “I absolutely love this; I could definitely see myself doing this in the future,” he said, explaining that creating the videos had become a real hobby.

As well as having fun working on his YouTube channel, he is also looking at ways to monetise his content. “At the moment I’m doing everything gratis, featuring a certain accommodation as a favour.” As his channel grows, he would like to charge an advertising fee and make an income from it. “The past three months with no income have been tough, and I’d like to find a way around it.”

Meyer has garnered support for the channel from his clients around the world – even one from San Francisco who was on his first tour in Cape Town. With this support, he has been able to link his channel to a crowd-funding campaign through which he is able to provide his own family with food and help other families in his community.

He is looking forward to touring again – and maybe producing video content on the road. “It really doesn’t feel like a job; that’s how much I love it,” he said. “The places I get to visit are places I used to think I could only dream of.”

Click on the link below to see Meyer’s most recent YouTube video, a tour through the Overberg region in the Western Cape.