ABSTRACT
Bali is the province with the most beautiful tourist destinations in Indonesia. Foreign and local tourists always visited Bali. For this reason, Bali needs a lot of professional tour guides. The SMK tourism study program is a secondary level educational institution providing tour guides. The research aims to find the key characters of tour guides for internship SMK students in Bali Province. We researched in 2018 at the best SMK in the city of Denpasar: Qualitative research methods, research techniques, interviews with the headmaster, heads of study programs, internships’ students, SMK’s alumni, and several tour guides. Research results show friendliness is the most important character for tour guides in Bali. They must be friendly to each guest, both to international and local guests, to guests who give big or small tips, to guests who give tips or don’t give tips. The most important work character is to have communication skills, can speak English, master tourist destinations, know culinary centers and souvenirs, and understand Balinese culture. The implication is that professional tour guides must be friendly and have a working character related to tourism skilled in communicating, can speak English, know the culinary and souvenir centers, and understand the culture around tourist destinations.
