Tour guides' interpretation of the Historic Center of Macao as a World Cultural Heritage site

Literature review suggests that little attention is paid to the interpretation of a World Cultural Heritage (WCH) ensemble such as the Historic Center of Macao (HCM). The present study aims to investigate tour guides' interpretation of the HCM and how their interpretation affects tourists' appreciation and understanding of a visited heritage site within the HCM, as well as tourists' interest in other under-used HCM sites. Methodologies include in-depth interviews with tour guides, on-site observations of tour guides and surveys of package group tourists. The findings indicate that tour guides tended to interpret an HCM heritage site as an independent WCH site. In turn, this results in tourists' misunderstanding of Macao's WCH and a lower level of authentic experience at the visited heritage site. It is advocated that the interpretation of any one heritage site of the HCM should connect to the HCM ensemble and other heritage sites within the HCM. The inter-cultural relationship among the heritage sites should be further explored and highlighted in narratives.     

Volunteers as tour guides: a stakeholder–agency theory case study†

The use of volunteer tour guides by commercial tour operators has attracted little scholarly attention. This paper presents a qualitative case study of a commercially organized tour led by volunteer tour guides, and explores how the guides' status as volunteers shaped experiences of tour customers. Analysis, underpinned by stakeholder–agency theory, highlighted a range of service delivery issues that emerged during the tour. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed, with particular reference to how tour operators might negotiate the vexed issue of managing service delivery quality in the context of tour services paid for by customers, yet delivered by volunteers. Further research is required to explore potential differences in the willingness of tour operators to invest in human resource development initiatives for paid versus volunteer tour guides, along with possible flow-on implications for tour guides' role performance and customer satisfaction.     

Tour guiding,organisational culture and learning: lessons from an entrepreneurial company

This paper examines the impacts of organisational culture on the learning and development of tour guides. Drawing on a case study of a small entrepreneurial tour company, the paper considers the nature of the organisation's culture, the tours it provides, including their narrative contents and the processes of organisational learning and socialisation. The paper suggests that the development of a learning culture within such an organisation may benefit from the provision of appropriate learning opportunities among the guides and facilitators who coordinate guide development. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.     

Strategies for antiracist representation: ethnic tourism guides in Chicago

Researchers often frame tour guides in narrow and agency-revoking ways and theorize an ethnic tourism industry in which marginalized racial/ethnic communities are represented as the Other. In this research, I argue that tour guides in Chicago's urban ethnic neighborhoods resist some of the prevailing racialized constructions of their communities by employing strategies of antiracist representation. As ‘representational strategists’, tour guides use ethnic tourism to develop strategies that put forward alternative – even antiracist – representations of marginalized communities. Through a Chicago tourism project, guides construct representations of their communities that (1) invert the relationship of the host community and visitors by constructing the tourists as the Other; (2) articulate a social history of oppression and resistance; (3) expose the community's social problems such as gentrification, and identify their structural causes; and (4) connect the shared experiences between communities of color. These representational strategies defy the normalized practices of ethnic tourism, as well as the mechanisms of racism, and can be important tools in resisting ideological constructions that perpetuate inequality. They attest to the ways marginalized groups can use representation as an important tool in struggles to define themselves, resist silencing and invisibilization, and challenge some of the assumptions and practices that reproduce their marginalization.     

Cultural and behavioral differences: tour guides gazing at tourists

The aim of this exploratory study is to describe, examine, and analyze the manner in which tour guides in Israel gaze at the groups of foreign tourists they lead, in light of their close familiarity and cumulative experience with them. How do Israeli tour guides view different types of tourists, tourist behaviors, and tourist worldviews? The concept of ‘gaze’ refers to the manner in which people view the world around them. When a gaze is focused, it may include both visual and nonvisual elements. The study methodology is based on a grounded theory approach and on in-depth interviews with Israeli tour guides regarding their attitudes toward and perceptions and images of the tourists in their groups. The study proposes a model of five complementary gazes that develop over time, which depicts the processes and elements that help shape how hosts understand the tourists with whom they come in contact. Although the model was based on findings generated by interviews with Israeli tour guides, who are professional hosts, it may also be applicable to other kinds of hosts in different contexts.     

Swimming in Cultural Flows: Conceptualising Tour Guides as Intercultural Mediators and Cosmopolitans

Tour guides have traditionally played a key role in linking tour operators, incoming agencies and tourists. More than most other people employed in the travel business, they are constantly involved in reconciling native and foreign cultures. Ideally they function as intercultural mediators; that is, as pathfinders and mentors who reveal unfamiliar destinations to their guests in a culturally sensitive manner. Caught up in a cultural flow in both their professional and personal lives, they move back and forth between divergent cultures and develop a distinctly cosmopolitan lifestyle. This article examines various aspects of the profession and cites several tour operators and tourists regarding the role of tour guides as intercultural mediators.     

SOCO's impact on service outcomes of tour guides: the moderating effect of customers’ shopping orientation

This research examines the effects of both sales-oriented and customer-oriented service strategies of tour guides on service outcomes: rapport, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and willingness to tip. This research also investigates how customers’ shopping orientation moderates the above relationships. A convenience sampling was conducted and 370 valid questionnaires were obtained. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings are as follows: (1) customer-oriented strategy of tour guides has a significantly positive impact on the service outcomes; (2) selling-oriented strategy of tour guides has a significantly negative impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty; and (3) shopping orientation of tour members moderates the relationships between selling orientation and service outcomes. Thus, if tour guides can provide service for customers in a suitable way, they will then improve the customers’ perception of services. These findings provide practical information for travel agencies and tour guides.     

Tour guides under zero-fare mode: evidence from China

The zero-fare tour is a common phenomenon in China that receives a great deal of attention from the popular press but little attention in the tourism literature. This qualitative study illuminates the previously unheard voice of the zero-fare group tour guides, examining their work attitudes and relationships with tourists, tour operators, and tourism administrators. A two-phase pre- and post-interview approach is used to examine the impacts of the 2013 tourism law on the tour guides. Findings indicate that tour guides struggle with conflicting feelings towards the zero-fare tour and their place within it. For instance, the informants describe themselves as scapegoats of the zero-fare tour mode, yet they also enjoy the freedom and opportunity it presents. The study concludes with a call for more thoughtful consideration of the policy and governance of the zero-fare tour.     

Manifest destiny meets inclusion: Texas nationalism at the Alamo

In San Antonio, Texas, the Alamo is an annual destination for 2.5 million visitors. From the early 1900s, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) controlled the Alamo, with their nationalist, Anglo-centric version of the past. They allegedly ignored its previous history, erasing the Tejanos (Texas Latinos) who supported the 1836 Texas Revolution. Texas lawmakers recently voted to restrict DRT's control of the site. For tour guides, what is the Alamo's meaning? What happens as that meaning becomes more inclusive? This study documents Alamo guides' interaction with tourists, through the use of participant observation and interviews. At the Alamo, narratives now embrace Tejano heroism alongside Anglo heroism, and there is substantial inclusion of the Spanish language. Tour guides integrate political context and evidence-based history, alongside – and often in conflict with – the myth-making of the DRT. These are distinct and important adjustments, yet slavery and Alamo tourism's antagonistic past are not fully confronted. Guides wonder whether their story is simply harder to promote in the face of cultural pressures. When contested sites become more inclusive, there are unforeseen obstacles and consequences.     

Factors affecting the service quality of the tour guiding profession in Macau

This study examines the factors affecting the service quality of the tour guiding profession in Macau. In‐depth interviews were conducted with representatives from the Macau Tourist Guide Association, the Macau Government Tourist Office and selected practising tour guides to explore the issues from multiple insiders' perspectives. The factors identified were classified into six categories: unhealthy business practices, market domination, immaturity of tourist market, changing tourist behaviour, intense competition between inbound tour operators and human resource issues. The findings suggest that a number of these problems actually originated from the unhealthy business practices of the tourist‐generating country, namely mainland China in this study. Considering the growing importance of the Chinese outbound tourism market, the study findings will be of significant value to Macau and to other destinations targeting the Chinese market. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Including the Outsiders: The Contribution of Guides to Integrated Heritage Tourism Management in Cusco,Southern Peru

Over the last decade many archaeological sites in Peru have become important tourist attractions. However, despite the growth in tourism, visitor management and interpretation at the sites are limited and, at times, non-existent. The mainstay of interpretative supply in Peru is the tour guide, and three types of guide were identified in this research: those with university degrees, others with vocational training, and untrained 'local guides' from the local indigenous population living near the archaeological sites. All three types of guide were present at the Cusco region case study sites of Raqchi and Ollantaytambo. Recommendations focus on ways that local guides could be brought into the tourist system to enable their participation, both economic and social, in the tourism developing on their doorstep.     

Rhetorical aspects of tour guiding: the Polish case

ABSTRACT

Tour guides are a significant group of stakeholders in the tourism industry. They are responsible for the quality of communication during excursions and ultimately determine the level of satisfaction of tour participants. Therefore, they use a particular language and ways of influencing tourists. This paper investigates whether the particular language of guides contains persuasive means that are crucial for building an effective interpersonal communication. The authors focused on the question of how guides try to create positive relationships with guided groups. They conducted an examination on a group of Wroc?aw city guides during guided walking city tours. In order to complete the research project, qualitative non-participant observation and rhetorical analysis of audio-visual recordings of the guided tours were carried out. This study enabled the key areas of city guides’ communication influence to be specified, and it highlighted deficiencies in their use of some persuasive means. The results may serve as guidelines for improving the communication skills of tourism practitioners.     

Latin American Ecotourism: What is it?

Defining – and agreeing upon a definition of – the word 'ecotourism' poses a challenge. This is especially true in Latin America where the buzzword remains a vague term used t o market anything related to nature or environmental tourism. 'Proyectos ecoturisticos' sell everything from community development projects to jet skis. There are pros and cons in using any specific viewpoint – if we insist on high environmental standards and minimal impacts, the costs skyrocket. This places the services and destinations into a 'luxury class' tourism – sometimes without the amenities to which those who pay high-end prices are accustomed. These five-star operations often run into conflict with more humble, grassroots operations. At risk are rural and/or indigenous guides who do not have the financial resources to take part in established guide training programmes – not offered in the field, but usually in the capital city. Good intentions lie behind guide training and accreditation, but if governments or agencies do not empower rural guides and tourism operations, the absence of 'local participation' betrays one of the main components of ecotourism.     

Human resource development in remote island communities: an evaluation of tour‐guide training in Vanuatu

About 30% of visitors to Vanuatu visit the outer islands, where ecotourism has recently emerged as a small‐scale but significant activity. In the face of increasing competition from comparable Asia–Pacific destinations, there has been pressure on tourism operators and the Vanuatu Government to improve product quality through mechanisms such as the development of high‐quality tours. One way to enhance product quality is through the provision of appropriate professional training for tourism sector employees, including local tour guides. The paper outlines a tour‐guide training programme delivered on the outer islands, which received financial assistance from several foreign aid agencies. The programme is an instructive example of an attempt to implement a human resource strategy in a developing country arising from the recommendations of a national tourism masterplan that sought the active involvement of international funding agencies in the implementation phase. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of the training programme and outlines the challenges of programme delivery. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Should I stay or should I go? Negotiating township tours in post-apartheid South Africa

This article focuses on township tours outside Cape Town and Johannesburg during the past decade. By examining the subjectivities of guides and tourists, as well as public discourses about townships, I argue that township tours are ethically problematic and ambiguous, but do not go uncontested. Questions about voyeurism and development are negotiated during the tours in a number of ways. First, the morality of witnessing townships – not through the modality of vision, but through participating in contact zones – is asserted. Second, public discourses that valourize the creativity of the poor, and which harness history as a force for reconciliation and development, inform the tours. Third, tour guides attempt to reform charity and to highlight ethical consumption. An ethnographic and discursive analysis leads me to conclude that township tours are part of a larger post-apartheid project of re-imagining and remaking marginalized urban spaces.     

The formation of the tourist's loyalty to the tourism distribution channel: how does it affect price discounts?

Given that distribution agents who wish to maximize long‐term business profits should not only attract new consumers but also keep them loyal, this study analyses the variables that determine the consumer's loyalty to distribution agents for tourism. Although retailers in the service industry employ price discounts on products to motivate short‐term sales, they often establish promotional policies without considering their effect on the long‐term business results. This paper presents an empirical study of the effect of price promotions on tourists who travelled with a package tour. The results indicate that price discounts do not erode consumer loyalty directly, and that the key to obtaining loyal consumers is to offer package tours that customers perceive as providing high‐quality service. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experiential and involvement effects on the Korean wine tourist's decision-making process

This study's core purpose is to understand the behavioural intention (BI) of wine tourists using the Extended Model of Goal-directed Behaviour (EMGB). Specifically, the Model of Goal-directed Behaviour (MGB), an advanced version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), is extended to EMGB by incorporating experience and involvement towards wine tourism to better understand wine tourists' intention to participate in a tour. The sample was 211 Korean wine tourists. Results revealed that two constructs related to wine tourism, namely, experience of a wine tour and wine tourism involvement, formed positive and significant relationships with attitude towards participating in such a tour. Attitude, subjective norm, and positive anticipated emotion influenced tourists' desire to participate in a wine tour, which, in turn, influenced their BI. Contrary to expectations, the frequency of past behaviour does not have a significant effect on desire and BI, and perceived behavioural control has no significant effects on BI.     

Managing the wildlife tourism experience: The importance of tour leaders

This paper is based on a small ethnographic study of serious wildlife tourists. It focuses on three important aspects of this type of travel. First, the tangible benefits of the tourist experience; second, the importance of the tour leader as the interface between the product and the tourist; and finally, tourist perceptions of their potential environmental and social impacts. The findings reveal participants' environmental sensibilities and the desire to avoid disturbance, the social benefits of organised tours and how the tour leader is critical to both the success of the holiday and the responsible behaviour of the group. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Tour me onshore’: understanding cruise tourists’ evaluation of shore excursions through text mining

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the elements underlying cruise tourists’ evaluation of shore excursions, approaching them as an interaction of expressive and instrumental components.

To fulfil the aim of the investigation, a thematic content analysis of 1296 online reviews was conducted using the text-mining software Leximancer. The results of the study revealed that cruise visitors with different overall satisfaction with their guided tour focus the narrative of their opinion on different tour attributes. Thus, the dominant themes of the cruise passengers delighted with their tour included the performance of the tour guide, the arrangement of the tour, as well as the cruise destination sightseeing. On the other hand, instrumental components such as crowded bus tours, limited time at the port of call, and inadequate excursion design appeared to be the main aspects appointed by those unsatisfied with their onshore experience. Furthermore, the study assessed and compared the perceptions of the tour experience across cruise passengers from the contemporary, premium and luxury cruise line segments.     

Consolidation in a wildlife tourism industry: the changing impact of whale shark tourist expenditure in the Ningaloo coast region

In this paper, we examine the expenditure of whale shark tour participants at Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia; the location of the world's first whale shark tourism industry, established in 1989. We demonstrate that in 2006, participants' expenditure in the region was $894 per trip, total expenditure was $6.0 million (all figures are in Australian dollars), and between $2.4 and $4.6 million would have been lost to the region if whale shark tourism did not exist. Our measure of participants' expenditure is substantially lower than the calculation of $2370 per participant from a previous study of whale shark tourists using data collected in 1995. We argue that this is consistent with a change in the types of wildlife tourists that participate in an activity as the industry reaches the point of consolidation. Our results also suggest that using old data to forecast wildlife tourists' expenditure needs to take into account the industry's stage of development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.