The professional relationship between tour guides and tour operators

Cetin G., Yarcan S.

SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM, cilt.17, sa.4, ss.345-357, 2017 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 17 Sayı: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2017
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/15022250.2017.1330844
  • Dergi Adı: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.345-357
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Tour guides, guiding roles, tour operators, travel industry, tourism industry, SATISFACTION, PERFORMANCE
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Tour operators and tour guides are major stakeholders during production and operation of organized package tours. However, the relationship between them received little attention in tourism literature. This study intends to identify the dimensions of the relationship between the two parties and importance attained to different guiding roles both by tour operators and guides. It also explores the attitude gaps between tour operators and guides on various guiding attributes. The analyzed data were collected from 110 professional tour guides and 56 inbound tour operators. Numerous differences in perceptions were identified regarding importance attained to foreign language skills, group cohesion, holiday experience creation, entertainment, representation skills, contract compliance, image creation, itinerary compliance and identification with tour operators.