Abstract
Problems of Professional Tourist Guides in International Tours
Tourist guides, known as the ambassadors of tourism and one of the important actors of the tourism sector, have a key role in promoting the country and ensuring the satisfaction of tourists. However, tourist guides may face with many problems in different ways in their tours. It is important to determine the problems experienced by tourist guides in terms of tourist satisfaction and country image. Therefore, it is aimed to reveal the problems experienced by professional tourist guides in foreign tours. In this research, phenomenological research type, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The participants of the research consist of 25 tourist guides who have a professional tourist guide certificate and continue to work actively in Turkey. Snowball sampling method, which is one of the non-probabilistic sampling types, was used to determine the participants. The data were obtained on the online platform through a semi-structured interview form. Descriptive and content analysis was applied to the obtained data. As a result of the research, the problems of tourist guides are gathered and seen under 12 themes; accommodation, transportation, restaurant, communication, inconveniences, regional guides, managed tourist groups, affiliated travel agency, museums and ruins, social and family, tour programs and additional problems experienced. The codes created in the research show that the hotel and its staff, the restaurant and its staff where the food and beverage needs are met, the staff in charge of the tour, and the regional guides taken on the tour are quite weak in terms of quality. In addition, it has been observed that the social and family life of the guides working on tours abroad is deeply affected.
Keywords
Professional Tourist Guide, Package Tour, International Tours, Tourism
