Guiding is one of the oldest professions of the Western world. The evolution of tour guides and the guiding history was divided by Pond (1993) into four periods. There are plenty of specific references in the annals of history, from the Roman Empire to the Middle Age, throughout the renaissance and into the Modern Age. Tourism saw the first major development during the era of the great empires. (3000 B.C. to A.D.500) During this period travelling is dangerous and time consuming. The ancient Persians, Assyrians and Egyptians pursue to travel through land and water. This activity still increased and so the number of guides, they were called ‘leaders around’ or ‘explainers’ who assisted visitors journeying abroad. The second stage is in the period between the fall of Rome and before the Renaissance. The Middle Age approximately A.D.500 to 1500. By that time, religious pilgrimage is the most prevalent type of journey by the middle and the upper classes. The fall of the Rome resulted to decline of the economy and chaos to the social order. The safety and security of the travellers came to be a concern; therefore the preference of the guides had to serve as a pathfinder, safety escorts and protector. The third phase coved the period of the Renaissance and the Grand Tour approximately A.D.1500 to around 1700. During the renaissance, excursions were taken by the first class youth also called ‘Grand Tourists’ for cultural and educational reasons. These tourists were expected to enrich their knowledge through long journeys while being accompanied by a cicerone. The cicerone, named after Cicero the most esteemed guide in European society. The guide was expected to be well versed in many subjects, articulate and multi-lingual. The cicerones ...
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...95; Goldsmith, Flynn & Bonn, 1994; Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985). Jan Carlzon, a former president of Scandinavian Airlines, termed the exact instant when the customer has a direct contact with any of the front-line employees as the ‘moment of truth’. This idea has had a market influence on the service industry and is now globally accepted. (Pond, 1993). Furthermore, once the tourist arrives at the destination, the tour guide becomes responsible throughout the tour as they are in the continuous contact with the participants.
Being a tour guide is often physically demanding. During a tour, guides must be available at all times to answer questions and sort out problems. Manual work such as loading and unloading baggage or other equipment may be required. (www.aitt.asn.au)
Works Cited
Principles and ethics of Tour Guiding by Zenaida B. Cruz, Ph.D., p. 16 - 19
Most of what the tour guides do is entertainment, which requires them to use commodified personas. Commodified personas can be defined as changing your character into what may be perceived by others. In the article, she talks about a storyteller who is a native of Sitka who works as a tour guide. He tells a story but due to having to please the tourist he has added things in and changed the way the story is told. According to the reading “ the tourism worker expresses free choice over the way he constructs a commodified persona, but these choices affect the market value of the self as a commodity.
As the tours got longer and longer, questions were raised, mostly by the girls themselves, about the value of touring, co...
Walker Percy supports this ideology in his essay “Loss of The Creature” by consistently referencing his concept of “sovereignty.” Percy uses numerous examples of sightseers missing out on experiences by hiring a guide or going on a tour to emphasize the importance of taking hold of experiences for yourself. The tourists' experiences were diminished because they surrendered what sovereignty they had over the situation to someone else. You can’t be a “tourist” in college; you have to be proactive and make the most of it for yourself.
When an experience “fosters a sense of social connection…makes a memorable story…for years to come…links to your sense of who you are or want to be…[and] provides a unique opportunity, eluding easy comparison,” (Dunn and Norton, 2013, p. 20), it creates a memory that is cherished far more than a material good. The generation of a lasting impression offers a happiness that increases with time. Businesses, such as restaurants and tourism industries, apply this concept by advertising the experience their company delivers. For example, a restaurant must create a market to entice people into choosing it over all the other existing food options while for tourism to have success, it must market a once in a lifetime opportunity to give value to experience. People are more willing to forgo the cheap alternative as long as they find that the value, both monetary and happiness, overshadows the increased expense.
Beard, C., Swarbrooke, J., Leckie, S., & Pomfret, G. (2003). Adventure Tourism: The New Frontier. Routledge.
Journal of Travel Research, January 2014; vol. 53, 1: pp. 12-25. first published on April 1, 2013
Understanding the local and international visitors' needs involves catering for people from different cultures, backgrounds and upbringing's. For example, they might be from Japan where they are formal and punctual, or they might be from a Muslim upbringing where they fast between sunrise and sunset for the month of Ramadan. Through effective observing, listening and questioning, staff are able to accurately identify the customers needs and expectations. Staff should then ensure that these needs are met and exceed so the customer has an enjoyable time.
Travel Today will express through brochures, pictures and promotional material through the media the quality of the vacation packages offered. The clientele being targeted are individuals looking for an exceptional and exciting one-of-a-kind vacation experience one filled with luxuries and top notch service. Travel Today listens to the traveler in order to custom tailor your travel requirements to fit your needs.
Tourism is affected by the stakeholders with whom the destinations are established or the areas that are attempting to attract tourists. The customer stakeholder needs to seek out destinations and packages that appeal to their desires than accepting predetermined vacation packages. The stakeholder’s in the tourism industry need to work together to avoid miscommunication and enhance packages that appeal to clients requests. All the
In today’s increasingly service driven markets and with the increase of multiple providers for every type of product or service, moments of truth have become an important fact of customer interaction that marketers need to keep in mind. They are critical as they determine a customer’s perception of, and reaction to, a brand. Moments of truth can make or break an organization’s relationship with its customers.
During the past few decades, traveling has greatly increased. Purposes of travel vary, some travel for business, some for leisure,
This essay is the respond to the Local Council Member who has wrong idea about a common archetype of adventure tourist. This misconception based on ignorance of current tourism industry, could potentially be a dangerous for local economy and development. The local authority must be well informed about present conditions with the tourism market, before they will make a far reaching decisions about the development direction in this industry. Currently, there are many organisations whose monitoring an international tourism business and this knowledge supposed to be good use for our common good.
Adventure tourism: tourism involving travel in rugged regions, or adventurous sports such as mountaineering and hiking (tramping).
As such it represents one of the oldest forms of tourism, man having travelled for this purpose of trade since very early times. (Davidson, 1994)
Ecotourism is commonly viewed as an excellent education platform to learn more about taking up initiative and responsibility to conserve the natural environment. It strongly encourages education about cultures and environment which how ideally one should contribute in some ways to preserve that culture and its natural surroundings. Visiting these remote destinations, whether inhabited or uninhabited, are usually under the protection of governments, conservation or scientific organisations, or private business owners (Kimberly, 2016). Ecotourism is usually also known as one of the sustainable forms of tourism. However, if it is poorly planned and implemented, ecotourism could be viewed the same as mass tourism, which brings disturbance to the nature. For example, non-biodegradable litter such as glass, plastic bottles, and batteries that are left by visitors, can cause contamination to natural habitats.