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International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

Tourist guides

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Full-Text Articles in Tourism

Travel Agencies And Tourist Guides Adapting To Crisis: The Portuguese Case, Ilídia C. G. Carvalho Nov 2022

Travel Agencies And Tourist Guides Adapting To Crisis: The Portuguese Case, Ilídia C. G. Carvalho

International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

Tourism is constantly changing and new paradigms arise. Most recently, travel agencies and tourist guides have been facing difficulties and have had to quickly adapt themselves to be able to keep a position in the tourism market. COVID-19 brought major changes to travel and experience in destinations and it certainly increased the use of technology, which has totally changed communication systems and relationships in tourism. For this paper, interviews with Portuguese travel agents and tourist guides were carried out and were later analysed allowing the author to gain insights into the current situation regarding these two stakeholders, which were previously …


Portuguese Tourist Guides And The Digital Age, Ilidia Carvalho Feb 2021

Portuguese Tourist Guides And The Digital Age, Ilidia Carvalho

International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

The experts of tourist information, namely, the tourist guides, are a highly qualified professional class and in continuous training. Many of these professionals seem to have certain limitations in terms of using new technologies, since many of those, working today, were not born in the digital age. They have been obliged to accept these technologies and sometimes tend to look at these new ways of communicating in a sceptical way, mainly because they do not properly know how to use them. These professionals are constantly facing the need to learn how to use these new tools, which have become essential …


The Consequences Of Guiding Profession Deregulation For The Status And Training Of Tourist Guides: A Portuguese Overview, Luis Miguel Brito May 2020

The Consequences Of Guiding Profession Deregulation For The Status And Training Of Tourist Guides: A Portuguese Overview, Luis Miguel Brito

International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

In the present neoliberal market economy, the so-called free tours and their unlicensed tourist guides found the perfect environment to practice their activity, which is often criticised by licensed guides. The overall difference between the two types of guides is related to the fact that licensed guides have a formal specific education and training to do their job, sometimes complemented with continuous professional development, whereas free tours’ guides don’t. Therefore, several questions come to mind: Since unqualified guides are actually working without any training, should there be any formal education for tourist guides? How useful is formal and continuous training …