Assessing the performance of Taiwanese tour guides

Abstract

This study combines analytic network process (ANP) with technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to assess the performance of Taiwanese tour guides. Interviews of practitioners and reviewing of studies are used to collect assessment criteria. Questionnaires based on 9 point Likert scale are sent to 48 senior tour guides to obtain their opinions about the importance of criteria. After discussions with 3 experts, the top 12 criteria, Communication, Interpretation, Emergency, Polite, Friendliness, Neat, Atmosphere, Help, Money, Caution, Conscientiousness and Honest are sorted into 3 perspectives: Ability, Customer and Firm, to structure the hierarchy for assessing the performance of Taiwanese tour guides. Considering the interdependence among criteria, ANP is used to obtain their weights, while TOPSIS is used to rank the tour guides. By integrating ANP and TOPSIS, this study can make better assessments of the performance of Taiwanese tour guides. Moreover, to illustrate how ANP and TOPSIS may be applied to real-world performance assessment, a case study of assessment is conducted. Key words: Analytic network process, technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution, tour guide.