Role of Tourist Guides in Destination Recovery Process through Cultural Tourism Product Development in Post COVID-19 Period

Abstract

It is known that people have different cultures that have changed and developed over time, depending on the geography they have lived in since their existence. The concept of cultural tourism has emerged upon the desire of people to know different cultures. Thanks to the developing and changing tourist profiles, cultural tourism has become a tourism area that has a large share in the tourism revenues of the countries. The person who plays the biggest role in the cultural satisfaction of the tourist is the tourist guide. Aslan and Çokal (J Tour Gastron Stud 4(1): 53–69, 2016) define tourist guides as ambassadors who provide interaction between values and visitors in the development of cultural tourism, and those who act with a sense of responsibility towards cultural heritage and the country. Many new normals have started to enter our lives during the pandemic process due to the corona virus (Koçak and Harmancı, Karatay J Soc Res 5:183–207, 2020). In this process, cultural tourism activities were also greatly affected. In this period when the pandemic is slowly coming to an end, tourist guides have a great role in attracting them to the relevant destination in order to increase cultural tourism activities. The aim of this study is after the COVID-19 pandemic to determine the role of tourist guides in the destination recovery process through cultural tourism product development. The study is very important in terms of revealing how important tourist guides are for cultural tourism. In addition, it is thought that the study will make significant contributions to the literature.