Abstract
This study aims to examine the criteria for the selection of tour guides, in order to help travel agencies in Taiwan selecting suitable tour guides with a more objective and consistent approach. A tour guide is the life and soul of an organized tour, as well as an important key for the success of the tour. Following the acquisition of expert opinions by the Delphi method, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to allocate the selection criteria of a tour guide into different levels of hierarchy. The selection criteria include personal attributes, professional knowledge, professional skills and customer service attitude. The results suggested that professional skills are more important than customer service attitude, while professional knowledge is more important than personal attributes. The top three criteria for the selection of a tour guide are “possessing a qualified tour guide license”, “being able to provide explanations clearly and fluently” and “handling matters sensibly and meticulously”, indicating that personal attributes are the priority criteria for the evaluation of a tour guide. The findings can help to shorten the tour guides selection process, as well as assist travel agencies to recruit suitable tour guides in a more objective and consistent manner.
Highlights
The travel and tourism industry has become one of the biggest industries in the world, as well as an important direction for the development of Taiwan’s contemporary economy
Given the scanty studies on the selection of tour guides, this study aims to construct a tour guide selection and evaluation model with reference to factors that travel agencies should consider when they select tour guides
As the Delphi method uses mean scores as the basis for sorting criteria for the selection of tour guides, the mean scores may be affected by extreme value statistics, which may even result in distorted expert opinions (Su, 2012)
Summary
The travel and tourism industry has become one of the biggest industries in the world, as well as an important direction for the development of Taiwan’s contemporary economy. After the Taiwanese government implemented the two-day weekend policy in 2001, domestic tourism has becoming a popular recreational trend. In addition to promote domestic tourism, the Taiwanese government strives to promote inbound tourism. There is a growing demand of tour guides, who are critical to the success of an organized tour. Given the scanty studies on the selection of tour guides, this study aims to construct a tour guide selection and evaluation model with reference to factors that travel agencies should consider when they select tour guides. The findings of this study can provide travel agencies in Taiwan with an objective and consistent standard for the selection of tour guides
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