Tour Leaders Research Articles

Emotional labour and job satisfaction of adventure tour leaders: Does gender matter?

This study aims to examine potential gender differences between adventure tour leaders employed in Australia in regards to the emotions they invest into their jobs. More specifically, it examines the impact of two types of emotional labour, surface acting and deep acting, on male and female adventure tour leaders’ job satisfaction. Whilst surface acting refers to faking feelings that are not really felt, or hiding feelings that are inappropriate to display, deep acting is concerned with aligning one's true feelings with the ones required by the job. Data were gathered through a quantitative on-line survey. Whilst the findings showed that deep acting had a statistically significant positive effect on adventure tour leaders’ job satisfaction, there was no statistically significant relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction. In relation to gender, there were no statistically significant differences between males and females in relation to surface acting, deep acting, job satisfaction, or the impact of surface acting and deep acting on job satisfaction. Contrary to research which suggests that women in general are better at managing their emotions and are more emotionally intelligent than men, it seems like male adventure tour leaders may be just as competent in managing their emotions as female adventure tour leaders. This, in turn, has implications for the manner in which adventure recreation providers manage their human resources.

Walking Program Can Improve Your Campus Community

Walking Program Can Improve Your Campus Community

Reevaluation of Taiwanese Tour Leaders' License Practicality and Continuation

A tour leader is recognized as a critical factor in the success of the travel and tourism industry, and in some countries a tour license is required for those who want to conduct an overseas package tour. The government of Taiwan has imposed many restrictions on tour leaders. There has been a long debate on whether a licensed tour leader performs better and whether the current licensing system is practical for quality assurance. Many practitioners and researchers suggest that the current licensing system should be reexamined to better fix the needs of the travel industry. The purpose of this study is to examine the licensing system of tour leaders, subjects of the written examinations, and the training courses. We also investigated the differences in the performance between licensed and unlicensed tour leaders. Semistructured interviews with travel agencies and tour leaders were conducted. Data from a seminar were collected. The results of this study showed that the contents of the examination should be modified with less emphasis on theories. The current training program lacks practical exercise and the current license system does not facilitate tour leaders' performance quality.

Model Strategi Prospektif Kinerja Manajemen di Perusahaan Tour & Travel

This study aimed to build a prospective management model of sustainable tour packages in PT. Golden Rama Express. Given the complexity and the many interrelated factors in the performance management packagetours, it is necessary to approach a holistic system. First, the method used in developing the performance management model is a sustainable package tour and, second, using prospective analysis. Determination of the attributes that reflect the sustainability performance of the tour package is based on field studies. Based on the four dimensions of sustainability, namely the dimensions before the trip, during trip, etc., and the tour leader aredetermined as much as 23 attributes. Attributes in four dimensions for each package tour Junglelicious Africa, Asia Splendid, Adventurous Australia and New Zealand, Europe Romantical and Marvelous the U.S. and Canada. After obtained the level of sustainability index values of each dimension that can be categorized into the not sustainable until very sustainable values of the index, combination of these factors forms the basis of development models.. Based on the scenario that was built and in order to achieve the ideal scenario is the recommended scenario is the optimistic scenario.

Tipping Perceptions: Taiwanese Tour Leaders' Perspectives

This study aims to investigate how tour leaders (TLs) in Taiwan perceive the issue of tipping, and to identify the factors which influence TLs to solicit tips. It also examines the impact of tipping in relation to the job performance of TLs. Data collection involved participant observations and interviews with travel agencies' managerial staff and TLs. This study found that TLs see tips as a significant source of income if they are not well-paid by their employers. This study suggested that selfish economic behavior has a significant impact on tips received. The consequences are mainly caused by travel agencies' operating policies regarding the price competition and low payment of TLs. TLs have a tendency to perceive tips as a service charge rather than a voluntary payment. Slowly, but not unanimously, including tips in the price of the tour might be an alternative for the future practice of travel agencies in Taiwan. It is expected that the results of the study can help travel agencies in Taiwan to draw up an appropriate tipping policy and to extend literature on service performance in the travel industry.

Effects of Emotional Labor on Adventure Tour Leaders' Job Satisfaction

The aim of this study was to examine the potential effects of two types of emotional labor, surface acting and deep acting, on the job satisfaction of adventure tour leaders employed within Australia. While surface acting refers to faking feelings that are not really felt, or hiding feelings that are inappropriate to display, deep acting is concerned with aligning one's true feelings with the ones required by the job. An online survey measuring adventure tour leaders' levels of emotional labor and job satisfaction was made available on the Internet for a period of 2 months. A sample of 137 participants responded to this survey. The results show that while deep acting has a statistically significant positive impact on adventure tour leaders' job satisfaction, there is no statistically significant relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction. These findings are consistent with research suggesting that deep acting could help to convey a sense of authenticity and a feeling of achievement in employees, thus leading to higher levels of job satisfaction. This, in turn, has implications for the way adventure tour operators manage their employees in relation to human resource management areas such as recruitment, selection, training, development, performance appraisal, and retention.

GROUP PACKAGE TOUR LEADER’S INTRINSIC RISKS

This paper explores the intrinsic risks and risk perception of Taiwanese tour leaders in terms of group package tour (GPT). Both qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys are employed in the study. Based on in-depth interviews with 24 GPT leaders, the study identifies the comprehensive risk items. Moreover, 12 risk factors are extracted through questionnaire surveys with 310 GPT leaders. Three clusters regarding to risk sources are also categorized: exogenous risks, tourist-induced risks, and tour leader’s self-induced risks. Furthermore, the study compares risk perception of 12 factors by means of six itineraries. Finally, several academic and managerial implications about the GPT tour risk controls were outlined as well.

Long-term changes in the bird community of Palenque, Chiapas, in response to rainforest loss

With increased human populations and subsequent pressure to develop or farm land, the rate of fragmentation of tropical rainforests has accelerated in the past several decades. How native organisms respond to such fragmentation has been the subject of intense study in temperate ecosystems and at several tropical sites in Central and South America, but there has been little study of this phenomenon in Mexico, the country bridging the Neotropics and temperate North America. A reason for this neglect is an apparent lack of long-term data; however, such data can be obtained from “non-traditional” sources, such as birders and tour leaders. We make innovative use of such data, combining them with more traditional data (e.g., museum specimens) to create a record of occurrence for Palenque, Mexico, from 1900 to 2009, including a near-continuous presence–absence record since 1970. We analyzed these data using logistic regression and, importantly, recent statistical advances expressly for sighting records. As recently as the 1960s Palenque’s forest was contiguous with that of Selva Lacandona to the east, but the protected area surrounding the famous ruins is now a forested island. As a result, various species formerly known from the site have disappeared, including species both large (Crax rubra, Penelope purpurascens, and Ara macao) and small (Notharchus hyperrhynchos, Malacoptila panamensis, Microrhopias quixensis, and Pachyramphus cinnamomeus). By contrast, several species of open areas or second growth have apparently colonized the area (e.g., Thryothorus modestus, Mimus gilvus, Euphonia affinis). Some species turnover has occurred within particular families, such as Columbidae, Trochilidae, and Troglodytidae. Losses and declines we documented at Palenque correspond with those reported from other sites in Mesoamerica, suggesting the soundness of our approach and the general vulnerability of certain species. Compilation and analysis of sighting record data holds great promise for tracking trends in many regions and across many taxa for which long-term census data are lacking.

Managing the wildlife tourism experience: The importance of tour leaders

AbstractThis paper is based on a small ethnographic study of serious wildlife tourists. It focuses on three important aspects of this type of travel. First, the tangible benefits of the tourist experience; second, the importance of the tour leader as the interface between the product and the tourist; and finally, tourist perceptions of their potential environmental and social impacts. The findings reveal participants' environmental sensibilities and the desire to avoid disturbance, the social benefits of organised tours and how the tour leader is critical to both the success of the holiday and the responsible behaviour of the group. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Female tour leaders as advertising endorsers

In the Pan-Asia domain, especially Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and the most effectively emerging power house, China, group package tours (GPTs) have been considered as an indispensable gadget for overseas vacationing tourists. A well-trained senior tour guide is capable of bringing up the GPT by offering an intriguing and entertaining interactive service, and vice versa; the presented research reveals the gender differences in terms of positioning tour leaders as advertising endorsers. Technically, the features and cover letters posed on GPT brochures simply justify the credibility of being a capable and well-organized tour leader; nevertheless, female tour leaders seem to be far more satisfying when it comes to satisfying the needs of consumers. In the meantime, there are 440 samples closely examined through the methodology of ‘post-test-only control group experimental design’, which discloses the ground-breaking mystery of why female tour leaders are more favorable than males. Significantly, the updated developing research is able to provide a cost-effective and target-oriented marketing information for any multinational Tourism Bureaus and travel agencies.

Effects of tour leader's service quality on agency's reputation and customers' word-of-mouth

This article reports the findings of a study on tour leaders' service quality and their impact on a travel agency's reputation and word-of-mouth publicity. A survey was conducted with 431 tourists who joined package tours with a large travel agency in Hong Kong. Four factors with 16 attributes were identified. These factors were `Professional attitude and ability', `Presentation and communication ability', `Professional knowledge' and `Personal integrity'. Positive relationships were found between the tour leader's service quality factors and reputation, tour leader's service factors and word-of-mouth publicity. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are included.

Emotional labor of the tour leaders: An exploratory study

The concept of emotional labor was introduced by Hochschild, A. R. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85(3), 551–575, Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: The commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press and is defined as “the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display.” Some recent studies have discovered the emotional labor of front-line service staff in the tourism context (e.g., Constanti, P., & Gibbs, P. (2005). Emotional labour and surplus value: the case of holiday ‘reps.’ Service Industries Journal, 25(1), 103–116; Guerrier, Y., & Adib, A. (2003). Work at leisure and leisure at work: a study of the emotional labour of tour reps. Human Relations, 56(11), 1399–1417) and have developed an exclusive hospitality emotional labor scale (HELS) for the hospitality industry (Chu, K. H.-L., & Murrmann, S. K. (2006). Development and validation of the hospitality emotional labor scale. Tourism Management, 27(6), 1181–1191). A thorough understanding about emotional labor of the tour leader, however, is still wanting. The purpose of this study is to add to what is known. Qualitative research approach was used to identify significant issues and draw out important managerial implications. Findings concluded that the job of tour leader requires the performance of significant emotional labor. Issues about emotional display rules, emotional labor strategies, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor for the tour leader are discussed. Managerial implications and future research directions are also provided in this study.

Child care in China: lessons for the west?

Helen Warner DipHE Nursing (Child), SRN is early intervention nurse, East Kent Hospitals Trust China – the word itself evokes thoughts of the exotic and a culture many thousands of years old. Yet since the 1990s China has undergone continuous and rapid development during what has been the most peaceful decade in the whole of Chinese history. Although still officially a communist country, the old structure has gone and a new one is emerging. In the words of our Chinese tour guide, ‘three centuries of growth and change have been experienced over the last 30 years’. In spite of this China remains a third world country and people living in western parts of China still have to walk three to five kilometres just to fetch water. Some of the population still live in caves. It is a land of huge contrasts and there is the biggest divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ than anywhere else in the world. There is also the largest generation gap when you consider that the older generation lived under strict communism and the younger generation do not even know who Chairman Mao was. As part of a paediatric health study tour organised by Master Travel Ltd (www.mastertravel.co.uk), I joined a group of 18 paediatricians, GPs and paediatric nurses who wanted to see for themselves how their profession is practised in this fascinating country. Tours are accompanied by a British tour leader, in this case a retired paediatrician and an experienced Chinese national guide. Our Chinese guide was a mine of information, having specialised for 12 years leading health study tours, and his local knowledge and contacts opened doors to places not readily accessible to the typical tourist. In addition his knowledge of China’s culture, history, health and social care helped provide real insight into everyday life in modern China. Among the places we visited were the Shanghai Paediatric Hospital, a neighbourhood paediatric and family planning centre, and a state Chinese kindergarten. In Beijing we saw the Beijing Children’s Hospital, the largest hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the world, the Xi Yuan, a medicine market, the Care for Children Foster Project, the Xian Orphanage for Children with Special Needs, and visited a traditional ‘barefoot doctor’ to learn about rural health promotion and immunisation. My particular interest was in how TCM and western medicine are used in combination for children with disabilities, and how western medicine can learn from this. This article gives an overview of the visit and aims to increase readers’ understanding of China’s progress in the health care of its children, including the place of nursing. The photographs illustrate some key issues: we were careful to request parental permission before taking photographs in spite of being informed that in a communist country this was not necessary as long as permission is sought from the doctor in charge.

Quality Selection Criteria of Travel Intermediaries

ABSTRACT The study explores the selection criteria conducted by travel agencies, evaluating travel intermediaries (destination tour operator) founded on the visionary perspectives of product managers and front-line employees (tour leaders) of Taiwanese travel agencies. Statistically, data accumulated from the 36 product managers and 36 tour leaders by the critical incident technique indicates that local coaches, drivers, and local guides are monumental on group package tour (GPT) service sectors. Meanwhile, another critical issue being scrutinized is the selection scenarios, as to which prices are exponentially executed by product managers, whereas tour leaders tend to be destination tour operator qualities-oriented fundamentally. In order to enhance the destination tour operator service qualities, the research conducts relatively objective selection criteria in selecting the well-qualified and appropriate travel intermediaries as commissioners on the cutting edge travel agencies domain. More substantially, the revealed scenarios of destination tour operators supply the populously rivalous market, China, a relatively credential reference on selecting the well-suited Travel Intermediaries.

The Relationship between Timing of Tipping and Service Effort

Previous research indicates that the relationship between the tip and service quality is still not clear. There are doubts that the timing of tipping influences service effort and affects the service quality further. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the timing of the tip and the service effort expended. After making a survey of 236 tour leaders, the present study found that the timing of tipping correlated with the service providers' effort and perceptions. The earlier the service providers received the tips, the more effort they made. In addition, the present study also provides some suggestions for managerial practice and for further research.

GPTCCC: An instrument for measuring group package tour service

The aim of this paper is to develop and empirically validate an instrument (scale) which measures the group package tour (GPT) service. This study employed multistage steps for investigation; both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to develop a new customer comment card (CCC) for GPT (GPTCCC). For qualitative data, literature review, three focus groups, and collection of 20 existing CCCs were employed. For quantitative data, responses from 521 and 312 tourists were used to assess the reliability and validity by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Through a rigorous instrument development process, six factors were finally identified: hotel, transportation, shopping arrangement, optional tour, tour leader, and local guide. The study provides insight into the nature of the measurement of GPT service and how it might be used in practice. Implications of these findings for travel managers and areas for future research are also provided.

Customer satisfaction with tour leaders' performance: A study of Taiwan's package tours

This study aims to investigate the elements that affect customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction through the service offered by the tour leader in on-tour service encounters. It also analyzed the role of the tour leader within a long-haul escorted group. The relationship between overall satisfaction with a travel agency and the generation of repeat business was also investigated. The primary data were collected using three methods: semi-structured face-to-face interviews with managers from randomly selected Taiwanese travel agencies; participant observation of a Taiwanese guided package tour; and semi-structured international telephone interviews with tour group participants. The results revealed that the service attitude of the tour leader is sufficient to satisfy tour participants but interpretation skills will enhance the customers' level of satisfaction. However, Taiwan's tour leaders are tip-sensitive and the issue of tipping plays a crucial factor in influencing the tour leaders' job performance as well as customer satisfaction. Findings also revealed that tour leaders have a good opportunity to develop personal relationships with tour members and that the tour leader is only a partial factor influencing the future return of customers. A reasonable price of the tour is also essential. The results suggested that travel agencies should be aware of the importance of the tour leaders' welfare and should help them to improve their presentation and communication (social) skills – to explain to customers the reason why “negative incidents of low significance” occur and consequently to help reduce customer dissatisfaction when problems occur on the tour.

Tourist satisfaction: A view from a mixed international guided package tour

This paper seeks to identify the variables that are related to customer satisfaction during a guided package tour service encounter, including the role of the tour leader and the service performance by suppliers – itinerary arrangements, auxiliary support and service delivery. Data were gathered through participant observation during a mixed-nationality tour of Scandinavian destinations. Expectations, customer on-tour attitude and behaviour and equity were identified as affecting customer satisfaction during the service encounter. Additionally, the consumption experience of hedonism and enjoyment (excitement factors) on the tour had a significant effect on customer satisfaction. Two primary sources of complaints were identified: first, the tour operator's itinerary planning and hotel selection (basic factors), and second, the tour leader's competence (performance factor). The findings indicate that the tour leader is a significant determinant psychologically, spiritually and practically in influencing the success of the tour product. The result contributes to a better knowledge for the tour operator of tourism satisfaction in the international market for guided package tours.

Constructing, Presenting and Interpreting Nature: A Case Study of a Nature-based Tour to Borneo

This paper examines the ways in which the experience of nature is mediated via its construction, presentation and interpretation within the specific domain of tourism. It is argued that the concept of nature is characterised by ambiguity and contradiction, and that the understandings of, and meanings attached to, nature by tourists are not constant, fixed or homogenous. The data for the paper were derived from a study of a three-week nature-based tour to Malaysian Borneo, in which the author acted as tour leader. A range of complementary research methods was used, including participant and systematic observation, in-depth interviews and analysis of participants’ diaries, photographs and postcards. These data shed light on the ways in which tourists experienced nature and, specifically, on the role of interpretation as a mediatory practice in their experiences.

Is the tour leader an effective endorser for group package tour brochures?

In many Asian countries and areas, such as Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and China, etc., group package tour is one of the main modes of outbound travel. Several studies have highlighted the important role played by tour leaders in group package tours; they are considered to be indispensable by the tourists themselves and their presentation can make or break a tour. Previous studies have mainly used celebrities, experts, CEOs, and consumers as endorsers for advertising. However, few empirical studies have examined how the advertising effectiveness would be changed if tour leader is used as endorsers for group package tour brochures. This study adopts an epistemological perspective towards extending the limited research on the impact of tour leaders used in advertising as endorsers. A rigorous experimental design was employed; nine experimental groups were included, in total, 844 student subjects participated in the study. The results showed that tour leaders as endorsers for group package tour brochures had a more positive advertising effectiveness than the traditional brochure design and CEO as an endorser elicited higher purchase intention than tour leader as endorser. Implications for managers and scholars are discussed and suggestions for the direction of future study and practice are also provided.