Tour guide is a
traditional and major profession in tourism but over the past years, new
technologies have changed the way travel guides are working. This post is an
analysis of the article “Technology presents challenges and opportunity for
tour guides”, written by Michelle Baran and released on the web newspaper Travel
Weekly on December 17th, 2014. Based on the experience of different
tour guides, the article highlights the challenges they face to adapt to the development
of Information Technologies (IT) in tourism and travel.
The usage of
mobile devices as well as tablets and other application has fundamentally changed
the way tour guides organize their daily work. Indeed, technologies allow them
to automate many tools such as calendar or notes about the destination. Today,
the use of brochures and city maps is getting more and more obsolete for guides
but also for visitors, who can access the information directly on their devices
or by using applications for instance. It is a great opportunity for guides
since it requires less paper and gathers all the information on the same tool.
Some guides go further and really get into the technology-use by accessing
their notes through a cloud and using their tablets or phones to communicate
with each other. Indeed, these devices allow booking a restaurant easily and
quickly as well as getting in touch with their office when there is a change in
route for instance. Moreover, technologies facilitates the communication
between the guide and his group: some guides are now using microphones linked
to visitor’s headphones during tours. It seems more convenient when the group
is quite big since it enables everyone to ear the facts without being bothered
by other groups for examples. In addition, through their tablets and using photo
slides, guides can show what an old monument looked like back in time, which is
a real value-added for visitors. In this case, IT becomes a support and a help
for both tour guides and visitors.
On the other hand,
the emergence of these new technologies has also changed visitor’s expectations.
Indeed, more and
more of them directly ask for the Wi-Fi password when entering a tour bus, for
instance, because they are used to have access to the information constantly.
Visitors are connected 24/7 and this has different implications for the tour guides. First,
they face very well informed guests, who can check the given information
meanwhile the visit. It means that the tour guide has to be perfectly informed
and prepared, and there is no place for approximation.
Second, tourists want information that they cannot
find themselves on the internet, such as local anecdotes or insider tips. Indeed,
today when visitors are looking for dates and facts, they can very easily find
the information on the internet. When they use a tour guide’s service, they
want it to be personalized and original. Hence, guides are more story tellers
than historians; they have to add an emotional touch to their tour to convince
the tourists to use their services. Connection with the visitors is very
important and some travel guide associations use social media to stay in touch
with the tourists and in order to promote their services. Indeed, the customers
might want to leave some reviews about the tour to promote the visit or on the
other hand to give some more negative feedbacks and recommendations.
As we have seen, Information Technologies development
in tourism is both an opportunity and a threat for tour guides: an opportunity
as it facilitates the work organization through apps and devices and a threat
as tourists would eventually feel that they do not need the service of a tour
guide as much information is available online. Hence, tour guides have to add a
personal touch of laughter and human connection in their visit. Technology is a
tool to enhance guides’ performance and visitor’s experience. Nevertheless,
guides have to adapt to this new trend in order to meet their customers’
expectations.
This subject is a hot topic as far as IT in tourism is
concerned, because it shows how technologies can change the essence of a
tourism job, both for the supplier and for the customer. The former has to
adapt to the new tools to satisfy the consumers and to control the exposure on
social media while the latter gets new expectations about the content of the
visit. However, the persistence of tour guide and even the creation of new
programs such as greeter tours in some cities show that there is still a demand
for tours; it is just the way to do it and experience it that changes.
Source: http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Tour-Operators/Tour-tech
Photo credit: Free Digital Photo (retrieved from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net)
Marie Lallement & Florence Autier
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