Vocational Commitment: A Study into Tourist Guides

Abstract

Tourist guiding has held its vital position in any tourism system and with specific reference to Turkey, owing to the vocational law enacted in 2012, it has become a legal and obligatory element and finally recognized as a profession. Further, the nature of tour guiding entails a face to face interaction with tourists, which is why the roles of tourist guides are noteworthy in creating customer satisfaction and realization of tourism potential. It will not be wrong to hold that tour guiding does not have the righteous place in academic studies from their point, i.e. supplier side. In this context, this paper sets out to examine the vocational commitment of tourist guides in terms of two variables. The results of the study suggest that there are statistically significant differences between the sub-dimensions of vocational commitment and second employment as well as tour guiding education level. Besides, considering the specific nature of tourist guiding, suggestions have been put forward for potential future studies.