Determination of perceived stress and anxiety levels in tourist guides during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tourism is combining the art of making money with the art of making money. One of the most important stakeholders of this sector, which is seen as a chimneyless factory, is tourist guides. Tourist guides are individuals who are considered to be the best transmitters of a region, destination or culture and are also referred to as cultural ambassadors. Tourist guiding is a social profession, therefore, while performing this profession, the guides must be in one-on-one dialogue and contact with the person or people they are visiting. The tourism industry has come to a standstill due to the coronavirus disease, which emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Tourist guides in the tourism sector were also affected by this negative situation. Therefore, with this thesis, it is aimed to fill this gap in the literature. In this context, this study aims to determine the stress and anxiety levels experienced by those who perform the tourist guide profession throughout Turkey during the COVID-19 Pandemic.The research was designed in the quantitative research method. The universe of the research was determined as 12,101 tourist guides with working cards affiliated to the Union of Turkish Tourist Guides Chambers (TUREB) in October 2022. In the sample selection of the research, the convenience sampling method was chosen in order to represent the universe. With the online data collection method, 377 survey data were collected. The data were analyzed by transferring them to the statistical package program (SPSS). In the analysis of the data, mean, standard deviation, cross tabulation, t-test, ANOVA and factor analysis techniques were used. According to the findings, it was found that most of the participants consisted of men, 31-40 years old and single individuals. The perceived stress level of the participants was determined at a moderate level, and it was determined that there was a significant relationship between the perceived stress and demographic data. While it was determined that the anxiety level of the participants was moderate, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between their anxiety levels and demographic data.