Tourists' perceptions of guide, group member interactions and group cohesion: A case of organised tours

Various social groups are formed as a result of organizing individuals in daily or longterm tours. Tour groups influence the success of tour guides, and tour guides influence group compliance through their performance in group management. The ability of tour guides to successfully manage a tour depends on tour group compliance. Therefore, groups in tours are a topic that tour guides have to deal with. In this study, the relationship between tour guide performance, tour guide-tourist interaction, inter-tourist interaction, perceived group harmony and tourist satisfaction with tour was examined. Although the relationship between tour guide performance and tourist satisfaction has been discussed in many studies, it is seen that the effect of tour guide performance on perceived group compliance, tourist-tourist, tour guidetourist interactions and satisfaction with tour has not been examined before. For this purpose, a research model has been developed by utilizing the theoretical and experimental studies in the related literature. The data were collected through the surveys on daily boat tours, daily city tours; long-term culture; and long-term nature and photograpy tours, where Turkish tourists participating. In these studies, convenience sampling method was used and a total of 1600 data were obtained, 400 of them per turn. The research model developed separately for each field, and the model was tested with Smart PLS. As a result of the analyzes, tour guide performance, tourist-tourist and tour guide-tourist interactions were found to significantly affect the perception of group compliance in the daily boat tours, daily city tours, and long-term cultural tours. The effect of perceived group compliance on satisfaction with tour guide was also high. In terms of long-term nature and photograph tours, there was no statistical relationship between tour guide-tourist interactions and perceived group compliance. In the light of the results obtained, various strategic applications have been proposed for the management of tour services and travel management. Keywords: Tour Guide Performance, Perceived Group Cohesion, Tour Guide Satisfaction, Tour Satisfaction, Tour Guide-Tourist Interaction, Tourist-Tourist Interactions, Organized Tours