Professional tourist guidance in the context of performance theory

Professional tourist guidance is a combination of various performances, actions and activities that are staged in different areas, ranging from ancient ruins to national parks, tourism enterprises to museums, in which professional tourist guidance is of particular importance due to the fact that it takes place in one-to-one contact with tourists and provides for interpersonal cultural interaction, and which are important in both developed and developing countries due to their role in international promotion. This thesis study approaches professional tourist guidance as a staged performance and aims to understand the performance of professional tourist guidance from the point of view of the tourist guides. In the literature, the performance of tourist guidance was often studied with a focus on the tourist perspective. The thesis is novel in that it studies professional tourist guides from the perspective of tourist guides and it applies the performance theory of the performance studies as a theoretical framework to professional tourist guidance. The qualitative research pattern has been adopted because it is a study aimed at exploring the performances of professional tourist guides and understanding the subjective assessments of tourist guides in depth. It is aimed to understand subjective meanings, relationships, activities and within their own context. Semi-structured interview was used as data collection tool. Interview questions were prepared within the framework of Schechner's (2013; 2020) "performance processes as a time-space sequence" dimensions, which constitutes the theoretical framework of the relevant literature and the study. Accordingly, there are three dimensions to explore the performances of professional tourist guides "before the performance (proto-performance)", "during the performance (performance)" and "after the performance (aftermath)". Interviews within the scope of the study were held between March and May in 2021 with 22 professional tourist guides affiliated to 9 different tourist guides chambers. Audio recording was taken with the consent of the participants; After each interview, notes and transcript of the interview were prepared. When the transcripts were completed, first of all, a few general readings were made, and then the coding and themes were created out of the transcripts. At this stage, the relevant literature and Schechner's performance theory provided the primary framework, and the unique features of participant views were also evaluated. The results of the study show that "individual preparation", "preliminary work with travel agencies and tourist shops" and "cultural differences" come to the fore before the performance starts in professional tourist guidance. According to the findings of the study, the themes of "preparation for tour / warm-up rituals", "stage management and tour flow", "performance objects", "games and activities" and "performances to increase the touristic experience" emerge during the performance. After the performance, the themes of "asking for applause for the driver and tips collecting", "archive and new performance opportunities" and "returning to daily life" come to the fore. The target groups of the study are professional tourist guides, students of tourist guiding department and tourism professionals as well as students and researchers interested in performance studies. The present study contributes to the literature on tourist guiding in terms of adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, evaluating performance studies and tourism studies together, and trying to understand professional tourist guiding from the perspectives of those who do this profession.