Personal branding in tourism guidance

The concept of personal branding, unlike trademarks, is defined as a person known by the masses based on an individual's experience, expertise, competencies, actions and achievements in a community, industry or market. Personal branding is a long procedure and it is planned directly to create a brand value related to the person. Today, the ever-increasing competitive market creates a situation where people find it difficult to stand out from their peers. Personal branding offers people the opportunity to be noticed in competitive environments. Tourist guides, one of the touchstone of the tourism industry, are tourism professionals who guide their visitors to the most attractive parts of the destinations. Guides, who are representatives of their countries, are people who provide information, guide, lead and help visitors have positive experiences by satisfying them. Today, the competitive environment that occurs in many professions also includes the guidance profession. In order to be different from other guides, to highlight some distinctive features and to be a preferred guide, the concept of personal brand shows itself in this area. In this study, interviews were made with tourist guides who have become personal brand. As a result of the interviews, various suggestions and a road map were prepared for guides who wanted to become a brand in guidance. The study consists of three main parts. In the first part, tourism guidance, in the second part personal branding, the theoretical framework and related researches are discussed. In the third part of the study, the findings as a result of interviews with tourist guides who have become personal brand are included and suggestions for branding are presented to guide candidates.