COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

POST EVALUATION ON DOMESTIC TOURS AMONG TOURISM STUDENTS

Introduction
Tour guide, an individual, who, either as an employee or affiliate of a duly
licensed travel and tour agency, GUIDE tourist, both foreign and domestic, for a
fee, commission or any lawful form of remuneration. It is one of the most
attractive jobs in the travel industry.

One of the good-paying jobs that is

physically demanding, service-oriented, and require a lot of knowledge, skills,

and abilities.
It is the soul of tourism industry and plays an essential role in the
success of the sector by delivering high quality service to students. Working in
the front line of tourism reception, tour guides are leading players in enhancing
the image and the reputation of tourist destinations.
Tour guides can be found at every tourism destination, and nearly
everyone both within and outside the tourism industry is familiar with the term
and the persona of a tour guide. Few, however, fully understand what a tour
guide does and what constitutes tour guiding. ( Weiler, B, Black. R. 2013)
There are a lot of expectations with tour guides, being with people who
were most of the time new to the area, a lot of information, values, and ethics
must be possessed nor acquired by the tourism students in school or training
courses before they are exposed to the real world of tourism. Being one of the
most attractive jobs in the travel industry, it also helps develop a well-rounded
personality.
Tourism as one of the world's five major industries has been in
development in recent years, overtaking other industries, according to reports

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

announced by the World Tourism Organization (WTO, 2011). In the heart of the
tourism industry is the job of a tour guide, who plays an important role to ensure
the satisfaction level of the tourists.
Since the interaction between the tourists and the tour guides play an
essential role when performing the job, the co-production of tourists during an
excursions has been analyzed by Larsen and Meged (2013). Observing tour
guides in Copenhagen, performing a one-day excursion, interaction processes
have been recorded and analyzed. In addition conversations with guides and
tourists enlarged the details within the data (Larsen & Meged, 2013). However,
several categories have been developed according to the results. Different
tactics of behaviour patterns of the tourists, being a part of the co-production,
were pointed out. The participatory, attentive, as well as partial tactics, alternative
and absent tactic (Larsen & Meged, 2013). Even though the focus is put on the
behaviour of the visitors, several dimensions of the tour guide are pointed out as
well, for instance, the demand for control, being constantly polite and friendly,
even though being interrupted by visitors. In addition the use of private aspects
and the approach to always be ready to handle in case of possible incidents
during a tour has been underlined as important skill (Larsen & Meged, 2013).
Performing the duties properly cannot be achieved, unless they enjoy a
set of capabilities which can be obtained through learning and training (Prakash,
et al, 2010). Training in the tourism industry is considered as the inherent nature
of this industry and life and death of tourism depends on training, but whether the
training held in tourism has been successful in realizing the desired goals or not
lies among those important issues that estimates the necessity of evaluating the
effectiveness of training for tour guides. Assessing the effectiveness of training
means to determine to what extent the undertaken training has led to acquire the
required practical skills.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

All of the companies would not want to lose millions of their profit, lose
their loyal customers, and not attract new and prospective customers simply
because of a front liner who happens to be nor customer oriented, traumatizes or
disappoints their customers. Such cases of ignoring customers or simple treating
them rudely and indifferently will not be acceptable in any establishment.
Imagine that these people working in different companies are people who are
technically proficient and they sometimes even excelled in their academic
performance and yet, the worst case is, possess a personality that causes
customers to be turned off.
With this is mind, a realization that knowledge or skills are not enough for
a tourism student to succeed in his/her work and produce positive results.
Attitude and pleasing personality are equally important.

It involves maturity,

capability of making positive impressions and ability to handle different people in

different situations. Attitude also helps to be confident in meeting other people in
the corporate world.

So as to say, in the field of tourism, knowledge, skills

matched with attitudes would be a big help to be able to climb to a higher level by
transcending what a person already has.
Guests expect tour guides to possess job knowledge. The objective is not
to ensure that a tour guide must know everything, at the very least, one must
know how to acquire information for its implementation. There are wide arrays of
knowledge needed to keep up with the needs of the industry. One must be
effective in this field, a good foundation will complement on how and what kind of
experience does one effectively deal with the clients.
A person's way of looking, thinking, feeling, and behaving at a given
scenario defines his attitude. It includes the whole aspect of how people relate to
other people the way they think, feel and do. In order to succeed in the
hospitality industry , the need to have a positive attitude is an important aspect.
A person's attitude, as defined by his culture, his religion and other aspects of his

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

environment, will guide him in his work environment and the way that he interacts
with his friends and his clients (Rodolfa, et al, 2011).
This study will make a survey on what seems to be the most important
knowledge, skills, and attitudes of Tourism Students in Tour Guiding Services
Course. A post evaluation tool that will identify the respondents' insight on the
different Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes and their respective degrees of
significance. Furthermore, the researchers will propose recommendations on
tour guiding curriculum in schools to align them in what the tourism students had
to master during their stay in their institutions.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Objectives
The study aims:
1. To determine the perception of the students on their local tours in
terms of:

Cost
Learning Experience
Satisfaction

2. To determine the experience of the students on the tour package in

terms of:

Accommodation
City Tour
Transportation
Convention

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Questionnaire
Name (Optional): __________________________
Year and Section:_____________________
Mark with an X:
Gender: M / F
Married

Age: ________
Marital Status: Single /

Below are knowledge, skills and abilities a tour guide must have. Put a check in
the box if you SA strongly agree, A agree, D disagree, or SD strongly
disagree with the statements.
KNOWLEDGE
SA A D SD
1. In order to be an effective tour guide, one must have the
knowledge of principles and processes to provide
optimum customer and personal service.
2. Mastery of the English language is the best instrument
to be a competent tour guide.
3. Knowledge in history and archaeology helps a guide to
give most of the information needed by the clients.
4. It is very necessary to know the regulation and
legislation on tourism guide.
5. Familiarity on the riding rule of each transportation
vehicle is required for every tour guide.
SKILLS
1. Public speaking must be mastered to convey the
necessary information to clients.
2. A tour guide must be aware of others reaction and be
able to understand why others react as they do. (social
perceptiveness)
3. Being an active listener is an edge as one can give full
attention to what others are saying and take time to
understand the points being made,
4. The best skill to develop is being service-oriented to be
able to actively look for ways to help people.
5. Having a good sense of humor is the perfect tool to
entertain guests.
ATTITUDES
1.A tour guide must be enthusiastic to bring out the passion
in his work.
2.Self-confidence is the most ideal attitude to perform best
in every situation.
3.Sensitivity is a key factor that will help a guide to provide
all the needs of his clients even before they ask for
them.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

4.A tour guide should be flexible to address every problem

that may arise.
5.A charismatic attitude is the most important for a guide to
get the full attention of his clients.

Related Literature:

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Several literatures focused their study on tour guide's service, role and
function, but few attempted to determine the required knowledge, skills and
attitudes. Some of these are as follows:
(Huang, Songshan, 2010): To evaluate tour guide performance in China
from both domestic visitors' and foreign English-speaking visitors' perspectives,
this study applied a modified importance performance analysis. The results
suggest that tour guides in China should enhance their proficiency in guiding
languages.
The interviews conducted revealed that professionalism was a challenge
amongst tour guides especially in Salima and Nkhatabay as compared to
Mangochi and Mulanje where some guides were properly trained. Their response
revealed that having good knowledge of tourism product, good interpersonal
skills that include proficiency in various languages and ability and willingness to
offer quality standards of services were required for tour guides.Good
interpersonal skills and offering of quality standards are believed to be much
dependent on training. However, due to lack of training opportunity that comes
into existence because of absence of formal tour guiding basic courses and lack
of incentives, tour guides did not have an avenue through which they could
acquire the required skills to improve professionalism.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

People skills are at the fore of the touring industry as you will be
working with all kinds of people every day. If you visit the same museum over
and over again , the tours eventually get mundane and can become boring but it
is the people who change and make it interesting, and in turn you have to show
them that you are just as interested as they are by the sights and attractions that
you are showing them. Remember this is probably the first time, they have ever
seen these attractions, so your job is to be excited with them, and make them
enjoy and feel comfortable (landtoursection/www.jobmonkey.com).
Having a language proficiency, avoiding using highfalutin words, usage
of simple, and easy to understand words, trying to get rid of regional accent, use
synonyms to explain, to describe something and use non-verbal communication
in a difficult thing or situation are a must have if you are a tour guide.
(tourguidingtechniques/www.visitmyphilippines.com).

In some country , tour guides are referred as tourist guides . A tour guide
is a person who guides the visitors in the language that they can understand. He
leads a group of people around the museum, town, and important venue. Guides
are cities representative for which they are qualified and they interpret the
culture and heritage of the area. Guide helps travelers to further understand the
culture of the region and the way of life its inhabitants. On one hand their role is
to promote the cultural and natural heritage of a place and on other hand they

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

make the visitors aware of its importance. Guide provides full information about
the features and history of the location. As the importance of places is known by
the guide, he will educate and narrate you all the stories of the local place,
history and culture as and when the location comes. The importance is placed on
the guide's knowledge; he will try his best to explain you in language you are able
to understand . Guide entertains you while traveling to next location and gives
you relevant information about the place where you will land up next. A guide with
complete knowledge of a place is require on visiting any historical place so that
he can narrate the history of that place in detail. If you travel without a guide you
will not come to know anything about the place and you will not be able to
understand what you are seeing and what does it means. Guide answers all your
questions and you lot of knowledge can be gained from him. Many times it
happens that we ignore small things, but always a small thing contains a big
story, so only guide can educate us about the place. Before going for a trip you
can ask your friends and relatives about the place who have been there. But to
get the whole insight information it is better to appoint a guide. A guide helps you
to know about the climatic condition, culture, language, specialty of the place and
also

helps you decide what to buy among the famous thing available there

(Tourism

Management:

Tour

http://anandasanyal.blogspot.com )

Guide

and

Their

Role.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Tour guides accompany visitors on local tours and guide tourists within a
specific country, region, area, city or site. They give special information on
history, archaeology, monuments and works of art, the environment, culture,
natural and built attractions, places of interest, and any general matters of
interest to the visitor. Tour guides may perform tasks like meeting members of a
tour

on

arrival

and

make

introductions,

coordinating

pre-arranged

accommodation and transport and making sure that tour members are
comfortable, leading tour groups, driving coaches or limousines, advising tour
members of local interest points, and preparing and presenting tour
commentaries, coordinating pre-arranged tour activities such as visits to local
attractions, restaurants or shops, train rides, cruises, extended tours, white water
rafting, bushwalking and mountaineering, researching and sharing general
information on Australian Indigenous cultures, attending to operational problems
such as booking errors and amendments, lost luggage or illness, providing first
aid if needed, keeping in touch with transportation companies, minting written
reports of daily activities and carrying out other administrative work. Being a tour
guide is often physically demanding. During a tour, guide must dedicate his
whole time to answer questions and sort out problems. Manual work such as
loading or unloading baggage or other equipment may be required.
Furthermore research has also been conducted on the possible positive
effect on sustainable tourism through the work of tour guides, as well as the
economic influence (Pereira & Mykletun, 2012). The case study's issues

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

addressed, was the level of congruence between the guide's roles and the
knowledge and understanding of sustainability and ecotourism (p. 75). The
analysis was undertaken in Manus, a Municipality in the Brazilian State of
Amazonas. Using questionnaires, interviews and participant observations on 36
ides, the data was collected (Pereira & Mykletun, 2012).
The chance of influencing the tourists, by acting and behaving in a way
which encourages the visitors to follow and adapt to, as well as imparted
knowledge on the area and the interpretation of the importance of ecological
sustainability, leading to the management of resources was pointed out (Pereira
& Mykletun, 2012). Furthermore, based on the results the economy sphere
was developed, including two different functions, the economy promoter and
philanthropist (Pereira & Mykletun, 2012, p.80). More business could be
generated.Through promotion and support by guides and locals, the appreciation
by the tourists for these local products have increased, especially in third world
countries.
However, the results showed that most of the guides in Manaus, Brazil
were able to lead and manage groups of tourists without any bigger incident or
accident. Though the information on nature and sustainable issues are missing
(Pereira & Mykletun, 2012). Moreover, this case could not be supported by the
theory of tour guides being cultural brokers, imparting knowledge on local culture
and tradition . Interpretative skills, as for example on several plants and
processes working together in nature, were not observed.
In addition to that, social role abilities, contribution on sustainability and
cultural brokerages through communication and education seemed to lack as
well (Pereira & Mykletun, 2012). Therefore it has been stated that there were low
contributions on both the sustainability and the economic spheres(Pereira &
Mykletun, 2012).This research is recommended to be included in the overview,

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

since the results point out that several tour guide might evaluate tasks of their
roles as present, even though not practicing it intense enough yet.

Conceptual Framework

Demographic profile of the

respondents in terms of:
Age
Gender
Marital status

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Knowledge
Degree of agreement or
disagreement on:
Customer and personal
service
English language
Knowledge on regulation
and legislation on
tourism guide
Transportation
knowledge

Skills
Degree of agreement or
disagreement on:
Public speaking
Social perceptiveness
Active listening
Service orientation
humor

Attitudes
Degree of agreement or
disagreement on:
Enthusiasm
Self-confidence
Sensitivity
Flexibility
Charisma

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the Research

The framework shows that the demographic profile of the respondents
affect their degree of agreement/disagreement on the presented knowledge,
skills, and attitudes that a tourism student must possess in being a tour guide.
The varying responses were due to the different ages, gender, and marital status
of the respondents. They are asked to answer the questionnaire to identify which
among those can be considered the most essential for a tourism student.

CHAPTER 2
METHODOLOGY
Research Design

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

This study utilizes the descriptive method of research. As widely accepted,

the descriptive method of research is a fact-finding study that involves adequate
and accurate interpretation of findings. Descriptive research describes a certain
present condition. Relatively, the method is appropriate to this study since it aims
to describe the perception and experience of 4 th year tourism students on their
local tours.
The researchers opt to use this kind of research considering the desire to
acquire first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and
sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
In terms of approach, the study employed both qualitative and quantitative
approaches. The quantitative approach focused on obtaining numerical findings
was used with the survey method. The interview on the other hand, made up the
qualitative approach of the study as this focused on personal accounts,
observations, description and individual insights of the respondents. This study
employed the combined approach so as to overcome the limitations of both
approaches.
Research Locale:
The study was conducted at Lyceum of the Philippines University Laguna, this place was selected for knowing the efficiency of the said study
among tourism students who have taken up tour guiding course and for them to
feel comfortable. The research study was implemented inside the classroom of
Lyceum of the Philippines - Laguna, the classroom was clean, well-ventilated, airconditioned and had enough chairs for every students who participated with the
activity.
Respondents of the Study:

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

One of the respondents of the study are tourism students of Lyceum of the
Philippines Laguna who have taken up tour guiding course. The researcher will
also interview tourism professors for their comprehensions and understandings
of the role of the tour guides. All of the participants on the survey were selected
through random sampling. This sampling method is conducted where each
member of a population has an equal opportunity to become part of the sample.
As all members of the population have an equal chance of becoming a research
participant, this is said to be the most efficient sampling procedure. In order to
conduct this sampling strategy, the researcher defined the population first, listed
down all the members of the population, and then selected members to make the
sample. For this purpose, a self-administered survey questionnaire in Likert
format was given to the respondents to answer.
Data Gathering Tool
The instrument used in gathering data for the study was the survey
approach and evaluation, which is commonly used to explore opinions according
to respondents that can represent a whole population. The survey is appropriate
in this study because it enables the researcher in formulation of generalizations.
Specifically, two types of direct-data survey are included in this study. These are
questionnaire survey and interviews. Interviews with researchers, tourism
professors, and other colleagues in the academy were conducted to provide
further insight about the results of the survey. Interview questions will focus on
the research problems and questions. The direct-data type of survey is a reliable
source of first-hand information because the researcher directly interacts with the
participants. The questionnaire survey respondents were given ample time to
have their opinions regarding importance of having knowledge, skills and
attitudes of tourism students on tour guiding. Their own intuitions are necessary
in identifying its strengths and limitations.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Furthermore, the questionnaire has two parts; the first part contained the
demographic profile of the respondents which includes age, gender and civil
status. The second part was composed of some of the knowledge, skills and
attitudes that a tour guide must have and the respondents must agree or
disagree to each of the statement.
Moreover, two types of data were used: the primary and the secondary
data. The primary data were derived from the answers respondents gave in the
self-administered questionnaire prepared by the researcher. In addition, the
information obtained from the interview also provided primary research data that
supported the study. The secondary data on the other hand, were derived from
the findings stated in published documents and literatures related to the research
problem. These were based from the recent literatures related to tour guiding
services concepts cited by the respondents.

Data Analysis
After the questionnaires were collected, the responses were then tallied.
Several tables were prepared to effectively present the data gathered.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Categorization of items was done. The organized data was computed and the
result was interpreted.
To get the frequency of each answer, the researchers used data and
frequency to compute for the percentage of each answer according to the
demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, and marital
status. The percent formula is:
F
P= N

x 100%

Wherein:
P percentage
F frequency
N number of respondents
The weighted means were also be used to determine the degree of
agreement or disagreement of the respondents on the different knowledge, skills,
and attitudes of tourism students. The formula is:

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COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

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Lansangan-Cruz, Z. Ph.D. (2011). Principles and Ethics of Tour Guiding Updated
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Management:

Tour

Guide

and

Their

Role.

http://anandasanyal.blogspot.com/2010/02/tour-guide-and-theirrole.html
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Guiding

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COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

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