Attitude of tour guide: greatly affects the quality of the explanation and the attention of tourists. Tour guide needs to have an open, friendly attitude, but not too casual, always enthusiastic when providing information to customers. The attitude, inspiration, and feelings of the tour guide about the destination expressed through the explanation will have a great impact on the feelings and attitudes of tourists towards that destination. If the tour guide explains a destination with a positive attitude, the customers will also have positive feelings about that destination and vice versa.
d. Tour guide skills
Tour guide skills are the ability to apply existing knowledge to convey information about tourist attractions and routes to tourists. Tour guide skills are required depending on the target audience and type of tour.
Based on the visitor
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The objects of tourism are landscapes, historical and cultural relics, architectural works, sculptures, villages, etc., which often change over time and are affected by many factors. The factor of accumulating and selecting information is a prerequisite. Therefore, tour guides need to directly research the objects of tourism, interview on-site people who have knowledge about the objects of tourism, and at the same time, when surveying the tourist route, pay attention to choosing the best observation position, resting place, etc. when taking visitors to visit. When selecting objects of tourism, tour guides need to pay attention to the following:
- Visitors must follow the tour itinerary of the group, which must be arranged scientifically and reasonably;
- Avoid duplication, monotony, and boredom for visitors.
- Allocate time to visit visitors in accordance with the quantity and scale, importance and value of visitors, visitors' needs, health status, psychology and type of means of transport, etc.
Based on the type of tour
Determining the type of tour helps tour guides choose suitable visitors, prepare their presentations and organize convenient tour guides. The type of tour determined will allow tour guides to prepare tour guides according to certain topics. From there, choosing the main visitors and additional visitors during the tour will be quicker and easier. To choose the appropriate type of tour, tour guides can rely on the following criteria:
- Meet the purpose of tourists' visit.
- Suitable for the structure and composition of the delegation.
- Based on the age, occupation, ethnicity, religion, nationality,... of tourists to meet the requirements and characteristics of each specific type of guest.
- Suitable means of transport.
Based on the speed and frequency of travel, the tour guide selects the visitors and prepares the appropriate explanation. Basically, the tour guide can proactively adjust the pace of travel, visit time, and conditions of the visitors to suit the group.
Knowledge is limitless, however, tourists can completely acquire knowledge if they have the right approach. Tour guide is a profession that requires tour guides to have knowledge, as well as to know a lot. Tour guide skills are always considered an important and necessary factor in every tour guide's journey.
Grasp
skills , turn skills into personal knowledge , each theory
Tourism representatives will build confidence in communicating their knowledge and become more professional about their future careers.
2.5.4. Principles of tourist explanation
Suitability between the content of the explanation and the audience: During the entire tour program, the information provided by the tour guide must be timely, accurate, and appropriate to the audience's values in order to help visitors understand the issue being discussed accurately, while also creating excitement for them when listening to the explanation.
Understandability: The explanation must be suitable for the audience in terms of both content and method. To do this, the tour guide needs to have the knowledge and ability to grasp the psychology of the tourists to determine the needs and specific characteristics of the group. Ensure that the information provided is sufficient, reasonable, the presentation is attractive, different and has the ability to encourage tourists to participate in the process.
Systematic and continuous: The content of the tour guide must be presented in a logical order, with close connections and relationships between the parts according to a main idea, throughout to help visitors correctly perceive and feel the attraction. Tour guides should note the need to be creative and apply reasonable working methods to achieve the highest efficiency.
Note : The level of perception of tourists during the tour will be the most accurate measure of the effectiveness of the tour guide's explanation activities, this does not depend on the subjective will of the tour guide.
2.5.5. Methods of tourist explanation
When guiding a tour, although the explanation has been carefully prepared, in the right format, and in-depth, it still needs to be presented effectively by the tour guide. The explanation method is the combination of skills to convey information, comments, and critiques about the visitor and the content that is close or related to the visitor in the most appropriate way .
Tour guides can create different ways of explaining so that tourists can best absorb, easily understand and continuously, systematically prepare the information. Attractive and appealing tourist objects depend not only on the observation instructions for tourists but also on the explanation of the tour guide. On the other hand, the way of explaining is all aimed at introducing and analyzing at different levels and levels the values of the tourist objects, recreating events, people, the past at different levels and the relationship of historical events with the tourist objects, ... Tour guides can also compare with other tourist objects, based on the composition and structure of the tourist group.
General method
a. Descriptive and narrative methods
This method is the way tour guides introduce tourist attractions with their own transformation during the explanation process to recreate events, legends... of the visitors, helping visitors have a realistic feeling about the tourist attraction.
The description can be based on the circumstances, part or outstanding features of the tourist object and lead the tourist in a pre-prepared sequence. The sequence of the content of events, places, tourist attractions is associated with the description from the whole to the details of the tourist object that the tourist is considering. The tour guide tells the content in chronological and spatial order, and recreates the history of the land and the ethnic community with the tourist object in a convincing and impressive way for the tourist. Tourists are often attracted by the vivid and inspiring narration of the tour guide.
When using description and storytelling, tour guides can base on specific conditions of time and space as well as characteristics of the tourist group to describe in detail or concisely, in chronological and spatial order or can skip the order, as long as tourists feel, are attracted and meet their understanding needs.
Vivid, expressive, and natural storytelling is often very attractive to tourists, especially with large tourist destinations, cities, villages, industrial zones, historical sites, etc. Through the explanation, tour guides can strongly influence the emotions and raise visitors' awareness of the place and the objects they visit.
However, the limitation of this method is that it can easily cause stress in the psychological state of the guests because they have to follow the tour guide's words continuously, and when there is an interruption, it can make the tour guide confused or deviated, and thus will make the guests' follow-up be interrupted because their attention is directed to another issue, making the content being explained easily forgotten. Therefore, the use of this method needs to be expressed properly, appropriately and should have humorous comments, metaphors (but must be harmless, vague), comparisons to encourage imagination as well as reduce the stress of the guests when listening to the explanation. The use of proverbs, folk songs, legends from the rich and massive folk literature treasure in the tour guide's narration will increase the appeal while still helping guests relax when visiting.
b. Illustrative and commentary method
It can be said that this is one of the difficult methods, requiring tour guides to have a fairly broad knowledge base in all fields, but it is a method that is easy to understand and easy to convince.
This method begins with the introduction of the object of interest and illustrates to the visitors the process of formation, change and comparison with other objects of interest. Through their assessments, the tour guide guides visitors to observe details or the entire object of interest from different angles to vividly and specifically illustrate the explanation alongside comments and analysis. In this method, the instructions and illustrations always complement each other to increase the attraction of the object of interest to visitors.
Tour guides need to have good oral skills, know how to adjust the sound, the expression of the voice and especially have solid knowledge with valuable or unique documents and be accurate when proving and commenting. The comments of the tour guide (which have been prepared) need to be short, concise, scientific but easy to understand for groups of tourists with different levels of perception and awareness.
During the process of introducing, instructing, illustrating and commenting on the objects of visit, tour guides can use other methods of explanation while observing the attitudes and moods of visitors so that the explanation is more attractive to visitors, less stressful for visitors and more lively for the tour. The use of the methods of introduction, demonstration and commentary interwoven during the explanation must still follow a reasonable order in terms of time, geographical space and always be linked to the theme of the tour. The comments must be linked to current issues of social life, local culture, ethnicity and country and in harmony with the instructions, illustrations and observations of the objects of visit.
In practice, the method of explaining by instructions, illustrations, and comments is often used by tour guides when guiding visitors to large-scale tourist attractions or tourist routes. This method is also used in guiding visitors to cultural and artistic works, combined with the visual perception of the works by visitors.
However, in reality, to attract and appeal to tourists, tour guides rarely use only one specific method. In their professional work, they often combine different methods harmoniously and flexibly to suit the target audience and visitors in order to create the highest effect in the explanation content.
c. Combining descriptive storytelling and illustrative introduction and commentary
This method is often used quite popularly in the tour guide team. This method allows tour guides to explain comfortably. The combination of the two methods will help tour guides create excitement and their own style. However, if this method is abused for a long time, it will reduce the positive effect on visitors while explaining special and unique tourist objects that need different evaluations and emphasis.
To use appropriate and effective tour explanation methods when working, tour guides must base on many related factors such as: structure of the tourist group, time, tour topics, professional ability, level of understanding of the tour guide and their presentation techniques, etc. Tour guides need to apply explanation methods flexibly and creatively to create excitement during the tour. Tour explanation methods play a very important role in the success and quality of the tour. Professional ability, professional ability and experience of tour guides are factors that ensure the successful selection and use of explanation methods.
d. Some other methods of explanation
The segmentation method is applied to large-scale landscapes with complex explanatory content. Tour guides can divide them into small parts, according to different criteria to focus on analyzing and highlighting the basic characteristics of the object of visit. Using this method requires tour guides to have a full understanding of the object and the ability to divide the content and link it reasonably so as not to make the listener feel disjointed and confused.
The method of comparing and contrasting phenomena to highlight the nature of the object of explanation. This method easily attracts tourists because it is not only easy to understand but also opens up interesting doors about the relationship between familiar things and new things. When implementing this method, tour guides need to have connections with domestic and international events to help tourists see the similarities and differences of the objects of visit.
• The question and answer method is the method that can help maintain the attention of tourists in the most positive way. It not only creates interaction between the speaker and the listener but also helps the listener to be more proactive in receiving information, while creating a comfortable two-way communication atmosphere, sharing among the group of tourists.
* Guest asks - tour guide answers: With this form, the tour guide is always in a passive position in the area that the guest is interested in. Therefore, the requirement for the tour guide is to have real knowledge, communication skills and question handling. The tour guide's answer needs to clearly demonstrate certainty, accuracy of the message and focus. The tour guide needs to avoid rambling and spreading out. For questions within the scope of the tour guide's understanding, the guest should be answered with enthusiasm, openness and encourage the guest to ask questions. If you do not know the answer, you should still communicate tactfully so as not to disappoint the guest. In this case, the tour guide can say: "Sorry, I do not have the answer yet, you can leave your business card, and I will definitely send you the answer after further research". However, limiting the use of this method is also something that tour guides should pay attention to. In fact, there are also tourists who want to ask questions to challenge the tour guide, in this case, the "kick the ball to someone else's court" method can be used. If the tour guide knows that someone in the group can help answer, the tour guide should introduce that person instead of answering himself. The tour guide can also smile, calm down and find a positive and humorous answer.