The point is that tour guides must change the way of delivering their future tours
according to the changing tourist profiles and preferences which profoundly affected
by communication technology and the need for specialized information within the
tour. New technological trends are challenging the way in which guides will be seen,
that the guide is considered central to facilitate physical access and show empathy and
understanding in on-site experience.
The technological devices are social means of interaction, through which tourists via
social media can share experience and emotions, an activity which cut across with the
experience offered by the guide (Weiler and Black 2015b, 369). Of course, these
trends will affect the way that tour guides interacted and communicate to deliver a
different and distinguished tourist experience (Weiler and Black 2015b, 369-370).
The future guide must respond to technological and socio-demographic trends, and to
utilize new and diverse communication approaches. Technology can be embraced by
guides to improve the quality of his guiding. Incorporating podcasts and smart phone
aps. into tour guiding now is an urgent demand. Still, the communication is the target,
technology can assist guides to customize the experience that tourists needs and
expect (Weiler and Black 2015b, 370). The future of the tour guiding industry
requires guides to stress the value of co-creating experiences, which in turn requires
guides to use their skills, and to coincide and use some new technological methods
(Weiler and Black 2015a, 167-168; Weiler and Black 2015b; 374) .
Guiding in museums
Museum of the future and guiding
The future museum is a learning organization. The good guide in the museum is a
professional, must develop himself and improves his qualities. An essential thing for
both museum and guide to stay relevant in a dynamically changing world, in which
new audiences are emerging and visitors need more connection and personal
communication, the museum must keep developing and the museum guides must
keep learning (Schep and Kintz 2017, 5).
Haitham T. Sotohy (JAAUTH), Vol. 19 No. 3, (2020), pp. 35-47.
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The future museums are changed to cultural centers where visitors can acquire
knowledge and not a mere visit for fun. The role of the tour guide is fundamental in
the museum through interpretation and entertaining narratives; they help the visitors
not only to visualize and learn the objects they see; but to gain a good appreciation
and historical insight of it (Yenipinar 2016, 74). Ap and Wong expressed that tour
guides’ professional work is the key to turn a museum visit into a learning activity for
tourists (Ap and Wong 2001, 551).
The museum guide is the intermediary between the knowledge of the object and the
knowledge of the visitor .The knowledge and flexibility in delivering it is an
important quality for the guide, the guide must have enough knowledge about the
objects and be flexible in encourage the visitors to build their own knowledge and to
reach their own conclusions (Schep M. et al 2018, 6, 28)
It can be said that tourist guides’ interpretation skills are effective in teaching the
visitors the local culture, the creation of cultural places, how objects were used and
what purposes they served, their reflections on today and connections between the
past and today’s local culture (Yenipinar 2016, 83).
An essential part of the museum tour is the experience presented through objects. It is
the way of ‘Handling the group within the museum environment’ which is the real
work of the guide. It is the experience-centered approach for improving the guided
tours and in some cases delivers interactive and personally relevant experiences
(Weiler and Black 2015b, 374).
The tour guides in a museum tour must make tourist entertained, not bored and he
must make sure that tourists leave the museum satisfied, this of course help in the
development of museum science. They employ their past education in art, history, and
culture to contribute to the function of museum as education and culture center. The
tour guides’ interpretation of museum enlivens the artifacts and links them to their
culture. Through the guide the tourists enjoy a journey in the past and explore those
past human cultures and their reflections on their own culture. This process began by
right guiding which indeed create meaning and help personal promotion (Yenipinar
2016, 77)
In this new context the one-way traditional interaction between guide and visitor is
not the ideal way to share information with tourists, other ways like: dialogue,
discussion, questions, and so on, are not always the right method fit to everyone but
learning also can be obtained in different methods, and differs from one to another;
telling a story is a good way for someone, another want to talk about the object, a
third like to be creative in another form (Schep and Kintz 2017, 18)
Leading a group in a museum is the mere responsibility of the guide. Because objects
are the main attraction of museums, the guide must make a good connection between
his interpretation and the object; make sure the entire group sees it, hear
interpretation. Overall, the tour guide must use the object in teaching and discussion
and help visitors to reach historical conclusions (Schep M., et al 2018. 5).
