Storytellers' Inside Story: Exploitation and Domination Practices in Tour Guiding

Introduction

The body of tour guiding literature has focused on the perceptions of tour guides and tourists (Pearce, 1984; Pizam & Sussmann, 1995; Pizam & Jeong, 1996; Pizam et al., 1997); the role of the guides in tourist satisfaction (Geva & Goldman, 1991; Kuo et al., 2015); the competences of tour guides such as interpretation, communication, and humor (Yu et al., 2001; Ibanez et al., 2003; Leclerc & Martin, 2004; Wynn, 2005; Bryon, 2012; Weiler & Walker, 2014; Lin et al., 2022); or the performance of the labor (Fine & Speer, 1985; Zhang & Chow, 2004; S. Huang et al., 2010; S. Huang, 2010; K. C. Chang, 2014; Sezgin & Düz, 2018). In other words, a large number of studies in the literature inquired about the profession, mainly in the sense of tourists or destinations. Hence tour guiding was regarded as an instrument to assure tourist satisfaction or a favorable destination image. The idealized function of tour guides is self-sacrificing and fulfilling their tasks without question. Hence, their self-expectations are ignored (Zhao & Timothy, 2017). Furthermore, the labor of the tour guides was taken for granted, and the studies (Holloway, 1981; Ap & Wong, 2001; Mak et al., 2011; Nyahunzvi & Njerekai, 2013) examining the inside story is a few. On the other hand, questioning what tour guides are going through to accomplish their roles is crucial for the profession’s sustainability. Thus, insights need to be offered into tour guiding since tour guides are held responsible in the industry to the extent of ‘making or breaking a tour’ (Ap & Wong, 2001).

Labor-based research is ignored the in tour guiding literature. Likewise, the exploitation and domination practices against tourism employees are under-studied (Ong et al., 2014). In tour guiding literature, the studies providing insights into the labor barely defined the phenomenon as ‘exploitation’, or ‘domination’. In this regard, ‘issues’, ‘problems’, ‘hassles’, or ‘challenges’ are the terms used to define labor-related adverse practices. On the other hand, the exploitation and domination in the tour guiding profession should be defined and clarified since there is an agreement on the importance of tour guiding services in tourism studies. Thus, the efforts to examine and discuss such practices critically will promote the recognition of the tour-guiding profession, which has become widespread in many places in the 21^st century. Likewise, decreasing the anxiety and worries of tour guides regarding their job will enhance their joy and reflect on their performance (Güzel et al., 2013). Enhancing the labor conditions of tour guides will yield gains to the circles of tourism, including tour guides themselves, tourists, host communities, tour operators, official authorities, and other service providers.