Tourist guiding in the global South : how “Incredible” is India?

Abstract

Tourist guides are located at the coalface of the tourism industry and occupy an extraordinary position within the contemporary demand and supply chain, seeing that they have the ability to enhance, manage and orchestrate the tourists sought after “unique” experience through their interpretation and commentary on tour. Within this context, most regard the tourist guide as an “ambassador” and “custodian” of a specific country‟s destination image – with India being no exception. This dissertation explores the complexity and multifaceted-nature of the tourist guiding phenomenon in a global South context, by considering the tourist guide of India as an international tourist guiding best practice example. The investigation will also evaluate key components and practical areas of India‟s tourist guiding domain. That consists of the country‟s national tourism and tourist guiding environments, legislative and regulatory frameworks, educational and training components, quality assurance mechanisms, as well as all other integral functional areas associated with the sector. These various research areas, along with the genesis of guiding, the various roles and responsibilities of a tourist guide, and the contextualisation of “international tourist guiding best practice”, all form the main components of the dissertation.