In quest of tourist guides' work improvements. Comparative study between tourist guides in Catalonia (Spain) and Norway.

Abstract

Background and purpose - Despite the multiple and diverse roles that a tourist guide plays and the benefits this can bring to the tourism industry of a destination, the tourist guide profession is an under-addressed topic within the literature. For this thesis, two different contexts of guiding have been compared. On one hand, Catalonia (Spain) where tourist guides are regulated by law, and where the Catalan government is the institution responsible for the official guiding licenses. On the other hand, tourist guides in Norway do not require a license to guide and the guiding profession is not regulated. In this line, the researcher aimed to identify the degree of influence of the guiding context (including elements of the work environment) on the levels of job satisfaction, job stress and career plans. Design and methods - Exploratory-descriptive design and quantitative study. The data was collected through a questionnaire-survey sent to 860 tourist guides in Catalonia and 300 guides in Norway. Results – The guiding country (non-licensed guides in Norway vs. licensed guides in Catalonia) does not explain the variance in the levels of job satisfaction, job stress and career plans. However, elements within the work environment have been found to predict job satisfaction, job stress and career plans.