Making friends with tourists before the group tour
A study of guide‐tourist pre‐tour interactions based on the social situation framework
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21654162 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Changwei Hu (0000-0001-7511-0739, City University of Macau), Xingbao Hu (0000-0002-9471-9336, City University of Macau, corresponding author), Hongbo Liu (0000-0002-3463-3100, Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management University of Surrey Guildford Surrey UK) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Tourism Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1099-2340 • E-ISSN: 1522-1970 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/jtr.2704 |
| OpenAlex | W4401045800 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 81 |
Tour guides play a vital role in shaping service quality, destination image, and relationships with tourists. However, most research on guide‐tourist interactions focuses exclusively on the interactions during the tour, overlooking pre‐tour interactions. Using thematic content analysis, and based on the social situation framework, this study investigates pre‐tour interactions from the tour guide's perspective of guided group tours. The results unravel that pre‐tour interactions are motivated by both the intrinsic and extrinsic goals of tour guides, who act as not only hosts, but also travel stewards, “virtual stage” constructors, and even tourists' friends. The interactions mostly surround service promises, emotional care, and rapport building, in addition to information exchange. Furthermore, a seven‐step behavioral sequence underlying the interactions and six paramount hindrances were identified. This research contributes to the existing literature on host‐guest interactions by generating granular and holistic insights into pre‐tour interactions and offering valuable guidance for optimizing guide services
Advertising · Business · Geography · Group buying · Group dynamic · Sociology · Tourism · Customer Service Quality and Loyalty · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Psychology · Social Psychology · Marketing
Social Situations
Value co-creation in service logic
Abstraction and interpretation during the qualitative content analysis process
Grounded theory research
A Motivated Action Theory Account of Goal Orientation.
Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality, and Value
Host-tourist interaction, revisit intention and memorable tourism experience through relationship quality and perceived service quality in ecotourism
Co-creating emotional value in a guided tour experience
Tour leader likeability and tourist citizenship behaviours
Cannot wait to share? An exploration of tourists’ sharing behavior during the ‘traveling to the site’ stage
Broken windows in tourism
Perceived organizational support and well‐being of tour guides
Yuanfen and traveling neo‐tribes
The role of tour‐operators as intermediaries of tourists' preferences for corporate social responsibility
Disaster recovery responses of transnational tour operators to the Indian Ocean tsunami
The First Impression Matters
Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being
The Digital Divide Is Aging
Host perceptions of tourism
Impacts of Covid-19 on local tour guides
Changing roles of tour guides
A GIS-based time-geographic approach of studying individual activities and interactions in a hybrid physical–virtual space
Cultural competence for tour leaders
An exploratory investigation into the roles of the nature-based tour leader
Case study on tour guiding
Critical service features in group package tour
Outbound tourists’ selection criteria for choosing all-inclusive package tours
Going somewhere or for someone? The Sense of Human Place Scale (SHPS) in Chinese rural tourism
We are in the same boat
Emotional labor of the tour leaders
Why do people share their travel experiences on social media
Guides' handling of multiple roles in interactions with tourists
Facilitating self-development
The changing face of the tour guide
Farm tourism in New Zealand
Exploring social interactions of backpackers
Tourist development and host–guest interaction
Information technology in everyday and vacation contexts
The guided tour a sociological approach
Tourist-guide interaction
Contextualizing reliability and validity in qualitative research
The influence of social support from intermediary organizations on innovativeness and subjective happiness in community-based tourism
The tourist guide
Tour Guides as Creators of Empathy
Interaction Ritual Chains
Do Relationship Marketing Constructs Enhance Consumer Retention? An Empirical Study Within the Hotel Industry
Social Behavior as Exchange
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |