It is expected that tourism industry is one of the fields that can boost female employment and therefore, can help redress the balance and empower women in Iran. Equal opportunities in employment assist them for empowerment. Being a tour guide is one of these opportunities, although most jobs are created elsewhere, e.g. hotels and restaurants. But for this thesis, tour guides are important from two aspects: first, it is a challenging condition that you find out what you are capable of and second; it is not an extension of traditional domestic roles, and it is a new role for women in a male-dominated job market.This study aims to investigate how female tour guides perceive their roles in the tourism industry and the elements of these perceptions among their family, colleagues, and tourists who could serve empowering or disempowering.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / This study compared job stressors between female and male Tour Leaders (TLs) operating in South America, mainly Peru and Bolivia. In 2017, 82 TLs were surveyed about their level of stress on 30 items representing four sources of job stress: job roles, nature of the job, tourists’ attitudes and behaviors, and external factors. Statistical tests determined that female TLs perceive higher levels of stress from sexual harassment, natural disasters, facilitating the tourists-locals interaction, having limited free time during trips and constant packing/unpacking. Male TLs reported higher levels of stress when tourists supersede their authority. These results indicate the need to amend policy and managerial guidelines to increase gender equity in the tour leading profession. / Revisión por pares

No description available.

The Diploma thesis is focused on creating a business plan for establishment of a portal for conducting tour guide services. The aim is to take advantage of the ever-growing trend in providing online tourism services. The first two chapters are devoted to theoretical knowledge and premises. First, we provide the general definition of tourism. The general characterization of tourism services follows together with a more detail account of tour guide work as such. The first part also includes information concerning internet portals and tourism trends for 2016. The second chapter deals with the business plan and its structure. The third part contains the actual business plan with all its essentials such as a description of the product and its functionality, potential markets, a competition analysis, a marketing strategy, an implementation plan and a financial plan.

Forbidden City is a 3D virtual tour of an ancient Chinese architectural masterpiece, first of the world's top five palaces -The Imperial Palace in Beijing, China. This travel guide is designed to give you useful information that will greatly enhance your experience, and it will bring you into an immersive virtual world by using the device of the HTC VIVE rather than static texts and images. This 3D guide integrates cultural and historical information, which is practical and informative. You can get a comprehensive understanding of the palace history, architectural characteristics and Chinese culture through interaction within the immersive experience. Forbidden City travel guide 3D virtual tour provides all the necessary functions and information for planning a visit to the Forbidden Cty palace in the capital of Beijing, China. With the tour guide character "Doctor Guider" within this experience/game, your tour to this Forbidden City will be purposeful and fun. / Master of Fine Arts / This thesis presents the process of designing an immersive virtual reality of Forbidden City using the HTC VIVE. It is a 3-dimensional virtual tour of an ancient Chinese architectural masterpiece, first of the world’s top five palaces -The Imperial Palace in Beijing, China. The history of Forbidden City, the graphic design, 3-dimensional sculptures, 3-dimensional architecture moels and HTC intergrate system are described in detail. This travel guide aims to greatly enhance your experience. Rather than static texts and images, it will bring you into an immersive virtual world by using the device of the HTC VIVE. Forbidden City travel guide 3D virtual tour provides all the necessary functions and information for planning a visit to the Forbidden Cty palace in the capital of Beijing, China. With the tour guide character “Doctor Guider” within this experience / game, your tour to this Forbidden City will be purposeful and fun. You can get a comprehensive understanding of the palace history, architectural characteristics and Chinese culture through interaction within the immersive experience.

Le tourisme est un secteur économique en plein développement et tend à intégrer, dans ses stratégies, la durabilité des sites. Le développement durable, visant l’amélioration de la qualité de vie de tous sans provoquer de résultats écologiques et socioculturels indésirables, pénètre peu à peu les sites touristiques. Or, les visites touristiques font intervenir un acteur clé, le guide touristique. Personne assurant le contact entre l’offre et la demande, il occupe une fonction essentielle pour assurer l’avancée du tourisme dans une direction durable. Face à l’absence de recherche en ce domaine, nous avons choisi d’axer la nôtre sur cette problématique, à travers une étude de cas en Chine. Trois objectifs de recherche ont alors été identifiés : comprendre le développement durable et les relations que celui-ci noue avec le tourisme ; explorer les rôles et les responsabilités des guides touristiques et leurs implications dans la promotion de la durabilité ; examiner les raisons pour lesquelles les guides touristiques exercent concrètement leurs fonctions en vue de soutenir le développement du tourisme durable. Suite à la revue de littérature et à l’application de la triangulation des méthodes dans cette thèse - les entretiens, l’observation participante et l’enquête par questionnaire -, nous recommandons d’orienter les pratiques de l’industrie touristique vers un développement sain et durable, en les hiérarchisant : 1) Perfectionner la certification, améliorer la formation, accroître le contrôle des guides touristiques ; 2) Promouvoir les fonctions de la Guilde des guides touristiques ; 3) Améliorer les conditions de travail des guides et renforcer l’éducation au développement durable auprès de tous les acteurs de cette industrie. / Tourism is a booming economic sector that tends to incorporate the sustainable sites into its strategies. Sustainable development, which in the strategy to improve the quality of life for all without causing adverse environmental and socio-cultural outcome, gradually come into sight. However, the tour guide plays a key role in the tourism industry. As a person who assures the contact between supply and demand, it has an essential function for the advancement of tourism in a sustainable direction. Given the absence of research in this area, we chose to focus ours on this issue based on a case study in China. Three research objectives were then identified: Understanding Sustainable Development and the relationships with tourism; exploring the roles and responsibilities of tour guides and their involvement in promoting sustainability; examining why the tour guides actually exercise their functions in order to support the development of sustainable tourism. After the literature review and application of triangulation methods in this thesis - interviews, participant observation and questionnaire survey -, we recommend to orient the practices in the tourism industry towards a healthy and sustainable development in a hierarchical structure: (1) Ameliorate the certification, optimize the training program, strengthen the control of tourist guides; (2) Promote the functions of the Guild of tour guides; (3) Improve the working conditions of guides and reinforce the education for sustainable development in this industry.

Despite the abundance of karst terrains and the important role they play in a wide variety of roles including supplying freshwater drinking supplies, no single, comprehensive study investigates the role of informal education for the improved understanding and protection of the terrains. Commonly overlooked anthropogenic karst disturbances partially occur because of the poor dissemination of scientific information to the general populace and policymakers and budgetary and time constraints of municipalities, thus generating a need to use informal education to fill these shortcomings. The purpose of this study was to: 1) establish the status of and quantify the amount of karst-related informal education efforts pursued in the United States and abroad, 2) reveal if any differences in the nature of educational material exist with ownership (i.e. private vs. governmental) at karst attractions, and 3) evaluate the outcomes of increasing the educational karst material presented to show cave visitors through guided tours. The results of this study reveal that karst education is overall lacking in the United States and internationally, the focus of most recent educational endeavors is bats, and educational programs for children far outnumber the quantity of programs available to adult learners. This research also reveals that disconnects between the actuality of current show cave program characteristics and tour guide and manager opinions about informal karst education are abundant. Furthermore, although differences exist in the nature of the educational material presented to visitors during guided tours, the quality and quantity of material at both privately- and publicly-owned facilities is often significantly lacking. Yet, through field-based research this research proves minimal changes to tour content and guide re-training, can result in successfully increasing visitor karst knowledge while simultaneously maintaining the entertainment value of show cave operations.

Thesis exhamines the role and purpose of lie in post-truth age in the life of individual person as well as in the life of sociaty. The action oscillates between performance and happening, through these media author and in the same time tour-guide presents his own and his family and friends lifes.

<p>Tуристички водичи су веома важни у туристичкој индустрији. Неретко управо од њихових перформанси зависи и целокупно туристичко задовољство (и&nbsp; дестинацијом и комплетним пакет аранжманом). У литератури има мало радова, посебно у Србији,&nbsp; који се баве повезивањем перформанси туристичког водича и задовољством туриста&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; посебно их је мало у области културног туризма. Важан теоријски допринос ове дисертације је&nbsp; у вези са&nbsp; препознавањем значаја перформанси које су кључне код туристичког водича како би он својим делањем задовољио туристичке потребе. За потребе дисертације урађено је истраживање на узорку од 255 туриста из земље и&nbsp; иностранства&nbsp; при њиховим посетама&nbsp; Нишу, Новом Саду и Београду, на&nbsp; просторима који предствљају&nbsp; важне центре&nbsp; културног туризма&nbsp; у Србији и то на следећим локалитетима:&nbsp; музеји, галерије&nbsp; и&nbsp; градска језгра.&nbsp; У&nbsp; вези са задовољством туристичким услугама,потврђена&nbsp; је&nbsp; хипотеза&nbsp; која&nbsp; је&nbsp;&nbsp; постављена као основа&nbsp; исраживања, а која гласи: перформансе туристичког водича дикретно утичу на&nbsp; степен задовољства туриста. Потврђене су и следеће хипотезе: Туристички водич може својим адекватним перформансама да лошу&nbsp;дестинацију подигне на виши ниво и обратно&nbsp; је такође потврђена;&nbsp; Задовољство&nbsp;туриста услугама туристичког&nbsp; водича директно утиче на задовољство целокупним пакет аранжманом&nbsp; је такође потврђена;&nbsp; Задовољство туриста неком туром зависи и од степена задовољства услугама туристичког водича и од задовољства&nbsp; перформансама водича; Испитаници различитих социо-демографских&nbsp; карактеристика се разликују према степену њиховог задовољства услугама&nbsp; (перформансама) туристичког водича;&nbsp; Задовољство&nbsp; туриста перформансама туристичког&nbsp; водича разликује се код људи са различитом учесталости&nbsp; путовања;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Постоје одређене перфомансе туристичког водича које су универзалне и високо рангиране без обзира на социо-демографске особине испитаника.&nbsp; Једина хипотеза која се одбацује гласила је:&nbsp; Висина месечних примања утиче на задовољство туриста перформансама водича и свеукупно задовољство&nbsp; туристичким аранжманом. Практични допринос овог рада огледа се у&nbsp; препознавању значаја свих&nbsp; перформанси туристичког водича,&nbsp; а које&nbsp; ће помоћи да се туристи са путовања враћају задовољнији.</p> / <p>Turistički vodiči su veoma važni u turističkoj industriji. Neretko upravo od njihovih performansi zavisi i celokupno turističko zadovoljstvo (i&nbsp; destinacijom i kompletnim paket aranžmanom). U literaturi ima malo radova, posebno u Srbiji,&nbsp; koji se bave povezivanjem performansi turističkog vodiča i zadovoljstvom turista&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; posebno ih je malo u oblasti kulturnog turizma. Važan teorijski doprinos ove disertacije je&nbsp; u vezi sa&nbsp; prepoznavanjem značaja performansi koje su ključne kod turističkog vodiča kako bi on svojim delanjem zadovoljio turističke potrebe. Za potrebe disertacije urađeno je istraživanje na uzorku od 255 turista iz zemlje i&nbsp; inostranstva&nbsp; pri njihovim posetama&nbsp; Nišu, Novom Sadu i Beogradu, na&nbsp; prostorima koji predstvljaju&nbsp; važne centre&nbsp; kulturnog turizma&nbsp; u Srbiji i to na sledećim lokalitetima:&nbsp; muzeji, galerije&nbsp; i&nbsp; gradska jezgra.&nbsp; U&nbsp; vezi sa zadovoljstvom turističkim uslugama,potvrđena&nbsp; je&nbsp; hipoteza&nbsp; koja&nbsp; je&nbsp;&nbsp; postavljena kao osnova&nbsp; israživanja, a koja glasi: performanse turističkog vodiča dikretno utiču na&nbsp; stepen zadovoljstva turista. Potvrđene su i sledeće hipoteze: Turistički vodič može svojim adekvatnim performansama da lošu&nbsp;destinaciju podigne na viši nivo i obratno&nbsp; je takođe potvrđena;&nbsp; Zadovoljstvo&nbsp;turista uslugama turističkog&nbsp; vodiča direktno utiče na zadovoljstvo celokupnim paket aranžmanom&nbsp; je takođe potvrđena;&nbsp; Zadovoljstvo turista nekom turom zavisi i od stepena zadovoljstva uslugama turističkog vodiča i od zadovoljstva&nbsp; performansama vodiča; Ispitanici različitih socio-demografskih&nbsp; karakteristika se razlikuju prema stepenu njihovog zadovoljstva uslugama&nbsp; (performansama) turističkog vodiča;&nbsp; Zadovoljstvo&nbsp; turista performansama turističkog&nbsp; vodiča razlikuje se kod ljudi sa različitom učestalosti&nbsp; putovanja;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Postoje određene perfomanse turističkog vodiča koje su univerzalne i visoko rangirane bez obzira na socio-demografske osobine ispitanika.&nbsp; Jedina hipoteza koja se odbacuje glasila je:&nbsp; Visina mesečnih primanja utiče na zadovoljstvo turista performansama vodiča i sveukupno zadovoljstvo&nbsp; turističkim aranžmanom. Praktični doprinos ovog rada ogleda se u&nbsp; prepoznavanju značaja svih&nbsp; performansi turističkog vodiča,&nbsp; a koje&nbsp; će pomoći da se turisti sa putovanja vraćaju zadovoljniji.</p> / <p>Tour guides are very important in tourism industry. It is not the rare case that their performance determines the overall tourist satisfaction (both in terms of destination and package tour). There is very little paperwork, especially from the field of cultural tourism in Serbia that deal with the link between the tour guides‟ performances and tourists‟ satisfaction. The important theoretical contribution this&nbsp; dissertation&nbsp; has relates to the identifying the significance of the tour guides‟ performances that seem &nbsp; to be crucial for making their tourists satisfied. For this purpose, the research was conducted that included 255 Serbian and foreign tourists visiting Ni&scaron;, Novi Sad and Belgrade-&nbsp; the places that represent important centers of cultural tourism in Serbia and museums, galleries and downtown areas there. When it comes to the&nbsp; satisfaction with the tourist services, the hypothesis that has been proposed as a starting point for this research has been confirmed and it says that the tour guides‟ performances are directly related to the level of tourists‟ satisfaction. The following hypothesis have been confirmed as well: A tour guide with adequate performances is&nbsp; able to elevate a bad destination as well as the hypothesis that claims opposite; The hypothesis that states that tourists‟ satisfaction with tour guides‟ services is directly related to the overall satisfaction with the complete package tour is also confirmed; The tourists‟ satisfaction with the tour depends on the level of satisfaction with the tour guides‟ services as well as their performances; Interviewees with different socio- demographic characteristics differ in terms of the level of their satisfaction with tour guides‟ services (performances); The satisfaction with tour guides‟ performances varies depending on the travel frequency of interviewees; There are certain tour guides performances that seem to be universal and highly ranked no matter what socio-demographic characteristics of the interviewees are. The only hypothesis that&nbsp; is not confirmed states: The monthly income influences tourists‟ satisfaction with tour guides‟ performances and overall satisfaction with the package tour. Practical contribution of this thesis reflects the importance of identifying all the tour guides‟ performances that will help the tourists be more satisfied after they get home.</p>

Kontextmedvetenhet kan användas i turistguide applikationer för att bidra användare med information och tjänster. Majoriteten av turistguide applikationer utvecklas vanligtvis för utbildnings eller historiska ändamål. Den här studien presenterar en konceptvalidering av den opublicerade ljuvandrings applikationen "SoundTracker", i syfte att förbättra den. Den nya "SoundTracker" prototypen inriktar sig inte på utbildnings eller historiska ändamål, utan den är inriktad på inspelning, uppspelning, och delning av personliga ljudvandringar med vänner och familj. Konceptvalideringen är begränsad av de definierade forskningsfrågorna i den här uppsatsen. Det handlar i korta drag om en förbättring av noggranheten på de inlästa GPS koordinaterna från en användares position, för att förse användaren med en trevlig användarupplevelse. Dessutom är grafiska användargränssnittet av den originala prototypen förbättrat, och testat genom webb enkäter. Vad gäller delnings funktionaliteten, en test applikation är skapad för att hitta essentiella aspekter som behöver tas hänsyn till i den nya "SoundTracker" prototypen när en användare vill dela ett ljudspår med vänner och familj. Test applikationen testas baserat på samlade svar genom en semi strukturerad interview på människor i åldersgruppen 20-30 år.De erhållna resultaten indikerar på att genom användning av Kalman filter, förbättras noggrannheten på användarens position, vilket resulterar i en ljudvandring med mindre avvikelser jämfört med en GPS-sensor. Vad gäller det förbättrade grafiska användargränssnittet, det var enklare för användarna att förstå den förbättrade prototypen såväl som navigera igenom den, än fallet med den originala prototypen. Användarna finner det även intressant när en delningsfunktion implementeras med designen som diskuteras i det här arbetet. / Context-awareness can be used in tour guide applications in order to provide users with information and services. The majority of tour guide applications are usually developed for educational or historical review purposes. This paper presents a proof-of-concept of the unpublished audio tour guide application, “SoundTracker”, with the aim of improving it. The new “SoundTracker” prototype does not aim for educational or historical review purposes, instead it is aimed for recording, listening and sharing personal audio tour guides with friends and family. The proof-of-concept is limited by the defined research questions found in this paper. In summary, the accuracy of the read-in GPS coordinates of a user’s position is enhanced with Kalman filter, to give an enjoyable user experience. Additionally, the graphical user interface of the original prototype is improved and tested through web-surveys. As for the sharing functionality, a test application is created in order to find what necessary aspects need to be considered in the new "SoundTracker" prototype when a user wants to share a sound-walk with friends and family. The test application is tested based on responses obtained through a semi-structured interview from people in the age of 20-30 years.The obtained results indicate that, with use of Kalman filter, the location accuracy of the user is enhanced, which results in a sound-walk with less deviations compared to location accuracy of only GPS-sensor. Regarding the improved graphical user interface, users found the new "SoundTracker" prototype easier to understand, as well as to navigate through it, than the case in the original prototype. Users also find it interesting when a sharing function is implemented with the design that is discussed in this work.