Volume: 4  Number: 3  Page: 178–195

Improving the Quality of Tour Guiding: Towards a Model for Tour Guide Certification

Rosemary Black1 and Sam Ham2 1School of Environmental and Information Sciences, Charles Sturt University, PO Box 789, Albury, NSW 260, Australia and 2Center for International Training and Development and Outreach, Department of Conservation, Social Sciences, College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1139, USA

Professional certification is one mechanism used to assist in maintaining and improving professional or technical competence in numerous professions. It can potentially be used to assist in improving tour guide performance and raising and maintaining guiding standards. The aim of this research was to critically analyse the development of the Australian EcoGuide Program as a basis for building a model for tour guide certification as one mechanism of improving the quality of tour guiding. This was achieved through a review of the relevant literature, and by analysing the content, process, and elements of the EcoGuide Program, and selected industry stakeholders' views of the Program. A mixed methods approach was adopted and five data collection methods were used: a telephone survey, in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, on-site questionnaires and secondary data analysis. Data were collected from six research populations: nature/ecotour guides, nature-based tour operators, members of the EcoGuide Steering Committee, EcoGuide assessors, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources and Australian protected area managers. The results were triangulated to build an understanding of the content, elements, development process and stakeholders' views of the EcoGuide Program. The findings of this analysis are presented in a general model for tour guide certification.

Keywords: certification, tour guides, ecotourism, professionalism, tour guide performance

© 2005 R. Black and S. Ham

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