Abstract:

The purpose of the research carried out is to reveal the opinions of tourist guides who perform their professions in different regions of Turkey on specialization in the profession and their areas/types of expertise. At this point, the subject of specialization in the profession is a research field that has gained importance in the last 10 years but still has not gained the value/interest it deserves. Interview technique was used as the data collection method in the research, which was conducted as a case study, one of the qualitative research designs. Through a semi-structured interview form, 16 tourist guides were reached in March 2023. Purposeful sampling method, one of the non-random sampling methods, was used as the sampling method of the research. Descriptive analysis was made on the data obtained. As a result of the research, it was determined that almost all of the interviewees thought that specialization in the tourist guide profession is a necessity. Another research finding is that specialization should be shaped according to the country's values (touristic products) and visitor demand. In the conclusion part of the research, evaluations and suggestions are presented.

Keywords: