Abstract:

There is a limited number of studies in the tourism-related area that combine the image perceptions and general satisfaction of the destinations tourists visit and the assessments of the tourist guides accompanying them. The main objective of this study is to be able to reveal the impact of tourist guides who manage the tour in which they participate on their perceptions of professional qualification, their imagery and their satisfaction towards the destination. The findings from the study are expected to contribute to the explanation of the relationship between these variables. Using the theoretical and experimental studies in the field related to this purpose, a research model has been developed. In order to test the model, a survey of German tourists who participated in the Antalya city tour with the easy sampling method was carried out, 307 data were collected. The research results showed that tourist guides have a statistically meaningful relationship between their professional qualifications, the image of the perceived destination and overall satisfaction. The impact of the professional qualification of the tourist guide on tourist satisfaction is at a high level. In the cognitive dimension of the destination image, the 'social environment and possibilities' and in the emotional dimension, the 'animation' are the facts that have the most impact on the general tourist satisfaction.

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