Tour guides, risk and trust: An analysis of trustworthiness in tour guides during travel disruptions

Abstract

Travel disruptions can incur real and perceived risks to tourists due to uncertainty, ambiguity and gaps in tacit knowledge. Tourism managers and stakeholders can reduce the threat of such risks through the introduction and development of trust between the tourists and the organisations and individuals they are in contact with. An established agent of risk reduction is the tour guide. Though the tourism context mitigates the relative importance of certain aspects of the tour guides’ role, these aspects necessarily remain in all circumstances, temporal and locational. The tour guide manages the visitor experience as a resulting from of travel disruptions and acts as an intermediary representing the interests of the tourist, the tourism organisation and the host community in the specific tourism context. From the visitor’s perspective, the tour guide acts as their intercultural mediator, and through the frequency of interactions, social capital can ensue, ultimately leading the tourist to develop trust in the tour guide. This research proposes a conceptual model identifying the key indicators of trustworthiness that inform the tourist’s overall trust in a tour guide during crises.