EVALUATING TOURIST SATISFACTION IN ACCORDANCE TO TOUR GUIDES PERFORMANCE: HERITAGE GUIDED TOURS IN EGYPT

Abstract

Tourism is one of the top priorities for many countries, because of its contribution to economy in terms of foreign exchange earnings, creation of employment opportunities and promoting international understanding. Furthermore, Cultural heritage tourism has become an increasingly important factor for tourist destinations, and cultural tourist as the one who is interested in experiencing the culture of the destination spends money, time and other resources on a trip or visit to receive an experience that provides psychological benefits. Happy and satisfied customers are more likely to return and more likely to say positive things about the service they have experienced. If tour guiding service is a core component of heritage tour, then the tour guides (TGs) as being a frontline employee in the tourism industry play an important role in shaping tourist experience in a destination. This study evaluates the relationship between tour guide (TG) performance and tourist’s satisfaction in terms of psychological, spiritual and practical content during heritage guided tours in Egypt. A questionnaire was distributed among 200 tourists of different nationalities. Results derived from the respondents showed that (TG) performance affects tourist experience. For a satisfied tourist transmits his/her positive experience (word of mouth) to third persons as well as repeating his/her visit. Finally the study ends up by a set of recommendations for TGs to consistently emphasize a creative approach in order to maintain high standards of TG performance.