Tour Guide - A mirror of Tourism Industry

Khuman *

Most of the people mentioned "TRAVELLING" is one of their hobbies. There is an increase in tourism activities in recent times across the world. Travellers are always looking for safe destinations so that they can enjoy and experience their holiday hassle free. Manipur with its strong golden history, eye-catching landscapes, multi-colour tradition and vibrant culture make the place a must visit holiday destination.

Holiday depends upon how a tourist plan and organize the trip. Here comes the importance of a TOUR GUIDE / TOURIST GUIDE. The role of a TOUR GUIDE is very important to deliver a visitor satisfaction service at any point of time. Some of the important roles of a tourist guide are describing below:-

A tour guide role covers many important components namely social, communicative, interactional and instrumental. The re-visit of a tourist at a particular destination depends upon the quality of the service delivered by a tour guide / tourist guide.

o SOCIAL Component - The social component relates to morale and structure of the tourists. There is a very good opportunity between the tourist and the tour guide for exchanging culture and other resourceful information.

o INTERACTIONAL Component - It means to act as an interpreter or mediator between the tourists and the local people.

o COMMUNICATIVE Component - Communication is one of the main keys for a tour guide. The knowledge and information of the tour guide for a tourist destination as well as the ability of communicate with the tourists.

o INSTRUMENTAL Component - This component covers planning, organizing, conducting and controlling for the smooth conduction of tour.

It can be concluded that one of the main important roles of a Tour Guide is in Tourism Destination Promotion after considering all the above components. A research has been conducted to understand the value and effectiveness of Tour Guide Service in Manipur.

From the study it can be concluded that not only the local people; many domestic and foreign visitors from various countries took the Guided Service to understand the spots. The explanation about the historical background, culture significances and other related information of the destination and responding to their questions boost the interest and learning experience of the visitors.

The creative interpretation in storytelling by the guides encourages and motivates tourists. The leadership quality, interpretation skill and their level of education as well as knowledge are main tools in building and development of destination image. The destination image can be improved and developed based on the relationship between the performance of the guides and tourist satisfaction.

It is very important to analyze and implement the feedback or testimonial provided by the tourist for future improvement about the service and destination. It is very must to establish a positive attitude towards the service offered. Tour Guides / Tourist Guides are organizers, educators, interpreters, pathfinders and promoters.

For all these roles performed by a Tour Guide / Tourist Guide it is worth to describe them as a "Mirror of the Tourism Industry". There is a high demand for well-trained and very professional Tour Guides / Tourist Guides in many destinations so an individual can develop a career in travel & tourism industry.

Interested individual can opt for Certificate, Diploma, Graduate and Post-Graduate courses to develop knowledge and required skills. Some general attributes of a Tour Guide are well groomed (appearance and uniformity), pleasing personality with effective communication skills and knowledgeable.

Each and every responsibility of a tour guide will help in keeping the tourist happy, comfortable and satisfied while exploring various places of tourist interest. In Manipur, there are many full-time and freelance tour guides.

It is also suggested that to make the profession more organized the state authority either private company or government needs to recognize and issue professional Certificate for Tour Guides / Tourist Guides. The state will be a hotspot tourist destination in the times to come so it is mandatory to provide well-trained and very professional tour guides to the tourists.