Guiding: a comprehensive literature review

Over the last few decades, researchers have shown a heightened interest in guiding related to tour guide performances, guided tours, and the relationship between guides and tourists, leading to a plethora of studies published in this field. The aim of this study is to summarise and analyse the development of this field of tourism research between 2000 and 2017. A systematic content analysis of 80 peer-reviewed academic papers in JCR journals was carried out in order to complement and extend the results reported in previous research. Several variables related to research approaches were examined. The results show that research on guiding takes a predominantly qualitative approach, and mainly focuses on the role and performance of local guides. This differs from previous research which has predominantly focused on the role of tour leader. The conclusions of the study suggest areas within guiding studies yet to be explored, and which could be examined in future studies.