Literary Tourism: The New Challenges Facing the Certified Tourist Guide

Abstract

Tourist Guides are one of the key players in the Travel Industry. Through their cultural knowledge and communication and relational skills, they can elevate tourists’ visits to a level of experience and knowledge. Literary tourism is a growing trend in tourism activity that demands new skills from the Tourist Guides. They are asked to be cultural facilitators/mediators and interpreters of the work and of the tourist site, contributing to the tourist experience, giving importance to the writer, his legacy, and the host community. In this way we consider that it is also in this type of tourism that the challenges faced by the tourist guide are felt. Based on these assumptions, this study aims to present the perception of the tourist guide on the impacts of literary tourism in their activity, namely identifying the needs for training and adaptation of the tourist guide to meet the needs of this product and contribute to the enhancement and promotion of literary heritage. The analysis of the results obtained from a questionnaire carried out to a significant sample of Tourist Guides allows us to state, as tourism players, that the Tourist Guides recognize the importance of the dissemination and promotion of literary tourism and are interested in expanding their knowledge and adapting their practises to meet the needs of this type of tourism.