Professional competence development of heritage guides

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the critical issues regarding heritage guides’ professional competence development in Macao – a prominent tourist destination – by analysing the current competence development system. The data is collected through semi-structured interviews with professional heritage guides and trainers who lead the guide training programme in Macao. Additionally, official documents and previous research on related topics are reviewed. The study found that the guides, with experience ranging from 2 to 46 years, enhance their professional competence through both formal and informal processes. Three significant factors that impact their competence development are intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and constraints. Based on the findings, practical approaches are suggested for developing professional competence by taking advantage of the opportunities available in Macao. The study also proposes solutions to address the shortcomings and improve the system.

KEYWORDS:

• Heritage guides
• professional competence
• heritage interpretation
• guide training
• Macao

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xinyi Jiang

Xinyi Jiang (Linda) graduated from her master's degree at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, specialising in the field of Cultural Studies. She did her bachelor degree in Cultural and Heritage Management at Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM). She is enthusiastic about intercultural communication, socio-cultural discussions and the possibilities to explore both European and Chinese contexts. In addition, she is devoted to finding solutions to existing socio-cultural concerns in the broader cultural sphere through critical and reflective thinking. Her research interest is the user engagement issue in cultural heritage, cultural management, policy-making, and cultural dissemination.

Sharif Shams Imon

Sharif Shams Imon is the President of ICOMOS Bangladesh. He has published research papers and book chapters on cultural and heritage management and heritage tourism and co-authored three training manuals for heritage professionals, one of which has been translated into seven languages. Dr Imon has conducted capacity-building training programmes for heritage and tourism professionals and administrators in 16 countries and presented papers on heritage and cultural tourism in universities and organisations internationally. He has been a consultant to UNESCO, UNESCAP and governments on World Heritage nomination and management, cultural tourism, tourism management and heritage interpretation projects. As an international expert in cultural heritage, Dr Imon regularly carries out World Heritage technical evaluation and monitoring missions internationally.

Zhaoyu Chen

Zhaoyu Chen (Vicky) is a Lecturer at the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao, China. She received her PhD in the School of Hotel & Tourism Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. Dr. Chen has had practical experience in both UNESCO Bangkok and UNESCO Beijing, assisting with the heritage related projects. Her research interests are cultural tourism, heritage conservation, event studies and destination marketing.