To what extent do European tourist guide-training curricula include sustainability principles?

ABSTRACT

The present study examines the extent to which the topics of sustainability – considered innovative subjects in guiding – are included in guide training programmes in eight European countries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind in Europe. It is assumed that tourist guides have the unique opportunity to improve visitors’ knowledge, understanding and appreciation of a destination and thus contribute to sustainability. Data were collected from training institutions in Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, all participants of INNOGUIDE, a European Union-sponsored project. Analyses were conducted based on the programmes’ documentation and curricula. The programmes vary widely in their content. The issues of sustainability are not sufficiently integrated in tourist guide training programmes. There might be room for improvements of how tourist guides may contribute to visitors’ understanding of sustainability issues, both in the place visited and in general. Future research should replicate the present study employing more detailed investigation and larger samples, as well as study how tourist guide training is structured. Managerial consequences include improvements in guides’ training programmes; additional contributions of the study include criteria and indicators that may be applied in developing or improving such programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourist guides
• guide education
• sustainable development
• sustainability

Acknowledgements

Authors’ appreciation goes to the members of the INNOGUIDE research group who assisted in conducting the INNOGUIDE project and, in particular, the main part of the data collection: Orsolya Hoffmann and Eva Horwati, Kodolanyi Janos University of Applied Sciences, Hungary; Katrien Van Ginderachter; Tourism Flanders, Brussels, Belgium; Josefina Diez Pascual, Generalitat de Catalunya, Direcció general de Turisme, Barcelona, Spain; Marta Munte Fábregas, Turismo Sant Ignasi (ESADE-Universitat Ramon Llull), Barcelona, Spain; Gabriella Pappadà, CENTRO DI RICERCHE ECONOMICHE E SOCIALI, Rome, Italy; Vincent Zammit, Institute of Tourism Studies, St. Julian, Malta; Ilja Kok, Stichting NHTV Internationale hogeschool Breda, the Netheerlands; Marie-Pierre Parthenay, Centre de Culture Européenne, Nantes, France.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. On request, Wilja Siebe, Head of Training at the World Federation of Tourist Guide Association, on 8 July 2013 confirmed that this organisation does not include in its guide training the areas of interest that this research targets (Personal communication with Wilja Siebe, Vice President and Head of Training, World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations).

On request, Patrick Lehnes, Executive Director of Interpret Europe, wrote:

I myself and a number of members offer trainings for guides. I cannot speak for all, but I am sure that sustainability – or non-formal experiential learning – usually plays a role. Mostly such training for interpretive guiding is targeting guides at national parks, historic or archaeological sites or museums. But some of our members are also focusing on sustainable tourism and training tourist guides. (Personal communication with Patrick Lehnes, Executive Director of Interpret Europe – European Association for Heritage Interpretation e.V. www.interpret-europe.net)

As part of the review process of this manuscript, we gratefully received the following example of programmes and entrepreneurs that had successfully integrated sustainability concepts and tools in their training and practice: In connection to the Climate Summit in Copenhagen 2009, The Tourist Guide Diploma Programme at Roskilde University, Denmark, entered a project named “The instructive environment experience” http://www.miljooplevelser.dk/upl/8881/Hvemervi.pdf and here businesses with green solution were matured to receive visitors and 20 authorised guides were trained to conduct “Environmental tours” in a continued educational programme. Both the project “The instructive environment experience” and the course on entrepreneurship have resulted in two guides setting up each their own business offering guided tours and other tourism experiences with a focus on sustainability. See http://www.greenenergytours.eu/ and http://www.greeninsight.dk/en/about-green-insight/who-are-we/

Communication attempts with the European Federation of Tourist Guide Association on 2 July and 20 September 2013 were not successful.

Additional information

Funding

This project was made possible by funding from the European Commission, Project No. 510487-LLP-1-2010-BE-LEONARDO-LMP.