Title: Tour guides as a supportive tool for the experiential image of Jordan's destination: a French tourists' perspective

Authors: Maher Odeh Falah Alshamaileh; Mohammad Abuhjeeleh; Ibrahim Harazneh; Hamzah Elrehail

Addresses: College of Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences, History and Islamic Civilization Department Tourism Guidance, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 503000, UAE ' Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Hotel Management Department, Yarmouk University, Irbid, 21163, Jordan ' Center of Training, Consulting and Community Communication, Training Department, Mutah University, Karak, 61710, Jordan ' Department of Leadership and Organizational Development, Abu Dhabi School of Management, Abu Dhabi, 51133, UAE

Abstract: Many researchers have noted the role of tour guide in improving the destination image in front of the tourists as they directly interact with the tourists. Tour guides as representatives for any destination play a vital role in supporting destinations' experiential image (EI), and they could be a successful service recovery tool for improving EI. The purpose of this paper is to assess the experiential image of Jordan as a destination and how this destination is perceived by the French tourists as well as the role played by tour guides as a supporting tool for the image of destinations. A structured questionnaire was distributed to the French tourists after they'd spent a few days in Jordan. The findings of this paper revealed that both hypotheses received empirical support. This study highlights the importance of tour guides in destination EI studies. The practical and managerial implications and future venues are discussed.

Keywords: destination image; service recovery; tour guides; EI; experiential image.

DOI: 10.1504/JGBA.2022.130418

Journal for Global Business Advancement, 2022 Vol.15 No.4, pp.488 - 504

Received: 12 Jun 2018
Accepted: 03 Apr 2019
Published online: 20 Apr 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article