Does a Strict Focus on the Positive Really Satisfy Tourists?
Travelers seek out new destinations for a variety of reasons, but it goes without saying that all of them want a positive experience out of getting to the new place. How to define what is "positive," however, may vary hugely from individual to individual. For tour guides who are hired by travelers to assist them with exploring the new destination, catering to what the travelers have in mind for a positive experience is certainly needed to ensure the travelers' satisfaction from joining a tour. But finding out exactly how the positive experience can be had for each individual is no easy matter.
For some tour guides, the answer tends to be deceptively simplistic. They want to avoid anything that can possibly in anyway be contrived by any traveler as negative in any way. Some of their efforts can seem to be no-brainers: no talks of religion or politics, no asking of personal questions, and deflect questions on sensitive cultural topics. The tours, for them, should be very narrowly focused on things that are very visible: delicious food, beautiful scenery, as well as magnificent architecture of both the historical and modern kinds. By sticking to the set routes, they avoid the politically incorrect.
Surely many tourists would like to do such sightseeing activities, but many people go to new destinations for curiosities beyond merely what the place looks like. They want to, in their own ways, connect with the local people and culture at a deeper level, in whatever short periods of time that they spend at the destination. To do so, to simply get people to follow a superficial sightseeing itinerary is just not enough. They want to talk to locals, go off the beaten path, and see the "real" places that are not designed to cater to the whims and sensitivities of travelers but are firmly rooted in local life.
To have such non-touristic experience is often accompanied by what can only be termed unpleasant experiences. To know what locals really think rather than trained to say to tourists, travelers necessarily get into some uncomfortable conversations that can potentially end up in outright verbal conflicts. And to see how locals really live, the travelers need to come face to face with social problems, whether they are crime, poverty, social injustice, or economic inequality. It goes without saying that they are not sights that mainstream tour guides, agencies, and government authorities would want travelers to explore.
Still, for the adventurous travelers, seeing visibly negative sides of the local society can themselves be positive experiences. By doing and saying things that are not politically correct and touching upon sensitive issues that most locals and travelers would want to avoid discussing with travelers, they are able to understand their travel destinations at a level not possible if they were simply going around eating local food, taking pictures of beautiful scenery, and strictly following set tour routes. They satisfy themselves with the knowledge that they at least tried to see the destination as a society in limited ways.
Hence, for the tour guides to define what is "positive" for travelers can be both condescending and counterproductive for business. It is condescending because the act assumes that the tour guide knows exactly what the travelers want, how they think about travel, and what they should think about the particular destination they are participating in a tour for. And it is counterproductive because the condescension only helps to deter other travelers from join the tours. The tours may be perfectly satisfactory and even enjoyable, but travelers likely wanted more that they cannot get out of simply sightseeing.
A better alternative for tour guides is to simply indulge in whatever curiosity that travelers may have. While it is not a good idea to actively initiate conversations with travelers on sensitive topics like religion and politics, if travelers decide that those are things they want to talk and find out more about, it makes more sense for tour guides to deflect the questions but to tackle them head-on. Tour guides should be trained to provide not just good food and sights, but deep insights on social idiosyncrasies and local mentalities, which can be even more different and open-opening for the travelers.
To go a step even further, tour guides should be willing and ready to always customize tours and conversations based on the interests of the travelers on the tours. If people are bored by the prospect of having bland conversations about how welcoming the locals are, then it makes sense to provide some "real talk" on how locals really live. By heading off the spruced-up tourist spots, tour guides can really provide travelers with a sense of connection with locals even limited and safe ways. The scenes may be chaotic, jumbled, and all around "negative," but for the travelers, the "negatives" they saw may be the most satisfying parts of their trips.
For some tour guides, the answer tends to be deceptively simplistic. They want to avoid anything that can possibly in anyway be contrived by any traveler as negative in any way. Some of their efforts can seem to be no-brainers: no talks of religion or politics, no asking of personal questions, and deflect questions on sensitive cultural topics. The tours, for them, should be very narrowly focused on things that are very visible: delicious food, beautiful scenery, as well as magnificent architecture of both the historical and modern kinds. By sticking to the set routes, they avoid the politically incorrect.
Surely many tourists would like to do such sightseeing activities, but many people go to new destinations for curiosities beyond merely what the place looks like. They want to, in their own ways, connect with the local people and culture at a deeper level, in whatever short periods of time that they spend at the destination. To do so, to simply get people to follow a superficial sightseeing itinerary is just not enough. They want to talk to locals, go off the beaten path, and see the "real" places that are not designed to cater to the whims and sensitivities of travelers but are firmly rooted in local life.
To have such non-touristic experience is often accompanied by what can only be termed unpleasant experiences. To know what locals really think rather than trained to say to tourists, travelers necessarily get into some uncomfortable conversations that can potentially end up in outright verbal conflicts. And to see how locals really live, the travelers need to come face to face with social problems, whether they are crime, poverty, social injustice, or economic inequality. It goes without saying that they are not sights that mainstream tour guides, agencies, and government authorities would want travelers to explore.
Still, for the adventurous travelers, seeing visibly negative sides of the local society can themselves be positive experiences. By doing and saying things that are not politically correct and touching upon sensitive issues that most locals and travelers would want to avoid discussing with travelers, they are able to understand their travel destinations at a level not possible if they were simply going around eating local food, taking pictures of beautiful scenery, and strictly following set tour routes. They satisfy themselves with the knowledge that they at least tried to see the destination as a society in limited ways.
Hence, for the tour guides to define what is "positive" for travelers can be both condescending and counterproductive for business. It is condescending because the act assumes that the tour guide knows exactly what the travelers want, how they think about travel, and what they should think about the particular destination they are participating in a tour for. And it is counterproductive because the condescension only helps to deter other travelers from join the tours. The tours may be perfectly satisfactory and even enjoyable, but travelers likely wanted more that they cannot get out of simply sightseeing.
A better alternative for tour guides is to simply indulge in whatever curiosity that travelers may have. While it is not a good idea to actively initiate conversations with travelers on sensitive topics like religion and politics, if travelers decide that those are things they want to talk and find out more about, it makes more sense for tour guides to deflect the questions but to tackle them head-on. Tour guides should be trained to provide not just good food and sights, but deep insights on social idiosyncrasies and local mentalities, which can be even more different and open-opening for the travelers.
To go a step even further, tour guides should be willing and ready to always customize tours and conversations based on the interests of the travelers on the tours. If people are bored by the prospect of having bland conversations about how welcoming the locals are, then it makes sense to provide some "real talk" on how locals really live. By heading off the spruced-up tourist spots, tour guides can really provide travelers with a sense of connection with locals even limited and safe ways. The scenes may be chaotic, jumbled, and all around "negative," but for the travelers, the "negatives" they saw may be the most satisfying parts of their trips.
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