Towards enhancing Tour Guide professionalism in Tanzania through a Tour Guide Portal

Tourism is an important sector for the development of the economy of the country. It contributes directly and indirectly to Gross Domestic Product, employment generation and source of foreign currency. Tour guiding is one of the special ingredients for the growth of tourism in any nation. The professionalism of tour guides directly affects the tourist satisfaction and hence the growth of the sector. Several efforts have been done so far to enhance the professionalism of tour guides in Tanzania, however, there is no baseline information about this group which can be used as a basis for an enhancement of professionalism. Moreover, there are pieces of evidence of unprofessionalism conducts among tour guides. By using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this study elaborates the current practices of tour guides in Tanzania and how the development of tour guide portal will enhance the professionalism of tour guides. The findings have shown that there are many tour guides with different knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experiences. However, it is difficult to identify which guide is most suitable for a particular tourist destination or activity. Furthermore, most guides can communicate using at least one foreign language, however, the language proficiency levels need to be established. Although licensing and certification have been used in different places to enhance the professionalism of tour guides, user-generated contents from customers can complement these methodologies. This study concluded that a tour guide portal is an important tool for enhancing professionalism among tour guides through creating baseline information of tour guides in Tanzania, recognizing, registering, facilitating the license application as well as enabling feedback systems through user-generated contents from both, service providers and consumers of tourism.