Making friends with tourists before the group tour: A study of guide‐tourist pre‐tour interactions based on the social situation framework

Tour guides play a vital role in shaping service quality, destination image, and relationships with tourists. However, most research on guide‐tourist interactions focuses exclusively on the interactions during the tour, overlooking pre‐tour interactions. Using thematic content analysis, and based on the social situation framework, this study investigates pre‐tour interactions from the tour guide's perspective of guided group tours. The results unravel that pre‐tour interactions are motivated by both the intrinsic and extrinsic goals of tour guides, who act as not only hosts, but also travel stewards, “virtual stage” constructors, and even tourists' friends. The interactions mostly surround service promises, emotional care, and rapport building, in addition to information exchange. Furthermore, a seven‐step behavioral sequence underlying the interactions and six paramount hindrances were identified. This research contributes to the existing literature on host‐guest interactions by generating granular and holistic insights into pre‐tour interactions and offering valuable guidance for optimizing guide services.