Problems in the management system of Sichuan tour guide team

1. Introduction

The problem of tour guide service quality has become a "short board" in my country's tourism service quality. According to the barrel principle of management, a short board will reduce the water capacity of the entire barrel. The poor quality of tour guide services reduces the overall quality of my country's tourism services, which must be paid attention to and focused on research and solutions. Many domestic scholars and people in the industry have conducted a lot of useful research on this issue from the perspective of how to improve the quality of tour guides and strengthen the management of tour guides, and have put forward many valuable opinions; however, various undesirable issues currently appearing in the tourism market This phenomenon shows that there are still many problems in the management of tour guides in our country, and they have reached a level that requires great efforts to rectify them. The author believes that tour guide service quality management is a systematic project, and it is unfair to point the finger at tour guides alone; the root cause of tour guide service quality problems lies in the imbalance of interests between tour guides and their stakeholders, and the fundamental to adjusting the imbalanced relationship lies in reforming the management system. Improve institutional guarantees.

2. Definition of stakeholders in the tour guide business

1. Research on tourism stakeholders

Stakeholder theory originally originated from management science. It greatly challenges the "shareholder supremacy concept" that aims at maximizing shareholders' interests. It believes that an enterprise should be a stakeholder enterprise, and all stakeholders, including shareholders, have a certain amount of dedicated investment in the survival and development of the enterprise. For investment, they also share certain business risks of the enterprise or pay for the business activities of the enterprise, so they should have ownership of the enterprise. In the 1980s, the stakeholder theory that emphasized ethical issues in business management and the goal of sustainable development began to be introduced into the field of tourism research to solve the various confusions faced by the tourism industry at the end of the century, and derived the "tourism interest-related theory" "person" term. The World Tourism Organization General Assembly clearly used the term "stakeholder" in the "Global Tourism Ethics Code" adopted at its 13th session on October 1, 1999, providing a reference standard for the behavior of different stakeholders in tourism development. . At the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of "stakeholder" was introduced into the tourism academic circle in my country and began to be used in regional tourism planning practice. For example, Zhang Wei and Wu Bihu cooperated with the United Nations Urban Management Project in the tourism planning of Leshan City, Sichuan, and used stakeholder theory to construct A framework system that combines qualitative and quantitative aspects has made a new and useful attempt in tourism planning in my country. At present, domestic and foreign scholars’ research on tourism stakeholder issues mainly focuses on the following four aspects: the definition and classification of tourism stakeholders; stakeholder issues in tourism planning, management and marketing; tourism environmental ethics and sustainable development Stakeholder issues in community tourism and its collaboration. However, few scholars have applied it to research on quality management of tourism services and tour guide services.

The author searched the topics of "stakeholders" and "tourism" through China National Knowledge Infrastructure and found only: Xia Zancai (2003) in Jane Robson and Ian Robson ), based on the 12 types of stakeholders involved in tourism operators proposed by "Basic Map of Players"; Zheng Yongxian (2005) discussed the construction of core capabilities of travel agencies based on stakeholder value; Guo Lufang and Jin Huijun (2006) studied the balanced development mechanism of travel agencies and their core stakeholders; Jin Huijun (2005) ) analyzed the non-equilibrium relationship among the stakeholders of domestic tour groups and believed that tour guides, tourists, travel agencies, shoppers, tour guide service centers and tourism government departments constitute the direct stakeholders of current domestic tour groups. Among them, tour guides, travel agencies , shoppers and tourists are in the position of core stakeholders, while tour guide service centers and tourism government departments are in the position of dormant stakeholders; Xu Qitao and Huang Huangzhu (2007) proposed that to solve the current tour guide management problems prevalent in China, all stakeholders should be fully considered To realize the balanced development of their interests, we can establish a complete compensation and incentive mechanism for tour guides, introduce "silver-haired tour guides" to create a new image of tour guides, and give full play to the functions of tourism associations.

2. Definition and classification of tour guides and their stakeholders

According to Freeman’s definition, stakeholders refer to “any group that can affect the realization of the organization’s goals or be affected by the goals. or individual”. Based on this, the author constructed a basic map of stakeholders in the tour guide business (Figure 1), believing that tour guides, tourists, travel agencies, travel suppliers, coach drivers, tour guide service centers, tourism authorities, government departments, media organizations and the general public constitute tour guides business stakeholders, and divide them into core stakeholders, important stakeholders and peripheral stakeholders based on the urgency of realizing their interest requirements, their close relevance to tour guide business activities, and their influence or importance on the entire activity. who. Among them, core stakeholders are an indispensable group in the tour guide service process. They have a close stake in the tour guide and can even directly influence the survival and development of the tour guide. Important stakeholders have formed a relatively close relationship with tour guides, who are the main or even only objects of their supervision and services.

When tour guides perform their contracts normally, they may only appear as explicit contractors or supervisory and service subjects of tour guides; however, once their interest requirements are not met, or relevant decisions are not effectively implemented, they may It may jump from a dormant state to an active state, thus directly affecting the survival and development of tour guides. Peripheral stakeholders, tour guides are not the only objects they serve or supervise, but are just one of their many "transaction objects". From the tour guide's point of view, their importance is relatively low, the urgency of realizing their interest requirements is not strong, and their attention to them is also very limited. But in the long run, the sustainable development of the tour guide business cannot be separated from the support of these peripheral stakeholders.

3. Interest Imbalance: Analysis of the Root Causes of Tour Guide Service Quality Problems

On the surface, the problem of tour guide service quality is a problem of tourists’ experience, and tourists often blame it on the service of tour guides. Errors are believed to be caused by the lack of professional quality of the tour guides themselves and the moral misconduct of the tour guides in order to maximize their personal interests. In fact, although tour guides are the most important and direct subjects that provide services to tourists, the high relevance of tourism itself determines that the quality of tour guide services largely depends on the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of stakeholders, and depends on interests. The balanced relationship pattern of stakeholders means that under the premise of effective checks and balances, the comparison of strong and weak forces among the various stakeholders is roughly equal, so that the tilt of the interest relationships of each subject does not exceed the critical point allowed by their respective capabilities, and avoids the occurrence of Abnormal conflicts of interest that affect harmony.

Take the most criticized phenomenon of tour guides accepting kickbacks as an example. On the surface, it seems that the tour guides induce tourists to shop and add points privately in order to obtain high rebates. In fact, the tour guides are responsible for the low-price competition of travel agencies, which leads to the loss of profits. Pressure and risk of extrusion (Figure 2). Not only are tour guides unable to obtain due service remuneration from their employers after hard work, or the remuneration cannot even guarantee their basic living standards, but they have to bear a heavy cost burden for their employers before leaving the tour, which manifests itself in the form of paying to travel agencies. Pay varying "capitation fees" and pay affiliation fees and re-employment fees to the affiliated unit (main guidance and service center). During the process of picking up the group, the tour guide is also under pressure from the driver of the tour bus. If the tour guide does not enjoy the "fruits" with the driver or work hard to "make money", the driver will deliberately make things difficult for him at best, or he will encounter the incident of "dumping the group" at worst. , and most of the tourism complaints caused by this are borne by the tour guide alone. The unipolar propaganda of social public opinion has even caused tour guides to be labeled as "distrustful". From Table 1, we can clearly see that people’s understanding of tour guides is not optimistic.

Because tourists and tour guides in a weak position are unable to form an effective check and balance on the interests of strong entities, the benefits of non-performance by strong entities are far greater than the costs of performance. Therefore, in the case of incomplete contracts, each stakeholder uses its competitive resources to make profits, which makes the current relationship between the stakeholders of domestic tourism groups in my country obviously "unbalanced". Prominent manifestations include: hidden high rebates causing an imbalance in the income sources of relevant entities, abnormal remuneration structures causing an imbalance in the interest constraints of relevant entities, an imbalance in the revenue and expenditure distribution pattern between tour guide service centers, tour guides, and travel agencies, and an imbalance between tourism government departments and core stakeholders. There is an imbalance in interest protection, as well as a mismatch in roles and functional imbalances between the government and enterprises. The existence of this unbalanced relationship damages the long-term interests of all stakeholders, which will inevitably affect the orderly operation of the entire tourism market mechanism and hinder the sustainable development of the tourism industry, so it must be adjusted.

In order to truly adjust the unbalanced relationship between tour guides and their core stakeholders, we must trace the source, find the fundamental causes of the imbalance of power between strong and weak subjects, and prescribe the right medicine. The author believes that in terms of the current actual development of my country's tourism industry, the fundamental reasons for the existence of strong and weak subjects and the asymmetry in power between tour guides and their core stakeholders are mainly due to the immaturity of the tourism market and the inadequacies of relevant institutional arrangements. The lack, especially the absence or imperfection of systems to safeguard and protect the interests of weak subjects and to supervise and restrict the interests of strong subjects, directly results in weak subjects being in a passive position and lacking the leverage to compete with strong subjects. Therefore, in order to achieve a balance of interests for the relevant entities in the tour guide business and a fundamental improvement in the quality of tour guide services, it is necessary to improve the system guarantee.

4. System improvement: the fundamental guarantee for achieving a balance of interests and improving the quality of tour guide services

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In the interest pattern of the tour guide business, tourists are the core of the interest relationship. Without tourists, nothing would be possible. Therefore, the adjustment of unbalanced relationships and the improvement of corresponding systems should focus on improving tourist experience. To improve the quality of tour guide services, we should start from the perspective of tourists' perception, conduct quality control in three aspects before, during and after the event, and sort out the interest relationships of all parties by improving relevant systems to achieve a balance.

1. Get rid of the source and strictly enforce the admission system of the tour guide team China Paper Alliance

The low entry threshold has led to the rapid expansion of the tour guide team in our country and intensified competition in the industry (mainly referring to Mandarin tour guides) The direct reasons for the uneven quality and structural imbalance of tour guides. To optimize the tour guide team, we should first start from the source and reform the tour guide qualification examination system in order to realize the growth model of tour guides from quantitative expansion to qualitative improvement.

When university education in China shifts from elite education to mass education, the registration threshold for the tour guide qualification examination should be raised to a college degree, so as to achieve an overall improvement in the academic level and knowledge level of the tour guide team. For a small number of talents in short supply in the industry, such as compound tour guides and small tour guides, Language tour guides and expert part-time tour guides can be directly recruited without examination restrictions. In addition, in terms of the setting of examination subjects and the adjustment of examination content, it is necessary to combine the professional characteristics of tour guides and highlight the comprehensive qualities of candidates. The exam-centered one-test-for-life system should be abolished and the daily assessment of tour guides should be emphasized. Secondly, the training of tour guides should give full play to the enthusiasm of tourism colleges, weaken the intervention of tourism administrative organizations in tourism education, and play the guiding role of the qualification certificate examination rather than the decisive role. The training of tour guide talents in tourism colleges should also focus on comprehensive quality and professional ethics, rather than arranging curriculum and teaching progress around the passing rate of qualification examinations.

2. Strengthen the annual review and improve the assessment system for tour guides

The annual review can not only assess the daily behavior, moral quality, knowledge level and professional skills of the tour guides Making up for the occasional shortcomings of one-time exams, it can also serve as a spur to tour guides, prompting them to focus on continuous improvement in professional ethics, language knowledge, and service skills. Therefore, as the industry authority, we must implement this work in a practical manner, and cannot pass the assessment as long as the tour guide pays the fee in some areas. In order to avoid the annual review becoming a mere formality, the competent authorities should formulate specific and as quantitative assessment indicators as possible, based on the business assessment files of tour guides and the supervision and inspection results of the administrative department, and take strict and effective measures against those who fail the assessment. Measures may be taken, such as stopping the work of a tour guide, ordering correction within a time limit and re-evaluation, or canceling the qualification of a tour guide, and attention must be paid to annual review education and training. Industry management departments should conduct market research and analysis to understand what attributes tourists use to evaluate tour guide service quality, obtain information about the importance tourists attach to each attribute of service quality, and conduct targeted training for tour guides to improve their customer service skills and overall quality.

3. A two-pronged approach to implement the supervision system for tour guide services

Due to the independence of tour guide service work, process supervision is a difficulty in tour guide service management. It requires the cooperation of government departments and enterprises. *Work together. On the one hand, travel agencies, as the "direct contractors" of tourists, should assume the responsibility of supervising and guaranteeing the quality of tour guide services and providing corresponding rights and interests protection for tourists. Taking tourism shopping as an example, travel agencies should give tourists the "right to know about shopping", plan their shopping itinerary, clearly list the number of shopping trips, places and stay time, and stipulate that tour guides can only arrange shopping activities in accordance with the contract. If you have other shopping desires, the tour guide can and is obliged to introduce or recommend them, but cannot force you to do so. In this way, the source of tourists for travel shoppers has changed from tour guides to travel agencies, which will help prevent tour guides from taking "kickbacks" privately and cut off the "kickback-economic benefit chain." On the other hand, tourism administration departments should make a difference. ① It is necessary to give full play to the supervisory role of the tour guide IC card management system. In addition to strict law enforcement, detailed service quality supervision items should also be formulated to give full attention to tourists' evaluation of tour guide service quality, and change the focus of inspections from qualified tour guides who "do not violate regulations" to qualified tour guides in the tourist experience. ② It is necessary to establish a tourist complaint mechanism and tourist participation mechanism. The former is responsible for timely remediation of tour guide service errors, while the latter focuses on allowing tourists to participate in the process supervision of tour guide services, such as issuing quality evaluation forms to tourists and hiring tourist quality supervisors. ③Establish a tour guide information database. The information database is connected to travel agencies and tour guide service centers and is open to tourists. Tour guides’ business files, personal information, violation records, etc. are all recorded for easy search. ④ Assist the industry to establish a tour guide association to give full play to the self-discipline role of the industry.

4. Protect rights and interests and establish a reasonable professional system for tour guides

From the perspective of the survival and development environment of our country’s tour guides, the country’s deviations in the professional positioning of tour guides and the changes in the salary system of tour guides Unreasonableness, the lack of social concern for tour guides, and the imbalance of legal responsibilities and powers of tour guides are the main and direct reasons why our country’s tour guides have become a vulnerable group and the tour guide team has many problems. Only by establishing a reasonable professional mechanism for tour guides can the problem of imbalanced relations between tour guides and their related stakeholders be fundamentally solved. Therefore, ① the state should recognize the professional and technical attributes of the tour guide profession, so that tour guides can enjoy professional and technical titles like other professional and technical personnel, and this title can be directly linked to their labor remuneration, social welfare, and medical insurance, and promote the lifelong career of tour guides. change. ②We should promote “business-to-business” tourism shopping commissions and establish a reasonable salary system for tour guides. Tour guides should participate in the distribution of enterprise profits and enjoy the right to share risks, profits and residuals. ③A strong guarantee mechanism for tour guides should be established. The establishment of a tour guide security mechanism should include legal security, labor security, medical security and personnel security. Relevant national departments should make necessary modifications to the current "Regulations on the Management of Tour Guides". In the "Regulations on the Management of Tour Guides", the protection of the personality and dignity of tour guides and the rights and interests that tour guides should have are clearly stipulated.

The labor department should include tour guides in the scope of social overall security, and take corresponding safeguard measures in terms of tour guide employment, labor security, medical insurance, pension insurance, etc. to ensure that tour guides can comply with the law in the event of illness, childbirth, work-related injury, disability, and retirement. Tour guide service companies, travel agencies and governments are seeking help. The labor and personnel departments should provide necessary guarantees for the professional title evaluation and talent flow of tour guides, and provide the necessary conditions for realizing the lifelong career of tour guides in my country. Industry authorities should take advantage of the opportunity of the implementation of the new Labor Contract Law to formulate corresponding detailed rules to properly protect the various professional rights and interests of tour guides.

5. Macroeconomic regulation and control to create a good industry living environment

In order to avoid improper institutional arrangements and maximize one's own profits in a "non-institutionalized living environment", it is relatively necessary Strong subjects with information and power advantages form relatively stable "alliance" relationships in multiple games, which directly leads to the emergence of a "multi-dimensional dynamic imbalance" relationship between tour guides and their core stakeholders, an imbalance in the income sources of relevant subjects, and thus leads to a series of negative effects. Government departments should strengthen macro-control and policy guidance on the tourism market to provide institutional guarantees for the healthy operation of the tourism business process. Good institutional arrangements are the fundamental guarantee for coordinating interest relationships. ① Reasonably adjust the own functions of the tourism authorities, transfer the training, assessment, daily management and other rights of social tour guides to independent tour guide associations to avoid the "rent-seeking" behavior of the tourism authorities in tour guide qualification examinations, training, etc. The new tour guide professional affiliation mechanism can implement a "dual-track main and auxiliary system", that is, the majority of social tour guides mainly register with the Tour Guide Association, and the minority of tour guides work in travel agencies as formal employees as a supplement. During peak seasons, travel agencies hire tour guides from tour guide associations to cope with the sudden increase in tour groups. ② Implement a star rating system for travel agencies to guide them to obtain major profit margins through brand management and product innovation; and include the business assessment, training and supervision of tour guides hired by travel agencies into rating indicators. ③ Effectively manage the “substantial high prices” of tourist shopping stores and reduce the proportion of shopping rebates. According to international practice, if the shopping "commission" exceeds 5%, it is called "black commission". For the implementation of the legal commission system, the tourism business industry organization should agree on the legal proportion of commissions, and limit the collection and award of commissions to settlements between tourism product sales companies and travel agencies, and put an end to high commissions and black-box operations. Incorporate commission settlement into financial and tax management, and accept the supervision of industry, commerce and taxation. ④Support the production, development and design of special tourist souvenirs, tourist handicrafts and local products. ⑤ Strengthen the management of tourist bus drivers. Relevant departments should cooperate with tourist car companies and tourist car drivers to formulate normal car rental fee standards, gradually reduce the driver's commission distribution ratio, and make their income mainly based on normal fares. Relevant departments should improve corresponding laws and regulations, strengthen training, inspection and supervision, and standardize and improve the service quality of drivers.

6. Publicity and education, and cultivating a mature domestic tourist market

The biggest difference between tourism products and general consumer goods is that its producers have a direct relationship with consumers, and consumers only have It must be involved in the production process to finally consume tourism products. Therefore, tourists' consumption experience - whether the travel experience is pleasant or not, not only depends on the service skills and professional qualities of tourism industry employees, but also has a close relationship with the tourists' own willingness to cooperate, attitude, needs and tourism knowledge level. Tourism authorities should make full use of the power of the media to popularize tourism knowledge, publish tourism information, and guide domestic tourists to rational consumption and self-protection; at the same time, they should increase publicity efforts, report more exemplary deeds of outstanding tour guides, reshape the positive social image of tour guides, and educate tourists to respect Tour service staff are familiar with and accept the tipping system.

In short, tour guide service quality management is a systematic project. The high relevance of tourism determines that high-quality tour guide services require a good institutionalized living environment guarantee. The author believes that only by looking at the problem of tour guide service quality from a systemic perspective and solving the problem of tour guide service quality from the perspective of tourists' perception can we balance the interests of all relevant subjects, thereby breaking the "bottleneck" of my country's tourism service quality in the tour guide service link and comprehensively Improve the overall level of tourism services.