Tour guides are one of the key front-line players in the tourism industry. Through their knowledge and interpretation of
a destination's attractions and culture, and their communication and service skills, they have the ability to transform the tourists' visit
from a tour into an experience. The role and duties may not be that glamorous as the profession, in many countries, lacks
a well-de"ned career path and their incomes are reliant on a variety of income sources. Service professionalism has become an
important issue as destinations compete for tourists in a very competitive environment, especially in Asia as it reels from the e!ects of
the 1997 Asian "nancial crisis. This study examines the nature of tour guiding in Hong Kong, assessing the existing level of
professional service standards, and identifying issues and challenges facing the profession in the 21st century. Tour guiding issues were
identi"ed through an extensive series of in-depth and focus group interviews. Based on the "ndings, a set of recommendations was
formulated. A key recommendation includes the establishment of a monitoring system to ensure high standards of service
performance by the tour guides. It is recognised that the experiences faced by the Hong Kong tour guides are unlikely to be unique
and there may be some issues and problems raised that are common to the guiding profession in most other countries. However, very
few studies about the professional status and issues faced by the tour guiding profession have been reported in the English-based
literature and this study would represent one of the "rst attempts to do so. In sharing the Hong Kong experience, there will be some
lessons to be learnt for those in other countries, especially as the profession continues its e!orts to improve the status and service
professionalism of tour guiding throughout the world. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved