Work-related stress experienced by tour guides

Abstract

Work-related stress (WRS) is stress caused or exacerbated by work. As ‘maestro’, tour guides (TGs) perform a variety of tasks within and outside the job description. Tour guides inevitably feel stress due to the demands from various parties. This study focuses on WRS of TGs and contributes to the literature by identifying stress factors from the perspective of TGs. According to the explanatory sequential design frame, a quantitative study was conducted with 90 participants, followed by a qualitative one with 16. From the five categories extracted through content analysis, to understand the relationship between WRS and work-related ill health (WRIH), WRIH-type and WRIH-reason were further analyzed. Findings show that WRS accounts for 15% of all the health problems of TGs. Unsafe conditions (UCs) are responsible for much of the stress experienced, while harassment, bullying and mobbing (HBM) from customers, shopkeepers, drivers and travel agents is the main stressor.