Kültürel Mirasın Korunması ve Sürdürülmesinde Turist Rehberlerinin Rolü
Tour Guides' Role in Conservation and Sustainability of Cultural Heritage

Summary/Abstract: Professional tour guides play a significant role in protecting, sustaining and enabling cultural tourism to achieve its goals. As such, they act as the guards of the culture in line with the responsibility of their profession. Therefore, this study aims to examine the roles of tourist guides in protecting and transferring cultural heritage of Cappadocia, Turkey to the next generations. The study employed qualitative approach and used face-to-face and online interview forms to collect data from tour guides in Cappadocia. A total of 17 interviews were conducted from 29.12.2017 to 05.02.2018. Data were descriptively analyzed on the computer. Study results suggest that tour guides believe that they have higher liability for the protection, sustainability and promotion of the cultural assets in Cappadocia compared to other actors. Moreover, they claim that they are important agents in achieving intercultural interaction, and underline the importance of informing local governments and related bodies about the problems, defects and destruction. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and a conclusion.

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