Untitled

feature of Murray was the commitment to revising
material on a regular basis in new editions. The
1838 Handbook for Travellers in Switzerland went
through nineteen editions before the last one in
1904. This strong relationship between publisher
and guidebook was adopted by Karl Baedeker.
Modelled on Murray's system, Baedeker produced
a series of guidebooks on areas of Europe from
1839 and their increasing dominance of the market
was reflected by the start of English language
editions from 1861. At its zenith, just prior to 1914,
Baedeker was producing seventy-eight titles covering
thirty countries. A well-organised bureaucracy
of editors and agents was one factor in their
success. Such was the size of the market, however,
that other major guidebook publishers could also
flourish, including Muirhead, Michelin, Joanne
and Thomas Cook. It is from these firms that the
multiplicity of modern guidebooks is descended.
References
De Beer, E.S. �1952) `The development of the
guide-book until the early nineteenth century',
Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 3rd
series, 15: 35±46. �An authoritative study of the
origins of guidebooks in Europe.)
Further reading
Adams, P.G. �1983) Travel Literature and the Evolution
of the Novel, Lexington, KY: University of
Kentucky. �Chapter 2 contains a detailed discussion
of early guidebooks.)
Buzard, J. �1993) The Beaten Track, Oxford:
Clarendon. �Pages 65±77 have an excellent
section on Murray and Baedeker guides.)
guided tour
JOHN TOWNER, UK
One approach to the organisation of tourism is to
structure the sightseeing component of the trip
with a guided tour. In essence, guided tours consist
of one individual orienting the group and explaining
and interpreting the setting. They can vary
from a short structured presentation by a tour
guide in a particular setting for a limited time
period, or they may involve extended contact
between a guide and a tourist group, lasting days
and sometimes weeks.
Guided tours have been a part of the history of
tourism since the days of the Grand Tour. They
offer significant employment opportunities
within the global tourism industry, they can
facilitate the careful management of fragile attractions
and events, and they can solve a number of
tourist problems in areas such as language,
orientation, security, cultural interaction and
understanding of the site or activity. The training
of guides is well advanced in many countries,
with long-standing educational systems and accreditation
schemes for those operating in the United
Kingdom, Europe and China. There are many
guides in Africa, North America, Australia and
New Zealand who work in the national parks
systems. Guide training may include topics such as
language skills, environmental or resource knowledge,
health and safety concerns, and social
communication skills. Guides are typically both
educators and entertainers, though in the longer
guided tours they will be frequently called upon to
resolve conflicts and provide advice on touristic
choices and activities.
Research on guided tours has concentrated on
the personality and style of the guide and the
stress of the role. Additionally, the guided tour
has been conceptualised as a special kind of
social situation and the roles, rules, goals,
setting and behaviours of the participants in
these dynamic social groups have been studied.
One of the most common styles is the guided bus
tour, but guides also conduct walking tours, boat
trips and even snorkelling trips. As a style of
tourist activity, guided tours have been popular
when tourists have little previous travel experience
and when the host culture presents
substantial cross-cultural communication problems
for the visitor. Much of the early travel
to Europe by North Americans was in guided
tours, and more recently Japanese and Asia
Pacific tourists have been strongly identified as
archetypal guided tour participants.
See also: middleman; package tour
guided tour 269
PHILIP L. PEARCE, AUSTRALIA