Identifying and Prioritizing Effective Characteristics on Performance of Incoming Tour Guides from the Perspective of Foreign Tourists Case Study: Incoming Cultural Tour Guides in Tehran

Incoming tour guides’ performance as cultural representatives and line workers is very important in cross-cultural interactions. The purpose of this research is to identify and Prioritize effective characteristics on performance of incoming tour guides from the perspective of foreign tourists. This is an applied research and in terms of the data collection method, it is descriptive-survey. The statistical population of this study included all foreign tourists on guided tours in the period of April to July 2015 in Tehran. A sample of 385 people was obtained using Cochran's formula. Of these, 328 tourists responded to the questionnaire. For data analysis, Friedman test, confirmatory factor analysis, SPSS, and LISREL software have been used. The results show from the foreign tourists’ perspective, priorities of professional and specialized characteristics is higher than individual characteristics and behaviors on the performance of incoming tour guides.