A phenomenological study of the lived experience of urban Tourist guides in Ardabil province during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic

Infectious diseases cause behavioral and social changes. tourism industry and tourist guides are also changing like other sectors.Before the covid, Ardabil province was an active province in the field of nature and culture tourism, and nature guides and cultural guides of both groups were active in this province. So this study aims to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on different aspects of urban tourist guides' lives. this research was conducted as qualitative research in a phenomenological format. 16 tourist guides of Ardabil were investigated by snowball sampling method to collect data. the data was obtained using semi-structured interviews and analyzed in a seven-step Colaizzi method.based on the analysis the positive and negative dimensions of life were recorded in this period and 10 categories of meanings were identified for the lived experience of the tourist guides of Ardabil province during the outbreak of COVID-19, which are: changes in lifestyle, economic challenges and opportunities, transformation of employment pattern, changing in attitudes, advertising, compliance with health issues, changing forms of social relations, mental and psychological issues, stagnation in activities and organizational obstacles.