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Abstract

The experts of tourist information, namely, the tourist guides, are a highly qualified professional class and in continuous training. Many of these professionals seem to have certain limitations in terms of using new technologies, since many of those, working today, were not born in the digital age. They have been obliged to accept these technologies and sometimes tend to look at these new ways of communicating in a sceptical way, mainly because they do not properly know how to use them. These professionals are constantly facing the need to learn how to use these new tools, which have become essential for both their personal and professional lives. We therefore consider it pertinent to better understand how this professional group is dealing with these new information and communication technologies. Through a survey applied to three Facebook groups constituted, exclusively of certified tourist guides in Portugal, we sought to know the valorisation that these professionals attribute to the new technologies, what are their main difficulties, as well as the strategies developed to overcome them. We believe this is the right time to study these issues, taking into account that recently, due to the health crisis of COVID-19, people have had to rapidly adapt to other, never expected forms of life. The new technologies in their different formats now play a key role, and it is expected that these technologies will be increasingly implemented in the future. Finally, we can ask how far this will be a threat to the tourist guide profession.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/eyyg-kf02

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