Rhetorical aspects of tour guiding: the Polish case

Tour guides are a significant group of stakeholders in the tourism industry. They are responsible for the quality of communication during excursions and ultimately determine the level of satisfaction of tour participants. Therefore, they use a particular language and ways of influencing tourists. This paper investigates whether the particular language of guides contains persuasive means that are crucial for building an effective interpersonal communication. The authors focused on the question of how guides try to create positive relationships with guided groups. They conducted an examination on a group of Wrocław city guides during guided walking city tours. In order to complete the research project, qualitative non-participant observation and rhetorical analysis of audio-visual recordings of the guided tours were carried out. This study enabled the key areas of city guides’ communication influence to be specified, and it highlighted deficiencies in their use of some persuasive means. The results may serve as guidelines for improving the communication skills of tourism practitioners.