Tour guide performances: four modes of framing tourist experience

This essay identifies four performance frames tour guides employ to orient tourists to the site. Each frame is presented through a composite character, constructed through participant observation of over 60 guided tours at Masada National Park in Israel. Guides can tellintimate stories, directing tourists towards the guide's ideological vision of the site; they can engage inactivist rhetoric, moving tourists to act; they can createritual-like activities,inspiring tourists to remain culturally connected to the site; and they can encouragedialogue and discussion, compelling tourists to critically assess their relationship to the site.