Relationships among Senior Tourists' Perceptions of Tour Guides' Professional Competencies, Rapport, Satisfaction with the Guide Service, Tour Satisfaction, and Word of Mouth

Tour guides are very important for elderly tourists, but very few studies have focused on their roles in the senior tourism market. Thus, this study proposed that senior tourists' perceptions of tour guides' professional competencies play an important role in the formation of rapport with the tour guide. Rapport is a concept to show a close relationship between the customer and the employee. Additionally, it was hypothesized that this rapport enhances satisfaction with the guide service, tour satisfaction, and word of mouth. Lastly, the moderating role of product knowledge was proposed during the theory-building process. The data were collected from 325 elderly tourists in Korea. The results indicated that professional skills and professional attitude have a positive influence on rapport with the tour guide, which in turn positively affects satisfaction with the guide service, tour satisfaction, and word of mouth. Furthermore, this study found the important role of product knowledge as a moderator.