Estrategias tomadas por los guías de turismo de la provincia del Azuay en el contexto de la pandemia por covid-19. Año 2020 – 2021

Abstract

Abstract This paper identifies the strategies taken by the Tourist Guides of the Province of Azuay in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around the world, the multiple repercussions generated by the paralysis of tourist activities have been evidenced, in which the harmful economic consequences, the limited development of certain tourist destinations, and fundamentally the impossibility of working of their actors stand out. This study highlights the complex situation that tourist guides have gone through in the province of Azuay during the pandemic, which is why they have had to look for work options different from their usual activities. On the other hand, the strategies implemented by the guides to cope with the change, their expectations and perceptions, the resilient behavior they have had to adopt, and what they have learned in the midst of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are presented. The mixed methodology used for this research allowed to achieve the objectives set. On the one hand, the qualitative approach facilitated access to information through the development of semi-structured interviews with representatives of the entities of the tourism sector considered the most important for this analysis: the Corporation of Guides and Tourism Professionals of Azuay and the Ministry of Tourism in order to know the resilient behavior of tourism guides to cope with the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, the quantitative approach made it possible to collect statistical data, through surveys carried out to the Tourist Guides that provide their services in the province of Azuay, whose database is based on the cadaster with which the Ministry of Tourism has to guarantee the results of this analysis. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, tour guides, strategies