Wu, Tong, Moscardo, Gianna, and Murphy, Laurie (2025) Evaluating a Mindfulness Training Program for Chinese Tour Guides. Journal of China Tourism Research. (In Press)

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Abstract

There is growing pressure on tour guides to encourage responsible and sustainable behaviors amongst their tour participants focusing attention on tour guide training. Despite calls for the inclusion of concepts such as mindfulness and sustainability in tour guide training there has been limited academic discussion of how these might be applied in practice in the Chinese context. This article explores the impact of an online socio-cognitive mindfulness training program on Chinese tour guides’ understanding of sustainability and their perceptions of how to communicate this to their guests. Twenty-seven Chinese tour guides participated in the training and completed semi structured pre and post training surveys. Prior to training, most reported little understanding of sustainability in tourism. Afterward, guides expressed greater recognition of their role in managing tourist impacts and reported intentions to adopt more multisensory, personalized interpretation and storytelling to foster mindfulness among participants. Findings suggest that while guides’ views of mindfulness aligned with Western frameworks, they adapted its use to Chinese guiding practices. Overall, the training enhanced awareness of sustainability and supports incorporating socio-cognitive mindfulness into tour guide education. Thess results support the value of incorporating socio-cognitive mindfulness into tour guide training to enhance awareness of tourism sustainability.

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