Research Information System
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, vol.28, no.1, pp.1-13, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
Tour guides play an important role in tourism services. However, there is only limited identification of behavior in the tour guid-ing field based on sociological theories. To fill this gap, this empirical research adopts Bourdieu's field theory and conducts obser-vations and interviews with 14 tour guides in Cappadocia, Türkiye. It identifies doxa, illusio, capital, and habitus in defining tourguides' strategies to surviving in the field. The findings illustrate that tour guides' field strategies are concerned with maximizingtheir tour numbers and incomes in a competitive environment, with substantial attention to tourists' shopping and purchasingbehaviors, although much of this remains under the iceberg and unseen by tour participants since tour guiding requires a hos-pitable attitude. The paper concludes with insights into the tour guiding field for researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers.