Motivation in Training the General Tourist Guide Training Course: A Case Study of Trainers at Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok

Abstract

This research aims to study the motivation and identify the types of motivation in general tourist guide training. This is a qualitative research that collected data with the general tourist guide trainers (3rd generation) at Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok. The research instrument was a semi-structured interview form. Data was collected using the face-to-face interviews with 29 key informants. The results of the research found that the key informants' motivations for general tourist guide training according to the standards of the Department of Tourism were 104. Most of them wanted the knowledge about tourism or tourism business, followed by 5 more: not wanting to be an illegal tourist guide, the need to have relationships or connections with people in the tourism industry, earning the extra income, like to travel/have new experiences/want to travel and want to have all the qualifications to apply for a tourist guide license. When categorizing the motivations of key informants according to Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory, it was found that the motivations for training in tourist guide courses of most key informants were the level 5 of motivations, namely the Self-Actualization Needs. While considering the Self-Determination theory of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, it was found that the main informants' motivations for training in tourist guides were mostly the Intrinsic motivations.