Abstract:

This proposal concerns a professional degree « Touristic Guides » Professional License or Bachelor in the Ile-de-France Institute Services Engineering (IFIS) within a French University, the Gustave Eiffel University (ex Paris East Marne-la-Vallée). Since its origin, IFIS has been committed to develop professional training courses. For several years now, a Professional License degree or Bachelor's degree in « Touristic Guides » has been in place, with numerous partnerships with the professional world: steering committee and work-study periods for students.

In this paper, we propose reflections on the evolution of the teaching in this training degree to further improve the employability of students, by integrating that of the tourist offices and the repositioning of the local hotel industry, in a context of digital transformation and health crisis, by situating ourselves in an interdisciplinary perspective centred on the information and communication sciences.

We propose to analyse the changes in the profession of Touristic Guides, focusing on the use of new digital devices, such as tablets, but also augmented reality and games with a strong family dimension.

We will also develop the evolutions of the profession of Touristic Guides, in relation with the repositioning of the Tourist Offices, with in particular the dimensions of mediation, of attractiveness of the territories, in particular by their "setting in tourism".

We will show, still in a perspective of mediation and interactions, the interest to rely on the lever of the inhabitants, "greeters" and "ambassadors", who know how to highlight their region in all its authenticity and originality. We will insist on this human and authentic dimension of the development of the territory, which is for us essential in the quest for links and customer experiences.

We will also discuss the evolution of certain hotels, heavily hit by the crisis in business tourism, which are seeking to reorient themselves towards discovery and leisure accommodation. It is also an opportunity to understand the evolution of the hotel receptionist's job, which, more than ever, is moving towards that of destination stay advisor and concierge service.

We will show that the evolution of the guide profession, the Tourist Offices and the repositioning of the local hotel industry, converge for a collective resilience based on innovations to reinvent local tourism and allow it to contribute to a new model of sustainable development through collective intelligence, with the Touristic Guides becoming mediators of the attractiveness of the territories, imposing an evolution of the training of Touristic Guides in this perspective.

Keywords:

Touristic Guides, Professional License, Bachelor, Tourist Offices, Hotels, France.