Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mediating the Divide: Israeli Guides on Christian Tours to Jerusalem

本论文研究的是耶路撒冷历史遗迹与游客、导游之间的相互关系。主要的关注点是导游的角色，他们为带着不同期望来到现场的各种团体调解游客体验。导游还必须在一个冲突不断的城市管理后勤困难。深度访谈和参与者观察被用来描述导游如何处理与政府、市民和旅游团之间经常发生冲突的关系。预计结果将改变传统的旅游观点，即游客只是消费旅游景点提供的产品；相反，游客的体验是导游及其与几个不同行为者社会关系的复杂调解的产物。

This dissertation research investigates the interrelationships among tourists, tour guides, and the historical sites in Jerusalem. The principal focus is on the role of tour guides who mediate the tourist experience for a variety of groups who come to the site with different expectations. The guides also have to manage the logistic difficulties in a city with repeated conflict. In-depth interviews and participant observation are used to build a description of how the tour guides manage the often competing relationships with the government, the citizens, and the tourist groups. The results are expected to modify conventional views of tourism that tourists simply consume the products offered by the tourist sites; rather the tourist experience is a product of complex mediation by tour guides and their social relations with several different actors.