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

本论文研究探讨游客、导游与耶路撒冷历史遗迹之间的关系。 主要重点是导游的作用，他们为带着不同期望来到现场的各种团体提供旅游体验。 在一个冲突不断的城市里，导游们还必须解决后勤方面的困难。 本研究以深度访谈与参与观察的方式，描述导游如何处理与政府、民众、旅游团体之间的竞争关系。 结果预计将修改传统的旅游业的观点，游客只是消费的旅游景点提供的产品，而旅游体验是一个产品的复杂调解导游和他们的社会关系与几个不同的演员。

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.