Turist Rehberliği Mesleğine Yönelik Farkındalık İnşası: Göstergebilimsel Analiz
Awareness Building Towards Tourist Guiding Profession: The Semiotic Analysis

Summary/Abstract: Today, images created with artificial intelligence generate awareness in the minds of individuals by creating images related to any subject. Studies investigating how such images convey meaning to individuals are still limited. The study examines which elements come to the fore in the artificial intelligence-supported images shared for tourist guides on the Tourist Guides Solidarity Platform. In this direction, semiotic analysis was applied in the study. The research is exploratory. All images (92 images) shared on the platform's WhatsApp application on 10/02/2024 were evaluated. The images subject to the study were analyzed using the MAXQDA data analysis program. The visuals mainly focused on cultural tourism, and the main subject of the images was cultural tourism. The images were checked by all researchers, codes and themes were created by reaching a consensus. As a result of the study, three themes emerged. These are; “tourist attractions”, “roles’’, and ‘‘characteristics” themes. Tourist attractions are divided into subcategories as ‘historical structures’, ‘ancient cities’, ‘natural structures’ and ‘tourist activities’. It was observed that historical structures came to the fore in the spatial descriptions of the relevant images. While the narrating role of the guides is prominent in the images, the roles of ‘guiding’, ‘stimulating curiosity’, ‘protective’, ‘communicating’ and ‘helpful’ are among those emphasized. Under the theme of characteristics; it has been determined that in addition to the feature of tourist guiding being ‘one of the oldest professions in the world’, the ‘emotional aspect’ of professional tourist guides, their being ‘creators of unforgettable memories’ and their being respectful to different social structures are emphasized. The narrator role of the guides came to the fore in the visuals. It was also determined that professional tourist guides' respect for different social structures was emphasized. It is thought that the analysis of these images will contribute to the understanding of the meaning and importance of the tourist guiding profession. It can be said that these analyzed images are important in terms of determining how the professional tour guiding profession is perceived and creating awareness of the effects and qualities of this profession. In the future, research can be conducted to determine what artificial intelligence visuals mean for tourist guides, local and foreign tourists. In addition, as a result of the increase in artificial intelligence-supported visuals, research can be conducted in which the research in the field is diversified and the meaning and importance of the professional tourist guiding profession can be emphasized using different techniques. The semiotic approach in this research can be used to design informative and interesting educational materials to improve the understanding of the tourist guiding profession.

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