Actual Conditions of Tourist Guides in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Ecuador Case Study

This research on the labor reality of tourist guides in Ecuador is considered because with the arrival of the pandemic caused by covid-19, tourism has been one of the seriously affected sectors. Consequently, all positions related to this activity have been forced to stop providing their services. The objective of this research focuses on analyzing the current employment situation of tour guides in Ecuador, using a mixed-method methodology, through a questionnaire consisting of 25 questions with a Likert-type rating of 5 points, divided into 3 dimensions: (1) sociodemographic data, (2) employment status, and (3) glass ceiling; validated by experts and with a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.80, to a sample of 134 legally registered tour guides, the non-parametric Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) test was used to identify the distribution of data within informality in tourism activity and occupational segregation affected professional development in times of pandemic. The results show that tour guides have faced economic, emotional, psychosocial, and political impacts, conditions that weaken the comprehensive well-being of all the tourism system. Also, the employment situation of tour guides has not been analyzed deeply and therefore this research explores the reality that tour guides have faced in times of pandemic. Finally, the economic impact that instability brings with it, one cannot fail to mention the changes that must be considered in the labor competencies of the guides, of tourism: protecting the mobility of small groups, respecting the allowed capacity, the management of the bio-security standards always, to promote rapid growth in proximity tourism with overall sustainability; even though the process of returning to work depends on exogenous factors.