Attention please - the tour guide is here to speak out: the role of the Israeli tour guide at Holocaust sites in Israel.‪

For almost all Israeli visiting heritage sites commemorating the Holocaust, the visiting experience is often made accessible through guides whose activity is claimed to be of critical importance to the conceptualization of the visiting experience as well as to its impact. Surprisingly, there are almost no empirical studies focusing on tour guides at Holocaust heritage sites self-perception of their role. An empirical study was carried out in five Holocaust Museums in Israel. A qualitative research approach was adopted. Data was collected based on 15 semi-structured interviews and on 30 non-structured observations of the tour guides. Additionally, 167 visitor comments were collected from three Israeli Holocaust museums. The findings indicate that the tour guides consciously and unapologetically manage the onsite experience in accordance with their specific perception of the Holocaust and its meanings, and according to their own judgment, aiming to make a long-term impact on the visitors. The findings raise the question of whether there is a need to regulate and supervise tour guides, due to their possible long-term impact on the visitors.