Özet:
According to the Tourism Guidance Profession Law, foreign language proficiency is required to work
as a tourist guide. However, the proposed law on the amendment of the Professional Law on Tourist
Guidance and the Law on Travel Agencies and the Association of Travel Agencies, which came to the
agenda at the beginning of 2024, have caused controversy in the field of the profession. In fact, with the
implementation of this law, the obligation to be a guide on tours will be abolished and Turkish-language
(without a perfection of any foreign language) guides will be allowed. This situation has received intense
negative criticism from the relevant professional chambers, university bodies, non-governmental
organizations and most of all from tour guides who actively work in the field. On the other hand, for
another group of people who are unable to obtain a license of tour guide because they do not have foreign
language proficiency and cannot practice their profession even in their own language, this law proposal
has been adopted as a positive approach. To interpret these diverging perceptions, it was aimed to
determine the perceptions of 3rd and 4th grade individuals who have not started their profession yet and
are currently studying at the undergraduate level and 2nd grade individuals studying at the associate
degree level towards the discourse of "Turkish Guidance". In this research method, which is called
phenomenology design, the focus is on phenomena that are recognized but do not have a detailed
understanding. In this context, to determine the metaphorical perceptions of the prospective tourism
guides, they were asked to write the first metaphor that came to their minds together with its justification
by using the open-ended statement "In my opinion, Turkish guidance is like ... because ...". As a result
of the research, it was seen that 45 metaphors were developed by a total of 62 participants (37
undergraduate and 25 associate degree) and the metaphors developed were classified into five categories
according to their common characteristics. When these metaphors were analyzed, it was concluded that
individuals who want to work in the field of profession with a foreign language do not look favorably
on the proposed amendment to the law due to loss of prestige and loss of earnings. On the other hand,
another group of people who are positive about the transition to Turkish guiding stated that it would be
advantageous to provide a local service for their own citizens in Turkey, but the obligation to have a
guide on tours should continue.