Author: Andre Coleman

Hotel X operates in a fragmented industry largely controlled by the guests and their preferential needs. The strategic audit involved analyzing; the macro-environment by the PESTEL model, the competitive industry environment by the Porter’s Five Forces model, the key stakeholders expectations and the internal strengths and weaknesses.

This SWOT analysis concludes the strengths (products, brand, people, VmV and accreditation/certification), the weaknesses (location, classic rooms, car parking, performance management and technology), the opportunities (BRIC, Rugby World Cup 2011, market demographics, corporate responsibility pressure, and the 90 day trial period law) and the threats (new National, Conference Centre, long-term contracts with buyers/suppliers, economy, and technology).

Hotel X should plan its strategy around differentiation by providing the highest quality products and services unique from the rest of the industry. Improving the hotels weaknesses is a realistic way to improve the growth and profitability for the organization. Recommendations are provided for the improvement of Hotel X’s weaknesses.

Contents

Introduction

‘If you don’t know where your business is going, any road will get you there.’ (TUVRheinland Group). Business strategy is a driving force in the success of organizations; as long as the strategy for the organization is analyzed in terms of the environments. This paper is a strategic analysis of the environments for Hotel X [1] .

Company Background

Hotel X is a leading hotel in Auckland. The services and products provided include accommodation, food and beverage, event venues, spa and health club facilities. Their aim is to grow market share and profitability by maintaining 5 star level services [2] . This is supported by Hotel X’s vision statement: Know Our Guests, Build Great Memories.

Industry Description: Definition and Drivers

Hotel X is positioned in the high-end [3] hotel [4] industry within Auckland City [5] . ‘The hotel industry is a sub-section of the Travel and Tourism industry…one of the most rapidly expanding fields’ (Go & Pine, 1995, p. 26). It is a fragmented industry as hotels are driven by the services they provide and the consumers they can attract. Factors that influence this consumer selection are; the location of the hotel, the facilities available, the price per night and the size of the facility. High-end hotels in Auckland compete for independent and corporate travelers, both domestic and international.

Macro-Environment Analysis

The PESTEL model was used for analysing opportunities and threats to Hotel X and the summary of the major factors can be found in Appendix 2.

(P)olitical Factors
New Zealand general elections may bring changes to government and influencing legislation.
Trade agreements have a positive correlation with tourism. Securing trade agreements with BRIC would create significant growth in business.
(E)conomic Factors
With overseas economies in recession, the declining New Zealand dollar [6] , the increase in fuel costs and the GST increase, it is more expensive for people visiting New Zealand. There is a decrease in the reliance on overseas visitors and income.
There will be short-term growth with the Rugby World Cup 2011.While this would only be a small injection over the months of September/October, there is potential for resulting growth in returning guests.
(S)ocial Factors
Consumer opinions on products and services can quickly build or diminish a brand and company image. The increasing use of social media to gain access to this information can be dangerous to growth for companies who do not monitor and maintain brand standards.
The impact of economic factors is seen in the demographics of the Auckland market. The strong short-haul markets can be a benefit as they buffer the industry during periods of significant reduction in long-haul markets (New Zealand Hotel Council).
(T)echnological Factors
Innovation potential is held back by having to balance the needs of the guests’ verses what they are prepared to pay for. Technology does not replace personal touches, but allows for storage of information on the preferences of guests. Auckland hotels need to upgrade their services when compared to international standards in order to maintain consumer expectations (Hotel Technology Resource, 2011).
(E)nvironmental Factors
There is increasing pressure to be environmentally responsible. The pressure has created organizations such as EarthCheck who provide certifications to organizations meeting particular requirements [7] and Qualmark with their Enviro Assured Grading System [8] . Increasingly some consumers will only engage with companies which hold particular certifications.
(L)egal Factors
Current union negotiations will determine the requirements of the hotels towards their employees, the impact of this will be determined after the negotiations.
The 90 day trial period in employment law allows companies to employ people best suited for positions. The best employees in the best positions increases efficiency, productivity, satisfaction and general wellbeing thus reducing costs to the company.
Competitive Industry Analysis

The Porters model [9] was used for analysing the industry competition for Hotel X and the summary of the major factors can be found in Appendix 9.

Threat of New Entrants

Hotel X has one of the largest function rooms in Auckland with capacity of 1500. This attracts some of New Zealand’s significant functions such as the upcoming Rugby World Cup Prize giving. The proposed National Convention Centre will threaten Hotel X’s long-term market share of functions.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Employees provide most of the service for guests. Hotel suppliers do not hold much power, there are often a large number of suppliers available. Many high-end hotels have contracts with taxi companies. The cost of switching these contracts is high.

Bargaining Power of Buyers

Hotels provide the same item to the same market so need a strong brand to differentiate from competition. There are limited times that customer’s basic needs cannot be met [10] .

There are large numbers of corporate travelers who stay in a hotel that they have long-term contracts with. Hotel X may struggle to renew its contract with Telecom due to Telecoms move to the lower CBD.

Power of Substitutes

The threat of substitutes depends on the demands of the customer. As most guests wanting to stay in high-end hotels are expecting quality over cost, it could be expected that substitutes to this industry do not pose a large threat.

Intensity of Industry Rivalry

The strong industry growth in the tourism sector (Go & Pine, 1995) should mean that there is a low rivalry amongst hotels as there are an increasing number of guests. However, the products that hotels provide are identical on a basic level (the quality may vary) and this low differentiation and ease switching leads to a strong competition.

Stakeholder Analysis

The expectations of the individuals and groups that influence the business strategy for Hotel X are summarized in Appendix 11.

The strategy for Hotel X was developed by the director and is entwined with his personal values; his dedication to the organization ensures he retains control over strategy and growth.

The guests and clients of Hotel X may see the hotel as important to them during their short term relationship however only the business clients and guests who are engaging with the organization on a regular basis hold any importance for quality service on a long-term basis.

Attitudes of the employees are orientated around providing quality service but the importance of the hotel to them is more for the opportunity of employment it provides.

Hotel X understands the importance of the media in providing marketing opportunities however the media do not have the same inverse need.

Hotel X is also not of large importance for the local government as, while the hotel provides local taxes and jobs, it does not have any impact on the growth of local government revenue. The attitudes of this stakeholder are consistent with the hotel on factors like environmental responsibility however not consistent with profit factors.

Organizational Capabilities
(S)trengths
Hotel X’s products hold value between price paid and quality received. The products; 411 rooms, four food and beverage outlets, spa and facilities, twelve function venues, all set 5 star standards and are upgraded as ideas develop.
There is strong marketing of the Hotel X brand in the industry as ‘luxury’ and ‘elegance’. The concept is carried through media, including social media which is heavily monitored to increase positive brand awareness.
The multiple ethnicities of the 400 employees mean guest communication has become less problematic. Hotel X has used the Vision, mission and Values (VmV) to create a positive employee culture.
Hotel X holds multiple accreditations including; Best Hotel from New Zealand Scenic Tours, Studiosus Award, and World Travel Awards, the Innovation/Sustainability Award from NZ Hotel Conference, EarthCheck Silver Status [11] , and Qualmark Gold Status [12] .
(W)eaknesses
Hotel X in the upper CBD is a distance from city activities. While the hotel provides a shuttle around town, there is not the flexibility (or views) as a prime city location.
The classic rooms have yet to be updated These rooms are of the same size as executive rooms but the decor is dated and not up to the same 5 star standard as the other products provided.
The hotel does not provide car parks for employees or guests except for valet parking. The city location makes it is expensive to park in nearby buildings. Public transport is limited.
The processes in place for performance management are limited. Short term management is strong with recognition programs but the link is missing to annual reviews/promotions, future goals are not quantified.
Hotel X limits its market by not yet having wireless internet available throughout the hotel. Technology is an area that would improve guest satisfaction and productivity.
Conclusion

The summary of the SWOT analysis can be referred to in Appendix 12.

Hotel X, seeks high levels of growth and profitability. While the product, brand and people are strengths, there is an issue keeping services consistent without good performance management. Organizations now have the advantage of a 90 day trial period to maximize the job-person fit in the organization which should correlate to lower costs and higher profitability. The location of Hotel X will place a limitation on the growth of the organization.

The current products that the hotel provides are strengths. The 5 star quality of these products and services create value for guests. There are some weaknesses however with the decor of the Classic rooms, lack of car parking and limited use of technology. The hotel needs to remain on top of new innovations to ensure the products and services are continuously upgraded.

Hotel X has the opportunity of the growing BRIC market and the upcoming Rugby World Cup. It plans to service these growth opportunities while still maintaining a hold in the domestic markets as a buffer to the threat of the economy restricting international tourism.

The generic strategy that Hotel X should follow is differentiation. Already Hotel X has started to differentiate their product from the industry as supported by the strength of its accreditations and certifications. It is possible for Hotel X to differentiate not only through the strength of its products but also its people and the Vision, Mission and Values.

The strong brand and opportunity for recognition of corporate responsibility will allow Hotel X to develop a dominant position. The threat to this is the competitiveness of the industry difficulties with long-term contracts and the threat of a National Conference Centre.

Recommendations

These recommendations will focus on improving the weaknesses of Hotel X,

Performance management schemes for employees should be introduced to maintain 5 star standards, as services the hotel provides involve guest/employee interaction. Goals set to manage performance must be decided on jointly between organization and employee in order to empower colleagues. Special salary and wage reviews should be initiated as well as an incentive scheme based around achieving key performance indicators.

The classic room product needs to be redecorated to maintain product consistency to satisfy customer requirements.

Technology in particular, a hotel wide Wi-Fi system needs to be developed, to keep up with 5 star international standards.

Car parking needs to be addressed by negotiating with Wilson Parking to either take back the management of the car park or rent additional car parks. The extra car parks would have to satisfy the guest needs first.

Location is one weakness that cannot be changed so the best recommendation for this is to increase the areas the shuttle bus drives to and renegotiating the taxi contract so that fares are cheaper for guests going between the upper and lower CBD.

The hotel industry within the United Kingdom is a highly competitive market with many different hotel organisations, such as Tune Hotels, each trying to offer something unique, desirable and profitable. It is therefore important for organisations within this industry to remain constantly aware of the external factors that could potentially affect their performance and productivity. In this report I am going to identify and explain the key political, economical and socio-demographical factors that are currently having an effect upon the industry; these are three headings within a PESTLE analysis. PESTLE analysis is a tool that can aid organisations when making strategies by helping them understand the external environment in which they operate in the present and future (Renewal Associates, 2003). Once I have done this I will then draw upon my analysis and conclude with my thoughts and recommendations about the proposed UK expansion of Tune Hotels.

The UK Hotel Industry

As for most business organisations, it has been a tough time financially due to the recent global recession; however, according to an article on www.hotel-industry.co.uk, things are looking up for the hotel industry. ‘Despite the recession, the UK hotel industry is continuing to expand, with over 10,400 rooms opening in 2010 and a further 43,000 for the period 2011-2015.'(Hotel Construction, 2010). The article goes on to mention how consumers are simply opting for low-cost, budget branded hotels, such as Tunes, during this time of financial uncertainty.

Political Environment

The political environment is an area that business organisations need to monitor constantly as politics can be very unpredictable and influential at times. (Palmer, A. Hartley, B. 2006, P7-8) This is because governments have the power to introduce legislation and regulations that may have a profound effect on organisations. Whilst the UK is a relatively free market, the government will still keep a close on what is going on in the private sector to ensure that businesses are functioning within the best interests of the country.

These are just some of the political factors that may have an effect on the UK’s hotel industry:

* Digital Economy Act 2010 ‘ The Digital Economy Act 2010 is an act of parliament which was put in place mainly to decrease the amount of illegal file sharing and copyright infringements that currently takes place in today’s digital society. However this has been met by fierce criticism from establishments, such as hotels, that offer free Wi-Fi internet connections hot spots. If hotels guests break this law whilst using the hotel’s connection, then it is the hotel that is, ultimately, held responsible and consequently face the possibility of having their internet connection disabled by the service provider (Benson, P. 2010). This may put hotels in a sticky situation as they will have to decide whether or not to start charging for the convenience of internet connectivity; which could put potential customers off.

* New Immigration Policies ‘ New immigration policies from the coalition government have caused some concern for the UK hospitality industry. ‘Caps on immigration outside of the European Economic Area could neglect the issue of skills shortages in the UK’s hospitality sector’, claim the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, who go on to say: ‘Apart from operational roles such as chefs and bar staff, a shortage has been highlighted in management skills. Shortages in the UK market continue to exist with only 10 per cent of hotel managers and six per cent of restaurant and catering managers having qualifications at managerial level’ (Essentiallycatering.co.uk, 2010).

Economic Environment

* Crowded Market ‘ There is currently much competition for Tune in the UK’s budget hotel market at the moment, especially in London. Brands such as easyHotel, Travelodge and Premier Inn all offer a similar service to that of Tune Hotels, but at lower prices; and some of them offer extras such as towels within the room price. ‘Travelodge currently offers rooms at a promotional price of ’19 and, like the Premier Inn chain, their rooms are family-friendly and they provide most extras free of charge’, states Susannah Streeter (2010).

* Increase in UK tourism spending ‘ ‘The increase in UK visitors comes after the recession and the fall in sterling’s value against the euro and dollar deterred Britons from making overseas trips. As a result, spending by tourists in the city hit a record ‘10.5billion’ (Sri Carmichael, 2009). This is great news for the hotel industry.

* VAT Increase – As the coalition government start to act upon the UK’s budget deficit, the recent VAT increase from 17.5% to 20% will no doubt put more strain on the consumer’s disposable income and put more strain on people’s budgets. Lisa Francesca Nand (2011) states that the increase will discourage spending and deter UK-based guests and overseas visitors alike. However there are positives that can be drawn from this VAT increase for some businesses. Such increases will continue to divert customers away from ‘highly priced hotels with underutilised facilities’ as Mark Lankester suggested in the Tune Hotels Press Release (2010). People will be looking for cheaper ‘No frills’ accommodation such as Tune Hotels. The low cost, limited service business model has been a proven success over the past couple of years with in other industries organisations such as AirAsia, an affiliate company of Tune Hotels, boasting success.

Socio-Demographic Environment

* London 2012 Olympics ‘ The London 2012 Olympic Games have understandably been described as an ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ for the UK hospitality industry by hotel-industry.co.uk. The games will bring in an influx of people from all over the world to London which will undoubtedly mean increased demand for hotels. However I think that this will only bring limited custom for Tune Hotels; as the games are stretched out over a two week period, I think that the people who are staying in London for a couple of days will be more than happy with the service that Tune Hotels provide as a comfortable bed and a hot shower is all that most people require during a short hotel stay. On the other hand, I think long-stay visitors will be put off by the inability to budget under the ‘pay-as-you-use’ system operated by Tune Hotels.

* Location ‘ Location is very important within the hotel industry, even more so with the London 2012 Olympics around the corner. Hotels in London need to be close to transport links, attractions and other amenities in order to draw in a healthy numbers of customers as nobody wants a hotel too far away from their desired location. This is a potential problem for Tune Hotels and their proposed UK expansion as there could be some difficulty in finding appropriate sites for their ambitious figure of fifteen hotels in an already saturated market.

Recommendations and conclusion

All in all I think Tune Hotels have a fairly good chance of making the UK expansion a success with their low costing business model, particularly with the Olympics on the horizon and the increased demand for hotel accommodation in London that the games will generate. However, I think it would be wise for Tune to offer some kind of incentive or special Olympic package to potential guests during the games to lure them away from rival hotels; an all-inclusive option for the guests staying for longer periods, maybe?

However, I think fifteen hotels is a little ambitious in the competitive jungle of London and Mark Lankester should think about lowering his aspirations ever so slightly to and start talking about more realistic numbers like five or six. This would mean Tune could concentrate on having a smaller number of hotels in more desirable places as opposed to a large number of hotels in less sought after locations.

The expansion would also create a number of jobs for the people of the UK

In the last half of the twentieth century, the first location for gambling tourism was established in Nevada, U.S.A. The distinctive of this tourism is a combination of the peculiar geography of Nevadan region with the benefits of the federal system and their own individualistic esprit to form a prosperous economy. The development of the gambling industry became the main growth factor for Las Vegas and Reno until the present time. Underlying this new economy is the evolution of the tourist business, stimulated by the expansion of legalized gambling. After much ambivalence to social policy for the first seventy years, Nevada then led the way for the next fifty years in making acceptable, a business that was widely regarded elsewhere as socially improper (Hulse, 2004).

As the number of jurisdictions offering gambling tourism increases, both the response of potential tourists and the response of competing destinations will change. Gambling has long been recognized as a tourist attraction. Gambling first played a significant role at the spa resorts of the 18th and 19th centuries (Sethi, 1999). Members of the elite who frequented these resorts demanded amusements to occupy the time between treatments. The foundation of gambling amusements consist of food, socialization and games.

Las Vegas is the prime example of gambling tourism, where the central interest of gambling is surrounded with a host of tourist activities. To describe the growth of gambling tourism, it has been based on the elements of providing the activities in the same area where the gambling is located. Casinos and other gambling facilities are mainly treated as part of touristic entertainment culture and as products for promoting tourism (Cochrane, 2008). In particular, the explosive growth in gambling in Macau is based on the pent up demand for gambling outlets from the Mainland Chinese. Moreover, Singapore is the latest country announcing plans for the introduction of gambling tourism by the construction of a huge casino and associated gambling facilities (Conrady & Buck, 2008).

In their book “Tourism in Destination Community” Singh S., Timothy D. and Dowling R. (2003) outline that a typology of Tourism-Host Community Relationships. This typology is based on assessing the relationship that exists between tourism and the destination community. There are four possible theories are win-win, win-lose, lose-win and lose-lose. Gambling Tourism is categorized in lose-win. The reason for this is the community loses while tourism gains the benefits. The side effects of gaming or gambling are the fabric of communities both in physical terms of areas which are pulled down to make way for more casinos and also the increasing social problems such as addiction and crime. Conversely, tourism gains as all inclusive packages of gambling, entertainment, shopping and accommodation are offered to potential visitors.

This assessment will attempt to show the STEEP analysis of the current gambling tourism. Then it will look into a possible three scenarios with critically assessment based on time which is short, middle and long range future. Finally, the conclusion will explain stakeholder responses for sustainability of gambling tourism.

2. STEEP ANALYSIS
2.1. (S)ocial Impact

For many people, gambling could be lawful part of their leisure and recreation activities where most of them are becoming gamblers who have a responsible manner and enjoy gambling as entertainment (MCG, 2008). On the other hand, this kind of entertainment could be a cause of serious problems for themselves which impact on their families and the community. Regarding the social impact of gambling tourism, the activity often has been associated with organized crime, domestic violence, health problems and bankruptcy which may impact on both the local people and tourists from their addictive behaviors (Ivanova & Atanasova, 2009). From the negative perceptions of gambling tourism among local residents and tourists, they can be divided into the impact on individuals and the impact on relationships as follow (AIGR, 2001):

Impacts on individuals

The first impact is crime and health problems. Gambling is definitely vulnerable to crime, of which the major crimes might be fraud and money laundering and less major crimes could be cheating and begging. The range of crime can start from petty theft, shoplifting, forging signatures for financial gain, to robbery, embezzlement, misappropriation, drug trafficking, burglary to armed robbery. Loan shark lending has also been established as having a significant relationship with gambling related criminal activity such as physical harassment and violence being directed towards the gambler. For the health problems, gambling has been negatively associated with a variety of personal ailments such as depression, anxiety, suicide and general ill-health. For example, in 1999 Australian national client survey found the following results in relation to people with gambling problems as (AIGR, 2001):

95.6% suffered from depression;
57.8% seriously considered suicide due to gambling;
13.6% attempted suicide;
99% suffered from guilt due to gambling; and
97% had control problems, that is, they would ‘like to stop but can’t’.

Impacts on relationships

The second impact is the affects of problem gambling on interpersonal relationships with parents, children, partners, friends, work colleagues, and the general community. Some of the main difficulties problem gamblers have experienced in their inter-personal relationships are, not having enough time for family, the break-up of relationships, break-ups leading to be split-ups, losing contact with children, violent behavior due to gambling and family arguments over money.

2. 2. (T)echnological Impact

Technological developments in gambling are rapidly growing in prevalence around the world. The aim of the developments is to make it convenient to gamblers and easier to access betting games. Nowadays home gambling is preferable for gamblers. Due to the fact that there are several gambling technologies which offer more options, opportunities and temptations. The most distinctive would be online gambling on internet. The nature of cyberspace, has no geographic boundaries. Therefore a player can stay at home and conduct cross-border gambling with server who is located in other countries. The advent of online betting is to provide a variety of games such as blackjack, baccarat, and roulette as well as sports betting and to participate in lottery draws. Moreover, players can enter the virtual casino very easily by personal computers for leisure activities, prizes or money.

While gambling opportunities are expanding by internet technology, the effects may stimulate an increasing demand for gambling services. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice (1998) has identified that cyber betting reduce the income of location based gambling industries in terms of detrimental consequences for employment in hotels and clubs.

Another possibility, online gambling often occurs in an unregulated manner and effects the feeling of security for the players. However, there are increasing secure on-line financial transactions. Then again, the present trend of Internet betting is casino-style. As a result, many gambling operators are located in countries with relaxed or nonexistent gambling legislation and tax regulations such as Liechtenstein, Antigua, the Cook Islands and the Dominican Republic (Grant Chapman, 1998).

2.3. (E)conomic Impact

In every country that has gambling as a legal industry there are both positive and negative effects in the economic impact because the government gets revenue from the tourism, but they also have to take responsibility for the negative effects. For the positive impact, there is an increase in economic development, increase employment, tax revenues, and also increase the number of tourists who accept gambling has become their leisure activity. Governments have to support the development of the gambling industry as driven mainly because of economic need and the generated taxation revenues (Ivanova & Atanasova, 2009). Many countries have made gambling a legal industry because they can benefit from gambling which can be highly profitable. To point out that it creates employment, provides high revenues through generating additional taxation and leads to improvement in infrastructure are all positive effects of many countries that are supporting gambling tourism development (Pahor, n.d.). For example; in the case of Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the United States, the primary purpose of casino gaming was to redevelop the tourist and convention facilities and to improve the infrastructure and tourism capacity (Dunstan, 1997).

On the other hand, the negative effects that gambling is closely related to crime, social pathologies and social interruption which government has to respond to with all these effects (Pahor, n.d.). From all these reasons, they show why the heavy social and economic damages caused by the casinos should not be undervalued. For instance, the statistics from Nevada, whose economy is extremely dependent on the gambling industry, are alarming. It has the highest suicide rate in the USA, the highest accident rate (per mile driven) and also the highest rates of crime and school drop out (IVLV, 2010). The legality of the gambling industry and the growing access such as facilities in the current decade has also presented a significant health threat to the local population, mostly in the gambling addiction group.

The Australian Productivity Commission research found that the health and social costs of gambling can include (AIGR, 2001):

Financial costs (family debts and bankruptcy)
Effects on productivity and employment
Crime (theft, court cases and imprisonment)
Personal and family impacts (divorce and separation, depression and suicide)
Treatment costs.
2.4. (E)nvironmental Impact

It is essential to examine how the environment is influenced by the gambling sector. For creating a sustainable tourism gambling sector, it is necessary to begin close cooperation with the Environmental Planning Group (EPG). According to Roe, Leader-Williams & Dalal Clyton, “EPG is focused on environmental planning, resource management and utilization issues”. This organisation is oriented “on policy-making processes and strategic planning for sustainable development” (Roe, Leader-Williams & Dalan Clyton, 1997).

Moreover, the environment should be monitored continuously as the changes which may occur due to misuse of resources may lead to serious natural disasters (Miller and Twinning-Ward, p. 51).

There are famous gambling places in the world such as Nevada, Atlantic City and Monte Carlo. The last city is described by McMillen, 2005 as “a model for stimulating regional development which fuelled the proliferation of resort casinos throughout Europe” in the middle of 19th century. As gambling attracts wealthy people, it “provided a boost to the growth of tourism facilities and infrastructure” (McMillen, 2005, p. 243). Since that time the Rivera became a famous place for both rich Europeans and Americans to spend their holidays gambling. As an example the Casino de Monte Carlo became world famous and even “the most profitable casino” (McMillen, 2005, p. 243) in the whole of Europe.

Nevada is the most famous gambling place on the western coast in U.S.A., for example, casinos in Nevada offer “full-service resort style” holiday (Report to the Nevada Department of Human Resources, 2002, p.13). According to the California Research Bureau, 1995, it was the first city in USA where casino gambling was legalized. (Appendix 1)

In comparison with Nevada, Atlantic City is known as the gambling city on the American east coast. The gambling industry in Atlantic City had its inception in 1978 (Braunlich, 1996). This year went down in history as the “end of Nevada’s virtual monopoly of casino-style gambling” (Shonkwiller, 1993).

2.5. (P)olitical Impact

In terms of gambling in a reversal of American values, this refers to an ideology of hedonistic consumerism (McMillen, 1996). Therefore gambling tourism as a part of the tourists feelings should be independent of other recreational activities. However, the real gambling industry around the world is controlled by laws, regulations and policies in each destination. In the book “Gambling: Views from the Social Sciences” by Frey, James H. and Eadington (1984) has also identified that restrictions in gambling are created by laws, for the purpose of protecting the weak minority of compulsive gamblers, as well as, to limit the freedom of choice of the majority.

Furthermore the forms of gambling, for instance, lotteries, wagering on racing and charitable gambling are associated with the impacts of local markets, tourism and tourism development especially casino gambling (Pearce & Butler, 2002). Due to the fact that a casino operation is related with several national and state jurisdictions. In a part of the local community, gambling represents the ultimate in export-based activities such as appropriating local taxes from casino operators and the direct, indirect and induced impacts of local casino based expenditures. The division of national or government responsibilities also related with the import of tax income and re-exportation of the all negative externalities (Felsenstein & Freeman, 2002). These involve gamblers and the nation, for example, gambling induced-addiction, bankruptcy and reduced productivity.

Scenario Assortment
3.1. The Short Range Future (next 5 years)

The present society acceptance of gambling is a legitimate customer pursuit. In addition there are many newly increased technologies aimmed at bringing gambling into the home. As a result, the future of gambling becomes more localized and less tourist-oriented (Pearce & Butler, 1999).

3.1.1 The history of next generation technology

In the next 5 years, gambling, internet and touch screen television will be making a new modern world history for the next generation together (Hofex, 2008) which has developed from online gambling tourism and hi-technology facilities. Due to the fact that gambling as a popular leisure and recreation activity coupled with technology which is changing all the time, Interactive touch screen television (ItouchTV) is a convenient facility for betting activities from the comfort of both local communities and tourists places where there are hotels or airplanes. Wherever they are in the gambling tourism destination, Interactive touch screen TV gambling could allow gamblers to place bets by using their fingertip and also directly from their accounts accessed while playing in the casino. Interactive betting through this service is available for every debit and credit world wide accounts such as AMEX, Visa, Master Card and PayPal which account holders can also manage their account, deposit funds and check transaction history on ItouchTV (Commonwealth of Australia., 2009). ItouchTV will be developed in every types of interactive gambling include normal events like singing contests or the Oscars through digital pay television and digital free-to-air television service of these gambling destinations.

3.1.2 Critical Assessment for Sustainability

Combined with modern technology and sustainable tourism, it can be predicted that addictive behavior will develop for the next generation of gamblers. As gambling and hi-technology TV prepare for a shared future, the number of young gamblers will be increased rapidly because of the ability to access technology at their place easily whether they are local people or tourists. The future social problems will be over represented by gamblers who are under 30 years (Chapman, 1998) because this group of people are fascinated by computer technology and highly literate in its application. Although new modern gambling tourism will much more popular to the next generation of gamblers, it is a new challenge for the government and the private sectors to minimize harm from addictive behaviors and the future social results by offering service providers the abilities of self-exclusion or self-setting betting limits and set the regulation to control the future impact. Under the act, the effectiveness of regulation in the term of prevention and treatment program will be affected to the number of youth gamblers, social gambling impacts and high number of addictive behaviors which all of them have to be decreased.

3.2. The Middle Range Future (next 10 years)

To enhance a trend of gambling at home, the gambling industry needs to provide an innovation. This is the reason why there is a variety of new betting games development on the internet to satisfy different customer needs. Whereas gambling forms would not provide a novelty experience if the government had a monopoly ownership in the gambling industry.

3.2.1 Government Gambling versus Privatizing Gambling

At this point in time, there are many countries which have granted themselves a monopoly over the gambling marketplace. There are government monopolies of gambling operations and the quality of gambling tourism industry by limiting competitors and maintaining high prices. According to National Gambling Impact Study Commission (1999a) identified the government determines the level and type of competition to be permitted such as granting, amending, and revoking monopolies, and restricting or enhancing competition almost at will. These are also the keys determinants of various industries potential profits and losses. This paper agrees with this and believes consequently it is to limit entrants to a marketplace and new customers can be eliminated. Moreover, private enterprises with diminished competition have reduced incentives to offer a variety of gambling services. It may effect the quality of the products as well.

Generally, government-owned gambling operations maintain the objectives for the good of the public. It contrasts with regulations and the principle beneficiary of gambling activities. Due to the fact that the increased public demand also affects high social spending, this pressures governments to spend more of their budgets without increasing personal income taxes. Furthermore, the government would be responsible for the investment budgets of gambling business. While the gambling business is not always successful, so the government risks financial losses.

In addition, legalized gambling tourism should be conducted by the private sectors in the future. Because non-government firms have strong incentives to provide better services at reasonable prices. Therefore privatizations lead to better efficiency and the wider availability of products and services. If being unprofitable or closing business, investors ought to be responsible for all losses. In order for business ventures to operate at the expense of the taxplayers, companies must provide reasonably priced products to customers. Alternatively, government is not responsible for any risks of business operations.

3.2.2 Critical Assessment for Sustainability

It cannot be denied that government performance is a significant influence for gambling tourism sustainability. There are three possible ways to manage gambling industry. Firstly government may enforce more gambling prohibitions by policing and legislation. Secondly government may permit the operation of private social gambling and open to overseas investment. Thirdly government owns and operates gambling operations as public enterprises.

This paper believes public enterprises can enhance gambling industry efficiently in the next 10 years. Casinos in The United States, for example, are organized privatisation as public enterprises: owned by government and operated by the private sector such as casino gaming on ships, casinos on Indian reserves and a combination of destination and casinos which offer a variety of amenities including accommodations and entertainment (Basham & White, 2002).

The Long Range Future (next 20 years)

Nowadays space tourism is not science fiction any more but a luxury leisure activity for the wealthiest people on the planet. It is not only an expensive journey for so-called space tourists but also “an important new target for the space industry” (Collins, 2006). Collins, 2006 predicted that “at a growth rate of some 100,000 passengers per year, the business could reach 700,000 passengers per year by 2017, at a price of about $25,000 per a passenger”.

Taking into consideration the long-term scenario, 20 years from the present time, “tourism activities could have grown to a scale of $100 billion per year” which would create millions of job (Collins, 2006). Space tourism will play major role as this recreation activity will bring around “$1trillion greater than the value of continued taxpayer funding of space agencies’ activities without developing space tourism” (Collins, 2006). Thus, it is clearly seen the huge capacity for space tourism market.

Moreover, the long-term prediction is based on the assumption that gambling will work closely with space tourism industry. Commercial space passengers will have the opportunity to get access to gambling facilities while they are travelling in the cosmic expanse. Future aircrafts will be equipped with the most modern gambling machines and also there would be interactive connection with the Earth planet which will allow the opportunity to space tourists to bet on the races (as example) being held somewhere on the Earth.

This prediction is realistic as human nature has a “natural penchant to play, risk and competition” (Griffiths & Delfabbro, 2002, p.5) as well as gambling gives the opportunity to escape from the routine everyday life and take on a new role. In addition most of the wealthy people will always be looking for new kinds of entertainment, so they will be satisfied with the new gambling’s offer.

3.3.1. Critical Assessment for Sustainability

The major stakeholders such as space tourism association should create efficient sustainable tourism system which will guarantee the harmonious development of space tourism avoiding of severe abuse of space. Also innovations should be implemented gradually and consciously. There are should be no desire to get large revenue as the main goal for space tourism association must be sustainable space study.

The reason of organising space tours should be the opportunity to promote the space to the masses. Community should be more educated about space as space tourism may get people interested to learn more about that sector which is still unexplored.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gambling Tourism has a long history development since twentieth centuries. Although gambling is a public acceptance as recreational activities, but the effects of betting tourism are still controversial issues. The main dilemma of gambling can be analyzed into social, technology, economic, environment and political impacts.

Social problems affect both individuals and relationships, for instances, depression, suicide, losing contacts with friends and family. A part of technology analysis, globalization has a big influence of technology development. Gambling at home is a preferable trend of customers, which stress on internet or online betting. The consequence of cyber betting is to reduce the income of location based gambling industries in term of detrimental consequences for employment in hotels and clubs (McMillen, & Grabosky, 1998). Alternatively, gambling industry boosts the nation economy tax revenues, increasing amount of tourists and also provide a large numbers of jobs. This reason why government enlarge gambling services to be more attractive especially focusing on environment in term of location and atmosphere by gathering amenities, hotels and entertainment. While political impacts can restrict gamblers pursuits by policies and regulations. Because restrictions of gambling are created by laws for the purpose of protecting the weak minority of compulsive gamblers as well as limit the freedom of choice of the majority (Frey & Eadington, 1984).

According to STEEP analysis as above, three possible scenarios were predicted based on time which is consists of short, middle and long range future. The short term prediction believes the next 5 years tend is still home gambling. And also technology development on gaming is prevalence around the world namely Interactive Touch Screen Television (ItouchTV). People will gamble directly on television at home, hotel or airplane. As a result, the future of gambling becomes more localized and less tourist-oriented (Pearce & Butler, 1999). While a number of young gamblers are rising as well as social problems such as bankruptcy, depression and gambling addiction.

For the middle future assumption, privatizing gambling would be occurred in the next gambling industry. Due to the fact that the efficiency of private sectors can enhances this industry for sustainability. With novelty experiences of privatization offer difference services which satisfy more customer needs, comparing the former management of government monopolized gambling industry. In spite of this, organizing privatisation as public enterprises would be the next 10 years of betting tourism management which refers to owned by government and operated by the private sector.

A joint tourism between space and gambling is possibly exposed in the next 20 years. Due to a growth rate of space tourism prediction, it illustrates there are 100,000 passengers per year, the business could reach 700,000 passengers per year by 2017, at a price of about $25,000 per a passenger (Collins, 2006). Then again, the reason of interactive touch screen technology could provide a possibility of space gambling, for example, gambling in a rocket.

Over all, the distinctive stakeholder of gambling tourism is government. The reason of this is gambling industry is related with laws, regulations and policies directly. Furthermore, betting business is an ethical issue of individuals and society. Although there are many benefits of this tourism, but also there are several side effects especially social problems as above. This reasons why to do business in gambling tourism industry, will need to consider carefully.

List of References

Australian Institute for Gambling Research (AIGR). (2001). Social and economic impacts of gambling in New Zealand. Retrieved September 2, 2010, from www.aigr.uws.edu.au

Basham, P. and White, K. (2002). Gambling with Our Future?: The Costs and Benefits of Legalized Gambling. The Fraser Institute, Vancouver, CA

Braunlich, C. G. (1996). Lessons from the Atlantic City Casino Experience. Journal of travel research. 34(3). 46-56.

Chapman, G. S. (1998). Gambling and the internet – An Australian overview. Retrieved September 16, 2010, from http://www.aic.gov.au/events/aic%20upcoming%20events/1998/ ~/media/conferences/gambling/chapman.ashx

Cochrane, J. (2008). Asian Tourism: Growth and Change. Elsevier Ltd., Amsterdam, Netherland.

Collins, P. (2006). The Space Tourism Industry in 2030. Proceedings of Space 2000: The Seventh International Conference and Exposition on Engineering, Construction, Operations, and Business in Space.

Commonwealth of Australia. (2009). Digital Interactive TV. Retrieved September 16, 2010, from http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/gamblingdrugs/pubs/review_trends/Documents/chap6.htm

Conrady, R. and Buck, M. (2008). Trends and Issues in Global Tourism. Springer, Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Dunstan, R. (1997). Gambling in California. RetrievedA September 1, 2010, from http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/97/03/crb97003.html#toc

Felsenstein, D. and Freeman, D. (2002). Chapter 6 Gambling on the Border: Casinos, Tourism development, and the prisoners’ Dilemma. Tourism in Frontier Areas. Lexington Books, Maryland, U.S.A.

Frey, J. H. and Eadington W. R. (1984). The Casino Gambling Industry: A Study of political Economy. Gambling: Views from the Social Sciences. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, California.

Grant Chapman (1998). The Australian Institute for Gambling Research / Australian Institute of Criminology Conference on Gambling, Technology and Society. Home Gambling: An Australia Perspective. Retrieved August 9, 2010, from http://www.pc.gov.au/data/assets /pdf_file/0010/49582/sub023.pdf

Griffiths, M. and Delfabbro, P. (2002). The Biopsychosocial Approach to Gambling: Contextual Factors in Research and Clinical Interventions. The electronic journal of gambling issues.

Hofex, M. (2008). Gambling on TV with a little help from the internet. Retrieved September 16, 2010, from http://www.gamblingplanet.org/GP_editorial_200508a

Hulse, J. W. (2004). The Silver State: Nevada’s Heritage Reinterpreted. University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nevada.

Insider Viewpoint of Las Vegas (IVLV). (2010). Nevada Facts and Statistics. RetrievedA September 10, 2010, from http://www.insidervlv.com/didyouknow.html

Ivanova, A. and Atanasova, S. (2009). Gambling Tourism in Bulgaria. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1523211

McMillen, J. and Grabosky, P. (1998). Internet Gambling. Australian Institute of Criminology: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice. 88, 1-6.

McMillen, J. (1996). Gambling Cultures: Studies in History and Interpretation. (1st ed.). Routledge, London.

McMillen, J. (2005). Gambling Cultures: studies in history and interpretation. From glamour to grid: the globalization of casinos, 240-246.

Miller, G. and Twining- Ward L. Monitoring as an Approach to Sustainable Tourism. Tourism Futures, 51-64.

Ministerial Council on Gambling (MCG). (2008). National Framework on Problem Gambling. Retrieved September 2, 2010, from www.facs.gov.au

National Gambling Impact Study Commission [NGISC]. (1999a). Executive Summary. U.S.A.

Pahor, M. (n.d.). The impact of gambling on social and economic environment in Nova Gorica.A RetrievedA September 1, 2010, from http://www.fuds.si/media/pdf/organizacija/ nova.gorica.pahor_.pdf

Pearce, D. G. and Butler, R. W. (1999). Contemporary Issues in Tourism Development. Routledge, Canada.

Pearce, D. G. and Butler, R.W. (2002). The Spread of Casinos and their Role in Tourism Development. Contemporary Issues in Tourism Development. Routledge, London and New York.

Report to the Nevada Department of Human Resources, 2002. Gambling and problem gambling in Nevada, 13-25.

Roe, D., Williams, N. and Dalan, C. B. (1997). Take only photographs leave only footprints. IIED Wildlife and Development Series, 10.

Sethi P. (1999). Tourism: The Next Generation. J.L. Kumar for Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

Shonkwiler, J. C. (1993). Assessing the impact of Atlantic City casinos on Nevada gaming revenues. Atlantic Economic Journal, 21(2), 50-61.

Singh S., Timothy D. and Dowling R. (2003). Tourism in Destination Community. AMA DataSet Ltd, United Kingdom.

Periyar,Kerala

Periyar in Thekkady district of Kerala is famous only for one reason-it is home to one of the Zealously guarded and efficiently managed protected areas of India and one of 27 tiger reserves in India. Periyar is located in biodiversity hotspot of India ie.the Western Ghats in God?s Own Country, Kerala.It is home to rare, endemic and endangered flora and fauna.The biodiversity value of this national park can be understood from the fact that the park is home to 62 species of mammals, 320 species of birds, 45 species of reptiles, 27 species of amphibians, and 38 species of fishes.In last century a dam was built on the river falling in this area which led to the formation of a splendidly placed lake named Periyar lake of about 26 sq. km situated at the heart of the park.This lake is the water source of the park and it is the meeting place of all forms of wildlife and one easily comes across a herd of elephants playing in the water of the lake.Sprawled over an area of 777 Sq .km.,Periyar is one of the finest protected lands of India watered by two main rivers the Periyar and Pamba.

A large number of elephants estimating 900-1000 are found in this tiger reserve explaining the ecological significance of this vast landscape.Gaur, a rare mammal ,largest of bovines also found here.Periyar is an important tiger reserve with an estimated population of 35?40 tigers in the park area.The park supported a large number of other rare creatures namely Nilgiri marten an extremely rare and endemic bird,the great pied hornbill,160 species of butterflies,Striped necked mongoose,varieties of deer et al.

The periyar is different from most of other protected areas of India as on the pattern of protected areas of kenya.Periyar also has community oriented projects involving local people in the conservation and preservation of the park and adjoining areas. People oriented and park centered community based ecotourism are the main characteristic feature of Periyar Reserve which are operated by local people responsible for the surveillance of the vulnerable parts of the reserve.The revenue generated in these projects is spent on the development of these areas and bring the sense of responsibity amidst the local people who may otherwise consider the wild creatures as their enemies.This model of community participation should also be introduced in parks where it is possible. People who once made a living by illegal operations in the forests have become forest protectors and earn their livelihood through these programmes.If as a tourist you play any role here you also become a conservationist.A large number of programmes like nature walk,bamboo rafting,border hiking,jungle patrol,jungle inn,trekking etc are avaialable in the park territory.

Trekking in park area for instanceinvolves traversing diverse habitats falling in the trekking routes,generally 4 to 5 km. in length offering opportunity to see birds, butterflies and other wildlife.The trails often pass through evergreen and moist deciduous forests interspersed with marshy grasslands.It can be done twice a day morning and evening under the guidance of tribal guide.There are other similar nature programmes to inculcate the awareness among the visitors.Periyar is rich in medicinal plants having more than 350 species as medicinally important.The evergreen forests support the majority of the medicinal plants followed by moist deciduous forests and southern hilltop tropical evergreen forests.There are other facilities like Boat Cruises in the Periyar lake and is well known boating spot for tourists.It is unusual to see many animals from the boats, still you spot a family of elephants, Wild boar and Sambar deer by the water’s edge.There are other places like Cradomom Hills,Munnar,Kodaikanal,Madurai,Cumbum Valley.

Best Time to Visit Periyar

The best season to visit Periyar wildlife sanctuary is from the months of October and June.Most of the rainfall occurs during the southwest monsoon from June to September. The northeast monsoon impacts from October to December. There are some pre-monsoon showers from mid April.

How to reach
By Air

Nearest airport is Cochin at 200-kms and Madurai in Tamil Nadu at140-kms.Hire a taxi to reach periyar.

By Rail

Nearest railway line is Kottayam at 114-kms which has good road connection to periyar.

By Road

The nearest town from Periyar is Kumily,which is well connected by both state and private buses from Ernakulam and Madurai in Tamil Nadu and other main places.

Explain the unique characteristics that separate service businesses from other business the deal with tangible product.

Discuss what should a person prepares if he/she wants to become an hotelier.

Question 1

The hotel industry is also known as the service sector. The reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers with liberality and good will. Hospitality industry is a board of category about the service industry also including event planning, theme park, restaurant, lodging and also tourism industry. A hospitality unit such as a restaurant, hotel, or even an amusement park consists of many groups such as facility maintenance, direct operations management, marketing, and human resources. Therefore, hospitality industry also includes accounting, tradesman ship, computer services, restaurants, and tourism.To be a successful manager in the hospitality industry, you must exhibit many skills and command much specialized knowledge all directed toward achieving the managerial objectives such as make the guest feel welcomed, make sureproductsor serviceswork for the guest and make sure the operation continues to provide service and make a profit. Besides that, the hotel industry is a multibillion-dollar industry, mainly depends on the availability of leisure time and disposal income. Therefore, that hospitality industry also include service sector.

Answer

Hospitality industry has many characteristics such as intangible, perishable, inseparable, simultaneous, variable, shift work, graveyard shift and guest satisfaction.

Intangible servicecharacteristic in hospitality industry mean cannot see and touched but can felt. In addition, sales or service owned by the person, but it cannot be opened, from the service provider’s to service consumer. Example, a service only can be sold and owned by the person, but it cannot be opened, from the service provider’s service consumers. Sole proprietorship, provide services, can be entrusted to the service provider, you must generate and provide services in the different requirements of the authorized service consumers.

Perishable service characteristic in hospitality industry mean won’t last long and won’t experience the same experience. When this service has been fully rendered to the requesting service consumer irreversibly disappear, because it has been consumed by service consumers. For example, service resource allocation processes and systems to provide services within a certain period. When the service has really given to users of the service request, this particular service irreversibly vanishes as it was used by the service users.

Inseparable service means production, and from the customer’s experience. The indivisibility requirements, consumer service is to interact with its manufacturer to accept its benefits. Because someone must timely produce and the services provided by service providers is essential to provide services require service consumers. Performed automatically in many cases, but the service provider to provide the service must be prepared to allocate resources and systems, and active conditions and the ability to maintain appropriate services. Example, the service consumer must be sitting in the shops and hair stylist chair, or aircraft and seating, to the hairdresser or the pilot must in the same store or aircraft, respectively, to provide services.

Simultaneous service means the service is some kind of horse, and at the same time consumption. As long as the service requirements of service consumers, especially the service must start from scratch generated without any delay and friction and services, consumers’ instant consumption rendered interests, for the implementation of his upcoming events or tasks.Example, waiter in the restaurant, or the cashier at the bank, is an integral part of the services provided. The client also participates in a certain degree of service, and the service may affect the results. People can be part of the service itself; this could be a service marketing advantage.

Variable service is a service which means disposable generating, rendering, and consumption can never be accurately repeated time points, locations, and the case, under the conditions of the current configuration information and alocation of resources is different from the coming up delivery, even is the same kind of service to the same service consumer’s request. Example, Taxi service from his home to the opera, the consumers of transport services is different taxi service, transportation service consumers from opera to his home – another point in time, the other direction, might be another route, may be another taxi drivers cab.

Shift work in hospitality industry means an employment practice, use of, or the provision of services across, all 24 hours of the clock each day of the week. Shift work is the way hours of work are organized for an organization to operate outside regular hours. Different types of shifts includeshifts that rotate or change, shifts that are split apart by several hours, permanent shifts (day or night) and also changing shift lengths (8, 10 or 12 hours). There is few effect of shift work, for example, shift work can course such as digestive problems, including ulcers, stomach and intestinal problems reduce appetite, diabetes, epilepsy, asthma and depression. People need to sleep. Shift work can affect how much sleep and sleep, the kind you get. Sleep during the day and sleep at night is not deep or refresh. Shift workers time to sleep when the body’s natural activities gear. When you do not sleep, you might always feel tired.

Especially the night shift, night shift or third shift (3 shifts) means to change their work throughout the early morning, morning, and transfer to midnight to 08:00 or 23:00 to 07:00. Example, employee will make day shift and night shift in hotel when the time is alternative.

Guest satisfaction in hospitality industry means that the guest was satisfy with the service of the employee. Guest satisfaction depends on hotel service because guests have rising expectation for hotel, but their overall satisfaction with service. Guest can be satisfied hotel rates &hotel service.Example, guest feel satisfy with the service and what they expect to hotel.

Conclusion

At the end, as an employee must have a good service to any customer. Guests satisfywith the service and will be happy with the good service.The hotel industry will contributes employment and economic growth of the country. The government is very lenient regulatory and licensing of hotel, because the increase in the average daily rate of foreign tourists.

Question 2

The hoteliers mean a people who supervise or manage the hotel. He or she may be established owner, operating a hotel, the Chief Executive of the hotel’s location, or chain, or in the hotel’s general manager, the Chairman of the Board. Hotelier’s responsibility will vary according to how the word is applied. Who owns a hotel will be responsible for the care of all matters of common ownership of real estate, as well as the implementation of the ultimate liability for any and all taxes and appropriate compliance-run hotel building codes and local laws. The title hotelier Chief Executive will supervise the publicity and general business operations, and facilities responsible for the profitability of the owners or owners. Hotelier who is the Chairman of the Board will provide the current status of the communication line, investors and the owners of the hotel, and the hotel manager will provide oversight of a variety of functions, affect the day-to-day operation of the hotel.As a hotelier has responsible to handle each problems such as public relations, guest service, maintenance of facilities, reservation procedures, build relationship with customer and marketing. No matter what department you work in the hotel we also call hotelier. Depending on how the term is applied, the responsibilities of a hotelier of department is difference. A success hotelier must have good relationship with guest especially regular customer.

Answer

To be a successful hotelier in the hospitality industry you should be discipline, manners, good services, more experience, responsible and so on. As a hotelier has responsible to handle problems such as public relations, guest service, maintenance of facilities, reservation procedures, build relationship with customer and marketing. Hotel operators managing the property and, in some cases, they can also be the owner of the hotel. Hotel managers supervise other hotel, and they work long hours during peak travel and when events are scheduled at the hotel. They are often called upon to handle emergency situations and disputes. For good performance, hoteliers should have the skills required for the position.Therefore, as a good hotelier must be very discipline during working time. Besides that, to be a good hotelier also need to be responsible. It will show that you are good employee and good staff.

First of all you must make the guests feel welcome and also be friendly because it is manner. You must be discipline and good service in front of the guests. To be a good hotelier you should know what their guests want and are willing to go that extra mile to put them at ease.

Secondly, to be a good hotelier you should be hard working. Willing to work hard is always a plus point for a people who want to be successful hotel management line.Therefore, it is the opportunity to build a good relationship with the guest and enhance the reputation of hotel.

HOW TO BECOME A GOOD HOTELIER

The hotelier is a good diplomat, patience, tolerance, generosity and good intentions. A good hotel operator must have self-discipline staff, quick workers, and quick thinkers and always to help client and manager at all times.

Diplomat

Diplomat mean is a person who appointed by the national diplomacy with other countries or international organizations. Representation and protection of the people are the main functions of diplomats around the state and sent, as well as the promotion of information and friendly relations.As a diplomat can easily build an own relationship with the customer and day by day they will become a general customer of hotel.

Patience

Patience in hospitality industry means whatever the guest scold you, you cannot scold them back.Resistance state in difficult circumstances, this may mean that persist in the face of delay or provocation, no worries, anger, a negative exhibit patience when under pressure, particularly when faced with a long-term problem.

Tolerance

Toleration in hospitality industry means a person who tolerates something or somebody unpleasant. Toleration is meaning the practice deliberately allowing or permitting the things one does not agree. Many people are sometimes don’t know how to behave themselves and also don’t know show some respect to other people; so that’s why we have to be tolerate and patience. To be a hotelier everyday will face difference temper of guests, so as a hotelier should be tolerate and not to argue with them. Also, as a hotelier should give what they need to make them feel satisfy. Guests always are the right whatever happens so as a hotelier should be toleration and also patience.

Liberality

When employee facing any high demand guests, we should need to be liberality and keep smile to serve our customer until they satisfy with the service. Any guest that is high demand, we shouldn’t complain it because it will affect the whole hotel and will give a bad image and impression to the hotel. As a good hotelier must be professional during working time.

Good Will

Good will means willing to help each other when facing problem. Good will is one of the important things to any hotelier because it always reminds us to be helpful to our guests and also help them to solve problem. Front office staff is the first employee to serve the customer. So that why good will is very important to any front office staff.

Conclusion

It is not easy to become a hotelier, but it is not so difficult. It depends on how to treat customers, if you use your heart to your guests, they will feel. Most of the students have chosen the hotel management, because working in the service sector is very interesting and funny. Enterprise management is very useful for our future operations, but it is very boring, which is why I chose the hotel management. Another reason to select the hotel management, we can see so many different customers and increase our knowledge. When you have experience in the service industry, and then set the target a certain extent, the growing knowledge does not always stay in the same place, become one industry professionals. Peter Drucker pointed out that, today, the centre of our social productive forces, knowledge workers. In other words, knowledge is the key to success, do not know is equal. Unfortunately, remain forever in the failure. Thus, learning as an important part of our comprehensive preparatory work supervisor or manager career.

The study investigates American customers’ perceptions of Chinese restaurants in the U.S., using the importance – performance analysis approach. This study also examines which attributes of Chinese restaurants influence American customers, satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The IPA shows that environmental cleanliness and attentive service are two important areas where Chinese restaurateurs can make improvements. In addition, food taste and service reliability appear to be key attributes for Chinese restaurants’ success. Overall, this study indicates that food quality, service reliability and environmental cleanliness are three pivotal attributes to create satisfied customers and positive post – dining behavioural intentions. Chinese restaurant managers should reasonably allocate their limited resources to restaurant attributes based on their contributions to customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

Table of Content: Page No.

Title Page i

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Chapter One 1

Literature Review

Research Method

Code of ethics

Summary

Chapter Two 5

Introduction

Tourism

Mass tourism

Visitor Types

Tourist motivation

International Coastal Destination

Environmental Impact

Regional government strategies

Conclusion

Chapter three 11

Introduction

Objective one

Objective two

Summary

Chapter four 15

Local community of Goa

Travel Agents and tour operators

Magazines and Journal

Businessmen and Restaurant Owner

Chapter Five 16

Introduction

Questionnaire findings

Statistical data

Email Interview

Telephonic Interview

Chapter Six 19

Introduction

Objective one

Objective two

Chapter Seven 21

Conclusion and Recommendation

Impact of mass tourism on the environment of Goa

Positive Impact

Negative Impact

Chapter Eight 24

List of References 31

Appendices 33

Chapter: 1 Introduction

Introduction:

Aim of Project:

Perception of Chinese restaurant in the U.S: What affects customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions?

Objectives:

To analyse the customer’s behavioural intentions for Chinese restaurant in U.S.

To analyse the perception of Chinese restaurant in the U.S.

To evaluate and analyse what affects customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

The United States is a multicultural and multiethnic nation and this national trend of diversity is expected to consistently increase (Josiam and Monteiro, 2004; Sukalakamala and Boyce, 2007). One reflection of this cultural and ethnic diversity is the variety and prosperity of ethnic restaurants in the American foodservice market. The U.S. ethnic food market generates $75 billion in annual sales, around 65% of which is attributed to the foodservice industry (US ethnic food market, 2005). Yet, the fast growth of ethnic restaurants is not driven entirely by the growing number of new immigrants. In fact, 75% of ethnic food consumption comes from non-ethnic customers (US ethnic food market, 2005). As lifestyles change and dining out becomes more and more commonplace, many customer’s desire new flavours and experiences.

Along with this popularity is the rapid development of Chinese restaurants. According to Chinese restaurants news (2007), there are about 43,139 Chinese restaurants in the United States, which is more than the total number of all McDonalds Wendy’s and burger king domestic outlets combined. Chinese restaurants generate over $17.5 billion annual sales, accounting for about one fourth of overall annual sales generated by ethnic restaurants in the U.S. (Chinese Restaurant News, 2007). Known for its good taste and great value for the price, Chinese cuisine is among the “big three” most popular ethnic cuisines in the U.S. food service market (National Restaurant association, 1995). It is estimated that 90% of the American population has tried Chinese food and 63% of Americans eat Chinese food each month (George, 2001). Facing more sophisticated American consumers and increasing competition in the restaurant industry, Chinese restaurants can no longer succeed by depending on good taste or low price alone. According to National Restaurant Association (2000a,b), due to an increased familiarity with ethnic food. American consumers’ attitudes toward ethnic cuisine have recently changed. Today, an exotic experience is not enough to attract consumers to an ethnic restaurant. Customers are no longer willing to trade off inferior service or atmosphere for an opportunity to try new flavours. They prefer an excellent overall dining experience. Moreover,

Chinese restaurants are facing increasing challenges from other emerging Asian restaurants and from the changing tastes of American customers who prefer healthy or spicy food. Therefore, a better understanding of the key attributes influencing customer satisfaction and post dining behavioural intentions in Chinese restaurants will provide important practical implications for Chinese restaurants operators.

Literature review:

At all stages in the elaboration of a dissertation, the author must exert control over both the content and the way it is organised. The literature review is what shows that the author understand the chosen topic and keeps to the aim. ‘In researching for your dissertation or project, you will generally be expected to source material for yourself’ says MacMillan (2007, p.61). Meanwhile, Swetnam (2005, p.76) gives examples and his definition is that ‘the literature review is central to the dissertation and in all styles of work. It has a number of functions, for example, it shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic, it demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory; it informs and modifies your own research. White (2006, p.83) gives a newer definition that the literature review ‘will help you to discuss the dissertation in its relevant context, together with any theoretical frameworks which may be involved. It may also trigger your imagination and help you set the work in a new and different light’ because the author learns and understands more, which can stimulate further analysis.

Research Method:

The researcher need way to get the data will be from books, magazines, newspaper and through internet. As there are so many websites, no. of books, newspaper and magazines from where researcher will get updated information regarding the research. Through qualitative method the researcher will be able to find out easier way for doing research and by getting direct information related with the research. And the other thing is that in qualitative method accuracy rate is good not all time but, mostly.Quantitative method also very helpful to do the research.

Code of Ethics:

The world tourism organisation developed a code of ethics. This is recognition of the need to enshrine many of the principles of global action on the environment and the rights of tourists and workers. The basic principles inherit in the code are:

Implementation of the principles of the code of ethics of hospitality.

Mutual understanding and respect between peoples and societies.

Restaurant as a beneficial activity for host countries and communities.

Summary:

This work will introduced the conceptual issues associated with the research of “customer satisfaction from Chinese restaurant in US” and also demonstrate what is happening with people of the local community.

Chapter: 2 Literature Review
Literature Review: An Introduction

At all stages in the elaboration of a dissertation, the author must exert control over both the content and the way it is organised. The literature review is what shows that the author understand the chosen topic and keeps to the aim. ‘In researching for your dissertation or project, you will generally be expected to source material for yourself’ says MacMillan (2007, p.61). Meanwhile, Swetnam (2005, p.76) gives examples and his definition is that ‘the literature review is central to the dissertation and in all styles of work. It has a number of functions, for example, it shows that you have read widely around your chosen topic, it demonstrates your critical understanding of the theory, it informs and modifies your own research. White (2006, p.83) gives a newer definition that the literature review ‘will help you to discuss the dissertation in its relevant context, together with any theoretical frameworks which may be involved. It may also trigger your imagination and help you set the work in a new and different light’ because the author learns and understands more, which can stimulate further analysis.

Chapter: 1 Ethnic cuisine development and Chinese restaurants in the US.

In the past few decades, with the influx of new immigrants as well as diversifying tastes of Americans, ethnic foods have become widely available and increasingly popular in the U.S. food service market (Josiam and monteiro, 2004). Traditional ethnic cuisines such as Italian, Mexican and Cantonese Chinese have become so familiar to American customer that they are perceived as mainstream American foods (Mills, 2000). In the meanwhile, many emerging ethnic cuisines such as Caribbean, Mediterranean and Pan – Asian have also gained wide acceptance in recent years (US ethnic food market, 2005).

Chinese cuisine arrived in the U.S. with the first railroad construction workers brought over to the west coast of the U.S. in the nineteenth century (Freeman, 2008). From the first Cantonese style Chinese restaurant opened in San Francisco in 1849, it rapidly penetrated towns and cities all over the U.S. and became part of the American experience (Chen and Bowen, 2001). Cantonese style cuisine, characterised by its light sweet and sour flavours, is the most popular Chinese cuisine in the U.S. In the recent years, other styles of Chinese cuisine have also become familiar to American customers, such as Szechwan, Hunan and Mandarin styles. The first two styles are famous for their hot and spicy flavours, while the last one is characterised by light, elegant and mildly seasoned foods (George, 2001). According to the National Restaurant Association (1995), customer perceived Chinese cuisine as a great value for the price, good for carryout, rich in flavour and difficult to prepare at home.

Although there a few Chinese restaurant chains operating in the U.S. such as P. F. Chang’s China Bistro and Panda Express, most Chinese restaurant has a Chinese name outside, is decorated with Chinese styled pictures and artifacts, such as Chinese brush landscape paintings red lanterns, offers a menu printed in both Chinese and English, and provides Chinese characterised tableware, such as chopsticks and Chinese restaurants have been facing intense competition among themselves due to fast development and expansion in the U.S., as well as from other emerging Asian restaurants such as Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese ( Jang et al., 2009). Thus, maintaining customer satisfaction and repeat patronage may be more important for Chinese restaurants than ever before.

Chapter: 2 Customer satisfaction and related theories

The topic of “customer satisfaction” has held a significant position in the marketing literature over the decades since satisfied customers can be generate long-term benefits for companies, including customer loyalty and sustained profitability (Homburg et al., 2006). Researchers have explained the mechanism of customer satisfaction with number of distinct theories, such as expectancy-disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1981), contrast theory (Howard and Sheth, 1969), assimilation or cognitive dissonance theory (Anderson, 1973), equity theory (Oliver and Swan, 1989), and value percept theory (Westbrook and Reilly, 1983). Among them, the most widely accepted theory is the expectancy – disconfirmation theory. According to this theory, customers’ satisfaction judgements are the results of comparisons between customers’ expectations and perceived performance. If the perceived performance exceeds the expectation, the expectation is positively disconfirmed and the customer is satisfied. On the contrary, if the perceived performance falls short of the expectation, the expectation is negatively disconfirmed and the customer is dissatisfied. Another influential theory for customer satisfaction is the equity theory. This theory suggests that satisfaction occurs when customers perceived that they have obtained more benefits compared to their cost (e.g. money, time and effort) and perceived value is an appropriate factor in measuring satisfaction (Oliver and Swan, 1989; Yuan and Jang, 2008).

Another commonly used theory, the three factor theory, provides a basic explanation for the structure of customer satisfaction. This theory claims that three independent satisfaction factors influence customer satisfaction in different ways (Kano, 1984; Matzler and Sauerwein, 2002). Basic factors are minimum requirement for satisfaction. Failure to fulfil the minimum requirements causes dissatisfaction, whereas fulfilling or exceeding them does not necessarily lead to satisfaction. Excitement factors increase customer satisfaction if delivered but do not cause dissatisfaction if not delivered. Performance factors lead to satisfaction if performance is high and to dissatisfaction if performance is low (Fuller and Matzler, 2008). This theory has been validated empirical studies (e.g. Fuchs, 2004; Matzler et al., 2006) and could provide an additional perspective for understanding the effects of restaurant attributes on customer satisfaction. Basic factors can be seen as the prerequisites for the satisfaction, signifying that customer take that for granted. Performance factors are a critical competitive area and directly related to customers’ explicit needs and wants. Excitement factors are unexpected by customers, so they can be a “surprise gift” that generates extra delight (Fuller and Matzler, 2008).

Chapter: 3 Behavioural Intentions

Behavioural intention can be defined as the degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not perform some specified future behaviour (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). According to the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), behavioural intention is the motivational component of a volitional behavioural and is highly correlated with behaviour itself (Jang and Feng, 2007). Although there are still arguments about the level of correlation between behavioural intentions and actual actions, it seems to be generally agreed that behavioural intention is a reasonable variable for predicting future behaviour (Quelette and Wood, 1988). Thus, a good understanding of the determinants of favourable post-dinning behavioural intentions such as saying positive things about the restaurant, recommending the restaurant to others, and repeat purchasing can provide practical guidance for restaurant practitioners.

Another construct that is highly related to behavioural intentions is customer satisfaction. It is regarded as one of the key antecedents of post purchase behavioural intentions because customer satisfaction has a positive effect on the customer’s attitude towards the product or service and can reinforce the customer’s conscious effort to purchase the product or service again in the future (Oliver, 1989, 1999). However, previous studies have also suggested that factors that influence customer satisfaction are not always in accordance with factors influencing customer behavioural intention, for example, Sulek and Hensley (2004) found that food, atmosphere, and fairness of the seating order were all significant predictors of a customer’s overall dining satisfaction, but only food quality predicted post-dining behavioural intention. In examining food quality in restaurants, Namkung and Jang (2007) reported that food temperature had a significant effect on customer satisfaction but no effect on behavioural intention. Conversely, healthy options were a direct determinant of behavioural intentions but did not influence customer satisfaction. Therefore, there is a practical need to investigate the effects of restaurant attributes on both customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

Chapter: 4 Factors influencing customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions in restaurants

Reuland et al. (1985) suggested that hospitality services consist of a harmonious mixture of three elements: the material product, the behaviour and attitude of the employees, and the environment. Berry et al. (2002) also proposed three categories of cues that present themselves in the service experience: functional cues (technical quality of service), mechanic cues (nonhuman elements in the service environment) and humanic cues (behaviour of service employees). Based on these propositions, the basic restaurant attributes can be said to be include food, service and environment. Though a literature review of dining satisfaction and behaviour intention, all three basic elements were found to directly or indirectly contribute to customer’s overall satisfaction with a restaurant experience and their post dining behavioural intentions.

Chapter: 5 Food Quality

As the core product of a restaurant, food plays a pivotal role in the restaurant experience. Food quality has been generally accepted as major factor influencing customer satisfaction and post dining behavioural intention. For example, Dube et al. (1994) measured the relative importance of seven restaurant attributes in repeat purchase intention in an upscale restaurant setting and found that food quality was far more important to restaurant customers than all others attributes, Sulek and Hensley (2004) investigated the relative importance of food and physical setting, and service in a full-service restaurant and found that food quality was the most important factor influencing satisfaction and the only factor predicting behavioural intention. Namkung and Jang (2007) evaluated the relationship of individual attributes that constitute food quality (e.g. food presentation, menu variety, healthy options, taste, food freshness and temperature) with customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The findings indicated that food presentation, taste and temperature were significantly related to customer satisfaction whereas food presentation, taste and healthy options (instead of temperature) were significant predictors of behavioural intention. Besides the above- mentioned six individual attributes, “food safety” is also an important cue for evaluating food quality. “Although food-safety defects are not always immediately apparent, customers do tend to notice undercooked food, food with an off taste, or foreign material in their food” (Sulek and Hensley, 2004). Thus, food may serve as the most basic and lowest standard when judging quality.

Service Quality:

In the service literature, perceived service quality is defined as the customer’s judgement of the overall excellence or superiority of the service (Zeithaml, 2008). It is the customer’s subjective evaluation, resulting from a comparison of expectations and perceived performance. SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al, 2008) is the instrument most often used for measuring perceived service quality in the marketing literature. It consists of five service dimension, namely, tangibles (physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel), reliability (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately), and responsiveness (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence) and empathy (caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers). To adapt SERVQUAL to the restaurant industry, Stevens et al. (2005) modified several items from the original SERVQUAL and developed DINESERV to measure perceived service quality in restaurants. In the restaurant industry, since customers not only evaluate the quality of food but also the service encounters during their dining experience, perceived service quality is seen as another core determinant of customers satisfaction and behavioural intention. For example Kivela et al. (2009) proposed a comprehensive model for dining satisfaction and return patronage. Their study indicated that the probability of return patronage was dependent on customer’s satisfaction with five aspects of a restaurant: first the last impressions, service quality, and ambience quality, food quality and feeling comfortable eating there and reservation and parking. Ladhari et al. (2008) investigated determinants of dining satisfaction and post-dining behavioural intentions, and concluded that perceived service quality influenced customer satisfaction through both positive and negative emotions, Customer satisfaction, in turn, influenced recommendations, customer loyalty and willingness to pay more. Their results suggested that compared with food quality/reliability, physical design and price, service responsiveness was the most important contributor to customer satisfaction.

ATMOSPHERICS

Atmospherics is perceived as the quality of the surroundings space. According to Kotler (2006) it is the conscious designing of space to produce specific emotional effects in buyers that enhance their purchase probability. Atmospherics is made up of a set of elements, such as music, lighting, colour and scent.

Research in environmental psychology has suggested that atmospherics has a powerful impact on people’s emotions, attitude and behaviour. Mehrabian and Russell (2005) first introduced a theoretical model to explain the impact of environmental stimuli on individual behaviour. The model claims that the physical environment could influence people’s emotional response (such as pleasure and arousal), which in turn elicits approach or avoidance behaviour toward the environment. The model has gained consistent support from the numerous empirical studies in different service settings, such as retail stores and hotels (Baker and Cameroon, 2006). In the restaurant context, Ryu and Jang (2007) explored the combined effect of multiple atmospheric variables on behavioural intentions in upscale restaurants. Their findings supported that ambience (example music, aroma, and temperature) and employee appearance had the most important influence n customer’s post dining behavioural intentions.

OTHER FACTORS-PRICE FAIRNESS AND AUTHENCITY

Besides food, service and atmospherics, perceived price fairness could be another factor that influences the customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions (Bei and Chiao, 2007). It is based on consumer internal reference prices, which could be generated by the last price paid, the price most frequently paid and the market prices in similar transactions (Kahneman et al.2006). This principle posits that firms are entitled to a reasonable profit and customers are entitled to a reasonable price. An increase in price is preserved to be fair if it is due to a cost increase. Otherwise, it is preserved to be unfair if the price is increased without any underlying cost increase. Perceived fairness of price is found to be positively related to customer satisfaction and loyalty (Bei and Chiao, 2007), whereas perceived unfairness of price can lead to immediate negative attitudinal and behavioural responses such as dissatisfaction, complaining and switching to other providers (Xia et al. 2005).

Authenticity is an attribute that could be specifically relevant to ethnic restaurants. Authenticity refers to whether the food and ethnic origin. In other words, the environment and cuisines are not adjusted to meet local tastes and customers who are familiar with the culture of the ethnic origin can be judging its authenticity (Ebster and Guist 2006). Compared with Americans restaurants, ethnic restaurants usually make use of ethnic art, decor, music and customers. Some scholars even describe ethnic restaurants as cultural ambassadors of the home country and the dining experience in an ethnic as culinary tourism (Wood and Munoz, 2006).

Summary

Based on the literature review, this study investigated customer perception of Chinese restaurant in terms of food related attributes service related attributes, atmosphere related attributes and other attributes (price and authenticity), and identified the key attributes affecting customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

Chapter: 3 Research Method

Introduction:

Methodology is the study of methods and it raises all sorts of philosophical questions about what it is possible for researcher to know and how valid their claims to knowledge might be (Fisher, 2007, p.40) The researcher has to consider the nature of the setting being studied or the ‘question’ being asked, as well as any possible limitations on the study, such as time and resources. Resources may be human being or monetary resources, or research tools such as computers or computer assisted telephone interviewing laboratories. There also needs to be to be a match between the study topic and methodology. For example, a research question that seeks to determine the size of the visiting friends and relatives market in an area would use a quantitative methodology, not a qualitative methodology, because the focus is on quantification.

A methodology is a systematic and orderly approach taken towards the collection and analysis of data so that information can be obtained from those data. Data are raw, specific, undigested and therefore largely meaningless; information, in contrast, is what you get when data have been arranged in such a way that uncertainty is lessened, queries resolved, and questions answered. In the words of Jankowicz (2005, p.220) “Everything you do in your empirical work should be directed to the one end of gathering and presenting data from which information can be easily and simply derived”. Veal (2006, p. 125)

The research approach:

The author will use primary sources in the dissertation. Two interviews will be conducted:

with one member of Dancing Dragon, Teesside (one of manager )

with one regular customer of Dancing Dragon restaurant

The two chosen people one from Dancing Dragon and another from a regular customer of Chinese restaurant. Therefore, that customer will be capable of answering all questions and give new examples. The experience for the author is important because the answers will be based on true stories, examples and theories that are necessary for the dissertation. The interviews will be done by email and telephone, which could give the author an opportunity to gain some extra information if the interview exceeds the prepared questions and some new information will come from the interviews.

Practicality of research:

The interviews are a very good research method and are also practical. The information gained in the process is something new because it is primary source, then from secondary source, which must be checked. Primary source data can help the help to avoid incorrect or approximate information to learn and present further on, there is no need for the author to check it before including it in the dissertation.

Also, Face to face interview can also help the author to conduct the interviews on time. The appointments must be made on time and dates are set, interviewees will not have chance to put off the interviews.

Finally, it is an interesting process for the author. Sitting with a lot of books or magazine articles in the learning centre sometimes does not arise any interest in the author and the creativity in this case is poor, but to go out and to speak with people makes impressive ideas and final work can differ a lot.

Five Codes of Ethics:

The author of this dissertation will comply with five codes of ethics, and they will also be the limitations:

will not collect information in such a way that participants are not aware of it

will explain for what purpose information is required

will choose to interview random individuals and will not exert pressure of any kind on them

will not change information provided by participants

will maintain confidentially at the request of participants

The author will strictly follow the Five Codes of Ethics to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding that could develop between the author and interviewees. It is important to respect the interviewees’ wishes if they have them. It is the best way to say “Thank You” to respect for the time they have devoted and the knowledge for the author.

Methodology:

‘Methodology is the philosophical framework with which the research is conducted or the foundation upon which the research is based. To word it differently, methodology is the rationale for the particular methods you use in your researching and in that type of research in general’ says Berman (2006, p. 12). That means that methodology is needed to provide the author with the means to find the research needed for the written dissertation.

For the purpose of this research, the primary data will consist of two interviews and they will cover all three objectives, first, with one regular customer of ‘Dancing dragon restaurant’ and the second with one member of the Chinese restaurant. The interviews will be conducted through email and telephone , and will be formal. There will be 10 questions. The interviews will give advice from people who have substantial experience in the industry.

Primary and Secondary Data:

Data can be drawn from both primary and secondary sources. A secondary source of information already exists and has been gathered by someone else. Official statistics, previous studies, journal, magazine and newspapers articles are all sources of secondary information, and will be used in the research project for findings, analysis and recommendations.

There are many styles of primary research – experiments, ethnographic research and surveys. Bedford (2006, p.61) defines ‘primary data which comes from the source at the time of the event; it may be a report, newspaper article, film footage, or a live or recorded interview.’ That means that primary

Penang Island or also known by the name of Pearl of the Orient is a small island located in the north-western coast of Peninsular Malaysia covering 285 sq Km and also a narrow strip comprising 760 sq km over on the mainland known as Seberang Perai. . Also known to be a melting pot for culture and religion, Penang has a estimated population of almost 1 million with a healthy mix of all major races in Malaysia with the Malays 32%, the Chinese 59% and the Indians 7%. With the different cultures and religion Penang is rich in heritage and culture which projects as a kaleidoscope of festivals and a variety of celebrations throughout the year (travelmasti,2011). This makes Penang one of the most visited states in Malaysia as a tourism spots. Tourism is considered one of the main mechanism that drives the economy and bringing in better yields for the state.

The history of Penang backdates to as early as the 16th century where Portuguese traders sailing from Goa, India to the Far East in search for spices as well as to replenish their supply of food and water to continue their journey. They then named the island “Pulo Pinaom” which translates as Betel Nut Island. This is because of the abundant supply of areca nut palm trees available. These trees are called Pinang by the local Malays (Tourism Penang, 2010).

It was during the 18th century, when the British took interest in the island to service them as a port for ship repairs and a good source of supply to spice and opium that was considered a lucrative and valuable trade at that time. Penang, whose originally was under the Sultanate of Kedah was then offered by the Sultan of Kedah to the British in exchange for protection against their enemy but did not receive any agreement by the superiors in the East India Company. However, on 11th August 1876, Captain Francis Light in order to secure Penang Island as port for the British, made an agreement with the Sultan of Kedah by agreeing to offer protection to Kedah against their enemy without the consent of the company thus making the agreement null. In 1781, a treaty was signed between the Sultan of Kedah and British whereby, an honorarium of 6000 Spanish dollars per annum will be paid to the Sultan which later changed to 10000 Spanish dollars in exchange for the island which was later renamed as the Prince of Wales Island. This amount is still paid by the Malaysia Federal Government till today. One of the main heritage sites in Penang today is the Fort Cornwallis as it is the site where the Union Jack was raised. The first township was established nearby called Georgetown. Georgetown was mainly made up of four main streets that existed till today such as Beach Street, Light Street, Pitt Street now known as Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and lastly, Chulia Street(Malaysian Explorer, 2008).

Achieving UNESCO Heritage Status

Finally, on 7th July 2008, after 12 long years of assessment after applying, Penang Island has finally achieved its recognition as one of the UNESCO Heritage Status together with the state of Malacca where its uniqueness in architectural and cultural landscape in it towns makes it so special compared to any other places (Malaysian Explorer, 2008) The title has enabled the state to promote to use it as a new branding while boosting the tourism industry and the state’s economy.

In the year of 2008 , Penang has experienced a good year as the state managed to bring in a total amount of 6.3 million tourist based on hotel sources excluding tourist that arrive by arrive by cruises and those staying friends and family compared to the year before with a total number of 5.2 million tourist in the previous year(Penangtourism,2009).This status has enabled Penang to attract enthusiastic travelers around the world by giving them an new option of destination to visit.

The recognition of UNESCO Heritage status is an international acknowledgement that highlights the global significance of that particular area. This is a symbol of honour Penang and great privilege that will able to contribute to its social and economic sector. With the great impact that the status is able to deliver, to be able to be listed in the World Heritage List is therefore, very selective. Attaining this recognition is not a one off award as there are guidelines and responsibilities that have to be followed from time to time in order to maintain the status as it can be revoked. Penang has spend a total of 12 years in order to achieve this recognition which both time consuming and costly to maintain conservation of the sites this the commitment and responsibility to maintain this status should not be handled lightly( Penang Tourism, 2009).

1.3. Contributions

By conducting this study, the Penang tourism board will be able to it measure the interest and trends of travelers that are fast changing as time passes. Demands to visit and learn more about heritage sites are increasing as awareness and appreciation for these sites are instilled into the younger generation which are inherited by the older generation. These heritages are rich with the roots of culture and the achievements that contribute to what Penang is today.

With the world economic down, disaster, climate and possible treats like terrorism people are switching their travelling options to cheaper, safer the offers an equal value for money tourism spots which enhance the shifting of trends towards tourism heritage. This is because tourism has always been one of the most resilient industries in the world despite any given situations (Koehl,2002). With the extra branding heritage status, this offers the best opportunity that offers Penang an extra edge to boost and maximize the benefits to boosts its economy in terms of revenue and employment.( Imons, et al.n.d).

With the given opportunity and resources that is available, it is also

reflects importance of the cooperation and private and government

organizations that cooperate with each other in order to double the effort to

maximize the benefits for both parties. This is because there is a positive

relationship between state, tourism industry, locals and tourist.

Problem Statement

The effort to attain the UNESCO Heritage Site status was not easily obtained within a short period of time but has gone through a series of application and also a strict scrutinizing evaluation process which takes up to 12 years of With the contribution in income and benefits that Penang is able to generate from status of UNESCO Heritage Site, there are several problem statement such as, is Penang able to maintain the status of its “trump card” in the long run as this status can be revoked if not properly maintained according to the criteria and requirement set by the organization itself so that a clear line could be adhered to avoid unwanted development in the core zones within the heritage enclaves.(Penang Economic Monthly,2009)

Cooperation between the state government and the tourism board has to be synchronized and properly planned is important to ensure that development plan for the state does not clash with the conditions and guidelines drafted by UNESCO in order to avoid the heritage status from being revoked.

Proper funds need to be allocated in so that maintenance and restoration jobs can be executed from time to time as restoration process in for these heritage buildings require special labour skills that not many is able to perform and different kind of materials in order to preserve the original style of the buildings. This will result in a higher cost to maintain them thus making fund a vital part in maintaining this status

Research Question

The research question for this research is as follows :

1. Which are the main perspectives that play the main role in attracting tourist to visit

Penang?

2. What are the current interest that tourist are looking for?

3. Are the events organized and held interesting and informative enough for the tourist?

4. How is the quality of services offered by staffs in the places of attraction that are visited?

5. Are the tour packages offered enough to fulfill the demands of the tourist?

6. What is the satisfaction level of tourist towards the heritage sites in Penang?

7. Was Penang able to deliver and offer a money satisfying trip to its tourist?

Chapter 2 – Literature review

As one of the new upcoming heritage tourism sites, armed with the richness and uniqueness of its own heritage compared to other places in the world, Penang has all the opportunity and resources to promote and market its tourism industry globally but in order to succeed, it is important to imply an effective economic framework for any decision making process that is able to help the state government in planning and implementation. This is important as each decision varies as each tourism sector differs from one another as well as the impact of it that reflects differently on the culture, people and the economy of the place. Therefore, a suggestion in extensions of micro economic models such as ecological economics is highly encouraged to cater to the constant changes in trends of tourist demand towards a destination and to enable a certain tourist spot to maintain a sustainable market demand that is crucial to in boosting the economy (Tourism and Hospitality Research,2010).

Tourism is always considered an industry that can be easily affected by a incidents happening around it such as terrorism, epidermis treats, natural disaster and many more but has always maintain as one of the strongest industry that brings in a major role of keeping the revenue coming in. This is because, trends and preference may change from time to time but not reduced. Therefore, it is vital for Penang tourism to keep track of the changes in current trends and demand, recognize the opportunity and implication to the state as a great competitive step in maintaining its sustainability (Bailey,2010)

However, by any means of promoting a certain heritage site as a tourism spot, there are also concerns about the speeding up in deterioration of the sites which means it clashes with the main aim UNESCO’s mission to preserve and conserve the heritage area that is considered a legacy that is handed down by past generations. This is an issue that is a huge concern as heritage sites are places from the past that is irreplaceable and restoration works are costly as it takes special skilled labour and specific materials to maintain its original structure and style (Harrison,2005).

Compared to the past, where heritage sites are rarely heard and received only a small niche of demand my visitors, with the awareness and curiosity of travelers to gain knowledge, heritages sites around the world is fast gaining popularity thus

Title: Festival and Event in sustainability of Tourism: Penang Hot Air Balloon Festival

Tourism is an activity that can have a really huge effect on sustainable development. Sustainability of tourism includes for reaching cooperation between visitor organizations, traveler destinations and national, provincial and local authorities so as to cover a wide group of difficulties and in the meantime to stay focused. Opportunities for sustainable tourism development and protection of its competitiveness, is generally affected by the nature of the earth, to protect and alluring common and cultural heritage and different qualities, merchandise and assets. For sustainable it is viewed as any sort of tourism that contributes forever for the assurance and advancement of the nature, common and different assets, social qualities and respectability of the nearby group.

The study of festivals and events is presently a critical and productive territory of tourism exploration enquiry. Festivals and events have thrived in recent decades and enthusiasm for comprehension their essentialness in the tourism foundation has risen as needs be. A festival is a celebration of life. Festivals convey peace and bliss to the masses. They break the repetitiveness of life. Festivals and events give credibility and uniqueness, particularly with events in view of investment indigenous qualities, helpful neighborliness and moderateness, theming and images for members and observers.

As per Brundtland Commission in our basic Future, 1987, sustainable means addressing the needs of the present without bargaining the capacity of future eras to address their own particular issues. Some individuals characterized “event and festival tourism” as activities, planning, and management practices associated with public, themed events. UNWTO characterizes sustainable tourism as “tourism that makes full note of its present and future financial, social and ecological effects, tending to the needs of guests, the industry, and nature and host groups. Subsequently, sustainable tourism ought to make ideal utilization of natural assets, regard the socio-cultural validness of host groups and give reasonable, long-term financial profits to all. Sustainable tourism development addresses the issues of present tourists and host regions while ensuring and improving opportunities for the future. It is imagined as prompting to administration of all resources in such a route to the point of economic, social and aesthetic needs can be satisfied while keeping up cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support networks, (WTO, 2002e).

Festivals are seen as apparatuses set up advertising and destination image making, and are esteemed for their capacity to animate urban areas, resorts and attractions (Andersson and Getz, 2008:200). The overall public of urban centers facilitating festivals from time to time to determines any vocation opportunities from festival tourism (Janiskee and Drews, 1998). Festivals are being more generous for regional tourism planning activities. It plays various part of significant roles in a town or area. Getz (1997) distinguishes these as “attractions, picture producers, artists of static attractions and impetuses for further advancement.

Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta will give guests a chance to have a great experience. There will be 15 hot air balloons over a 2-day festival and this event is open to all ages from 6am to 9pm at Padang Polo (Polo Ground) with balloon set-up at 7am and free-flying balloon shows that will amazement you at 7:30am. The event is upheld by the Penang state government in collaboration with the Penang Island Municipal Council and the Penang Global Tourism in a joint effort with Tourism Malaysia. This is also the first time that the island is having the Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2015.

Marketing and motivation

In the recent decades, festival and event tourism has been one of the quickest developing segments of the world recreation industry (Getz, 1991; Nicholson & Pearce, 2001), and has gotten expanding consideration by scholarly researches. In addition to commonly targeted topics, for example economic impact, promoting marketing strategies of mega-events, and festival management (Ralston & Hamilton, 1992). There is a developing stream of research concentrating on the inspirations of attendees. It has been concurred that understanding motivations, or the “internal element that arouses, coordinates, and incorporate a person’s behavior” (Iso-Ahola 1980, cited in Crompton & McKay, 1997, p.425), prompts better planning and advertising of festivals and events, and better division of members.

From a tourism point of view, events clearly require audiences. As Faulkner, Chalip, Brown, Jago, March and Woodside (2000) argue, the destination improvement caused by an event is to a great extent driven by the participation it is required to create. Then, as Whitelegg (2000) notes, the effect of mega events on global tourism is identified with their ability to attract worldwide groups. Consequently, the advancement and advertising of events is a key territory of investment, and the inquiry in the matter of what motivates people to go to the events has been an imperative social mental inquiry going back to the early 1990s.

Tourism motivation is conceptualized as an element methodoloy of internal psychological factors (needs and wants) that produce a condition of tension or disequilibrium inside people. The festival’s purposes are two-fold. To begin with, it is to show and honor social custom. The second purpose for the festival is economic. Approximately 1.62 million visits are recorded at festival events.

Is sustainable tourism achievable?

Tourism will never be completely sustainable as every industry has impacts, however it can work towards getting to be more sustainable. Sustainable tourism is about re-focusing and adjusting. A balance must be found in the middle of points, so that continuous changing, checking and planning guarantee that tourism can be overseen. This requires thinking long-term 10 or 20+ years and understanding that change is frequently cumulative, steady and irreversible. Economic, social and ecological aspects of sustainable development must incorporate the interests of all stakeholders including indigenous individuals, local communities, visitors, industry and government.

Events and give various profits to a group and tourism area including expanded appearance and consumption, diminished seasonality, repeat visitation, elevated regional awareness and word of mouth recommendation. They can also give the jolt to extra infrastructure development in the local area and building community pride. Understanding the inspirations of event attendees and event exhibitors is vital in developing an appropriate event or festival that aligns with community values. Potential event attendees and exhibitors may be affected by an extensive variety of elements including substance and topic, area and access, event reputation, perceived quality and value for money, safety and security and support facilities. It is also essential to understand and deal with the effects of events for nearby groups.

Events require physical settings in urban or provincial ranges, in forest, by streams, in open fields and purpose-built amenities. Media scope produced by events helps destinations fabricate certainty and a positive image in the tourism marketplace. Festivals are appealing to groups looking to address issues of urban configuration, local pride and character, heritage, conservation, urban reestablishment, employment generation, investment and financial improvement. There is a developing enthusiasm for the idea that festivals and events represent the host community’s sense of itself and sense of place. The arts and cultural industries, particularly through festivals and special events, can offer something for the tourism sector to endavor experience (Reiss, 1993).

Early Discoveries

In the first issue of “Festival Management & Event Tourism”, two papers (Uysal, Gahan & Martin, 1993; Mohr, Backman, Gahan & Backman, 1993) on South Carolina events were considered as “ a beginning stage for understanding the inspirations individuals have for attending festivals” Scott, 1996, p.122). Utilizing the 1991 Corn Festival as a study case, Utysal et al. decreased arrangement of 24 motivations to five elements.

In the same vein, Mohr et al. (1993) studied a hot air balloon festival and identified a comparable bunch of inspiration subscales, however in an alternative request. Motivations were found to be a capacity of guest sorts. Huge contrasts existed between first time and repeat visitors as for the inspiration measurement of “excitement” and “event curiosity”, and their relating fulfillment levels. In particular, the attendees who never went to other festivals yet were repeat visitors to the hot air balloon festival showed an extraordinary inspiration structure.

Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2015

Without precedent for Penang, a unique experience can be found at the Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. There will be 15 hot air balloons over the two-day festival and they will float against the pleasant background of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of George Town. Other than the impressive hot air balloons, there will likewise be family-friendly activities such as fun inflatable playgrounds, imaginative workshops, photography rivalry and more! Penang is the place that festivities never end and in this year of festivals, the Fabulous February Fiesta sees Thaipusam, the Hot Air Balloon festival where visitors have the capacity to experience floating above strong ground alongside the effectively vigorous Chinese New Year celebrations and Tropfest SEA festival that showcases original short films.

In conjunction with Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, the Penang Hot Air Balloon Fun Run held without precedent for Penang Padang Polo. The run will give members a chance to have a unique experience on running with balloon together witness the hot air balloons take off in Youth Park and Padang Polo. There will be eight local and three international flying balloons and additionally four tethered balloons. This event is open to all ages and will incorporate other side exercises such as fun inflatable playgrounds, imaginative workshops, photography rivalry, kite flying and more.

Problem statement

Nowadays, to be a host for any worldwide tourism event is no more a benefit for certain developing countries. The position is coveted by numerous developing countries in view of the upcoming advantages the country will get toward the end of the day. The accomplishment from facilitating any prominent tourism event will not only make the country proud yet it additionally expands the financial result and exceeds the political effects. Economic factor is one of the critical components in advancing prominent international events as the monetary measurement of event has dependably been connected to economic growth and making new outskirts for the economy.

As what we can see over the previous decade, Malaysia had been developing interest and intensive government investment in tourism industry (Ishak, 2005). However, other than all the positive impacts of facilitating event and festival, there are some negative impacts on the economy that need to be considered.

Why organise a sustainable event?

Organizing sustainable events diminishes their environmental impact, as well as advantage the main factors involved. Such profits include:

Financial advantages – Conserving energy, diminishing waste, purchasing local products and basically expanding less – all can bring out in money saved. In spite of an occasionally higher investment of assets to research new frameworks or put resources into new apparatuses, applying sustainability standards can bring immediate savings (e.g. by printing less material and having less waste to collect). They can likewise have long-term financial benefits, because of the more proficient utilization of assets and simply access to credit lines and sponsors.

Positive reputation and enhanced image – Promoting the way that you are arranging or facilitating a sustainable event will raise the profile of the event, draw in members that are getting to be progressively aware of sustainability issues and potentially connect the media’s consideration. It might likewise be increased in value by the general public as in addition partners and potential contributors.

Social advantages – If arranged and executed precisely, the event can give advantages to the region by creating jobs, empowering neighborhood, including local Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and can advance better meeting expectations conditions and social incorporation. It can also act as a catalyst for empowering ecological and practical best practices over the locale, and also enhancing the relationship between the coordinator and the local community.

Opportunities for International Hot Air Balloon Festival

The possibility to connect with more than 250,000 visitors going to the event more than a four day period.
The huge number of side-events at the festival and throngs of guests to the festival which originate from all walks of makes it conceivable to streamline your organization to its intended interest.
Cost compelling method of connecting with your target market with a substantial return-on-investment (ROI).
The chance to coordinate your organization’s message with visitors’ experience.
The festival gives a gigantic chance to systems administration with different corporations, individuals to take your association on to more prominent statures.
The four-day period of the festival, including two weekend days (Saturday and Sunday) gives the possibility to connect with repeat visitors.
Sponsorship has been ended up being one of the strongest manifestations of publicizing and advertising to customers.
The chance to connect with potential clients directly with the collaboration between your organization and guests at the festival.
The chance to enliven your customers and corporate visitors with frienliness sponsorship bundles.
The chance to showcase and show your product or service to guests.

Sustainability in an event

Sustainability can be characterized numerous ways yet the fundamental thoughts and ideas continue as before: adjusting a developing economy, protection for the nature, and social responsibility, so they together prompt an enhanced personal satisfaction for us and future eras.

Event Location Selection:

At the point when choosing a venue, search for one that has embraced sustainability policies and practices. An area that already is endeavoring efforts that harmonize with your event objectives can just serve to benefit you in attaining to what you need. Identify areas that are easily accessible from public transportation. Event locations that can be accessed by walking; by transport, or train will ease not just the strain on nature caused by car pollution, additionally can be cost beneficial if your venue charges for parking.

Event Materials:

Utilize new media and electronic innovation at whatever point conceivable to eliminate paper utilization. Ideas include making a conference web site; offer electronic registration and confirmations; and promote utilizing the web or email. Be sure to survey which materials will be need for the participant packets. If information must be offered in print format use environmentally sound paper and make sure to print double-sided. Plus, incorporate data about sustainability objectives in the materials. Name identification holders can be reused from event to event. Ask your visitors to give back their name badge holders toward the end of your event and give a container to them.

Waste

Reduce, reuse and recycle as much as you can; your local authority or local community group might have the capacity to help; attempt to enlist a group of green volunteers who will help deal with the recycling during and after the event; verify you have enough bins and do not give them to get too full, otherwise people will just throw their waste into the nearest available container.

At the Venue:

Ask the office to give visible and available diminishment, reuse and recycling services for paper, metal, plastic and glass. Put recycling bins in prominent areas and make declarations during the event reminding your visitors to recycle and direct them to bins. Avoid utilizing dates on signage so that they can be utilized again for different events.

Transport

Encourage people to go to your event by public transport, to walk or cycle. Give a lot of secure bicycle parking and minimal parking for; if outside, you could utilize bike rickshaws for transporting merchandise around the site and consider utilizing local contractors so you are not driving marquees all the way across the country just because it might save you a few quid!

Getting ready for sustainable tourism development really alludes to environment protection planning and in that capacity incorporate a mixture of research activities and analysis before the choice for deciding the direction of the advancement. All these exercises are attempted so as to keep from the intensive utilization of assets in some particular territory, without previous care for the protection of the assets.

An indicated by Hall, sustainable development and the utilized term “conservation” clearly endeavours to review the conflicting quality positions regarding of the environment. The author depicts sustainable development as a “essentially disputed idea”. Sustainable development could be seen uniquely in contrast to everyone, and is effortlessly acknowledged by any group. An indicated by few authors, this idea is seen as the development and intensification of tourism, while others understand this idea as an alternative tourism to the advancement of mass tourism.

Planning and sustainable development can be investigated from two viewpoints, specifically:

In terms of the local community
In terms of the idea of the nature of tourism

The local community must be included in the planning procedure and the development of tourism, particularly when it comes to the advancement of those segments of the tourist community which will bring advantages for the community. Such planning methodology ought to be applied mainly.

We can enhance the sustainability of the event in order to make sure that next time while the event held at Penang, we will get more response from the local people as well as the tourists.

Conclusion

For a traveler destination to be sustainable, among other, it ought to make a solitary personality. You need to have a decent condition for residence which are not in “conflict” with other natural values, to emphasize the uniqueness of their way of life and heritage and depicts its population as very kindly. The extension and significance of tourism unmistakably demonstrates that it is insufficient just to develop new types of alternative tourism, regarding minimizing unfavorable impacts and build positive effects of tourism development. The whole tourism sector must be developed and must be managed with it thus does not destroy the natural and socio-cultural environment, it is a commitment and responsibility of the tourism economy of anywhere in the world.

Sustainable development can only work effectively when four of its constituent components, economic, social, cultural and environmental parts have roughly equivalent significance and strength and conditioning and interconnection without the domination of any part of these components. Sustainable tourism development basically relies on upon the capacity of the environment to guarantee a stable and lasting basis for development.

Pattaya – Sin city!

Sawasdee (Hello in Thai)!

Known for its go-go and beer bars, Pattaya is coastal resort on the coasts of the Gulf of Thailand. It is around 150 km away from Bangkok. Sex tourism is the main attraction here; however this resort city is also visited by local families and travelers from all over the world.

The vast range of hotels and guest houses here make it a popular weekend retreat that offers a wide range of things to do and a myriad of multi cuisine eating options. It is mainly populated by a vibrant fusion of various cultures from all over the world. The family-friendly Jomtien Beachnearby is recommended if the visually raunchy feel of Pattaya does not appeal you.

Best Season to visit Pattaya

November to April are the most favorable months to visit Pattaya. You may look at the cool season between December and March when the humidity is low, the skies are clear and the rain is minimal.

Highlights (Things to Do in Pattaya)

Experience the spectacular transvestite cabaret show at the Tiffany’s Show.
Be enthralled by the structure at The Sanctuary of Truth, made entirely of teak wood and one that is a testimonial to Thai workmanship.
Haggle at the Pattaya Floating Market, an extensive market place functioning entirely on boats and floating structures.
Go around the world in around two hours at the Mini Siam where you have replicas of nearly hundred world famous structures on display here.
Defy your perception at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not, with over 300 exhibits.
Get dunked in water at the world’s largest water fight, during the Songkran or the Thai New Year.
Ride an elephant at the Elephant Village, experience how they are tamed and see demonstrations of training techniques.
Walk down any of the various Street Markets and experience a mix of cultures, cuisine and artifacts being sold there.
Be one among the fishes and sea life at the Underwater World, one of the largest aquariums in Asia.
Get hugged by a Bengal Tiger at the Pattaya Tiger Zoo.
Take a stroll at the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, walk across different landscapes based on different civilizations.
Pray at the Viharnra Sien, a beautiful three story Chinese temple.
Get picked up at Walking Street, probably one of the most (in) famous street in Pattaya, known for the Go Go Bars, discos and Cabaret shows that line the street.

Hotspots of Pattaya

You can check out these places if you are looking at the top Pattaya Tourism places to visit.

Na Kluea

Sanctuary of Truth – This structure has been made totally with teak wood. Even metal nails have not been used to hold it together. With a spiritual view of the ocean, the Sanctuary of Truth is considered to be an unrealistic setting: it seems like a fusion of art, religion and culture. It has four dedicated sections with carvings from the Thai, Chinese, Indian and Khmer origins.

Sattahip

Anek Kusala Sala (Viharn Sien) – Though the official name is Anek Kuson Sala, it is also known known as Vihara Sien because of the Chinese saints housed here. This grand three-storied temple is a place of worship, as well as a museum. It contains over 300 remarkable pieces of Chinese artefact, made of bronze and brass. Buddhist deities can also be found here. This temple was built as a friendship and bonding venture.

Hat Ko Lan – This is a small island around 7km off the coast of Pattaya. Weekends attract the crowds and all five beaches are jam packed.
Khao Phra Tamnak – The best way to find this place would be to look for a giant golden seated Buddha on top of a forested hill. This statue has been here since the time Pattaya used to be a small fishing village.
Tiffany’s Cabaret Show – The only transvestite cabaret show in this part of the world, Tiffany’s show is arguably one of the most recommended tourist destinations here. The show has been going on for over 28 years and has been one of the front runners to contribute the most in the growth of Pattaya as a tourist destination.
Elephant Village – This is a non-profit organization taking care of former working elephants. It is around 7km away from Pattaya. Here you can see training techniques, elephant shows and also go on elephant treks.
Underwater World – Walk through the clear glass tunnels running across the walkthrough aquarium to be mesmerized by the vibrant aquatic life around you.
Pattaya Floating Market – Seen both as an attraction and a place for shopping, the floating market is a culmination of traditions and culture from all corners of Thailand. Traditional Thai food is offered by most merchants here when you visit their shops.
Mimosa Pattaya – It is a new upcoming attraction and shopping area near Pattaya. The place provides a good and beautiful location for relaxation and is also a favorite haunt for photography. You will also find massage centers and cafes around here.
Pattaya Park – A well-known tourist attraction known for its panoramic view which also offers activities to jump off the view point.
Million-Year Stone Park and Crocodile Farm – One of the largest farms housing crocodiles and rare animals like albinos, it is all set among a beautifully landscaped flower and rock garden. You also get to come close and play with the animals here.
Khao Chi Chan – It is a sculpture erected in the honor of his Majesty King Bhumibol during the 50^th anniversary of his ruling. The sitting figure called Pang Man Wichai is over 100 meters high.

Shopping in Pattaya

A favorite pastime among tourists and locals alike, it is easy to go to Pattaya without any luggage, but impossible to leave without extra baggage. You have numerous shopping malls along the beach road and you can get anything under the sun here, from handicrafts and souvenirs, to counterfeit goods and cheap ‘made in china’ clothes.

You can buy literally anything here with some cash and credit cards and at considerably cheaper rates than your home country.

Few of the top areas to shop in Pattaya are:

The Avenue – Known for the best life style and sportswear stores, it also has an 8 screen multiplex and numerous restaurants and eateries.

Royal Garden Plaza – You cannot miss this building because of the red airplane sticking out of the building. It is known for its chain stores eateries and the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum.

Walking Street – with only pedestrian access, this street sells antiques, souvenirs and jewelry. The main attractions here in terms of shopping are the custom tailor shops which would make clothes are cheap rates.

Pattaya Floating Market – This is the place to visit for items that are culturally and traditionally from all corners of Thailand. Buy the local produce or savor the local delicacies at the local merchants,

Street Shopping – It is here that you will get tacky good and beach wear all across Pattaya. You would also get a wide array of goods which could traverse the likes of surf shorts, fake football shirts, flick-knives, bikinis, Buddha statues, ethnic crafts, hardcore porn DVDs, rude T-shirts, and even stun guns and Samurai swords.

How to reach Pattaya

Land –

Bus – You have bus service running between Bangkok and Pattaya all day at regular intervals.
Train – One train travels daily between Bangkok and Pattaya.
Car – Pattaya is just about 150 km from Bangkok and transit time would not exceed two hours. You can rent cars after reaching SuvarnabhumiAirport in Bangkok and head to Pattaya by road.

Air –

U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport – You have good connectivity with major cities in Asia and other parts of the world. You can take mini buses or airport shuttle taxis from the airport to the main city.
Alternatively you can also transit through Suvarnabhumi Airport or the Don Muang Airport, in Bangkok and travel by road to Pattaya.

How to get around in Pattaya

Songthaew – These are the main public mode of transport here. Blue in color and basically pickup trucks converted to buses. They are also called Bhat Buses. Cost varies from 5 to 10 Baht depending on your travel time and destination.
Beach Bus – The Beach Bus basically runs a circular route across the Pattaya coastline. The ticket costs around 30 baht.
Motosai (Motorcycle Taxi) – One of the fastest ways to get around the city is on two wheelers. You can hail them at any of the Motosai Stands scattered around the city or even flag one down that is passing by. Potentially cheaper than Songthaew, however not safe as the drivers are pretty reckless.
Taxi – Even though metered taxis are a common sight around Pattaya, none of them want to go as per the meter. Most of them are from Bangkok who come to drop travelers off to Pattaya and stay back to get a good fare. They are a lot more expensive than Songthaews.
Rentals – You can rent four wheelers and two wheelers all across the city and you also have some of the popular rentals around the world serving here. However be aware of the traffic here as they can get very erratic and confusing.

Top Areas in Pattaya

Central Pattaya – You will find the highest concentration of hotels here. Accommodation is cheap and all places you would like to visit are a stone’s throw from here. But the place can feel congested and claustrophobic for many.

Jomtien Beach – Located around 3kms south of Pattaya, this is one of the cleanest beaches in this region. It is a 6km long beach which has the Beach Road running along the shore. Families prefer this location in Pattaya as it is a bit sobered down when compared to Pattaya Beach. Most of the mid-range accommodation can be found here.

Pattaya Beach – It is a crescent shaped beach, roughly 4km long and has the Beach Road running along with it. Most of the higher end accommodation options can be found around here.

Phra Tamnak Hill – It is a small hill between South Pattaya and Jomtien Beach which provides a spectacular panoramic view of the crescent shaped bay. You can find plenty of mid-range accommodation here.

South Pattaya – You will find a lot of cheap accommodation options here. It lies on the way to Jomtien Beach from Pattaya.

Naklua Beach – If you are looking a clean secluded beach with luxurious accommodation, this is the place to head to. You have a lot of 3, 4 and 5 star hotels around here.

Koh Larn – It is a 4km long island off the coast of Pattaya. It is around 8km away from the mainland and it takes about 40 minutes to reach there. Accommodation around here is cheap.

Khaup Kun (Thank you in Thai)!!

The Caribbean includes the over seven thousand islands. As in most developing countries, the Caribbean is recognised as an area heavily dependent on the tourism industry for economic survival ( Manley 1995 & Jessop 2000) . According to the Caribbean Tourism Statistics, in 2002 the area attracted more than 14 million tourists per year. The main attractions are the beautiful sandy beaches, clean sea and a warm climate; “…the Caribbean has more amazing beaches and sun than you can shake a stick at” (www.lastminute.com) . By looking at both the negative and positive impacts of the developments in the tourism industry in the Caribbean enables a better understanding of the impact on the local communities. Therefore, is it “Paradise on Earth” as promised by tour operators trying to sell holidays to the Caribbean, or merely an image presented to the tourist “…[the] tourist-consumer appears to buy paradise in the travel agency or airline ticket office…”(Strachan, 2002) .

“The Caribbean is a nature lover’s dream, welcoming visitors in search of the wonders of the natural world-creatures plants and landscapes unmatched in diversity and beauty”(www.caribbeantravel.com) . Is this still the truth? According to Barberia (2003) the area’s natural resources attract a large number of tourists, but mass tourism brings environmental damage to the ecosystem, as well as impacting on the economy and it damages the social and cultural environment of the Caribbean islands. The main attraction for visitors are “the 3 S’s”/ This means sun, sea, sand. But in modern world, visitors are seeking something more Nowadays , sex tourism is becoming one of the main constitutions that attracts tourist to the destination. Nowadays, tourism to the Caribbean islands has become mass tourism ( Archer & Davies 2007).

As in many developing countries, tourism to the Caribbean offers some advantages to the area, including reducing the level of poverty in the area by providing job opportunities for the local community, generating income which leads to economic growth (Palmer 1993) . However, tourism not only provides direct jobs through accommodation, hospitality, transport, shops and casinos. Tourism also helps support investment in the local infrastructure including; medical centres, new roads, utilities as well as other shopping facilities. It is also a main source of government revenue through the taxing of goods and services (Bryan 2001). The World Tourism Organisation (2001) believes that in 2012 the tourism industry created around 3 million jobs in Caribbean.

On the other hand, the economy in the Caribbean was traditionally dependent on agriculture. The sugar crop industry was the leading industry, followed by banana, coffee, cocoa, rice and citrus. However, in recent times the Caribbean has become heavily dependent on the tourism industry (Steinberg 1978). It has been argued that the locals prefer working in the tourism industry rather than in difficult, low paying, traditional work in fishing or agriculture. An extract from the Pattullo (1996) book describes this scenario “…working in de hotel in de harbour last year, even though man getting paid really bad wage I at least know dat each week I gonna get dollar for pay for food and thing.” The young man here is explaining that, for him, there is better work available in the tourism industry. Even though he earns a small amount of money there is greater uncertainty working in agriculture or fishing (Pattullo 1996,p 55). Moreover, it has been suggested that most local people living in poverty look “exotic and different” to wealthy visitors, in many cases visitors treating the locals as slaves. It has been hard for Caribbean people to escape from the feelings of injustice that were instigated by slavery and the experiences of poverty after slavery. Tourism is still being seen as an extension of this system of slavery, with the locals there for the visitor’s luxury, amusement and comfort (Bryan 2001). According to this view, locals are there to serve the wealthy clients and are in effect still being treated as slaves. Their tourism industry is largely controlled by white people with the local black population employed in a service capacity for minimal remuneration (Miller 2006, p 39) . The low level of education in the area does not give equal opportunity for the indigenous staff to secure jobs in highly skilled, high paid jobs (Goodwin, 2008) .

Nowadays, some of the visitors come to the Caribbean not only for the “3S’s” but also for another “S”; sex tourism. Sex tourism involves the prostitution of men and women and sex trafficking of young people and children. It has been suggested that this has had a damaging effect on the local community (Bryan 2001). Moreover, it has created a negative image of local women – who are not prostitutes, but whose service includes cleaning rooms, washing cloth and sex (Sanchez-Taylor & O’Connell 1998/1999,p 1). Adverts from major tour operators construct an image of the Caribbean that suggests “… a dream Caribbean holiday has it all and more”( http://www.directline-holidays.co.uk) however, the popularity of ‘sex tourism’ has succeeded in increasing the number of sexually transmitted diseases – such as HIV, and Hepatitis, within the local communities. The number of sexually transmitted diseases is steadily increasing each year , with the current estimate of HIV cases alone believed to be between 500,000 and 700,000. Ironically, sex tourism has put at huge risk, not only the locals and the visitors, but their tourism industry as a whole, which could have a damning impact on the island’s major source of revenue. In Jamaica, where the economy is in decline, and with the country increasingly relying on income from tourism, not only for the obvious benefits, but also for the prostitution of men and women who see this as the only way to earn money to survive (UNAIDS ,2001) .

The large volume of tourism in the Caribbean is mostly generated by two areas, all-inclusive and cruise tourism (Duval 2004, p10).The all- inclusive vacation is the easiest way to control guests’ experience and their expenditure, Controlling what to eat, drink, entertainment and what to buy, whilst conveniently preventing them from sharing in the culture of the natives living on the islands, and their hardships. Tourists spend most of their money before coming to Caribbean i.e. “The traveller is buying into the resort and its image, not the location”.(Henthorne & Miller 2003, p 8) Is this of benefit to the local community? Most resorts are owned by multinational corporations, and so the money usually doesn’t remain within the locally economy. The food and beverages are imported and only low paid jobs are provides for locals is benefit community . On the other hand, some of the local natural resources are no longer accessible as well as some areas on which locals have traditionally depended for their livelihood, entertainment and work. Moreover, the community has suffered from water shortages during the dry season partly as a result of water provided to hotels and resorts (Bayer & Lynch 2006,p 8) . When coastal tourism started to grow, extensive damage was done to sand dunes and lagoons resulting in the deaths of various species of animals and fish. Jamaica has the highest number of animal and plant species which are under the threat of disappearance in Caribbean. The Caribbean has become the largest destination for cruise tourism in the world. According to Wood (2004), cruise tourism amounted to only 12 percent of all tourism spending in the Caribbean in 2000. Caribbean communities get the smallest economic benefits from cruise tourism. Governments of some countries in the Caribbean, in order to attract a large number of cruise ships to the port destinations, have been competing to relax the environmental standards. As with all inclusive resorts, the cruise ships are largely owned by foreign companies, exploiting the local work force, and it could be argued, not reinvesting the profits into the local economy. Also, the ‘cruise’ industry has had a major environmental impact on the coastal waters, and marine life. Ships dump waste into the ocean, destroying coral reef ecosystems (Wood, 2000) scuba drivers and snorkelers are damaging coral reefs through repeated excessive contact, as well as the locals who remove the corals to sell it as tourist souvenirs in a desperate attempt to escape the extreme poverty accentuated by the tourist trade.

Conclusion

In revision of all the negative and positive impacts raised in this essay, I conclude that tourism cannot solely destroy the Caribbean sun, the beaches and water, but ironically, it can drastically reduce and eventually destroy this wonderful habitat, the very thing that brings the tourists to the Caribbean in the first place. Most tourists search out the area for typical reasons: beaches, landscape and climate, they are looking for “a holiday of a lifetime” experience , to visit a real live paradise, without totally comprehending the effects on the local environment.

It could be argued that the image of this paradise was in fact created by tour operators, in an attempt to increase the number of visitors (and their profits!). With the increased availability of cheaper air travel over the last decade or so, there is now a growing demand for people wanting to honeymoon, and even marry in this paradise-like region of the world, a”…blue water paradise, there are abundant islands offering pristine beaches, all types of water activities, green landscapes and awesome sunsets to set that romantic mood for two.” (http://www.honeymoonersreviewguide.com/caribbean/)

“The tourist/consumer appears to buy paradise in travel agents…,but actually, this traveller has purchased only the promise of “paradise”: the collection of ideas, the myth…”( sited on presentation, appendix 1). Each person has a different view of paradise: some look for a few weeks of luxury, to be waited on hand and foot, to experience a different way of life, to escape from the stresses of home. Other visitors associate the Caribbean with sex and/or romance, where the abject poverty present, again allows the ‘affluent’ to have every whim catered to. However, most tourists have a limited view of these islands: all they see is the airport, the ports, the hotels, the beaches and sights, often never even leaving the hotel complex. This short sighted vision of the region helps attract tourism to the island, giving the perfect holiday experience for them but at the same time damage environments and having a negative impact on life within the local community. The real life and experiences of locals and all their problems are conveniently hidden behind “the hedges” of these all- inclusive resorts.(Henthorne &Miller 2003)

Tourism has a predisposition to be more negative than positive when used as the single or most important, chain for development and when taken out of the hands of the local people who are most impacted. As with most third world destinations, the Caribbean is, at this time experiencing many of the negative side effects of the tourism trade. The paradise that exists in holiday brochures and in visitors’ observations of the Caribbean could become a hell for the local community if there is not a suitable reinvestment of tourist cash put back into improving the infrastructure within these idyllic islands . The sustainability in tourism development has to be ensured for the future benefits of the Caribbean, and it’s peoples and become a true “paradise on Earth” and not only in image.