Author: Andre Coleman

Lake Naivasha Basin is located on the floor of Kenya’s Eastern (Gregorian) Rift Valley, surrounded by the Kinangop plateau & Aberdares Mountains to the east, and the Mau Escarpment to the west. The lake itself -a Ramsar Site- is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in Kenya after Lake Victoria, positioned at an altitude of 1884m above sea level (Owiti, 2006) covering an area of 150km?. It’s surrounded by a swamp which covers an area of 64km? (Arusei, 2004), depending on amount of rainfall cover hence has an average depth of 6m (20ft), with the deepest area being at Crescent Island, at a maximum depth of 30m (100ft). Since the basin is situated at the bed of the Rift Valley plains between the two highlands, its ecological stature deems to be fragile and prone to environmental degradation.

However, the Lake Naivasha Basin is rich in biodiversity with three national parks (Mt. Longonot, Hell’s Gate and The Aberdares), several privately-owned wildlife sanctuaries (i.e. Oserian Wildlife Sanctuary, Crescent Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Kongoni Game Valley, Elsamere Conservation Centre and Crater Lake Game Sanctuary), fertile agro-ecological zones in the upper catchment, protected forests, ecotourism sites and several highland watershed areas. It has three major ecotourism projects in Gilgil (Malewa Trust), Kinangop (FoKP) and in Kongoni (Ndamamo Economic Empowerment Group) as shown in figure . Its watershed areas serve as good areas for small and large scale agriculture, while 50km? of land around the lake is under large scale horticulture and widespread cattle farms. Lake Naivasha sustains major economic activities such as tourism, horticulture, geothermal power generation and local fisheries due to its environment having distinctiveness attached with its natural beauty and mild climate. Its favourable climatic conditions, nearness to Nairobi and the fresh water lake are features that have prompted large-scale flower farming on the lake shore (Becht et al, 2006). These similar features make the area attractive for tourists, with mostly residents from Nairobi and from abroad who regularly visit the area.

Figure Map of Lake Naivasha catchment and positioning of three major ecotourism projects (Source: International Lake Environment Committee website).

River Malewa, arising from the Aberdare Mountains, and Gilgil River -arising from Dundori highlands- are the main sources of water for the lake, while Karati and underground seepage from the Eastern Mau are secondary sources of water for the lake. Its water-catchment areas do characterize varied ecological zones that sustain distinctive habitats and biological resources that supply to the regions’ dazzling socio-economic development. The upper catchment areas encompass five forests: Kipipiri, Mau, Eburu, Aberdares and Kinangop.

Naivasha town (100km northwest of Nairobi) is a busy traffic hub of the Nairobi-Kampala highway and a tourist destination.

WWF River Malewa Conservation Project

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Global Conservation organization and NGO. Since 1962, WWF EARPO (Eastern Africa Regional Programme Office) which has its headquarters in Nairobi has been involved in coordination of numerous conservation programmes in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. The River Malewa Conservation Project focuses on issues relating to Ecotourism development, Policy enforcement, enhancing rural livelihoods, building a civil society, MFS, Natural Resource Management (NRM), Payment for Environmental Services (PES), Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and Environmental conservation awareness and learning. The project initiated on 28th August 2000 and is planned to cease on 31st December 2010. WWF partners with key stakeholders such as tour operators, hoteliers, SNV and KWS so as to assess the possibilities of improving ecotourism in Lake Naivasha Basin, in view of responding to “rural poor poverty” (WWF, 2006).

Improved Ecotourism

Improved ecotourism around Lake Naivasha Basin is rooted by its rich natural biodiversity, support from the Government and NGOs such as WWF, EAWLS, USAID Ecotourism Kenya and Nature Kenya, as well as positive involvement and commitment by the local communities towards ecotourism programmes and/ or projects through their CBOs- majority of whom are the Maasai and Kikuyu tribes.

Ecotourism: A Necessity for Improving Sustainable Livelihoods

Ecotourism is itself a tool for conservation and community development; thus it endows socio-economic benefits towards the local communities as well as sustaining ecological resource integrity through minimal-impact, non-consumptive resource utilization.

Problem Statement

Ecotourism being natural resource-based and capital-intensive, factors for its viability in the Lake Naivasha Basin comprise of: entrepreneurship, infrastructure, hospitality, marketing, security, land ownership, financial capital, security and condition of resources. Nevertheless, regarding local communities who are seldom aware of ecotourism businesses/ initiatives, or to revolutionize subsistent land-use practices into ecotourism, or using their peanut-earned incomes into ecotourism investment without any assurance of returns is still a major challenge for the local communities who rely on small-scale subsistence farming for insufficient incomes.

Thus, there is the need to inspire the local communities and land owners to take up ecotourism initiatives/ projects. Community mobilization, capacity building and awareness is a challenge which requires solid involvement if not assurances.

Moreover, it has been seen that the Lake Naivasha ecosystem is experiencing threats from water pollution: chemical wastes from flower farms; and mostly as a result of soil deposits eroded from the upper catchments where deforestation, cultivation on steep slopes and riparian land continues indebting to weak implementation of government policies with respect to conservation efforts.

Research Objectives

To identify the ecotourism activities and players within the Basin

How ecotourism can be integrated into community development

How ecotourism could have been integrated into the IWRM plans for River Malewa

To investigate the degree of ecotourism awareness

To find out the extent of commitment by local communities towards ecotourism activities

To find out the level of satisfaction by people towards ecotourism in their localities

How people there perceive ecotourism development.

Scope of Research Study

This research explores the status of improved ecotourism in Lake Naivasha Basin. The theoretical framework used in the study is based on findings by Michaelidou et al. (2002): the Interdependence Hypothesis, which implies that there is interdependence between environmental conservation and community survival and that both should be equally intertwined so as to benefit, as well as scrutinizing the potentiality of improved ecotourism in the study areas.

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Ecotourism

The mutual dependence of tourism and the physical and social environment is crucial to the future of each. Tourism is a service industry whose primary resource is environments and cultures which differ from those where the tourists usually live (Grabun, 1989 p.21). Tourism is not only a powerful tool for socio-economic development but also an aspect in the physical environment as well (Okech, 2009), hence it has the power to improve the environment, provide funds for conservation, preserve culture and history, to set sustainable use limits and to protect the natural attractions.

Sustainable tourism on the whole strives to complement and bring together issues of intergenerational equity, and the goals of economic growth, environmental protection and social justice. It recognizes the need for fairness between local individuals and groups, and between hosts and guests (Mbaiwa, 2005 p.203). Bramwell and Lane (1993, p.2) came up with four basic elements that are critical to the concept of sustainable tourism, which includes: holistic planning & strategy formulation; preservation of essential ecological processes; protection of human heritage & biodiversity; and sustained productivity over the long term for the future generations. Reacting to the negative environmental impacts that have emerged as a result of mass tourism and undifferentiated marketing, tourism industry players and researchers have began to advocate sustainable tourism. This aspect puts greater emphasis on development that is particularly sensitive to the long-term good of the natural and socio-cultural environments, while still realizing the financial benefits for the host community. In this manner, tourism must be planned and managed in such a manner that is natural and cultural environments are not depleted or degraded, but maintained as viable resources on a permanent basis for continuous use (Butler, 1993 p.27; Murphy, 1998 p.173; Wall, 1997 p.33).

Ecotourism on the other hand is one type of tourism that is rapidly increasing in popularity around the globe, especially in developing nations. Ecotourism is defined by The International Ecotourism Society as “Travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people” (http://www.ecotourism.org/index2.php?what-is-ecotourism). “Ecotourism must contribute to the conservation of natural areas and the sustainable development of adjacent areas and communities, and it should generate further environmental and conservation awareness among resident populations and visitors” (World Tourism Organization, 2000). Newsome, Moore, and Dowling (2002, p.14) state: “the primary goals of ecotourism are to foster sustainable use through resource conservation, cultural revival and economic development and diversification”. Newsome, Moore, and Dowling (2002, p.15) further mention five principles of ecotourism, and state: “Ecotourism is nature-based, ecologically sustainable, environmentally educative, locally beneficial and generates tourist satisfaction”. Therefore, it potentially provides a sustainable approach to development. The recent rush in popularity of improved ecotourism has much to do with the search for a richer holiday experience by the guest (Okech, 2007) hence Kenya being a good example of one of the pioneers in ecotourism. Kenya gave rise to one of Africa’s earliest experiments in community-based conservation using park and tourism revenues and began the first efforts to systematically adopt ecotourism principles and practices in its national park system (Honey, 2008).

However, sustainable tourism should not be confused with ecotourism in that sustainable tourism generally embraces all segments of the industry with guidelines and criteria that seek and reduce environmental impacts, particularly the use of non-renewable sources, using measurable benchmarks, and to improve tourism’s contribution to sustainable development and environmental conservation (Global Development Research Centre, 2008). Ecotourism is a sub-category of sustainable tourism, which contains the educational, sustainable and nature-based components, and provides local benefits- environmentally, culturally and economically.

Ecotourism and Conservation
Green Tourism and Ecotourism
Community-Based Ecotourism

According to Marris (2001, p.5), “CBET is tourism that is based on a combination of both cultural and natural attractions. It therefore usually takes place in natural areas and involves local communities which still retain traditional cultures and which actively participate in the development and management of tourism activities”. From this definition, we see that the local community has significant involvement in its management and development of ecotourism resources in a way that most of the benefits accrued remain in the community.

Community-based ecotourism in Kenya is still at its development phases, having been initiated by the KWS Community Section.

In many regions, the people who live in or around the national parks in Kenya have formed local community ecotourism projects, which are cultural and resource centres where tourists are allowed into a tribe’s village by paying an admission fee (Honey, 1999).

NGO Involvement

According to the WWF Tourism Position Statement (WWF International, 2001 p.3), it mentions that: “WWF and the tourism industry should share a common goal: the long-term preservation of the natural environment. This presents a vision that tourism development and practice should be part of a wider sustainable development strategy; be compatible with effective conservation of natural ecosystems; and involve local people and cultures, ensuring that they have an equitable share in its benefits”. From this statement, WWF actually does get involved in CBET projects/ initiatives mainly through facilitation of the CBOs involved. This can be in form of policy formulation and intervention; ecotourism education & environmental conservation awareness programmes; capacity building; IWRM; and tour guide training.

In lake Naivasha Basin, WWF facilitates CBOs engaging in ecotourism projects through Ecotourism development; Policy enforcement; enhancing rural livelihoods; building a civil society; MFS; Natural Resource Management (NRM); Payment for Environmental Services (PES); IWRM; and Environmental conservation awareness and learning for rural communities.

Community Involvement

Normally, those members of the community who have experience and/ or knowledge on ecotourism, community/ rural development and conservation are involved in the project or enterprise. In this case, those community members with no official nor business-related agreements need to be corresponded by their partners (communities) with the needed expertise, and with facilitation from organizations such as KWS, EAWLS, WWF, Ecotourism Kenya, Nature Kenya, USAID among others with similar roles.

With the sufficient facilitation for CBET projects, eventually the local community benefits will intertwine with ecological sustainability. Fennell (1999, p.24) mentions that “Sustainable tourism development is unlikely to occur unless the people from rural communities work together so as to make it happen. There appears to be a certain agreement that if sustainability is to occur at all, it must be done at the local level, and perhaps shaped loosely by a broader national or international policy”. Therefore, the local communities will perceive the significance of conservation if they enjoy the benefits accrued from CBET.

The table below shows several levels of community involvement in ecotourism in the basin, as corresponded by HO“usler and Strasdas (2003). They include:

Table : Possible Community Involvement in the ecotourism enterprise

No.
Type of Enterprise/ Institution
Nature of local involvement
Examples

1.

Private business run by outsiders

Employment

Supply of good and services

Kitchen staff in a lodge

Sale of food, building materials

2.

Enterprise or informal sector operation run by local individuals

Enterprise ownership

Self-employment

Supply of goods and services

Craft sales, food kiosk

Campsite, home stays

Guiding services

Hawking, sale of fuel wood, food

3.

Community enterprise

Collective ownership

Collective or individual management

Supply of goods and services

Employment or contributed labour

Community campsite

Craft centre

Cultural centre

Guest house

4.

Joint venture between community and private operator

Contractual commitments or shared ownership

Share in revenue

Lease/ investment of resources

Participation in decision-making

Revenue-sharing from lodge and/ or tour operation to local community on agreed terms

Community leases land/ resources/ concession to lodge/ tour operation

Community holds equity in lodge/ tour operation

5.

Tourism planning body

Consultation

Representation

Participation

Local Consultation in regional tourism planning (e.g. FoKP)

Community representatives on tourism board and in planning forums

Source: HO“usler and Strasdas, 2003.

Tourism in Kenya

Tourism is increasingly becoming a significant economic tool in most countries in this world. It contributes about 5% of GDP and 4% of total employment in Kenya (World Economic Forum, 2008). In spite of the seemingly low contribution, however, the general tourism economy, which captures the backward and forward linkages, contributes 11.6% of GDP. The sector also contributes to almost 23% in foreign exchange earnings and employs about 253,000 people in the modern wage sector (World Trade and Tourism Council, 2007). Moreover, a large percentage of the world’s population is becoming more reliant on this industry and its sustained feasibility. According to The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), tourism is the largest business sector in the world economy, responsible for over 230 million jobs and over 10% of gross domestic product worldwide.

On a global scale, according to the UNWTO, international tourist arrivals fell by 4% in 2009 to 880 million. This represents a slight improvement as a result of the 2% upswing in the last quarter of 2009. In contrast, international tourist arrivals shrank by 10%, 7% and 2% in the first three quarters of 2009 respectively (UNWTO, 2010). In the first two months of 2010, the international tourist arrivals reached a total of 119 million, marking an increase of 6.25% compared to 2009.

Kenya has become more and more of a popular tourist destination for visitors from Europe, South-east Asia, North America and emerging tourist-generating regions such as South America. By December 2009, tourism revenues had raked in an estimated Sh. 62.46 billion compared to 2007’s Sh. 65.4 billion and 2008’s Sh. 52.71 (KTB, 2010). In the first two months of 2010, international arrivals to Kenya reported a growth of 18% compared to 2009 (UNWTO, 2010). Visitor arrivals in 2009 increased to 1.8 million compared to 1.2 million in 2008, indicating a 50% recovery rate resulting from the post-election violence which erupted in early 2008 and negatively affected the industry. During the first half of 2010, visitor arrivals rose to 483,000 compared to 477,000 in 2007, with most visitors arriving from the UK, Germany, Italy, France and the United States.

In recent past years, the tourism industry has seen an exceptional growth. Between 2003 and 2006, the average growth rate was 9.8% compared to 5.4% for Africa and 3.2% for global tourism (Ikiara et al, 2007). Tourism revenue grew by 14.9% in 2006 and overtook horticulture to become the leading foreign exchange earner, with earnings of Sh. 56.2 billion (Kenya Economic Report, 2009).

The table below shows the flow of key economic indicators using the latest available information, with tourism contributing to 5% of GDP.

Table : Key Economic Indicators 2003-2009

2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Population (millions)

32.17

32.81

33.44

34.05

36.91

38.77

39.68

Population Growth Rate (%)

2.1

2.0

1.9

1.8

6.36

5.04

2.35

GDP per capita (US$ at current prices)

467.50

493.7

560.0

694.2

719.2

803.9

816.6

GDP (US$ bn. at current prices)

15.04

16.19

18.73

23.63

27.12

30.35

32.72

GDP growth at constant prices (%)

2.8

4.6

5.7

5.4

7.1

1.7

2.6

Inflation Rate (%)

9.8

11.6

10.3

7.8

5.1

13.1

9.3

Exchange Rate: Annual average Kenyan shillings to US$

75.94

79.17

75.55

72.10

68.31

68.36

78.04

Sources: KNBS, Oanda.com, World Development Indicators

Vision 2030

The Vision 2030 is a long-term development strategy which was launched by the Government of Kenya in 2008. Known as the government’s ‘development blueprint’, the strategy is being run from 2008 till 2030. It aims to “transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality life to all its citizens by the year 2030, making it a globally competitive country.

It aims to have tourism as a leading sector in the economy, hence to be one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the world. It also intends to raise the number of international visitors from 1.8 million in 2009 to 3 million in 2012 whereas increasing average spent per visitor from the present Sh. 45,000 to at least Sh. 70,000 hence increase hotel beds from 40,000 to at least 65,000, merged with stress on top-notch service quality.

Tourism Policies supporting Tourism Improvement

If Kenya is to improve its tourism performance and compete as among the best long-haul destinations on a global scale, then an assortment of policy interventions are to be anticipated (Source: Ministry of Tourism report, 2009):

Domestic tourism should be promoted alongside international tourism through aggressive campaigns and price differentials, among other interventions. More studies are needed so as to understand what kind of tourism products would be preferable to domestic tourists e.g. periodic cultural events and festivals.

Kenya should ensure that demand for accommodation facilities is always higher than supply. This can be executed through boosting marketing while limiting supply. Kenya should also endeavour to promote low density-high value products in key tourist circuits such as Amboseli and the Maasai Mara National Parks. Further investment in tourist facilities should be discouraged while the existing ones should be upgraded and the prices adjusted upwards to discourage high volumes while raising value. In order to facilitate controlled development, carrying capacity studies should be conducted as an issue of perseverance for the major tourist circuits and reserves/ parks. It’s essential that ecotourism development areas to be clearly defined and prioritized, with management plans to be formulated and adopted. The proposal for home stays and resort cities as included in the country’s long term development strategy: the Vision 2030 are all good proposals, but they should seek to maintain demand ahead of supply.

Necessity for immense capacity building and stipulation of microfinance or concessional capital so as to fuel local participation in tourism ventures. Tax inducements and affirmative action may be beneficial.

Tendency to conclude and sanctify the tourism policy along with the required legislation for effective execution, including pro-active policy involvement, designing an sophisticated incentive package for tourism investments, and embedding competition and technology transfer. These interventions should be in line with the Vision 2030. The incentives should direct investments into new circuits (for instance western Kenya), new ecotourism products for sustainable development and local community participation.

Synchronization of tourism training curricula should be undertaken and implemented promptly so as to facilitate service quality in tourism. There is need to introduce and expand new training courses so as to match the changing needs of the tourism industry.

The country’s business environment should be improved. Therefore, infrastructure should be improved (roads, airports, railways, energy etc.) and simplify and reduce licence requirements. Regional incorporation needs to be fast-tracked by marketing of East Africa as a sole destination, hence formulating a regional categorization and regulatory criteria, reforming and harmonizing of regulations on movement of tourist vehicles across borders and within regional background, and launching of a regional tourist visa.

Aggressive promotion of International tourism through increased budgetary allocations. This is to increase tourist arrivals to the desired 3 million by 2012.

Last but not least, security is an important aspect. There is need to increase capacity in the Tourist Police Unit through customer service. Strict measures are required to be taken so as to alleviate drug abuse as well as sexual exploitation of children in tourism.

Even if the policy interventions are being exercised, the UN’s Tourism Act of 2002 -which contains a master plan for tourism development-, is still not fully adopted by the Kenyan policy makers hence the industry is regulated by a few scattered mentions in different pieces of legislation (Table ) (Zhaliazniak, 2009).

Table Pieces of legislation that oversee the tourism industry in Kenya (Zhaliazniak, 2009 p.15)

No. in Laws of Kenya
Name of the legal document
Description

CAP 381

Tourist industry Licensing Act

Licensing of tourism enterprises

CAP 494

Hotels and Restaurants Act

Specifies conditions for licensing and regulation

CAP 376

Wildlife Conservation and Management Act

Looks into tourism enterprises within parks and reserves

CAP 8

Environmental Management and Coordination Act

Provides guidelines on where a tourism site is allowed to be set

CAP 382

Kenya Tourist Development Authority

Provides for the setup of Kenya Tourist Development Corporation, which is charged with the task of provision of financial facilities and advisory services to the tourism industry.

Tourism in Lake Naivasha Basin
Ecotourism Products and Activities

The table below outlines the Ecotourism products and activities within L. Naivasha Basin.

Friends of Kinangop Plateau (FoKP) “Gateway to Development”
Murungaru Location, Central Division, Nyandarua District, Central Province

Founded in 2007, FoKP is an SSG, with activities focused on conservation of endemic bird species. It currently has over 10,000 members from 24 self-help groups which are housed by FoKP. They include: Uhuru Women Group, Mwihoti Youth Initiatives, Engineer Broad Vision, Ukweli SHG, Murungaru Water Harvesting Agriculture, Mutaratara SHG, Paphrling-KERS, Machinery Young Farmers, Mumui SHG, Kimrui Volley Team, KAG Church, Kuria Mutego Dam, Aragwai Co-op Society, Waithima, Guphabai SHG, Kimuri, Bidii Dam, Mikaro Bee Keepers, Mazhinda Dam, Faru Dam, Githunguri Dam and Kimuri Dairy Group.

Despite the SHGs and large number of members, there are only 15 community guides involved in ecotourism while 17 are in cultural tourism. However, potentiality of ecotourism development is evident through presence of a mini-museum with historical items of the Kikuyu tribe and colonialists; research tourists mainly from Europe and Kenya; endemic bird species; bird migration to dams; past history of the “white” highlands; good view points for the Rift Valley; accommodation at Kinangop Guest House and Ecotourism Bandas at FoKP Centre. Agro tourism is on the pipeline through beehive and fish farming. Their main facilitators are WWF and Nature Kenya as well as CDTF and USAID. This place is ideal for bird lovers, with visitors mostly from the UK and Holland.

Plate : Ecotourism Bandas at FoKP Murungaru Centre (left) and a section of the Mini Museum displaying some arts & artifacts.

Table 1: Ecotourism Products and Activities within Lake Naivasha Basin

NAME OF ORGANIZATION/ GROUP
REGISTRATION OF GROUP
PRODUCTS
ACTIVITIES
COMMENTS

1.

Friends of Kinangop Plateau (FoKP)

CBO/ SSG

Mini museum

Kinangop Guest House

Bandas/ tented camps

Conserved trees

Important Bird Area (IBA)

Man-made dam

British colonial homes

Caves

Bird watching

Cultural dances/ performances

Beehive farming

Hiking/ excursions

Nature conservation

2.

Hells Gate National Park (KWS)

Parastatal

Wildlife (zebra, buffalo, eland, gazelle, baboons, hartebeest, leopards)

103 bird species

Mervyn Carnelley Raptor Hide

Fischer’s tower

The Lower Gorge

Ol Karia Geothermal Station

Tourist Circuits, nature trails & picnic sites

Naivasha Airstrip (Govt. of Kenya)

Camping

Rock climbing

Cycling

Hiking & trekking

Game driving

Bird watching

Picnicking

3.

Mt. Longonot National Park (KWS)

Parastatal

Mt. Longonot

Volcanic crater

Hot springs

Wildlife (buffalo, Thompsons gazelle, giraffe, guinea fowls, zebras)

400 bird species

Some reptiles (gecko & snakes)

Lodia Safari Airstrip (private)

Hiking

Rock/ mountain climbing

Biking

Bird watching

Game watching

4.

South L. Naivasha Boats Ecotourism Project

Private/ individual

Fisherman’s Camp

Lake Naivasha

(Motorized) boats

Bird species

Wildlife (hippopotamus, monkeys)

Olkaria Cultural Centre

Bird watching

Camping

Boat safaris

Fishing

Sun downers

Lake shoreline walk

5.

Geta CFA Ecotourism project

CBO

Aberdare Mountains

Kipipiri Hill

Bandas/ tented camps

Geta Forest Guest House

Protected areas

Wildlife (colobus monkeys)

Caves

Mountain hiking/ excursions

Cave exploration

Cultural/ historical activities

Nature conservation

Camping

6.

Aberdares National Park (KWS)

Parastatal

Wildlife(elephant, lion, jackal, bushbuck, waterbuck, cape buffalo, colobus monkey, forest hog, leopard, bush duiker, eland, bongo, olive baboon, sykes monkey, mountain reedbuck)

Treetops Lodge

Aberdare ranges

Self-help banda sites

Picnic sites

250+ bird species

Airstrips in Nyeri & Mweiga

Mountain hiking

Game driving (4WD)

Picnicking

Camping in moorlands

Bird watching

7.

Upper Turasha Conservation Group

CBO

Bakery

Aberdare ranges

Home stays

Caves

Community centre (Kenyahwe house)

Tree nurseries

Wildlife (elephants from forest)

Agro forestry

Baking and selling of bread, cakes

Cave exploration

Mountain climbing/ hiking

Bird watching

8.

Oloika Women Group

CBO

Manyattas

Maasai Community

Savanna plains

Man has been travelling around the length and breadth of the earth with various motives. The reason could be anything business, leisure or education it all falls under a broad categorisation of tourism. The technological developments and transformation of the world into a global community has resulted in extensive growth of tourism around the world in recent years.

Tourism has been the prime reason for the enhanced levels of intercultural contact. A look into touristic countries shows that their sociocultural structures have had great influence as a result of tourism. The changes be it positive or negative, differs from country to country. Changes result in reactions which could range from resistance to a complete adoption.

This piece of work would look into the social and cultural impacts of tourism with a case study on Bournemouth.

Chapter 2: Urban Tourism

Tourism plays a very strong part in the city’s local economy. Tourism not only supports the economy of a city but also is responsible for socio-culture impact on the people. Where tourism tries to build some employment opportunities, it also affects the social and cultural relations between people from different parts of the world.

Travelling to different parts of the world has always been an interest for everybody. This not only gives them an opportunity to explore new place but also a break from the usual day to day life. For some, travelling is for a business issue but for some it is for leisure. This evolved a new concept of tourism as an industry in the market. Though till 1980’s tourism was not considered to be a healthy part of the economy. But, in the last few decades, it gained importance. The people realize the potential of this market. Thus, the larger or the smaller cities were looked with a new perspective of promoting tourism. The redevelopment in the cities took place slowly and gradually and they became a part of the wide tourism industry.

‘As Edwards et al.,2008 D. Edwards, T. Griffin and B. Hayllar,

Urban tourism

research: developing an agenda, Annals of

Tourism

Research 35 (4) (2008), pp. 1032-1052. Article |

PDF (143 K) | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (0)Edwards et al. (2008: 1038) state,

tourism

is one among many social and economic forces in the

urban

environment. It encompasses an industry that manages and markets a variety of products and experiences to people who have a wide range of motivations, preferences and cultural perspectives and are involved in a dialectic engagement with the host community. The outcome of this engagement is a set of consequences for the tourist, the host community and the industry’. (Ashworth & Page, 2010)

‘McIntyre et al (2000) argue that humans perceive and react differently to natural versus

urban

settings. Scenes of natural environments have a more positive influence on human emotional states and stress levels than do

urban

scenes. Consequently they theorize that perceptions are integral to people’s motivations and actions; therefore using a perceptually based definition of

urban

can provide a link between the cultural, political, physical, perceptual and economic aspects that must be integrated into

urban tourism’. (Edwards, Griffin, & Hayllar, 2008)

Importance of Urban Tourism

Urban tourism is cosmopolitan in nature. But still it has received very small attention for its definition and a proper demarcation in the economy. . (Ashworth & Page, 2010, p. 40)

Because of tourists, various cities get acknowledged for their immense potential of absorbing the people from other parts of the world. . (Ashworth & Page, 2010, p. 40)

A tourist wants to explore the urban utilities of other places. But, the tourist visiting places have a very small portion of the urban facilities to entertain them with. (Ashworth & Page, 2010, p. 40)

Urban tourism bears an entirely different geographical pattern from the city in order to attract the tourist and this change in geography is one of the attention seeking factors. (Page & Hall, 2003)

The primary and secondary elements that are further discussed below support employment and provide jobs.

Urbanisation and Globalisation

Globally, 46% of the world’s population constitute urban people and it is estimated that by 2030 this percentage will increase to 61. Thus, it is very important for the urban people to understand that their place will be shared by the tourist. The world is getting small with globalization and thus the space needs to share with other people. Though, globalization emphasizes on two main factors:

Globalization gives employment opportunities

Globalization supports import and export that further increases the income opportunities.

Because of globalization, it is now evident that urban tourism and tourists from different part of the world enjoys the leisure experience that is specially built for them. (Page & Hall, 2003, pp. 29-30)

Urban Tourism as a business Strategy

By the 1970s the cities were losing a lot of economy and they were wondering as how to recover the loss and regenerate income from this sector and create some jobs. This was the main reason for inculcating new activities that could increase the regeneration process. Where the cities were witnessing this economic shift, tourism was one sector that was flourishing. This gave them a new approach of income generation. On the grounds of travel and leisure it was concluded that tourism industry was to grow and be a part of the economy. Tourism as an industry was taken optimistically by the urban crowd and was considered as a solution for a big financial crunch.

The tourism industry demands investment to attract visitors. Furthermore, marketing and selling of a picture of a city that would love to see and buy. To market the city, it is important to make some changes in the city. The refurbishment of the districts would bring the local residents more compact in the city.

The larger cities like London, New York etc. have always been a centre of attraction. People always desire to go for a tourist destination like this. But it is very hard to understand the psychology behind this. Generally, these elements can be broadly classified into two ways:

Primary elements like theatres, monuments, historical buildings, sports, games, casinos, and the social and cultural life.

Secondary elements like markets, shopping etc.

These two elements were discovered by Jansen-Verbeke in 1988

These two elements strike the mind of the visitor. At times, the visitor is only visiting the same place because of one interesting element or a mix of two or more. (Law, 1993, pp. 27-30)

Cultural Impact of Urban Tourism

Bournemouth witnesses millions of tourist every year from different parts of the world. Because of this high volume of tourist response from different cultures, the culture has a major impact on the local residents. It has both advantages and disadvantages.

The major advantage of culture tourism is the exchange of culture with different cultures of the world. It becomes a matter of pride for the local residents to exchange their culture with other people. They feel more strongly bounded to their originality.

The locals take cultural tourism in two positive ways:

Giving the host the opportunity to come in contact with other different cultures which further results in understanding others and rise in tolerance levels.

When the localities present their culture and tell about their culture in their own point of view, they feel more strongly bounded to their ethnic origin and their grounds from where they originally belong to.

Culture tourism affects the locals positively as well as in a negative way. Too much of anything is very bad. The same goes for the culture tourism. Just to attract tourist and to expose them to the host’s culture, they try to over develop the city, over construct the primary elements. Also, with this reconstruction, the originality of the culture becomes diluted. (Besculides, Lee, & McCormick, 2002)

Social impact of urban tourism

The rail network started in Bournemouth in the late 19th century. This was the main reason for increasing the population of the city and to increase the visitors at a phenomenal rate. With the travelling network in Bournemouth, the tourism industry started flourishing. Bournemouth was already famous for its primary elements and the history related to the same. Each and every element had a historical moment attached to it. The economy was coming in and was tangible enough to understand that Bournemouth has the potential to attract tourists. But, there was also a hidden side of the same point i.e. the social impacts. Where over development of the city has led to more of construction, heavy duty, increase taxes, etc on the one hand, it has also given them an opportunity to mingle up with other cultures. Where the travelling to the core of the city has become convenient for the countryside residents, it has also given them an employment opportunity in the same. (Haley, Snaith, & Miller, 2005)

Socio-Cultural Impact of urban Tourism

‘According to Fox(1977), cited in Mathieson and Wall(1982:133), The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behaviour, family relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, creative expressions, traditional ceremonies and community organisations’, which they identify as ‘people impacts’, due to tourists on host communities and the interaction between these two groups.’ (Page & Hall, 2003, p. 213)

So, from the above definition it is clear that the social cultural impacts of tourism depends on three main factors, namely

Tourist that demands for the services from the host city

Host that adjusts with the demands of the tourist and tries to leave an impression of their culture on the tourist and

A mutual understanding between the two so that both of them are comfortable with each other (Page & Hall, 2003, p. 213)

Economical impact of Urban tourism

For understanding the economical impact of urban tourism, it is very important to consider the following points

The flow of tourist in a particular city

The local economic development of the city

The type of economy that city persists like public, private or mix economy

The income spent on tourist leisure activities and not import of goods

It is said that tourist flow is seasonal. So, the impact of this and still trying to maintain the constant flow of tourist all year round.

The secondary elements that a city dwells to attract the other people from the world.

The above mentioned factors play a very important role in understanding the economical impact of urban tourism. To start with, the positive side it includes:

Income generation for the city economy

New jobs and employment opportunities

Fair balance between the economic activities and the city

Increasing business options

But, it also carries a negative side. It includes,

If the tourist attracts to one form of element only, the economy starts paying attention to that element and dependency on that element drastically increases.

Inflation

To make a tourist comfortable and make their stay pleasurable, they start importing goods from others parts and their dependence and importance of their locally produced goods decreases.

Tourism is seasonal (Page & Hall, 2003, pp. 197-198)

Employment Opportunities due to tourism

As the reconstruction always take place in a city, it is very obvious that the jobs are created. ‘However, at a deeper level and in a more detailed way it is often difficult to assess the impact of tourism on a city. Firstly, it is often difficult to measure the flow of tourists, even when a definition has been agreed. Comprehensive surveys are expensive and short cut methods are often unreliable and may, if repeated, come up with conflicting evidence. Secondly, the flow of income through the economy is difficult to trace, and it is difficult to calculate the number of jobs created. Tourism’s impact is very diffuse and so not very visible, which is a problem for those campaigning for further support. Thirdly, the objectives of tourism development are also diffused and often interlinked with other objectives, so that it is difficult to isolate the impact.’ (Law, 1993, p. 169)

Chapter 3: Bournemouth a Tourist Destination

Bournemouth is one of the classical examples of urban tourism. It exhibits both the primary and the secondary elements that attracts the tourists and compels them to come over and over again. From theatres to shopping to site seeing, Bournemouth is a place to visit.

About Bournemouth

Area Size – 17.83 sq miles (46.15 sq km)

21 Conservation Area designations

7 miles of curved sandy beaches with three European Blue Flags and six Seaside Awards

Average of 7.7 hours a day of summer sunshine

842 hectares (2,080 acres) of parks and gardens with nine gardens holding the Green Flag Award (recognising environmental protection, community use and safety & cleanliness)

Population from Census 2001 is 163,444, the 2008 mid-year estimate is 163,900 and the population is projected to reach almost 168,000 by 2026

68,800 employees in Bournemouth work in the service sector (ABI, NOMIS, 2007)

Median gross weekly earnings for 2009 for the Bournemouth residents was ?371.60 representing 93% of the England and Wales figure (ASHE, ONS)

Over 14,600 students attended Bournemouth University in 2007/08 – (65.4% over 21 years of age)

Just over 1,000 overseas students attending Bournemouth University in 2007/08

A total of 38 schools with 20,187 pupils (Schools’ Census, October 2009)

1,344 (gross) and 1,218 (net) new dwellings constructed 2008/09

Bournemouth Airport: almost 1 million passengers (in 2007/08) to more than 50 destinations including USA, Europe and Channel Islands and over 11,000 tonnes of freight

Just over 2.27 million rail passenger journeys in 2003/2004

Just over 57 kilometres of Principal Type roads within the Borough

Average house price for February 2010 was ?170,179 (Land Registry)

Just over 57 kilometres of Principal Type roads within the Borough

95 minutes rail journey to London Waterloo

Fast Ferry from Poole to France (Cherbourg) or Channel Islands

Civic Trust Awards (2001): Bournemouth was awarded two awards, for the conversion of The Square from a roundabout to a Civic space and for transforming Knyveton Gardens to a sensory garden for those with disabilities.

(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)

Prominent Bournemouth attractions
Bournemouth Beach

Bournemouth’s beach has won awards consistently the quality, safety and cleanliness of its seven miles long beach. The beach offers a range water sports and also provides the visitors the option of hiring beach. It is one of the safest beaches with the availability of RNLI lifeguards all along the seven mile stretch of beach.

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum

Termed as one of the most fascinating and unique museums in the world. It comprises of the famous paintings and gems collected by the Russell-cotes family and housed in one of the last Victorian Villas in Bournemouth, East Cliff Hall. (russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2008)

Bournemouth Aviation MuseumaˆZ

The Bournemouth Aviation Museum a perfect day out for the family has exhibits covering 50 years of aviation with a display of Piston aircraft, military jets, a Biz-Jet, military trainer, helicopter and a nose section of the famous Vulcan bomber. (www.aviation-museum.co.uk, 2009)

The Red House Museum & Gardens

Built as a Georgian workhouse in 1764, the building now houses a number of objects reflecting the social and natural history of the area, its geology and archaeology. (www.information-britain.co.uk, 2005)

Bournemouth Pier

The original pier consisting of a short wooden jetty was opened in the year 1856. But the present day pier has come a long way and is much longer than that. It has its own historical importance and has been refurbished over time due to corrosion and even destruction due to invasions. Since 1871 it has been associated with pleasure steamers. Local boats operate from the pier offering many day trips and excursions. (www.theheritagetrail.co.uk, 2008)

Bournemouth’s parks and countryside

Bournemouth has a varied variety of ornamental gardens and countryside many of which have various protective designations. The council’s parks and countryside staff manage 10 local natural reserves around the borough. In 2009 Bournemouth achieved nine Green Flags national award for its parks, these parks also offer guided walks giving information some fascinating trees to be found there. (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2009)

Bournemouth Oceanarium

The Oceanarium is a fully interactive experience with touch screen games, feeding demonstrations and talks, plasma screen documentaries, with a walk-through underwater tunnel and exhibits. (bournemouth attractions, 2009)

Availability of accommodation in Bournemouth

Development of a city as a tourist’s destination means there will be an influx of visitors and tourists coming to the city, these visitors require a temporary place to stay during their visit. This results in the development of different types of accommodations focussing on different category of tourists.

The creation of these accommodations also helps evolve new markets for products like souvenirs and memorabilia. Since it lands up increasing the demand for food and such facilities, working on the demand and supply principle it attracts establishment of more businesses.

The positive impact of these developments results in creation of jobs. Bournemouth tourism promotes the establishments of these accommodations either under Bournemouth Quality Standards Scheme or the quality assed either by AA or Quality in tourism.

The following table gives an insight into the available accommodations in Bournemouth as in 2004

Type
Bedspaces (unless marked otherwise)

Hotels

12,836

Guesthouses

4,493

B&B

747

Self Catering

402 Units

Touring Caravans/Tents

33 PITCHES

Second Homes

1,586

(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)

Tourists expenditure associated with their trip

Tourists visits in a city means tourists spending in the city. Tourists usually take the opportunity of being away on a break to spend generously on themselves. The tourists spending is generally categorised as

On accommodation

On shopping

On food and drink

Attractions and entertainment

Travel.

The local businesses over a period of time get an understanding of the spending pattern of the visiting tourists and hence try to base their inventories around it. The tourists visiting bournmouth can be categorised into the following 3 categories:

UK tourists

Overseas tourists

Day toursist

The following table gives and insight into the breakdown of the tourist’s expenditure associated with trips to Bournemouth.

Accommodation
(?)
Shopping
(?)
Food & Drink
(?)
Attractions/ Entertainment
(?)
Travel
(?)
UK Tourists

47,884,000

14,977,000

28,797,000

12,509,000

23,252,000

Overseas Tourists

20,095,000

20,634,000

11,789,000

11,297,000

5,091,000

Day Visitors

0

51,292,000

59,080,000

14,296,000

19,988,000

Source: South West Tourism using the Cambridge model www.swtourism.org.uk

(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)

The above figures clearly show that tourist inflow enhances the city’s coffers and makes available the finances that the city would need for growth and development.

Brand Bournemouth is being developed by the council keeping in view of its ability to attract more tourists. The different sectors that have been identified as constituent parts of the Bournemouth brand are as follows:

Accommodation

Conference/business

International Education

Leisure and attractions

Night Time Economy

Town Centre

Transport

This is the most visual positive socio-cultural impact of tourism in Bournemouth.

The gift of the Tourism industry in the form of jobs

Tourism brings in business is a known fact, these businesses are run by individuals and hence jobs are created. Jobs mean growth of the society as a whole. The transformation of a city into a tourist’s destination attracts not only tourists but also businesses of all kinds.

Jobs that are created can be segregated into the following three general categories:

Direct jobs

Indirect jobs

Induced jobs

The creation of these jobs becomes a source of livelihood for the locals. It also attracts workforce from neighbouring towns and cities. This increases the revenues of the connecting transport systems. The depth of integrated revenues is immense and hidden in a very complex matrix.

The following table gives the estimated actual number of jobs created related to tourism spending in 2007.

Staying Tourists
Day Visitors
Total
Direct Jobs

4,423

2,796

7,219

Indirect Jobs

1,075

489

1,563

Induced Jobs

456

64

520

Total

5,953

3,349

9,302

Source: South West Tourism using the Cambridge Model www.swtourism.org.uk

(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)

Holiday types, reasons for visit and activities involvement.

Tourists have various reasons to visit Bournemouth. There was a time when tourists were all categorised as travellers, but now times have changed and they can be categorised using various concepts and ideas. One of the ways to categorise them is based them the type of holiday they take.

They can be categorised as follows.

Main holiday

Additional holiday

Short break

The above categorise are the parameters that decide their length of stay.

The following tables give an insight into the tourists that come to Bournemouth based on the above categorisation. It also gives an idea of the reasons why they come and the activities they engage themselves in when they are holidaying in Bournemouth.

Statistics for Bournemouth, 2005
Holiday Type
Total (%)

Main Holiday

33

Additional Holiday

43

Short Break

20

Length of Stay

7.88 nights

Average expenditure per person per day

?44.22

Reasons for Visiting
Total (%)

Shopping

56

Seaside, beaches, coast

86

Peace and quiet

36

Easy to get to

57

Activities
Total (%)

Coastal Walk

77

Gardens

63

Shopping

72

Wildlife

47

Source: Dorset New Forest Tourism Data Project, The Market Research Group, 2005/06

(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2009)

The above statistics tell us that the reasons why the tourists come is varied and they also overlap each other, in economic terms that leaves scope for business. Even the activities that they get involved in are varied and hence these statistics can be used to decide the spending of the local governing bodies in developing the tourism according to tourist’s preferences.

Negative socio- cultural impact of tourism in Bournemouth

It is evident that urban tourism has a lot of visible benefits for the economy and the locals. Where it promotes exchange of culture, it also supports the local economy of the city. But, there is a negative aspect of urban tourism as well. For example, during the peak season when the tourist’s influx is at its maximum, the prices of fresh foods and vegetables start rising. It even destroys the peace of the locality. The tourists bring their vices to the city in the form of gambling, late night clubs, prostitution and drinking. Though tourism has a lot of positive impact on the local economy, culture and over all development of the society, the negative impact cannot be ignored. If the negative impact is kept on a regular vigilant check it can be overshadowed by the positives.

The development of the urban city of Bournemouth into a tourists destination faces a lot of challenges from such negative impacts. No doubt tourism brings a lot to the city in terms of jobs and development. It has also resulted in the increase of taxes be it residential or business.

Some of the negative socio-cultural impact of tourism can be summarised as follows.

Prostitution- the development of Bournemouth as a tourist’s destination has resulted in vices such as prostitution. According to Dorset Police the alarming rate of rise of brothels in Bournemouth has been a real matter of concern for the city. The intelligence works reported the presence of 60 brothels in the city. (www.telegraph.co.uk, 2005)

Drug trafficking- the vice of prostitution is known to drag with it the drug culture. Over the years Bournemouth has attracted party goes due to its numerous pubs and clubs along the beach, this has resulted in increase in the number of drug consumers in Bournemouth. These vices are passed on the growing population of Bournemouth, having serious affects on the way of life of their friends and families.

Increased levels of noise pollution- the growing number of clubs and pubs result in enhancing the night life experience of the tourists, but also increase the levels of noise pollution, which can be detrimental to the health of the old and senior residents of Bournemouth.

Rising house prices- increasing jobs and growing businesses attracts attention from neighbouring cities, resulting in growth in population. This results increasing the demand of residential housing, which could be out of reach for the local population.

Rising taxes- Increased businesses results in more government spending in infrastructural development and also towards the tourist’s interests. This results in the increased levels of taxes by the government, to finance these projects.

Traffic jams- increased levels of traffic jams are one of the main cause of the grievance of the locals of Bournemouth, which even the local governments are struggling to solve.

Road casualties- due to increase in levels of population and car users the increasing number of road casualties have been worrying the Bournemouth authorities and locals.

Loss of individuality due to over marketing of destinations key selling point- The development of Bournemouth as a tourists friendly city has resulted in extensive development. Be it businesses or attractions for the tourists, the concern is that it is losing its ethnic originality and identity. It is losing the unique selling point and is transforming into another beach city, this is a matter of concern that has been voiced by the local authorities.

Chapter 4: Conclusion

Socio- cultural impact of tourisms cannot be ignored. Tourism is at times used as a reason for the growth and development of the society, the focus of growth is always positive, but the negative side is also prevalent. Man is full of vices, since tourism revolves around mans needs, requirements, perceptions, assumptions and wants, it is very difficult to curtail the negative influence.

Bournemouth tourism should focus on development tailored on its specific needs, heritage, history and means with the socio-cultural impacts in sight. This would enable the urban city to have a balanced growth limiting the vices and attracting the healthy tourists which contribute majorly into the growth of the city into positive spheres of development.

The Importance of Training Towards Hospitality Staffs In Order To Enhance The Service Quality.1.1. Study background

There are many ways researchers define service quality. Taylor and Cronin (1994) view service quality as a form of attitude representing a long run overall evaluation. Roest and Pieters (1997) define service quality, as a relativistic and cognitive discrepancy between experiences based norms and performances concerning service benefits.

Service quality is related to every place which provides any goods or service to customers, in a way service quality and staff training are interrelated. A staff who has been given training will be able to a quality service to their customers unlike a staff who haven’t been given staff training, this is seen practically if looked at restaurants. Most of the time hotels which hire temporary staffs for peak season will have a high percentage of showing low quality service because these temporary staffs are given just a minimum or basic training.

When a staff is given basic training this will contribute very highly to the quality of service given by this staff also this will contribute to staffs getting dissatisfied with there job because they are unable to see any advancements in there career. When this happen there will be staffs planning to resign their jobs after a certain period of time. Once old and experience staffs leave their working environment. As for those new staffs, it will take some time for them to adapt to the environment and perform as what the pervious staff did. Most of the times newly hired staffs will struggle to meet the current requirement that is to prove the same service quality or better which is provided by the staff before them, this is one of the major problems to companies who try to improve their service quality.

There are a many things which make working in hotel industry difficult especially for front line staffs. These things are:

Shifts working hours
Public contact
Low salary payments
Odd working hours
Simultaneous production and consumption

Also the midlevel staffs (managerial level) will face similar problems but compared with the front line staffs their problems might be slightly different, they are:

Supervision
Staffing problems
Long hours of work. (Meier,1991)

Organizational stability has been shown to have a high degree of relationship with low turnover and quality of service provided to their customers. Staffs are more likely to stay when there is a predictable and comfortable working environment also staffs tend to perform well under familiar environment when compared to new environment, new staffs in a hotel will need time to adjust to the environment while the staffs who are working there will be already used to that environment.

Hotels tend to hire temporary staffs as a replacement or as a back up; they provide these staffs with training and product knowledge. Hotels maybe using these temporary staffs during the peak season specially in the F&B department to cope with the influx of tourists to the hotel. When the temporary staffs resign and new staffs take over their positions, the training process will need to repeat again and again which will cost the hotel a lot of capital. In order to have an organizational stability in a company, training is compulsory. When turnover happen, there will be a cost for re-training another employee. (Zuber,2001)

1.2 Problem statement

Providing training helps the organization to train its staffs so that they will be able to provide a good quality of service to their customers. After training there has to be evaluation for the staffs, this is done to find out weather the staff has really put into practice what they are thought in the training, if what the staffs put into practice what they are thought there is a very high degree that they will provide a top quality service to their customers. Whether the training results are done within that particular period is acceptable or not, the training process never ends, until the staff resign. This happens because their will be new products coming into market and staffs need to be up to date with these things, for this also they need training. As training is very important to labor intensive market like the hospitality industry to provide top quality service to their customers, but how far the training will give significant to the industry? Focus of this study will be looking into the process of training and how training improves the service quality.

1.3 Conceptual Framework
1.4. Research Objectives

The objectives of this research is to:-

Identify the importance of training and how it contributes to the quality of service provided by the hospitality staffs.
Identifying the relationship between training and service quality and how its going to help companies/ hotels to get loyal customers.
Identifying the effects trained staffs and staffs without training have on Service quality
1.5. Hypothesis

The hypothesis on this research will look at the major areas where hospitality staff training has an affect on the service quality they provide to their customers. Below are the hypothesis fields which the research is going to look at:

H1: Training and service quality is related

H2: Staff training and quality of service have substantial affect on the hotel/company

H3: How hospitality staff training helps staffs service quality

1.6. Scope and Limitations

The scope of this research focuses on the importance of training towards hospitality staffs in order to enhance the service quality. The time limitation given to complete this research paper and the limitations of online journals is considered as a limitation.

2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Service quality

Where is explaination about service quality. Here, u also need to explain about it. This the main important part where u need to have it

Before employment of a staff, there will be recruitment session for all the interviewee after this the selection process will be done at a later stage.

The process of training includes two parts.

1. Training
2. Evaluation
2.2 Training

The purpose of training is to improve the knowledge, skills and to change the quality of service provided by the staff. This will lead to many possible benefits for both staffs and to the organizations. This can be:

Give a feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement; also widen the opportunities for career progress.
Help to improve the quality and skills of staffs
Increase the confidence, motivation and commitment of staff towards the organization

The need for training starts when there is discrepancy between the desired out come of the results as against what really happens. Many a time these discrepancies are not mentioned by the guest themselves but identified by the managers. (Chandrashekhar, 2006)

There are several types of training which the company can provide.

Classroom Instruction

A special type of classroom facility is used to give instruction in the operation of equipment like that found in operating departments, like in front office

Cooperative training

Training program that combines practical on the job experience with formal educational classes.

Apprenticeship Training

This is a system of training in which a worker entering the skilled trades is given thorough instruction and experience both on and off the job, in the practical and theoretical aspects of the work.

Internships

Programs jointly sponsored by colleges, universities and other organizations that offer students the opportunity to gain real life experience while allowing them to find out how they will perform in a work organization.

On Job Training

Method which employees are given hands on experience with instructions from their supervisors or trainers.

When the staff has been trained, there will be other job attractions from other companies. In order to prevent staffs from moving away after training, the company must ensure that they will be able to retain their staffs, if not they are going to loose not only trained staffs but both capital and part of service quality they provide.

Retaining staffs is not only increasing there pay. Retaining valuable staffs is one of the main objectives of human capital measurement. When figuring out exactly what makes the staffs to stay on working in the company will be a complicated problem to solve, because human beings are very difficult to study, but the management can make some policies to retain their valuable staffs.

Hospitality industry has the highest demand for workers, unlike desk jobs staffs, staffs in hospitality industry needs to keep on moving and always be focus. They want to feel that they are capable to finish their job with the current resources that they have, when these resources don’t exist, the staffs tend to resign and the company is forced to pay more for that cost (cost of training, time, money and manpower).

Employees are driven by an emotional commitment, whether they feel themselves are valued, challenged and capable to make things different. (Froggatt, K)

Staffs in a company don’t necessarily work for money and some tend to work for the satisfaction they gain after completing the task, this type of staffs tend to provide a better service quality to their customers then those who work for money.

2.3 Evaluation of Staff Performance to enhance the service quality

A formal evaluation will be used to analyze the staffs’ performances; it is normally done once or twice a year.

Evaluation can be done in many ways, some of them are stated below.

Team Evaluation

This type of evaluation is done on team accomplishment other than individual performance.

Subordinate Evaluation

This is done by staff members to their superiors; this is a very good tool for the development of staffs and for the service quality rather than for administration.

Self performance evaluation

Mostly a self evaluation is done by the managers like how a peer evaluation is done.

Manager or Supervisor’s evaluation.

This type of evaluation is done by the manager and reviewed by mostly the manager in charge of human resources department.

Peer Evaluation

These types of evaluation done by fellow staffs, these evaluation forms are used by the manager incharge of the staffs when they are conducting a meeting, when trying to improve the service quality.

These types of evaluation is considered as a tool to improve the service quality provided by the organization and how well there method of training is working or if they need to change it.

Staff turnover and how it affects the service quality

Companies and hotels which has very high staff turnover will find themselves having hard time coping up with the turnover and training the new staffs, when this happen the company sees very little growth compared to what they have forecasted before, in other words the company stays stagnant. This is most likely to be seen when the economy starts to improve as this gives investors time to invest and new hotels and companies to flourish. This is the time when employers will have a problem because their staffs will start to go around with their resumes trying to find a new and better job. When this happens the companies are losing are lots off money and experienced staffs, which in turn will effect a lot with their service quality, because the company spends a lot of money in training their newly selected staffs and these staffs takes time to improve their service quality. While the staffs who have been working with the company for quiet sometime start to find better positions especially from the competitors and leave the company this will give a very big blow to the companies service quality because their rival company got a senior staff who knows the working of their pervious company. When there is high staff turnover this will force companies to focus most of their priorities on staffing. It doesn’t matter if the staffs replaced are senior level executives, midlevel managers or the low level staffs, the company owners need to bear the responsibility of recruiting, interviewing and training new staffs. This will create a big cost as time, money and manpower are being used in order to fill up the positions. Mostly when senior staff members leave their company, they take with them the valuable knowledge of the company and also these staff serves as morale boosters for work teams and help new staffs improve more quickly. Many times companies mistakenly believe that the cost of replacing staffs is just the price they are going to incur for newspaper or web advertisements, but in reality both direct and indirect cost must be taken into consideration.

Why Staffs choose to leave their workplace and how to prevent it

It is very important to understand why staffs look else where for jobs because this will put the quality of service of the company down. Mostly lack of appreciation, lack of team work and the thinking that the managers don’t bother about their staffs are the major reasons which causes low job satisfaction. This most of the time result in the form of poor communication between staff to staff and manager to manager.

As career advancement and salaries are considered as important tools to keep staffs at bay, there is another area which managers most of the times forget to look at which is the appreciations. Surveys reveal that more than forty percent of people who leave their jobs do so because they don’t believe their companies value their contributions. (Shehan, 2004)

Those business owners can avoid high staffs leaving their company by addressing compensation and benefits, implementing training programs with clear paths for advancement and providing comprehensive employee relations programs. (Shehan, 2004)

Another method to control staffs from leaving is to give staff formal training programs that will provide staffs with clear paths for promotions. According to Shehan,2004 staffs are more likely to remain loyal to business who are committed to their staff development.

Hiring the right person from the start will reduce the staffs leaving the company, managers must have a clear idea of the types of people they want to hire for every position available in their company.

Difference between skilled and unskilled employees, how this hinder the quality of service.

Unskilled positions often have high turnover and staffs can generally be replaced without the organization or business incurring any loss of performance. The ease of replacing these staffs provide little incentives to employers to offer generous employment contracts, on the other hand these contracts may strongly favor the employer and lead to increase in turnover as staffs seek and eventually find, more favorable job.

However, high turnover rates of skilled professionals can pose as a risk to the organization due to the human capital (such as skills, training and knowledge) lost. Particularly, given the natural specialization of skilled professionals and these staffs are likely to be reemployed within the same industry by a competitor, most of the time loosing the quality of service provided and company secrets to their competitors Therefore, turnover of these individuals happen both replacement costs to the organization, as well as resulting in a competitive disadvantage to the business.

1.7. Data Collection

Data is collected using books, journals and internet database, mainly from journal searching engines like Google scholar.

(elaborate more!)

Recommendation and Conclusion

It is recommended that staff training is a very important tool in this labor intensive competitive market. This tool will help the managers to improve their staffs output and service quality, staff training and service quality is almost interrelated. The best choice for managers is to train their staffs on a regular basis so that they won’t loose the skills, also providing the staffs with a good environment to work with will improve their service quality. In conclusion it is a must for the management to provide training to there staffs in order to improve their skills which in return will provide a better service quality to there customers. Once a company provides a very good service to its customers there is a very high percentage that they will make royal customers.

Importance of Tourism on Spain’s Economy

Tourism has undoubtedly become a monumental factor in the growth and development of economy today. One can also take into consideration the fact that tourism is booming in comparison to other industries such as import and exports, investments, and real estate. In our modern times, travelling has become more facilitated, taking into account the fact that it is in human nature to explore other territories. Tourism and travelling in particular has become an integral component in society today. As an example, Spain’s intricate historical background attracts avid tourists from diverse environments across the globe. Spain has an assortment of geographical and cultural appeals that cause a constant inflow of tourists in to the general vicinity. One of the main attractions in this exciting country is the Mediterranean Sea. The lush sandy beaches and the relaxing atmosphere that this ambience creates captivate hordes of sunshine lovers. During their visit, the many fascinations of Spain incline the visitors to explore the country’s rich history. The tourists contribute to the economy in a variety of ways such as spending money in restaurants, hotels and stores. Tourism had such a monumental impact on Spain’s economy such that at one point in time, Spain’s economy was considered the highest in the world. From modern clubs and resorts to historical sites and locations, Spain has a myriad of resources and connections that appeal to a multitude of tourists. Tourism is the strongest industry in the country and has helped to sustain rapid expansion of the Spanish economy. Through education and employment, GDP and foreign exchange, and the import and export sectors, it can be proven that tourism is integral to Spain’s economy.

“The two most important potential effects of a developing tourism sector on an economy are the generation of foreign currencies and economic growth based on ‘new sectors’ (with the consequent creation of new jobs).” Employment and education are the two sectors being discussed in this paper. “Tourism is a labour-intensive service industry, dependent for survival (and for competitive advantage) on the availability of good quality personnel to deliver, operate, and manage the tourist product.” It is what causes the educational and training sectors in Spain to be of great strength. The more the people are being educated, the healthier the job competition is amongst the Spaniards. Since tourism plays an important role in the Spanish economic development, it should deal with decision-making when it comes to employment. Tourism opens up numerous opportunities for people which has significantly boosted the growth of the country’s economy and is capable of creating new and better jobs for the unemployed as well as opening small businesses for the people to benefit from. The influx of tourists in Spain means that a great number of people will have to be trained in the hospitality sector. Sectors such as hotel management, restaurants and airport services require a new type of training and education. However, there are some firms who cannot provide any training to their employees and others who are not able to abandon their skilled staff in order to hire new ones. Here is where the educational institutions come in. There job is to educate and train students to become skilled workers. This is done by “preparing students to respond to the changing demands of the highly volatile, competitive and sophisticated, global tourism industry, rather than to meet current demands, form students for the international rather than for the local market, prepare students for specialist functions in the industry, rather than for generic employment positions.” The people of Spain are encouraged to mingle and communicate with tourists as much as they can in order to, not only create jobs, but also to help improve their knowledge and education of foreign languages. Some of these people, however, lack an entrepreneurial skill which, along with their laid-back attitude, causes them to open their own small business rather than working in bigger industries such as running hotels and restaurants for example and interacting with a larger number to tourists. It can then be concluded that in order for both students and firms to achieve the knowledge required to understand tourism dynamics, both students and firms are required to have some sort of specialization. Students need to meet qualitative needs of a firm as well as gaining high professional skills, whereas firms are required to accelerate consumer demands as well as meeting their future needs. Therefore, it is possible to have both educated and trained operators and managers. This is all due to the educational institutions which allow students to meet the needs of the firms by following a specific educational strategy. This strategy consists of the intensive international tourism education and training, along with a certain specialization that requires some sort of base knowledge. In other words, both education and training need to be balanced in order to improve the productivity of a country, such as Spain, and to benefit from the growth of its economy.

“…only Cortes-Jimenez and Artis (2006) investigated (in a bivariate context) the causal link between international tourism expansion and imports of industrial goods and machinery for the Spanish economy.” Spain’s economy is what caused Spain to become one of the top leading countries in the world. One of the most important economical decisions that have been made was discussed in the previous section, which was to educate the Spanish people in order to allow them to open their own factories and import industrial goods and machinery. Therefore, not only does education and employment play a very important role in achieving massive productivity and growth of the Spanish economy, but so do imports and exports of capital goods. This factor is what links international tourism to the economic growth in Spain. It is apparent that there is a direct relationship between tourism exports, imports of goods and the growth of the Spanish economy. Financing imports of capital goods will cause an expansion in the international tourism industry of Spain. Tourists provide the country with foreign currency receipts which causes the economy to grow and develop by importing capital goods to the country. These receipts or earnings play an important role in a country such as Spain since its economy mostly depends on the imports of the capital goods. As the number of imports and exports increase, the economy is being affected respectively. Thus, expanding the import and export sectors will cause a long-term growth of the economy. There are two main channels through which this can be done. “The first one is the well-known export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis.” The ELG hypothesis states that the “export expansion can enhance economy-wide efficiency and lead to total factor productivity growth.” There are significant numbers of ways by which this can be done. However, the most important one would be exporting smaller firms of larger and more competitive foreign markets in order to obtain better practices in the management sector, forming organizations, enhancing marketing techniques and labour training . Competing with foreign firms and interacting with international buyers causes a dynamic improvement which then raises the entrepreneurial efficiency. “Exports in general may promote overall long-term growth through a second channel.” Since the main source of foreign currency comes from exports, expanding such a sector can also increase the amount of inputs through what is called “capital accumulation.” “Spain is the archetypal example of a country where economic development and industrialization have been achieved since the early sixties via imports of capital goods financed mainly by tourism receipts.” It is now clear that the growth of the Spanish economy relates to both, the exports and imports of capital goods. Therefore, there is a direct relationship between the differentiated touristic services and the fast growth of a country’s economy. Spain’s economy and its growth are affected by the importing of capital goods which are being financed by the tourist’s exports. “Therefore, the two channels of the impact of tourism exports on growth (improvement of the efficiency of productive resources, that is, the TLG hypothesis; and increase in the quantity of productive resources, that is, the TKIG hypothesis) seem to apply to the Spanish economy.”n

The tourism industry continues, and until this very day, to be one of the largest revenue generators in the world. Spain, for instance, “… received more than 34 million tourists and had become a power in world tourism. Income from this industry covered between 75% and 100% of the deficit of the trade balance.” Since the two major areas that impacted the Spanish economy have been analyzed, the goal now is to explore one more area of impact and study the main policy options that might apply to it. Foreign exchange earnings and gross domestic product (GDP), along with the other two sectors discussed earlier, have highly impacted the Spanish economy. When the Gross Domestic Product increases, it causes an increase in the balance payments as well as real consumption which is due to an increase in tourist expenditure. “Spain’s GDP rate of growth was, on average, 7.1% per year between 1960 and 1970.” Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world that has continuously and tremendously impacted the Spanish economy. The third and most important way by which tourism helps prosperity in Spain, is through Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is a monetary value that measures the amount of goods and services being produced. Tourism has an enormous impact on GDP. It controls the values of goods and services which causes a rapid rise and fall of the GDP. Substantial amounts of foreign investments are being attracted to Spain’s powerful economy. GDP includes a large percentage of the activities practiced by the tourists in its calculation and plays an important role in determining the tourist contribution to the Spanish economy. Although GDP measures some immeasurable items such as natural disasters and the costs of rebuilding, however, it does not include a few other important elements. For example, it does not measure any ecological damages such as pollution caused by tourists during their visit. It can then be concluded that a sufficient estimation of a country’s economic standing is measured out by GDP. Now let us take a look at how foreign exchange earnings impact the Spanish economy.

Since visitors of the country are fascinated by Spain’s intricate historical, cultural and geographical appeal, they contribute to the economy in a variety of ways, and thus attracting more and more foreign exchange. There are three policy issues that are associated with foreign exchange earnings that “enhance economic benefits from tourism” – the gross earnings, the collection of it, and the leakage of the foreign exchange. As more visitors are being attracted by the many fascinations of Spain, the gross earnings of the country will significantly increase. There are a few problems that are associated with such a policy, and that is the fact that many tourists do not contribute much to the host country, which in this case is Spain. “Tourists arrive as part of an inclusive tour, and/or use foreign owned airlines or other transport modes, and then a significant proportion of the total holiday price paid by tourist may not accrue to the host country.” The solution to such problems is to study different methods in order to “raise the gross accrual to Spain” which can then have a great impact on its economy. The second policy issue is then being introduced where the collection of the foreign exchange is then being spent on Spain in order to improve the country, for example, by opening new firms and industries. In many countries in the Mediterranean, including Spain, a “black market” exists. The only way to minimize such an act is by providing mediums for currency exchange. The government of Spain would then have to pay special exchange rates to tourists. The “leakage” is the third policy issue of the foreign exchange, which can arise from “import purchases, payment of foreign debts, employment of foreign nationals, etc.” Leakages are wide-spread phenomena especially in a country as big as Spain. However, there are numerous actions that the government needs to take, one of which is gathering needed information, as well as examining and determining the extent of such leakages. The fundamental contribution to policy decision is determining leakages. Foreign leakages along with foreign experts can be completely eliminated or reduced by substituting them with imports such as education and training. However, this usually takes a very long time. “Labour capital substitution possibilities should be explored to limit the need to import hard currency capital equipment.”

Spain’s unique and spectacular environment is what continues to captivate hordes of people from diverse areas across the globe. This has caused tourism to become one of the strongest leading industries and has helped to maintain a rapid expansion of the Spanish economy. When tourism sectors in developing countries are being expanded to contribute to economic growth, a few things need to be taken into consideration. Although Spain is a very successful model, however, each country has its own distinct cultural, social and economical aspects allowing it to create its own unique and successful touristic policies. The growth of the tourism industry has a very strong impact, not only on a country’s economy but also on its culture, the environment, and the society as a whole. Tourism, with all its complexities, has become more acknowledged by the different societies especially in Spain. However, it is an activity that has become of great concern and should be closely monitored. In conclusion, through education and employment, Gross domestic product and foreign exchange, and the import and export sectors, it can be proven that tourism is indeed an essential element of Spain’s economy.

A convention bureau can be seen as an organization that works on levels that represent all factors in terms of hotels, restaurants, convention facilities, tour operators, attractions, transport, retail and commercial attractions, all of great importance to visitors in a city. Convention bureaus are dependent on financial resources in order to pursue their business operations. Members will not support convention bureaus with funding unless they get something in return; therefore it is vital for convention bureaus to have a successful image.

For my part, I had the opportunity to carry out my internship during a period of almost 5 months with the Dubai Convention Bureau division of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing DTCM. Their objective to “strengthen Dubai’s economy and increase the city’s global tourism position by increasing the number of congresses, incentives and events held in Dubai.

In that report, we will highlight the importance of the Convention Bureaus in general and see what are their roles and importance in today’s destinations.

Then we will focus on tourism, and in this case which is more important for us, we will emphasize on the business tourism in general and assess Dubai’s potential within this segment.

To finish, we will give a description of the entire mission which have been entrusted to me during my work experience. Please note that the significant works which have been carried out will not be printed because of the organization’s policy to save the environment, the will be located in the CD-ROM as PDF files.

Table of contents

Tourism Impact

Tourism has a variety of economic impacts. Tourists contribute to a destination’s sales, profits, jobs, tax revenues, and income. Primary tourism sectors, such as lodging, dining, transportation, amusements, and retail trade, are affected directly: most other sectors are impacted by secondary effects. An economic impact analysis of tourism activity usually focuses on regional tourism-related changes in sales, income, and employment.*

Economic Impact:

World Travel and Tourism Council’s latest Economic Impact Research shows that world Travel & Tourism continues to grow in spite of continuing economic challenges.

aˆ? Despite progressive downgrades to growth forecasts through 2011, the industry grew by 3% over the course of the year (in terms of Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP).

aˆ? Tourism’s direct contribution to GDP in 2011 was US$2 trillion and the industry generated 98 million jobs.

aˆ? Taking account of its direct, indirect and induced impacts, Travel & Tourism’s total contribution in 2011 was US$6.3 trillion in GDP, 255 million jobs, US$743 billion in investment and US$1.2 trillion in exports. This contribution represented 9% of GDP, 1 in 12 jobs, 5% of investment and 5% of exports.

aˆ? Growth forecasts for 2012, although lower than anticipated a year ago, are still positive at 2.8% in terms of the industry’s contribution to GDP.

aˆ? Longer-term prospects are even more positive with annual growth forecast to be 4.2% over the ten years to 2022.*

Business Tourism Impact

More and more countries, regions, cities and resorts have been trying to attract all kinds of business tourism because it is seen to be the most economically beneficial form of tourism. Surveys all over the world tend to show business tourists, and particularly conference delegates, spending between two and four times as much money as tourists as a whole. However, the picture is much more complex than this fact might suggest.

The below chart attempts to provide a realistic picture of the economic impact of business travel and tourism. As you can see the situation appears to be that, in general, the economic impacts outweigh the economic costs in relation to business travel and tourism.

Tourism Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

http://www.wttc.org/research/economic-impact-research/

http://www.hotelmule.com/management/attachments/2010/10/26_201010120521511toKq.gif

Convention Bureaus

Structure and Funding

The segment of convention bureaus can sometimes differ in terms of the range of size from small meetings up to major conventions with several thousands of delegates. Due to this it is necessary that convention bureaus are able to search for information such as if the city has access to transportation or the number of hotel rooms available that are desired for a convention in order to fulfill the needs of the meeting delegates.

Most of the convention bureaus work independently while there are some who belong to governmental bodies. When there has been a rapid growth worldwide among convention bureaus importance in societies regarding destinations image, many bureaus have seen more flexibility in the independent market place that results in empowerment regarding the image of the destination. A strategy that is commonly used among many convention bureaus worldwide is the use of the largest convention halls and largest hotels in a city (Gartrell,1994).*

*members image of convention bureaus a study of goteborg convention bureau

Another strategy in the attractiveness regarding potential meeting cities is what meeting rooms, banquet/ballroom facilities, and numbers of hotel rooms are within walking distance. Hotels that are located within walking distance to dining and entertainment are also prioritized since most delegates only stay during the occasion of the meeting or event (Buchanan, 1995). The responsibility of the convention bureau is the “competitive bid”, where hotels, restaurants and convention facilities are used as attractive tools aimed for up- coming conventions and trade shows (Gartrell, 1994).

Roles and Mission

It can be said that the mission and main task of convention bureaus worldwide is to promote and sell cities. When the convention bureaus are creating a certain image that goes well with how the city is positioned in the global community, they market destinations for upcoming events and congresses. It is crucial that convention bureaus emphasize the concept of unity within the areas of local, political, civic, business and the people in the visitor industry into one connecting unit that is working towards the same goal, namely the result of powerful image regarding a destination (Gartrell, 1994).

Those convention bureaus that have obtained this concept of unity in all these areas are the ones with absolutely the most successful output in terms of reaching a desired image for a destination.

Convention Bureau Roles

Lead generation and tracking; – to identify business tourism opportunities;

Bidding and bid support – with associations, meeting planners and venues;

Delegate boosting – marketing support for specific meetings;

Business tourism destination marketing – stimulating awareness of a tourism destination from a business perspective – the attractions and business tourism services of a region;

Product development and accreditation;

Impact assessments and Co-ordination*

*members image of convention bureaus a study of goteborg convention bureau

STAKEHOLDERS

Groups that are most critical to organizations in terms of support or action are stakeholders. Whatever task they are assigned, they are always involved in the outcome regarding a company, in terms of funds and support (Freeman, 1984). To create successful relationships is always a critical factor when it comes to the nature among an organization like convention bureaus and their stakeholders.

Examples of stakeholders are people who have a strong connection to an organization. Freeman (1984) means that stakeholders and organizations create strong impacts on each other. When people have a link to an organization, they also have a stake in it. A stakeholder is therefore “any individual or a share group who can affect or is affected by the actions, decisions, policies or goals of the organization” (Freeman, 1984). Therefore, stakeholders are perceived to be involved in organizations and have a stake regarding its policies and operations. Stakeholders usually get involved when they believe or conclude that an area is critical for them. From the perspective of the stakeholders, when things are done either in a legitimate or distorted way, it may end up as a result of gaining or losing support to an organization such as convention bureau.*

Who are the major target markets of convention centers?

Mostly, the target markets of CVBs and Convention centers are state, national, and regional meeting planners including corporate organizations and associations that hold trade shows, conventions and corporate meetings. Since national associations lead larger groups of attendees, the conventions will make large economic impacts. Thus, it is inevitable to understand the preference and characteristics of each of the following categories in order to determine niche market for HCC.

STRATEGIES

Why are strategic plans so important to tourism success?

KEY INSIGHT: Sales and marketing development activity undertaken in a strategic vacuum can never realize its true potential and results. Successful destinations fully understand and meticulously apply this most fundamental of principles to all their marketing.

*members image of convention bureaus a study of goteborg convention bureau

Integrated marketing and development strategies are particularly vital to the tourism futures of destinations (whether local, regional, or state) with one or more of the following characteristics:

Newly emerging, or facing intensive competition (including an oversupply of visitor destinations);

Have an embryonic mix of niche attractions – whose combined potential is unrealized;

Possess insufficient existing attractions or known experiences – but opportunities exist;

Can now only offer largely aging attractions of diminishing quality, depth and appeal;

Possess great natural attractions at risk of losing their appeal – if not properly conserved, managed and planned.(Or alternatively, highly distinctive or authentic built environments and heritage sites.)

The smaller, more distant, or less well known a destination is, the more it also needs to develop the best tourism strategy plans possible – on a local and/or regional basis.

Even the most fortunate and dynamic of destinations are in need of sound, action-based strategies as well. The more astute of these already know that thorough market research, strategic analysis and flexible planning (e.g. over 1 to 3 years) is a necessity, if they are to remain competitive against other active visitor destinations with the same or higher appeal.

Investing extra time & effort in strategic planning is about knowing where you are going and how to get there. It’s about doing smart things for the right reasons to get the best results.

“Tourism strategies that are innovative and powerful demonstrateaˆ¦ their ability to integrate and see issues and possibilities as a whole.

Rather than just carrying on in bits and pieces in a ‘business as usual’ mode – a mode that is blind to sharpening outcomes and new (more effective) ways of achieving greater results.

This is where the competitive edge really lies.”-

Henry Mintzberg (The rise & fall of strategic planning)

http://www.developtourism.com/Tourism%20Strategy%20Plans%20-%20Their%20Importance%20-%20TCDS.htm

It’s about being more systematic, thoughtful and imaginative … By way of example, consider the remarkable, longer term strategy-led successes of New Zealand (including its world famous ‘adventure capital’, Queenstown), Costa Rica (eco-tourism) and Australia – with all achieving creditable growth in visitation and source-market desirability. Results achieved despite the comparatively small scale of their tourism industries, and the perception (at least) of an arduous and costly international trip to reach their shores.*

http://www.developtourism.com/Tourism%20Strategy%20Plans%20-%20Their%20Importance%20-%20TCDS.htmDUBAI AND THE BUSINESS TOURISM: MICE SECTOR

MICE DEFINITION

MICE is an acronym for the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions tourism segment.

This is therefore a business-oriented segment, involving obligatory (or non-discretionary) travel. The Incentives part of MICE is the odd one out – though it is related to business, as it is usually provided to employees or dealers/distributors as a reward, it tends to be leisure based.*

World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) President Jean-Claude Baumgarten said: “Dubai has always been characterized as a place to trade and conduct business, a place where markets and merchants come together. This characteristic element gives Dubai the momentum to thrive while defining a new, modern emirate.

“Dubai’s travel and tourism sector continues to grow at an impressive rate. Hundreds of thousands of business visitors and exhibitors increase the demand for accommodations, restaurant services, transportation and other related amenities”.**

The MICE sector continues to expand and contract throughout the many facets of the industry. Destinations continue to look for ways to be competitive, creative and provide exceptional experiences within this highly competitive marketplace.

Whether a destination focuses on inspirational experiences (Incentives Groups), large scale congresses (above 1,500 pax), large scale exhibitions (above 10,000 gross SQM), small meetings/conferences or a combination of all of these segments, they must be able to provide a bid package that serves the customer’s needs. The customer’s needs continue to evolve as competition grows, technology advances and financial circumstances prevail.

*http://www.onecaribbean.org/content/files/MICE.pdf

** http://www.ameinfo.com/153813.html

Dubai is well positioned to tackle the challenges of the MICE industry. This prominent positioning comes from three primary attributes: geographic location, accessibility/infrastructure and price/value propositions. The geographic location of Dubai has long played a valuable role in the development of trade and commerce throughout its history. For the MICE industry the close proximity to India, China and Africa plays a key role in the attractiveness of the destination. Dubai’s accessibility and infrastructure have advanced to the level where few cities can match the structural offering that Dubai has for both organizers and attendees, it is easy to reach and easy to get around. Dubai’s hotels and convention center have been able to offer pricing that is much more competitive in the international marketplace. A range of price points among a varied level of star ratings is important to our large scale event proposals.

Dubai can offer very competitive rates and rarely lose business for reasons related to hotel or rental costs. Airfare continues to be a concern due to the long haul status of most of our source markets. Dubai must continue to prove the value and bench mark our air costs against our primary competitors.

During the year of 2010, the MICE industry witnessed good growth across much of the globe. The Middle East benefited from this strengthening with many destinations hosting more international association events than in previous years (according to the ICCA* 2010 ranking report).

The Meeting Professionals International’s FutureWatch 2011 study predicts that the number of meetings will rise by 8% and the average spend by 5% globally in 2011. MPI’s research also says that 2011 will be the year that virtual events and collaboration through social media will become standard business practice. This prediction is certainly supported by companies providing better technology to push the meetings industry into a more virtual environment.

According to the 2011 GIBTM/MeetMe study, 71% of surveyed buyers predict an increase in the number of events they hold in the year ahead and a further 25% said the number of events will stay the same, a very positive outlook for 2011.

*ICCA : International Congress and Convention Association

The different types of events being organized for the year ahead show almost equal numbers for association conferences, corporate conferences and incentive programs with a lower number of exhibitions.

The DCB will continue to watch industry trends to be able to better serve our stakeholders and customers. They will continue to evolve to remain competitive and to deliver success for Dubai.

THE DUBAI CONVENTION BUREAU (information available on www.dcb.ae)

The Dubai Convention Bureau is the MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conferences and Exhibitions) division of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM. Their objective to “strengthen Dubai’s economy and increase the city’s global tourism position by increasing the number of congresses, incentives and events held in Dubai.”

Vision

We will position Dubai as the leading tourism destination and commercial hub of the world.

Mission: to strengthen the Dubai economy through:

The development of sustainable tourism.

The provisions of a unique visitor experience combining quality service and value, in a safe environment for all our employees, contractors, and visitors.

The innovative promotion of Dubai’s Commerce and Tourism opportunities

Primary goals:

Increasing the number of new business opportunities for Dubai stakeholders,

Increasing the overall service experience of customers holding events in Dubai,

Expanding the knowledge and experiences of the DCB staff.

DCB will continue to seek collaboration with stakeholders, overseas representation offices and our industry networks to achieve our goals.

“Most people talk, we do things. They plan, we achieve. They hesitate, we move ahead. We are living proof that when human beings have the courage and commitment to transform a dream into reality, there is nothing that can stop them. Dubai is a living example of that.”

HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,

Vice President and Prime Minister of U.A.E. and Ruler of Dubai

MY MISSIONS

Please kindly note that all the most significant works have been attached at the end of the whole report.

Most of my missions were separated between Research, Marketing and Sales department. A brief description of the overall missions below.

1. ICCA Research

Identify congresses taking place in Dubai in 2012 for ICCA Submission

Identify social media sources to capture more meetings in Dubai

Qualify events for ICCA

2. EBMS Update

Verify and update individual contacts on EBMS for 3, 4 & 5 stars hotels

EBMS Update: Updated contact hotels 3, 4 and 5 stars by telephone and email. All alumni contacts over a year located in the CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Software name: EBMS

3. Marketing Magazine Subscription

Identify business related magazines and newspapers on the local or international level for DCB to subscribe

Identify subscription process, fees, or way of getting complimentary copies

Identify medical related magazines for advertisement opportunity

4. Research Subscription

Identify databases on local and international level for DCB to subscribe

Identify subscription process, fees, or way of getting complimentary access

5. Stakeholders Partners

Identify Marketing Managers with contact details of the following institutions:

Mall of Emirates

Majid Al Futtaim Group (Deira City Centre, Mirdiff City Centre)

Dubai Festival City

Wafi City

Burjuman

6. Student Volunteer Programme (Work on the CD-ROM)

Identify academic institutions that offers tourism-related courses

Give a brief profile of the academic institutions and the tourism courses

Establish an enrollment form for the students to become a volunteer and highlight the following points:

Description of DCB and DTCM and its involvement in MICE development

Volunteer Scope of Work (Delegate Boosting at Destination Booth)

Benefits and learning area for the volunteer

7. Design template for Meetings Industry Trends Report
8. Social Legacy Program (work on the CD-ROM)

Identify relevant Dubai based community activities that can be included as a part of the Social Legacy Program

Identify potential Dubai based organizations for social legacy program

9. MICE Survey Design for Stakeholders and Clients

10. Sports Strategy

Developping a whole strategy on Dubai’s potential to attract Sports Events.

Present in the CD-ROM
Market Research: World Tourists Expenditures

During the first week of my internship, I had the opportunity to discover and familiarize with the company’s activities and then learn more about the functions of each department. Since I was assigned in the Dubai Convention Bureau, the department in charge of carrying out Research and implementing Strategies for Tourism Sector in Dubai, the first thing I had to undertake was to carry out research on business tourism across the world.

The main purpose of this task was to evaluate and focus on the top countries in terms of tourist expenditure as this could be an opportunity for Dubai to target, adapt marketing strategies to attract tourists from these countries to Dubai and thereby increase the country’s tourism revenues. The internet was the main tool that used to go through sites like WTO (World Tourism Organization) and other websites which had significant figures on tourists.

Dubai Strategic Plan 2010-2015

While I was doing my work placement in the company, the Dubai Convention Bureau was working on the Dubai Strategic Plan. During this period they reviewed the existing Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 and updated the plan to reflect the current economic situation, identifying pertinent structural changes and their impact.

The aim of the Dubai Strategic Plan is to give a universal understanding of Dubai’s vision among the various government entities and to ensure a common framework for the operation of these entities.

The plan serves as a framework under which all government-related initiatives converge to consistently meet the vision and aims set by Dubai’s government. The development of the Dubai Strategic Plan was largely based on a ‘consultative approach’ involving a considerable number of stakeholders from the various sector covered in the plan.

The guiding principle was prioritization; focusing in every phase of the plan on the areas with the highest priority and development potential.

The main Missions which are being achieved for the plan are the following:

To support, maintain and develop this status, the government of Dubai will focus on delivering its mission of:

Achieving comprehensive development and building human resources

Promoting economic development and government modernization

Sustaining growth and prosperity

Protection of nationals’ interests, public interest and wellbeing

Providing an environment conducive for growth and prosperity in all sectors

I had the opportunity to be involved in the tourism sector plan for Dubai by working with my mentor.

The main part of the project was to carry out work related to Strategy. For example, I worked on Dubai SWOT. Here in, I had to assess Dubai’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as far as the tourism was concerned. This involved identifying the factors, both internal and external, that are favorable and unfavorable for achieving the tourism sector objectives of Dubai in order to position Dubai as a leading tourism and commerce hub in the world.

Likewise, a Benchmarking Tool (Appendix) had to be created. I gathered all the relevant information with regard to demand and supply of Dubai Tourism and tried to highlight the things which could lead to a better understanding of the market.

During the process, I also had to create a presentation reflecting the research carried out.

Additionally, I had to complete a research that had been done on Dubai’s Challenges. International Strategy is a very difficult subject matter to cope with if the fundamentals haven’t been studied first. However, the positive thing about this project was that, not only did I have the chance to apply the theories on Strategy that I had learnt at school but also undertake things that I had not studied earlier. This was indeed a valuable learning experience for me.

Company Inquiries

The Head of Research often receives inquiries from students from all over the world which are mostly questions related to marketing, branding and strategy. There were questions on how Dubai’s government has been able to market its tourism infrastructure across the world and create a brand image around the world. The executive secretary forwarded me inquiries that contained these questionnaires (attached at the end) in order that I had to handle.

I was able to cope with most of the questions that were, for example, general information on Dubai. However, when the subject was a bit more difficult, I sought assistance from colleagues from a different department and met managers to get the answers. For instance, there was a student who had sent long questionnaire on Marketing and Branding, and I had to meet with the Director of Media in order to discuss the topics in order to provide the inquirer with accurate information available. It was worthwhile as I gained in depth knowledge on the subjects every time I had to answer to the questionnaires.

Then, at the end when the whole questionnaire was completed, I had to send it back to the executive secretary in order verify if the information and analyze if the information were relevant or not.

Overseas offices feedbacks

Dubai’s long term strategy is to increase the number of visitor each year. To do so, it is vital for the organization to study all the different markets that it needs to tap into. One of the advantages for the DTCM is that it has set up representative offices in key markets of the world. These overseas representative offices are managed by the Overseas Promotion department at the Head Office at DTCM .The function of the Overseas promotions is to create an awareness of what Dubai offers in terms of Tourism and Commercial opportunities.

It promotes DTCM globally directly and through its overseas offices. This is carried out through participation in select Fairs & Exhibitions in the target markets in conjunction with parties from the tourism sectors in Dubai such as the travel trade and from key Dubai Government entities. The exhibitions are in the fields of leisure, tourism, MICE and commerce/trade. Some of the major exhibitions that the DTCM regularly participates in are the ITB (Berlin) WTM (London) EIBTM (Barcelona) IMEX (Frankfurt) and ITME, as well as in smaller fairs like Holiday World (Dublin) and MATKA (Finland).

In order to be able to meet customers’ requirements from those countries, each office undertakes research that is linked between Dubai and the office in a particular market. They are rudders to guide tour operators and travel agencies who want to work with the emirate; they give them comprehensive information and in order to fulfill the main objective to promote Dubai.

The overseas representative offices send a monthly report to the Head office and there are market review meeting held twice a year or as when required. Twice a year, major input is also sent to the Head Office to emphasize on all the major achievements they have done, what changes need to be incorporated for the future and financial requirements in order to enhance the services. These inputs are underlined in the report they sent.

I had to collate and organize all the information received from the overseas offices into an Excel sheet.

LAST PROJECT

SPORTS TOURISM STRATEGY

Sports tourism assumptions have been responsible for a considerable uplift in interest in hosting major sports events and investing in infrastructure and marketing. Protagonists claim huge sums in economic impact and use these to justify hosting fees and the diversion of public funds. These assumptions may be accurate but many cities, regions and countries are unclear as to how to scrutinize them and in many cases what truly constitutes sports tourism.

Part of DTCM’s long-term growth strategy is to promote sports tourism within the Emirate, and attracting sport-related events, congresses, tournaments and exhibitions is key to the sport tourism strategy.

In that sense, Dubai assessed such opportunity of developing a “sports strategy” through the Dubai Convention Bureau. No prior work has been undertaken by them in order to build a long term strategy to be able to attract sports event within the emirate.

Hence by discussing with the Head of Research, I have been entrusted with a project to carry out a “Sports Tourism Strategy” in order to assess this large tourism segment from a global scale and by highlighting Dubai’s potential to take part of this large pie.

The project will be located in the appendices in PDF format in the CD-ROM.

Conclusion and Recommendations:

In conclusion, I would say, Dubai Convention Bureau is doing well to achieve their vision and mission efficiently. It was a great opportunity to do my internship there and observe the way of handling the tasks. They gave many tasks and made me feel like an actual employee so that I would gain real career experience.

I have some recommendation for the internship program. First of all, it would be better to have separate orientation day for each major (e.g. Business and IT majors could have separate days for orientation) which will give us a better understanding of our requirements towards the internship.

Then, they should shift students to different departments, so he could have a better understanding of the entire organization, and would be able to write better reports.

DCB is a highly established government organization, and I have a few recommendations that would enhance its contribution to employees, society and its stakeholders. Firstly, I feel DCB should have their own building to create a brand identity and also to provide more parking for its visitors. I also recommend that DCB have more public awareness of their activities, since the general public does not know of its existence or they think of the organization as another tour operator. Lastly, I think it will be good initiative if DCB can give some benefits to internship students in terms of cash or material, so interns would work more sincerely and willingness to work.

This report discusses launching of a new tablet launched by apple. This is a brand new model of a tablet that can be used by anybody and it is also suitable and adopted for every user including children with leaning disabilities due to its customizable features. As a consultant working with the company’s event planning team for this product launch, this report will be focusing on the process of planning this event. The process of how to get the potential customers and key stakeholders persons informed and invited to the event. And most important is for the planning process to lead to achieving the company’s goals of higher sales targets and to promote the new product to the customers. To meet this, the event needs to be planned in such away that the invited guests and all potential customers gets a positive experience that promotes the image of the company and the brand being marketed.

INTRODUCTION

Event planning is the procedure of handling a project of this kind through arranging such as a conference, a convention, a trade fair, a team building activity, a hospitality gathering or an exhibition. The planning process includes drawing a realistic budget, drawing a timetable of every activity, choosing and reserving the event venues, obtaining permits where necessary and needed. Planning and making arrangements for food and drinks, harmonising transportation of people and items, designing a suitable theme planning for every activity. There is also need to chose and invite keynote speakers and promoters in good time and ensuring that the venue is well facilitated and equipped with a good public address system if planning for big audiences. Risk management needs to be accounted for while having some contingency plans in cases of eventualities. Event Planning consists of coordinating every little detail of planning from the speakers and meeting location to arranging for printed materials and advertising the event itself through chosen media.

Event planning begins with determining the objective that the sponsoring organization wants to achieve. Planners strategically choose speakers, entertainment teams and activities, content, and arrange the program to present the organization’s information in the most effective way. Meeting planners are responsible for selecting meeting venues, likely guests and how to get them to the meeting. (Institute of Event management, 2012)

According to Fill(2005), Marketing communications is a management process through which an organisation endeavours to share its product information with its various audiences. Through understanding the audience’s communications setting, organisations seek to cultivate and present messages suitable for their identified stakeholders and interest groups before evaluating and acting upon any responses. By conveying messages that are of significant value, audiences are encouraged to offer attitudinal and behavioural positive response.

This Tablet being an electronic item has a potential for a very wide market. It is likely to attract attention from various individuals and groups of people who may include students, teachers, parents of children with learning disabilities, educational institutions and just the general public.

OBJECTIVES OF AN EVENT PLANNING

Every event planning or product launch should have its goals and objectives to form the vision because without them, your event will not have any defined vision. However, an event can have one or many goals and multiple objectives supporting the goals which are necessary to the success of the event. There should be more than one purpose for an event planning, for example this event is about launching a new product by raising sales target and also promoting the brand.

The main purpose of this product launch is to put across our communication strategies either by using the push or pull strategy. The main focus strategy which will be more vital with this product is the pull strategy, by focusing more on the direct consumers than business to business consumers which is also referred to as the push strategy.

PROCESS OF PLANNING AN EVENT

One very essential stage in an event planning is to have a budget to guide your expenditure and it is also your responsibility as the event organiser to stay within the limits of your budget.

Similarly, your also need to develop a marketing strategy which includes advertisements either through the media, internet or digital media for example, social networks and focus groups. And to coordinate the communications and promotional activities for your event as the success of your event will ultimately depend on your ability to sell the event to those attending it. (Carter L., 2007)

In order to create an event to fulfil your customer’s objectives and be everything that they hope it will be, it is important to begin with their event vision. This is where you will be able to determine what is most important to them. Event visualization is after event objectives have been set out, should be your first starting point for planning the event.

For this product, apple needs to focus on the PULL strategy as this product is most likely to directly to individual consumers. So a good part of the advertising budget for this event should be committed to digital marketing such as internet marketing, use of social websites like face book, tweeter and the like. Internet advertising through search engine optimisations, email marketing using their existing customers’ database, contacts and referrals would also be suitable strategies for this product.

Use of mobile marketing strategies such as text messaging, ringtones, games demonstrating the product and its new and unique features would prove a success for this kind of item. The beauty of these media is that they would even lead word of mouth since the messages are targeted at the consumers directly.

Another good strategy would be to target influential stakeholders and customers invitation to a well planned corporate launch event. In order to host an event that will fulfil your company’s objectives and yet have appositive impact to the guests, the planners need to have a clear vision. This is where you will be able to determine what is most important and prioritise the process.

Choosing a location is also a very important stage in an event planning, and it needs to be booked at a very early stage to avoid any delays or last minute disappointments. The location needs to be convenience for the visitors and there should be enough room for product display and also for visitors to have space to work around the products and demonstrate them as well. Parking should not be a problem as most of the guest will be driving to the event.

Team building is very important in an event planning process; you need good staffing and a security plan. Such a plan is the glue that holds the event together. Coordinate the efforts of your staff (paid and volunteer) and vendors with the venue contact person. Include details such as when vendors arrive, where and how they unload their equipment, where they set up, and how they manage all aspects of the event. You should also address how and when they will tear down and load up to avoid costly surprises. Effective communication on-site is critical. All staff should be fluent in how to operate your communications system (such as walkie-talkies and headsets) and how to contact those responsible for emergency support. Every event needs to address security, even if it just includes hiring an off-duty police officer, working with the hotel’s security team, it will be worth it. Having a list of emergency phone numbers handy is also helpful. (Jodi W., 2010)

Also, another essential part of such an event is to provide the guests with food and refreshments. If possible, hire a DJ to provide the visitors with music to make the environment lively and lift the spirits of the visitors. Engage your customers with conversations by contacting them face to face specially the key visitors and stakeholders. If possible equip your team members with good knowledge of the product to engage with the customers and get them to try the Tablets for themselves and not just be told about them.

You could go a further step by setting up an offer price for a promotional sale of the tablet just for this launch day. This will encourage customers and stakeholders to attend, have personal experience with the product and afterwards spread word about it. It might also get many people excited to take advantage of the promotional price and boost the sales. Such an approach is deemed likely to produce positive results. According to Duncan and Moriarty (1997), there are some communications that arise from unplanned or unintended experiences and also there are planned marketing communications.

IMPORTANCE OF STAKEHOLDERS IN AN EVENT LAUNCH

Stakeholders include, suppliers, customers, investors and the media, they are very important in an event planning because they can be affected by the event and the event also can be affected by the type of evaluation received by the stakeholders. In order to realise the success of an event, it is important to have open communication channels among all stake holders. Since events have broader impacts on a wider public, such open communications will bring more feedback to the company. It is also important to remember that stakeholders are people with vested interests in the company and its products. They are therefore potential attendees. Stake holders add value and reputation to the success of the whole event. Moreover getting the right stakeholders to your event can create the prospect of a great evaluation for the future event planning as well. You can find out what the views and thoughts of key people and important stakeholders by engaging in face to face charts with them throughout the event.(Robinson P. et al 2010).

EVENT EVALUATION PROCESS

Finally, as soon as the event is over and the guests have all gone home, while you may be eager to put your planning documents and files away and move one, right after the event is the right time to evaluate the success of your event and discuss opportunities for a better improvement in a future event planning. However, a thorough post-event evaluation ensures you will capture the important details your company’s needs to improve its fundraising. A successful evaluation is also a good start for the preparations of your next event. You can get feedbacks from your guest in different ways, either by asking them about their view about the whole event or by giving them questionnaires to fill in and hand it back before living. These feedbacks from your visitors can help you evaluate the success factor of the event.

Also it is very important to meet with the event committee and all your team members who were involved in the event process. Arrange a meeting with them and make sure you give them enough time for discussion getting their view and gather all vital information from them for an evaluation for a future event plan. Make sure you cover every important aspect of the event, being careful to note which topics hit nerves in a positive or negative way so you can keep the meeting upbeat. (greater giving, 2012)

Conclusions

In order to attract the attention of all your potential customers, planners needs to implement the best marketing strategies at their disposal and start good planning ahead of the event for success. Whether the company will choose to use the services of a marketing consultant or manage these issues on their own, it’s up to them provided the aims and objectives are kept in focus. All important aspects of the planning process need to be taken care of. These should include all the fine details of the whole process such as budgeting actions and steps to be implemented by particular individuals on the planning team. Once all these are done with success, it shouldn’t be a big problem for the company to succeed by getting the tartgetde ausdeince to its event nadn thefeor achieves their aims and objectives of the marketing process.

Front desk job of any hotel is very important from hotel sales point of view. Marketing and sales department is called revenue generator. Front desk job is part of the marketing department so it’s directly linked with revenue generation activities of a hotel. An employee working as front desk employee is having direct interaction with the guests. So it becomes very important for that employee to have all the chief characteristics of a good salesperson.

A good sales person can convert first time guest in to repeat business guest by make him or happy and achieve customer satisfaction. This is the hospitality and customer demand only that can be kept in mind while handling customers at front desk that will bring customer satisfaction. Desired hospitality and less cumbersome process of check in and checkout will bring customer satisfaction. Working as a Front office manager or staff, first of all he or she should consider the available resources of the hotel concerned which need to be focused to the materialization of the business.

Good salesmanship is all about selling own product with acceptance of the customers. Whatever product one have a good salesperson will sale that product and make feel to the customers that this is the right product he was looking for. This is simply quality of a sales person that he or she will find out the budget of a customer while conversation and offer the product that give within the budget feel to the customer. While conversation it is the quality of a salesperson to explain the facilities of the product to the customer that will again give feel of the right product customer was looking for. Abbey J.R (1998)

Customer relationship management is new concept in the field of any business. So it is the quality of a good salesmanship that helps in effective implementation and management of customer relationship in the hotel organization. In this competitive world getting new business is big challenge so hotel organization believes in repeated business from the same clientele. With the help of knowledge and smartness in work of a salesperson management of customer relationship is possible. These days it is being managed by ecommerce so knowledge of ecommerce to the front desk employee can be added quality of a good salesmanship and it will bring the business from existing clientele.

If an organization utilizes the available resources properly, Implementation of yield management will makes major changes in the hotel. It will bring maximum market shares of the city concerned. Guest generally always looks for the comfortable stay and the luxury facilities for their money. It is the quality that always speaks better than any other advertisement. So if front desk employee gives proper feedback to the hotel, hotel can maintains the quality towards the tariff and the interiors which will bring the maximum revenue within a short period. So it is the benefits of the good salesmanship. So as conclusion author would like to say that good salesmanship is very important while performing duty of front office department of hotel industry because it helps hotel not only to get good business but maintaining relationship with customers and feedback to the hotel for up gradation of its quality of product and services as well.

Q.1 (2) Explain, with examples what selling techniques you might use when checking in a guest.

Overall selling technique is depends upon salesmanship and kind of guest but in general a front dest person has to apply his or her selling skill keeping in mind normal procedure of checkin.Selling techniques for checking guest is nothing but quality of a good salesperson. A salesperson should be very friendly and caring to the guest so that customer will be satisfied. Sales person should use up sell technique first while explaining price of the available rooms, followed by prestigious pricing and cut rate pricing. Along with these salesperson should explain how brilliant the facilities are within the room to justify the price of the room.

There may be a case that same room can be sold at different price. It is the duty of a good salesperson to find out the level of desire of the customer for the product he or she is asking for and charge price accordingly. During heavy demand of the accommodation it is totally depends upon front desk employee-salesperson to maximize the yield of accommodation by selling the same product at different prices as per the customer profile and need. Being a good salesman a front office employee can suggest various pricing techniques-top down pricing, prestigious pricing, cut rate pricing etc, to the hotel to maximize its yield. So it is the quality of a salesperson to identify and recognize the level of demand and ability of a customer to pay for the same accommodation and fixed the price accordingly. Abbey J.R (1998)

For example if there is arrival of guest first of all front desk person should handle the guest with friendly approach, asking for the kind of room looking for then explain the kind of room available with its pricing. First of all salesperson should try to sell the room at higher price then depending upon the negotiation skill of the salesperson and budget of the customer price can be prestigious or if required and supported by the market sentiment it can be cut rate price be fixed. After this negotiation skill guest should be registered and room should be assigned promptly. As per the situation if needed guest will be assisted in completing registration process. Then there will be verification of method of payment to be made by the guest-whether cheque, cash, card or payment by company etc.will is known by conversation and then there will be escort to the guest till the room.

Q.2. Discuss the type of check in system that you would expect to see at the turner Hotel.

Hotel Turner is a big chain of Hotel with 297 rooms hotel located in Central London. It is part of a well reputed group of hotels with 12 hotels running successfully in London and other major European cities. 42% of its clientele is corporate. Only 8% and 14% amount to walk-ins and leisure guests respectively. For this type of hotel, front office system should enable reception staff to maintain track of all bookings, state of rooms, guest details and charges. It should be efficient in coordinating restaurant reservations for guests, plan housekeeping duties and process guest check-in and check-out as per the market segmentation. Hotel Turner would also require a system that should provide a means to communicate effectively with all travel agents and activity operators linked to the online reservation system.

Hospitality management systems are the applications/ modules that smoothens a hospitality business. From the room service system in a restaurant, to online reservation and an easy and fast check in procedure, it enables efficient communication and management of operation, eventually growing business and revenue. (www.wikianswers.com)

Features that Hotel Turner should look out for includes:

Reports for arrivals & departures on a specific date.

Guest ledger and reservation details, including activities and special requests.

Room rates, discounts, package deals, group bookings, etc.

Visual schematic of hotel rooms and status.

Visual schematic of calendar with room availability.

Facility for printing check-in cards for guests.

Flexibility in re-assigning guests to different room.

Facility to easily add charges to rooms from restaurants, spa, gift shop, etc.

Incorporate all payment options upon check-out and print receipt.

Print work roster for staff Facilities for storing guest history

Communicate efficiently with reservation and travel agents

Hotel Turner should have a system that can be efficiently used for online reservation system. This type of software package is essential as per the hotel’s cancellation and Guarantee policy. It will help in increasing direct online bookings instantly. Prospective guests can view hotel rooms (size, choice of beds), availability and prices, plus services and facilities offered. The systems should have instant confirmation of credit card payments or other secure online payment method. After payment of deposit and confirmation by email, guests should be able to login to view or change their reservation details. Cancellation policies should be stated, airport transport options mentioned.

How would the check in procedures differ when dealing with?
( a) A guest with a reservation

Usually guest check in procedure for reserved guest and chance guest is same except for slight variations. Check in procedures for a guest with a reservation will be as follows:

Receive the guest with a smile, and greet according to the time.

Check if he/she is holding reservation

Get the guest registration card and fill it up with all the necessary and required details of the guest.

Fill up the key and the welcome card

If the guest is a foreigner, get the C form and fill it up.

Allot the accommodation

Fill the arrival register

Make information slips and send them to telephones, room service and housekeeping

Open guest folio

In case of VIP, CIP etc inform all the departments

Lastly inform the bellboys to carry the luggage and escort the guest to the room and wish a comfortable stay in the hotel.

Typically pre registered guests or guest with reservation only need to verify information collected by reservations agents during the reservations process. They only need to verify information already entered onto a registration card and provide a valid signature in the appropriate place on the registration card. On the other hand, chance guest or walk in guest needs to fill the pre-registration card at the time of check in.

Pre registration also involves room and rate assignment and creation of guest folio apart from producing registration card.

The registration process can be divided into six steps

Pre registration activity

Creating the registration record

Assigning the room and the rate

Establishing method of payment

Issuing the room key

Fulfilling the special requests

(b) A “chance” guest

In the case when guest is a chance guest the process of check in would almost be same except some cases. Like as guest is a chance guest so there will be no earlier reservation done for the guest so in this case first of all as process front desk person should check for availability of rooms and there will be efforts to create room for him or her. Rest of the process like fill up the key and allotting the accommodation escorting till the room will be similar. There may be a case that in case of a chance guest a front desk employee has to utilize his or her negotiation skill for the price of the room as per the level of need of the room by the guest. This is the skill of the employee to materialized the opportunities then and there. So overall the difference in check in procedures for a guest with a reservation and a chance guest is not much the only thing is role of a front desk person becomes very important because while negotiation and first interaction a materialization of an opportunity depends.

Q.4. Explain the necessity of overbooking and its legal implications in relation to Turner Hotel.

The term overbooking is concerned with a situation which shows booking of the room have done excessively than the actual available room with the hotel. In general hotel does this because of reaching 100% occupancies. Hotel books over rooms than the available one with historic information and trend which includes unexpected cancellation. It is the synonyms of over commitment and oversold.

No show has been a major cause of concern for the hotels worldwide. It amounts to major loss of revenue. However, no-shows and early departures still cost hotels money. The reservation guarantee through credit cards compensates hotels for one night’s stay in the case of a no-show, but the hotel still needs to make up for a revenue loss if that no-show guest had a multiple-night reservation. (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals)

Because of this panorama of no-shows and early departures, the hotel turner must unavoidably engage in some level of overbooking to help ensure that those potentially unsold rooms are filled. As we all know, however, hoteliers who overbook might have to walk guests after the hotel is full. (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals)

Overbooking is another important element of the revenue management or yield management. Hotels overbook to redeem for customer cancellations and no-shows. For this reason, it is obligatory to forecast cancellations and no-shows. Insufficient overbooking results in unsold inventory; on the other hand excessive overbooking results in penalty cost which includes both the financial remuneration given to bumped customers and the prospective loss of future revenue due to customer dissatisfaction. The optimal level of overbooking is where the anticipated cost of overbooking for the next unit to be sold is equal to the expected marginal revenue from that unit. (International encyclopedia of hospitality management by Abraham Pizam)

Most legal authorities agree that when overbooking results in walking a guest, a breach of contract occurs. Under certain circumstances, it may constitute fraud or misrepresentation as well. In addition, certain overbooking practices are likely to fall under the ambit of state consumer protection statutes prohibiting unfair and deceptive acts and practices. While the hotel industry attempts to portray overbooking as an economic necessity and legitimizes the process by attempts to provide guests with alternative accommodations, the hotels have failed to address the true effect and implicit costs association with the practice. Primarily because it is left to the individual state authority’s to regulate the industry. (http://legaldefinition.us)

As far as Turner Hotel is concerned from the view point of overbooking, it is advisable not to go for overbooking because there will be breach of contract between hotel and its guests. But from the view point of business and maximizing revenue, it the only way to proceed little aggressively to achieve 100% occupancy. This is because after advance booking there is chances of cancellation of reservation as well, even if payment has been made in advance hotel organization has to bear loss for the foregone opportunities in case of booking not done. So keeping in mind these thing and profit maximization it can be done equal to the normal trend of cancellation. Hotel Turner must find a room for everyone who has a reservation and shows up on time to save themselves from any legal complications.

Q.5 a) Explain the benefits to a hotel of accepting group bookings?

Group booking is simply acceptance of bulk business. In group bookings both the parties-customers as well as hotel be benefitted. Customer got benefit of low rates of the rooms due to the bulk booking and on the other hand hotel gets bulk business at a time so even at a less room cost per person hotel welcome this kind of deal to get instant business and achieves its 100% occupancies.

A group reservation is for a block of rooms in a hotel. The block of rooms can be for a convention, a meeting, a special event, a tour group (as in present case of hotel turner), or various other reasons. A group reservation can be as small as 5 rooms to thousand rooms depending on the size of the hotel. Usually every hotel has different norms and parameters for considering a booking as group booking, which generally depends on the number of rooms booked.

By booking rooms in large quantities, the group receives a lower rate. Hotel is benefitted in this as they get business in bulk and their occupancy percentage increases giving them a competitive edge over their competitors. Group booking also makes the reservation process easy and hassle free for both; the guest as well as the front office associates. Usually when a group reservation is made a code is generated which is specific to that group and each reservation should include this code. To ensure that reservations get coded to the proper group and that correct rates are offered, the person taking the reservation should always inquire if the guest is part of that particular group.

Bulk booking is beneficial to the hotel that is similar to any other business organization where organization gets benefits of bulk business. It is the deal that gives instant cash but per head cost becomes cheaper for the customer and organization both. But from organization point of view it is the instant cash that attracts bulk business and so to the hotel organizations.

Other benefit of bulk booking is that there will be less chances of cancellation. In case of individual business if there is cancellation of the booking it is completely loss to the hotel organization because rooms are very highly perishable products. But chances of this kind of loss due to cancellation is very less because of concrete plan of the entire group. In group bookings even if one or two persons are not coming there will be almost no impact to the business because of the compact deal for the entire group-this may depends upon case to case, but bulk booking definitely good for the hotel organization.

Q.5 b) what factors should the turner Hotel Front Office manager consider when deciding whether to accept the reservation request from Excelsior Tours?

Group revenue management is evolving quickly. Revenue managers typically set guidelines for size and rate objectives based upon projected demand for higher – valued transient demand. These criterions should be regularly reviewed and revised in hotel Turner. Even if a group request falls outside the preset parameters of the hotel, managers should still evaluate the request. (http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-price-discrimination.html)

The basic objective of revenue management is to maximize yields. Acceptance of group bookings would be a great contribution towards achieving the basic objective of revenue management. So first of all Front office Manager of turner hotel should consider the objective of maximizing revenue of the hotel so keeping in mind this objective he or she should accept the offered group bookings.

While deciding whether to accept the reservation request of 40 double occupancy rooms for 3 nights 4 days from Excelsior Tours, Hotel Turner should look into the room rate, which is currently GBP 300 on single occupancy.

Among the major advances in Revenue Management technology is the incorporation of demand price- responsiveness for any property at any time period and for any market segment, including group.

Other than the group being considered, front office manager must consider that this hotel might only have transient demand for these three days. Assuming that even if the forecasted demand shows that hotel can pick up 145 transient rooms each day at an average rate of GBP 320, which would give the 95% occupancy. Considering these assumed factors we can plot a line that shows incremental contribution at any given price point. From this hypothetical analysis, one can see that there will be break even ( no profit no loss situation) with the group at a GBP 230 rate, and that one could generate an incremental contribution. This approach says all about the factors of accepting a group at a requested rate.

Some of the information is required to decide whether group booking should be accepted or not? This information is present occupancy level of the hotel. This information would have very helpful in deciding the acceptance of the deal.

Leisure, recreation and tourism are generally viewed as key components in people’s lives (Lynch and Veal 1996). Outdoor recreation brings happiness to people as it gives recreational opportunities to them. Leisure means various things to different people and therefore it consists of many definitions given by many researchers. For instance, Fava(1964) stated that leisure is the time which an individual has free from work or other responsibilities and which may be used for the purpose of relaxation, diversion, or personal development. In contrast, according to Godbey (1999), a leading researcher in the field of leisure education said that leisure is typically related with spare time or situations in which people have the luxury of choice. Sylvester (1999) stated that , it must not neglect the fact that in ancient time, leisure was considered as a luxury and was affordable by affluent people only.

Recreation

The term recreation is derived from the Latin word of recreatio and recreate which means “to refresh” and “to refresh” and “to restore” (Edginton et al 1995).

Examples of outdoor recreation involve:

Visiting parks and natural areas.

Visiting historical and archaeological sites.

Outdoor concerts and festival.

Golf and kite flying

Forest activities like wildlife safari, camping and tree climbing.

Importance of Outdoor recreation

Research has shown that outdoor recreation activities undoubtedly contribute positively to one health as well as well being (Boniface 2000; Dickson et al; 2008). Through recreation activities, people get the opportunity to enjoy the natural environment if they are doing adventure activities, interact with other people (Berman & Davis-Berman, 1995, 2000).

Moreover, study has illustrated that the way life alters with the loss of link which inevitably result to poor lifestyles (Godbey et al; 2005). Nowadays, the new generation mainly children are more likely to be at risks than their parents. Children currently have more possibilities of health problems to such children, such as asthma, obesity, vitamin D deficiency since they have inactive lifestyle as well as lack of physical exercises, consequently, it may lead to cardiovascular, pulmonary and mental health problems in adulthood. Children from poor background are more likely to be away from green space as they have ‘built environment’ such as bad housing condition, traffic congestion and so forth.

Today the world is connected with technological gadgets and children tends to stay more in front of their computers, television, playing video games and after school hours they need to complete their homework therefore youngsters miss the contact with the natural setting, they also miss the chance for stress reduction, healthy development , physical activity and restoration.

Motivation for outdoor recreation

According to Iso-Ahola (1980), individuals are encouraged through defined objectives as well as rewards which can be either extrinsic or intrinsic. When a particular activity is occupied in to acquire compensation, it is known as extrinsically motivated. In contrast, intrinsically motivated is when a person is self motivated to achieve something or engaged in the activity for its own sake.

Moreover, Iso-Ahola thinks that leisure behavior is mainly caused by intrinsic aspects which are linked to self-expression, competence as well as agreement which implies freedom of choice. Nevertheless, recreation choice should not be regarded as unlimited. The ability for individual to choose from a range of recreational activities cannot be compromised due to the fact that individual’s motivation to be indulged in a given outdoor recreation is projected in the selection made from various outdoor activities.

Furthermore, choice is encircled by many pitfalls such as physical capability, affordability, awareness, time restrictions and family obligations. These limitations differ among people and the demographic, socio-economic and other groups.

Demand and Participation

Demand is an economic term used in order to illustrate the link that exists between the quantities of a good that people will buy as well as the prices that they will have to pay. In other words, it refers to the ability and willingness to pay for a particular product. The elements of demands are as follows:

Effective, expressed or actual demand is the actual number of participants, for instance it reflects the number of people that participate in countryside recreation. The number of people involved in such activity might be expressed per day or per year.

Latent or suppressed demand refers to unfulfilled demand. Therefore, it is where an individual’s desire to participate has not been fulfilled due to some reason. But if the situation alters such a desire may ultimately become effective demand. However, such demand is not easy to quantify as it relies on people’s wishes and desires as well. When taking into account suppressed demand it can be emphasized that the latter gives rise to two elements namely: deferred demand and potential demand. When reference is being made to deferred demand refers to demand that is unfulfilled due to a lack of amenities, for example, if a large number of people wish to go to the swimming pool but the problem is that if there is no swimming available then this want will be unfulfilled and demand will be postponed until a swimming pool is provided. In contrast, potential demand is demand that is unfulfilled simply because there is a shortage of personal resources such as income or mobility. But, if there is an improvement in terms of personal situation it can undoubtedly be fulfilled in the future.

Lastly it can be said that there will be people who will surely prefer not to involve in recreational activities and this is known as no demand.

Factors affecting demand for outdoor recreation can be classified into :

Demographic characteristics

Socio-economic characteristics

Situational characteristics

Demographic Characteristics

In terms of demographic characteristics there are several factors that affect the recreation preference and it includes age, sex, marital status and family diversity. Research has shown that young male who are single are more likely to involve in outdoor recreation and even if they are married they are unwilling to have children (Booth, 1989; Genet 2001; Booth & Peebles, 1995). These participants are really interested in their education and they inevitably want to get well paid jobs.

Socio -economic characteristics
Price

From an economist’s perspective, price is considered to be a key factor in determining price as customer’s decision but the price of leisure is complicated with regards to many other products. For example, a normal product consists of a single price but while comparing it to the price of leisure activities it is different as it consists of separate elements such as the valid nature of the leisure, other price like costs of transport, parking, equipment, clothing and accommodation might be charged. Economists stated that as leisure involves time, therefore the opportunity cost of that time in terms of its possible earning power should also be included in the list mentioned above.

According to Gratton and Taylor (1985) he argued that the price of a product affects demand in two different ways. First and foremost, the average cost of participation which involves all types of costs such as entrance fee, equipment and so forth might affect demand in terms of decision making to involve in the activity. Thus, the higher the average cost, the lower the participate rate. Secondly, marginal cost is the cost that has an impact on the frequency of participation. For example, in association with leisure activities there may be fixed costs involved like membership fee, buying of equipment and so on.

Income

Income can be viewed as a feature that enables people to buy a leisure product. Research has shown that in the second half of the nineteenth century there has been a drastic change with regards to income growth. It was then that the development of mass leisure started and simultaneously there was a constant increase of income and this has definitely an impact on growth of leisure. Affluent people have always enjoyed their leisure; therefore it can be made crystal clear as income increases people will surely have more leisure.

Situational characteristics
Time

Self-employed people generally have better control concerning their time plan and these people are more likely to have more leisure time.

Mobility

Car ownership has increased dramatically because the income of people has risen and cars are more affordable to buy and run. If a person does not possess a vehicle, therefore he or she might be disadvantaged in terms of site, journey, timing and duration of the trip.

External factors affecting demand for outdoor recreation are:

Recreational opportunity is highly dependent upon availability and accessibility of recreation sites. Thus, the nature of recreation sites as well as availability will surely rely upon several things such as carrying capacity, ownership, distribution, quality, access and degree of development. These reflect three important elements which consist of economic, behavioral and political. Hence, it helps both private and public sectors in terms of good decision making with regards to recreation provision.

While making decision to visit any particular recreational sites, accessibility is considered to be a key element in influencing participation. Moreover, how crucial it is, as an element in decision making in influencing the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of recreation involvement is explained by Chubb and Chubb (1981:153) : ‘People participation will increase if all other external and personal factors support participants, however if the site is not accessible it might certainly be a problem.’

Recreation travel behavior

While going to any particular site for recreation, distance is really important and for most movement, a distance-decay effect can be known so that the power of interaction diminishes as distance increases. In this context, if a recreational site consists of greater distance and involve more effort and time, might not be supported by participants. But, not all activities are time consuming as it relies on the types of activities that one is taking part in. The impact of longer distances will be negative to some extent as the more a person travel, he or might be tired and found it to be unpleasant. On the other hand, such effect may be encouraging in situation where a person is travelling by cruise. The latter may enjoy and the longer the distance the greater the desire to extend it.

Recreation choice behavior

Forecasting of recreation behavior would have been taken into account if more was known with regards to factors influencing decision-making to attitudes, motivations and perceptions. This would be very helpful as it would explain:

Why some sites and activities are suitable;

Why some recreational firms are failures while others are satisfied by participants;

Why and how alternative recreation are ranked.

The recreation alternative process is influenced by people’s perceptions of what recreational opportunities are available.

Natural environments as recreation settings

Driver et al. (1987) demonstrates that natural surroundings are really crucial in attaining the preferred result from leisure. Research conducted in Colorado have shown that participants like to enjoy mostly in nature, therefore, natural environment plays an integral role in achieving the result as well as satisfaction required from involvement in certain forms of recreation.

According to Kaplan and Kaplan (1989), participant’s satisfaction is associated with natural settings through integration mind and body in the leisure activity. Hence, environmental aspect beyond doubt is considered to have a dominant influence on recreation behavior and this has first derived from gurus like Schreyer et al. (1985), he propose that the most helpful demonstration of the environment for the explanation of behavioral choice is considered as important. They also stated that people are more likely to explore the natural environment location which will undoubtedly allow them to behave in the ways they wish and consequently this will enable them to achieve a desired cognitive state. Thus, the theory that recreation experiences are closely linked to recreation location is fundamental with regards to the notion of the recreation opportunity spectrum.

Lang & O’Leary (1997) stated that nature-based tourists are more interested in nature, travel more often at longer distances and stay longer at a destination. Moreover, they are well educated, with high levels of both individual and household income and are willing to spend more. Silverberg et al., (1996) stated that nature based attraction is a phenomenon which represents a new market in the tourism industry and has captured the mind of planners and marketers. Nyaupane et al., (2004), suggested that nature based tourism has been growing rapidly than tourism in general. When the destination managers attempt to attract the growing market, they are faced with a double paradoxical task; in the beginning, there is the need to preserve the resources that attract the tourist and provides a quality travel experience; Backman et al., (1999). It is a challenge which requires a balance between the individual’s expectations, preferences and attitudes towards the environment for a successful nature-based experience; Uysal et al., (1992) cited in Silverberg et al., (1996).

2.2.2.2 Importance of nature-based attraction
2.2 Tourism attractions

According to Mill and Morrisson (1985), the tourism system is made of four key segments: the market, travel, tourist destinations and marketing. Moreover, Gunn (1988) stated that tourism attractions deal with tourism destinations; highlights the role of tourism attractions (tourist, traffic, attraction, information and signposting). Therefore, tourism attractions forms an essential part of the tourism destinations and they are one of four key segments of the tourism system.

Tourism attraction is the major reason why tourist visits a destination. The tourist product includes attractions, services and infrastructures. Gunn (1988) said that tourism attractions are composed of the several components including tourist’s activities, local scenery, service and entertainment. Together, these features represent the total appeal of natural and man-made characteristics. For example, each historical site or lake has its own uniqueness in its features and appeal and cannot be judged as identical to other tourism resources. All tourism attractions are tourism resources, but all tourism resources are not tourism attractions. It may be impossible to evaluate the attractiveness of the various tourism destinations.

Also, Laarman and Durst (1987) use level of interest and degree of physical thoroughness to distinguish between soft and hard nature tourists. Lindberg (1991, cited in Meric & Hunt, 1998), moves from “twofold typologies” to a fourfold categories.

He suggests that there are:

1. hard core nature tourists who has high levels of environmental commitment and support for enhance sustainability, want physically and challenging experiences, travel in small groups, take longer trips, demand for fewer services and make their own travel arrangements

2. dedicated nature tourists who take trips precisely to protected areas in order to appreciate local, natural and cultural history;

3. mainstream nature tourists who visit destinations primarily to take an unfamiliar trip; and finally,

4. casual nature tourists who enjoy nature as part of a wider trip.

However, Eduard kuA?en (2010) argued that a destination without potential or real tourism attractions cannot be developed into a tourism destination. Potential tourism becomes real only when it provides visitor accessibility like physical access, public access, sightseeing. Only the real tourism attraction can be engaged on the tourism market and be promoted. Also, Hu and Richie (1993), Muller (1994) stated that the classification of tourism attractions into natural and artificial in the main obstacle to an efficient approach to tourism attractions.

2.5 Destination attractiveness

Pearce (1979) defined destination attractiveness as the responsiveness to which the destination meet expectations of its visitors in terms of food and accommodation, natural beauty, cultural richness, recreational opportunities and other amenities. The more a destination is able to meet the needs of the tourists, the more it is perceived to be attractive and the more the destination is likely to be chosen.

Without tourism there would be no tourist attractions. Attraction is the ability of a destination to deliver individual benefits. Ferrario (1979) stated that it only happened when people are attracted towards a destination whereby the facilities and services follow. Attractiveness is the outline of impressions, ideas and beliefs about destinations based on information from various sources (MacKay and Fesenmaier 1997). In short, the greater the attraction power of a particular destination, the higher will be the number of tourists in terms of their stay and tourist receipts. There are some factors which cannot be categorized as attractions but which plays an important role in the attractiveness of a destination such as infrastructure, exchange rate and political stability (Ferrario 1979).

A tourist preference appears to be more precise and is the ultimate decision in defining the level of attractiveness of a destination. Their perceptions about a given area control its success or failure as a tourist destination. Since perceptions are certainty in the traveler’s mind, it does not matter how many tourism resources are accessible in a specific area when all its attractiveness has already been well-defined (Echtner and Ritchie, 1993; Leyele, 1996). However, the limitation of tourist preferences as attraction measures is that human observations are based on personal and cultural beliefs and are influenced by promotional actions and previous experiences (Milman and Pizam, 1995). In addition, factor like bad weather may create a one-sided perception of a tourist destination.

Chapter 1

It is difficult to define tourism. Tourism is not an industry that is grouped into a single heading within the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) (Bardgett, 2000). The definition of tourism mostly come from the purchaser, ‘tourist’, not the product itself (Bargett, 2000). Thereupon, World Tourism Organization (WTO) (1993) had defined tourism consists of activities of persons travelling to and staying places outside their usual environment for not more than one continually one year for leisure, or business purposes.

In Malaysia, tourism industry has been recognizes as second largest foreign exchange earning sector (Mohd Hanafiah & Mohd Harun, 2010). According to United Nations World Trade Organization (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer (2009), in 2008, tourist arrivals in Malaysia are substantially higher than its neighbors. The table below (Table 1.1) provides a good picture on comparison of number of visitors among Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

On the other hand, as the society has driven into Internet Era, tourism is extensively transformed by the by e-commerce phenomenon (Lee & Letho, 2012). Hensdill (1998) described the web as a perfect medium for selling travel. While, with the popularization of computers through the Internet, travel product suppliers such as airlines, car rental companies, and hotels have grasped the opportunity to change their traditional distribution methods by launching their products directly on the Internet (Kasavana, 1997; Montgomery, 1999; Morrison, Taylor, Morrison & Morrison 1999). Similarly, travel information is also available on the Internet from regional and national tourism boards in a large amount (Weeks & Crouch, 1999).

Nowadays, Internet has now become a promotional and advertising tool (Countryman, 1999). According to Martin (2004), the Internet suits the marketing principles for travel and tourism because it: (a) allows travel suppliers to set up a direct link with customers; (b) gets rid of the unfair barriers for customers and suppliers; (c) relieve equal competition; and (d) decreases price discrimination opportunities. Consequently, the Internet not only serves to deliver information (Walle, 1996) but also act as a public relations tool (Connolly, & Sigala, 2001).

Hence, it is important for travel agents to know which factors can affect travelers’ intention to use travel website. By knowing this, travel agents not only can formulate the marketing strategies but also can design a website which the features are different from the competitors in order to gain competitive advantages.

Problem Statement

Due to the rapid growing of tourism industry in Malaysia and the importance of internet in e-commerce, many of the travel agencies have created their own website. The rivalry among the travel website itself has increase rapidly. Hence, to be an outstanding website among the others, and to gain the competitive advantage, the travel agency need to know which factor has the most significant influence the user to use travel website. The result is not necessary only for strategic marketing formulation, but also for the design of the web site features that are superior from competitors (Aziz et al., 2010).

The main problem that influences the users to adopt the websites will be the multi stage process for the travel decision making process (Aziz et al., 2010). The consumers need to look careful each step before until final steps to successful purchases the travel packages. For instance, users may need to login the membership before to process to purchase the package. This continue with the double confirm before the purchased package is correct. Until the payment step, users also need to check the all information is correct and submit to pay. Besides that, the security, privacy and trust concerns are other minor problems that influence the users to adopt the websites. The information’s quality, security, privacy, trust and the company’s reputation have strongly influence on online consumers’ trust in the websites (Kim, Ferrin, & Raghav Rao, 2007)

According to the past study of Aziz et al. (2010), social influence is the superiority in encouraging people to use travel websites. While, in the study of Ahmad and Juhdi (2008), they found out that internet self-efficacy had affected Malaysian travelers to use travel website. In the study of Chen (2006), trustworthy has a significant influence in an online travel websites.

There have been various studies conducted in different country such as, a study on web site quality for online travel agency in United States (Park, Gretzel, & Sirakaya-Turk, 2007); the factor affecting consumers’ attitude towards online reservation by Vathianathan and Roy (2009) in India; and examine e-travel site, an empirical study in Taiwan (Lin, 2010). Yet, only a few studies have been carried out in Malaysia. In the study of Aziz et al. (2010), the influence of predictors on travel website, the study is only conducted in Klang Valley, which is just a portion of Malaysia. The result cannot represent as a whole. While, in the study of Ahmad and Juhdi (2008), the number of respondents is small and mainly specific in e-group subscribers who were basically active users of internet. Thus, the generalization of the findings is questionable.

Research Questions and Objectives

Research Questions

General Objectives

To identify and examine factors that affect Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website.

General Question

What are the factors that affect Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website?

Specific Objectives

To examine the relationship between Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Malaysian travelers intention to use travel website.
To examine the relationship between perceived usefulness (PU) and Malaysian travelers intention to use travel website.
To examine the relationship between social influences and Malaysian travelers intention to use travel website.
To examine the relationship between self efficacy and Malaysian travelers intention to use travel website.
To examine the relationship between travel motivation and Malaysian travelers intention to use travel website.

Specific Questions

Is there any relationship between Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website?
Is there any relationship between perceived usefulness (PU) and Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website?
Is there any relationship between social influences and Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website?
Is there any relationship between self efficacy and Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website?
Is there any relationship between travel motivation and Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website?

Source: Developed for the research

Significance of the Study

Generally, the acceptance of the internet among users is normally examined with technology acceptance model (TAM) (Aziz et al. 2010). However, the two variable of TAM (Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness) are still insufficient to test on the factors affecting Malaysian travelers’ intention to use travel website. Therefore, the proposed model of this study is an extension of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as theoretical foundation. The model will be adding other variables such as, social influence, self efficacy and travel motivation to test on the dependent variable.

Travel agency would be among the first to benefit from the study. The finding of this study may help the travel agency to understand several affected factors that influence Malaysian travelers to use travel website. It is important to understand the consumers’ acceptance of the online concept and the product and services provided are more suitable to be selling online. Hence, travel agency will have more relevant information or idea when creating the website. Besides, it’s also helping those agencies that have an intention to invest in online store, so, they have a better idea of the trends in the market and thus they can increase their portion of the market place. Last but not least, travel agency can save more cost and time. For instance, small tourism enterprises won’t be facing any risk in spending on costly web-based solutions and time with the help of this study by providing them useful information about the preference of the internet users.

1.5 Chapter Layout

1.5.1 Chapter One: Research Overview

This research report comprises a total of five chapters. In chapter one, researcher furnish an overview of the study and describing the research situation. It has covered background of this study, a brief introduction of our research, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, hypothesis of the study and significance of the study.

1.5.2 Chapter Two: Literature Review

In chapter two, it includes the review of the literature, review of relevant theoretical models. Furthermore, it also consists of proposed theoretical framework and the hypotheses development.

1.5.3 Chapter Three: Methodology

For chapter three, it is an overview of the study’s research methodology. This chapter includes our research design, data collection methods, sampling design, research instrument, measurement construction, data processing, as well as data analysis.

1.5.4 Chapter Four: Data Analysis

In chapter four, it presents the research results and the analysis of the results which are relevant to the research questions and hypotheses. This chapter includes descriptive analysis, scale measurement and inferential analyses.

1.5.5 Chapter Five: Discussion, Conclusion and Implications

In chapter five, it is the summarizing chapter that discusses the overall findings followed by the conclusion. Thus, this chapter finds out the implication and limitation of the study. Finally, this chapter outlines the recommendations for future researches.