Author: Andre Coleman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the effect of different service quality factors as quality of food, music, ambience, waiter service on customer satisfaction in a restaurant and to study how the customer satisfaction ultimately relates to customer loyalty for the restaurant.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was given to MBA students of XLRI Jamshedpur in the age group of 21-30 asking questions to ascertain the different levels of service in the Sonnet restaurant. The results of these questionnaires were analyzed using factor analysis.

Findings – The factors that are crucial for obtaining customer loyalty are waiter politeness, waiter promptness, space, music and food quality. The waiter promptness, space, food quality are partially mediated by customer satisfaction. Of these factors, music negatively affects customer loyalty and positively affects customer satisfaction. Only waiter promptness, aesthetics, music and food quality affect the customer satisfaction. With customer satisfaction as the mediating factor to obtain customer loyalty, we find waiter politeness, waiter promptness, space, music and food quality are significant factors.

Research limitations – The study was limited only to the patrons of Sonnet, Jamshedpur. The respondents to the survey consisted of students of XLRI Jamshedpur who have visited Sonnet. Future research may be done on number of restaurants instead of a particular restaurant.

Future research may also be conducted such that the respondents reflect a more heterogeneous group in terms of age, income level and location. The solitary effect of servicescape on the overall satisfaction level for the customer may also be explored in future research.

Practical Implication – Hoteliers and restaurant operators should try to ascertain which aspect of the service quality is perceived as more important by their patrons. They can then focus more to improve on these particular aspects as in future these would lead to more satisfaction for the customer. The customer satisfaction in turn will lead to customer loyalty and thus will increase the overall profit for the organization.

Originality/value – This paper provides insights into how music affects the satisfaction and loyalty for restaurant patrons. The effect of music on customer loyalty has not been conclusively proved in any research paper so far. The other factors of service quality that affect the satisfaction level and loyalty of a patron of the Sonnet restaurant in Jamshedpur have also been explored to provide a complete picture.

Keywords – Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty

Introduction
In today’s fast paced world meals are no longer a very well planned event, on most occasions it is an afterthought. The proportion of women in the workforce has increased, As a result women have less time to cook meals at home. Hence there has been an increase in the trend of eating out. This results in a flourishing restaurant industry. Like any lucrative industry which attracts a number of players, the restaurant industry is also highly competitive. It is very important to get a feel of this industry from the viewpoint of the customer. It is the customer who makes the final decision of how much to spend and what, when and most importantly where to eat. Thus in order to offer the right service to the customers, restaurant owners and managers need to have a clear understanding of the factors that influence customer satisfaction.
Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the state of the fulfillment of the customer’s expectations from the establishment. When the difference facets of the service provided to the customers exceed the expected level, then the customer is positively satisfied. On the contrary if the perceived level is less than the expected level then the customer may develop negative perceptions towards the establishment.

Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty basically indicates a repeat patronage of the particular facility whose services have already been experienced by the customer. Loyalty consists of both a behavioral dimension as well as an attitudinal dimension. Once a customer has a strong positive experience with an establishment, he is more likely to be loyal to it which may be exhibited through behavior as repeat patronage and recommendation (generally exhibited through positive word of mouth).

Constituents of service quality

The different factors of service quality which influence the customer satisfaction level include:

Music: The music played at restaurant has a significant impact on the satisfaction level of the customer. Customers are generally more satisfied in an environment playing music they preferred than in an environment of no music. Music may also have an impact on the spending pattern of customers.

Food Quality: Although restaurants have gained importance as a place for socializing, food is the primary reason why a customer visits a restaurant. Thus the quality of food and beverages as well as the variety influences the customer satisfaction level.

Waiter Service: Waiters serve as the medium of interaction between the restaurant owners and the customers. Thus the service provided by the waiters often forms the image of a restaurant. Careful, pleasant and attentive behavior on the part of the waiter leads to high customer satisfaction.

Ambience: Ambience ( decor and artifact, odor, noise level , temperature, spatial layout) forms the impression of the restaurant.

Research background and hypothesis
Music and Customer Satisfaction

It has been often agreed upon by researchers that different aspects of service like ambience and layout affect the experience quality of a customer and thus influence his satisfaction. Music helps in creating the proper ambience in the restaurant and has important role to play in customer satisfaction. Studies in social psychology often indicate that there is a strong correlation between music and the social context in which the customer hears it. This relationship can also be extended to the setting of a restaurant. In 1996, North and Hargreaves studied the effect of music on atmosphere in a university cafeteria (North and Hargreaves, 1996). Results suggested that customers’ ‘liking’ of the cafeteria increased with their ‘liking’ for the music played within it. In their research conducted in 1996 North and Hargreaves also found that liking the music in a restaurant had a positive relationship with the customer returning to the establishment in future.

According to Stephanie Wilson in her article, ‘The effect of music on perceived atmosphere and purchase intention in a restaurant’ the music could be used by restaurants to create the proper atmosphere. This can also be used to distinguish itself from the competitors. The research states that the absence of music had the most negative impact on the atmosphere and thus on customer satisfaction. Wilson in her research actually found out that in an environment of no music the respondents were willing to pay the least maximum price. Wilson also found out that the type of music played may also have an important bearing on the customers overall experience as well as his spending habits.

Ronald Milliman, in his article ‘The Influence of Background Music on the Behavior of Restaurant Patrons’, has proved that background music can significantly influence the behavior of patrons in a restaurant. This view is supplemented by Smith and Curnow (1966), who have proved that inappropriate, loud music creates an avoidance condition and thus can affect the customer perception about a restaurant negatively. In such cases music actually detracts from the service experience.

J. Duncan Herrington and Louis M. Capella in their article “Effects of music in service environments” have stated that often music can be used by service providers in order to a distinctive image in the minds of the customers and thus get a competitive edge. Restaurants can take the aid of music to create an environment which complements their service offerings. Restaurants serving international food can play the music of the particular nation and restaurants serving a particular type of food can also similarly use music.

Food and Customer Satisfaction:

Variety and presentation of food and beverages and quality of the menu are one of the most important factors influencing the customer’s feelings towards the restaurant. According to Kincaid and Baloglou, in their article “What Really brings them Back” (2008), this has tremendous practical significance for restaurant operators. It should be made sure that an interesting variety of food and drinks are presented in unique ways. Food and drink quality is very important to the patrons of a restaurant and restaurant operators should ensure that a strict quality control is in place to make sure that only high quality food is being offered to the customers.

Andaleeb and Conway in their article “Customer satisfaction in the restaurant industry: an examination of the transaction-specific model”(2006) has also opined that food quality is one of the major components which can be improved in order to enhance customer satisfaction.

Hong Qin and Victor R. Prybutok in their research, “Perceived service quality in fast-food restaurants: empirical evidence from China” found that the quality of food was a critical factor in the customer’s overall level of satisfaction and often influenced the customer’s decision about selection of a restaurant.

Ambience and Customer Satisfaction

The ambience and layout of the establishment has an important role to play in the experience quality of the customer. Bitner (1992) coined a new term servicescape which denoted the physical constituents of a service environment. The different tangible constituents of servicescape such as optimum temperature, noise, furnishings and layout combine together to influence the customer satisfaction and repeat patronage level. In comparison to other service industries as banks servicescape plays a more important role in service industries as restaurants where the customer spends a greater period of time.

Wakefield and Blodgett(1996) proposed a servicescape framework, the service environment comprised of five important factors:

Proper layout and accessibility of the premises (i.e. how furniture, service area and equipments are organized within the establishment)

Aesthetics of the establishment ( the interior decoration and architectural design)

Seating comfort

Electronic equipment ( arrangement of displays and lighting and electronic equipment)

Cleanliness

All these five factors together had a combined effect on customer satisfaction.

As per Grayson and Mc Neill in ‘Using Atmospheric conditions in service retailing’, the proper servicescape leads to customer comfort. This comfort has two aspects: Physical comfort and emotional comfort and safety Both these factors together affect the satisfaction level of the customer.

Han & Ryu in their research “The Roles of the Physical Environment, Price Perception, and Customer Satisfaction in Determining Customer Loyalty in the Restaurant Industry” had studied the effect of physical environment on customer satisfaction. In the research they categorized the physical environment into decor and artifacts (which contributed to the attractiveness of the physical environment i.e. floor coverings, wall decorations, pictures, paintings etc), spatial layout (arrangement of objects as furniture and equipment) and ambient conditions (background characteristics as scent, temperature, lighting etc) . The research showed that of all the three decor and artifacts had the most significant and direct effect on customer satisfaction. The researchers have expressed their opinion that restaurateurs should give paramount importance to physical elements in the restaurant. These can be used as marketing and operational tools to improve the customer experience and resultantly improve the customer behavior.

Waiter Service and Customer Satisfaction:

How a patron is actually treated by the waiter in the course of service is also an important parameter which contributes to his satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Even if there is a service failure, a competent employee can take proper actions which can actually lead to service recovery (Bitner and Booms, 1990). Hence waiter and waitresses who serve as a liaison between the restaurant and the customer play the most important role in the success of the establishment.

J.D. Pratten in his article ‘The importance of Waiting Staff’ discusses that poor waiter service may consist of slow service, serving cold food, spoiling the presentation at the table, causing delay in the carriage of food (as a result of which different dishes at the same table may arrive at different times) failure to have all the accompaniments as sauces at the table, not having the proper cutlery etc. Any of the above occurrences may spoil the experience of a customer thus leading to customer dissatisfaction. A lot of competency and effort is required from the waiting staff to ensure that the experience of the customer is pleasant thus leading to satisfaction.

Apart from the basic competencies mentioned above, the personal contact attributes of the waiters and waitresses with the customers including whether the employees were helpful, attentive, prompt, courteous, neat in appearance, and understood customer needs are also very important. Winsted in his study “Service Behavior that leads to Satisfied Customers” found that the three most important qualities which had a strong correlation with customer satisfaction in a restaurant are careful (.77), attentive (.76) and pleasant (.75).

It has been also suggested that managers and owners of restaurants can actually have specialized training programs which will enable as well as encourage the employees to improve their service quality. This, coupled with regular tracking of performance can lead to increase in the customer satisfaction level. Pratten in his article “Customer satisfaction and waiting staff ” (2003) emphasizes that the role of waiting staff in customer satisfaction is paramount and thus if this is not recognized and acted upon there will be a loss of business for firms.

Customer satisfaction as a Mediating Variable
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty:

It seems only logical that satisfied customers of any establishment will turn into loyal customers and will grant their patronage again. Researchers have also found that there exists a strong relationship between the two. As per Szymanski and Henard (2001), there are fifteen significant positive correlations between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Bearden and Teel (1986) have also proved that there is a relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. Thus a satisfied customer turns into a loyal one and brings more revenue to the restaurant. Fornell,Rust & Dekimpe, in their research “The Effect of Customer Satisfaction on Consumer Spending Growth” has proved that an increase in customer satisfaction leads to growth in future customer spending.

On the other hand, an unsatisfied customer can cause negative word of mouth publicity. He can actually cause other prospective patrons to turn away from a particular restaurant.

Smith and Swindyard (1983) found that in case of a service which is consumed by the customer at the spot, the attitude and the satisfaction level of the customer is an excellent predictor of future purchases. Thus extending this if the consumers are satisfied by the service level at a restaurant then it is actually increases the probability of revisit by the customer.

Namkung and Young (2007) in their research found out that food quality significantly affects customer satisfaction as well as behavioral intentions and the relationship between customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions is mediated by satisfaction.

Kivela, Inbakaran and Reece in their research “Consumer research in the restaurant environment, Part 1: A conceptual model of dining satisfaction and return patronage” (2000) made certain observations related to dining satisfaction and return patronage. The study revealed that satisfaction had a strong positive influence on return patronage .The factors having significant influence on the customer included first and last impressions, service excellence, food excellence and ambience.

Hypotheses

From the above literature review, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H1: Waiter service is positively related to Customer loyalty which is mediated by Customer Satisfaction

H2: Ambience is positively related to Customer loyalty which is mediated by Customer Satisfaction

H3: Music is positively related to Customer loyalty which is mediated by Customer Satisfaction

H4: Food quality is positively related to Customer Loyalty which is mediated by Customer Satisfaction

Methods
Sample

The young men and women of age between 21 to 29 years were identified as the target respondent group for the survey. One of the major reasons for choosing this specific respondent group was its availability and ease in communicating to them the questionnaire and getting the response. Since majority among this population has visited Hotel Sonnet during their stay in Jamshedpur, Sonnet was chosen as the hotel on which the questions would be based. The questionnaire was floated through a website and the respondents were asked to fill the questionnaire online. To encourage participation and increase the number of responses a disclaimer declaring the confidentiality of individual data was assured. A total of 164 respondents filled the questionnaire of which 156 responses were considered for the analysis and hypothesis testing. The reasons for not including the rest of the responses were incomplete data set and falling out of our target respondent group.

Measures

Based on the discussion in the above sections a theoretical model was developed and the following constructs were measured using different scales.

Waiter Service

Food Quality

Ambience

Music

Customer Loyalty

Customer Satisfaction

Waiter Service, Ambience, Music, and Food Quality are considered as factors that determine Customer Satisfaction which in turn leads to Customer Loyalty.

Waiter Service: Participants were asked to respond to Likert-type scales of 21 questions. The scale used was adapted from Kivela et al. (1999). The questions framed to assess consumer knowledge are consistent with prior literature. The scoring rule was to assign a numerical value to each of the response ranging from 1= “Least Important” to 5 = “Very Important”. Factor analysis has been done on the individual responses to determine the factors that constitute waiter service. The appendix reports the questionnaire items used. The content validity for the used scale has been established in the study and since we have used a very similar questionnaire and the scale, the scale can be considered as content valid.

Ambience: The significance of ambience to an individual has been measured through 20 questions asked in the questionnaire. The scale used was adapted from Kivela et al. (1999). The questions framed to assess consumer knowledge are based on the questions used in the study and the literature review done during the research. The responses were recorded using 5-point Likert-type scales ranging from “Least Important” to “Very Important”. Questions asked to ascertain the importance of ambience are present in the questionnaire attached in the appendix. The individual responses were run through factor analysis to obtain the factors that determine the importance of ambience. The scale has been adopted from the aforementioned study and content validity has been established in the study.

Music: Significance of music has been measured on a five-point Likert-type scale adapted from Kivela et al (1999). The individual responses have been subjected to factor analysis to obtain the factors that determine the significance of music. The content validity for the used scale has been established in the study and since we have used a very similar questionnaire and the scale, the scale can be considered as content valid. The appendix reports the questionnaire items used.

Food Quality: 7 Likert-type scales have been used to determine the importance of food quality to an individual. Factor analysis has been done on these individual responses to get the factors that determine the food quality. The questions have been framed in accordance with the scale used by Kivela et al (1999). The questionnaire attached in the appendix.

Customer Loyalty: 3 questions of Likert type scales have been used to obtain the responses from the respondents. Factor analysis has been run to obtain the factors comprising the customer satisfaction. Questionnaire used by Kivel et al (1999) has been used and the scale is content validated. The appendix reports the questionnaire items used.

Customer Satisfaction: 4 questions have been asked regarding customer satisfaction and factor analysis has been run on this data to obtain the factors affecting customer satisfaction. The questionnaire used is same as one used by Kivela et al (1999). The questionnaire attached in the appendix.

Analysis

The factors for Ambience were found out by running exploratory factor analysis on the 20 items related to Ambience. It was found to contain 2 factors. Similarly the factor analysis was run on Waiter service (21 items), Music (9 items), Food quality (7 items), Customer satisfaction (4 items) and Customer loyalty (3 items) and they were found to contain 2,1,1,1 and 1 factors respectively.

The three-step method developed by Erich B. Bergiel, Vinh Q. Nguyen et all for mediation analysis is used in this study. The first step uses Customer loyalty as the criterion variable in the regression equation and the 6 factors identified as predictors. The second step uses Customer satisfaction as the criterion variable in the regression equation and the 6 factors identified as predictors. The third step uses Customer loyalty as the criterion variable in the regression equation and the 6 factors identified as well as customer satisfaction as the predictors.

Initially, multicollinearity was found initially between Customer satisfaction and Customer Loyalty (tolerance of 0.161 and VIF greater than 5 were observed). In order to solve this, a factor analysis with all the items corresponding to the 6 factors, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty were done. The items which were correlated to other factors were eliminated. Thus the items corresponding to the factors were brought down. After this, the three-step method of Erich B. Bergiel was used.

Results

The following were the factors that were identified and the component scores of items under each factor:

Waiter service

Waiter politeness

Respects me

.928

Uses very polite language

.944

Is helpful and understanding

.925

Makes me feel comfortable

.932

Waiter promptness

Responds to my comments

.882

Is quick to attend and serve

.804

Tables were cleaned quickly

.780

Aesthetics

Pleasant fragrance

.816

Floor and carpet that are done with aesthetics

.816

Ambience

Space

Spacious ceiling composition

.837

Adequate parking facilities

.890

Easily accessible location

.854

Music

Music

I feel relaxed when my favorite music is being played in the restaurant

.799

I like it when my friends like the music played in the restaurant

.799

Food quality

Food quality

The food meets the expectations from the description in the menu

.787

The food is a good value for money

.787

The KMO of all the above factors were above 0.5 suggesting that the factors were sound. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant for all the factors. The communality of all the items was above 0.4. The total variance explained was above 60% for all the factors.

Varimax rotation was used to ensure homogeneity of items within factors and heterogeneity with other factors.

The correlations between the factors are as follows:

Customer loyalty factor

Waiter Service Factor 1

Waiter Service Factor 2

Ambience Factor 1

Ambience Factor 2

Music Factor

Food Factor

Customer Satisfaction Factor

Customer loyalty factor

1.000

Waiter Service Factor 1

.632

1.000

Waiter Service Factor 2

.561

.180

1.000

Ambience Factor 1

.712

.779

.440

1.000

Ambience Factor 2

.431

.287

.452

.410

1.000

Music Factor

.349

.489

.455

.614

.414

1.000

Food Factor

.670

.596

.551

.673

.456

.542

1.000

Customer Satisfaction Factor

.665

.400

.683

.580

.494

.559

.658

1.000

All the above correlations were significant at 0.01 levels.

Regression Analysis

Regression analysis has been carried out with the following six identified factors on Customer Loyalty with Customer Satisfaction as the mediating variable.

Waiter Politeness

Waiter Promptness

Physical Space

Aesthetics

Music

Food

Step 1: Regression of the factors on Customer Loyalty

Model 1

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

Sig.

Collinearity Statistics

B

Beta

Tolerance

(Constant)

3.731

.000

Waiter Politeness

.358

.330

.000

.327

Waiter Promptness

.390

.360

.000

.537

Physical Space

.359

.331

.000

.269

Aesthetics

.092

.084

.118

.708

Music

-.341

-.314

.000

.557

Food

.200

.184

.010

.411

R Square

Adjusted R Square

.696

.684

The above table shows the results of regression with the six mentioned factors as independent variables and Customer Loyalty as dependent variable. The value of R square is 0.696 shows positive correlation between the six factors together and Customer Loyalty. The inference from Value of Beta and Significance is as follows:

Waiter Politeness on Customer Loyalty:

Significance of 0.00 and Beta of 0.33 shows that Waiter Politeness affects Customer Loyalty positively.

Waiter Promptness on Customer Loyalty:

Significance of 0.00 and Beta of 0.36 shows that Waiter Promptness affects Customer Loyalty positively.

Space on Customer Loyalty:

Significance of 0.00 and Beta of 0.331 shows that Restaurant Space affects Customer Loyalty positively.

Aesthetics on Customer Loyalty:

Significance of 0.118 is higher than a threshold of 0.05, which indicates that this has insignificant effect on Customer Loyalty.

Music on Customer Loyalty:

Significance of 0 and Beta of -0.314 shows that Music affects Customer Loyalty negatively.

Food on Customer Loyalty:

Significance of 0.01 and Beta of 0.184 indicates that Food affects Customer Loyalty partially.

Step 2: Regression of the factors on Customer Satisfaction

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

Sig.

Collinearity Statistics

B

Beta

Tolerance

(Constant)

.000

1.000

Waiter Politeness

-.014

-.014

.872

.327

Waiter Promptness

.384

.384

.000

.537

Physical Space

.132

.132

.175

.269

Aesthetics

.103

.103

.089

.708

Music

.134

.134

.050

.557

Food

.246

.246

.002

.411

R Square

Adjusted R Square

.621

.606

The above table shows the results of regression with the six mentioned factors as independent variables and Customer Satisfaction as dependent variable. The value of R square is 0.788 shows positive correlation between the six factors together and Customer Satisfaction. The inference from Value of Beta and Significance is as follows:

Waiter Politeness on Customer Satisfaction:

Significance of 0.872 shows that Waiter politeness on Customer Satisfaction is not significant. This indicates that the impact of Waiter Politeness on Customer Satisfaction is insignificant.

Waiter Promptness on Customer Satisfaction:

Significance of 0 and Beta of 0.384 shows that Waiter Promptness affects Customer Satisfaction positively.

Space on Customer Satisfaction:

Significance of 0.175 is higher than a threshold of 0.05, which means that we cannot comment on the effect of Space on Customer Satisfaction

Aesthetics on Customer Satisfaction:

Significance of 0.89 and Beta of 0.103 shows that Aesthetics affects Customer Satisfaction positively.

Music on Customer Satisfaction:

Significance of 0.05 and Beta of -0.134 shows that Music affects Customer Satisfaction partially in a positive manner.

Food on Customer Satisfaction:

Significance of 0.002 and Beta of 0.246 indicates that Food affects Customer Satisfaction partially in a positive manner.

Step 3: Regression of the 6 factors and the mediating variable (Customer Satisfaction) on Customer Loyalty

Unstandardi

Nowadays, there are many authors defined motivation as a major determinant of the tourists behavior. Mostly, the theory of motivation is related to the concept of need. Needs are seen as the force that arouses motivated behavior and it is assumed that, to understand human motivation, it is necessary to discover what needs people have and how they can be fulfilled. Maslow in 1943 was the first to attempt to do this with his needs hierarchy theory, now the best known of all motivation theories.

Physiological needs

Hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, air

Safety needs

Freedom from threat or danger

Social needs

Feeling of belonging, affection and friendship

Esteem needs

Self- respect, achievement. Self-confidence, reputation, recognition, prestige

Needs for self- actualization

Self-fulfillment, realizing one’s potential

Figure 4.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Source: Maslow, 1943)

Other attempts to explain tourist motivation have identified with Maslow’s needs hierarchy. Mill and Morrison (1985), for example, see travel as a need or want satisfier, and show how Maslow’s hierarchy ties in with travel motivations and the travel literature. Similarly, Dann’s (1977) tourism motivators can be linked to Maslow’s list of needs. He argued that there are basically two factors in a decision to travel, the push factors and the pull factors. The push factors are those that make you want to travel and the pull factors are those that affect where you travel. In his appraisal of tourism motivation, Dann proposed seven categories of travel motivation:

Travel as a response to what is lacking yet desired. We live in an anomic society and this, according to Dann, fosters a need in people for social interaction that is missing from the home environment.

Destination pull in response to motivational push

Motivation as a fantasy

Motivation as a classified purpose, such as visiting friends and relatives or study.

Motivational typologies

Motivation and tourist experiences

Motivation as auto-definition and meaning, suggesting that the way tourists define their situations will provide a greater understanding of tourist motivation than simply observing their behavior.

2.3 Destination Choice

There is few research studies of destination choice have been analyzed personal values to determine for the reason of consumers choose a particular destination. According to Muller (1991) stated, he has developed profiles for various section in an international tourism market in order to demonstrate the usefulness of profiling visitor segments in such a way that the importance of various tourism destination criteria could be attributed to specific value orientations. Besides that, he also believed that value-based data are easier to obtain than lifestyle profiles because a value survey is considerably shorter than a lifestyle questionnaire. The approach taken was to:

Isolate segments in the market, based on the importance visitors attach to several attributes of a city visit

Develop value-based profiles of these segments

Assess the marketing implications of the value profiles for tourism product development and promotional strategies.

According to Crompton, 1977, the destination choice has been conceptualized as having two phases which are generic phase and the second phase is concerned with where to go. The generic phase issue the fundamental issue of whether or not to have a holiday at all. Once the decision-making for vacation is made, the second phase is concerned with where to go such as plan for destination choice. On the other hand, Um and Crompton, 1990 also explored a concept as to probe the second phase with developing a framework of travel destination choice for consumer to provide a context for the study. In facts, the concepts used in the framework were consists of external inputs, internal inputs and cognitive constructs. For the external inputs part, the sum of social interactions and marketing communications to which a potential traveler is exposed and the internal inputs were viewed as a potential traveler which includes personal characteristics, motives, values and attitudes. For the last one of cognitive constructs which represent an combination of the internal and external inputs into the destinations and the evoked set of destinations.

2.2 Factor Affects the Consumer Behavior
2.2.1 Web

The rapid growth of the internet has changed the way people search information about hospitality and tourism services. Product knowledge, or expertise and familiarity, seem to influence travelers’ information search activities (Gursoy, 2003). The impact of multi-channel access on consumers’ decision making processes was discussed in Louviers et al. (2003) study of the global hotel industry. In a cross-cultural study of German and Japanese visitors to the US, Money and Crotts (2003) show that uncertainty avoidance as a cultural dimension influences consumers’ information search processes, including channel choices.

Difference between on-line shoppers and non-shoppers were examined in the context of travel purchases (Card et al., 2003). Although response speed was identified as one of the key ingredients to a successful recovery following an e-mail complaint to a hotel (Mattila and Mount, 2003a), hotels seem to be failing in this area. In a study of Singaporean travel agents, Murphy and Tan (2003) report that customers have a slim chance of receiving a reply to their e-mail inquiry. Similar disappointing results were reported in a Swiss context (Frey et al., 2003). Poria and Oppewal (2003) suggest that on-line news discussions might provide a new avenue for investigating consumer behavior. Dube et al. (2003), on the other hand, argue that “experience engineering” is a necessary component of value creation in today’s hospitality industry and that the internet could be effectively used to set stage for pleasurable experiences.

2.2.2 Safety and mature consumers

In the post-9/11 environment safety and security have resurfaced as topics of interest. While some cross-cultural differences exist in customer perceptions of airline service (Kim and Prideaux, 2003), Gilbert and Wong (2003) show that assurance, including safety concerns, is the most crucial service quality dimension among international travelers. Since safety is one of people’s intrinsic motivations, understanding tourists’ perceptions of crime is critical for destination marketing (Barker et al., 2003). George (2003), for example, examined tourist perceptions of safety while visiting Cape Town, a representative of destinations with an unsafe image. Looking at food safety issues, Reynolds and Balinbin (2003) show that educating consumers about Mad Cow disease positively influences their perceptions of beef as a safe choice.

The aging population is a major demographic shift in today’s Western world. To better understand that needs and wants of these mature consumers, many hospitality researchers have turned their attention to this growing market segment. On a positive note, an examination of economic and socio-demographic factors suggests that the demand for full-service restaurants is going to increase in the near future partly due to aging population (Kim and Geistfeld, 2003). Research by Moschis et al. (2003) suggests that mature consumers respond differently to various marketing promotions, but that monetary appeals might not be the most effective way of reaching this target population. These more mature consumers seem to strive for socialization when dinning out (Yamanaka et al., 2003). In terms of advertising, hospitality and tourism marketers need to understand how behavioral scripting in TV ads influences older consumers’ perceptions of hospitality products and services (Peterson and Sautter, 2003). A study in a casino context shows that elderly females might be a particularly attractive but somewhat vulnerable (due to low levels of education and income) market segment (Moseley et al., 2003).

2.2.3 Pricing and other studies

Asymmetric effects of positive and negative price deviations on price, quality and value were examined by Oh (2003b). Monty and Skidmore (2003) discussed the usefulness of hedonic pricing in estimating consumers’ willingness to pay more for bed and breakfast type accommodations. Contrary to common beliefs, Kincard and Corsun (2003) demonstrate that the layout if menu items is not linked to item sales. Noriega and Lin (2003) identified difference in attitudes and behaviors of gamblers based on their preferred gambling activity whereas people with disabilities served as a sample for the effectiveness of travel agents in Hong Kong (McKercher et al., 2003).

2.2.4 Tourism studies

Regarding tourism behavior, the topics covered in hospitality and tourism journals in 2003 seem to fall in the general categories of consumer research in tourism: destination choice/image, segmentation and decision-making or choice. Understanding the basic motivations in destination choice among various target markets was the key concept in many of the published studies. Andriotis and Vaughan (2003) studied the attitudes of urban residents toward tourism development on Crete. Trekkers perceptions of Nepal were identified by Holden (2003) while Mohsin and Ryan (2003) examined motives of backpackers in Northern Australia. Naoi (2003) used Lew’s cognitive perspective in analyzing Japanese tourists’ motivations. Uriely et al. (2003) examined how residents’ religious attitudes influence their attitudes toward heritage tourism in Israel. Teye and Leclerc (2003) studied the motivations of cruise line passengers from an ethnic perspective.

Rittichainuwat et al. (2003) examined the joint influence of destination image, travel satisfaction, motivation and inhibitors on repeat purchase intent in the context of Thailand. Rezende-Parker et al. (2003) explored US visitors’ image of Brazil as a vacation destination. Pike (2003) employed repertory grid method to destination image research. From a more conceptual perspective, Kim and Yoon (2003) concluded that affect is a more salient determinant of destination image than cognition. To obtain a more dynamic view of destination perceptions, Vogt and Andereck (2003) examined how destination knowledge and desirability perceptions change during the course of the vacation. As an interesting example of interdisciplinary co-operation between academic publications, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing had a special issue co-published with Wine, Food and Tourism Marketing. Many of the articles in that issue dealt with wine regions as tourist destinations (e.g., Hashimoto and Telfer (2003) examining the Niagara Region, Frochot (2003) investigating the impact of food images on French Regional Tourism and Du Rabd et al. (2003) focusing on food destination marketing in South Africa).

Culture or geographic location was the main focus in most of the segmentation studies. Sirakaya et al. (2003) examined the segments of Japanese visitors to Turkey. Chen and Uyasal (2003) developed a typology of leisure travelers visiting 10 eastern states and found support for two distinct groups: novelty seekers and acquaintance visitors. In another destination based study, Wisconsin rural tourists can be classified to five distinct segments. Individuality of German tourists visiting Norway was examined by Prebensen et al. (2003). Vacation styles were used as a segmentation variable for examining winter tourists in Aurstralia (Dolnicar and Leisch, 2003). McKercher and du Cros (2003) identified typologies for cultural tourism. Razzouk and Seitz (2003) found that individuals interested in nude recreation tend to be Middle-class, well-educated Caucasians who are family-oriented and fun-loving. In an attempt to reach out to emotions, Chen (2003a) explored tourists’ sentiments toward marketing as a segmentation variable. Form a methodological perspective, Chen (2003b) introduced a new segmentation framework (travel segmentation with chi-square automatic interaction detection) to the tourism literature.

With regard to decision-making, another important line of research in tourism behavior, Van Middelkoop and Timmermans (2003) showed that other heuristics such as the context might be more beneficial than utility maximization in explaining tourist choices regarding travel mode. Kang et al. (2003) examined family decision making and its impact on segmentation strategies. To enrich our understanding of tourism choice processes, Eugenio-Martin (2003) developed a five-stage, conceptual model using a discrete choice approach.

2.3 Effects of environment on consumer behavior

Traditionally, explanations of consumer behavior are cast in terms that are rooted in cognitive psychology (Bargh, 2002). Before people buy, or choose, or decide, they engage in more or less elaborate, conscious information processing (Chaiken, 1980; Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983). Information processing may lead to certain attitudes, and these attitudes, in turn, may or may not affect decisions. The amount of information that is processed is dependent on various moderators, such as involvement (e.g., Fazio, 1990; Krugman, 1965). In addition, the sort of information that finally influences your attitudes can differ too. Attitudes can be based more on cognitive beliefs, such as when one finds a product very useful, or more on affect, such as when a product has important symbolic meanings (Venkatraman & MacInnes, 1985). However, various known moderators notwithstanding, the key always seems to be that people consciously process information before they decide what to buy (or eat, or drink, etc.). Although this emphasis on information processing is highly useful, it also has an inherent danger. The flavor of the approach is conscious and highly intrapersonal. That is, the general picture that emerges is that of a conscious decision maker who negotiates decisions based on processing the pros and cons of a certain product. There is no doubt that people sometimes do this, especially when such products are important and expensive, but very often they do not.

2.3.1 Malleable automatic attitudes

Given that consumer choices are at least partly based on automatically activated attitudes, the consequences of these findings are far-reaching. These automatically activated attitudes are not stable, and hence, they do not always lead to the same choices. Instead, such attitudes are partly determined by the current social environment and by current goals. Moreover, people are generally unaware of the moderating effects of these subtle influences.

2.4 The Identification of Factor Influencing Destination Choice

Choice has been defined as a transformation of motivation in purchasing action (Buhalis, 2000). The destination choice is made by alternative evaluation based on individual preferences and goals, while evaluation of tourist product is based on individual evaluative criteria (Moutinho, 1987).

Factors that influence consumer behaviour can be internal and external to the individual. Among the internal determinants are social and personal, while the external ones include confidence in the travel agency, the overall image of alternatives, previous travel experience, travel constraints (time, cost, etc), degree of perceived risk, etc. Among the major influences of individual travel behaviour are family, reference groups, social classes, culture and subculture that determine individual’s personality, learning, motivation, perception (of alternatives) and attitudes (Moutinho, 1987). Eilat and Einav (2004) add destination risk to be one of the factors that influence destination choice, which, according to him, is important for both developed and less-developed countries, while fashion, common boarder, common language, and distance are also important determinants especially in less-developed countries (Eilat and Einav, 2004).

To understand consumer behaviour, it is necessary to examine the complex interaction of many influencing internal and external factors (Moutinho, 1987). Moutinho’s study (1987) deals with determinants of behaviour, culture and reference group influences, the relationships between individuals and their environments, perceived risks, and family decision processes.

Numerous literature studies identify social, cultural, personal, and psychological factors that influence destination choice. Cultural factors consist of culture, sub-culture, and social class. Many researchers have noticed significance of culture.

Culture is a set of beliefs, values, ideas, attitudes and customs that characterise a particular society (Cateora and Keavency, 1987, cited in Pyne and Dimanche, 1996; Moutinho, 1987). Consumer behaviour is gradually determined by his/her culture. Culture with its norms and standards guide a consumer’s behaviour (Moutinho, 1987). Cultural norms have an impact on both tourists’ expectations and their perceptions of received service quality. People from different cultural background have different image perceptions of a destination (Bonn et al, 2005). According to Weiermair (2000), culture affects not only the way in which people experience and interpret goods and services, but it has also an impact on decision-making process and destination choice. Understanding of cultural particularities of a target group can explain and forecast tourists’ behaviour. The influence of culture and cultural differences on customer behaviour have been analysed in a variable marketing literature (Usinier, 1993; Keegan, 1984, cited in Weiermair, 2000).

Among the social factors are reference groups, family, roles and status. Reference groups – family, religion, ethic groups, trade union, neighbourhood etc – can be classified by primary (personal contact with a group) and secondary (occasionally), formal (trade union) and informal (neighbourhood) (Moutinho, 1987). Personal factors include age, life cycle stage, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, and personality.

Psychological factors are perhaps the most complex and difficult to understand and consist of motivation (theories of human motivation: Marshall, Freud, Veblen, Herzberg, Maslow), perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes.

Another important determinant of tourist’s behaviour towards destinations and services is the tourist’s self-image – what a person thinks he or she is and what a person wants to be. There is a relationship between self-image and product image that determines tourist’s behaviour towards destinations and services. Perception and cognition influence the evaluation and judgemental process. Attitude and intention, created by learning and experience are other important concepts in tourists’ behaviour discussions (Moutinho, 1987).

The importance of previous travel experience in the destination choice has got wide discussions between the researchers. Many of them consider previous experience on the destination to be a significant factor in the destination selection process. Thus, Woodside and Lysonski (1989, cited in Oppermann, 1997) consider that previous travel experience is a significant factor at the motivation and information stage of the destination selection process rather than the actual destination choice. Crompton (1992, cited in Oppermann, 1997) also do not consider previous experience important however he mentions ‘unpleasant personal experience set’ as significant factor in the decision-making process of the tourists.

Chapter 5: Discussion, Implications and Suggestions
5.1 Introduction

The topic of the research is about consumer behavior in hospitality and tourism industry in Kuala Lumpur. After the researcher had analyzed the result of questionnaire through the SPSS system, the researcher needs to find out whether the results match with the hypothesis. After finishing the discussion, the researcher will then need to provide suggestion for the research topic.

5.2 Discussion

In order to know consumer behavior is help to identify the target consumer in Kuala Lumpur. This research is to found out the target market and the behavior of consumer. Base on the research finding, it shows that more of the consumer had travel experience before. The result shows that 95.5 percent of people had travel before at least 1 to 5 times. Therefore, there are a small percentage of people that do not travel before. So, the researcher can target the consumer who had travel experience to get their behavior on travel.

In the chapter 1 of the research, the research had made some hypothesis of the research title. Hypothesis is use to predict the result before distribute the questionnaire to the public. I use correlation analysis to ascertain the relationship between the influencing factors and evaluation criteria. The first hypothesis is to examine the relationship between motivation and behavior of tourism and hospitality consumer. In the research, the researcher had asked about the reason and their travel behavior. Consumer may travel with some reason and the reason can motivate them. The reasons of consumers travel because of relaxing and leisure with 82.5 percent. It mean that they are more focus on reduce the stress and walk around the world. Therefore, the reason will link with consumer behavior which is they would like to travel with who. In the result show that 51 percent of consumer would like to travel with their friends which mean that they would like to travel for relaxing and leisure with their friends. Friends also can interact with the reason of shopping. Consumer may like to shop with their friend rather than family. Besides that, 41.5 percent of consumer may like to travel with their family for sigh-seeing. In the result, consumer behavior between motivation and behavior is clearly defined. One of the example is some of the consumer would like to travel with group because of adventure. They may think people in a group will help to care for each other’s while they are travel for adventure. This shows that the first hypothesis is accepted.

The second hypothesis is the factor that will influence consumer decision-making in hospitality and tourism industry. The researcher had list out five factors and rated the important of each sub-factor from one to five (completely unimportant to most.) The most factors that will influence the consumer decision-making is personal safety and security in a hotel. Consumers believe that to protect consumer personal safety and security mean to guarantee on consumer information will not spread out. The second factor that will influence consumer decision-making is the hygiene of the hotel with 75 percent. Yet, most of the consumer did not care about the reputation of the hotel. Reputation is the factor influencing consumer decision-making but on the result show that it will not be a big influence. Most of respondents think that safety and hotel hygiene are more important than the hotel reputation.

In tourism industry, the factors that will influence consumer’s decision-making were rated. According to the factor will influence consumer decision-making in hospitality, the safety and security also be a factor that will influence in tourism industry. With the higher rate of 77 percent, consumer may think safety and security is the most important factor. Road, traffic and public transport are the second important factor which also related with safety and security. Consumer believe that with high technological transport is convenient and safety. Therefore, the moderate rate is the cultural or historical of the country with 25.5 percent. This result show that it was just some of the consumers would like to travel for the destination’ cultural or historical. Cultural or historical may had the big influence on consumer decision-making although some of the consumer did not like the historical, for example, consumer may not travel in Japan because of the secondary war in second century. The second hypothesis was also accepted.

The third hypothesis is about the important to understanding consumer behavior in hospitality and tourism industry. It is good for marketing in order to know their needs and wants. The researcher had do some survey to analyze out the consumer behavior. The result shows that 56.5 percent of respondents choose to stay in hotel and 32.5 percent of respondents choose to stay in resort surrounded by Nature Park with 33 percent. The reason of chosen the hotel or resort which is surrounded by Nature Park is to feel the natural and green environment with silent and comfortable place. Besides that, online travel package also important to match the consumer behavior. The result shows that 57.5 percent of consumer will buy the travel package and 42.5 percent would not buy. Consumer will buy the package because of the benefit of online travel package. The most of the consumer would like to buy online travel package because of buy one free one with 61 percent. They may think buy one free one is cheap. As a result, to know the consumer behavior may help to give the right information to marketing mix to produce some service and products that match the consumer needs and wants.

5.3 Suggestion

With the advancement of technology, consumers are in much better position today to travel that deal with real world while travelling. Theories and methods applied from cultural anthropology would enrich our understanding of consumption and its meaning in consumer behavior in hospitality and tourism industry in Kuala Lumpur.

Apart from getting more understanding the consumer behavior, the researcher suggest that marketing of hospitality and tourism can focus on what the consumer behavior, the reason of motivation, consumer needs and wants in order to give the good products to them. Marketing mix can do the promotions that match the needs and wants of consumers in Kuala Lumpur.

5.4 Conclusion

As a conclusion, the hypothesis had matched the result of the research topic. Insights from consumer research have significant potential for positively influencing managerial marketing.

Talking about sustainable tourism, a crucial question comes to our mind that have we achieved any success till now. This question is crucial since in several countries sustainable tourism or ecotourism or other forms of tourism that generally talks of similar objectives stated almost for a couple of decades by now. However, evidences suggest that if for the time being we keep aside other components of sustainable tourism and focus on the environmental aspect of it, it is quite a controversial topic. The reason being total carbon emissions from tourism activities in absolute term have been increasing unabatedly though it has declined to some extent on per capita basis. The primary reason for the increase of carbon emissions from tourism activities is increase in number of tourists significantly. And, in that too international tourism has been increased significantly during the last decade or so.

Aviation industry itself is responsible for more than 40% of carbon emission that can be attributed to tourism activities. About 25% can be attributed to other surface transport. Fortunately, since technology has improved tremendously and rate of emissions has been reduced in all segments involved with tourism activities, we have been able to reduce per capita emissions of carbon and other green house gases. But, the reduction rate is not enough to meet the targets set for the tourism sector. If we need to meet the target set for 2020 regarding reducing carbon foot print of tourism sector, per year reduction rate should be about 6% from now onwards which is not only difficult but impossible.

Objective

we have discussed mostly negative about achieving sustainable tourism. However, that is not a complete picture. Several initiatives have been taken from all different stakeholders to adopt sustainability mode, especially in terms of environment. Lots of awareness generation activities, regulatory aspects, knowledge transfer, and sustainable business practices have been experienced by the tourism sector all over the world, particularly, in developed countries. The prime reason why this topic has been raised today is the importance of governance in driving sustainable tourism goals. Though there are positive governance shown in bits and pieces in some cases, in general the policies can be considered as a failure. To prove the governance as an “effective instrument” to reduce environmental impacts of sustainable tourism, “policy learning” is a must based on previous and new experiences.

Scope

A new dimension has been added by sustainable tourism that includes both the conservation and preservation of the physical and cultural environment of a particular region. Hence, under sustainable tourism natural resources of the locality are to be located within the parameters which would not degrade the natural assets and the traditional livelihood of the community.

By a positive approach, efforts are carried on to encourage the community members to set the pace and direction of tourism development in a manner consistent with their lifestyle and tradition in order to respect the cultural heritage of every region. Integrated .community participation between the local people, the local government and national level plan makers has to be adopted.

Ecology and economy are becoming ever more interwoven. Protection of the environment land development of tourism should not be seen as separate challenges. In order to be economically sustainable tourism must be environmentally sustainable to both the natural and the human environments.

It is the responsibility of the local community to wisely manage their regional assets for their own advancement and for a better quality of life. Clean physical surroundings and protected environment would provide better quality of life to the local community and the tourist alike.

Sustainable Tourism defined by World Tourism Report

The World Tourism Report defines sustainable tourism “as a model form of economic development that exemplifies stewardship of environment and sensitivity to community and cultural aspirations.”

The World Tourism Report signifies senses that the alienation of local inhabitants and takes into consideration the various sensitive issues while evolving the strategies of sustainable tourism. It realizes the sense of deprivation and marginalization of the local inhabitants.

According to the Report the broader vision could incorporate following guidelines for development of Sustainable tourism globally:

1) Tourism planning, development and operations should be in the spirit of sustainable development in being cross- sectoral and integrated, involving different government agencies, private corporations, citizens groups and individuals so as to provide for the widest possible benefits.

2) Agencies, corporations, groups and individuals should follow ethical principle which respects the culture and environment of the host area, the economy and traditional way of life, the community and traditional behavior, leadership and political patterns.

3) Due regard should be given to the protection and appropriate economic use of the natural and human environment in the host areas.

4) Tourism should be undertaken with equity in mind, with the idea of access to a fair distribution of benefits and costs among tourism promoters and host peoples and their areas.

5) Good information, research and communication on the nature of tourism and its effects on the human and cultural environment should be available prior to and during development. This information should be known to all parties, including the local people, so that they are in a position to participate in and influence the direction of, development in their area.

6) Local people should be encouraged to undertake leadership roles in the planning and development of their regional assets with the assistance of government, financial, business and other interests.

7) There should be integrated environmental, social and economic planning to link with existing uses, ways of life and environmental considerations.

8) Careful monitoring should be done to allow local community to take advantage of opportunities offered by new change.

Face of sustainable tourism in India

Sustainable tourism practices in India are not new, bound together by the twin

Travel dicta of Bharat Darshan and Atithi Devo Bhavah, now known the world over

Through the medium of the Incredible !ndia campaign.

In the fragile eco-systems, this takes on another crucial dimension. Local

Communities become the motive force for sustainable practices, especially in the

Preservation of cultural identities and natural heritage. While tempering the

Impact of the ecological footprint, this can also create the pressure point for an

Equitable local share in the economic benefits of tourism.

These considerations continue to be central to the Ministry of Tourism’s

Formulation of proposals for the 12th Five Year Plan.

This publication brings these strands together, with the expectation that tourism

Today will enable future communities and travelers to also gain from sustainable,

inclusive experiences.

12th Five Year Plan through Plan through the
following measures:

Major social awareness campaign under the ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah’

Initiative

Involving schools, NGOs, industry associations, etc. in carrying out

sustained cleanliness drives at important tourist destinations.

Suitable incentives and awards will be provided to all organizations

and individuals involved in this initiative

Top most priority will be given for sanctioning Central Financial

Assistance for setting up of way-side amenities, bio-degradable

toilets, etc.

Target of 12th Five Year Plan for Growth of Foreign and Domestic Tourist

While making efforts for the targeted 12th Five Year Plan growth in Foreign and domestic tourists, the Ministry will endeavour to make the growth sustainable. This is proposed to be achieved through the following measures:

Sustainable Tourism criteria for India (STCI) and indicators for hotels,

tour operators have been finalized. Similarly, the criteria and indicators

for rural tourism and home-stays are being evolved. Action will be

initiated for Tourism industry constituents not yet covered.

The scope of Market Development Assistance scheme would be enlarged

to cover participation of representatives of recognised national

associations in workshops/ seminars on sustainable tourism organised

by reputed organisations in India or overseas.

Training of various stake holders under the existing plan schemes of the

Ministry.

Role of Governments – Central, State and Local

Governments – Central, State and Local – have a critical role in determining the policies for sustainable tourism. Moreover, many policies and much of the legislation surrounding sustainable tourism falls in the area of governance, such as land use, labour laws, environmental regulations and waste disposal. One of

the primary functions of the Government in enhancing Sustainable Tourism is

therefore to create an environment that enables or influences the private sector to

operate more sustainably, and influences patterns of visitor flows and behaviour

to optimize the impact of tourism. Positive intervention by the Government is thus

necessary, going beyond providing an enabling environment

Against this background, it was considered necessary to define criteria for

sustainable tourism to suit Indian conditions, specifically taking cognizance of

India’s attainments in sustainability while also considering criteria generated by

other sources including GSTC. As several stakeholders in sustainable tourism such

as airlines etc fall outside the ambit of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India,

the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India at present include only the tour

operators and the accommodation sectors which come directly within the

Ministry’s purview.

National Workshop on Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India

Accordingly, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India convened a National

Workshop on Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India in July 2010.

Based on the recommendations of this National Workshop on Sustainable Tourism

Criteria for India, a sub-committee chaired by Joint Secretary (Tourism),

Government of India and comprising expert stakeholders was constituted in 2010

for defining Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) and indicators.

Key concerns kept in mind by the Committee were :

The key concerns for STCI , Ministry of Tourism, Government of India are as follows below

(i) Carrying capacity.

(ii) Anthropogenic character, applying to all major human impacts on the

environment.

(iii) Local community participation, engagement and benefit.

(iv) Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India guidelines.

(v) Bio-degradable toilets.

(vi) Water harvesting.

(vii) Lessons from successes and failures, national & international.

(viii) Institutional certification and viewpoints: ISO, BIS, BEE, LEED etc.

(ix) Polluter Pays Principle.

Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) and indicators

The Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) and indicators, evolved by the Committee for the accommodation sector and the tour operators sector together with two case references, are annexed with this Report.

The ratification of these indicators and criteria by the industry associations has

progressed well and they are now accordingly planned for implementation.

Among the ensuing tasks the foremost is implementation of the criteria and

indicators for tour operators and the accommodation sector and the development

of criteria and indicators for rural tourism and home-stays and other sectors.

The implementation of Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India will progress on the basis of:

1. Workshops to advocate sustainability by the Ministry of Tourism,

Government of India for all stakeholders across the regions of the country.

2. Extensive range of incentives for establishments complying with STCI,

specially focusing on international market access through the Ministry’s

Market Development Assistance scheme and also operational advantage

concerning energy, water and other input requirements as feasible.

3. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India support to proposals from all

tourism sector associations for skill development as in ‘Hunar Se Rozgar’ for

unskilled, low-skilled and, semi-skilled and craftsperson categories.

4. MSME tourism service providers to be specially supported after meeting eligibility and STCI compliance conditions.

5. Certification through innovative use of existing mechanisms, there being to

need for appointing consultants or a project monitoring unit.

6. Training of Trainers for Sustainable Tourism through institutional

arrangements.

7. School and college curricula to incorporate sustainable tourism.

8. Advance calendar of participatory activies displayed on the Ministry’s

website.

9. Capacity building in industry and the Government by identifying institutions

for developing a pool of trainers, training of trainers, etc.

10. Evolving governance coefficients, using contemporary technology, for

incorporation in the rating / approval mechanism to enable realistic

monitoring and evaluation of sustainable tourism implementation by all

tourism industry constituents.

Projects Undertaken towards development of Sustainable Toursim

Charitable Projects within India

Greaves is dedicated to preserving the natural habitats of the places we serve and to improve the welfare of the people and communities who live in these areas. We are committed to a set of environmental ethics.

Below are some of the projects, Greaves are presently involved with and support through private and company contributions

Jaisalmer in Jeopard :

Greaves Travel has developed and maintained strong links with heritage conservation bodies working in India, particularly ‘Jaisalmer in Jeopardy’ (JiJ). Founded in 1996 by writer and photographer Sue Carpenter, with Mehera Dalton, Managing Director of Greaves Travel as a founder trustee and also Chairman of JIJ. Dalton is committed to the conservation of Indian heritage and has helped to sponsor JiJ’s events and site visits to Jaisalmer, as well as organised tours of JiJ projects.

JiJ’s objectives, as set out in its charity deeds, are “To secure, for the benefit of the public, the preservation and protection of the architectural and historical heritage of Jaisalmer and to educate the public in the history and architecture of the city”.

Rehwa Soceity:

Handloom weaving in Maheshwar has an ancient history, dating back to some 1500 years. The Maharaja of Indore from the Holker family, established the ‘Rehwa Society’ to revitalize this cottage industry. Today, through the Rehwa Society, the weavers can preserve this ancient Indian skill and look forward to preserving the traditions of this craftsmanship. Visits to Ahilya Vihar and the Ahilya School can be arranged as part of a tour to the region with accommodation at the gorgeous Ahilya Fort.

Greaves supports this art and industry, by purchasing their products, selling them and repatriating the funds to Rehwa. This helps to ensure the independence of the women weavers, providing them with their own source of income, which in turn, ensures their way of life and their family’s prosperity. Learn more about Rehwa projects by visiting their website www.rehwasociety.org Contact Greaves to arrange a private visit and tour of the Rehwa projects.

Happy Home & School for the Blind ,Mumbai ,India :

The entry way of a low built building in Worli, Mumbai, is decorated with a gorgeous life size mural of the tree of life. When you look closer, you will see that the mural has been made of tiny mosaic tiles, perfectly aligned and colour coordinated to create the beautiful design. This is the first example of the wonderful work of the blind children in this school. These designs, along with other mosaics created by the blind children in The Happy Home & School For The Blind, have been printed on Christmas cards. Greaves was proud to support the school by sponsoring the production and printing of these cards. This provided a lucrative source of funds for the school as the cards proved to be extremely popular and were sold out immediately. Greaves continues to provide support.

A visit to this school is inspiring not just for the atmosphere of hope and spotless surroundings, but to witness the possibilities that these children now have and the doors that are now open to them and their future. Meher Banaji’s many years of dedication as Principal, have given these children of India a home where they are cared for and trained to live a productive life.

Greaves would be happy to arrange a visit to the school when you are in Mumbai,

Travel Operation for Tigers :

Travel Operators for Tigers (TOFT) was created as a UK travel industry campaign, in cooperation with Global Tiger Patrol (GTP) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

The basic premise of the TOFT campaign is that legal, responsible, well managed tourism into India’s finest wildernesses and Tiger Reserves is the very best way to save the forests of India and its tigers. Tourism provides the economic imperative and the best reason for protecting Tigers, and if protected, a natural flow of protecting the landscapes and habitats that they exist on becomes invaluable and critically undervalued ‘ecological services’ that forests and their biodiversity provide in terms in water storage, medicines and carbon sinks to name just a few.

For every wild life tour booked with Greaves, we make a contribution of ?10.00 per person, which is sent to the TOFT campaign for use on host of visible TOFT sponsored projects in and around Project Tiger Parks. TOFT projects are presently in India’s National Parks of Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Pench, Ranthambore and Corbett. See our ‘A A Jungle Journey’ holiday tour for ideas on visiting some of these parks during your visit.

For more information on TOFT and how to become more involved, contact Greaves or visit the TOFT website at www.toftigers.org

Salaam Baalak Trust:

Salaam Baalak Trust runs five 24-hour full care shelters for children, one being devoted to girl children. These shelters, located in Delhi and Gurgaon, provide the children security, a sense of home, and an opportunity to receive all the critical inputs of childhood. They aim at restoring the childhood in children besides instilling in them the values of independence and decision-making, education and social values and financial self-dependence to become mature and responsible citizen of the country and caring and responsive members of the society.

For our travellers, Greaves arranges interesting city walks through the streets of the inner city of Paharganj and the New Delhi railway station area. These spirited youngsters of India will take you on a tour while sharing with you the journey of their lives. The walk is given from the perspective of the guides who enjoy sharing their lives and experiences.

The walk includes the living and built heritage of the area, taking you down the back streets to find hidden cultural practices and gives you a feel for life here in yesteryear. You will also see how the trust provides opportunities for street children of India and see what amazing things they can achieve when given an opportunity.

The city walk aims to sensitize people to the lives of street children in India. It’s a unique way of engaging people in the lives of children in distress. The walking tour also provides an opportunity for the young people of India to improve their communication and speaking skills. All proceeds go directly to the trust to enable more opportunities to be made for street children so the walk is 100% non-profit making.

USAID India:

USAID India focuses on the environmentally degraded neighborhoods within Agra near the Taj Mahal monument. The Crosscutting Program (CAP) is aimed at engaging youth and women from disadvantaged communities of India to address issues of livelihoods, sanitation and environment improvement in selected low-income settlements in the city. The project works to increase livelihoods and provide infrastructure upgrades around a Heritage Trail of lesser-known monuments in Agra.

CAP has empowered these communities of India by organizing community groups with the capacity to address their livelihood needs. At the community level there are now more organized groups addressing a diverse set of needs and participating in project implementation.

Women of India in particular have been empowered through their involvement in livelihood groups. They learn to operate bank accounts, receive and deposit check payments, manage finances and deal with clients and are now more financially secure and better able to advocate for their rights within their family.

Women of India in particular have been empowered through their involvement in livelihood groups. They learn to operate bank accounts, receive and deposit check payments, manage finances and deal with clients and are now more financially secure and better able to advocate for their rights within their family.

Building Knowledge and Capabilities for development of Tourism Sector in India

According to Ministry of tourism, Government of India with their active interactions with their stakeholders, various plans and programmes would be continuously prepared and implemented. Knowledge and capabilities of the officers and staff would be enhanced by refresher training programmes, deputing them to national and international seminars/ workshops on new areas of tourism development site visits to successful tourism spots, learning from the best practices around the world, etc. Regular market surveys and studies will be carried out to understand the requirements of tourists as also the impact of past promotional measures to take requisite corrective or new policy initiatives.

There are certain estimated priorities by Government with following weightage :

Interpretation of Data

We have interpreted above data from various primary and secondary sources a. One of the general objectives of the Indian Tourism Policy (2002) is to …’substantially increase the proportion of the urban resident leisure and pilgrimage tourism to rural areas….’. It proposes the development of tourist services in villages and rural regions located off the beaten tourist tracks. To this effect, in collaboration with the UNDP, it initiated a public rural tourism program geared towards all round, instantaneous village development: the Endogenous Tourism Project / Rural Tourism Scheme. The project was meant to be implemented in 31 villages across 20 states. Most of these villages harbored traditional artisans (weavers, potters, sculptors, block printers and the like) who were thought to attract tourists. Local or nearby NGOs were identified as the most important implementing agents in the otherwise ‘community-owned’ project.

To protect the environment, enhance host community heritage and enrich the visitor’s experience aˆ¦ The new tourism will be community-owned, culturally expressive and environmentally sustainable.

Initiatives for Boosting Sustainable Tourism:

aˆ? To develop audits, scoping projects and preliminary assessments of tourism

Development potential in regions;

aˆ? To identify tourism and heritage issues which need to be considered in management?

Regional or business planning;

aˆ? To develop regional heritage and tourism strategic plans and action plans;

aˆ? To assist in developing business plans for new or existing heritage tourism products;

aˆ? To foster more effective planning for infrastructure development at heritage places &

aˆ? To evaluate options and establish a stronger business case for an idea or proposal.

Guidelines influencing Sustainable tourism in India:

aˆ? Inclusive decision-making

aˆ? Sustainable development

aˆ? Tourism and heritage principles

aˆ? Appropriate tourism development.

Inclusive decision-making

Four key perspectives are involved in tourism and heritage – those of tourism operators, heritage managers, visitors and the community. They all have particular ideas, issues and interests. If all groups are to benefit, the perspectives of these groups need to be considered in making decisions for the future.

Sustainable development

Sustainable development needs to address economic, social and environmental issues. Many businesses now include social and environmental factors as part of their performance measurement.

Tourism and heritage principles

An important complementary publication to this framework is Successful Tourism at Heritage Places. It sets out principles, guidelines and case studies that illustrate success factors in tourism at natural and cultural heritage places.

The principles from Successful Tourism at Heritage Places underpin this framework and should be a starting point for discussions and collaboration. They are: 1. recognize the importance of heritage places

2. Look after heritage places

3. Develop mutually beneficial partnerships

4. Incorporate heritage issues into business planning

5. Invest in people and place

6. Market and promote products responsibly

7. Provide high-quality visitor experiences

8. Respect Indigenous rights and obligations.

Appropriate tourism development

Steps to Sustainable Tourism sets out an approach to help develop appropriate long-term solutions for tourism at places with natural and cultural heritage values. It also seeks ways to support growth in the tourism industry while ensuring that conservation needs are met.

Tourism will not be an option for some environments or heritage places where it is incompatible with the special values or management objectives of a place. Using the process in this guide will enable you to assess whether this is the case.

.
Conclusion

Sustainable tourism cannot be viewed in isolation as an end in itself, since so many elements of tourism are in fact interdependent and linked to other elements of living, doing business and community life. So, it should also be looked at, not in isolation, but within a ‘balanced’ framework of indicators. We should mainly aim to work within 4 elements – the Visitor, the Industry (Businesses/Economy), the ENVIRONMENT and lastly the Community to look at overall tourism development. So sustainable tourism development then becomes a function of each of these four principles or elements and relates to each of them and how they have a cause and effect on each other interdependently. Definitely, more work required within this area.

Sustainable tourism could be stated as ,

” The RIGHT VISITOR product and service

provided and offered within the RIGHT COMMUNITY

which produces the RIGHT ECONOMIC (industry) impact and value

in order to maintain and sustain the RIGHT ENVIRONMENT locally..”

The process of conducting research on the business environment within which the organization operates and on the organization itself, in order to formulate and implementation of strategy for future business operations can be mentioned as Strategic analysis of hospitality organization. To do the assessment can use number of tools to process of strategic analysis, including PEST (sometimes PESTLE) for analyze external environment and, SWOT analysis use for the internal environmental scanning, and Michael Porter’s five forces model use to assists to understand the competitive forces, the attractiveness and current position in the industry.

An effective way to know the past, present and future potentials regarding the industry development is analyzing the industry background as the part of strategic analysis. The External analysis can assess the factors affecting the industry to be existed including political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental which have great impacts to run the business and use PESTLE analysis.

In any industry which it is domestic or international, whether relating to products or services, the rules of competition are personified in five competitive forces of entry of new competitors, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, and rivalry among the existing competitors. According to Porter, one of the crucial determinants of firm profitability is industrial attractiveness.

In this assignment, a strategic analysis of the Galadhari hotel which is in hospitality industry has been done through the combination of both theoretical and practical facts regarding this property including organizational background and industry background of this hospitality sector in Sri Lanka, an assessment of the forces affecting the external environment (the use of PESTLE analysis) and an assessment of the attractiveness of this industry (the use of Porter’s 5 forces) regarding the future strategic action to grab more hospitality market share.

Background of the industry and about Organization

By concerning about the Sri Lankan market of tourism there can be seen growth in the tourist market. All this euphoria gives rise to the doubt about whether Sri Lanka Tourism is well on the way to recovery and growth or not. For the last seven months that ended July this year (2010), arrivals are up almost 50% year-on-year (YOY) (341,991), with income also keeping pace at 69% growth (Quarter 2; US$ 244.5 million). The hotel and travel Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) index has been increased by almost 200% for 2009. Today tourism is running on everyone’s minds, and it is difficult to open a local newspaper without seeing at least one written article on tourism.

The reason for the dramatic improvement in Sri Lanka’s tourism data is the victory of war in May 2009. This would be a remarkable result when compared with other regional tourism destinations. Another reason for this improvement was the leader of the terrorist has killed and there is reason for cautious optimism that the social situation in Sri Lanka can improve rapidly. We can hope the company can take advantage of the ‘peace dividend’ by increasing the number of destinations the airline serves.

Hotel Galadhari is one of the leading five star luxury hotels in the Sri Lanka. The story of the Galadari Hotel, Colombo which opened its doors in 1984, is a splendid tale of continual improvement of product and highest standard of quality in hospitality over the past 25 years.

The vision & beliefs of the hotel is firmly grounded in extending a true personalized service to all our guests, laced with an unforgettable luxury hotel experience with the finest traditions of international hotel-keeping.

The Galadari Hotel, Colombo, meticulous about maintaining the privacy of its guests has drawn in many an elite personality from around the world such as heads of government, prime ministers of leading nations, royalty, well known sports & music personalities over the past two and half decades.

Situated in Colombo city with many a historical building within walking distance and a panoramic view of the magnificent Indian ocean, the Galadari Hotel offers a rich blend ofA service and quality in five star luxury living with 450 room super luxury hotel in Sri Lanka that overlooks the Indian Ocean and is adjacent to the Presidential Secretariat, Banks and the World Trade Center, with easy access to the shopping areas in Colombo. In hotel they are so many facilities are available, coffee shop lobby bar, chine’s restaurant, Scheherazade Arabic restaurant, pastry shop and garden terrace, karaoke, pub and also have health club and pool, body care and massage therapy ,bed-and-breakfast hospitality properties are available to accommodate the guests and the basic requirements of their comfortable stay.

Hospitality sector is a great source of income generation for the new investors.For instance, annual turnover (in2008) was Rs. 164 (million), operating profit (in2008) was Rs.13.65(million), growth in turnover (in 2009) was 25 percent, number of rooms is 450 rooms, average occupancy rate was 80 percent and growth in local hospitality sector is 15 percent. Now, it is easy to understand that how much revenue earning Galadhari hotel in its sector of hospitality.

Mission of Hotel Galadari

We are exceptional operators of contemporary 4 and 5 star hotels and create value in every encounter with our owners, guests and associates.

Vision

Exceptional and personalized service, exceeding expectations, and inspiring a connection to our brand in the experiences we provide.

Values

Exceptional Service – Company understand that the value can be created with every encounter and this is reflected in its superior standard of service.

Integrity – honest and straightforward in our interactions with hotel owners, guests, colleagues and the communities in which hotel operate

Respect – Hotel Galadari respect the objectives of our stakeholders, the values of its guests, and the cultural difference in the locations that it operate.

Teamwork and Passion – We bring our individual expertise, creativity and passion for industry as a Hotel Galadari team member.

Continuous Improvement – Hotel is innovative and utilizes best practices to continually improve its management techniques, and the quality of products and services.

Strengths and Weakness
Strengths
Visitors from Western Europe also prefer to stay in hotels in the southern coastal belt where the main attraction is the beaches. So Location of the Hotel Galadhari is strength to the organization to enhance their businesses.
There has also been a downturn in the arrival of Indians, who prefer Colombo hotels.
Colombo city hotels have been able to maintain higher occupancy levels than hotels on the southern coastal belt because of more business travelers, and special visitors such as those coming for conferences. Hence Galadhari also have more business opportunities in the Colombo city.
Since then the leisure sector has under-performed hugely, and Galadhari hotel has more facilities to spend the day more leisurely.
Well expertise work group has Galadhari to give satisfied service to their customers
Weaknesses
The location of the hotel is in the high security zone in Colombo which is Located in Galle Face Green promenade and with views over the Indian Ocean, this property offers a high level of service and security. Hence it could get difficulties to the tourists. Situated right next to the World Trade Center and the President’s Residence, the hotel enjoys the most secure part of the city.
The distance to hotel between airport is very far and gets more time to re ach hotel. It could cause to the business conferences which are held in the hotel. The main purpose of the established of Galadari Hotel is to attract the overseas seminars & conferences to the Sri Lanka. Because of the distance to Airport and hotel is too far and get more time to reach to the destination. And also the traffic on the roads is mainly impact to the time it takes to come to the hotel. Because of these reasons the main purpose has not been achieved.
Galadhari has only few room facilities and they have enough land to build new hotel rooms in their own land.
Hotels Galadhari has high gearing, high costs to maintain staff, and for refurbishment.
Factors affecting the external environment in hospitality

In strategic planning, external analysis of hospitality industry has been done with the use of PESTLE analysis and Porter’s 5 (five) forces in defining the strategy, making decisions on allocating resources to pursue the strategy.

Source: http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/Statistics_book.pdf (Access: 15th September 2010)

Source: http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/Statistics_book.pdf (Access: 15th September 2010)

PESTLE Analysis
(P)olitical Factors

In Sri Lanka it is socialist republic, state. The government is a mixture of the parliamentary and presidential system. Head of the state is president and current President is Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksha and he is the chief of armed forces and head of government.

When the companies formulate and implement the strategies the political arena has a huge impact upon the regulation of businesses, and the spending power of consumers and other businesses. We have to concern about how stable is the political environment, influence of polices, laws that regulate or tax your business, What is the government’s position on marketing ethics, government’s policy on the economy, government view on culture and religion, government involvement in trading agreements.

State has main responsibility to facilitate to the tourists and funding to the tourism products development projects and do promotions to attract the tourists to the country. On the other hand government has to encourage local and foreign investors to invest their money to develop tourism products and liberate taxes.

To growth of the tourism infrastructure facilities are directly affect. So government has the main responsibility to develop and maintain infrastructure. Educated workforce in international standard is also important to give good and satisfactory service to the customers. Because of that government has make rules and regulations to standardize.

A change in government party is directly impact to the any industry in the country because their policies it will effect to run the business. When the government strict their security policies it highly impact to the Galadhari hotel. Because tourist who are coming to the hotel. It leads to waste time and may be getting bad image among the tourists.

The Tourism Act No 38 of 2005 came into effect in October 2007. With the flow of the new Tourism act, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board Act No 10 of 1966, which was in effect for the past 41 years, was replaced.

In terms of the requirements contained in the new act, the Tourism Development Fund was officially constituted, with 2 main sources remitting finances to the fund. By way of 1/3 of the Airport Tax collections and 1% of the Turnover of all Sri Lanka Tourist Board registered establishments. The Act provided for the setting up of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, thereby replacing the Sri Lanka Tourist Board.

(E)conomic factors

In Sri Lanka it has open economy and the Gross Domestic Pproduct grew at an average annual rate of 5.5% in the country. In Sri Lanka service sector is strong in the economy and it indicate 58%, fro agriculture its’ 12.8% and from industry 29.2%.

Almost everyone talks about Sri Lanka tourism being the engine of growth and expects it to play a pivotal role in the economy and it has improved in 6% in this year.

Tourism give benefits to the economy as well as it are the cost to the economy. Tourism process also involves economic costs, including the direct costs incurred by tourism businesses, government costs for infrastructure to better serve tourists, congestion and related costs borne by individuals in the community.

Economic impacts are also become crucial factors in marketing and management decisions which are directly effecting. Communities therefore need to understand the relative importance of tourism to their region, state or community.

Tourism provides great opportunities for regional development particularly for regional areas undergoing structural change. Being a labor intensive industry, with the right motivation tourism can deliver great employment and training opportunities particularly for young people who like to be professionals in this field.

(S)ocial Factor

Sri Lanka being a multi-religious, multi-ethnic country with a population of 22 million plus’s Lankan culture is a rich blend of the interaction of diverse cultural patterns both indigenous and derived from, trade, religions which are Buddhism – 69%, Islam – 15%, hinduism – 8%, Christianity – 8%. The cultural patterns of Sri Lanka today show the lasting impact of a diverse range of cultures..

The overall culture is largely the result of the impact of the introduction of Buddhism, more than 2,300 years ago and Hinduism the second most prevalent religion in Sri Lanka. This does not erase the heavy influence of Hinduism, together with the lesser impact of Islam, and Christianity.

By concerning about the education background the literacy rate of 92%, and 83% of the total population having had secondary education in the country. Sri Lanka has one of the most literate populations amongst developing countries.

Tourists appreciate the hospitality of Sri Lankan People. When the hotel Galadhari provide the services like cabare dancing, supplying prostitutes are not suitable to the Sri Lankan culture.

The bad effects of the tourism can said that tourism has affected the values of our people, particularly our youth. It is true that some tourists engage in anti – social acts. Some of the tourists are drug addicts or perverts and corrupt our youth and they spread incurable diseases such as aids. But we should keep in mind that all the tourists are not black sheep.

(T)echnological Factors

Technological factors are also important fact which effect to the hotel industry in many ways which are comprises the utilization of the latest inventions and technologies facilitate the business activities which are digital telephone facilities, broadband Internet connection, Wi-Fi technology, multimedia projector, LCD screens, online reservation systems, property management software and online information exchange program (Point of Sale) etc.

Now a day’s technology is rapidly changing in the world day by day. As the five star hotel Galadhari should doubt to the new technology in the market. It will help the organization to have competitive advantages. Technology can used to reservation, online services like online booking, do the promotions.

The rapid development of technology is affecting the businesses in Sri Lanka and all over the world. Changes in the technology have changed the way businesses operate i.e. Internet booking for tickets and holidays.

Faster changing development in technology creates a need to react quickly for different businesses in order they want to maintain the competitive environment by providing the same innovative services, which their competitors are offering. Distribution of products by the use of technologies.

(L)egal Factor

When concerning about the legal factors include tourism act, discrimination law, consumer law, employment law and health and safety. These factors can affect how a hotel operates, its costs, and the demand for its products in tourist industry.

The Tourism Act No 38 of 2005 came into consequence in October 2007. With the flow of the new Tourism act, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board Act No 10 of 1966, which was in achieve for the past more than forty years, was replaced. In conditions of the supplies controlled in the new act, the Tourism Development Fund was legally constituted, with two main sources remitting funds to the fund. By way of 1/3 of the Airport Tax collections and 1% of the earnings of all Sri Lanka Tourist Board registered establishments.

Attracting and promotion is handled by the Tourism Promotion Bureau. Tourism HRD functions and the Hotels School operations are undertaken by the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management. The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau was also restructured as a statutory body like other Institutions to be managed by an independent Board of Management

(E)nvironmental Factor

Hotel Galadhari is situated in the Colombo and in Colombo it hasn’t proper drainage disposal system and the hotel dispose its drainage to the sea. Because of that so many environmental issues occurred around that. When we promote tourism there are thousands and thousands of tourists unleashed annually in the country, without proper planning, there is bound to be serious environmental and sustainability issues. Such large-scale and fast track growth has to be carefully planned and managed within specific tourism zones to prevent environmental and cultural degradation.

Individual hotel developments will not suffice. Such well-planned, large-scale tourist resorts can be designed to encompass sound sustainable environmental practices (e.g., common self-contained sewage disposal facilities with recycling of water, solar lighting for resort public areas, no-build green belts within resorts, etc).

Such organized and well-managed, large-scale developments contained in several designated zones will help mitigate most of the possible negative fallout of the socio-cultural and environmental aspects. Building and subsequent maintenance should be under strict environmentally-sustainable guidelines.

Hotel industry directly affect to the environmental pollution in the country. As the five stars category hotel, Galadhari has the responsibility to protect our environment and also developments in the country and have to think about the pollution

Assessing the Attractiveness of the Hotel in the Industry
Threat of new entity

According to tourism act the new entrant has to abide by this regulation to establish a hotel as well as charges for the services. In the business arena, the number of competitors increases when any business organization makes good profit and has a good potentiality for future.

According to current situation, entry barriers are high and exit barriers are low, few new firms can enter into the industry and poorly performing firms can easily exit. After the war Sri Lankan government has opened the market to new investors to invest their money to build new hotels as the hotel industry is now booming in the country.

In that situation so many hotels are building in the north area and customers willing to go in those areas. New entities are use new technology and specialist knowledge to develop their business and it may be affect growth of the business of Galadhari hotel.

There are factors related with the threats of new entrants in the hotel industry in Sri Lanka which are as follows-

Easy credit facilities for new entrepreneurs in hospitality industry and Legal supports from the government for local entrepreneurs
Infrastructure development
Policies for foreign investors to establish world-class organization including tax exemptions, ownership, duty, tax law and remittance,
‘National Tourism Policy and Vision’ to boost up the tourism and hospitality industry,
Fewer numbers of competitors in the current marketplace. (Only 5 five-star hotels in Sri Lanka).
Higher profit margin
Threat of substitute products

As the hotel industry specifically targets on accommodation, entertainment and fooding facilities, the substitutes of these facilities may include other food industries (fast food and restaurants), entertainment (bar, discos, clubs etc.) and for accommodation facilities sharing with private establishment (visiting friends and relatives) and others related with accommodation facilities.

Every customer looks for high perceive value in their owned products. Substitute products are goods and services from outside a given industry that perform similar or the same function as a product that the industry produces. In this context, many organizations focus on their competitors rather than substitute products and the market share declines concurrently, therefore the market strategies should be flexible to cope with such threats.

In the hospitality industry, the substitutes may include various types of guest houses, inns, motels, private-owned guest houses, condominiums, small boutique hotels, bread-and-breakfast hotels and apartment hotels which might be the threats for a specific star-category hotel like Galadhari.

In this current marketplace, there are many substitutes of the star-category hotels in Colombo for accommodation – Jaj -Samudra, Gall face Hotel, Hilton, Mount Lavinia,.; for food – KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, BFC, Pizza Corner, Dominos Pizza etc.; for entertainment – night Clubs, many more which might distract the customers rather than the hospitality industry to have the products and services of a hotel.

Competitive Rivalry among existing players

In the conventional financial mock-up, contest between rival companies drives profits to zero and is not ideal and companies are not simple inactive price takers. Rather, companies struggle for a competitive benefit over their rivals. The strength of rivalry among firms varies across industries, and tactical analysts are paying attention in these differences.

In this current competitive period, the tough contest among business organizations increases when number of competitors are in the same marketplace based on their products categories, target markets, types of services, financial affordability, volume of the organization, profitability and potentiality of the market trends for long term business. In this case, price discount, special offers, lower profit margin and turn down in the market share are generally occurring between competitors.

In Colombo, the rivalry among competitors is really high as this hospitality is a booming sector in Sri Lanka and only few competitors in the five-star category hotels in Sri Lanka to serve the customers.

Moreover, the customers are trying to defend each other through products variation, service quality improvement, defining new target markets, exploring new products innovation and development and providing exclusive facilities to the guests.

The competitive rivalry is happening in hospitality industry in the Sri Lanka and it is also affect to the hotel like Galadhari. When the company implements their strategies they should have Varity in their products and services.

Bargaining power of suppliers

The suppliers can play one of the main roles in developing or declining the reflection of an organization .When the suppliers are more, the bargaining power of them generally goes down whereas fewer suppliers can demand more benefits from the organization.

Suppliers are those firms or individuals that provide contribution into the creation of an industry’s production on time. It could be in forms of resources and raw materials, services, employment, direct products and others obligatory stuff by the organization.

Now a day most of the services have out source in the companies. In the hotel industry, the suppliers are involved in various departments including rooms, food and beverages, IT, guest and travel bookings, security assurance, property management, transport, ensuring business facilities etc. The suppliers in case of hotel of Galadhari is including travel agents and tour operators for guest reservations as well as corporate clients, educational institutions for manpower supply, IT firms for property management software and IT solutions, local importers for international food and beverages supply, security agents for safety and security, local rent-a-car for special arrangement etc.

Bargaining power of customers

One of the main parties is customer in every organization. Customers mean consumers or intermediaries those who buy the production of an organization to have or resell it to someone else in the market. If there are various products and huge competition, customer bargaining power rises up and vice versa.

The bargaining power of customers depends on some factors like requirements of the customers, time and convenience to the desired destinations and thus, they can easily toggle into another product.

By considering the hotel industry in Sri Lanka, the bargaining power of customers are very high and they have enough options to toggle into another hotels by comparing in terms of costs, quality of service, product categories and special offers provided particularly for group bookings and long-term stay. Sometimes Galadhari hotel has rack rate of the hotel facilities.

In the pick seasons like December, the bargaining power of the customers becomes lower and lower. When in the tourism season the hotel has unbearable customers and their bargaining power also very high in this season.

7.0 Conclusion

The process of conducting research on the business environment within which the organization operates and on the organization itself, in order to formulate and implementation of strategy for future business operations can be mentioned as Strategic analysis of hospitality organization. To do the assessment can use number of tools to process of strategic analysis, including PEST (sometimes PESTLE) for analyze external environment and, SWOT analysis use for the internal environmental scanning, and Michael Porter’s five forces model use to assists to understand the competitive forces, the attractiveness and current position in the industry.

What is the largest and most visited resort in the world? Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida is the largest and most visited place in the world. The Walt Disney World Resort contains a variety of places to visit. Disney World offers four famous theme parks, two water parks, along with many other Disney themed attractions.

Walt Disney World has five golf courses total. Four of which are 18-hole courses. Those courses include, Disney’s Palm Golf Course, Disney’s Mangolia Golf Course, Bonnet Creek Golf Course, and Lake Buena Vista Course. Three of those courses are on the PGA Tour. Disney also offers one 9-hole course called Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course. The golf courses offer golf carts for guests to use. Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland are two of Disney’s miniature golf course.

Walt Disney’s water parks include Typhoon Lagoon, and Blizzard Beach. Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon has the largest outdoor water park in the world. Typhoon Lagoon’s mascot is called Lagoona Gator. The legend of this park is, a typhoon came and flung fishing supplies, surfing gear, and ships all around the park. In the middle of the park is a shrimp boat, “Miss Tilly.” The shrimp boat is on a mountain that gushes water out every half hour for a waterfall. This park offers raft rides, waterslides, a wave pool, and even a shark reef. Teens and adults can go snorkeling with stingrays and sharks at shark reef. Typhoon Lagoon offers rides for the whole family.

Such rides at Typhoon Lagoon include Crush N Gusher which is a roller coaster water slide. Also there are single person flume rides known as Keelhaul Falls and Storm Slides. Mayday Falls is a curvy fun inner tube ride. There is also Castaway Creek, which is an inner tube ride that goes all through the park. This park offers a lot of excitement for guests to have fun in.

Blizzard Beach is the other water park at the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of the most unique water parks. The legend of this park is that huge snowstorms lead to the constructing of a ski resort that didn’t happen because the snow didn’t last long. As the resort was closing an alligator was spotted sliding down a flume. The ski resort was made into a water park with the alligator named Ice Gator as the mascot. This park has one of the largest free falling slides in the world. Many of the slides are from Mount Gushmore. Mount Gushmore is the fifth highest point in Florida. Blizzard Beach also has a ride called Teamboat Springs which is one of the longest family raft rides.

Walt Disney has four theme parks that are very well-known. Disney’s parks include, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. There are always parades or shows involving Disney characters for children and adults to enjoy. Disney characters are almost everywhere you look at the parks to take pictures with the guests. Every park has Disney related shops and restaurants.

Magic Kingdom is the most visited park in the world. The park is represented by Cinderella’s Castle. Magic Kingdom includes seven magical lands. The lands include, Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Mickey’s Toontown Fair. Magic Kingdom has many Disney movie themed rides for the whole family. This park contains some of the famous rides such as Splash Mountain.

Adventureland is themed to resemble jungles in Asia, Africa, Middle East, and South America. The Pirates of the Caribbean ride is at this part of Magic Kingdom. At Adventureland take a magic carpet ride on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Also guests can find the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse at this section of Magic Kingdom. Attractions such as Splash Mountain and the Country Bear Jamboree can be found in Frontierland. Frontierland is the more western part of the park. Tom Sawyer Island is a place that Walt Disney actually designed.

Liberty Square contains the Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents. It is based on an American Revolutionary town. Guests can dance with Goofy and characters from Toy Story 2 at Goofy’s Country Dancin’ Jamboree. Main Street USA is the most popular area of Magic Kingdom. Many shopping areas and restaurants are found there. Cinderella’s Castle stands at the end of Main Street. The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is a major attraction for young girls to get made over into a princess at Cinderella’s Castle. Many of parades happen sporadically at this part of the park.

Fantasyland is based on a carnival theme. Fantasyland’s main attractions include, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, “it’s a small world,” Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Mad Tea Party, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Mickey’s PhilharMagic is popular here, it’s a 3-D adventure. Tomorrowland features the well-known ride, Space Mountain. Also guests can interact with Toy Story characters at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

Mickey’s Toontown Fair is the last of the seven lands at Magic Kingdom. This part of the park is exciting because it contains places that belong to the characters. Guests can meet Tinker Bell and her fairy friends at Pixie Hollow. At Toon Park guests can interact with Chip and Dale. Guests can walk through Minne Mouse’s home in this section of Magic Kingdom. Mickey’s house is also at this part of the park. Donald’s Boat is another attraction here.

One of Disney’s other parks is Animal Kingdom. This is the newest park; it is also the largest Disney theme park in the world. Animal Kingdom allows animal encounters along with live entertainment. This park is themed around animals. The park contains 250 different types of animals making the park have more than 1,700 animals. Animal Kingdom has seven different areas which include, Oasis, Discovery Island, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Asia, and Dinoland.

The Oasis is the main entrance to Animal Kingdom. This is where guests can encounter with animals such as wallabies, spoons, ducks, and giant anteaters. Rainforest Cafe is a big attraction at Oasis. It is an animal themed restaurant that has a welcoming environment. The parks Tree of Life is found at Discovery Island. Discovery Island is a main part of Animal Kingdom because it connects to all of the parts of the park besides Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The parks largest shops and restaurants are located at Discovery Island. Another main attraction of the section of Animal Kingdom is, “It’s Tough to be a Bug.”

Mickey and Minnie can be found at Camp Minnie-Mickey. At this section of the park there is a theatre that features “The Festival of the Lion King.” Africa’s main attraction is the Kilimanjaro Safaris. Guests will be able to see giraffes, hippos, elephants, and wild animals on the safari. Guests take a Wildlife Express Train to learn about animal habitats on Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Around that area there is a small petting zoo for people to interact with the animals.

Another part of Animal Kingdom is Asia. Asia contains the Maharajah Jungle Trek that guests can go through forests and see tigers, fruit bats, and komodo dragons. There is a river rapid ride located in Asia. There is also a roller coaster through the Himalayas at Expedition Everest. Dinoland has a Bone yard for kids to play in along with carnival games and gift shops. There are family rides and a roller coaster in this area of the park. One can also find “Finding Nemo – The Musical” here.

Another Walt Disney Park is Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It is represented by The Sorcerer’s Hat, which is a symbol from the film Fantasia. This park is slightly different from the other parks because it is set up differently. It contains numerous amounts of buildings and streets. There is no defined layout. The park consists of six different areas that are, Hollywood Boulevard, Echo Lake, Streets of America, Animation Courtyard, Pixar Place, and Sunset Boulevard.

Hollywood Boulevard is Hollywood Studios main entrance. There are venues everywhere you look selling Disney items. Live entertainment is always happening at this part of the park. There is a replica of the Chinese Theater that contains The Great Movie Ride inside of it. The Great Movie Ride is a dark ride that features old movies such as The Wizard of Oz. Another part of Hollywood Studios is Echo Lake. It is a small oval shaped lagoon with attractions such as The American Idol Experience and Hall of Fame Plaza. Another attraction at Echo Lake is the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! Kids can interact with plants and toys at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure at Streets of America. This area of the park is where a lot of stunts are performed. Disney’s Toy Story Plant Pizza Arcade is at this area as well.

Animation Courtyard is where guests can meet Disney’s Pixar characters. Playhouse Disney and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid are live performances at Animation Courtyard. At the Pixar Place the attraction is Toy Story Midway Mania!, which contain all of the Toy Story characters. Guests are able to see animations in movies. Last but not least, Hollywood Studio’s Sunset Boulevard contains the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roll Roller Coaster. Sunset Boulevard also features Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.

Walt Disney World’s final theme park is Epcot. Epcot’s icon is Spaceship Earth. This park is focused on international culture and technological innovation. This park only has two sections which are, World Showcase, and Future World. This park is twice the size of Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Epcot has a variety of attractions from just a simple boat ride to fast thriller rides. Epcot has Kidcot stations which offer creations of one-of-a kind souvenirs.

World Showcase contains 11 pavilions that represent different countries. Every pavilion has shops and restaurants that resemble their culture. The pavilions include Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. An attraction at World Showcase is the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. The Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure is in most pavilions. It is an electronic scavenger hunt using a type cell phone, presented by Verizon Wireless.

At the Germany pavilion characters from Snow White make appearances. In addition to Italy features Pinocchio characters. The Great American pavilion features all of the flags throughout the history of the United States. Guests take a tour through American history at this pavilion. The France pavilion shows a replica of the Eiffel Tower. There are shops that sell French items. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast make frequent appearances at the France pavilion. Characters from The Aristocats along with The Hunchback of Notre Dame also make appearances at France.

The United Kingdom has a Beatles tribute band known as The British Invasion who performs frequently there. In stores at this pavilion you are able to find Beatles souvenirs. Characters from Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, and Pirates of the Caribbean are usually at this part of World Showcase. Canada is a more outdoor pavilion. Characters from the Disney film, Brother Bear, appear in this pavilion.

The other section of Epcot is called Future World. Future World also has many pavilions. The pavilions of Future World are Spaceship Earth, Innoventions, Universe of Energy, Mission: SPACE, Test Track, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, The Land, and Imagination. The pavilions explore innovative technology. Each pavilion is sponsored by a corporation who helped fund its construction.

Spaceship Earth is one of the most known and recognizable structures that the Walt Disney World Resort has. It takes guests on a time machine experience that shows advancement in human communication. It has a timeline from how humans used to be, to how they are now. A German company called Siemens sponsors Spaceship Earth. Another pavilion in Future World is Innovations which deals with advancements in everyday life. The Great Piggy Bank Adventure, Club Cool, Segway Central, and SlapStick Studios are some of the exhibits this pavilion has to offer. Universe Energy itself was the attraction. It talked about battery powered cars and natural gas, petroleum, coal, and natural gas.

Mission: SPACE is a motion simulator ride; it gives off the feeling of an astronaut. Future World’s Test Track is sponsored by General Motors. Guests can actually drive the test cars around the track. The cars maximum speed is 64.8 miles per hour. Next to Disney’s Rock and Roll Roller Coaster, this is the fastest attraction Disney has made. The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a pavilion based on underwater discovery. It is the largest man-made underwater exhibit in the world. Attractions at this park include, Talk with Crush where kids can ask questions about the sea. The Land is a pavilion to show how we can use our land or destroy it. Nestle sponsors this part of Future World. The Circle of Life is performed here, from the film The Lion King. Eastman Kodak sponsors Imagination. An Attraction at Imagination is Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

The four parks are similar yet different. They each have different aspects and features about them. Each park has different icons and a different set up. They are alike because they all are Disney themed and have rides, shops, and food. The Disney parks are some of the most visited parks in the world.

After all of the parks are closed there is Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is opened to the public. Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, entertaining area. It has three sections, Pleasure Island, Marketplace, and West Side. The Marketplace has a lot of shopping places that include, Lego Imagination Center, Once upon a Toy, and Goofy’s Candy Company. The Marketplace has the largest Disney character store in the world.

Disney’s West Side has many large stores and nice restaurants. Attractions such as Planet Hollywood, The House of Blues, and Wolfgang Puck Cafe can be found here. Outdoor beverages and food can be found at Pleasure Island. The Orlando Harley Davidson is located at Pleasure Island. Also there is a lot of dancing that goes on at this part of Downtown Disney. One of the main attractions at Downtown Disney is Disney Quest.

Disney Quest is an indoor interactive theme park. It offers five floors of fun entertainment. The genie from Aladdin is the parks unofficial mascot. On the first floor the attractions are a Virtual Jungle Cruise where guests may get wet while dodging dinosaurs, and Pirates of the Caribbean where guests search for gold. The second floor features Sid’s Create a Toy from Toy Story where guests can make a toy then later purchase it. Radio Disney Song Maker allows guests to make a song and later purchase it. In addition to Living Easels, guests can draw something on them and later buy it. Guests can try to find the genie and collect gems on Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride.

The third floor of Disney Quest contains Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blaster which is bumper cars and Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam which is a giant pinball game. The fourth floor is a comic adventure. The fifth floor resembles the fourth floor. Disney Quest also has games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and many other arcade games. They also have games like skee ball and air hockey. They also have photo booths and claw machines.

There are over 20 Disney themed hotels within the Walt Disney Resort. There are different categories of the hotels which include, moderate, deluxe, campgrounds, value, and club villas. Most of these hotels contain a pool, shops, variety of food, room service, arcades, and playgrounds. Disney hotels are fun themed such as Disney’s All Star Movie Resort has characters from 101 Dalmatians and Toy Story. Pop Century hotel has Play-Doh and Rubik’s Cube figures to show the hotels toy, catch phrase theme. All Star Sports Resort has large statues of sports like basketball or cheerleading to make guests feel the sport theme.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge has fun features like Pumbaa’s Fun & Games Arcade where guests can play new and classic games. Another feature this hotel has Hakuna Matata Playground where kids can play all day next to the flamingo habitat. At Disney’s campgrounds guests can go horse-back riding, fish, enjoy Mickey’s Backyard Barbeque, get involved with water activities, and sing with Chip and Dale at the fire. The Disney hotels are fun and have everything in them to accommodate guests the best they can.

The Walt Disney World Resort would not be here today if it wasn’t for Mr. Walt Disney himself. Walt Disney has inspired many of people. Walt Disney changed the lives of many people. He changed the entertainment business. He was a magical person. He has touched the hearts of children along with adults. Who knew that by starting out drawing cartoons that Disney would have came this far! He always had a dream of owning a theme park. Walt’s dream came true. Walt is popular all over the world. He loved history, and slowly introduced us to the future. He is a legend of the 20th century. He won seven Emmy Awards, fifty-nine Academy Award nominations, and twenty-six Oscars.

How did Walt get where he is today? Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901. He had three brothers and one sister. In Walt’s younger days he would sell paintings to local people to make extra cash. Instead of doing his school work, Walt would doodle sketches. He went to college to study art and photography. At night he attended a place to better his drawing abilities. Walt always had a thing for nature and wildlife. Walt was even involved in acting. He would sneak out at night just to go perform somewhere.

Walt’s father was somewhat stern at times. Walt’s mother and brother, Roy urged Walt to pursue his dreams. Walt was rejected because of young age from the military. He then went to France with the Red Cross. His ambulance had images of Disney cartoons on it. When Walt came back from France, he focused on comical art which led to animation. He produced short animations for local places. When Walt ran out of money, he packed up with The Alice Comedies and went to Hollywood. Walt married Lillian Bounds, an employee in 1925. They later had two daughters. He was not the typical Hollywood star. He didn’t care for socializing; the people that knew Walt were his family.

Soon after Lillian and Walt got married, Walt created Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse first made his appearance in Steamboat Willie. Steamboat Willie was the world’s first cartoon with sound. Walt produced the first colored cartoon known as, Flowers and Trees. Moving on, in 1937 Walt produced the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This film is a classic, and is still popular today. Right after Snow White came out, an unexpected death of Walt’s mother took place. This was one time Walt showed emotion.

Disney was hard at work and within five years he produced more full-length films such as, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi. In 1955, Disney’s dream of the amusement park came true. Disneyland was opened. After it opened, Walt Disney expanded. More and more parks popped up. Walt Disney died of lung cancer December 15, 1966 right before the Walt Disney Resort was opened. Walt Disney has changed the world today. New Disney movies keep coming out. Walt Disney created something that will never end. He was a true hero.

Around the world, the hospitality industry has been marked by growing at an unprecedented rate . There has increased focus on the hospitality industry as an industry of global dimensions. Today, the hospitality industry is considered as a successful sector especially there are more and more consumers look at the quality not merely quantity. Consumers will not be attracted by merely a large quantity of products offered, but they will pay attention to the quality of the products and service provided. Hence, the hospitality firms put more emphasize in customers’ needs and requirements so that the customer will feel satisfy. Dupre and Lane (1997) have mentioned that the historic ability of hospitality industry to anticipate customer needs has contributed to its successful in global economy.

When asking about the components of hospitality industry, most people will give answer of hotels and restaurants. In fact, hospitality is just like a big umbrella. It is a people-oriented industry and involves employers, employees, and customers. The business of hospitality is created when the needs for certain services emerge for people away from home. People may travel from one country to another one, or travel from one state to another state. They may also travel to a place nearby their house. Those people need a place to eat or sleep. That is hospitality industry which provides these two distinct services that satisfy people needs that are sleep and eat. Thus, under the big umbrella of hospitality, there are two main sectors which included lodging and foodservice (Jones, 2002). Hospitality industry has provided the shelter for people staying away from home and provides food and beverages for people eating away from home or not prepares their own meals.

Lodging sector involves the provision of facilities for overnight or longer time services to guests. In the view of most people, lodging is simply a place for people to sleep. For others, lodging is not just a place to sleep but it also provide entertainment and recreation facilities. In other words, lodging sector not just refer to hotels but it is also include lodging with entertainment facility such as cruise ships and spa resort, lodging affiliated with recreation like camping, and also lodging with health care such as assisted living centers. Each customer has different needs and requests towards their place to stay. Therefore, hospitality industry offer many types of lodging to satisfy varying customer preferences range from budget or economy motel to luxury hotels to extensive resorts.

On the other hand, foodservice sector involves provision of food and beverages for consumption of patrons. Traditionally, the two main categories in foodservice sectors are commercial and noncommercial foodservice establishments. In commercial foodservice establishments, the preparation and service of food is the primary activity. Meanwhile, the preparation and service of food is secondary activity for noncommercial foodservice establishments. According to Dupre and Lane (1997), the commercial foodservice operations can be further categorized as stand-alone restaurants, foodservice within a lodging property, clubs, and catering. Meanwhile, the noncommercial foodservice operations are broken down further to restaurants within other establishment, eatertainment (combine the concept of eating and entertainment), and institutional establishment.

The hospitality industry has its roots lie in social life. It is shaped by society and continues changes based on it. The societies often changes in what they need and what they want. Therefore, hospitality will continue changes with the changes in societies. Nowadays, leaders in hospitality firms go beyond the traditional skills in operation. They need to have the ability to understand and give quick respond to the changing world. They should also able to predict the changes in advance. For instance, people now are become increasingly concerned about the environmental issue. Because of this, more and more hospitality firms are aware about this and have increasingly encouraging environmental-friendly practices. They have adopted some changes in order that they can align themselves as environmentally conscious player.

In Malaysia, the hospitality industry has experienced a positive increase consistent with the growth of global hospitality industry in recent years. In our country, the hospitality industry has become the major pillars of national economy. Zain (as cited in Lean and Chor, 2010) has highlighted that Malaysia which has visited by 16.4 million visitors in year 2005 has been awarded as the second most visited destination in Asia in that year. Tourism arrivals to Malaysia have achieved 23.6 million in year 2009 and have contributed to RM 53.4 billion. The arrivals of tourists have increased 7.2% compared to 2008 (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2009). Despite the slower growth of Malaysia economy due to global economic crisis and concerns regarding H1N1 flu, the tourism industry has rebounded quickly. In 2009, there are approximately 2,373 hotels that contribute to a total room supply of 168,844. Besides, Malaysia hotel occupancy rate in 2009 was at 60.9% (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2009). In addition, hotels in this country have been awarded accolades in world award shows. Pan Pacific Kuala Lumpur International Airport Hotel has voted as the World’s Leading Airport Hotel for second year running in 2009 (World Travel Awards, 2009). Such awards show Malaysia hospitality industry has world-class standard.

This study is conducted to provide information for public to have more understanding and increase awareness of Malaysia hospitality. Moreover, the hospitality firms in our country can obtain information regarding this industry. They can know about the Malaysia hospitality more thoroughly and use the information for planning and management at national and international levels. This is also can be used as referential framework by schools and institutes to educate and train their students.

1.2 Problem Statement

Hospitality industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing industry. It is one of the major contributors to global economic growth. The hospitality related service has become more and more significance in recent years (Tsaur and Lin, 2004; Barros, 2005). Concurrent with the growth of hospitality industry, it has triggered a complementary need for growth in hospitality information. Thus, research has become an important tool for private and public sectors in this industry to gather information on the hospitality.

In addition, the hospitality industry is considered as a competitive global industry (Claver and Pereira, 2006). This industry is unique since it involves people serve people. The performance of this unique operational system can have strong influence on the firms, the employee, and the customers. Therefore, the hospitality firms have to in touch with the markets in terms of recent trends and changes. They need to have thorough understanding of hospitality industry. Through a better understanding of hospitality and understand its uniqueness in our country, the hospitality firms are able to know better about the hospitality and can build competitive strategy.

Although there are many research in hospitality, there is little research has been conducted on Malaysian hospitality. People always heard about French service, English service, American service, Thai Service and other services. Each service has its own characteristic. They have their own way to provide the service. Nevertheless, public is not clear about Malaysia hospitality and its characteristics. Malaysia hospitality does not have a clear edge. This study aims to explore the way that hospitality firms in this country to provide the service in Malaysia way.

1.3 Objectives

To define what Malaysia hospitality concept is and investigates how service is provided in Malaysian way.

To identify the difference of Malaysia hospitality from other service and thus

understand about strengths and uniqueness of Malaysia hospitality.

To propose Malaysia hospitality.

1.4 Research Questions

How Malaysia hospitality firms provide service in its own way?

What are the characteristics of Malaysian hospitality?

What is the attractiveness of Malaysia hospitality?

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definition of hospitality

The word hospitality is derived from the Latin ‘hospitis’ that is origin for hospital and ‘hospice’ (Barnhart, 1988). The past literatures have shown many meanings of hospitality. Grove (1965) has defined hospitality as a hospitable act or practice with sincere and generous welcome and entertainment of strangers and guests either socially or commercially. Collins Concise English Dictionary Plus has been sum up the definition of hospitality as “kindness in welcoming strangers or guests” (Hanks, 1989, p. 604) which is considered as the main theme of hospitality from the dictionary definitions from the 1930s to 1999s.

Some definition of hospitality is too general to explain it. For instance, hospitality has interpreted by Tideman (1983) as the way that makes the guests feel satisfy and provision of desired quantity and quality of goods and services with acceptable price for the guests. This definition is too general to explain the definition of hospitality since it is actually can used to define almost any economic activity.

Other academic paper has explained definition of hospitality in more holistic ways. For instance, Cassee (1983) interpreted hospitality as “a harmonious mixture of tangible and intangible components – food, beverages, beds, ambience and environment, and behaviour of staff” (p. xiv). This definition has modified by Cassee and Reuland (1983) to “a harmonious mixture of food, beverage, and/or shelter, a physical environment, and the behavior and attitude of people” (p. 144). These definitions avoid the problem of conflating definitions of hospitality with the hospitality industry but continue to exhibit the underlying assumption that hospitality is something that is, principally, commercially ‘created’ for consumption. In the past, hospitality has known as social value in western country. When the time passes, hospitality has been explained in a more detail way. When the time passes, hospitality has been explained in a more detail way. According to Gilje (2004), hospitality is a moral imperative, kindliness, civility, and even a legislated duty.

2.2 Characteristic of hospitality industry

Hospitality is a special operational system which is considered as people industry. It is a service business that the hosts provide service to guests who are apart from home (Brotherton, 1999). One of the characteristics of hospitality industry that is stated by Walker (2008) is the operation time of 24 hours a day and 365 days a year for hospitality businesses. Walker (2008) also pointed out that the personnel in hospitality industry have to work longer time when compared to the other industries due to its long hour’s operation time. The personnel in this industry even need to work during the holiday, while others are enjoy their free time.

In operation of hospitality business, many peaks and valleys happen. In a hotel, there are seasonal fluctuations which are months that have high, low, or moderate volume of business. In addition, weekly fluctuations also can be seen in hotel. There are differences of business volume between weekdays and weekend. Even in a day, there is actually has peak and valley time. Lots of the customers will patronize the restaurant during the meal period (Lane and Dupre, 1997).

The hoteliers as the hospitality providers act as hospitable host and also security officer. It is very hard to play these two roles due to the unlimited time and public access of a hotel. However, these roles are essential to make the uninvited guests feel welcome and those uninvited guests do not create any security problems. In fact, the hospitality firms make great efforts to bring outstanding customers satisfaction. This not only can lead to loyalty of customers but also profit for the firms (Walker, 2008).

In addition, Hepple, Kipps, and Thomson (1990) have mentioned that hospitality consists of both tangible and intangible components. The tangible components are the physical products while intangible components refer to services. Services cannot be touched, seen, tasted, smelled or heard before being purchased (Lockyer, 2007). Christopher, McDonald, and Wills (1980) have mentioned that products in service industry can produce a series of benefits. However, these benefits cannot be stored for future use. When a hotel does not sell out rooms for certain night, the revenue for those unoccupied rooms is lost permanently. Those unoccupied room cannot be stored like other inventory and hence the products provided is considered as perishable (Mullins, 1993).

Walker (2008) has explained another characteristic for hospitality industry which is inseparability. Both the host and guests are indispensable in the transaction in hospitality industry (Brotherton, 1999). There is interaction exist between the hospitality provider and receiver. Lockyer (2007) has recognized that customer-employee contact as part of the product. Customers may dissatisfy with the poor service delivery despite the high quality of food. Customers are also considered as part of product. The behaviour of one group of customers such as make loud noise can influence other group.

2.3 Components of Hospitality Industry

According to Jafari (2003), hospitality comprised of two components which are lodging component and foodservice component.

2.3.1 Lodging Component

Lodging sector involves accommodation service which is the provision of facilities for people who stay away from their home (Jones, 2002). According to Chon and Sparrowe (2000), lodging sector is actually can more represent hospitality industry since it offer overnight and even long-term service to customers. In the past, lodging sector just provide the simplest and basic form of accommodation, which has known as ‘bed and breakfast’. Over the time, lodging is continually to change to appeal the customers. Nowadays, it is not just a place to sleep, but is augmented with washing facilities, comfort facilities, and entertainment facilities (Jones, 2002).

2.3.2 Foodservice Component

Jones (2002) has indicated that foodservice sector is the provision of sustenance for those have their meal away from home. Chon and Sparrowe (2000) has highlighted that on-site and commercial foodservices are two elements of foodservice operations. On-site foodservice operations serve people from specific kind of institution which included schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and military. Meanwhile, commercial foodservice operations are different from on-site foodservice since they are open to all customers and compete in free market (Lane and Denise, 1997).

2.4 Hospitality as a service business

Business in the food service industry is one of the biggest economic contributions towards a country in term of its hospitality system. Service in hospitality could be tangible and intangible where tangible could be the products sell in the market that can be touch, see, and taste, while intangible could be the unseen service such as food service (Barrows & Powers, 2008). It is only can be evaluated by its quality characteristics. In term of business, service may provide and increase the organization’s profit (Friedman, 1970).

The goal of business in hospitality industries specially, is to satisfy clients. Barrows and Powers (2008) proposed that business in food service industry must satisfy customer needs for example, they wants least expensive food with enough variety and high quality so that they will loyal towards the organization. Therefore, the hospitality firms must implemented lots of business skills and techniques to maintain old customers and increase new customers (Kozak and Rimmington, 1998).

Service in hospitality industry needs to meet customer’s satisfaction besides making profit and create customer loyalty (Lane and Dupre, 1997). In addition, good image of the hospitality industry would at least depends on the service business provide by the organizations under the hospitality system (Kozak and Rimmington, 1998). Thus, service must be treat as a function process where it will help the organization to generate profit, insure high quality, and make every moment count (Lane and Dupre, 1997).

2.5 Importance of Service

Generally, service play as a significant role in the customer-oriented industry such as hospitality industry. It was argued that the service quality for the hospitality industry was highly competitive in meeting customer satisfaction (Jeong and Oh, 1998). The importance of customer service in hospitality is highlighted since that customer decision has a significant implication toward the continuous survival of the business in the market based on the degree of customer satisfaction.

Tsang (2011) proposed several factors such as integration, moderation, relationship status, and discipline which impacted on the service performed. It is the responsibilities of the server in performing a quality service and creating a memorable experience for the customer while dining in the food service industry. However, the service quality context might respectively divergent for managerial and employee (Ross, 1995).

Customer service is the fundamental key factor to success in the hospitality industry despite of keeping the competitive edges. Prompt service is important in meeting the demand of the customer thus creating customers’ satisfaction. Whereby, it dedicate for building customer loyalty indirectly and good reputation among the customers. This will then develop good reputation and thus allows spreading of positive word-of-mouth which enables attraction of new patronages. For ensuring the continuous survival in this highly competitive industry, the return of the customers is essential. Instead of that, attentiveness and passionate of the staff and server are also the essence of a good quality service in meeting the customer needs and demands. Mavondo and Nasution (2008) reported that the delivery of customer value should be emphasized in assuring customer expectation and need are met. Undeniably, customer satisfaction tends to be higher whenever the service provided beyond the customers’ expectation.

A good service usually associated with better customer relationship. Establishing good customer relationship is vital particularly to the hospitality industry. Satisfaction toward quality of service received significantly brings in effect on the business performance in which a good service quality will in turns leads to customers’ repetitive patronage (Su, 2004). Designing quality service has gradually evolved becoming an important issue in particular in the hospitality industry.

The service quality should be continuous and consistence. The first time visit of customer in experiencing the service will definitely affect the decision for their patronage in the future. Nice service experience will lead to retain regular customer as well as developing more business. On the other hand, bad service experience cause towards complaints, negative word-of-mouth, lower satisfaction, and reputation loss.

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design

This study aims to explore Malaysia hospitality, in which the service provided in Malaysia own way. It is considered as an exploratory study since there is little research previously done on the Malaysia hospitality (Jennings, 2001). The method used in this research is qualitative method. Jennings (2001) has suggested that qualitative method is applied in exploratory study because of the flexibility of data collection approaches. Furthermore, this type of study is not based on random sampling and representation of a study’s population. Moreover, qualitative method is used to explore the perspectives, experiences, attitudes, and belief of the respondents (Holloway, 1997).

3.2 Subject

The target population in this study is the industry experts in hospitality industry. They included the managers of hotels and restaurants. 15 managers of four or five star hotels and restaurants are selected. As they have rich knowledge and experience in field of hospitality, they can give their perceptions and opinion towards Malaysia hospitality.

3.3 Sampling Site

This study will be carried out around Klang Valley. It is comprised of Kuala Lumpur and towns in Selangor. Hence, Klang Valley can be considered as the main city in Malaysia. It is the place that most of the tourists from other countries and even local residents will visit. Moreover, the hospitality industry in Klang Valley has grown extensively. Thus, Klang Valley is chosen as the sampling site.

3.4 Sampling procedure

The sampling method used in qualitative research must provide information-rich data and serve the purpose of in-depth understanding (Altinay and Paraskevas, 2008). Thus, judgment sampling is used in this study. Judgment sampling is often used in qualitative investigation. The samples are chosen based on their expertise in the research topic who can provide information required (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009).

3.5 Data Collection Method

Interview method is conducted since exploratory research can be studied by interviewing individuals (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009). Interview method provides access to experience and knowledge, and gives an opportunity to explore the issue investigated (Altinay and Paraskevas, 2008). The interview involves data collection through face-to-face interaction. By face-to-face interview, the nonverbal cues from the respondents can be noticed. The respondents’ facial expression and body language are observed for better interpretation of the views (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009).

In addition, the interview technique of unstructured interviews is chosen. In this technique, the interviewer has some broad questions related to the issue studied in the interview guide (Jennings). By unstructured interviews also, rich data and thick descriptions of the world being studied can be collected. Open-ended questions are used in this research. Crowther and Lancaster (2008) have noted that open-ended questions are suitable for interview method as they can provide deeper insights responses and richer information.

3.6 Instrument Development

A list of interview questions needs to be developed. According to Creswell (2003), the data collection of qualitative research should be conducted in the natural setting which always refers to the home or office of the respondents. Hence, interview will be conducted in the office of manager in the hotel or restaurant. Due to this, there is a need for the permission of interview.

Information from the respondents is recorded by handwritten notes and audio taping during the interview (Creswell, 2003). According to Crowther and Lancaster (2008), the electronic device is used to record the interview in order to record the whole interview for future reference.

3.7 Data Analysis

Walsh (2003) has noted that qualitative data analysis involves summarize the data and then identify related themes and patterns. Data reduction is the first step in qualitative data analysis since qualitative data collection collects large number of data. It can be done through coding and categorization (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009). The data collected is categorized and transcript. Moreover, a coding scheme is created to organize concepts (Walsh, 2003).

According to Sekaran and Bougie (2009), the second step is data display. In this step, the reduced data is presented in an organized mode. Maps, charts, matrices, graphs, or diagrams can be used to find out the existence pattern. Conclusion drawing is the last step in data analysis. Qualitative ‘theory’ is generalized by explaining the observed pattern and relationships, or comparing data against other data.

CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, we hope that rich information can be obtained by interview the manager in hospitality firms during data collection time. By interpreting that information, we can have a clear concept about Malaysia hospitality. Hence, Malaysia hospitality can be defined clearly through this study. This study is useful for public and hospitality firms in knowing the details and understands about the service provided in Malaysia. When the hospitality firms understand about the Malaysia hospitality, they can provide service in Malaysia way.

A marketing environment comprises of macro and micro elements. Marketers should consider both internal and external environments to understand the whole of the market in which they want to sell their products or services (Masterson and Pickton, 2004).

Normally, in a time of recession, customers do not spend too much money on overseas holidays (Mintel, 2009), because they see them as a luxuries. One could expect, therefore, customers would prefer take short city breaks or a domestic holiday. Businessman also may choose budget priced accommodation for their business trips.

Moreover, consumer-spending power has diminished, as they have had to ‘draw-in’ their purse strings, although levels of personal disposable income have been maintained to a degree because of historically low interest rates. Mintel(2010) estimates that personal disposable income stagnated between 2004 and 2009. The hotel industry has been notably affected by the recession.

Environment analysis using such models as, PRESTCOM, Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT Analysis and Segmentation can be used to examine the effect of the recession upon the hotel industry and for this reason models will be used in this report.

2.1.1 POLITICAL

Up to 1978, the hotel industry developed rapidly but after that date, the economy increasingly became market-oriented. This improvement created a much better environment for the industry in which to develop (Hornsby, 1990).

According to Kotler (1996), the political environment strongly affects the hospitality industry. The political environment is comprised of laws, government agencies and pressure groups that influence and limit the activities of various organisations and individuals in society.

Furthermore, the EU has proposed plans to sponsor holidays for individuals who do not have enough money to travel. According to Travel Weekly (2010), these plans assist many customers with financial problems to have a holiday. For example, young persons aged from 18 to 25, disabled people and pensioners, etc. The idea to help these people travel was put forward by Antonio Tajani, the EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, who declared that a holiday is a human right.

Therefore, this proposal could actually stimulate consumption and offer individuals more opportunities to have holidays. Perhaps this might be good news for the hotel industry during the recession.

2.1.2 REGULATORY

An environment that is regulated protects companies from each other. While most businesses praise the virtues of competition, they try to counteract it when it affects them. Another way is try to restrict a company’s unfair dealings and illegal transactions. Furthermore, regulation also aims to protect consumers from unfair business practices. If unregulated, firms might provide unsafe, low quality products, poor services, be untruthful in their advertising or deceive through packaging and pricing.

VisitBritain, the body, which aims to promote UK tourism, has launched a ?6.5 million advertising campaign outside the UK to promote the affordability of Britain as a destination. However, it calls for this investment to be matched by the UK government have so far been unsuccessful (Mintel, 2009).

Moreover, hotel and restaurant taxes have become a popular source of revenue for local government. Hotel taxes are supposed to be used to support tourism; however, how this money is spent has been subject to liberal interpretation. Therefore, hotel managers should make sure that these taxes, which are designated to promote tourism, are used properly and effectively.

2.1.3 ECONOMIC FACTORS

One factor that complicates the situation is the weakness of the pound against the Euro and Dollar. Sterling has lost value rapidly over the last year. In July 2008, one pound would still buy $2 but by November 2008, it was worth only $1.48, the lowest level for 6 years. Similarly, at one point the pound was almost equal in value to one Euro. While this is bad news for people buying goods or travelling outside the UK, it also means that UK goods and services become more attractively priced from the point of view of Euro Zone or USA travellers (O’Grady, 2008)

The economical environment is comprised of the following factors:

Wage inflation: During a recession wages might increase. It is depends upon decisions to cut or increase wages that are made by employers. Therefore, hotel managers should pay more attention to income distribution as well as average earnings.

Price inflation: In a recession, if the economy declines then commodity prices will rise. This factor will influence the decisions customers make whether to travel or not.

Gross domestic product per capita (GDP): The most important economic factors are customer’s purchasing powers and spending patterns. GDP can indicate the magnitude of these factors, because total purchasing power depends on current incomes, prices, savings and credit. Hotel managers, therefore, must be aware of major trends in income and changing consumer-spending patterns.

Exchange rates: The UK economy has weakened, the value of the pound against the Euro has decreased and therefore, customers might choose domestic tourism for their holidays.

Even during a recession, customers still holiday but prefer to take short breaks to reward themselves. Mintel’s Annual Survey of Spending Priorities in 2009 showed that holidays remain the leading concern for consumers, despite the recession.

Furthermore, all other leading consumer priorities showed little change compared to pre-recessionary times.

Specifically, hotels in the UK appear relatively cheap since the fall in the value of sterling and hence more attractive to inbound travellers and tourists. At the same time, this means it is less attractive for UK holidaymakers to travel to the Euro Zone or USA and more attractive to stay at home.

2.1.4 SOCIAL FACTORS

The age profile of the UK population is increasing. Furthermore, Mintel’s (2009) exclusive consumer research reveals that older adult usage of budget hotels is slightly below the national average; however, it is somewhat more than for young people.

However, even during the recession, some people remain unaffected and they still stay in luxury hotels, such as, the Ritz or the Hilton. They do not care about the cost because they lead a luxurious lifestyle. Although these people have not changed their pattern of consumption, however, most customers will be affected by the recession and they might prefer to choose budget and not mid-range hotels when they travel.

2.1.5 TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS

Technology has a significantly affected the hotel industry in many ways, for example, Travelodge launched a free iPhone application that allows users to locate their five nearest Travelodges by GPS. They can see the availability, prices and book rooms. Moreover, customers can reserve their accommodation or check-in by via internet. In addition, they can obtain information via new platforms, such as, Facebook or Twitter. These and other technological advances help companies to become more effective in the marketplace, however, internet penetration levels and demographic breakdowns might make operators use of this distribution channel ever more viable. If firms adopt useful technological advances, they will gain a competitive edge.

2.1.6 COMPETITION FACTORS

Since hotels are a service industry, human resources have become an indispensable element of the market. If the turnover ratio of employees is low, the centripetal of employees will be strong. As a result, the company will have the advantage of competition.

The main substitutes who could replace the customers’ decision in the UK hotel market are those from other countries. Foreign customers may plan to visit the UK from places where they live, such as, France and Spain. However, Country House or Bed & Breakfast hotels and so on which could also threaten substitutes in the UK domestic hotel industry.

Hotels find themselves with different problems compared to their entrants. These problems include a high barrier of exit and entry costs with the investment. Thus, the large capital investment required to build a hotel represents a sunk cost.

Hotels may not meet all their debt payments, taxes and other fixed costs but they can produce enough profit to cover their costs. Even they are perhaps prepared to operate at a loss rather than close their doors completely. However, when there is an oversupply of hotels but the total number of rooms remains the same, the result will be a price war within the industry.

2.1.7 ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS

A Hotel manger should decide how to engage with the process of hostelry management using his/her capability and skills and be able to adjust and develop it to adapt to customer needs and preferences. For example, if a hotel could provide a high quality service or promote a particular customer-desirable activity then client return ratio will be increased. However, the problem that faces the hotel industry is recruiting qualified staff that can satisfy the standard of service required by customers. Most service employees lack the knowledge and skills to provide a service that meets international standards. This may be because employees have not received adequate training in the skills that are required.

For instance, Whitbread has decided to open 1,700 Premier Inn rooms across the UK during 2009 and 2010. Whitbread is planning to increase their market share of the UK hotel industry. It will attempt to achieve this by building up its market position and providing customers with cost-effective packages (Mintel, 2009). It also plans to develop their booking platform, enhance their sales and put into place the next phase of its revenue management system.

2.1.8 MARKET FACTORS

In the market sector, the most important thing is the customer; firms should affirm the clients they want to reach and their market segmentation.

At the end of 2007, the UK hospitality as well as the hotel industry worldwide had been hardly affected by the recession and many commentators predicted that this would last until at least 2010. In the course of a few months, by early 2009, consumers had radically changed their attitudes and consumption. The optimism that had been expressed earlier could not be sustained (Mintel, 2009).

The number of business travellers choosing budget hotels for their commercial trips is increasing. Moreover, the start of this trend corresponds to the beginning of the recession in 2008. Many companies have reduced their budget for commercial travel in response to recessionary conditions; therefore, commercial travellers now use budget hotels rather than mid-market ones.

‘Green holidays’ and the effect of frequent air travel upon the environment are being raised as concerns (Bainbridge, 2009). Customers who want to reduce the effects of their pollution upon the environment choose to holiday within the UK (Bainbridge, 2009). However, these concerns are not entirely beneficial for the UK hospitality industry because overseas tourists share these beliefs, so this could reduce inbound tourism into the UK.

Saving the environment, however, is currently a relatively low priority for most consumers but studies indicate that ‘green issues’ will gradually become more important in the future (Key Note, 2009).

A previous study has claimed that more customers prefer to holiday in the UK because of ‘green’ considerations and as an alternative to flying abroad. Therefore, in 2008, travellers might choose the ferry to holiday as a ‘greener’ alternative (Key Note, 2009).

Budget hotels have made important investments in order to close the gap with mid-market brands. The three top most improved brands in terms of advertising awareness are Premier Inn, Travelodge and Holiday Inn Express.

2.2 SWOT analysis
2.2.1 Strengths

The UK, like many other countries, after rapid economic growth with an open policy has now become one of the world’s most attractive places for travellers. On a positive note, the hotel market in the UK is a strong and sophisticated one that offers a wide range of options, which could meet different types of customer needs. This includes internationally famous brands as well as smaller individual enterprises. Moreover, there is a powerful promotion and support system in place for tourists through organisations, such as, VisitBritain.

Moreover, the range of hotels offering different prices could meet individual consumer needs. Luxury, middle range, budget and even the country house hotel could satisfy every consumer. In addition, the growth of the budget hotel sector opened up a wider range of clients to the hotel market.

In the past ten years, due to the rise in the level of consumers’ disposable incomes, the short – break leisure market has grown. This phenomenon has allowed customers to have more domestic holiday choice and encourage travel within the UK. This trend has proven very positive for the hotel industry.

Another factor that has strengthened the hotel market is the online reservation system. Customers are able to search for information, accommodation and book rooms online. This system is not only convenient for customers it is also efficient.

2.2.2 Weaknesses

Profitability is a major concern for hotels. They worry about losing money during the course of chain operations. In addition, there remains an absence of an efficient system to monitor hotel management, which includes employees and retired employees etc (Gavin, 1997).

The existing weaknesses in the hospitality industry are described below.

Recession has been the influential factor from 2004 to 2009. As noted by Keynote (2010), the number of visits peaked in 2007 but fell during 2008 by one million.

In the face of room oversupply, occupancy rates averaged approximately sixty percent but this figure fell by eight percent during 2007 to 2008 (Keynote, 2010). In an attempt to counter this fall, prices were reduced but this may diminish profitability.

Mid-market hotels are coming under pressure, being squeezed, between budget and luxury hotels. Competition in the mid- and budget hotel market is becoming more intensive and probably there will be a price war.

The performance of the global economy has a direct influence on the cost of hotel equipment. These costs have been rising and consequentially the financial burden has become heavier.

2.2.3 Opportunities

Many tourist and hotel officials now believe that the UK will become the world’s most attractive visitor destination by 2011. This is considered an encouraging sign and a great opportunity for those who want to expand their hotel business in the UK. Any expansion is anticipated to be within the mid- or low-grade hotel sector. The demand for high star rated luxury hotels among the various hotel management groups is not expected to rise (WTO, 1999).

In late 2008, the pound fell against foreign currencies and was very nearly equal to one Euro. This means that UK services, including hotels and tourist attractions have become more attractive to overseas tourists as they get more value from their Euros or dollars.

The development of a global online reservation system will not only make hotels easily reachable but also provide an opportunity to access a wider client base.

According to Keynote (2008), the age profile of the UK population is increasing. Many consumers that belong to this enlarged senior sector of the population have disposable assets, which they use to enjoy their leisure. In addition, the number of retirees is rising, which will have a positive effect upon the hotel market.

In the next decade, due to a number of organized activities, such as, the 2012 London Olympics, more attention will be paid to the UK by the international market and it is anticipated that this will promote a growth in demand from overseas visitors for accommodation.

Few leisure facilities, for example, restaurants and bars can cope with any extra business and, therefore, they are unable to create potential sales from the local area and hotels.

2.2.4 Threats

Since 2004, the long-stay leisure market, that is, stays involving five nights or more has been in decline. Moreover, the number of long-stay hotel rooms booked in 2008 decreased by more than a half compared to 2006, at eleven million (BMRC, 2009).

The threat of terrorist activities could discourage overseas travellers to stay in the UK.

The success of the budget hotel sector is a threat to mid- and upmarket hotel chains. During the recession, customers may choose low price accommodation for their tourism. For example, self-catering and other less expenditure styles of accommodation manifest a big threat at this time.

Some budget airline companies that offer low-priced flights to travellers for short weekend breaks may compete with domestic travel in the UK.

2.3 Porter Five Forces

The structure of the hotel industry strongly affects competition between its members, which in turn directs decisions about the choice of strategies that are used by them. Therefore, Porter’s Five Forces analysis will be used to investigate the industry.

The analysis includes the threat of new entrants, competitive rivalry within the industry, the threat of substitutes and the bargaining powers of buyers and suppliers.

2.3.1 The threat of new entrants

Suitable hotel sites are not easy to find and building costs are very high. Furthermore, investments cannot immediately be recovered, especially during the period of construction. This factor represents a strong barrier to entering this market. The UK has enjoyed some of its highest periods of growth in property prices in recent years. The construction industry has been badly affected by the latest recession.

Developers are hardly able to gain credit to support large scale building schemes; therefore, many hotel projects have stalled (Blitz, 2009).

Aside from new developments, hotel managers who are unable to access further credit are finding things more difficult. Larger operators and branded chains are able to look to the medium and long-term over which a boom for hotels and travel are predicted due to emerging markets but smaller operators have less access to the resources that they will need in order to survive the next couple of years (Blitz, 2009). As a result, the threat of new entrants into hospitality industry is limited.

2.3.2 The competitive rivalry within industry

In economic downturns, competition occurs within upmarket, midmarket and budget hotels. Mid-market hotels usually cater for tourists who do not travel a lot; also, their rooms are priced much higher than in budget hotels. In general, when the economy is in recession, consumer-spending power is less, therefore, they might choose lower priced accommodation. At the same time, budget hotels continue with their strong development plans to offer extra rooms through the expansion of new property. The development of budget hotels has eroded the mid-hotel’s market sector.

However, the upmarket hotels have been little affected. Their customers are less likely to change their consumption patterns. The lifestyles of these customers engender very high consumption. Their expenditure would not change because they are not price sensitive. That is to say, no matter how prices changes, they will continue consuming.

2.3.3 The threat of substitutes

There are some substitutes in this market, such as, camping, caravan clubs and B&B and country houses. Mintel (2009) predicted that these holidays are an attractive option for budget conscious consumers. These substitutes will benefit from an increase in the number of families who because of financial reasons elect to stay in UK in 2009 and 2010. The Camping and Caravan Club market had their best ever year in terms of recruitment during 2008 (Mintel, 2009). Camping holidays are predicted to do rather better over the next few years before the long-term trend towards decline is re-instated. However, growth in this area might not be good news for the hotel industry, as by definition ‘a stay in a hotel’ does not count as such for this type of holiday.

2.3.4 The bargaining power of buyers

The hotel industry is faced by fierce competition. Companies will possibly sign a long-term contract with consumers to retain their customer base. Therefore, customers possess a strong bargaining power.

Behind large hotel groups, there are large amounts of capital to support them to buy land and build new hotels. Consequently, the bargaining power of consumers is quite low with respect to these large hotel groups. Conversely, for small hotels, the bargaining power of consumers is much greater, which means these establishments might find it harder to fulfil customers, expectations.

However, customers will segregate into two sectors, namely, individual and group.

Customers as individuals: This sector will divide into business travellers and individual tourists. Business travellers may have a long-term contract with a hotel, therefore the price for them could be pre-negotiated but for individual tourists, their bargaining powers are almost none.

Customers as a group: Groups usually book rooms through travel agencies, involving a large number of rooms and the travel agent takes the profit. However, the price is still much cheaper than for the individual. That is to say, their bargaining power is more than the independent tourist is.

2.3.5 The bargaining power of suppliers

There are two main bargaining powers in the industry, one is furniture and fittings and the other is food and cigarettes. They are outlined below.

Furniture and Fittings: When hotels purchase furniture; they typically establish criteria that they use. The number of pieces of furniture purchased is usually in bulk rather than separate items. Thus, orders must be relevant to the number of rooms they operate. For this reason, furniture is supplied by specialist contract providers, which are dedicated departments of businesses that already cope with the domestic market as well.

Food and Cigarettes: Many food and cigarette manufacturers have their own specialised sector that supply and deal with the demands of the hotel industry.

However, bargaining power is dependent on the size of the hotel. If a company has very many hotels then its bargaining power with its suppliers is enhanced. Conversely, if the company has few hotels then its bargaining power will be limited.

2.4 STP process—Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
2.4.1 Segmentation

According to Swarbrooke and Horner (1999), the tourist market is divided into demand characteristics within a number of the different segments, which are described below.

Family market: The definition of family means two parents with one to three children. The preference of many families is to minimise the cost that is required to meet their desire to have a vacation. However, these needs will depend on those of their children.

Hedonistic tourist: According to Kozak and Andreu (2006), the number of hedonistic tourists has increased in recent years. They prefer a place with sun, sand and sea, such as, Ibiza. In fact, they have a desire for physical pleasure and a social life.

The backpacker market: Backpackers generally keep their expenditure to a minimum; they have the time and want adventure as part of their holiday. Moreover, this tourist usually travels independently rather than in a group.

VFR (visiting friends and relatives): People do not stay in commercial accommodation and usually domestic travel is involved (Swarbrooke and Horner, 1999). This form of tourism could also relate to weddings and funerals. In particular, their budget is limited in a similar way to that of a normal holiday.

Excursionists or day-trippers: In general, these travellers do not travel far and it involves domestic transport. They would do not usually stay overnight.

Educational tourists: They usually travel to other countries, for example, for foreign culture, student exchanges or attending language classes.

Religious tourist: This form of tourism can be seen as obligation or duty for those who have faith and belief but recently traditional religious tourism has become, in part, a sightseeing tour, which visits churches and cathedrals (Swarbrooke and Horner, 1999). However, they usually visit the place at a specific time, such as, the Haj.

The snowbird market: The ‘snowbird’ refers to a tourist that travels during the winter, in order to avoid the cold weather. Retired people normally take this type of vacation because they have the time to travel.

Tourists with disabilities: According to Swarbrooke and Horner(1999), there are many kinds and degrees of disability, which include the following:

Mobility problems: These individuals are confined to a wheelchair and may have difficulty in climbing stairs.

Sight problems: These individuals have minor eye impairments and unclear vision.

Hearing difficulties: These individual have injuries to their ears and their hearing is impaired.

It is important that hotels have regard for these conditions and have someone available to assist them.

The short break market: This means tourists use their two-day weekend to have a vacation. According to Mintel (2007), the short break market is continuing to grow despite an overall stagnation in the growth of domestic tourism. It is forecast that the volume of the short break market will increase to 9.5 million and its monetary value will be ?2.5 billion by 2011.

Commercial travellers: They usually travel for business and generally involve domestic travel.

2.4.2 Targeting

In order to relate to the research objectives of this report as described in earlier in this chapter, the researcher will inquire into the budget hotels to investigate their target market.

Budget hotels focus upon three types of domestic tourists during economic downturns: commercial, family and short break. Budget hotel characteristics are relevant to these three types of tourists in terms of limited cost, clean and comfortable accommodation in which to live. In addition, the fact that there many chains are available in this sector means that travellers can be reassured regarding expectations and quality as they are buying into a brand name (Brotherton, 2004).

2.4.3 Positioning

According to Baines, Fill and Page (2008), positioning is important for a business because it differentiates it from other competitors. As Mintel (2010) argues, the first physical attributes of budget hotels for customers is that they have quality standards, consistent service and are located in many places, which are convenient to access. According to (Brotherton, 2004), the second positioning elements for budget hotels as perceived by customers are value for money, cleanliness and have a great brand reputation.

Marketing communication can be used to position brands as a strategy to attract customers (Shimp, 2003). Budget hotels position their brand, products and services via three basic consumer needs, such as, functional, symbolic and experiential (Keller, 1993). These are described below.

Functional needs: Budget hotel marketers adopt new technology and season sales to appeal to consumers’ needs for convenience, value for money, physical comfort, etc. These wants can met consumers’ functional needs and brand satisfaction.

Symbolic needs: Budget hotels appeal to symbolic needs with their desire or self-image to associate with the brand. For example, tidiness, cleanliness and efficiency, etc.

Experiential needs: Budget hotels use quality standards for accommodation to address the experiential needs for consistency and hygiene.

For a marketer, it is important to recognize that brands benefit by fulfilling these needs, even by a combination of any two. This project will investigate consumer attitudes toward the budget hotel market during a time of economic downturn and analysis how the recession affects consumers’ consumption patterns and budget hotel strategy.

Tourism is one of the industries that are significant to the global economy last few decades. Yet, the changing of the travel trend recently leads to the economic growth. The changes are cause by the youth travelling frequency and the travel periods. They tend to travel more frequently and for longer periods, thus these groups of people become an increasingly important segment of the global tourism industry.

Richards and Wilson (2003) indicate that, “Youth and student travel has been an important cornerstone of the international travel market for over 50 years it is only the recent explosive growth of the international students’ population that has thrust this market into the spotlight”. From the World Tourism Organization (WTO) report as cited in Taiyab (2005), international trips taken by young travelers grew from 14.6% in 1980 to 20% in 2001, and reach 25% in 2005. According to the Federation of International Youth Travel Organizations reports as cited in Kim, Jogaratnam and Noh (2006), from the 140 million of international tourist arrivals per year, 20 percent of them are the young tourists.

Youth Travel Market

The WTO defines that the ‘young’ travelers are between 16 to 25 years old who take a trip involving at least one night’s stay. However, Canada expanded the definition to include young adults of between 26 to 30 years old (Taiyab, 2005).

Taiyab (2005) indicates that youth travel markets are being categorized into 2 independent youth travel and youth group travel. There are different characteristics, motivations and product requirement among these 2 groups to fulfill or suit their needs and wants.

Independent youth travel also known as independent youth travelers, free independent youth travelers, foreign independent travelers or backpackers. They usually travel to a place either in a small informal group or alone. Most of them are internet savvy, they will search the information for that particular travel destination via internet, so that the pre-trip planning can be well arranged. The distance of the travel destination normally will be very far away from their home and it takes a longer period because they want to gain experience, increase their knowledge and explore different cultures at different environments. Besides, they tend to be price sensitive for travelling expenses including the food, accommodation and etc.

While for the youth travel group, it is formed by a group of 6 young people or more that are travelling together. This category is divided into 2 groups which are the school-based youth group travel and non-school-based youth group travel. Generally, school-based youth group travel is related to the curriculum or co-curricular activities such as school societies, music performance, sport competition, educational tours, cultural exchange trips and so forth. Those activities are carried out in a group structure and accompanied by teachers or school personnel. In the other hand, non-school-based youth group travel is also in a group structure, it may occurred in smaller groups, but the activities are organized by the societies outside of the school such as sports team, church group, cultural or musical performance troupe, Scouts or Girl Guides, youth club and more. The group will be led by parents or other adults.

Literature Review of Travel Motivation
2.1 Motivation

Gnoth, 1997 (as cited in Yoon and Uysal, 2005) defined that motivation is an internal and external motives. An internal motive is connected with drives, feelings, and instincts while external motive involves mental representations such as knowledge or beliefs. Motivation is the driving force behind all aspects of human behavior (Fodness, 1994, as cited in Petersen, 2009). Motivation is the fundamental for the development of tourism, it could not exist without any interest or the need to travel (Murphy, 1985, as cited in Bonera, n.d.).

2.2 Travel Motivation

Travel motivations defined “as the global integrating network of biological and cultural forces which gives value and direction to travel choices, behavior and experience” (Pearce, Morrison & Rutledge, 1998 as cited by Banerjea, n.d.). According to Crompton & McKay, 1997, as cited in Petersen, 2009, travel motivation can be understood as a dynamic process of internal psychological factors which create an unbalanced equilibrium in the individual, and this is what brings the person to travel. Tourism motivation is a multi-motive dimensional (Zhang and Marcusen, 2007). When choosing a certain destination, people will often have more than one motive to visit the place. For example, a person may choose Pangkor Island with a motive of relaxation in a pleasant safe place combined with visiting a local historical heritage.

The Theory of Travel Motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory

According to Maslow (1943) as cited in Banerjea (n.d) there are five needs to form a hierarchy based on Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory, progressing from the lower to the higher needs. The lower needs are physiological, safety, belonging and love. Self-esteem and self-actualization would be the higher needs. Maslow stated that if the lower needs are fulfilled, the individual would be motivated by needs and proceeds to the next level of the hierarchy. For example, a person would not travel to the country that is infected by H1N1, he or she will only visit the particular destination whenever it is safe.

Four Motivational Needs

Beard and Ragheb (1983) as cited in Banerjea (n.d) stated four motivational needs as derived from the work of Maslow (1970) which are the intellectual component, the social component, the competency-mastery component, and the stimulus-avoidance component. Intellectual component assesses the extent of individuals involve in leisure activities such as learning, exploring, discovering, thought or imagining. The social component assesses the extent of individuals engage in leisure activities for social reasons such as the need for friendship and interpersonal relationships and the need for the esteem of others. The competence-mastery component assesses the extent of individuals engage in leisure activities in order to achieve, master, challenge and compete. The stimulus-avoidance component of leisure motivation assesses the drive to escape and get away from over-stimulating life situations such as the need for some individuals to avoid social contacts, to seek solitude and calm conditions and others.

Factors that Motivated Young Tourist to Travel
Pull and Push Model

Dann (1977) as cited in Bonera (2008) proposed a two level scheme of factors that motivate young tourists in the travel decision making process: push and pull factors. Young tourists are motivated to travel because of the pull and pushed factors. The idea of the push-pull model is the decomposition of a young tourist’s choice of destination into two forces (Bansal and Eiselt, 2004). The internal or psychological forces “pushed” young tourists to make travel decision while the external forces of the destination attributes “pulled” young tourists to travel to that particular place (Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1977; Uysal & Jurowski, 1994 as cited in Yoon and Uysal, 2005). The pull motivations are more connected to emotional aspects whereas push motivations are related to cognitive aspects (Yoon and Uysal, 2005). ”Push” factors are intangible factors that pushes a tourist away from home, while ”pull” factors are tangible characteristics pulling tourists towards the destination (Andreu, Bigne?, & Cooper, 2000, as cited in Jonsson and Devonish, 2008). Push factors are intrinsic desires of the young tourist such as the desire for escape, rest and relaxation, adventure, health, or prestige while pull factors are related to the attractiveness of a given destination such as beaches, accommodation and recreational facilities, and cultural and historical resources (Uysal and Jurowski 1994 as cited in Chi and Sung, 2008).

Reasons of Young Tourist Travel

Young tourists have their very own reasons to travel, which the reasons can be internally or externally (McGhee, Loker-Murphy, & Uysal, 1996 as cited in Yoon and Uysal, 2005).

The young tourist will go for traveling because of push motivations such as the desire for escape (e.g. getting away from school or job, escape from responsibilities, reduce stress, being away from demands at home, get a chance to be free, being physically or emotionally refreshed, experience a simpler lifestyle and etc), rest and relaxation (e.g. doing nothing at all, getting a change from a busy work, to relax, to enjoy good weather and etc), health and fitness (e.g. get close to nature, engage in sports, view sport events and etc), adventure and social interaction (e.g. being daring and adventuresome, finding thrills, meeting new friends and local people, rediscovering oneself and etc) , family togetherness (e.g. visiting friends and relatives, being together as a family, visiting places where family came from and etc), and excitement(e.g. being physically active, finding excitements and etc).

The pull motivations that affected the young tourists are sun and beaches (e.g. warm and sunny weather, sea and beaches and etc), natural environment (e.g. rivers/lakes/streams, snow or mountains, beautiful scenery and landscapes, quiet rest area and etc), time and cost (e.g. travel time, good value for the cost, easy accessibility, convenient transportation, availability of information about a destination and etc), cultural and historical resources (e.g. educational opportunities, learning something new or increasing knowledge, experiencing a new culture or new life-style or new destination or exotic food and etc).

Conclusion

In a nutshell, young tourists are gaining markets in the tourism industry. Tourism industry is become more important to great benefits to the society and enhances economies of each country. It helps to develop the country with the infrastructure development, inflow of foreign currency, increases job opportunities and others. On top of that, the government will focus on the panning, management and evaluation of tourism industry development. Travel becomes more important and indispensable among young people in their live as it can satisfy young people needs and wants. In addition, individual development can be achieved via certain enchantments of the travel such as improving their knowledge, understand the other countries’ cultural and heritage.

Introduction of Communication

The definition of verb to communication is, “to impart , to transmit, to succeed in conveying Information” In hotel there is a considerable amount of information to be transmit ted to and form staff in various department , as well as to GUEST, CUSTOMER , SUPPLIERS, and OTHERS. There are ,for example , the lines of communication to and from the reception office of a hotel. Communication can exchange of information ,idea, or feeling it involves at least two or more individuals and involves of communication by:

VERBAL = FACE TO FACE.

NON-VERBAL=COMMUNICATION WITHOUT WORDS ex: body language ,eye contact .

WRITTEN=LETTER

REPRESENTATIVE VISUAL=MORE IN DIAGRAM ex: no smoking, wet floor,

REPRESENTATIVE AURAL=MORE ON MUSIC

Information sought and given in a variety of ways :but whatever the form of communication , there are certain points that need to be established . WHAT IS THE MESSAGE ? WHO SHOULD RECEIVE IT ?WHEN SHOULD IT BE SENT?WHAT IS THE MOST SUITALBE WAY OF SEND IT? IS IT INTELLIGIBLE? HAS IT BEEN RECEIVED AND UNDERSTOOD?

ANSWER Q1

Process of communication :

1.TRANSMITTER is a person or group of peopl who send the message to receiver transmitter an idea ad feelings.At the same time transmitter need to use the selected method or media to transmit through oral or written

2. MESSAGE is an idea that has been encode and forminto the message .It simple and easy to understand and it require knowledge and experience and objective of the message

3.RECEIVER is the person who receive the message from process one transmitter and process two message .Interpretation and assigning meaning. Receiver , receive the message according to the value .

Communication fail due to barries

Barriers of communication

When the: 1) The transmitter is not clear lack of experience of knowledge and experience the transmitter dont have credibility and a poor communication skill

2) Receiver not decode the message if the interpretor never interpret the message correctly because he / she not concentrate the speaker it could be sleepy, boring or refuse to talk in manner way.

3)Message not reach to the receiver because not interested and the noise of fizikal noise (talking) , technical noise(radio) and visual noise

A communication is an interaction between a sender and a receiver .In a successful communication , the sender direct a clear message to someone and the receiver gets the message accurately and it sound simple enough. The problem lie the words that we use to spoke with someone .Here are the six elements of a successful communication.

Think meaning of message
Expresses meaning in words, symbols
Transmits message (tells, write / sends)
Receives message (hears or reads)
Translates message symbols
Understand and accepts meaning

An effective communication is a good communication. Communication is thee general term that sums up the sending and receiving of messages The way employees communicate can make or break a company think of the different between courteous and surly employees and the message they convey to guests. We want to business with people who able to communicate the company philosophy to guests and give outstanding service. This information is a formal communication and is given in via meeting, personal correspondence, e-mail, notice board and so on. Supervisors are vitally important as they are the one who explain the mission, goals, and company policy to their associates. We human beings communicate all day every day and spend over 70 percent of our hours sending or receiving messages: an example speaking , listening , writing reading , pushing keys on computers ,watching the television screen .Since we communicate so much ,we ought to be pretty good at it but badly we don’t because there are probably as many opportunities to be misunderstood as there are people with whom we communicate an example different people interpret what we say in different ways and not really what that you meant and sometimes we did the same what they say to us. Until NO ONE HAS YET FOUND a theory or method or set of communication principles guaranteed to be 100-percent effective BUT the expert know a lot about why why people FAIL IN COMMUNICATION and they can explain the ingredients for SUCCESS. Communication play a main role in hospitality industry it because we will be communicating constantly and at the same time we will be both a sender and a receiver of messages, and a both roles will be very important it because we must understand what comes down to you from the top so that we can carry out the INSTRUCTIONS and the POLICIES of the company. We cannot manage effectively ii we cannot communicate effectively.

Conclusion

Communication is the transference of understanding and meaning between two or more people .Supervisors are involved in interpersonal communication, organizational communication, small group communication, and sometime mass communication. Communication is an important because supervisors spend most of their time communicating ,as when directing people at work ,giving instructions, training , interviewing , hiring, firing and so on .The following can be done to remove many obstacles to good communication build a climate of trust and respect : send your messages clearly : use language the receiver can understand : don’t assume anything : take into account receiver’s ability to receive : send your message at the best time : send your message at the best time : send your message to the right person : choose the best mean of sending your message : check for understanding : listen: be objective : avoid slang : and disrespectful terms: and don’t communicate when you are upset . Listening is the second half of the communication process- the most neglected half and sometimes the most important. Bad listening process include going off on tangents, reacting , emotionally and cutting the flow of the message .Five principles of good listening giving the other person your undivided attention , hearing the person out , looking for the real message , keeping your emotion out of it and maintaining your role

Question 2

Motivation is the key to keeping performing continuously at the highest standards. How organization motivate their employees to excel at their jobs.

Introduction of Motivation

The;success;of;any;organization;largely;depends;on;the;motivation;of;its;employees.;Unfortunately,;there;is;no;exact;formula;to;determine;how;to;motivate;any;particular;group;of;people.;The;fact;is;we;are;all;motivated;by;different;things.;Still,;there;are;some;key;concepts;to;keep;in;mind;when;developing;a;plan;to;motivate;employees,;regardless;of;the;organization.

Every small business wants motivated employees. They work more efficiently and produce better results. Using monetary and other rewards to improve motivation is a simple idea, but doing it fairly and effectively can be challenging. The majority of small businesses distribute payments to whoever is the golden child of the week, a principal and senior consultant at Compensation Resources .How can you create a compensation program that motivates employees, results in a more productive staff and is administered fairly and effectively? The secret, it seems, lies in the details. Here are four steps to follow.

Answer q2

Motivation is the willingness to effort an organition goals, conditioned by the efforts ability to satisly some individuals needs. Motivation can influence people at the work place The role of motivation is to achieve effective performance by ability, direction, motivate, and support

Perspective motivation to individuals, group, organization,Individuals is to desire to do well in some work linked to desire by meet someone personal needs.Group is to ensure the employee’s work and the manager should understand the employee need and job design and work place and while an organization is to ensure employee to work by increase productivity by programe and training it because different people different needs.

MOTIVATION THEORIES
MASLOW HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY
HERZBEG’SWO FACTOR THEORY
MC CLELLAND’S MANIFEST
EXPECTANCY THEORY
HAWTHORE EFFECT
EQUITY THEORY
JOB-ENRICHMENT
JOB DESIGN
THE SCANLON PLAN
REINFORCEMENT THEORY

;Establish an action plan.;While the goals that you want to achieve may vary from one project or staffer to another, the process that you follow can be duplicated each time. Andrew Broil, president of Broil Growth Consulting in Cleveland, breaks the process down into five steps: These are the most important details of any Compensation plan. You must always reward top performance and must be as clear as possible to your staff on just what you consider top performance. You also must have a plan and culture that motivates less-than-top performers to strive to compensation plan. You must always reward top performance and must be as clear as possible to your staff on just what you consider top performance. You also must have a plan and culture that motivates less-than-top performers to strive. Motivation at work group an important to ESTABLISH EFFECT AND PRODUCTIVE WORK GROUP. Motivation also helps GROUP INFLUENCE

Conclusion

Motivation is the driving force which allows us take action on our desires or goals. There is always a motivating force behind anything we do and it is the intensity of our motivation which determines how well and how fast we succeed at obtaining what we wish to achieve. There are many opportunities in the world today but these opportunities are totally dependent upon our awareness of our surroundings. Once we recognize an opportunity, our success is determined by our motivation for the desired outcome. Our success is also dependent upon our ability to meet the challenges of life. Many people become cowards and lost their motivation during challenging times. Motivated people, who experience challenging times will create a plan, prepare themselves, and take action. Life is often challenging and many obstacles are thrown at us almost daily. We blame bad luck, are often ready to give up, and become pessimistic of the world. During these situations, we should realize that it is a fact of life that obstacles were, is, and will always be a part of our life within our thoughts so when we endure more obstacles, we are more prepared. When we use our motivation to work through the obstacles in our life, we use a positive personal attribute and we benefit from the experience as do those around us. It is life’s obstacles which build our character, allow us to grow, and give us the strength to move on. Most people will follow the path of least resistance. They want an easy and wealthy life free from life’s obstacles. But take away the obstacles, and we take away growth and strength, because it is the obstacles which make us strong. When we lose our motivation, we lose everything because we fail to grow and move forward. We see examples of this in people who try to escape life by living their comfort zone. Those who lack motivation and continue to live in their comfort zones often act like victims of life. This becomes a hard to break habit and is destructive to their life.It requires motivation to tackle life’s surprises and to work around the obstacles which life throws at us. Those who lack motivation often act selfish and burden those around them when they share their discomfort. This disrupts everyone’s peace and happiness. Highly motivated people never indulge in self-pity. Instead, they shine like a beam of light and guide others by inspiration. Motivation is positive in nature and others are not only attracted to it, they are also inspired by it. They respect us for it. It also allows us to overcome any negative obstacles and is an essential part of our life .Everyone is entitled to peace and quiet, and it takes motivation to work through the evils of the world and rise above them. When people around us become depressing and annoying, we must rise above them. If we join then, we become the cause of our own downfall. Instead, we must maintain our happy state of mind. In meeting life’s challenges, we must face reality and control it. We must not allow reality to control us. We must conquer life’s obstacles or be conquered by them.

Bibliography

Ebrary, International Motivation Steps, 2009, Human Resource Development, 17 September, 5th Edition, South Western, http://library.olympia.edu.my:2051/lib/olympia/docDetail.action?docID=10348707&p00=

Ebrary, Bhimani, Alnoor, 2006, Communication Important in People Management , 2 November , 5th Edition, Oxford University press, http://library.olympia.edu.my:2051/lib/olympia/docDetail.action?docID=10283759

Ebrary, Berry, Eugene Leonard, 2005,People Management , 1st March, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing, http://library.olympia.edu.my:2051/lib/olympia/docDetail.action?docID=10156016

INTRODUCTION OF MARKETING:

The philosophy of marketing needs to be owned by everyone from within the organization. Marketing focuses on the satisfaction of customer needs, Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all It encompasses the entire business wants and requirements. Future needs have to be identified and anticipated. The marketing concept is a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all business activities. It is driven by senior managers, passionate about delighting their customers.Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise.This customer focused philosophy is known as the ‘marketing concept’. The marketing concept is a philosophy, not a system of marketing or an organizational structure. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires.

INTRODUCTION OF Q1;

Lost World of TambunTheme Parks in Malaysia

The latest attraction from Sunway City;Ipoh;in Tambun, the Lost World is a new water theme park in Perak set to provide you a fun-filled adventure for friends and family! Nestled among lush greenery and limestone hills, the Lost World has a host of exciting activities to keep you coming back for more. . From my own research, there is five main elements which make up this world of adventures which is as stated in the structure

Question 1:
Your role:

You are required to select a theme park of your choice. You are required to determine their organizational structure, products, markets, and competitors.

Introduction

As part of your research, you will need to define the structure of the franchise and the product that is being offered to the consumer.

Content

You are required to analyze:

Their market strength

Their zone of natural expansion

Brand positioning and marketability of their brand

Suggest steps to improve their sales and profits

Suggest how they can take their business to a global scale

Summary

Conclude your research by summarizing all the above and provide a final solution on how the theme park may thrive in a completion market place.

All cost for the event and portfolio must be self funding. Olympia College will not be responsible for any cost or any unforeseen circumstances occurred during this event.

Answer Q1

As part of our assignment, I have chose the Lost World of Tambun theme park as my choice for doing my assignment. From my own research, there is five main elements which make up this world of adventures which is as stated in the structure belowaˆ¦

Jungle Wave Bay
CLIFF RACER
Tiger Valley
Water park

Hot Springs & Spa

FIVE ELEMENTS

Water Park

An exquisitely beautiful Waterfall Beach Garden & exhilarating water rides in the theme park for everyone at the water park and where the water beach garden were the biggest wave pool in Malaysia where the waves could swell up to 3 feet high. At there, you could find a absolutely perfect landscaped beach which surrounded by 20 feet twin waterfalls with two rivers flowing into the pool. There is also a musical body wash as a refreshment before to the caption of Sandy Bay.

Explorabay, a kids – only zone which is specially designed for kids while Cliff Racer are intend for a adult and youth. And of course, the longest inflatable tube ride in Malaysia, Tube Raiders which is the family – favourite giant slides while Adventure River is more on relaxing water ride.

Cliff Racer

Sail through the jungle canopy in an old mine cart after a drop from dizzying heights; just like in the old Wild Wild West movies! The park is perfect for those family escapades. Be sure to bring spare clothes for a change after a whole day’s fun on the numerous water slides and water games. The park also plays host to a few tigers and albino tiger cubs and visitors can witness the tiger feeding times between 11.30am to 5pm every day. The park is open everyday except Tuesdays (school/public holidays excluded) from 11am – 6pm. One can have a cocktail at the Rum Jungle Bar between 6pm – 9pm every night. Entrance tickets start at about RM25 per adult and RM 19 per child (children under 90cm gets free entrance). The park also offers special food, entrance and rides packages.;

Lost World Hot Springs & Spa

As the latest supplement for the visitors to enjoy the inimitable feel of the hot spring, the water in the hot spring come from a natural source, and this is a sanctuary for the visitors to relax and enjoy and to experience hygienic and rejuvenating hot water. Besides, there are many other elements which are catered for the visitors presenting the ultimate relaxation experience

Tiger Valley

There are feeding tigers show and their handles at play in the tiger valley. You can learn abit about how the tigers are cared through the valley’s educational program where you will be able to get close and personal with one of these exquisite tigers.

Lost World Petting Zoo

Visitors can take a walk on the wild side and The Petting Zoo allows the public to touch, feel, feed and play with the animals; giving those looking for a more personal encounter, a closer perspective.

Body
Market Strength

So many words packed into one, the Lost World of Tambun, where providing an action – packed with exciting adventures with the most sensational rides and glamour in Ipoh, Malaysia. A 60 million Ringgit theme park which located in this historical town of Ipoh, in the middle of the North – South corridor in Perak; and is set in the inborn landscapes of Ipoh, surrounded by exquisitely breath – taking limestone features.

The Lost World of Tambun has its own market strength just like the other theme park as well. As my research all over these theme parks, The Lost World of Tambun is the best theme parks if compared to all the competitors around within the northern region in Ipoh example like Bukit Merah. They has providing a variety services which provides leisure, relaxation, enjoyment as well as entertainment. Moreover, the price are quite reasonable for the services they are providing.

As another market strength, Lost world of Tambun is the only theme park with natural hot spring and the water come from natural source and the thermal water in the pool are not recycled. Furthermore, they got a formation of the stand alone rock formation – 10 storey building within the theme park. Based on the 4Ps, place, people, promotion and products, Lost World of Tambun had provides all these 4Ps if compared to other competitors as their market strength.

Place

800 parking spaces provided

Good transportation

Natural & pleasant landscape

People

Good services

Caring from staffs

Friendliness from staffs

Promotion

Invite international performance during parties; beach party

Promote online through hot websites; facebook, etcaˆ¦

Promote through travel and tour agencies for packages

Product

Water Park

Amusement Park

Lost World Hot Springs & Spa

Tiger Valley

Lost World Petting Zoo

Zone of Expansion

For your information, Lost World are exposed to the nature. Therefore, it has ample of natural resources around and within the park. As for the future expansion, they should take this advantage to make more for its zone of natural expansion usage from the natural sources. Currently, they are building a hotel of themselves which are rated as 4 – 5 star grades; visitors like foreign visitors do not need to look for other accommodations and can just stay inside the Lost World of Tambun’s Hotel which are surrounded by natural source. Besides, they are also upgrading the hot spring & spa section. As their future expansion, it could build up a monorail system for the overall accessibility within the theme park itself; visitors are able to travel from the theme park back to the hotel after explorer.

Moreover, wide natural resources in their theme park which enable them to have their own cave which creates jungle tracking and cave exploring experience for customers. They should expand more on dry rides in did of only focus in wet rides as there is already a lot of wet rides. This will enable the visitors to have more choices during their explorer and will not feel boring.

Brand positioning and marketability of their brand

A great theme park which have its own nature and gave us a refreshing feeling when you are living in a hectic lifestyle; a way to expose yourself to the nature. Besides, it is a time for every member in a family to spend their time together and have fun in Lost World of Tambun. This is a way for family bonding to happen. Moreover, we can spend our time with our friends during holiday at there for entertainment and leisure. And of course, it is a good place for a couple to have a great day.

What are they famous for? Their natural resources and it located in a historical place in Ipoh with natural thermal water sources. They are also considered as ‘under the umbrella of Sunway Groups’ which lead them to success because Sunway group had prove themselves in Sunway Lagoon.

Steps to improve their sales and profit

In order to improve their sales and profit, they should depend on the economy scale which is reduce their cost in order to get more people. Besides, it’s also depends on how they generate their profit through the existing products. They can also provide more new family packages and teenage packages. Another step to improve their sales and profit is to extend business hour for dry parks and more events should be organize example like beach party. International performances should be invite example like super junior, wonder girls and big bang in order to attract more visitors. And of course, special rates for senior citizen should be apply and toys should be given to kids to show that the management is caring enough even to every single matter.

How they can take their business to a global scale

Extend their business to global scale, they can deal with the travel and tour regencies for packages and brings the tourism to Lost World of Tambun and let them recognize it and bring back this information back to the country. Moreover, they can have a deal with a country ambassador to promote their theme park in their own country and to attract foreign investment example like an big organization and this will lead them to develop another branch in their country by the help in modal from the organization; targeting hot weather country like india. Besides, it should have a deal with large organization to have a big retreat ( international conference ). And of course, the lost world management should also advertise their theme park through hot websites example like facebook.com, youtube.com, twitter.com and etc

Conclusion

In any;business;success, marketing always plays a key part. You have to make a good relationship with your customers. You need to work out how you will reach and win new customers and make sure that they will be happy and remain satisfied of the services you are providing them. You need to always review and keep on improving everything you do to stay ahead of the competition.Although marketing plays an important role, it will not guarantee sales unless by doing it with a laid out plan. A well-researched and logical plan is important to have a better chance of building a long-term profitable relationships. A marketing plan will serve as a reference or your basis to execute a marketing strategy. By laying out plans, it will set out a clear objectives and explains how you will achieve them. You can define your business well if you have a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve your marketing goals. A marketing plan is considered a part of an over all business plan.;

This essay starts out by explaining the characteristics of ecotourism. The essay goes on to compare and contrast the differences between ecotourism and mass tourism. An ecotourist’s different experience from a sociology study point of view will be developed.

The Characteristics of ecotourism would be that it must be consistent with a positive environmental ethic; fostering preferred behavior as well as it must benefit the resource. This definition of ecotourism does not refer to any specific motivation but describes tourism with reference to the movement of people. This broad treatment of tourism allows the flexibility to develop a classification of ecotourism where the travel experience is motivated or modified by a deep ecological sensibility.

The term ecotourism has many meanings. Firstly, According to Weaver (2001) who claimed that ecotourism are take the environment or its feature as first consideration and attraction. It can refer to a genuine attempt at environmentally sustainable tourism. Secondly, they prefer first-hand experience with the natural environment. Therefore, ecotourists incorporate the activities of bird watching, natural photography, hiking and the like. Thirdly, it is present that a management may lead to a direct effort at the conservation aspect of natural environment.

Compared with mess tourism, ecotourism tends to be more sustainable, ecotourism are more than just sightseeing but to experience the nature. Furthermore, ecotourism is used in many different ways that not only refer to an activity which environmentally friendly but also somewhere it needed. Acott et al explained that the term ecotourism does not different between a group of people who want obtain a holiday for “bird watching” (Acott et al, 1998. P.238) chose aircraft to travel and luxury hotel to stay, expecting a westernized holiday experience and the environmental friendly travelers, back-packing, pursuing a minimal impact experience. Ecotourism can refer to a wide range of activities which may have different environmental impacts and attract people with different sets of values and motivations. Ecotourism which can be classified to “deep ecotourism” and “shallow ecotourism” based on a form of mass tourism and environmental tourism. An important aspect of this approach is the recognition that differences exist between the values held by potential ecotourists and the activities at ecotourism sites. People are not necessarily ecotourists just because they visit an ecotourism location. A consideration of the values, attitudes and behavior of people is fundamental when discussing genuine forms of environmental tourism or trying to identify potential ecotourists.

Psychology

It is biocentrism rather than homocentric in philosophy, therefore, for whom an ecotourist will accept natural terms rather than significantly transforming the environment for personal convenience and satisfaction. A typical way to incorporate the attitude areas of ecotourists with an environmental assessment of the tourist activity is from what local peoples’ attitudes. This approach could have policy implications in terms of providing information for potential ecotourists as well as segmentation of ecotourist market. What is more, to stimulate discourse on the development of a genuinely deep form of environmental ecotourism that is consistent with concepts of sustainable development and sustainable living. Doxey(as cited in Fennell)claimed that the impacts of ecotourism in social aspect can be divided into four main stages which consider in the assessment of local philosophies. First is “euphoria”, it refers to ecotourists are welcomed without many control of planning. Second is “apathy”, which means planning is mainly concerned with the marketing of the tourism service. The third one which occurs at the period of the tourism industry has booming and saturation is happened. Ecotourists experienced “annoyance” and plan to make some development. Finally, it becomes to “antagonism”. Therefore, planning intend to provide some improvements and promote the tourism destination.

Society

As a matter of fact, ecotourism tend to be more acceptable and popular in recent society. Ecotourists may concern with all sorts of social aspects in terms of transport, conservation, resource use as well as recreational activities and experience different from mass tourists. When ecotourists encounter the transport, they may concern with pollution from road and air travel. Meanwhile, the transport infrastructure on green field sites, wildlife habitat and the use of energy resources by air and road. In a general context, the local people are more likely to be ecotourists because they encounter and expand greater proportion of ecotourist.

Cultural

Different cultural background may give rise to different experiences and reflections to ecotourists. Ecotourists will pursue a sustainable lifestyle regardless of their location, natural resource base and cultures. For instance, in some developed countries, ecotourist may at the centre of a polluted, congested city but decide to avoid motorised transport and walk, Therefore,the person is displaying the actions of an ecotourist without being in a designated ecotourist location.On the other hand, groups of people might want to visit ecotourist locations, for Example, according to Acott et.al, “the Annapurna circuit” in Nepal (Acott et.al p.240), many people still buy water in plastic bottles despite the efforts of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) to reverse this trend. It is because these kinds of bottles are not biodegradable.What is more, the example of the burgeoning trade in high-altitude tourism. Everest and the Matterhorn are in danger because of the climbers who are reach but without much experiences. Although some of these tourists might have a genuine environmental concern, this does seem more like a form of ego-tourism rather than ecotourism.

Ecotourism is a kind of natural based educational tour. With the wide spread awareness of doing things caring more about the environment, ecotourists like going to visit some natural attractions which will not harm the environment. Besides, they tend to be more likely than regular tourists to make use of locally owned accommodation and services then benefit the local economy. Ecotourism is more nature based than the leisure based mass tourism. But ecotourism and mass tourism have a close relationship between each other. Ecotourism can help make a sustainable principles and practices for mass tourism and help to increase public support. In the same way, mass tourism can provide a large clientele and revenue flow to the ecotourism (2001). From a social viewpoint, more and more people realize the importance of ecotourism. People who have higher education tend to expect basic facilities as long as they can enjoy the amazing nature. The ecotourism operators should take measures to attract more ecotourists in the future.

References Lists:

1. Weaver D.B.(2001). The encyclopedia of ecotourism.New York.CABI Publishing.

Fennell D.A. (2003).Ecotourism: an introduction.(2nd ed.). New York,Routledge.

2. Acott T. G., & Trobe H. L.,& Howard S. H(1998). An Evaluation of Deep Ecotourism and Shallow Ecotourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism,6(3) 238-253. Retrived November.12th 2010, from the informaworld database.

3. Goeldner, C. R. & Pithie, J. R. B. (2006).Tourism: principles, practices, philosophies (10th ed.). Canada: John Wiley and Sons, INC.

4. Ferrante, J. (2007). Sociology: A global perspective (7th ed.). USA: Thomson Higher Education.

5. Weaver, D. B. (2001). The encyclopedia of ecotourism. New York: CABI Publishing