Author: Andre Coleman

“…soft ecotourism often occurs on a large scale within certain accessible areas leading to the observation that ecotourism can and often does occur as a form of mass tourism…’ (Weaver and Lawton, 200: 362). Critically evaluate, using examples, the social, economic and environmental impacts of mass tourism on ecotourism sites.

From my studies and research in this subject area of geography it is evident that there is a link and indeed a relationship between ecotourism and mass tourism. In order to understand this relationship however we must take into account what exactly tourism means, and subsequently what is meant by ecotourism and mass tourism. What essentially is tourism? Undoubtedly there are many varying definitions to describe tourism but essentially tourism “. . . is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs” (Alister Mathieson and Geoffrey Wall 1982, p.1) Tourism is unquestionably a leisure activity and there are many various forms of tourism including;

Cultural tourism.
Sex tourism.
Adventure tourism.
Geotourism.
Event tourism.

The tourism sector has experienced significant increase in later years due to higher incomes and greater transport amenities and accessibility. According to the Central Statistics Office Ireland website, www.cso.ie the number of trips by Irish residents on domestic travel has increased from 7,001 in 2004 to 8,340 in 2009. [1] The increase or enhancement of tourism within certain areas has varying impacts, both positive and negative, on the economic, social and environmental aspects.

Ecotourism or ecological tourism essentially refers to travel to an area possessing natural, physical or cultural beauty for example rivers, beaches, mountains and wildlife ecosystems. The main purpose associated with this form of tourism is to maintain, protect and respect the value of the area. According to Mike J. Stabler et al, ecotourism refers to “. . . a sustainable, non-invasive form of nature-based tourism that focuses primarily on learning about nature first-hand and which is ethically managed to be low impact, non-consumptive and locally orientated (control, benefits and scale). It typically occurs in natural areas, and should contribute to the conservation of such areas.” (Mike J. Stabler et al, 2010, p.360). Ecotourism incorporates a wide range of activities from visits to natural ecosystems for example the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, physical activities such as mountain climbing and visits to see wildlife animals for example gorillas which I will discuss later in this essay. There are two main types of ecotourism; soft ecotourism and hard ecotourism. Soft ecotourism is generally the more popular form of ecotourism and usually involves short-term experiences which are nature led by a tour guide and in which the individual returns to a facilitated area. Due to the popularity of soft ecotourism it is more likely that mass tourism could develop as a result. Hard tourism on the other hand refers to the individual involving themselves in an intense experience devoid of amenities like accommodation, restaurants and shops for example The Hollies Centre in County Cork.

Mass tourism can be quite difficult to determine as there are no insights as to how many tourists would classify as mass tourism. However it fundamentally refers to large scale tourism where there is a great or large amount of tourists in a given area at any one time. Mass tourism has come to the fore due to higher incomes and accessibility as previously mentioned and in addition to these the introduction of package deals has also played a vital part in this form of tourism. It is essential to note that there is a relationship between these two forms of tourism and one can influence the other hugely. Throughout this essay I will discuss the impacts, socially, economically and environmentally of mass tourism on ecotourism sites with reference to various examples.

By controlling and managing potential mass tourism on an ecotourism site the negative social and environmental impacts are significantly reduced, ensuring the overall preservation and conservation of the site. Rwanda is a small country which is located in central Africa and is famous for its beautiful geographical scenery such as the scenic beaches at Lake Kivu and its vast series of mountains. In addition to the beautiful scenery, it also boasts an abundance of wildlife including various species of birds and the rare mountain gorillas. (Figure 1) Rwanda is known worldwide for these mountain gorillas and this undoubtedly is a main attraction for tourists. According to the Rwanda Tourism website, www.rwandatourism.com, the number of visitors in Rwanda increased from 826,374 in 2007 to approximately one million in 2008. [2] In addition to this gorilla tourism in Rwanda has grown significantly and reached a peak in 2008 when 17,000 tourists were recorded visiting the Volcanoes National Park alone (Neilsen, H. and Spenceley, A. 2010, p.2.), with peak season being the months of July and August. Although the increase in Rwanda’s tourists would not be classified as mass tourism on a global scale, it is essential to note that this increase has had significant impacts in Rwanda. The Volcanoes National Park is located in northern Rwanda and lies on the border of Virunga National Park in the Congo and the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. The Volcanoes National Park enables tourists to experience the extraordinary gorillas up close. The level of tourism certainly has impacts on the ecotourism site socially, economically and environmentally.

The local community in Rwanda has experienced both positive and negative impacts as a result of the increase in tourism. In relation to social impacts Rwanda has undoubtedly benefited. The income received in the country as a direct result of tourists in the park has meant that the local communities have socially grown. Under the ORTNP and with the support of the government, a tourism revenue scheme was initiated in 2005, meaning that 5% of revenue from park fees goes towards supporting local communities and projects. The following are examples of projects undertaken in Rwanda as a result of the revenue scheme;

Schools; the construction of ten schools within the locality has dramatically cut down on travel time for locals to school. This enables pupils to focus on their studies, thus improving the quality of education in the area.

Water Tanks; over 5,000 families within the locality have benefited from the construction of water tanks which provide 20,000 litres of water per person per day.

(Neilsen, H. and Spenceley, A. 2010, p.11)

The Rwandan community possesses a rich cultural society which is present in their arts and crafts for example woven baskets, pottery and painting. Tourist expenditure on such cultural crafts shows interest in local traditions and rituals and ensures the native culture survives amongst the varying cultures of tourists. Environmental impacts are a considerably important feature when referring to gorilla tourism in Rwanda. Due to the fact that these mountain gorillas are rare and endangered species conservation and protection of these animals is a priority. One can argue that tourism itself can have a detrimental impact on the animals and this undoubtedly is a fair argument. Gorilla tourism can and does present a threat to gorilla conservation as tourists can put stress and disturbance upon the gorillas. This can adversely affect the behaviour and health of the gorillas. (Neilsen, H. and Spenceley, A. 2010, p.16) Evidentially these factors could be responsible for a decline in population size. However, as people in Rwanda have realised the potential danger, they are now managing mass tourism in the following ways in order to conserve the eco-site;

Anyone who wishes to take part and experience closer contact with the gorilla species must purchase a permit which is expensive and limited. Tourists are willing to pay high prices for these permits and this essentially means that tourists are aware of and are supporting the ecotourism code of minimising ecological impacts.

In addition to the high cost of permits and as briefly mentioned earlier, the revenue scheme means that 5% of this money is fundamentally re-invested back into the conservation and protection of the national parks.

A set of rules and regulations have been introduced which prohibit risk to the gorillas. These rules are enforced by staff employed within the park. The following are some examples of rules and regulations enforced;

Tourists have to keep a distance of 7 meters between themselves and gorillas.

There is a daily limit of one group of tourists per group of gorillas, a limit to the number of tourists within that group and they are required to remain together.

Visits are to have a limited time span of one hour.

Minimum age requirement of 15.

(Neilsen, H. and Spenceley, A. 2010, p.4)

If we are to imagine this ecotourism site without any means of managing tourist numbers what would be the impacts environmentally? Undoubtedly the gorilla species in the Volcano National Park would become extinct. The population of the gorilla has already decreased in recent years and there is no question that extensive large scale tourism (larger than what Rwanda is currently experiencing) would decrease it even more. In terms of economic impacts with reference to tourism in Rwanda we can see that tourism is acting as an economic asset to the local communities. Employment in gorilla tourism is very significant and at least 180 employment opportunities have been created within the park including tour guides, anti-poaching teams and gorilla groups’ trackers. (Neilsen, H. and Spenceley, A. 2010, p.12)

Benidorm is a coastal town situated in the province of Alicante in Spain. It is home to beautiful sandy beaches which attract numerous tourists every year. Originally prior to the 1960’s it was a small village where farming and fishing were the main sources of income. During this time period Benidorm experienced little or no tourism.

Since then however Benidorm has developed tremendously and attracts as much as ten million tourists per year. As a result of this dramatic change the lives of the local people and indeed the landscape have changed dramatically. Tourists are attracted to Benidorm due to easy accessibility, cheap package deals, abundance of accommodation, the beautiful sandy beaches, nightlife and golf courses. The town of Benidorm developed rapidly in order to cater for this large scale tourism and this development has had social, economic and environmental impacts as a result. The construction of tourism related infrastructure has negative environmental impacts in the vicinity of Benidorm. Over consumption, over development, pollution and artificial reconstruction are amongst these negative impacts. Many high rise hotels were constructed in order to cater and maximise tourism within the town which immediately diminishes the beauty of the town and decreases attractiveness.

Pollution is an ongoing problem in the area. Tourism leads to extreme litter and extreme pressure on sewerage systems. Cheaper package deals have led to an increased level of air travel, thus increasing the levels of nitrous oxide, hydrocarbon and lead in the air. Over consumption of natural resources for example water is another negative impact of tourism in Benidorm in the past with tourists exploiting the resource in hotels and swimming pools. Reconstruction of beaches, and production of golf courses decreases originality, portrays a modern town and drains images of the picturesque fishing village that was once there. (Figure 2) According to an article on the BBC news website however, www.bbc.co.uk/news/ , Benidorm is now highlighted as the new face of ecotourism. The author describes the recent environmental positive impacts which were acknowledged and have occurred as a result of the initial negative impacts of mass tourism. In one hotel the lights immediately turn off upon vacating the room and many of the taps are foot-pump operated in order to save water which in turn tackles the overconsumption of the natural resource. In addition low energy street lighting is used. In relation to the economy of Benidorm there are both positive and negative impacts. The tourism industry is worth an impressive amount to the economy and is a vital asset in terms of job creation. The restaurants, pubs, hotels and shops employ a large amount of people from Benidorm and the surrounding areas which would perhaps be unemployed if it was not for high tourism levels. The majority of food is locally sourced which essentially means that money earned by local businesses is essentially going back into the local economy. However tourism in this town has negative impacts also. Many of the hotels in Benidorm are chain hotels and are foreign owned. This acts as a drain on the local economy as money leaves the country. The cost of living increased as a result of mass tourism with prices of houses and goods and services putting pressure on the locals. Socially, the huge numbers of tourists visiting Benidorm has resulted in a wide range of cultures which can have has both positive and negative effects. The wide multicultural society as a result of mass tourism indeed positive yet this can have strongly influence negative impacts. It can simply drown out the Spanish culture of the town and with such a diversity of cultures anti-social behaviour has occurred and remains a possibility when misunderstandings or insulting of different cultures occurs. In addition to this mass tourism can have adverse impacts socially for the locals. Mass tourism has led to a rise in inappropriate behaviour with tourists engaging in such activities as drug use and excessive drinking. Tourism also interrupts local access to amenities such as shops, roads, public parks and sporting facilities as well as public transport.

From the examples I have discussed throughout this essay it is evident that there is indeed a relationship between the two forms of tourism- ecotourism and mass tourism. In relation to my two examples, gorilla tourism in Rwanda, Africa and tourism in Benidorm, Spain, it is essential to note that I took two different approaches in terms of discussing them. When referring to ecotourism in Africa, I discussed the impacts that managing tourist numbers has had on the ecotourism site. It is evident from this example that ensuring the impacts of tourism numbers on this destination are monitored and managed is vital for sustainable tourism industry. Without the management gorilla numbers would decrease and would eventually become extinct. Therefore the ecotourism site would not be viewed as a must-go destination and tourism would possibly cease. With specific reference to the tourist destination of Benidorm in Spain, I discussed the impacts which mass tourism had initially created on the area. In contrast to this, in more recent years I have given an insight to how Benidorm has evolved from an area of mass tourism to an area portraying potential eco-touristic qualities. Tourism management in a destination that is in line with local communities preserves and enhances the environment and protects its wildlife, while providing a more authentic tourist experience and eliminating the negative social and environmental impacts of mass tourism on ecotourism site.

ABSTRACT:

The hospitality sector presents a variety of environmental aspects that, depending on the activity, may have a significant impact on the environment. Its users are consuming resources such as energy and water on a daily basis and generating a great deal of solid waste and effluents. The hotel industry, banking sector and hospitals are examples of some of the sectors that provide us with more information on this issue. This work discusses the main environmental impacts generated by the hospitality sector and highlights the possible environmental strategies that can lead to improvements in environmental management in this particular activity.

INTRODUCTION:

Most people are aware that there is a need for all of us to take care of the environment, if we are not to threaten the ability of the earth to support future generation. Some aspects of the environment are very obvious from our day to day lives, such as increasing traffic levels, together with the associated air pollution and loss of green belt. Environmental issues, particularly the relationship between our actions and the environmental impacts in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary effects. ( Kirk 1996).

Environmental impacts is a study of all the factors which a land development or construction project would have on the environment in the area, including population, traffic, schools, fire protection, endangered species, archaeological artefacts and community beauty. In another way possible adverse effect caused by a development, industrial, or infrastructural project or by the release of a substance in the environment. This also increases the need of sustainability development. It is a development that meets present needs without endangering the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development is contrasted with other modes of development that lead to social and ecological damage, at both the local and global levels (Harris et al 2002). According to Jan Peter Bergkvist, Director of Environmental Sustainability, Scandic xix. “There are three prime reasons for putting effort into sustainability: first, it preserves our environment for future generations; second, it adds that extra dimension to guest satisfaction, which in turn makes us a more attractive company; and third, it saves costs and improves profitability.”

AIM:

The aim of the position paper is to critically analyse and discuss the environmental impacts and its effects on the hospitality industry. This position paper will also explain the various positive and negative effects of environmental impacts of the hospitality industry and the methods, strategies adopted to control them.

MAIN BODY:

TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT-

To say, an environmental impact is the negative aspect of human activity on the biophysical environment. Increasingly consumer attitudes are favouring environmentally responsible businesses. This has extended to travelling where consumers are considering environmental issues when making travel plans and purchases. A reflection of this is seen in the growth of ecotourism, which has grown by 30% worldwide in recent years compared to 8% for traditional tourism. The Conference Board of Canada’s long term forecast shows that the accommodation industry will experience an annual growth of approximately 3% between now and 2015 (Eco efficiency centre). This arises sustainability development in the hospitality industry also. The concept of sustainable development has been expanded to cover seven key aspects. They are futurity, inter-generation equality, participation, the balancing of economic and environmental factors, environmental capacities, emphasis on quality as well as quantity and compatibility (David kirk). Environmental pressures have affected a much wider range of industries. Initially the concern was related only to the industries which caused direct pollution of the environment. But now it has become a wider issue and relates not only to the outputs but also to the whole operation. The hospitality industry also becomes a core industry to be discussed in this issue of environmental factors, as it exposes many of the conflicts which arise in implementing environmental policies. Many hotels and restaurants are situated in the areas of outstanding natural beauty, in historic cities and in regions with a delicate ecological balance. So there might be a question whether this addition of new facilities will destroy the uniqueness or its habitat which is already suffering from too much of development and tourism. But the hospitality industry is linked with various other industry which cooperates together to bring in a successful business which is mainly focused on profit. The hospitality industry is also a major customer oriented industry. So we must also consider customers, many of whom seek as part of the hospitality experience to be pampered with lashing of hot water, high pressure showers, freshly laundered linen, an ample supply of towels, copious supplies of food and drink, the availability of swimming pools and saunas and the limousine to take them to the airport. Whatever we do to reduce the environmental impact of hotels can only be either with the consent of customers or taking the main consideration as customer satisfaction. Many hospitality organisations are situated on a location were that is suitable for the customer or according to the customer needs. And it is therefore not situated in a place where there will be minimal effects from traffic, cooking smells and the noise of the disco and other adverse outputs. This kind of local pollution is not considered to be a big issue, but it does affect people’s attitudes towards the industry (David kirk).

The hospitality industry does not cause gross environmental pollution nor it consume vast amounts of non-renewable resources and therefore it may not be in the front line of environmental concern. The industry is made of relatively large number of small operations, each of which consumes relatively small amounts of energy, water, food, paper and other resources, and which add only a small amount of pollution to the environment in terms of smoke, smell, noise and chemical pollutants. The industry employs 10% of the population and can have a major impact in developing awareness and good practice (David kirk). According to Goodno “the push of legislation and the pull of consumer pressure groups, compounded by the cost savings which can result from reducing waste, many companies are now taking environmental management seriously”.

The main environmental impacts due to the hospitality industry are CO2 emissions, CFC emissions, noise, smoke, smells, health of staff, waste energy, waste water, waste food, waste disposal, agricultural ecology, purchasing policies, transportation policies, sale of souvenirs made from endangered species, location of hotels in fragile locations. According to the Annual report of the world travel and tourism environmental review “there is a recognition that environmental issues will become much more prominent as a factor which influences consumers, regulators, pressure groups and destinations and that the tourism industry will need to show increasing concern for these issues. The WTTC have developed a strategy, known as the “GREEN GLOBE”, in order to promote environmental management among hotel and travel environment. These vary from waste management to the development of eco-hotels and the classification of hotels on the basis of environmental impact (David kirk).

Environmental impacts of the hospitality industries-

Positive impacts

It sometimes educates the public about the local environment and the importance of protecting the environment, eg the Great Barrier Reef.
The tourism and hospitality industries often create employment and business opportunities in an area, contributing to the local economy.
Hospitality and tourism buildings and venues are being designed and/or redesigned so that their impact on the environment is reduced and they merge in with the local environment better.
Many enterprises are now employing more sustainable practices in order to promote a green image that appeals to consumers, eg using organic products, recycling, using less toxic chemicals and using more energy and water efficient fittings.

Negative impacts

The presence of buildings and tourists may destroy the local environment and habitat of native animals.
The hospitality industry contribute to waste issues, eg food scraps, oil and chemical disposal.
Many hospitality venues are noisy.
The hospitality and tourism industries consume a lot of energy and water, eg electricity for air conditioning, refrigeration (www.hsc.csu.edu.au).

The environmental impact is broadly classified as:

ASETHETIC IMPACT
CULTURAL IMPACT
ECOLOGICAL IMPACT
SOCIAL IMPACT
POLITICAL IMPACT

Aesthetic impact means causing destructive image of a surrounding by various factors such as development etc. The image of a destination possesses importance from a practical marketing perspective for many reasons.

Often hospitality industry fails to integrate its structures with the natural features and indigenous architectural of the destination. Large, dominating resorts of different design can look out of place in any natural environment and may clash with the indigenous structural design. A lack of land-use planning and building regulations in many destinations has facilitated sprawling developments along coastlines, valleys and scenic routes. The sprawl includes tourism facilities themselves and supporting infrastructure such as roads, employee housing, parking, service areas, and waste disposal (www.gdrc.org). Examples include lakes around Rotorua, New Zealand, that have suffered from blue-green algae and, on occasion, have been closed for recreational activities (Journal of sustainable tourism).

The Environmental Impact of Tourism in RomaniaIntroduction

In this essay the main attention will be focussed on the impact of tourism upon the environment in Romania, so the positive and the negative aspects of tourism will be brought in discussion. In Romania the environment is a factor influencing tourism demand. Given that the demand for products of interest is partly determined by its quality, the environment can have a positive or negative impact on tourism.

Tourism-environment relationship is particularly important, protection and conservation of the environment being the primary condition for progress and development of tourism. This link is complex; it is manifested in both directions. The environment is defined as the quality of life of people living and natural environments suitable habitats for animals and plants.

The impact of tourism on the environment

The positive impact

Tourism is one of the most important industries and has developed continuously. Romania is visited by more people which are interested in exploring new destinations and cultures as distant. Thus, areas having special natural resources attract more visitors, especially if they offer the opportunity to know the customs and traditions of other cultures.

When tourism and environment coexist in harmony, environment benefits from tourism. There are many examples of this kind, most falling into one of two types: conservation and environmental rehabilitation. Preservation means keeping informed choice and use of the natural and anthropogenic. Conservation and tourism often go hand in hand. In Romania many historical and archaeological monuments have been saved from destruction because of tourist interest to them.

In Romania parks and nature reserves managed to protect many species that would otherwise have been destroyed by uncontrolled hunting. Tourism not only provides a reason to preserve the environment from man, but also provides money for conservation: a share of the income from tourism can be used to preserve the environment. In this tourist from all over the world are involved in different touristic programs like hiking the trails of medium and high difficulty , visiting historical monuments and palaeontology, easy routes to points of Belvedere, and Keys resort to Rausor Buti, trails for ski touring, climbing routes, programs for the study / observation of flora, bird watching and observation traces animals.

Conservation implies preservation of the environment in a form as close to the original, rehabilitation involves a major change in the use environment. Many buildings and tourist areas have been saved by being restored as tourist attractions or tourist accommodation.

Many buildings and tourist areas have been saved by being restored as tourist attractions or tourist accommodation. Many factories in Romania began a new life as museums, industrial areas were converted into places of festivals, a variety of impressive castles and houses that were in decay became accommodation for tourists. Such examples show how the environment can benefit from tourism, saving what would otherwise be lost entirely.

The most important natural reserve from Romania, natural monument, internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve is Retezat National Park. The park contains many touristic attractions such as over 80 lakes, 20 peaks over 2000m, the most extensive and deepest glacial lake in Romania, more than 54 habitats of rare or vulnerable plants and animals, glacial relief in the north and caustic terrain in the south. In this reservation tourist from all over the world are involved in different touristic programs like hiking the trails of medium and high difficulty , visiting historical and paleontological monuments, light trails to points of Belvedere, ski at Rausor and Cheile Butii, climbing routes, programs for the study and observation of flora, bird watching and observation animal trails.

Another international known touristic attraction from Romania is the Danube delta. Tourists from all over the world choose the Danube delta as their holyday destination because of its unique landscapes and habitats. This has a good impact upon the natural reservation, because foreign tourists help raising the money for modernising and maintaining the many and diverse natural habitats in the delta.

The negative impact

Tourism is a consumer of space and tourist resources, participating default degradation and environmental pollution and tourism potential. This degradation is carried out either by direct pressure of tourists on the landscape, flora and fauna and other tourist attractions on which tourism can partially or totally damaged or recovery by the misconception of some areas, points and tourist attractions. Human pressure on the natural environment increases day by day, people moving more often and longer distances on the past. Leisure offers greater opportunity in the exploitation and conquest of the natural environment, most free time is spent outside the city, in nature. Periodic output of the city to green areas – in the form of tours, a weekend or holiday sites – has become a social custom with negative environmental effects. Many of the environmental damage caused by tourism are caused by the large number of visitors arriving at destinations whose optimal reception capacity has been exceeded.

Environment rarely escape harm when the number of tourists is very high. Air and water quality and diversity of flora and fauna are inevitably affected in some way, and landscapes, cities and monuments. Movement of uncontrolled tourist sightseeing done in natural or anthropogenic causes of often irreversible destruction of some of the items they have devoted to tourist attractions (the destruction of vegetation and flora, breaking trees and especially juveniles, poaching, degradation of the landscape). Pollution is increasing and because of the nature of automobile tourism whose deleterious effect is alteration of air quality, destruction of grasslands, trees and flora, etc… Another way of environmental degradation is the purpose of investment unscientific and irrational nature tourism, investments take the form of: over-dimensioning stations in terms of reception and treatment capacity, failure of general principles of natural resource exploitation.

An example showing the mutual relationship between tourism and environmental complex in general, and the negative impact that it manifests on each other, in particular, is the disappearance of the last 20 years to 14 huts in the Romanian Carpathians, the loss due to fire. Such damage is due to negligence of tourists.

Conclusions

Through this essay it has been showen that tourism has much more negative impacts on the environment of Romania than positive ones and that they are often closely related to the economical aspect of tourism.

In conclusion Romania is a country enjoying a natural setting with great potential and infrastructure often enough natural tourism, travel form, in this view, is less demanding

.

After research, results that Romania does not benefit by much more positive aspects, since many components of the environment have been destroyed by tourists, rather than preserved. As Romania has much to do about environmental preservation.

References:

Cooper et al, C., (1998) Tourism Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition. New York: Addison Wesley Longman Publishing

Cooper et al, C., (2005) Tourism Principles and Practice, 3rd Edition. Harlow (Essex): Pearson Education Limited

http://www.plural-magazine.com/article-the-danube-delta-eco-tourism-museum-center-in-tulcea.html

Retezat National Park

Antarctica is certainly most exclusive place on earth. People have travelled and visited almost all the parts of Antarctica for more than hundreds of years. The issue here is whether the frequent visits of tourists have put into question the sustainability of tourism in this area. Antarctica is being used by various scientists to carry out research and experiments to determine climate, weather, and oceanic features in the rest of the world. Even though the expenses to visit this place is very high, people don’t mind this factor as it is a lifetime experience for them.

The author argues that the increase in tourism in Antarctica has led to the increase in the risk to the marine environment, terrestrial ecosystems and also has affected the national research programs. The species like penguins have started migrating to other locations from their usual spots because of the human species. The main access for the tourists to this place is with ships, which are not properly equipped and some of which have led to accidents resulting in oil spills. The oil spillage has put many species in the threat of being extinct.

The problem is that how to make this tourism sustainable with reference to the ecological importance of the area. For this, the author puts forward few solutions, such as there should not be any resorts or hotels constructing on the shores of this area, as it affects the species around. These hotels and resorts dump a lot of wastes into the sea which spoils the water too. The government of Newzealand has made it compulsory for a government official to accompany the tourist’s ships to check whether they follow proper rules and regulations.

As we know, it is difficult to keep an eye on the activities of tourists in these areas, but it is expected that a few more steps like above would make tourism sustainable in Antarctica.

Article 2: Engagement with the private sector for sustainable tourism in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

(Source: Report for Global Ministerial Environment Forum Dubai, 7 -9 February 2006)

The Great Barrier Reefs the world’s largest coral reef system, composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands that stretch for 2,600 kilometres (1,616mi) and cover an area of approximately 344,400 km?. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. (www.cia.gov.com)

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) looks after the planning and management of the reef. The GBRMPA plays a critical role in strategically engaging the private sector in supporting research that protects and preserves the Reef. The private sector in Australia has an important part to play, adding its resources and voice to the quest to protect and preserve the Great Barrier Reef.

The author explains the purpose of this move was to establish a general framework for both the conservation and the ecologically sustain-able development of the Reef. To do this the Authority brought a wide range of stakeholders into the planning process: tourism, fishing, conservation groups, Aboriginal interests, state and local governments, etc. All participated in discussions of the Reef’s future and how to ensure it via responsible management of the Reef. Through its growing project portfolio, the GBRMPA provides a way in for business and philanthropy to invest in the Reef’s future. Working in partnership with business, government and philanthropy, a strategic, collaborative and coordinated approach to Reef research and increases the pool of funding available to investigate and address the threats to the Great Barrier Reef.

The author explains how private sector jumping in the main interest of the firms to earn from the park and the governments purpose of maintaining the park are both meet. The major hurdle is that there needs to be co-ordination between government, the private sector, local community and other stake holders to find a mutually beneficial outcome. Then the government needs to inform the major effects on the climate of the region. The government is participating in the training of the private sector employees so as to address the basic needs of the Reef including the safety of the marine life.

Author argues that government will have to plan a flexible planning and managing approach so that the private sector can undergo innovations and site-specific outcomes. The trade off that the reef will have from this move will be beneficial for the eco system and the tourists visiting the place as well. The government provides incentives for the private sector to their contribution to the reef. The funds available for the government to maintain the place and also to nurture effective tourism are limited and therefore that is also one of the reasons why the government has moved into privatization. The government and the private sector are both striving forward to maintain the heritage of the site as they know the importance of the Reef very well.

Article 3: Tourism in developing countries, Journal of Vacation Marketing

(Source: Oppermann, M and Chon, KS (1999). Tourism in developing countries, Journal of Vacation Marketing, 5, 3, pp. 301-302)

Tourism is probably the only services sector that provides concrete trading opportunities for all nations, regardless of their level of development. In many developing countries, tourism makes a greater contribution to foreign earnings than such other major exports as textile and clothing or agriculture, without encountering the same magnitude of trade barriers.(www.unctadxi.org) Certain countries also view small-scale niche tourism as having greater potential for increasing local multipliers by enhancing links with agriculture and other sectors. Moreover, small-scale niche tourism tends to reduce spatial inequalities through wider dispersal of enterprises. This should, in theory, stimulate tourist mobility and a more even distribution of tourism expenditure (Brohman, 1996).

Finally, due to its smaller scale, niche tourism is portrayed as a more environmentally and culturally sensitive strategy for rural development. Rapid tourism development and non-local investment tend to marginalise some segments of local communities by exacerbating the inequalities between the poor and those who have more capital. When the poor benefit from tourism, it is usually as street vendors or casual labourers (e.g., porters or ‘low level’ assistants in hotels, lodges, and tour organisations).

Challenges for developing countries:-

Lack of education
Lack of marketable assets
Lack of accommodation/facilities
Lack of financial capital

Even though terrorist attacks and global warming are putting some people off from traveling, the global picture is clear; people are traveling more and more every year. Tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Governments of the developing countries involved in the tourism industry have realized the importance of the industry for social and economic development and for job creation. This approach has led to bigger investments in tourism infrastructure in developing countries and so does the sustainability of tourism industry. It is supposed that Asian countries will be the fastest growing tourism players. The emerging middle class and the higher disposable income are the key factors for the sustainability of Tourism Industry in developing countries. Tourism in developing countries not only provides material benefits for the poor, but can also bring cultural pride, a sense of ownership and control, reduced vulnerability through diversification and the development of skills and entrepreneurial capacity. The developing countries will thus be increasingly important and they will not only be a luring destination for foreigners but they will also become an important source market.

Article 4: Environment justice and sustainable Tourism: THE MISSING CULTURE LINK

(Source: Blanca Camargo, Katy Lane, and Tazim Jamal (2007), The George Wright Forum, Volume 24 Number 3)

San Francisco Peaks in Arizona provides a birth place to many creation stories. Due to global warming resort management developed a plan to convert the sewage water into snow. This is one of the examples where cultural justice is embedded into sustainable development. The mountains were now used as a financial gain rather than living place. Seeing this Ninth Circuit court gave the decision of “save the peaks coalition”. The basic aim of sustainability tourism is conservation of environment and socio-economic well being. Thus the study of cultural impacts is important so as to focus on various issues such as interpretation, cultural survival, heritage issue etc. The other important aspects and contribution towards sustainability is the tangible (worship of fire, practices at burial sites etc) and intangible (mystical, identity, collective temporary etc) environment. It is a relationship between human and their biophysical world which help to give importance to cultural justice.

Cultural sustainability can be said for the groups of people try to retain or adapt elements of culture which are distinguishing them from other people. Attention has been directed towards the sustainability of destinations and their sources. It grows to continue at the international levels which give rise to economic of the country. The World commission on Environment and Development (WCED) distinguished between the public and private spaces in order for sustainable development. It not only meets the demands of present tourist but also enhances the protection of natural resources. It also fulfils the economic, social, and aesthetic need which helps the supports system. Equity is another basic important aspect of sustainability. It starts with addressing people the issues of cultural justice and equity in natural areas destinations giving impact, across different social groups within a destination area.

Still, injustices are commonly seen as it affects community labour and natural habitats, which is the major element of society. It is a balance between environment and economic development. The environmental justice movement is mainly concern about environmental risks the low income of people which is the major issue of the society. It helps tourist to identify its destinations and monitoring potential environmental issues.

It can act as a good reminder to people to maintain their environment and creating awareness between people for social gatherings for maintenance of ecosystem. For example, the places which are open for tourist should be used for learning the purpose and to enjoy natural areas. While those residential places should be restricted for tourists for performing their cultural activities taking place. In other words, the major aspect of cultural sustainability is to have proper management and planning facilities which will in decision making if various cultural goods. The cultural justice as described earlier may assist in creating various policies and laws by the government and development programs which will help to create awareness between people. It contributes further to an already complex domain.

One of the major concerns that researchers have is that many times cultural sustainability is not been taken into account of Cultural and Social Issues as separate phenomena but rather they are treated as either of the two. Then cultural sustainability also takes a lot of time to frame itself and also that the indicators are intangible. Therefore the measurement of cultural factors proves to be a major hurdle in cultural sustainability. Thus it is important for the people to understand that Land does not just represent a physical space, but it also represents various physical, symbolic, spiritual, and social identities of human cultures.

Article 5: Sustainable Tourism in Goa

(A pictorial view of tourism)

(Source: Dr Nirmala De Abreu Conference on Tourism in India – Challenges Ahead, 15-17 May 2008, IIMK)

Goa is one of the most visited places in India with a large number of international and domestic tourists each year. Goa is renowned for its beaches, places of worship and world heritage architecture. It also has rich flora and fauna, owing to its location on the Western Ghats range, which is classified as a biodiversity hotspot. The state is although one of the smallest state in India but still holds one of the highest FDI received state in the country. The government of Goa has therefore declared Goa as a tourist hub. The place is also filled with rich heritage Portuguese culture which also includes old buildings, churches and even alcohol which is available very cheaply. The beautiful beaches of Goa are the main tourist attraction of the region and therefore there has been an increased concern over the sustainability of tourism in Goa due to its small size and over crowdedness.

Tourism is generally focused on the coastal areas of Goa, with decreased tourist activity inland. Goa has two main tourist seasons i.e. winter and summer. In the winter time, tourists from abroad (mainly Europe) come to Goa to enjoy the splendid climate. In the summers (which, in Goa, is the rainy season), tourists from across India come to spend the holidays. Thus at any given time tourists are flooding Goa at all time of the year and is therefore appropriately associated as a ‘Goa- a 356 day holiday’. The main types of tourism are Beach tourism, Adventure tourism, Yoga tourism etc.

Goa faces the issue of sustainability of tourism on the basis of ecological and cultural sensitivity. One of the issue raised by the author is that the survival of Olive Ridley turtles which are famous in Goa. As tourism increases the turtles are finding it hard to search for places to hatch eggs as resorts or people have taken their nesting places. Due to a wide number of foreign tourists in the area it has become hard to maintain an balance between the local people and the international tourists. The local community is the major Stake holder in the sustainability of tourism in Goa as they have to play an important role for a successful and smooth running of tourism industry. Many cultural biases in the people have created conflict between the locals and the foreigners. Issues like the locals stare are foreigners on beaches or even charge them very high for any local product which they want to buy. Tourists also face a lot of harassment from local vendors as they force tourists to buy their products. Environmental issues faced by the people are depletion of water due to tourism and also pressure on land as there is limited availability of land in the region and the increasing tourist demand has forced resorts to locate themselves on prime tourist location. There is also an increased number of pollutants that are emitted in the atmosphere due to heavy traffic, plus there is increased concerns over noise pollution as well.

A few recommendations have been suggested so as to provide a sustainable tourist environment in Goa. These include diversifying areas for tourists by not just concentrating on the beaches but also on other heritage landmarks and tourists spots across the state. To deal with the issue of local people guides and locals should be trained to hospitality management and also respect other cultures and accept them with an open mind. Also to curtail the issue of raising prices the government should set standard prices for products so as to reduce conflicts. Protection of foreign women has been a raging issue in Goa as there have been frequent issues of rape and molestation on women, this is also largely due to the availability of drugs in the market. Thus government should take essential steps to curtail drug circulation and also fix some comeback hours for hotel guests.

Thus if appropriate steps are not taken to sustain the ever growing tourist industry in the tiny state it won’t be that far when the same industry that has been a boon for the state turns out to be a night mare.

Article 6: Ecological footprint analysis as a tool to assess tourism
Sustainability

(Source: Gossling, S., Borgstrom Hansson, C., Horstmeierc, O, and Saggeld., S (2002). Ecological footprint analysis as a tool to assess tourism sustainability, Ecological Economics, 43, 2-3, pp. 199-211)

Sustainable tourism is the major issue for the countries who believe in environmental integrated tourism. The article depicts how Seychelles an environmentally rich island has been affected by the increased number of tourism on the basis of ecological footprint. Ecological footprint is a measure of the load imposed by a given population on nature. It represents the area of the Earth’s surface necessary to sustain levels of resource consumption and waste discharge by that population. Tourism for Seychelles is the second largest source of gaining foreign exchange. To study how sustainable is tourism in Seychelles ecological footprint was calculated on the basis of a few indicators i.e. arable land, pasture, forest, sea space, built-up land and fossil energy land. Arable land, pastures and forests are measured from the statistics which are obtained from the country whereas the other three indicators are stringent to determine as there are many external factors taken into consideration to determine the other three indicators. Fossil fuel consumption for example is not just determined by the islands alone consumption but also by the fact that the consumption of fuels by the incoming and outgoing flights from the region and that too for the sole purpose of tourism.

The results of the ecological footprint are quite alarming when the country believes to achieve Environmental Impact Assessment as a key to increasing tourism. On the other hand Seychelles has protected a proportion of its island as restricted area and has thus has shown that tourism development and ecosystem conservation are in balance. Seychelles has a large amount of foreign exchange generated due to tourism and which is utilized for the imports of various commodities which include oil, food supplies, wood etc. Now, considering the amount of land which is unexplored or unutilized it is been argued that this land could be used in order to obtain the above needed resources. Thus the country faces a trade-off between imports and land conservation. The amount of CO2 and other harmful emissions from aircraft has also gained wide speculation on the belief that Seychelles is sustainable to tourism. Energy saving devices and use of renewable energy has just marginally served the purpose but the main purpose of sustaining tourism is limit the transport distances of aircraft, as a short distance in the locality might prove ecologically beneficial. The energy distribution or consumption in the island is also not viable as just a single resort in the vicinity of the island consumes much greater energy than the neighboring town.

Ecological footprint analysis (EFA) although is a good way to asses tourism sustainability but it is quite difficult to obtain the EFA indicators as many times sufficient data is not available. For example the amount of CO2 or other emissions from the aircraft cannot be measured and as per how much harm it does to the island cannot be measured. Environmental degradation similar to El Nino can be claimed to be due to some natural calamity but similar coral degradation surrounding the island cannot be overlooked. Unsustainable management of the biosphere, for example clear-cutting a rainforest for agriculture would seem to increase the ecological efficiency because the yield factor of cropland is higher than that of forestry. So thus if a few limitations are overlooked then EFA indicators are the best way for Seychelles to achieve sustainability in tourism.

Article 7: SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS FOR MANAGING TOURISM

(Source: HwanSuk, Choia, and Sirakayab, E. (2006). Sustainability indicators for managing community tourism, Tourism Management, 27, 6, December, pp. 1274-1289)

In this globalised world of capitalism, transportation has played a major role which helps to develop tourism into the world’s largest industries. This tourism has brought a tremendous contribution to the economics of the world. Although it has brought prosperity to the society still it has negative social and cultural impacts and environmental degradation in society. It has damaged all the natural resources and socio-cultural environment of many tourist places. Taking all aspects into considerations World Commission on environment and development (WCED) formed various organisations that will take care of the ecosystem. Basically, it needs tourism planning, management, and development option. This will result in sustainable development to the tradition of neo- classical model. Many individual countries have defined their own national policies and strategy’s for the development of sustainability.

The basic aim of the committee should fulfil the local economic benefits and protect the natural resources. Sustainable tourism has also given rise to the third dimension aspect of literature which includes social, cultural, and ecological dimensions. They also thought of political, and technological. This gave an impact on tourism which led it to the progress for forming a frame work.

William Ogburn was the first one to use the term “social indicators”, which forms a component in sustainable development. The objective indicators act as a central part of monitoring everything. They form the major tool for income, employment, and attract visitors. The efforts were not only seen in micro level but went up to macro level taking all aspects into consideration. It included various methodologies like the survey instrument, data collection/ findings, discussion and conclusion. These four components are the key conditions for sustainable tourism development. These indicators help the local to understand the condition of resources to have a helping hand for the development of the ecosystem. These should be planned and govern by the stakeholders. For maximising the sustainable tourism development residents should have various communication channels which are interlinked with each other to have a better co- ordination between various stakeholders.

For example, the sustainability goal of a small region with a large population would differ from that of large communities with a small population. Thus the indicators should satisfy and precept the role of sustainable tourism development, in order to extend the current situation. Though they have different approaches still they have one role in common that is achieving sustainability. In short, the approach towards sustainable tourism development should always be ecological and should be responsible for all social, political, economical, technological aspects.

Article 8: TOURISM AS A KEY TO SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT: THE NEPALESE HIMALAYAS IN RETROSPECT

(Source: S.K. Nepal (2002), Unasylva 208, Vol. 53)

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world. Mountainous tourism plays an important aspect in economic development and environmental conservation. Hector Ceballos-Lascurian has termed this word “ecotourism”. It can also be defined as “Travelling which does not disturb the surrounding and maintains the existing culture” (Ceballos-Lascurain,1987). It can also be defined as the last hope preservation and protection of various species and ecosystem (Smeral, 1996). And tourism particularly in Nepal where mountains contribute about 80% of the land mass and 20-30% of total volume of tourism which forms homes of various biological and cultural diversity acts as an incoming source to many people which form the major aspects of the Nepalese Himalayas.

Most of the peaks in the Himalayas are promoted as an adventure spot rather than studying point. However such tourism gave rise to both negative and positive points.

Several exposures to tourism brought disruption of local culture, traditions etc. Thus it is necessary for the mountain tourism to be based on sustainability which includes many aspects such as sound environmental practices, equality and long term benefits. Basically, sustainability encompasses ecological, economical and social components, giving rise to major three components of mountain tourism in the Nepalese Himalayas those are as follows:

Conservation of natural resources
Improvement of quality of life of local population
Enhancement of visitor’s satisfaction.

Nepal mainly compromises of three major regions the Annapurna, Everest and the Lang tang regions, where Annapurna -conservation area and Everest and Lang tang- national parks. Basically, all these areas were more exploded by foreign mountaineering which has made them more popular and famous. Thomas Cook offered the first tour of Nepal for the Western visitors, which led to prosperity and popularity to intermediate level. This popularity brought both positive and negative points within itself, by changing Nepal from an exotic destination to that of a cheap rugged and dirty destination. Due to lack of regulation and improper management the beauty of Himalayas was leading nothing but landscape degradation. Many things like garbage, pollution, extraction of natural resources came with it in such a way that it lead to destructions of things. Trekking traffic puts great pressure on mountain traits which were more seen in higher altitudes and where the vegetation was poor. Accumulation of garbage by the trekkers formed the major issue of mountains. Thus the sustainability of tourism industry in Nepal came under sever scrutiny.

In 1991 Sagarmath pollution control committee (SPCC) was established to solve these problems. It has collected up to 250 tones of garbage per year. Despite all these problems the Nepalese Himalayas has been a boon to the local economy. It has under wined the difference between the poorer and the rich. New habitats were developed by people giving a new way towards society. It increased the awareness of the effects of tourism and therefore started planning various conservation programs. People are trying to manage their resources sustainably by the means of energy conservation. The government undertook programs where locals and visiting tourists took an active initiation.

Without these programs initiated by the government the sustainability of tourism was under threat. Such reforms by the government are not only seen in Nepalese Himalayas but throughout the world. Thus mountain tourism in the Nepalese Himalayas represents the dilemma of conservation and development being debated the context of suitability development. Thus if the mystical, spiritual and wilderness image of the Nepalese Himalayas is to be restored and capitalised on, then there must be concrete efforts towards tourism development that is sustainable in ecological, economic and social terms.

Article 9: Sustainable tourism in Maldives

(source: Journal by Ron Gluckman in Maldives)

The Maldives have got a nickname known as “Paradise”. This place is being well equipped by natural beauties which make the place equal to the word paradise. But even Maldives is facing issues related to sustainable tourism. The Maldives 70 percent of the GDP comes from their tourism in their country which makes the government regulate many policies to make the tourism in a sustainable way. Now it been seen that the government is not successes by 100 percent.

The problems which the Maldives face due to the tourism are global warming and the wastes disposed of by the resorts. A one-meter rise in the sea level can swamp 80 percent of the Maldives. The no of tourists to this spot is being increasing year by year, but the resorts available to accommodate them are very less when compared. And the existing resorts are creating problems with their waste disposal.

Summary of Key Findings:

Sustainable tourism is an industry committed to making a low impact on the environment and local culture while helping to generate income and employment for local people (Coccossis, 1996). The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development is a positive experience for local people; tourism companies; and tourists themselves. Sustainable tourism can be taken in four different interpretations that include economic sustainability of tourism, the ecologically sustainable tourism, sustainable tourism development with both focus of environment as well as long-term feasibility of the industry and finally tourism as a part of a strategy for sustainable development (Farsari, 2000). In all the articles that have been critically analysed above all the issues regarding the sustainability of tourism is mentioned.

Government as a Stakeholder:-

Tourism is one of the many external forces influencing the direction and options for national development. The question of whether tourism can be sustainable that is, whether it can contribute to local sustainable development is rightfully addressed in the context of the involvement of Government bodies. A truly practical discussion on sustainable tourism must take place within the government authorities and the communities that are being influenced by tourist industry development. It must create accountability of the tourism industry to locally-defined development visions. Like for example the government of Goa has now put in strict regulation on building of Resorts on beaches as it results in the degradation of precious species. Training local people or industries is also one of the important duties governments should play in order to achieve sustainable development of tourism and therefore in the barrier reef the Private sector industries will initially be directed by the government as per the working of the Great Barrier Reef and only then will it be handed out to them.

The articles reviewed shows that profits may be increased simply by adopting some general environmental principles, such as recycling waste, planning for long-term sustainability, and seeking local partnerships for the preservation of a reef. If these actions result in cleaner, less crowded, holiday resorts, then they are in effect sustainable tourism without being labelled so. Strict norms and rules should be setup by the government so as to see through efficiency in the tourism industry. Short-term government focus is no good for the countries as that would lead to short term gains and long term losses. In Nepal, the government is not imposing strict regulations on the garbage dumping carried out by the tourists at high altitudes.

Environmental Degradation due to Tourism:-

Like other economic activities, tourism consumes resources. Today, tourism is one of the major economic activities in the world. The environmental effects, widely defined, include cultural and social elements and are probably the biggest problem of tourism. Areas, where overcrowding and overdevelopment occur, are often relatively small and possess fragile environments. At peak season visitors can outnumber the resident population. Environmental impact of tourism is most visible in tourist destinations, but effects are also visible at points of origin and transit (McKercher B, 1993).

For example, the output of aircraft, ferries, buses, cars equipment and promotional material consumes productive and energy resources and generates waste in origin areas while travelling long distances creates pollution in the atmosphere and adversely effects th

Summary

This report deals with one of the leading travel group in the world which has been in operation since the past. It has been considered as the most trustworthy and reliable travel group which offers travel packages to its customers across the world. The travel group is Thomas Cook and is one of the leading travel and tourism agencies in the world. In this assignment, the organisation of Thomas Cook has been analysed taking into consideration the internal and the external environmental factors. A number of the important models such as McKinsey model along with the Pest analysis, SWOT and other models have been used to analyse the organisation. The main aim was to analysis the external and internal environment affecting the organisation. Leadership style has been discussed, and it can been seen that Thomas Cook has one of the cost effective organisational structure and follows a flexible business model so that it can be altered as and when needed. Finally the paper ends with recommendation and conclusion which states that the company should work according to the demand of the customers in order to stay competitive and maintain its number one position.

Introduction
Aim of the Report

The aim of this report is to conduct an effective internal and external environmental analysis of Thomas Cook based on separate models. The analysis would help one understand the key competencies of the firm and also the areas where development is needed. Recommendations are also to be provided in due course to enhance the position.

Overview of the Organisation
Company Size

Thomas Cook is one of the biggest companies in the field of leisure and travel and is observed to operate along a large geographical segment pertaining to 22 countries round the world. The company has emerged out to be a key market leader in the leisure and travel category. Thomas Cook, during the financial year of 2011-12 earned total sales revenue emanating to ?9.8 billion from a total customer base of 23.6 million people around the globe (Thomas Group Plc, 2012).

Company Structure

Thomas Cook operates based on a decentralised structure where the board of directors are responsible for delegation of tasks and duties to subsequent committees and other sub-boards. The structure operates along a top-down or vertical integration fashion in the company (Thomas Cook, 2010, p.53).

Main Activities

Thomas Cook Plc works along several segments to render value-added services to the customers. The first or the core product segment contains of packaged tourism services where both flights and hotel services are grouped under one bundle and rendered to the customer. The second segment consists of independent packages that help in rendering consumers a larger flexibility in choosing the travel destinations, duration of tour and other value additions. The third product segment focuses on rendering financial support to the travellers in terms of foreign exchange or money transfers and also in tour assurance services. Fourthly the group also operates via retail houses that help in distributing tour packages and offers to the consumers. Finally the group also operates on the basis of online networks where it focuses to serve consumers in European and pan-European markets effectively (Thomas Cook, 2011, p.13).

Objectives of the Report

As a market analyst and researcher the report to be presented would highlight the strategic potencies and drawbacks of Thomas Cook operating around the world in the travel and leisure segment. The report presented would eventually help the company management potentially address the drawbacks highlighted to develop its performance potential in the future.

Analysis of the Organisation
Internal Environmental Analysis
Employee Engagement Analysis in Thomas Cook

The analysis of employee engagement in organisations reflects the manner in which the people involved relate their activities and conduct to the inherited cultures and values of the concern. Thus an employee engaged is taken to be highly conscious of the organisational values and cultures and thereby coordinates with other colleagues to effectively achieve organisational goals and objectives. The level of employee engagement enhances with the level of relatedness the employer has with the employee groups (Vazirani, 2005, p.3).

Herein, the module of employee engagement is used to analyse the level of loyalty and reliability of the employees in Thomas Cook.

The management of Thomas Cook endeavours to effectively interrelate with the employees involved in different levels to share with them potential information pertaining to changes in organisational strategy and policies. Effective interrelation and communication is carried out by the management both along the web and physical sphere in terms of online chat and electronic mails and circulation of internal magazines respectively. Moreover the employees are also invited to participate in workshops and training programs that in turn enhance their potential to perform in their specific task areas. Further the management body of Thomas Cook from time to time conducts effective surveys to understand the level of interrelatedness of the employees, both new and old to the organisational values and business directives. Survey carried out would clearly hint on the satisfaction and commitment level of the internal people in Thomas Cook. Satisfaction level of the internal people duly enhanced helps Thomas Cook in addressing the changing needs of the consumers and also in effectively reducing the level of staff turnovers in the organisation. Henceforth, employee engagement activities in the company motivate the people to work more productively and thereby augment the revenue and productivity paradigm of the concern (Thomas Cook Group plc, 2011; Thomas Cook Group plc-a, 2011).

Analysis of Thomas Cook based on McKinsey’s 7S Model
The Model

In the McKinsey’s 7S Model firstly, the management works on the basis of set strategies incorporating the views of many to help arrive at a specific action plan to accomplish end goals. Secondly, the management works on a definite structure to integrate the people working in different levels more effectively to meet end objectives. Thirdly, the organisation works based on a set of policies and procedures in achieving targets set. Fourthly, the concern uses internal people as a key resource in meeting the tasks set. Fifthly, different managers reflect different types of styles in meeting the same objectives. Sixthly, the management needs to share the objectives and policies of the concern with the employees to coordinate the actions taken. Seventhly, the skills of the people need to be enhanced in meeting end objectives effectively and successfully (Bhattacharya, 2011, p.333-334). McKinsey’s 7S Framework is reflected in the following diagram.

Figure 1

(Bhattacharya, 2011, p.334)

The attributes of the model would be used to analyse the internal environment of Thomas Cook for they help in setting a paradigm through which the organisational manager gains the potential in drawing the attention of the employees in meeting end objectives.

Structure

The organisational structure of Thomas Cook is found to be vertically integrated with a top-down management structure. Thus decisions are generally taken by the board of directors and higher management body of the concern and percolated downwards to different organisational levels. However in recent times, Thomas Cook is observed to take resort of a global outsourcing strategy to transfer the finance and accounting services in the hands of outsourced teams to help in cost reduction and organisational productivity (Banham, 2005).

Systems

Thomas Cook works based on an integrated business model incorporating the designing of both individual and packaged tours and also assisting the consumers in terms of financing and insuring their tour activities. Similarly, the company works in gaining an enhanced consumer base through carrying out its operations via retail marts and also through the online base. Thomas Cook trains its staffs to render effective customer services acting on such planes (Thomas Cook, 2011, p.13).

Style

The management style at Thomas Cook firstly works in encouraging the growth of organisational diversity in terms of employing people pertaining to different ethnic backgrounds, sex and age differences. Secondly, the management style in the concern promotes growth and promotion based on merits and performance parameters and thereby restricts the practice of discrimination in the workplace (Thomas Cook, n.d.).

Staff

The organisational management works in effectively recruiting a talented and knowledgeable workforce in the concern. Having recruited a talented and multi-skilled workforce the management works in motivating the people and effectively integrating training them to fulfil the needs of the concern (Thomas Cook Group plc-b, 2011).

Skills

The skills of the internal people are enhanced by Thomas Cook through the incorporation of effective training and performance management programs. Feedback is generated to the employees based on performance appraisal systems to help them address the drawbacks. In 2011, the company invested around a‚¤9.9 million pertaining to the training segment (Thomas Cook Group plc-c, 2011).

Strategy

The core business strategy of Thomas Cook is to train its employee base to render value-additions to the service parameters pertaining to the category of independent travel. Further, the management also desires to enhance the financing and business development parameters of the travel related services framework to augment the customer satisfaction experience (Thomas Cook Group plc, 2012).

Shared Values

The higher management body of Thomas Cook works on the basis of transmitting potential information pertaining to business and strategic value to the employees pertaining to different levels. Through the above function the company management desires to work as a single unit in helping to achieve end goals effectively (Thomas Cook Group plc-d, 2011).

Leadership Style of Thomas Cook

Adair (2011) states that leadership style pertaining to an organisation gains effect such that where different individuals and groups are employed to help in achieving a desired task. Herein, the manager is required to divide the entire task among groups and individuals and thereby to monitor and evaluate their performance levels in helping to meet the objectives taken (Adlair, 2011, p.92-93). The same can be represented through the following illustration.

Figure 2

(Adair, 2011, p.92)

Task

Individual

Team

The leadership style of Thomas Cook reflected that it works on a task based model where decisions taken by higher management are percolated through the management hierarchy along different levels.

Task

Individual

Team

Ideal leadership style of Thomas Cook would be where the task is uniformly matched with team and individual pursuits. However, the same is difficult to implement for it means a complete restructuring of the organisational structure.

Task

Individual

Team

Thus the ideal style would be to delineate and percolate the entire organisational task along different layers while at the same time encouraging the development of individuals and teams by incorporating them in decision making functions.

Organisational Structure of Thomas Cook

The organisation structure of Thomas Cook is reflected in Figure A in the Appendix section. Headed by the Board of Directors the company is run by different committee bodies looking after finance, health and safety, auditing and disclosure functions and similar other departments. These committee bodies report to the body of Directors. Similarly the different segments and functions of the company are governed by different boards which are linked therewith other country heads serving different markets (Thomas Group Plc-a, 2012).

Human Resource Systems in Thomas Cook
Induction

The induction program of Thomas Cook helps in introducing the people to the procedures and policies of the company. It also helps in providing guidance to the students regarding aspects of value and culture of the company. Moreover, a buddy is rendered with the apprentices who introduce the aspirant to the task to be performed at different levels along with the values of the company. Effective survey is conducted based on the apprenticeship program where feedback is gained from them to be used for further developments in the induction training rendered. Again, the apprentices are also rendered specific electronic learning modules to enhance the knowledge of the employees in the light of modifications and developments (People 1st, 2011).

Appraisal

The company conducts effective performance appraisal programs of the people pertaining to different levels in the organisation. Performance reviews of the people in the concern are conducted on an annual basis and feedbacks are generated to the people on that behalf. Development of the people is done through involving them in training programs where the skills sets are honed to meet drawbacks (Thomas Cook Plc, 2010).

Communication

Internal communication is practiced in Thomas Cook through the holding of meetings by the board of directors of the concern every year on timely schedules. In addition to the scheduled meetings the directors are also responsible for conducting of other additional and supplementary meetings as and when needed by the company. It is observed that on a general note the board of directors holds around 9 scheduled and 10 other additional meetings in the company (Thomas Cook, 2011, p.45).

Incentive

A host of financial and other incentives and amenities are rendered to the individuals by the organisation so as to effectively retain a productive and highly skilled workforce. The range of benefits rendered range from holiday packages, to shopping discounts and also other insurance and other leave related benefits. Moreover the workplace is made advanced in terms rendering flexible working hours to help the people work more productively.

Areas of Development in Thomas Cook
Structural Paradigm

Pertaining to the structural paradigm the introduction of decentralisation in the organisational ambit has required the company to incorporate information technology infrastructure in the designing of data centres in different regions (Chillingworth, 2010).

Leadership Style Paradigm

The managers of Thomas Cook are required to adapt to changing situations through training programs rendered based on change leadership models. Similarly, the management skills are honed through incorporation of tenets pertaining to emotional intelligence and qualities to manage stress in the workplace (People 1st, 2008, p.3).

Systems Paradigm

Pertaining to operation systems and procedures the company is focusing to enhance its relationship with the consumers through augmenting their safety paradigm and suppliers like hotels and air services on an enhanced scale. Moreover the company is also working for promoting a safer and healthier environment through evaluation of carbon footprint (Thomas Group Plc, 2009).

Plan of Development in Thomas Cook
Kotter’s Eight Step Model

The analysis of the plan of development in Thomas Cook is conducted based on the Eight Step Model presented by John P. Kotter of Harvard. The first three steps focus on analysing external changes, modifying the vision and thereby aligning teams to incorporate the change process. The subsequent three steps focus on implementing the change process through effective communication, empowerment of individuals and motivating people through short-term wins. Finally, the seventh and eight steps focus on sustaining the change rendered and enhancing the impacts of the change through modifications (Kotter, 2006, p.4). The same can be shown in the following illustration.

Figure 3: Kotter’s Eight Step Change Process

(Kotter, 2006, p.4)
Change Process in Thomas Cook

Firstly, the company management created the urgency in gaining profits from the market. Secondly, a team was created through replacements and promotions rendered in the executive body to incorporate the change. Thirdly, a new vision was created focusing on reducing costs, redesigning its organisation structure and enhancing its existing brand image (Linder, 2004, p.114).

Fourthly, the management endeavoured to share the vision gained with the employees involved at different levels. Fifthly, employees were empowered to take individual decisions while rendering services to the consumers. Sixthly, a reward system was brought out to effectively motivate the employees to enhance the service quality (Srinivasan, 2009, p.280).

Seventhly, the company focuses on gaining hold of talented and effective people that would help the concern achieve its set goals. Communication along the lines is enhanced through holding of training and interactions on a two-way level. Finally, new leadership policies and procedures are brought about by the company management to motivate the people to work in a productive fashion (Thomas Cook, 2010, p.40).

External Environmental Analysis

No organisation tends to exists in vacuum as each of the organisations is affected by the external environment. The external environment refers to the context in which organisation promotes, provides and also distributes its services. In maximum number of cases, the organisation doesn`t have control or has limited control over the environmental factors. According to Rubrigt and MacDonald (1981), if any of the organisation faces weakness it would become the tendency of the organisation to overlook the opportunity or the obstacles in the market place, also the external environment (Winston, 1985, p. 45).

Process of Environment Monitoring in Thomas Cook

With a wide range and scale of environmental impacts across the business of Thomas Cook, the operating companies tend to coordinate the performance of the environment locally under the banner of “Group Environmental Policy”. Thomas Cook is committed in reducing the impact of the environment by way of protecting the environment and the resources and the business usually depends on safeguarding the wildlife, biodiversity and also animal welfare.

Market research: In order to monitor the upcoming challenges and trends of the consumer Thomas cook can conduct market research based on the needs of the customers. As the disposable income rise, there arise a shift in the mindset and thus it is required to introduce and act accordingly the customer’s expectation. Thus doing a proper market research would help the travel agency to stay ahead of its competitors. The company can make a page and share it in social networking sites to get feedbacks about the new schemes and can alter accordingly.

Demographic: Thomas Cook is a well known and the oldest travel agency and thus the customers are attracted towards it because of the reliability and experience. Thomas cook can expand its stores where most number of customers visit to attract even more customers.

Benchmarking: Thomas Cook has benchmarked the employee satisfaction. The company believe that employee who is engaged tends to perform better which leads to satisfied and loyal customers. Thomas Cook has compared each of the business segments through an employee survey and the rate of response was 64% in the year 2009. As per the survey in 2009 the engagement index was 3.74 as compared to the benchmark index of 3.67 (Thomas Cook Group Plc, 2009).

Trade publication: Thomas Cook pocket guides covers about 170 destinations and at the same time compact and practical guide for the sun seekers and also for the city breakers. Other guides available for the travellers include driving guides, travellers guide and others. Recently Thomas cook has launched Canadian website which is a conjunction with rebranding of all the retail locations of Thomas Cook across Canada (Travel Trade, 2012).

Scenario Planning: Thomas cook has acquired other travel agents in order to stay competitive in the travel agency sectors.

PEST Analysis of Thomas Cook

PEST Analysis is mainly used to scan the environment. PEST refers to political, economical, social and technological factors (Henry, 2008, p. 41). Thus Pest is used to analyses and scans the general environment surrounding Thomas cook. It is through PEST that the company will be able to detect as well as monitor the weak signals in order to recognise the fractures which shape the environment.

Political Factors

The UK travel and tourism industry has faced immense pressure from the government as it has introduced tourism tax and has said to affect all the travel and tourism business including Thomas Cook. The travel agents had opposed to the proposal of bed tax which the government had levied ?1 per head per night from the visitors staying in the local hotels. The proposed bed tax is said to increase the domestic price and keep the foreign visitors from holidaying in UK (The Guardian, 2012). The potential tax of about 5% to 10% would make England the proposed bed tax is said to increase the domestic price and keep the foreign visitors from holidaying in UK (The Guardian, 2012). It is one of the highest taxed holiday destinations in whole of Europe (BHA, 2012). Thus with the rise in tax, business like the local shops, the restaurants and the travel agencies are said to be affected.

Economic Factors

During the past few years the tourism sector have faced hard times due to challenging economic times and have largely impacted the global travel market but however there are signs of recovery within the consumers. The travel and the leisure sector were impacted mainly due to the consumer’s disposable income, unemployment rate, fluctuation in the rate of currency and the oil price. All these drives have hugely impacted the travel and leisure industry. The GDP declined by 6% in the year 2009, the rate of unemployment has increased to about 2%, the price of oil continued to be highly volatile. In addition to the above factor, there are other factors which have impacted the global travel market. Global terrorism has impacted the confidence of the consumers from travelling along with the swine flu in Mexico which had similarly affected the travel planes along with an increased taxation the economic conditions seems to get worst. Therefore due to these challenging economic conditions, the travel market over the past few years has significantly declined in the travel market (Thomas Cook Group Plc, 2009).

Social Factors

The economy of UK is one of the strongest economy in Europe where the disposable income of the consumers are at a rise and thus the expenditure made on leisure is growing at about 6% and thus has higher level of expectation from the travel and tourism sectors. Most of the people will at least go for one holiday to abroad, thus increasing the demand of the travel and tourism industry. In addition one of the important markets in travel and tourism is the grey market which mainly comprises of older people who are healthy and fit and as such has plenty of time along with funds to spend on travelling (Pearson School and College, n.d, p. 11).

Technological Factors

Technological factors refer to the use of internet which has allowed the people the opportunity to become much more independent and make plans according to their desire. Thomas Cook aims to be among the top online service provider and it can be done through modified and advanced technologies.

Analysis of the Competitive Environment of Thomas Cook

The competitive environment is analysed in order to describe the nature of the following attributes. As the environment keeps on changing each of the listed attributes becomes more or less attractive in order to achieve profitable growth rate. Thus the competitive environment of Thomas Cook has been analysed.

Figure 4: Attributes in the Competitive Environment
(Source: Bigler & Norris, 2004, p. 81)
Diversity

The Thomas Cook Group is committed to provide a workplace which is free from discrimination and that supports diversity. Not only is it beneficial to the employee but also to the company in having a diversified workforce. The organisation provides employee training and monitors the diversity among its employees. Diversity is key strength of Thomas Cook and is an essential part of the business. The company operates in bout 22 countries and thus employs people from different backgrounds and cultures. A diverse workforce tends to create a dynamic as well as innovative culture of the company (Thomas Cook Group Plc-a, 2011). (Refer Appendix A)

Rivalry

Rivalry is high among the leisure industry as with the rise in the disposable income people are spending more amount of money on travelling which has led to the development of many tourism and travel agencies. As a result Thomas Cook also faces rivalry from other travel agencies such as American Express Company, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Holiday break plc (Hoovers, 2012).

Buyers

The buyers are not given many options to choose from, by the company and thus they need to finalise from the given set of options and thus it can be said that the degree of power of the buyers are low.

Hostility

The degree of hostility is low to moderate in case of tourism industry. The travel and tourism agencies face from fierce competition but they do not declare an open war with respect to price. The marketing strategy adopted by the Thomas Cook and its competitors are almost the same to attract the customers. The companies compete with each other in all the aspects but do not declare open price wars with the competitors.

Cost of Entry

The cost of entry into the travel and tourism industry is relatively moderate to high. The capital requirement is usually high and thus creates a high rate of barrier for the new entry in the tourism sectors. Also the market share is occupied by the top leaders in the market and therefore it becomes hard for the new company to form a brand image and acquire a decent market share to compete with the already established firms. Brand recognition also acts as a barrier to the new entrant.

Fragmentation

The degree of fragmentation is high among the travel and tourism industry. Thomas Cook remains highly fragmented as it had the opportunity to achieve the top three market position. Thomas Cook has targeted gross booking with value of about ?3.5bn (Thomas Cook Group Plc-b, 2010).

Turbulence

The travel and tourism industry suffers from unpredicted variance and thus the turbulence is also high. With economic downturn and other related factors the tourism industry tends to gets affected to a very large extent and it increases the rate of turbulence.

SWOT Analysis of Thomas Cook

SWOT analysis is mainly used by organisation as strategic planning and usually refers to the identification of the strength, weakness along with the opportunities and threats of the organisations. SWOT is conducted to know about the internal as well as the external environment of the company and act accordingly. SWOT Analysis of Thomas Cook will enable the travel group to know its strength and overcomes its weakness and through opportunity overcome the threats.

Strength

Thomas cook has a strong brand name and image and is one of the leading leisure travel agencies in the world. It offers various package tours and other holiday components and other services. The group has recorded revenue of about ?9, 808.9million during the financial year 2011 The company has managed to show an increase of about 10.3% from the previous financial year 2010 (Research and Markets, 2012). The group continues to build upon the strengths which the company has created over the years which include strong financial position, trusted brand portfolio and the ability of the company, with its flexible model, to manage the business so that the group is able to meet the needs of the customers in the future (Thomas Cook Group Plc-c, 2009).

Weakness

One major weakness lies is that with a economic slowdown the travel agencies have experienced a huge break down in the number of consumers travelling from one place to another. This has impacted Thomas Cook Group.

Opportunity

With a rise in the disposable income of the consumers a huge opportunity lies with Thomas Cook to expand itself into various other countries and help the consumer experience the pleasure of travelling. Technology being an upper hand for the travel agencies, the online market is said to flourish which makes it easier for the consumers to select from various options made available from the travel agencies.

Threat

Threat lies from the other competitors which has been doing equally well in the travel and tourism sectors. With many travel and tourism agency, the customer’s gets a wide variety to choose from the best options and this tends to increase the competition among the travel and tourism industry. Also shift in the consumer behaviour also poses a threat for Thomas Cook.

Major Challenges of Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook has been facing some tough challenges which include financial consolidation as well as restricting. The CEO of the company, Manny Fontenla-Novoa resigned which took the company as a surprise. Another set of challenges is the growth of the company through acquisition. Growth by way of acquisition was one of the core strategies together with strict cost in order to improve the profit margins. In recent years Cook had sealed its market entry in Russia by a majority of stake in tour business operator. But at the same time, both internal as well as external problems have increased in Thomas Cook and it becomes a huge challenge for the company to undergo its operation when the environment is not healthy. The demand has slowed because of the weak economy of UK and also its strong focus on cost cutting, UK invested little in IT and product which left Thomas Cook positioned poorly in the market (FVW, 2011). The oldest travel agency has also seen a drop in summer holidays by about 10% which is one of the core businesses of Thomas Cook of sending the families off to destinations like Balearics and Canaries. The shares of Thomas Cook have also slumped to about 86% but still many of the problems of the company tend to persists (Moulds, 2012).

Conclusions

Thomas Cook is one of the most successful travel agency which meets the travel need of the customers. Thomas Cook is the leading travel groups with flexible business model and also focused strategy and has a team of more than 31000 people who are equally committed towards the vision of the company. It can be said that the company has been performing well in the financial year and plans to do well in the near future but with changing market environment along with the demands and needs of the customers Thomas Cook needs to adapt to new technologies and serve or provide its customers with the wants and requirements. Thomas Cook has been facing few challenges as mentioned and it should take the necessary steps to avoid problems which could hamper the

In spite of lots of controversies, in august 2006 Air Transport World Magazine announced that Ryanair was the most profitable airline in the world on the basis of its operating and net profit margins (case study). The purpose of this report is to undertake an environmental analysis of European airline industry with implications to Rynair. On the bases of environmental analysis Ryanair’s success and its sustainability in European budget airline industry is critically assessed.

An environmental analysis is undertaken on the European airline industry with implication to Ryanair using tools such as PESTEL analysis, Porter five forces, SWOT analysis and Strategic group analysis.

Pestel analysis is one of the important tools to analyse environmental factors influencing organisation’s strategy. PESTEL stands for political, economic, social, technology, environmental and legal. It is important for organisation to analyse how these factors are changing and how they are likely to change in the future (Johnson et. al, 2009). PESTEL analysis is used to analysis macro-environment in which Ryanair operates and to identify key-drivers of change.

Government policies can influence to a large extend on airline industry. After the terrorist attract in 2001 UK authorities imposed serve security measures at all airports. As a result of this Ryanair suffered a loss of 1.9 million Euros on reduced bookings. Airport and handling charges was increased by 21% in 2006, which could put more pressure on budget airline like Ryanair. In 2005 EU regulations came into effect, which forced the airline to refund fares to passengers in case of delays, cancellations or denied boarding.

Economic climate plays a vital role in influencing airline industry. During time of recession people refer to reduce their expenses which could reflect on number of people travelling in a flight, they may use any other alternative transport.

The main economic factors that concerns airline industry is increase in fuel price, which forced some of the airlines to include fuel surcharges into airfares. Ryanair guaranteed its customers that it will not add fuel surcharges into their tickets. Current fluctuation in exchange rate is another issue in airline industry. The fuel price was always quoted in US dollars therefore there is always a risk in converting, as Ryanair deals with Euros. Ryanair had not hedged early, so it was paying $70 per barrel of oil up to October 2009 while other airlines were paying $50 to $60 per barrel of oil.

Social:

Social factors include social life style, demographic, perceptions which could also influence airline industry. It is expected that by 2012 there will be more old people in European countries; this will be the key to all airlines to come up with something special for them. Ryanair charged up to ?18 for using wheelchair and check in baggage and advertising standards rebuked the airline for misleading advertisement complaint, all these could create a negative impact on customers.

Technological:

With new technological improvement flying has became a new experience for passengers. New flights, online boarding, in flight entertainment system are some of the technological advancement in airline industry. In 2001 Ryanair launched its website which facilitates car & hotel rentals, rail services and travel insurance, all at low prices. The airline website was largest travel website in Europe and fifth most recognised brand on Google, offering huge potential in E-commerce and advertising revenues. Ryanair brought new Boeing 737-800 aircraft which is more environmentally-friendly, reducing fuel consumption by 2%.

Environmental:

The airline industry is been accused by various social groups for emissions of carbon. Aviation represents 2.6% of carbon emissions in the EU, Oxford university study predicted that carbon from aviation would accelerate. Therefore airline industry was asked to play environmental taxes which could put more pressure on all airlines. Ryanair protested against this taxation arguing aviation contributes only small proportion of carbon emissions.

Legal:

Ryanair filed two cases against UK government: one for claim to compensate the carrier for lost flights and bookings; another was for increase in insurance costs for all commercial airlines. The carrier was sued by Sweden’s prime minister and a former foreign minister for placing their photos in one of company’s advertising campaign without getting their permission.

Porter’s Five Forces

The five forces model was introduced by Porter, which helps to identify the sources of competition in an industry or sector. Although initially used with business in mind, it is of value to most organisations (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). Porter’s five forces model is used to analyse the level of competition existing in airline industry.

Competitive Rivalry:

The low-cost airline market is very competitive compared to other markets. The concept of low cost can be easily copied by rivals, which leads to high competition in the industry. Two major low-cost airlines (EasyJet and Ryanair) have always avoided direct competition by serving different routes. There is high level of competition for Ryanair and other established airlines in getting landing permissions and departure slots.

Bargaining Power of Customers:

Customers who prefer low-cost airline are often price sensitive and tend to switch over to another airline. Now days all airlines are online which has made customers relatively easier and cheaper for them to more to another airline. Moreover they try to maintain some sort of loyalty towards the airline in which they frequently fly.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

The major cost for all airline industry is fuel prices, which is constantly increasing. There is no alternative to aviation fuel therefore oil companies has high bargaining power. Boeing supplies plans to Ryanair, if they have to switch to another supplier it will cost them high since they have to retrain its pilots. Bigger airports like Heathrow has a high bargaining power than smaller airports, thus it will be difficult for Ryanair to operate from these airports.

Threat of New Entrants:

The low-cost model can be easily adopted by others and can enter into the market. There are also some barriers for the new entrants like requires huge capital investment, availability of slots and price war existing in routes where other low-cost airlines operates. The new entrants have to get prior authorisations which are not easily these days and need to setup strong base in order to survive in the competition.

Substitutes:

Not all people prefer to travel by flights. Especially during time of recession most people avoid flights and travel by other cheap alternatives like travel by sea or by trains or by ferries or by cars. There are some people who may be aerophobia (Fear of flying), these people try to avoid flying and choose other alternative.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis summarises the key issues from the business environment and the strategic capability of an organisation that are most likely to impact on strategy development. It aims at identifying the extent to which the current strengths and weakness are relevant in dealing with threats in the environment (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). It is very useful tool in environmental analysis, which helps to find out strengths, weakness and opportunities & threats of Ryanair. Strengths and weakness are concerned in detail to analyse current position of the company, complete SWOT analysis can be found in Appendix 3.

Strengths:

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is one of the main strength to the airline as he often comes up with new ideas and was credited with single-handedly transforming European air transport. Ryanair always operates from small airports thus reducing their costs on airport charges and gaining suitable departure SLOTS. In 2000, Ryanair launched its website www.Ryanair.com, which facilitated car and hotel rentals, rail services and travel insurance and all at low prices (Box and Byus, 2007). The airline uses Boeing 737-800 which is more environmental friendly and also reduces fuel consumption by 2%.

Weakness:

Ryanair is always criticised for charging for wheelchair and check-in luggage which could leaves a negative image on the customers. The staffs and crew members are not well trained therefore not customer friendly. Ryanair always avoided bigger airports and concentred on small regional airports, which could be a drawback for the company for future expansion. Other important concern for Ryanair is its relationship with authorities, the airline often involved in some kind of crash with them.

Strategic Group Analysis

Strategic groups are organisations within an industry with similar strategic characteristics, following similar strategies or competing on similar bases. There are many different characteristics that distinguish between strategic groups but these are classified into two major categories: scope of organisation’s activities and resource commitment (Johnson et. al., 2008). The main competitors to Ryanair are EasyJet and Aer Lingus. Strategic group analysis (Appendix 5) is used to understand the competition, strategic opportunities and mobility barriers of Ryanair in low cost airline industry.

Strategic Groups in Low-cost industry

In Europe there are three main airlines providing low-cost flights to destinations namely Ryanair, EasyJet, Aer Lingus. Ryanair is dominant low-cost producer and has a gross cash of more than 1.8bn Euros. EasyJet’s majority of passengers are UK based, but becoming pan-European player.

Aer Lingus is another low-cost airline operating from Dublin serving more than 70 destinations across Europe and US. Figure 1 in appendix 5 shows the positioning of these airlines on bases of passengers capacity and their market share in industry. Ryanair and EasyJet have 56% of market share in low-cost industry.

Strategic Space in Industry

Strategic group maps help us to identify the most attractive “strategic spaces” within an industry. A strategic group map is only the first stage of the analysis; strategic spaces need to be tested carefully (Johnson et. al., 2008). In low-cost airline industry, for instance the airlines can serve long haul routes which could help them in expansion. They can also consider moving into other low-cost segments like trains and offer its passengers new attractive products and services (figure 2 in appendix 5).

Mobility Barriers

Moving across the map to gain competitive advantage is costless but it often involves difficult decisions and rare resources. Mobility barriers are the obstacles to movement from one strategic group to another (Johnson et. al., 2008). Similarly in the low-cost airline industry (figure 3 in appendix 5) it will be difficult for airlines to move to another strategic group. The lack of experience in long haul routes, increasing fuel prices, high competition from big airlines like British airways and other regional airlines are some of the barriers which could put more pressure on airlines to move to another strategic group.

RYANAIR’S SUCCESS

When Ryanair was started in 1990, everyone where anxious to see its performance in an industry where there was a monopoly created by giants like British Airways and Lufthansa. In response to this, the airline became one of the successful low-cost airlines operating from 127 destinations around the world (Case study). There have been many ups and downs for Ryanair since its launch but it continues to be successful in its operation.

The success of an airline depends on how and what it offers to its customers. In case on Ryanair, it always tried to offer its passengers low-cost airfares at all times. The airline often comes up with new ideas which make them to reduce its airfares. These new ideas differentiate it from other traditional airlines. One of the main differentiate is its website, the company’s site is largest travel website which was recording 50000 bookings per week (Box and Byus, 2007).

The website also provides additional facilities to its customers like car, hotel rental, rail services and travel insurance, all at low prices. The airline offers customers online check-in which enables them to save its costs on printing tickets and other additional costs. The use of internet also makes it easy and quicker for customers to check-in.

LIMITATIONS OF MODELS USED

PESTEL Analysis

The environment is constantly changing therefore PESTEL analysis should be done on regular basis and information needs to be accurate (Campbell et. al, 2002).

PESTEL analysis is very expensive in terms of cost and time

The effectiveness of this model depends on the level of prediction made on future. No one can predict the future.

The speed of changes makes it difficult for managers to anticipate developments that may affect the organisation in future.

Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s five force model assumes that all companies try to achieve competitive advantage over others in the industry

This model assumes that goal of competitive advantage is to dominate suppliers and buyers (Campbell et. al, 2002).

Internal environment is not taken into account

It is difficult to use this model in complex industries with multiple interrelations.

SWOT Analysis

It is not critically analysed

The data used in the analysis may be based on assumptions.

Lacks detailed structure.

It usage rarely amounts to much more than a poorly structured, very general list of factors regarded by the proposing individual as important components of the organisation’s strategic situation (David, 1997).

Value Chain

The concept of value chain disaggregates a company into “activity” or the discrete functions or processes that represent the elemental building blocks of competitive advantage (Porter, 1998).

There is risk of losing control of proprietary knowledge, skills, capability, or competence as these are disseminated to supply chain members (Morden, 2007).

It can be applied only to manufacturing companies not to service industries.

Strategic Group Analysis

Difficult to group companies based on their strategy.

Strategic groups are relatively unstable.

Research carried by the author has pointed out the differences in the choice of entry mode of Accor in Thailand and China. According to interviews carried before the analysis, managers in Thailand assumed the foreign direct investment as the major choice for local market, which can intensify the network of hotel chains and avoiding financial constrains.

According to Sass (2003), FDI is an entry mode which bounds the international business with the domestic ones. Thus, this choice is appreciated by the local government in Thailand, which may be too busy in political reconstruction to get into the rebooting of tourism and hospitality industry.

Meanwhile, acquisition is applied by Accor Thailand in order to get acceleration in network expansion. This is mostly realized by management contract, which according to Esperanca (1992), can separating the ownership from the management. However, the long-term contract is related to the motivation systems for the owners, which also admitted by Thailand managers that credibility, trust mechanism are still needed to be constructed for the local owners.

Different from this, the strategy in China, especially in the brand Ibis owns the unique characteristic. Although franchising is assumed to be the ideal choice for franchisor and franchisee by the assistance in operation system and the quicker mode to establish network (Pine &. Zhang, 2000). It is the fact that many countries are lack of the stable environment which facilitates the process of franchising. As a consequence of this, the overall and diversify market in China is become the ideal choice for this attempt. After all, franchising is putting the reputation of the brand into danger. Once the operation in one point is facing crisis, the whole brand reputation will be called into question.

2.0 Reasons contributed to the different strategy

2.1 Relationship with local strength in host countries

This element is viewed as an influential factor in the extension strategy for international hotel chains. While in consideration of the circumstances in those two countries, it is easy to find out the differences into this factor.

The first fact is the leading position of Accor in Thailand, which make it more convenient to expand within that country without real competition. Meanwhile, Accor in Thailand is trying to develop better relationship with travel agencies, which can help the process of promotion in current downturns. Even though this efforts is turning unsatisfying results, which can be reflected by the merely 3% guests who claimed to be introduced into the hotel by travel agencies, this efforts in this area are still worthy. Since from long-term perspective, the markets in host countries, especially in new booming ones like Thailand, are more essential for the development of international hotel chains (Gammeltoft& Pradhan, 2010). Cooperation with local strength may change the disappointing situation on the overall brand promotion for Accor in Thailand.

However, in Chinese marketing, the most worthy way to cultivate is not the one of travel agency. Since many travel agencies in China are limited in moderate scales and not be trusted by travelers, especially native people. Due to the situation in China, that reflects as the relatively close relationship shared by Chinese among friends and family. The results of 23% interviewees who claimed their recognization of the brand is from friends and relatives have provided evidence to this aspect. As a consequence of this, it is understandable why Accor promotes Ibis, which is a economy hotel, widely in Chinese market. Since more local tourists will be attracted by the recommendation from friends. Besides the target group, the local brands and government can also be viewed as important strengths in China for Accor Group.

Most MNCs, especially those indulged in service industry like Accor are attracted by China for the low cost of labor, since most of these industries are known as labor-consuming. However, the Chinese government is claiming the efforts they will put in the transformation in this area. Policies will be put more highlights on high-tech area. Thus, for Accor Group in China, it is not advisable to perceive the low cost of labor as an advantage. This is just be self-evident by the efforts Accor have put into the promotion of brands belongs to high class like Novotel as a sign of quality-provided chain.

2.2 Culture aspects

Lake of cross-cultural awareness is the major reason which contributes to the frustration of MNCs in host countries. For Accor Group, which pursuit for the position in service industry, this awareness seems to be more essential.

The analysis of visiting purpose of the guests can give the most obvious distance from Chinese and Thailand culture. Compared with 27% of guests who claimed to visit hotels on the purpose of relaxing in Thailand, the correspondence rate in China is revealed as merely 9 in 93 persons. This difference, if finding explanation from the culture side, can be understood as Chinese always value family concept more important than other cultures. That is, they will be less likely to choose relaxing places besides home. That’s can also be viewed as reason that contribute to the over 50% satisfaction with the facilities of the hotel in China, since most of them are travel on purpose of business or sightseeing, there needs in additional facilities are relatively lower than others.

That’s the reason why Accor promotes brands like Novotel in China. As the business image of the Group, Novotel is just attractive for those international business people who pursue excellent quality service. And the expansion of lower brand Ibis is just suitable for the economical pursuit for sightseeing guests

Different from this, Accor is trying to establish more brands in Thailand market. This strategy is also related with the recovery of the political situation. However, it is designed to satisfy the needs of multiple cultures in Thailand.

2.3 Geographical difference

This element influence the control relationship between headquarter and subsidiaries abroad. Rodrigues (1995) has lighted the two choices for the headquarters-foreign subsidiary control relationship, included centralization or decentralization.

However, the geographical circumstances in China have put a challenge on the centralization process. That’s also the major reason that Accor apply franchising mode in this country. Due to the large area and diversity in many elements, the centralization process will cause too much efforts of the headquarter company.

Different from this, Accor Thailand is trying to introduce more brands designed for different groups of people. The higher class hotel like Novotel can not be promoted in methods expect from direct investment, that’s partly due to the danger of quality maintain in mode like franchising. Meanwhile, in area like Thailand, whose economical centers are concentrated in the certain region of the country, decentralization will more easy to be realized

3.0 Recommendations in strategy improvement in Thailand and China

A. Focusing on the promotion of overall brand.

Even though the overall satisfying situation in the subject hotels of research carried by the author is highly evaluated over 50% countries, the recognization of the Accor Group is disappointing. As Punjaisri and Wilson (2007) defined the recognization of the brand for existing guests can give influence to other costumers. As a consequence of this, the disappointing current results will cause barriers when Accor introduce new brands into these two markets.

B. Trying to attract different guest groups

Business guests and sightseeing ones are two unique highlight in Thailand and China, which covered the largest part of the interviewees in those two markets separately. However, as a hot destination, Thailand owns the distinctive potential in tourism. Even though the Accor Thailand is witnessing 25% guests who claim to settle for sightseeing. It still has a great distance when compared with the booming of tourism industry in this country. Thus, it is advisable for Accor in Thailand to promote image as tourists’ choice.

Different from Thailand, China has been long recognized as sightseeing attraction. As a consequence of this, most international hotel chains would be more likely to position themselves as types for tourists in this market, which also in turn make competition in this area. The 43% sightseeing group also verify this strategy of Accor in China. However, as a developing country who is in the acceleration development, the business guests in China will be increasing gradually in near future. Meanwhile, the location of China also makes it taking the role of economical hinterland for countries in Asia or the world. Thus, the business potential will worthy the efforts to promoting business hotels in Chinese market.

C. Combination of entry modes

Franchising owns the fastest expansion speed while direct invest witnesses highly control relationship. However, both of these methods own their cons and pros.

Current situation is the separation of both modes in China and Thailand as major strategy for those markets. However, franchising can also be applied in Thailand, while franchising may facilitate the development of certain brands in China,

Taking the All Seasons in Thailand as example, they are operated by the method of FDI, and only establish a network from Bangkok to Pattaya. The relatively slower speed just testifies the disadvantages of direct investment. Thus, in order to operate economy hotel more successfully in Thailand and set up the wildly net which can attract more tourism. Franchising, which is unique in Chinese market can also be used in All Seasons in Thailand. Higher class brand like Novotel can maintain in the way of direct investment which can ensure the quality of service.

While in China, Accor is trying to expend as fast as possible in order to get more share of this booming market. Franchising as the most effective way in this aim is widely applied to expand the economy brand. However, when Accor moving forward in China, there must be attention paid on the choice of the city. The subjects which are chose in the research of author reflect the subtle difference Accor in brand operation among different cities in China. Dalian, as a city bordering on the sea, is always perceived as sightseeing destination in China, thus, Ibis here will position itself as economical choice for tourists. Different from this, Beijing, the capital of China, which is also the centre of economy, is the ideal choice for Novotel to settle. However, due to the larger area in China, the serves radius of a city here is limited. When putting into strategy consideration, it will be necessary to value how many cities exactly Novotel Beijing can provide service to. As a consequence of this, one city in China may shoulder two responsibilities, which can serve as tourism destination and economy centre in center region. That’s where the combination of entry modes should be applied. Meanwhile, the direct investment may be not suitable due to these characteristics, management service contracts can be applied as a replacement, since it’s a method which can be more decentralize than direct investment, meanwhile, owns more control than franchising.

D. More emphasis on the Internet and media promotion

This suggestion is merely based on the disappointing situation of Internet channel in both countries. According to the research, this is only 9% and 13% in Thailand and China of the guests who claim acknowledges of information of the hotels is from the Internet. Since Accor is trying to establish the network in both of these two markets, no channel can be more effective than Internet promotion. While at the same time, according to the development situation in both countries, the Internet has already become the major source of information for people It is advisable for Accor to fulfill the existing blanket area in this category.

Besides the Internet, the media approach is also neglected in both countries. Even though the media can not be an effective way to promote service of the hotel or provide information details. It can be an efficient approach to the overall brand promotion, which is thought to be a failure for Accor in both markets. As a consequence of this, media can be used to promote the image of Accor and improve the recognization situation of this company among local people, while the Internet can convey the detail information to the target groups.

Conclusion

To sum up, despite the fact of expansion strategy in both markets, differences are also witnessed according to the various elements like culture, economy and relationship with strength in host countries. Meanwhile, in order to get more share in these two new booming markets, Accor has also to adjust details in its strategy in order to make it more appropriate to those two countries.

With the increasing sophistication of hotel guests and patrons, the continual improvement of hospitality services towards the attainment of unparalleled excellence in the business remains the only edge the hotel has to sustain its position if not attain the leadership in the industry. By adopting the ISO 9001:2008 framework, the acculturation of a learning organization into the consciousness of each employee of the hotel shall provide the impetus to strive and be better in providing service to hotel guests and patrons. A Quality Management System or QMS will govern the conduct of each of the hotel’s front liners. The QMS shall also provide the parameters for quality service while performance monitoring of each of the processes shall be through the process’ key performance indicators. Any flaw or parameter that fails to satisfy the accepted threshold of the performance indicator shall be subject to a root cause analysis to determine a corrective or preventive solution. The QMS requires regular review to ensure that the organization remains focus and faithful to its objective. The hotel employee’s performance shall be subject to evaluation by using the key performance indicator’s root cause analysis. For QMS, the hotel guest’s or patron’s feedback, comment or opinion is accorded greater weight as it will not only change how the hotel will conduct its business but it will equally show how the hotel value their guest’s and patron’s point of view with regard to the hotel’s operation.

Contents

Executive Summary 2

Contents 3

Introduction 4

METHODOLOGY 5

THE HOTEL 5

Design 6

Supply 7

Planning 7

Shop-floor control 8

The environment 8

Technology 8

The Hotel’s CUSTOMER SERVICE 9

CUSTOMER SERVICE Challenges 11

Summary 12

Bibliography 13

Introduction

Revenue in a Hotel business shall anchor on two factors, namely: (1.) level of occupancy or guest traffic that includes patrons to its facilities, and (2.) Efficiency and Quality of its services (Cornell University, 2010). Thus, among other industries in the world, the Hospitality industry remains dependent on the market pulse and good business sense. Good business sense refers to the operation strategy and business strategy that would result to operation efficiency and quality service.

The marriage of technology and human ingenuity are very much apparent in the hotel industry by deploying an Enterprise Resource Planning system. As applied to the hotel industry, it would ensure excellent customer experience from their reservation up to their next visit. The deployment of a Customer Relationship Management System would ensure that all issues are addressed and monitored and shall similarly ensure that the business is properly guided on how to become customer centric. However, technology will not work on its own as its success will be dependent on the employees who use the system and those who will execute the work instructions recommended by the system.

A framework that will capitalize on the strength of the employee enabled by technology shall be the onus of this paper. The sole purpose of which is to ensure the customer focused operation of the hotel while practicing processes that feed on continual improvements to manage the bottom line. Using these strategies, Leadership in the industry and profitability should not be far behind.

METHODOLOGY

The valuable discussions in Operation Management have been the inspiration by this writer to seek out more knowledge in pursuit of excellence. Thus, it led to the discovery that the concepts presented herein have been in existence for some time, and various authors not only wrote extensively on the subjects but they have exhaustively been part of its continual improvement so to speak. Capitalizing from the experiences of these management gurus and the erudite deliberation in Operations Management this author therefore recommend a more comprehensive examination of the Hotel’s Customer Service.

Using the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System framework, this author shall discuss the merits and wisdom of its implementation in this paper in support of the Hotel’s operation and primordial goal. It is ideal to implement the quality management system in all the processes of the Hotel to ensure that there will be no gap that can dissuade if not prevent the Hotel from being the center for customer service excellence. The ISO 9000 Quality Management System have previously been regarded as applicable only to the manufacturing industry since it normally refers to the quality in the creation of a product. However, in ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System the word “product” can alternately refer to as “service” [1] . The hospitality industry has long been recognized a service-oriented industry (Ramaswamy). Its main product is unlike any other industry since its product is the service provided by the hotel employees. The quality metrics of hospitality service is equal to the amount of satisfaction of each customer multiplied by the number of customer over a period of time.

THE HOTEL

The hotel is a five star hotel that is highly profitable and popular privately owned located in the center of an international city with a high level of tourist traffic, particularly international tourists. It boasts of a two hundred fifty suites, two dining rooms, one of which offers a standard menu and seats three hundred people while the other seats only a hundred but it offers discriminating a la carte choices for an upscale market. The hotel also has two cocktail bars; one that is publicly accessible from the streets while the other is for hotel guests only however both are open to guests and non-guests alike.

The hotel is home to three kitchens, with the two serving the two dining rooms while the third serves the three function rooms rented for parties, weddings, conferences and other similar events. The function rooms seat fifty, two hundred and one thousand, respectively while each function room can have their own bars if required. The hotel similarly provides other facilities that would include a swimming pool, gym, sauna and a car park with one hundred and fifty private bays.

The hotel employs both permanent full-time and part-time contract workers. Each area has its own supervisor, with qualified and experienced managers overseeing the supervisors for the respective departments. As indicated, not only does the hotel enjoy a modest profit from its operation, it boasts of a decent amount of guest and patron traffic from its hotel and facilities operation.

Design

Designing a particular type of service impacts the hotel’s customers to enrich their stay or their hospitality experience is a practical application of this concept as described by Slacks and Johnston in 2004. To illustrate: the design process in the formulation of a process that will provide returning guests with discounted rates if they return during the off-peak or lean days will ensure occupancy during the lean months and expand marketing exposure.

Supply

Raw materials used as ingredients to hotel food are sensitive to spoilage and contamination thus it is important to manage its handling from delivery, storage and inventory. The release of the goods from storage should be strictly enforced and implemented through proper tagging and warehousing strategy. To illustrate; Meat products can last for a certain period through refrigeration but must also consider volatility and seasonality to its supply. The system predicting the usage of the hotel base on its routine consumption and the scheduled events shall either place an order or forego an order automatically and later implement First-in-first-out in the warehouse with the use of the inventory tag.

Planning

Planning within the context of the hospitality industry often relates to Business Planning. Case in point, the hospitality business is sensitive to the time of the year particularly its occupancy. From July to August is normally the time when air travel is at its busiest due to the summer vacation in the United States and some countries. Hotels outside the United States that are vacation destinations of Americans are at its busiest. However, during the lean months, when occupancy is at its lowest, hotel managers and administrators’ creativity are normally put to test.

To illustrate a viable business strategy during the lean months is to pre-sell the room through discount cards. The concept is to sell discount cards at a price of one or two nights’ stay that will be availed only during the lean months. Modest discounts may be availed by cardholders including the facilities or services offered by the Hotel. The card shall expire within one year from its issuance to give the hotel the opportunity to sell continuously the unoccupied hotel rooms during the lean months.

Shop-floor control

Shop floor strategies include Job and shift Scheduling, housekeeping, Process improvement and increasing process efficiency in the context of providing quality service. ISO 9001:2008 has closed the gap between a tangible product and service that both demand quality. According to the system, the best way to ensure quality service is to identify focus areas, then to provide measurable targets that are congruent with the focus areas’ goals.

The environment

Some hotels realize their impact to the environment of the local community and as part of their strict adherence to their corporate conscience social responsibility often adopts a sound environmental management system. Not only would this comply with the international initiatives regarding environmental concerns but in practice, this will also respond well to its corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Technology

The use of technology to lower the cost of operation through the automation of processes and increase the security at the hotel is a strategy that does not normally provide a tangible and visible result overnight. To illustrate: Supply Chain Management as envisioned is a technology driven strategy that will ensure that raw materials used as ingredients for food do not spoil or do not get contaminated.

The strategy requires inventory immediate tagging in each delivery. By providing secure keys to every guest, a hotel management system would be able to adjust the room temperature and the Air Handling Unit load depending on the rooms that have activated keys. Using the secure keys inserted in its slot will enable the system to determine the additional load needed for the air conditioning requirement instead of the Air Handling Unit continuously operating even without any guest inside is a waste of energy.

The Hotel’s CUSTOMER SERVICE

The hotel’s customer does not start becoming a customer when he finally pays the initial down payment for a room or service, he does not start becoming a customer at the instant he shows up at the hotel’s premises or orders his first drink from the bar. A guest or patron starts becoming a customer as soon as he says the first word to any of the hotel’s staff, telemarketer or even parking attendant or valet (Borsenik & Stutts, 1997). Ergo, all aspects of the hotel’s operation almost concern itself with customer service. Customer service is not merely providing the hotel’s service to the guests or patron, it is making sure that the customer is satisfied and fulfilled in the usage of the facilities including their encounter with the hotel’s staff (Michelli, 2008). Therefore, all processes that will affect the customer directly or indirectly are customer service providing processes.

To illustrate the reservation clerk represents the hotel as its first liner when the customer called in to reserve a room or book the one of the services of the hotel. A pleasant conversation would result to immediate booking and a not so pleasant conversation is the loss of a potential client. The interaction with the valets or the parking attendants may be the second encounter of the hotel with its customer. The next would be the door person, the front desk, the concierge, the room boy, the hotel cleaners and then floor security for hotel guests. While for those partaking and enjoying the services of the Hotel would be entertained from the door person by the receptionist and then the floor manager or the facilities attendant. The guests would then be interfacing next with the waiters if they were at the bar or restaurant, the lifeguard for the swimming pool and fitness instructor for the gym and sauna.

To illustrate the indirect service providers in the Hotel that ensures not only the satisfaction of the guests or patron they themselves are responsible for the behind the scene hospitality experience. These would include the kitchen staff that would include the chef and those responsible for preparing the food. The engineer that ensures the temperature of the pool and the gym is optimal or the safety engineer monitoring the safety levels at the sauna, the hallway and lobby temperature. The indirect service providers also include the cashiers that provide the correct change and charges, the security guards that ensures the safety of the guests and the surrounding. This also includes the janitorial staff that ensures the health of the guests by making the immediate surrounding garbage or dirt free.

The processes that govern the operation and performance of the customer interaction of the services provided as described shall be the focus of the Quality Management System framework of ISO 9001:2008 (International Organization for Standardization, 2008). Aligning with the Vision, Mission, Values and Strategy of the Hotel the Quality Management System framework will allow the Hotel to define its own Quality Mission Statement that states the personality of the hotel. Each of the processes followed or implemented by the process owners as described above that interacts with the Hotel’s guests, patrons or customers, in general, shall be covered by the Quality Mission Statement.

Juxtapose with the Quality Missions Statement aligned processes, Key Result Areas will be developed will remain the targets of the processes. The Key Result Areas should be customer centric and should work towards the attainment of the best hospitality experience of the guests or patrons as provisioned by the Hotel. In order to measure the success of the process owners in achieving their key result areas, metrics in the form of key performance indicators for each process are to be developed.

To illustrate: The valet service is often neglected by most Hotels but its importance and the opportunity it presents to save the Hotel’s image from the customer’s bad experience from the services of the hotel is precious being the last process the customer has to go through before leaving the hotel. The possible key result area for the valet services could be the immediate return of the guest’s vehicle to him. The key performance indicators could be the amount of time it will take the valet to retrieve the car and return it to the owner. The idea would be the shorter the amount of time it takes to retrieve the car the more satisfied the customer would be.

CUSTOMER SERVICE Challenges

Cultural Sensitivities

The primary challenge in any customer service is the differences in the personality or origins of the guests. Cultural sensitivities often create friction between the service provider and the customer. To illustrate: in the west shaking the head from side to side often means no, however in some culture particularly the Indian culture it means yes.

Gender and Other Sensitivities

At times, being chivalrous is being sexist while being helpful to people with disabilities is being offensive. A balance and clear criteria are should be studied depending on the area where the Hotel is located so as not to compromise quality service with sensitivities.

Summary

The hospitality industry has evolved from an industry that only provided board and lodging to transient travelers in the previous century to an actual destination that offers a myriad of services to weary travelers and to vacation and relaxation seekers. The Quality Management System as enabled by technology should provide the edge to the hotel in terms of managing its bottom line from the business perspective while also providing the framework in determining the best way to service its guests and patrons. The Quality Management System therefore will equally define the customer centric culture of the hotel geared towards providing the best, if not one of the best hotel experience to its guests.

The continual improvement concept of the Quality Management System will engender excellence in the very fiber of the hotel’s staff. The key performance indicators shall provide the metrics to gauge the efficacy of the process including the performance of its employees. The root cause analysis as well as the development of the corrective and preventive solution is essential to the concept.

One of the virtues of ISO 9001-2008 Quality Management System is that it would let the hotel develop its own Quality Management framework as derived from the hotel’s unique culture. The hotel shall not only reflect its personality but it shall be the driving force towards excellence in customer service. The commitment to customer service as driven by the Quality Management System shall therefore be personal not only for the organization, but also for the individual employees.

Abstract

For the purpose of enhancing the value of green hotel, the hotel comes out with the new business management concept, which brings the green concept into the hotel operations and management. In order to establish a green marketing concept, it is a need to collect green information, green technology, development of green product, development of green price to carry out green marketing, take deepen green management philosophy to provide green service of the hotel and the construction of green hotel and green culture management, to achieve the sustainable development of the green hotel. Nowadays, the concept of green marketing has generally become the international community to implement in the modern enterprise marketing. Therefore, the green marketing model in hospitality industry become the need in this era, also, the pressure of the external economic environment will force the hospitality industry to do so. There is a low carbon green marketing mode had undergone a great change in the marketing concept and content in some hotels. In this research will attempt to make some personal views on this topic in helping the hotel to have better management. Green marketing will achieve the balance between development of the hotel and the social environment; advocate the green consumption, saving energy, reducing consumption and protect the environment, providing green service will become an important marketing strategy in the hotel industry of China. Lastly, as one of the core ‘green management’, the trend of green marketing in protecting environment and developing in green consumer will achieve a big success in the future.

Introduction

Green concept has become the most important topic in the past few years and it gradually continue to growing up. Action is the one most important in this green concept, without the right action we will not be able to adjust the damage that has been done. Nowadays, the entire world is focused the same problems to protecting environment.

In this part will give an analysis about the entire research, it begins with background of information about the concepts and overview about the base of this study. It then continues to introduce the research problem and explains the objectives and goals of the research.

Background

90 years, the world entered the “era of environmental protection”, “green age.” American Hotel & Lodging Association president pointed out that the most important trends of today’s hotel industry is the hotel’s “green” (environmentally friendly) (Joe McInerney, 2008).Green era of great impact on the world economy, hotel industry is no exception. Today’s society, people only pursue economic development and improved quality of life and people not realized that people’s living space has been severely damaged. People in the production and consumption process start increasingly concerned about resource and environmental protection. People had to choose one that meets the development needs approach to development while protecting the environment, called by sustainable development. While the tourist hotels like energy consumption and serious pollution of heavy industry to the serious ecological and biological damage to the environment but also varying degrees of implicit or explicit pollution and waste of resources. Country’s sustainable development strategy to establish, from the policy, legal acts of the hotel business made specifications, requirements, hotels must implement green marketing; international trend of environmental protection also have a significant impact on the hotel, hotels with international environmental standards required engaged to go green. In the international environmental pressure, a few hotels began to establish awareness of green marketing. However, most hotels are still far away from the green marketing, green concept do not even have color. Hotel implementation of green marketing has long way to go.

Going green is a concept for people how to make the environment become better. This “green” means is multifaceted, it can refer to products, trade or industry, it can be a philosophy or concept of an act, “green” the central meaning refers to protecting the global environment and promote human and nature, socio-economic and ecological harmony, to ensure the sustainable development of human society and the economy. The green movement can make people aware of their daily life affect this living space. Nowadays we are running out of water and other natural resources and this problem can cause the world become worse place for live. Green marketing appears for making a people have responsible daily that benefit for environment and help to reduce the waste. Going green in hospitality industry is defined by being eco-friendly industry with the environment. It contains small changes in daily life and this small change can add up to the bigger changes by our action for protecting the environment.

An important concept behind efforts to reduce damage to the environment is ‘sustainability’, an idea which gained importance because of the publication of ‘Our Common Future’ (Filho, 2000; Daub & Ergenzinger, 2005). Sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Hobson & Essex, 2001) Sustainability has been further described by Brady (2005) as comprised of three dimensions: economy, society, and environmental stability. “Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally possible based on ideal-seeking behavior.”

Commitment about green marketing needs to be the important part in the hotel to protecting the environment, its need to be important for guide the hospitality industry and foster such a culture. It can make the hotel have an environmental culture that will ultimately affect the peoples to have a consequent in the natural environment. However, if people have responsibilities with this kind of environment and concept, and able to apply it in their daily life and work can be consciously adjust their own behavior.

That definition of going green and sustainability development explains why it is so important for both individuals and businesses to make change for their lives and environment. The beginning of the 21st century; smokeless industry, a sunrise industry and green business in China has been continued to growth fast, which the hotel industry in the green on the most prominent. Hotel has been considered a high consumption places to have so many resources, need to have an attention with the environmental protection. In this, the hotel needs to change the concept; the hotel should meet the needs of customers to reduce resources. This perspective should spread through all aspects of hotel operations in the all levels and functions of employees, fundamentally, sustainable development of the hotel.

Sense of social responsibility, many hotels began to take shape. With the gradual promotion of the marketing concept in China, hotels increasingly recognized as part of the community and the hotel should take social responsibility. For example, April 28, 1999, Zhejiang response to dozens of tourist hotels “create green” activities half of them said that we do not begrudge investment, but want to reduce waste, so that the limited resources to achieve maximum effectiveness; hotel intended to limit the guests behavior, just want to work together with customers to improve the ring, and get a good clean “green” feeling.

Statement of the Problem

China is one of the fastest developing countries in the world. Especially development of hotel industry in the China is growing so fast. At the beginning, the hospitality industry in China is not growing compared to other countries. Over time, China had to develop in the hospitality industry very well. With this development, China became one of the top ten international destinations in 2010.

Therefore, the hospitality industry in the world is very wide. They are trying to develop new innovations to the hospitality industry continues to develop stable. Recent years, the environment on the planet where we live is damaged. Everyone in the world started to pay attention on the environment and how to maintain it. They began to appear with the latest innovative green marketing. Hotels in the world began to develop the green concept in this hospitality industry. But the hospitality industry in China is huge and it takes a long time to change each hotel to follow the green concept. They begin to develop from five star hotels to budget hotels. Along with those changes, a lot of problems start to appear when develop the concept of green marketing in the hospitality industry.

One of the obstacles in applying the concept of green marketing is costly. In this green marketing we have to change little by little until it became a big change. But to change the concept of green is the hospitality industry requires cost very much. This change we must begin to change from the base. Hotel’s room is the main product of the hotel. It can start to change from the material of the room’s furniture and continue to how the employee works with the friendly environment. Its means they need to use on recycling of reusable materials for recycling. On the beginning to apply green marketing, hotels need a lot of cost and they need to consider about the quality.

Green hotels focus on the ecological environment, with a focus on the pursuit of economic and environmental benefits of the new management is optimal. Not only every manager, but also every employee mind set of ideas and concepts of green management, it will be possible to allow them to take the initiative to take the behavior of a variety of green management. At first, hotel that you would like the concept of sustainable development as the guiding ideology of management, hotel management must fully understand and analyze the future direction of the hotel is good that tomorrow is a green hotel, why become a green hotel, and how to combine its own hotel management to implement the concept and application of green is the foundation of the hotel staff, implementation of policies to achieve the employee with the hotel management and staff to implement, so let employees understand the company’s development direction and determination. If employees understand what the concept of a green hotel, it also impact for the company, themselves and the community that can bring what is the impact of some complicated process, not easy to reach the company. Management style is also a hotel on the challenges of sustainable development.

Green product in China has not yet become the first choice of hotel. In other countries, green products have become the best-selling products, the first choice for consumers. However, some hotels even get a small gain and the pursuit of contaminated products.

Research Problem

To enable it easier understand and to explore for more details information point of view, the questions will be able to reply to additional verification and give clear successfully obtained results.

What are the problems between green product and environment sustainability?

What are the problems between green price and environment sustainability?

What are the problems between green promotion and environment sustainability?

What are the problems between green place and environment sustainability?

Conceptual Framework

More formally, the main purpose of this study is to identify that the independent variable can influence the environment sustainability development in hotel industry. According to Leedy and Ormrod (2005), independent variable is a variable that studied as a possible cause of something else. According to Hussey and Hussey (1997), dependent variable is a variable that the value are predicted by the independent variable and intervening variable

The intervening variable can be defined as a factor that will affect the observed, but cannot be seen or measured. This intervening variable is referring to relationship between hotel and the environmental sustainability. These relationships is very important, hence they can influence environmental and sustainability for the hotel.

The dependent variable is Environmental Sustainability Development and the independent variable of this study is green price, green product, green promotion, and green place. Thus, green marketing become intervening variable.

Hypotheses:

H1: Green price positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development.

H2: Green product positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development.

H3: Green promotion positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development.

H4: Green place positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development.

Research Objectives

The main objectives are to study for the following thing:

To identify what are the benefits of going green in green marketing concept for new environment development of hospitality industry.

To mention the problem of applying green marketing concept in the hotel.

To related the green marketing concepts with green marketing mix that consists of green product, green places, green price, and green promotion in the hospitality industry.

To understanding what are the concept of green marketing and the terms of green marketing that related to environmental sustainability development.

To discuss why nowadays green marketing very important in hospitality industry.

Significance of the Study

Combining with all the information and data for the hotel industry to grasp better the green marketing in green concept to the hotel itself to the significance of environmental sustainability is so important and far-reaching. The ends results of this dissertation will be not only play to understand the relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable and it also help more how to make sure the hotel industry is doing well on the environmental sustainability. Through the green marketing, a results on the actually of the relationship between green marketing and environmental sustainability will be more clearly. But this will either guide you to the agreement or disagreement to the improved green marketing concept model.

Literature Review

This part will be discussed about the concept of Green Marketing Mix which are Green Place, Green Product, Green price, and Green promotions. This Green marketing concept linked to the dependent variable of this study which is environment sustainability development that can be affected from the green marketing concepts in the hospitality industry that is hotel.

Green Marketing

The green awareness began in between of the 1960s and early 1970s with increasing concern about the negative impact of consumption pattern, impact of economic and population growth on the environment (Cohen, 2001).The first definition of ‘green marketing’ was according to Henion (1976); “the implementation of marketing programmes directed at the environmentally conscious market segment” (Banerjee, 1999, p.18). Green marketing practices generally promoted as the genuine concern for the nature of inputs as well as outputs waste reduction and the impact of these upon the environment and society as a whole both in present & future conditions (Walker and Hanson, 1998). In a sample way to say, green marketing is the strategy for hotel to turn themselves become green hotel and to achieve environmental sustainability development.

According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Refers on that statement, green marketing is a new marketing method driven by environmental sustainability. The sustainable development of environment is that modern consumers understand the deterioration of the environment has to their way of life and quality as a certain effect, the requirements of the process of production and sales of all enterprises minimal impact on the environment. The so-called green marketing refers to the enterprises to adapt to the trend of green consumption, from the protection of the environment against pollution and full use of resources point of view, through the development of products, the use of natural, turning waste into wealth and other measures, to meet consumer demand for green, enterprise marketing goals.

The green marketing has evolved over a period of time. According to Peattie (2001), the evolution of green marketing has three chapters. First chapter was termed as “Ecological” green marketing, and during this period all marketing activities were concerned to help environment problems and provide remedies for environmental problems. Second chapter was “Environmental” green marketing and the focus shifted on clean technology that involved designing of innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste issues. Third chapter was “Sustainable” green marketing. It came into prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000. As resources are limited and human wants are unlimited, it is important for the marketers to utilize the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organization’s objective. So green marketing cannot be avoided.

Main Elements of Green Marketing Mix

When hospitality industries start to do with eco-friendly, actually they try to access the new markets with the green marketing. Green marketing has 4 elements, the element called by green marketing mix. Marketing mix is adapted from conventional marketing, but nowadays hotel also adapts this marketing mix to hospitality industry. The concept of green marketing mix was introduced by Bradley (Bradley, 2007). Green marketing mix is about product or services that environmental friendly. These green marketing mixes are green product, green place, green price, and green promotion.

Element of Green Marketing Mix (Al-Bakry, 2007):

The green products: Green products are products that respond to environment needs and requirements. As the customer’s needs are necessary to improve and develop products, the customer needs in an environment more safe and healthy are also important and should be considered.

The green pricing: The green pricing refers to the price specified in the light of company’s policies with regard to environmental consideration imposed by rules and company instructions or its initiatives in this regard.

The green distribution: This is related to distribution gates use that deal with green products, which are appropriate for consumers, in terms of facilitating their delivery, and to secure cycling procedures conducting within environmental conditions and requirements.

The green promotion: This refers to providing real information about the products in a way that does not hurt the materialistic and moral consumer’s interests.

Green Products

The guest room is the main body of the hotel, is also the main products provided by the hotel to the guests. This requires the hotel from initial to final product design provide involved environmental behavior must accord with environmental protection requirement (Xiong, 2011) In addition, the hotel restaurant also provides and promoting the green food, the product must meet the physical quality and health standards green, product packaging, storage and transportation must according with standard of green food packaging storage.

Production of green products has become a part of the hotel’s purpose. Many hotel rooms putting in such a card, for example “If you do not need to replace the bed sheets, please put the card on the pillow,” most of foreign guest who living more than one days will do the information cards about changing bed sheet. For the local guest mostly they are not really know about. Two reasons why they didn’t do that are forget to place the card and as they know bed sheets should be change every day. These guests may think that I paid, no matter how many days I live, every item should be changed daily, many people asked that hotel implied green concept for save money. A hotel manager expressed, green marketing objective might be saving money, but this is not the main purpose. We just want to reduce waste, so the limited resources can play a greater role. Some replacement in the room is not necessary, such as towels and bed sheets, because if the guest use in one day only is not dirty.

Green Promotion

Hotel industries should focus on green cultural awareness training, to shape the cultural environment of green marketing. The promotions that related to green are the things when hotel promote about their hotel use the friendly materials and recycle materials. With the green promotion, hotel still need to stabilize the quality of product and service to attract the customer’s interest for continue the green promotion concept. “Green promotion strengthens company image.” (Chan, 2001), we included “I plan to switch to products and services that were advertised as being green.” Green promotions in hospitality industry also can take along about promotion to the guest, such as a voucher for laundry or food and beverages in the hotel. It means that customers no need to think about having a food outside the hotel. It can saves energy and reduce the gas pollution for the transportation.

Green promotion is to pass the green guidelines for media promotion of green consumption, inspiring guide to consumer demand for green, and finally with buying behavior (Anon, 2007). Three aspects of green promotion are green advertisement and green promotion itself.

Green advertising need to have green function positioning through the advertisement product to guide the consumers understand with the environmental friendly product. The green advertising should have a green atmosphere and appeals to stimulate the consumers desire to buy.

Green promoting have purpose to increase public awareness of green, green corporate image building, green marketing to build a broad social base, to promote the development of green marketing industry.

Green Price

In general, the input of green products on the market, production costs will be higher than similar conventional products, because the cost of green products in accrued expenses on environmentally friendly products. The use of new green materials can increase the cost of resources. Hence, green goods have higher initial out-of-pocket expenses but lower long-term costs (Rubik & Frankl, 2005). In other way, price increases will be temporary, with the development of science and technology and the increasing variety of environmental protection measures, the cost of production of green products will gradually decrease, and tend to be stable. At this time, the green product will be having a higher price, but it also benefits for the long term costs and productivity. In hotel industry, they will take the price higher than the normal products, but it will be make benefits for the customers in the every aspects.

The price is market sensitive pricing is an important marketing strategy; the implementation of green marketing cannot fail to study the formulation of the price of green products. In general, the input of green products in the market, production costs will be higher than similar conventional products, because the cost of green products in the accrued cost of the product environmentally friendly, including the following aspects:

In product development, because of increased or improve environmental protection function and pay for the development of the funds.

In the manufacturing, due to the development of the environment and human non-polluting, non-injury increased the cost of the process.

The use of new green materials and accessories may increase the cost of resources.

Management costs may increase due to the implementation of green marketing and selling expenses.

However, the price rise will be temporary, with the scientific and technological development and the improvement of various environmental protection measures, the manufacturing cost of green products will be gradually decreased, and tended to stabilize. To develop green products, prices, on the one hand, of course, should take into account the above factors, on the other hand should be noted that the income increase people’s awareness of environmental protection, consumer economic concept of an acceptable price consumer goods and consumption gradually The concept of phase coordination. Therefore, corporate marketing green products not only make the profitability of the business to better advantage in the peer competition

Green Place

Environmentally responsible or “green” marketing refers to the satisfaction of consumer needs, wants, and desires in conjunction with the preservation and conservation of the natural environment. Based on the location, green marketing can be applied. For this marketing mix, place or location is very affect the environment sustainable development. It depends how the hotel’s building with the environment because many hotel have not build the environmental awareness and damages the environment surrounding the area. The best place for the hotel for going green, they need to consider the environment. It is can damages the environment or disturbed their ecosystem of the place or not. Ecosystem in one area is very important for the whole place, because one of the ecosystem damages or broken it will affect or disturbing another ecosystem in surrounding area.

For building the hotel needs to be in the green design with the environment friendly products and have a proper placement for their product, so it can help the environment by giving a fresh air pollutant. Hotels also need the proper location, so it will not need many transports that can cause air pollutant. Hotel that will implement a green components in their hotel must be consider when choosing a place for develop their hotel. Hotel must be in the strategy place or area to reach from another place. It can decrease a using a transportation that is the number one that caused of air pollutant. Green place is about managing logistics to cut down on transportation emissions, thereby in effect aiming at reducing the carbon footprint. The choice of where and when is to make a product available will have significant impact on the customer.

Some other Elements

To build a green hotel culture and to establish the ecological values aˆ‹aˆ‹of the hotel independent positive premise of the implementation of green management. Hotel green culture is not only reflected in the various aspects of green management, but also to its inherent cultural force reacts to the various aspects of green management.

To achieve a green hotel culture, we must ensure that the interests of the hotel staff to reach a balance. It will make the interests of the hotel and customer satisfaction to reach an agreement. For the hotel to continue and promote green management concepts and ecological values for staff is to encourage the environmental behavior of employees, increase green investment in management, thus forming the green culture of the hotel. Walk the road of eco-development; cultivate a green culture to rely on sustained advocacy to instill education and other activities. Thus making the hotel a green culture to penetrate into all the activities of the hotel, and has become a powerful driving force to promote the sustainable development of the hotel.

Provide green services, hotels in green products while also vigorously promoting green services on the one hand actively promoting green products. Such as food service recommended green food and beverages to the guests, so when the guest ordering is affordable, reasonable nutrition, resources are not wasted. On the other hand, actively carry out a green consulting service activities, and vigorously promote conducive to conserving resources, protecting the environment, consumption pattern, a healthy and civilized lifestyle, motivate consumers to conscious energy-saving, water conservation, and to engage in waste separation and recovery that.

In 1993, China began to implement environment mark plan, but the environment mark plan have not yet received most of public and government attention. At that time, some developed countries already apply the environmental marking system for the background of economic globalization. Environment mark becomes open international market green keys. As consumers, green consumption concept of recognition and the tendency of national policy, green products will be occupy a lot of investment in market segment. Environmental labeling is not only a means to influence the company’s consumer buying behavior should also be used as a measure of marketing, but many hotels are often ignored by consumers of green consumer psychology and paying enough attention.

Hotel marketing tool is not the introduction of a green way of thinking. Because many of the hotels we have not build environmental awareness and thus the marketing tools are still limited. For example, some hotels are not interested in the welfare of society, but the pursuit of “star effect” that can spend billions of dollars. Some of the hotel attracts customers to use a vulgar things causing spiritual pollution in market competition, not in quality.

Benefits of Green Marketing (Going Green)

Having an effective green marketing makes a lot of benefits for the hospitality industry. With the green marketing, it will help a lot in the protecting and maintaining the environment that nowadays the damages are increasing and become one of the important problems to help the environment.

Nowadays, hotel starts to make a green concept in every part of their operation. As the hotel which is one of the big industries in the world, hotel needs to consider about green marketing and take the benefits from this. The benefits of going green in the green marketing not only effects for the environment itself, but it also affect the employee and customer. There are so many reasons why hotels want to apply this green marketing, and most of all it’s because the hotel industry wants to be viewed positively by the consumers. Green marketing also refers to the satisfaction of consumer wants, needs, and satisfaction with the conservation of natural environment.

The most important things to applying the green marketing are protecting this living space, because the damages are too big. In this, we need to save the environment with using less for water consumption, energy consumption and reduce the air pollutant. These are all the benefits for the environment and protect for the future generation for this living space.

The concept of green marketing can makes a new concept of consumers in hospitality industry, because of with the new concept of the friendly environment it will be make a differences. Consumers will feel the new thing about the new products that hotel gives. According to Patrick Hartmann and Vanessa Ibanez, if the brand considered green, then consumer willing to pay more for that product (2006).

The long term costs are one consideration why hotel need to do green marketing. Green goods have higher initial out-of-pocket expenses but lower long-term costs (Rubik & Frankl, 2005). For the new changes in green marketing concept need to have a lot of costs for the product, promotion, and images, but as the time goes by

Introduction

Since its inception hotels have provided travellers with a place to stay away from home and which offers them amenities that would ensure their comfort and security. The hotel industry core value is to deliver quality service to their guest, and with it also comes the obligation of being responsible for their security while under their care. The security of a hotel’s guest and how the hotel management and staff take the steps to ensure this spells the success or failure of any establishment. A lax security would mean exposing the guest to a different number of risks and would also reflect poorly on the hotel’s reputation. Therefore security is something the hotel industry should invest upon to ensure its success, because the bottom line is – the question of whether or not a guest will choose to return to a hotel depends solely on how safe and secure they feel while staying in a hotel.

However this basic premise is not that easy to put in practice. While different establishments have endeavoured to put in place security measures that would ensure the safety of its guests such as ensuring confidentiality of its guests personal data, using surveillance equipment and the like; the fact is technological advancements have also been used by some criminal elements to circumvent security measures for their own unscrupulous intentions. Cases of identity theft using information stored in a hotel guest’s key cards, and the recent threat of terrorist attacks are but some of the security issues that the hotel industry has to contend with. This paper seeks to study the security measures being put in place by the hotel industry and how it relates to their operational effectiveness. In particular this research study shall aim to achieve the following:

To identify the forms of breaches in hotel’s security system;

To identify the security system and other safety policies of three hotels;

To determine recommendations that will enhance and further develop the security system of the hotel industry.

The method that will be used in this research paper is a case study of the security measures of three hotels: the Hotel Marriott, the Intercontinental Hotels Group, and the Shangrila Hotel. The three hotels were selected in this study because they are known to be among the leaders in the hotel industry; they have faced or are in danger of facing serious concerns related to security (the Marriot Hotel was attacked by terrorist bombers in the past); and they are also leaders in the field of hotel security. The analysis that will be used in this case study will be based on the assessment paper by Alan Orlob the Vice-President of Corporate Security for the Marriott International, the talk delivered by David Bradley Bonnel who is the Director of Global Security for the Intercontinental Hotels Group, and the Security protocol issued by Shangrila Jakarta. This research paper shall also review related literature concerning the hotel industry its values and principles in relation to ensuring security, and related internet sources concerning hotel security procedures and measures.

Literature Review

According to Capparella J. (2002), the word hotel is derived from the 14th Latin word hoste meaning person or thing that provides something for a guest, usually lodging, and sometimes food. The concept of a hotel was to provide some sort of temporary lodging accommodations for transients. Hotels varied little in ancient times when they were first described as simply being a boarding house providing a place to rest and nothing more. Throughout the early centuries (1 AD forward) the evolution of the hotel was also minimal. In the middle ages the hotel began to transform.

European and English inns became the variations of the hotel during the middle ages. More specialized functions and amenities were included in the inn’s services. Among these amenities include the private rooms, public kitchens and public gathering rooms. Some inns have also constructed small taverns which were aimed to bring comfort and convenience of the traveller. During this period, the hotel variations were no longer treated and viewed as merely a place to spend the night. This development in the middle ages provided the transition of the hotel concept which will later on become part of the hospitality industry.

As the said development emerged during the middle ages, the latter part of the period provided another significant advancement in the inns. Laws, rules and regulations pertaining to the operations of the hotel as well as the corresponding responsibility of the owner were imposed. A French law during the 1300s dictates that any lost property of a client must be replaced by the landlord. A century passed when another French law mandates the registration of every hotel to the state. The English around this period has also formed another set of guidelines and regulations that discusses in detail the comfort and cleanliness provided by the hotel to their guests. The said guidelines eventually served as the European standard for hotels. However, in spite of these advancements, a number of hotels and inns remain lacking on measures involving the privacy and security of guests. Rooms that are considered private have no locks and the guests are exposed to an unsecured communal setting.

“In the 16th century, France established culinary requirements for hotels that offered dining services that were based on a rating system geared toward quality, promotion, and competition. In the next century, this system of rating a hotel was formally established throughout Europe. By the 1700’s, particularly in France, is when the hotel industry or hospitality business formally established itself. Lodging also transformed into a mixed-use business that now offered a variety of services and amenities. The standards for quality, comfort, value, and service were now synonymous with any place of lodging adding to its definition of being a temporary place to spend the night.” (Caparella, 2002)

In America the concept of the hotel as we know it was further developed with the appearance of larger hotels during the 1800’s. These hotels differentiated themselves from other lodging types by their size and by offering of luxurious amenities. Most of these hotels were in large cities and along the major travel routes of stagecoaches, and later the railways.” (Ibid, 2002)

With the passage of time the core aspects of the services provided by the hotel industry was already well established with good service and security as one of the key concerns.

Based on common law hotel patrons commonly assume that hotels have created a relatively safe environment, and that the, “common law concept of the innkeepers doctrine addresses the hotelier’s role in maintaining a safe and secure environment by requiring the hotelier to take all reasonable measures to provide a secure environment for guests and to safeguard guests’ property”. (Feickert, et.al. 2006)

The concept of “reasonable protection” was further advanced by the courts upon which the levels of liability of hotel owners were increased. The small and independent hotels were also similarly held liable to the standards imposed on large and popular hotels thus giving emphasis on the issue of security among the industry regardless of the size and popularity of the establishment. The said impression of the innkeepers doctrine’s common law aims to highlight the role of the hotelier in sustaining a safe environment through the adaption of all logical measures to ensure a secure environment to be enjoyed by the guests. The concept of “reasonable protection” was advanced by the court and has developed into increasing levels of liability of hotels.

To date, the issue of security within the hotel industry remains a primary concern among hoteliers. The said issue remains foremost in the minds of both the guests and hotel managers particularly in light of the turmoil of world events. Such concerns of managers often dwell on the most acceptable security measures to hotel guests which will directly be viewed as a measure that will ensure safety and security. With these concerns, hotels must also ensure that providing a welcoming environment remains their highest priority.

The hotel guests’ needs reflect their view on the hotel industry. While a traveller looks for adventure in his travels in each area and country, he still expects to rest and relax within the confines of his hotel room. While he expects to experience thrills out of exploring places, he would need to have access to recreational facilities of the hotel such as the use of the pool and the services in the hotel bar. The guest anticipates the best treatment from the employees and expects traits such as honesty and respect for privacy to be recognized. Being on a holiday, the guest does not expect neither hassles nor inconveniences to hamper his trip. Adapting this perspective of the hotel guest, hotels have formed several quick and effective measures to ensure the security of the guest without invading the privacy.

Hotels have also become the ideal target for terrorists since 2004, the post-9/11 period. Militants can assume the same type of strategies to give a statement against the Western imperialism. Hotels remain one of the best targets for such terroristic acts since Western businessmen, government officials, diplomats and intelligence officers frequent the hotels. Such place provides the ideal scene for inflicting terror through international media without penetrating the security ranks of Embassies.

The shift towards the targeting hotels was traced to the attacks against hotels in several parts of the globe i.e. Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, India, Afghanistan, and Egypt. Attacks instigated in Amman, Mumbai, Jakarta and Sharm el-Sheikh were coordinated to hit more than one hotel.

Addressing this issue, hotels have adapted measures that will develop security within hotels. The hotel security was perceived to have improved since 2004. Such security mechanisms in several hotel have helped saved lives such as the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The hotel industry’s vulnerability to attacks is caused however by the strategic nature of hotels.

In addressing security issues, the typical notion of general manages and security manages is that the installation of obtrusive and indiscrete security mechanisms will only generate more concern from the guests instead of creating a safe and secured environment. Other hoteliers often see security measures as unnecessary and merely increase the hotel expenses. Nevertheless, the security department and its manager’s role increased throughout the years. A main concern of hotel owners is the merging of security measures in the operations of the hotel. Instead of isolating the security department from others, security must be integrated within the operating procedures of the hotel. Security measure served as part of the hotel security routine particularly different types of technology such as electronic card-locking system, camera and communication system, as well as a closed circuit television. Additional security features can include safe-deposit boxes, guest-door locks as well as the regular life-safety systems i.e. sprinkler systems, alarms and fire extinguishers.

Hotel security features have been increasingly developed in the past years. This can attributed to the increase in neighbourhood crime, technological advancements and a shift in the demographics of the hotel guests. Such is the case of the electronic door locks which generates a feeling of security expected from the safety measure. Hoteliers have also taken a closer look at the needs and wants of the female traveller being primarily concerned over safety and security measures.

As expected, hotel managers may face challenges as the media continuously work on bringing criminal actions to the limelight particularly since the news of the 9/11 attack have changed the perceptions on travelling and safety.

Body of the Study and Research Results
Case Study Number 1: The Marriot Hotel Experience

On July 17, 2003 the JW Marriot and the Ritz Carlton in the upscale area of Jakarta, Indonesia were attacked by two suicide bombers. The bomb blast killed nine people and injured about 52 individuals. Based on the investigation following the attacks it was found out that the suspects checked into the hotel as guests, and that the explosives they used were smuggled into the hotel in their luggage which was not checked because it was too big and had to be placed in a trolley. The hotel staff did not noticed anything because they assumed that hotel guests cannot be terrorists. On September 20, 2008 another Marriott hotel was attacked in Islamabad, Pakistan. A dump truck which was filled with explosives was detonated in front of the hotel killing 54 persons and injuring 266 individuals.

Based on the report that the Vice-President for Corporate Security Alan Orlob made before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs in 2009, the Marriott security measures helped in preventing a much bigger casualty in both the Jakarta and Islamabad attacks. In Jakarta during the time of the attack the hotel security were on Threat Condition Red. Orlob claims that the checkpoint placed at the hotel gates prevented the suicide bomber from driving a vehicle laden with explosives straight into the lobby of the hotel. Orlob also states that because of the alert response of the Merriott’s three security personnel who were manning the checkpoints that day, helped in preventing the driver from entering the lobby of the Hotel.

In the Islamabad attacks a combination of a hydraulic barrier and a drop down barrier prevented the vehicle of the suicide bombers from approaching the main premises of the hotel. The vehicle filled with explosives was detonated at the barrier killing 56 people out of the 1,500 people who were billeted at the Marriott during that day. Orlob claims that the casualties would have been larger if there were no security measures that were put in place. During the attacks in Islamabad, Orlob states that the hotel had 196 security personnel, 60 of which were on duty during that day. They also had sixty two CCTV cameras placed on the inside and outside of the hotel and bomb sniffing dogs.

However a paper by security expert, John Solomon the Head of Terrorism Research, World Check (2009) states that in both the Jakarta and Islamabad Marriot’s security program has had shortcomings on two aspects. First is that the hotel did not have adequate measures for screening guest and staff for possible terrorism risk. Solomon pointed out that in both the Jakarta and Islamabad attacks the terrorists were able to study the area of the hotel and gather intelligence information by checking in as guests. The second shortcoming relates to the failure of the hotel security and risk manager to correctly analyze the possible security risks that the hotel faces. According to Solomon the problem is due to security and counterterrorism specialists’ penchant for analyzing a security threat exclusively on historical patterns.

The common practice of hotels is to hire these security specialists to make a risk assessment which the hotel faces. However by seeing terrorist attacks as recurring patterns – what happens in the future will be the same to what is occurring in the present and what transpired in the recent past – fails to grasp the fact that terrorist tactics are constantly evolving and developing. The result of this way of thinking is that security experts fails to adopt concrete measures that are applicable to the possible dangers the situation poses.

Ironically Orlob also had a similar observation when, as part of a team of hotel security specialist, he visited Mumbai, India after the terrorist attacks in 2009 to the Taj Mahal, Oberoi, and Trident hotels. Orlob included these findings in the same Senate Committee hearing that i have mentioned above. According to Orlob the Taj Mahal hotel failed to address the following security concerns:

Before the attacks the terrorists were staying in the hotel for several months posing as guests. They were seen taking photographs and have been studying the layout of the hotel;

The police who responded to the attacks were not familiar to the building layout and the plans that were outdated and did not indicate the renovations that has taken place;

The Taj Mahal hotel lowered their security measures due to a wrong intelligence report that was given to them;

The hotel did not have physical security measures such as barriers, sprinkler systems and the like which could have helped to slow down the terrorists if not deter them.

Orlob has noted during the Senate Committee report that after the attacks on the Marriott the security measures in placed have already been reviewed and developed to cope with the threat of terrorists groups.

Case Study Number 2: The Intercontinental Hotels Group

The Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) is one of the leading international hotel chains in the world today. Currently there are about 4,186 IHG hotels operating worldwide bearing the IHG brands of InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza Hotels, Holiday Inn and many more which are franchised and are owned by private companies. The IHG main headquarters is based in the United Kingdom and there are regional offices for the Americas and Asia Pacific region.

During the 2009 Mumbai terrorist attacks the Intercontinental Hotels Group were able to send out instructions to two of its hotels in the area concerning security measures they should put in place. According to the Director for Global Security of IHG David Bonne, this quick response helped to shield the IHG properties from the attacks. Bonnel points out in a report dated March 11, 2009 that the IHG were able to address the threat posed by the Mumbai incident due to the timely and relevant information shared by individuals who are in charge of the security and counter terrorism program in their respective corporations. This association of professionals dealing with corporate security were instrumental in providing intelligence that helped to facilitate appropriate response to the crisis, effectively deploy resources, and ensured the flow of information between the corporate headquarters and the hotels that were affected by the attacks.

Bonnel states that after 9/11 attacks the IHG has developed a security plan that specifically addresses the threat posed by global terrorism. This security plan is based on the provision indicated in Title IX of the 9/11 Commission Act which has mapped out crisis management as the preparedness of the private and public sector on three aspects of operation which deals with rescue, restart, and recovery.

According to Bonnel the IHG crisis management system is an integral part of the whole structure of the corporation, organizational culture, and operations of the company, and provides an effective and flexible response to probable and expected threats to security. The IHG system works through different but interconnected aspects which focuses on the following: constant threat assessment; emergency action plans and business continuity plans that are specific to the site involved; a crisis response plan for senior executives; crisis response teams; a network for internal communications; and a training program for emergency response. The IHG crisis management systems main thrust is to ensure that in the event of a threat or crisis its investments and guests are protected and rescued if the need arises, and in the event of damage to the corporation’s asset, the system ensures continuity in operations and business functions.

One of the core aspects of this crisis management system is the development of a comprehensive counter terrorism program which is based on responding to threats and leads gathered from a reliable intelligence network connected with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This counter terrorism program works by evaluating and then categorizing all of IHG’s hotels against a profile on terrorist risk. Each hotel location will also be assessed in a regional strategic threat assessment. The entire IHG hotel’s capability to resist an attack will also be comprehensively assessed, and management will be provided with an action plan that would increase the hotel’s security capability. A strict monitoring of compliance to the plan will also be carried out to ensure its implementation and in order to have a constant evaluation of the whole implementation process. According to Bonnel the IHG’s counter terrorism program was designed with the view of implementing it within the framework of mandatory compliance with standards regarding operational and structural safety and security.

Case Study Number Three: The Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta

Hotel Shangri-la Jakarta is one of the hotels that are in operation in the Southeast Asia region. The information issued by Shangri-la Jakarta states that it has a superb reputation when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of its guests and personnel, and the hotel claims that many experts in security has considered it to be a preferred base in the city in case of emergencies. The security measures implemented by Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta are quite similar to the Marriot and IHG. It has a UVS or Under Vehicle Scanning system which is located at the main gate of the hotel; it has EVDs or Explosive Vapour Detectors; it employs bomb sniffing dogs that have been certified by the Australian Law Enforcement and Working Service Dog Handler Association; its X-ray machines for luggage scanning are state of the art; around 330 CCTV cameras are installed in the hotel; there are around 200 highly trained security staff; there are satellite telephones in case normal phone communications are cut off; and the hotel also has a helipad on its roof. The Shangri-la Jakarta also boasts of a comprehensive Civil Disturbance Plan designed to address different possible situations that might arise in its country of operation.

Like the Marriott and IHG the Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta hires security experts that acts as consultants to the hotel. Reliable intelligence is provided for by these security consultants. The Shangri-la hotel’s team of local and international experts in security helps in keeping the hotel abreast to the security situation in Jakarta which develops its readiness and capacity to respond to any potential threat to its guest’s safety and security. The chart below shows the comparative data of the three hotels based on the reference material used:

Hotel Marriot

IHG

Shangri-la Hotel, Jakarta

Secondary 1? deadbolt lock

Smoke detectors and fire sprinkler systems

CCTV cameras

Explosive Vapour Detectors

X-ray machines

CCTV Cameras

X-ray machines

Smoke detectors and fire sprinkler systems

Other security measures possibly use but not identified in reference material used by researcher.

UVS (Under Vehicle Scanning) system

EVDs (Explosive Vapour Detectors)

X-ray machines

CCTV cameras

Satellite telephones

Highly trained security personnel

Bomb sniffing dogs

Expert Consultant

Highly trained security personnel

Bomb sniffing dogs

Expert Consultant

Highly trained security personnel

Bomb sniffing dogs

Expert Consultant

Viewports in all guestroom doors

interior corridor access only

access control on all guest exterior access doors

Viewports in all guestroom doors

bollards and barriers

Same although not indicated expressly in the reference used by the researcher.

Same although not indicated expressly in the reference used by the researcher.

Roof helipad

Security Guidelines and Emergency Plans

Cooperation with International Security specialists groups and Government Agencies concerned

Security Guidelines and Emergency Plans

Cooperation with International Security specialists groups and Government Agencies concerned

Security Guidelines and Emergency Plans

Cooperation with International Security specialists groups and Government Agencies concerned

Conclusion

The case study of the security measures being implemented by the Marriott, IHG, and Shangri-la shows certain similarities in terms of the equipment used, personnel involved, physical structures built, and development of a comprehensive security and crisis management plan. All three has hired security experts to provide detailed intelligence reports and to conduct and develop a crisis and threat assessment in order to develop the hotel’s preparedness in the event that such threats will occur. It is also clear that security plans are directly related to the hotel’s image and reputation, and most security plans is actually part of the hotel’s commitment to its guests to ensure that their peace of mind and security are taken cared of while under their care.