Category: Free Essays

State of Florida is located on the Gulf Coast in the south-eastern United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Orlando is a major city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. The geography of Orlando is mostly wetlands, consisting of many lakes and swamps. The terrain is generally flat, making the land fairly low and wet. In the area there are hundreds of lakes and the largest one is Lake Apopka. Central Florida’s bedrock is mostly limestone and very porous. The Orlando area is susceptible to sinkholes.

Orlando International Airport is the busiest airport in Florida. Located 10.5km (6.5 miles) southeast of Orlando, the airport is served by more than fifty airlines. In the airport there are more than 100 retail shops, food and beverage outlets, and the airport is a self-contained environment with full service banking, currency exchange, salon and post office. Duration of the flight from Scotland can take between 11 – 18.5 hours, possibly with a connecting flight from London. The Rosen Inn is located west of the airport and the transfer time from the airport to the hotel is approximately 20 minutes.

Local Time Zone

Orlando is in the Eastern Time Zone and it is 5 hours behind of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during the Eastern Standard Time and 4 hours behind of GMT during Daylight Saving Time. In Orlando the Daylight Saving Time (DST) started on Sunday, 13 March and will end on Sunday, 6 November.

Description of Tour Operator

Virgin Tour Operator has won several awards such as British Travel Award in 2007 and it is named ‘Best Tour Operator to USA/Canada’. The company was voted by the customer and received its third “Best Package Holiday Company Long Haul” award. Virgin Tour Operator offers excellent holiday packages to Florida and everywhere around the world. Virgin Holidays is the largest, extremely popular, and most successful transatlantic tour operator, it beats rival operators such as Thomas Cook and Jetlife.

Description of Selected Holiday

Walt Disney World

Seaworld Orlando

Rosen Inn Hotel

Epcot

Universal Orlando Resort

Orlando International AirportThe holiday I have chosen as it was requested is in Orlando. The hotel that I selected is located in International Drive, which is one of Orlando’s most lively and dynamic areas and is right in the centre of some of the world’s most famous theme parks and attractions, including museums, mini-golf courses and restaurants ranging from fast food to gourmet cuisine. It’s also a shopper’s paradise with designer outlet stores, shops and boutiques. The area can be explored by foot or by jumping on the I-Ride Trolley which served all the attractions along international Drive.

Rosen Inn Hotel

Within the hotel guests can enjoy Plaza Garden Restaurant, Lite Bite Deli with a late opening, Zebras Sports Bar and Grille with entertainment and bar menu until midnight. The smoking area is open on the outdoor patio deck. Smooth Java Coffee Bar is featuring Starbucks premium coffee products, fresh fruit smoothies and a variety of pastries. Food is served until midnight. The hotel has three swimming pools, electronic games room and children’s playground. Car hiring with free parking and breakfast are also included. Pointe Orlando shopping complex is on the opposite side offering some great clothes shops and twenty-one cinema screens. Free scheduled shuttle takes guests to the best attractions of the International Drive area. Universal Orlando Resort is 10 minute, Walt Disney Resort is 20 minute and SeaWorld Orlando is 5 minutes away from the accommodation. Resort representatives are available 7 days.

Room Information

All rooms have two double beds, featuring pillow-topped mattresses, radio alarm clock, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, electronic safe, iron and ironing board, TV with free Disney Channel and Premium Movie Channel. In-room pay-cinema channels are also available and there is a complimentary wireless internet in the rooms and throughout public areas of hotel. Rooms are air-conditioned and non-smoking.

Climate

Orlando has a subtropical and very humid climate. The average annual temperature is a comfortable 72.4 °F (22.4 °C). Average annual rainfall amounts to over 50 inches per year, keeping central Florida lush and green throughout the year. Prevailing winds are southerly at 9 mph. The average elevation of the region is 127 feet above sea level.

There are two major seasons each year:

Hot and rainy, lasting from June until late September. During this time the temperatures can be uncomfortably hot.

Dry, warm season, from October through May; bringing less frequent rainfall, yet still with warm temperatures. Occasionally night time temperatures can plunge surprisingly low.

Thunderstorms are common between May and September and tend to be short but heavy, offering some respite from the heat. Summer is also hurricane season from June to November.

Of course everything is air conditioned in Orlando, the theme parks sell inexpensive umbrellas and rain parkas, and there are the water parks. Summer travel to Orlando Florida is still fun and winter travel is wonderful.

Theme Parks

Universal Orlando Resort & Int’l Drive North Area

This is another exciting full day activity. At this real, working film and TV production facility visitors can go behind the scenes and jump right into the action of their favourite movies. Visitants can plunge into darkness on the psychological thrill ride, Revenge of the Mummy; see, hear and feel the action through the miracle of OgreVision in Shrek 4, save the earth from aliens on the interactive ride MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack, or experience the Universal’s newest coaster Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit.

Walt Disney World Resort Area

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios is one of the best in popular entertainment. Visitors can experience what it feels like to be on the stage as a star from their own adventure and share it as part of the Magical Gatherings experience.

Walt Disney World Resort Area

Disney storytelling comes to life in a kingdom where visitors can see real and imaginary animals, thrilling attractions, shows and the majesty of the nature. This is another excellent day out offering lots of fun, wonder and adventure.

Discovery Cove

SeaWorld & International Drive South Area

Discovery Cove is a day of adventure and a lifetime of memories. Visitors can swim with dolphins, wade with mysterious rays, snorkel among thousands of tropical fish, and safely come eye-to-eye with sharks and barracudas, hand-feed exotic birds. Families can relax on genuine beaches and enjoy an all-inclusive day of discovery.

Universal’s Islands of Adventure

Universal Orlando Resort & Int’l Drive North Area

It is an adventurous full day visit where visitors can experience five uniquely themed islands such as Seuss Landing, The Lost Continent, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon and Marvel Super Hero Island. Excursionists can battle villains in 3-D on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, defy gravity as The Incredible Hulk Coaster takes them on a high-speed roller coaster rampage, escape the jaws of a T-Rex on the Jurassic Park River Adventure, brave white-water rapids on Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges or take a spin through the mischievous world of The Cat in the Hat. As newness The Wizarding World of Harry Potter provides visitors with a one-of-a-kind experience complete with multiple themed attractions, shops and a restaurant.

Walt Disney World Resort Area

Epcot is another fantastic full day visit where families have to opportunity to see fascinating cultures and numerous wonders of the world through dazzling shows, interactive experiences and amazing attractions.

SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld & International Drive South Area

In SeaWorld Orlando is an adventurous full day theme park where families can encounter up-close animal experiences, unforgettable performances, and the next generation of thrills. SeaWorld’s all-new killer whale show connects guests to the sea, and killer whales, with a new level of energy and excitement while it educates and inspires them to make a difference in this world. Visitors can feed sea lions or get on the flying roller coaster. Orlando helps vacation adventures become lifelong memories. There is an onsite restaurant offering good selection of food to all families.

Other attractions
Gatorland

14501 South Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando

Gatorland is located around 6.5 miles from the hotel. It is a 110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve, combining “Old Florida” charm with exciting, new exhibits and entertainment. It provides affordable-priced family fun with thousands of alligators, crocodiles, a children’s water park, aviary, breeding marsh with observation tower, petting zoo, nature walk, educational wildlife programs, gift shop, Florida’s best train-ride, restaurant, and much more.

Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens

3755 NW US Highway 17/92, Sanford,

It is located around 30 miles from the hotel. It boast over 400 animals, 23 acres of native gardens, an Insect Zoo and Reptile House, a children’s zoo with animals, ZOOm Air Aerial Adventures, a splash playground, live animal encounters and many educational opportunities and demonstrations.

Lake Eola Park

195 N Rosalind Avenue, Orlando

Lake Eola Park is popular destination in the downtown area with beautiful surroundings, ideal for walking. Other activities available to park visitors include renting swan-shaped paddle boats, electric gondola boats, feeding the live swans and other birds inhabiting the park.

Dangers of the weather

Key rules for coping with heat are to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration and to slow down and cool off when feeling fatigued, a headache, a high pulse rate or shallow breathing. Overheating can cause serious, even life-threatening conditions such as heat stroke.

Dangers of heat include:

Heat cramps: Exercising in hot weather can lead to muscle cramps, especially in the legs, because of brief imbalances in body salts. Cramps become less frequent as a person becomes used to the heat.

Heat syncope or fainting: Anyone not used to exercising in the heat can experience a quick drop in blood pressure that can lead to fainting. As with heat cramps, the cure is to take it easy.

Heat exhaustion: Losing fluid and salt through perspiration or replacing them in an imbalanced way can lead to dizziness and weakness. Body temperature might rise, but not above 38.8°C. In some cases victims should be hospitalized. Heat exhaustion is more likely after a few days of a heat wave than when one is just beginning. The best defence is to take it easy and drink plenty of water. Don’t take salt tablets without consulting a physician.

Sunstroke: In some cases extreme heat can upset the body’s thermostat, causing body temperature to rise to 40°C or higher. Symptoms are lethargy, confusion and unconsciousness. Even a suspicion that someone might be suffering from sunstroke requires immediate medical aid. Sunstroke can kill.

How to avoid?

It is strongly recommended to protect eyes from the rays of the sun by wearing sunglasses or a wide brim hat when being outdoors for an extended period of time.

Avoid staying in direct sunlight between 10 a.m. and 16 p.m. During that period is suggested to stay in the shades.

Strong physical activities should be postponed to periods when the temperature is at normal level and not above the bearable limit.

It is essential to protect the skin from UV rays by using sun creams with high SPF values or umbrella.

Jet Lag

Jet lag is the temporary disruption of the ‘body clock’ when flying across several time zones. This causes the traveller’s internal clock to be out of sync with the external environment.

Causes of Jet Lag

When traveling across a number of time zones, the body clock goes out of sync with the destination time, and so it experiences daylight and darkness contrary to the rhythms it has grown accustomed to.

The body’s natural pattern therefore becomes upset as the rhythms which dictate when the person should eat and sleep no longer correspond to the environment of the destination.

Jet lag occurs, because the body cannot automatically realign these rhythms. The speed at which the body readjusts itself to new daylight and darkness hours and eating and sleeping patterns is entirely dependent upon the individual. So while it may take a few days for certain people to readjust to a new time zone, others seem to experience little disruption to their body’s natural sleeping pattern.

The symptoms of jet lag can be quite varied such as fatigue, exhaustion, inability to sleep, disorientation, lost desire to eat, headaches, stomach aches and a general feeling of fuzziness.

How to reduce?

Taking shoes off to ease pressure on feet, blindfolds, ear plugs, neckrests and blow-up pillows are all useful in helping to get quality sleep while flying.

Walking up and down the aisle, standing for spells, and doing small twisting and stretching exercises in the seat, all help to reduce discomfort, especially swelling of legs and feet.

The dry air in aircraft causes dehydration. Drinking plenty of non-alcoholic fluids counters this. Water is better than coffee, tea and fruit juices.

Get plenty of exercise in the days prior to departure and try to avoid sickness such as the flu, colds and so on.

Amenities of the area
Local transport

I-RIDE Trolley bus system is the only that services on International Drive and it is very popular by tourists.

The regional public bus system that operates in Central Florida is called LYNX. The bus stops can be recognised by either a pink bus or a paw symbol on a round sign. Standard bus fare is $2 per person one way, with free transfers and daily passes also can be bought on the vehicles for $4.50. Weekly passes need to be purchased in advance from the website or outlets in the area and they cost $16. In addition, LYNX also offers a free bus system within Downtown Orlando called LYMMO. If you plan on using LYNX it is strongly recommended that you visit the official website for route information: www.golynx.com or call 407-841-LYNX.

Money

In the U.S dollar system one dollar equals 100 cents. One British pound is worth about $1.62 but this amount can be changed depending on the daily exchange rate. Currency changing facilities can be found at the airport, and many places offers money exchange in the International Drive such as major banks or the Visitor Centre.

Food and Drink

Orlando is becoming one of the top gastronomic places; the city offers a wide range of cuisine from all over the world. There are more than 4000 restaurants, breakfast buffets, steakhouses and so on. There are full-service restaurants at every theme park. However, some areas like International Drive offer a high conception of dining outlets. Well-known chains can be found such as Hard Rock Cafe, Outback Steakhouse, Planet Hollywood etcetera. One of Orlando’s main dishes is the traditional African gumbo, but Moroccan Cous cous can also be mentioned which is made of beef or chicken with vegetables, Dim sum which is fried bread stuffed with meat, vegetables or fruit; the Mofongo which is fried banana with pork cracklings and garlic; and many other fantastic options.

Other information
Culture

Orlando is influenced by many different cultures. For example there are evident Portuguese and Spanish cultural influences; the languages are still spoken in Orlando. In the city cultural opportunities offer a mix of modern and traditional entertainment for tourists such as live orchestral music, opera and ballet. The city has two professional ballet companies. Museums, theatres and galleries are also great choices for visitors. There are many cultural events which acknowledge the rich ethnic background of the people of Orlando. The heritage of nature and wildlife is also very noticeable in Orlando and it is home to some beautiful parks, lakes and bird and animal sanctuaries.

History

Florida was named and discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 while he was looking for the mythical “Fountain of Youth” and claimed it for Spain. Florida was held by England and Spain at different times and later, in 1819 it was eventually sold to the United States. Before Orlando was only known for its citrus industries, cattle and cotton. Nowadays it had become one of the most executive tourist destinations.

Tipping

Tipping can be confusing in any country. Normally the tip is given to the staff is 15 – 20 %. Service personnel who tipped are like bartenders, drivers on public transports, table servers at dining venues, or beauticians. Porters are traditionally tipped $1 per bag. Many restaurants already include tips on the bill for groups of six or more. Therefore, it’s better to ask the staff if the tip has already been added to the check.

Souvenirs

There are lots of shops in International Drive, most of them Chinese-owned, and they are offering gifts for cheaper price than Walt Disney stores or the shops in the theme parks. In the souvenir shops T-shirts, tags, jewellery, pyjamas, costumes and a lot more can be purchased. It is guaranteed that everyone finds something unique and nice.

Introduction

Genting Highlands Malaysia is a city known as the ‘Fun City above the Cloud’, as it is quite similar to Las Vegas which isn’t actually all that close. The primary draw is that, Genting is one of the hotspot in Malaysia where you can gamble legally. Whereas, there is also a theme park to keep the kids amused. The atmosphere located at that area is cooler than the steamy lowlands.

Theme Park

The cool air makes it an exhilarating experience to enjoy many outdoor rides. Whether taking leisure drives in the Antique car or experiencing the adrenaline pumping Space Shot, it’s a wonderful and magical adventure of fun and excitement for the family.

Casino

The casino at Genting offers a host of exciting international-level games, among the most popular games like for an example, Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, and Caribbean Stud Poker. Jackpot machines are one of the tourist attractions too. International class shows and live entertainment provide the accompanying glamour.

Hotels

Genting Highlands resort has approximately six hotels, which is First World Hotel, Genting Hotel, Highlands Hotel, Theme Park Hotel, Resort Hotel, Maxims Hotel and Awana Genting Highlands Golf & Country Resort at the mid-hill which is total up offering up to approximately 10,000 hotel rooms. The prices for these hotels are approximately affordable where First World Hotel is one of the cheapest among all.

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History

The story of Genting, is that most Malaysians will recognize it as synonymous with the rise of its name, Hill Resort and Genting Highlands Resort are the most popular hotels in Genting Malaysia up until now. Many may not have truly appreciated the mammoth task involved in the construction and the resources and reserves mobilized to ensure what it has proven up to today to be an unprecedented successful in resort development itself.

In the beginning stages, the idea of a hill resort was brought up by the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong amidst the crisp air of Cameron Highlands in 1963. Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong was working on a project on hydro-electric power at the most popular hill resort, which is patronized mainly by the British colonials seeking cool refuges from the tropical heat itself, as when he foresaw a prosperous Malaysia of the future desiring a cool-air mountain holiday resort within the reach of all Malaysians, this is when the great idea was brought upon.

Besides that, on 18 Aug 1964, a technical and construction team began the task that would take approximately four years to complete the access road between Genting Sempah towards the peak of Gunung Ulu Kali. By ensuring the sound pollution and prompt construction of the hotel-resort, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong has to spend all of his time, capital and resources, including the reserves of his family company, Kien Huat Bhd towards the making of his so called “dream resort”.

Furthermore, since after the opening of their first hotel in 1971, Genting Highlands Resort has continued to grow from strength-to-strength. Whereas, the development of that area has continued to this present day to enhance Genting Highlands Resort as one of the premier holiday destination in the Malaysia/Asia while ensuring that the natural beauty of the rain forest is taken care of.

In 1996, Genting Highlands Resort further developed its facility attraction by constructing a transportation shuttle service which is called “Genting Skyway cable car” which is as long as 3.38km transportation towards the hill-top. Genting Skyway is recognized as one of the “World’s Fastest Mono Cable Car” in 2002 with an optimum speed of 20.7km per-hour, plus it is the “Longest Cable Car in Malaysia and towards SEA region”.http://www.genting.com/images/history4a.jpg

Their mission is to be committed towards innovation and the adoption of new technology to achieve great competitive advantage and to pursue personnel policies and by rewarding employees which that has great performance in their montly/yearly job and contributions and also provide proper training for employees, development and opportunities for career advancement.

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Business

Genting Highlands Resort

Genting Resort is one of Southeast Asia’s major holiday destinations in Asia and a holiday desired destination in Malaysia, attracting visitors from all over Malaysia, Singapore and all over the world, mainly the Asia-Pacific region.

Hotels

The six hotels at the Resort itself – Maxims, Genting Hotel, Theme Park Hotel, First World Hotel, Highlands Hotel and Resort Hotel with approximately total of about 10,000 hotel rooms, an overall occupancy rate of 68% in 2003. Also, It particularly attracts tourist from all over countries like Singapore, China, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Conventions

Genting international convention centre is a place dedicated for Incentives, Meeting, Conventions and Exhibitions at the resort itself. Approximately over total of 2,208 functions were held at the convention centre during the year of 2003.

Shopping and Food & Beverage (F&B)

Shopping and F&B like First World Plaza is a special-cooling shopping paradise in Malaysia, it comes with an offer for visitors to have an experience of dining, shopping and entertainment. First World Plaza has exactly 49 F&B outlets, 87 retail shops and kiosks, 21 rides and attractions and 6 leisure and entertainment outlets under one area. A range of merchandise and products are sold at many branded retail outlets, such as Camel Active, B.U.M Equipment, Dockers, Apex Pharmacy, Levi’s, Nike, Addidas and many more.

Genting Theme Park

The main satisfaction comes from Genting Theme Park itself, which comprises exactly 51 rides and attractions up to 600 video games simulators at the Resort’s Outdoor and Indoor Theme Parks and at the First World Plaza, continues to live up to its theme of giving endless and excitement fun time at the peak of Genting Malaysia.

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S – Strengths

Genting Malaysia Has a strong brand name in the local market and good reputation among customers.

Great location which is located in a hill-top where people can enjoy cooler weather and the breathtaking views which is wonderful. It is easy to be accessed by either car or bus about an hour drive from KL. It is also accessible by the world’s fastest and SEA’s longest cable car called “Genting Skyway” which is 3.38km long

Genting Group provides a wide range of facilities and services including hospitality and leisure business and its activities cover seaside resorts, hotels, gaming, theme parks and entertainment for the total comfort of all customers/guests.

W – Weakness

High maintenance and cost of repairs of broken stuffs/leakage

Lack of financial resources.

Lack of information provided regarding the rooms rates and details in their official website.

The Customer related processes are not efficient enough

O – Opportunities

Improving their current system and offering more features and services is good chance for Genting Hotels Group to increase sales and attract more customers locally and globally.

Use of Internet, social networks and blogs to attract new customers and maintain the loyalty of the excising once.

Alliances with travel agencies are good opportunities for Genting Highlands to attract more guests globally.

Growth of Internet users in Malaysia which brings opportunities for new market strategies

T-Threat

Increasing the number of hackers and unauthorized accessed through internet and some Customers still afraid of transact money through internet, they do not trust online payment because of credit card fraud.

The economic is slowing down and all exterior changes.

Increased the number of competitors due an expanding in the gaming market in the same region. For instance, Macau and Singapore.

The highly competitive challenges in the hotels industry and the increasing the number of stronger competitors as well as the price war and the lower costs provided by competitors.

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Physical evidence

For physical evidence, the main important part is the service itself. Which is by providing good products, the company should also provide good services, for an example, the casino, and hotels.

For hotels, First world hotel is as low as RM127 per night and the facilities they provide is business center, casino, coffee shop, concierge, disabled facilities, meeting facilities, restaurant, safety deposit boxes, shops.

For Tune Hotel, it is RM150 per night. The facilities they provide are Air conditioning, breakfast OR 2 people room provided on hourly basis, Gym, Swimming pool, 24 hours security.

There are NO casino competitors out there in the whole of Malaysia.

Product

For Genting Highland, they have quite a few main key products, which is that their products are separated into four categories of products. One of the types is, Theme parks for those who love to have excitement and adventure. There are also casinos, for those who are very attracted to gambling. There’s also the Genting international convention center, for those who is serious about work can held meetings there. And lastly, for every customer that goes to Genting Highland, their hotels.

Place

By having a good location in a business point of view is the most important of all. Genting Highland have the best strategic location anywhere else in Malaysia for relaxing, mostly it’s because of the cold weather only us as Malaysians can experience. It is one of the key points that will attract customers who love cold weathers in Malaysia.

Pricing

For pricing, there is not an issue at all. Genting Malaysia Bhd monopolizes the whole of Genting Highland. For example, if anyone were to visit Genting Highland, there would be no choice but to stay in their hotel’s, because they are the only hospitality service provider. In fact, if Genting Malaysia rises the prices of hotel’s, we would have no choice but to stay in them.

Promotion

For promotion, Genting Malaysia emphasize so much on their advertising that they covered everything there is to advertising. Their campaign for the company of advertising are, newspapers, TV commercials, radios, magazines, and website. They even have promotional packages that is only particular to that one season of festive. Genting Malaysia also have a member card, called “World Card” this card is only for members only. What privileges that members can get it’s by getting discounted hotel prices, and food. 7

People

For people, Genting Malaysia Bhd is mostly based as a hospitality service provider for example, hotel check-in and check-out, ticket selling, and room services. These are the operations that provide with first contact to the guests or customers which will involve the staffs and facilities. It is so crucial to treat guests or customers with politeness, and friendliness, because this will help create values to guests or customers by increasing their satisfaction level. For example, their hotel lobby’s are big enough so that it get crowded when there is a lot of people walking in and out, and with a lot of ticket counters there will not be a problem of slow service.

Process

Lastly, process. This is like behind the scene of how Genting Malaysia are able to get good staffs to operate in a daily basis. Basically there are three stages in this process, which is recruiting, training and development. About recruiting, Genting Malaysia get’s their recruitment from web based, and also walk in, they will then sort out their recruitment by age, academic background, and working experience. After that, even though new or old employees will undergo training, this is to have them master their skills in facial and body language talk, and communication skills. This is somewhat the most important skills to learn of all, because if there is good customer service, there are always happy customers. Lastly, the development stage. What the development stage does is to transfer or rotate job’s around the company, this will help staffs to learn different things and develop different skills, and of course to keep the staffs excited when changing into new roles in the company.

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Customer service issues on Genting Malaysia

Internet – In Genting Malaysia, when internet access is free in almost every restaurant, hotels, customers are annoyed that Genting Malaysia is continuing to charge for the fees. After the customers paid for the fees, the connection are either unreliable or very slow.

Untidy room – Cleanliness must be a top priority as a dirty room does not only spoil the hotel reputation but turns the customer’s stay into an inconvenient one. Bedbugs have been found in some of the rooms at First World Hotel. It may be due to the signs of untidiness, or dusty and smelly rooms, or unclean bathrooms. In order to gain customers loyalty, the cleanliness of hotel rooms is a top priority.

Uncooperative and rude staff – By having uncooperative and rude staffs, it will ruin the image of Genting Malaysia. Customer wants to be treated with pleasure and kindness. Showing bad attitudes from staffs is a major dissatisfaction

Noise – One of the main purpose customers stay in hotel is, relaxation. Noise pollution will make customers dissatisfied as they will not be sleeping well. Whereas, the image of the hotel will be downgraded towards customer’s perspective

Extra Room Charge – In First World Hotel, sometimes the hotel are overcharging the rooms price. Extra Room Charge is one of the most hated things that customers have to hear when they are staying in hotels. Who would want to pay for something they unknowingly spent for? Complaints in hotel never do end as long as they charge the customers for something that they do not need in the first place. Hotels must clearly indicate the cost of every service or feature that must be paid for be it the use of the television, or the food.

Housekeeping Ignoring the “Do Not Disturb” Sign – Invasion of privacy is one usual hotel complaints that customers do when they feel like the housekeeping staff is checking what they are doing in the comforts of their hotel room. The customers pay for the room to relax and not a pain in the neck. Unfortunately, housekeeping personnel follow a strict schedule when making rounds and doing room cleaning so they have no choice but to do it even if the room is currently occupied. They need to peek in to check it out whether the guest is occupying the room or not.

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Latest Venture

Genting Malaysia announce acquisition of the echelon site on the strip and outline plans to build a 2$ billion hotel-casino complex on the 87-acre development halted by the onset of the recession almost five years ago. This will help Genting Malaysia to expend their business throughout the world, and people will take notice of their business and the company will have a high reputation towards their customers. Genting Malaysia will also benefit from business from around the world, from earnings and recognition.

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Conclusion

As a conclusion, with various strengths and strategies that Genting Malaysia has, it has a high ability to take advantages of every opportunity that can bring Genting Malaysia one step ahead. Their strengths and strategies can help them to encounter any threats that come across them. It is believed that it could help Genting Malaysia in building a stronger brand name and image, also to capture a bigger market share in the hotel and theme park industry.

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Recommendation

Resort World Genting is known for city of entertainment. It is recommended for travellers who likes to gamble and so on. There are more than six hotels at Resort World Genting, the hotels consists of Genting Grand, Highlands hotel, Resort Hotel, Theme Park Hotel, First World Hotel, and Awana Genting Highlands. And there also budget motel which is located near the Theme Park, so budget travellers doesn’t need to worry about spending too much money. Besides that, the Casino De Genting is another main attraction of the whole Resort World Genting. Casino De Genting is Asia’s Best International Casino Resort, Casino De Genting is the perfect place to be when it comes to sophisticated gaming and excitement. So for people who likes to play slots, table games, and electronic table games, Casino De Genting is the perfect place for them to hang out. For people who likes adventure, Genting outdoor theme park, water park, and First World indoor theme park is the recommended place for them. The cool mountain air makes it an exhilarating experience to enjoy the rides at the outdoor theme park. Whether taking leisure drives in Antique car or the adrenaline pumping Flying Coaster, it is a magical adventure of excitement and fun for the guests. Besides that, the First World Indoor Theme Park features thrill rides, family rides, children rides and many other rides. It is recommended that customer who likes to play golf should pay a visit to Awana Genting Highlands Gold & Country Resort. For customer who likes to hang out at night, there will be night entertainment available at Resort World Genting. For local Chinese travellers who likes culture, the Chin Swee Caves Temple will be a perfect spot for them to explore. It is located at the most scenic site of Genting Highlands. Within the temple is seated a black statue of the Reverend Master Chin Swee who has long been referred to as a deity in Fujian province for his supernatural abilities to summon rain and drive away evil spirits.

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Bangalore (Bengaluru)Flight to Bangalore (Bengaluru)

Bangalore (Bengaluru) is famous as the garden city of India with a total population of 7 million. It has created a special place on Indian map with a brand new airport and over 400 daily flights connecting it nationally and internationally. With the new international airport coming up in Bangalore, more and more flights are landing and taking off from Bengaluru. Also with the low flight prices and cheap flight tickets available in India, it makes sense to travel by air more often.

Deals22.com assures you the best and the cheapest tickets for all Bangalore flights. Our booking engine helps you search, compare and book tickets across the top travel sites. Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Indian Airlines, Air India, Spicejet, Air Deccan, Indigo, Paramount and GO Air operate daily flights on the Delhi Bangalore, Mumbai Bangalore, Kolkata Bangalore and Hyderabad Bangalore routes and you can easily book your flight through deals22.com

Bangalore (Bengaluru) is known as the IT capital of India and Bangalore is also one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Bangalore (Bengaluru) airport is located outside the city near Devanahalli but is still well connected to the city. Several airlines and flight operators offer discounted tickets and special fares for Bangalore flights (Bengaluru Flights).

The drive from Bangalore City Center to the Benagalure airport takes about 45 minutes. But the traffic scenario in Bengaluru (Bangalore) can actually increase the commute time to more than 2 hours. It is advised that you start about 4 hours before the flight time.

About Bangalore –

Bangalore (Bengaluru) is the 3rd largest Indian city after Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay). It hosts more than 3000 IT companies and this explains the expansion in regular flights and easy availability of flight tickets. Bangalore has emerged as the software capital of India and the infrastructure has improved considerably including the airport and flights.

Attractions

Places of Interest : Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Road, Lal Bagh Botanical Garden, Tipu Sultan Palace, Bannerghatta National Park

Entertainment

Shopping : Bombay Store, Majestic Area, Hong Kong Market, Burma Bazaar

Temples :

Nandi Temple, Belur Temple, St. Marks Cathedral,

When to go

Bangalore (Bengaluru) boasts of pleasant weather all through the year but it is best to be visited during light winters. You can enjoy the pleasantness of weather, the gardens of the city and the very interesting night life of the city. We at deals22, will make sure that you get the best deals in terms of your travel. Choose from Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Indian Airlines, Air India, Spicejet, Air Deccan, Indigo, Paramount and GO Air to book your tickets. Flights to Bangalore (Bengaluru) are available daily from most of the Indian airports and it makes it very convenient to visit this cyber city. With the sharp rise in the special offers on flight tickets and cheap flight ticket airlines, air travel has become more prevalent. So just grab the best fares on cheap ticket flights and begin your journey to Bangalore (Bengaluru).

Introduction

Culinary tourism refers to trips made to destinations where the local food and beverage attractions are the main motivating factors for travel. According to the International Culinary Tourism Association, Culinary Tourism is defined as the pursuit of unique and memorable culinary experiences of all kinds, while travelling, but one can also be a culinary tourist exclusively. Erik Wolf, Founder and President of ICTA says that While many people think of Culinary Tourism as 5-star restaurant experiences or fine dining with wine tasting, it truly has evolved into a broader sense ranging from a street vendor to a high class speciality restaurant (Feimster, 2009). Wolf also considers gourmet tourism, wine tourism and spa cuisine as subsets of culinary tourism.

According to county (2005), “Culinary tourism includes any tourism experience in which one learns about, appreciates, and/or consumes food and drink that reflects the local, regional, or national cuisine, heritage, culture, tradition, or culinary techniques”.

Whilst ICTA (2010) states that deliberate food travellers tend to spend approximately 50% and regular food travellers tend to spend one third of their travel budget on culinary activities, the report on culinary niche markets (n.d.) by Caribbean market research claims that food is not usually the main consideration for travel, even though people do consider the food part while deciding where to have their holidays. But at the same time, a domestic survey in US reveals that 17% of leisure travellers engage in culinary activities (culinary niche markets, n.d.), which is forecasted by ICTA to grow rapidly in near future.

This literature applies predictive forecasting method in attempt to explore the future of culinary tourism, based on past and current trends in the industry. Analysis of stakeholders and elements in relation and response to the probable current and future scenarios are also investigated to enable the culinary industry for “Adaptive learning” (yeoman and Beattie, 2004) to understand and manage changes to gain a competitive position and subsequently sustain in future.

Scope of culinary tourism

Culinary tourism is a rapidly emerging niche market segment presently at its infancy stage, which has a short history since early 2000’s (Feimster, 2009). It has a great growth potential by its own as well as combined with other tourist activities such as adventure, health, medical, winter, agro and cultural tours. Food being an unavoidable part of human existence, gastronomical experience can be an added attraction for any type of tourism activity, apparently appealing to a wide range of customers. Gastronomic tourists are more likely to be affluent middle aged or elderly couples (shenoy, 2005), but not exclusively limited to any demographic or ethnic group (Feimster, 2009; culinary niche markets, n.d.).

Dining out is one of the top 3 tourist activities and nearly 100% tourists eat out while travelling (Schmantowsky, n.d.; Shenoy, 2005). Today, the culinary activities include food festivals, mega events, fishermen’s and farmer’s markets, cooking schools, agro tourism, wine and beer tasting and obviously restaurant dining. The popular culinary tourism destinations are France, Italy, California, where as Croatia, Vietnam, and Mexico are the emerging destinations (Yeoman, 2008).

Socio cultural trends

Culinary tourism depicts the socio cultural aspect of food as it is a significant mode of cross cultural experience, as one can feel it on a sensory level rather than intellectual (Shenoy, 2005). Trend analyst and professional futurologist from Victoria University, Yeoman (2008), identifies a number of social trends shaping the interest of people in food tourism in the existing and emerging culinary tourism destinations. Yeoman observes that growing affluence and increasing disposable income of people, results in increasing demand for prepared food, gourmet products, eating out and food with health benefits, which pressurise the entrepreneurs to produce high quality and varied products. Another pressure is the changing demographics, projected to be more than 50% of aged people by 2015 (Yeoman, 2008), that will account for nearly 40% of leisure purchase, which strengthen the demand for health foods. But at the same time, individualism and diverse characteristics of different age groups will stipulate eating places to be adaptable to varying situations and tastes.

Technological trends

It is apparent that technology dominates every aspect of human existence and it has a greater impact on food tourism as well. In terms of culinary tourism, technology impacts on two aspects. First are the customers, who have instant access to emerging trends all over the world, which shapes their tastes and preferences of dining out, which in turn pressurises the food industry to be innovative and adaptive. Tourists are likely to plan their trips using online as well as print media, which provides wide options and choices, resulting in intense competition in the industry (Schmantowsky, n.d.). The impact of media in popularising eating trends is evident from what is termed as “Delia effect”, when the TV show “how to cook” of Delia Smith in 1998, resulted in selling of 1.3 million extra eggs each day of the show (yeoman, 2008).

In response, entrepreneurs are widely using technology to innovate and differentiate their business to withstand the massive competition. Restaurant interactive multimedia order terminal, which provides a new experience and molecular gastronomy, which helps create innovative dishes are good examples of technology adoption in food industry.

Economical trends

Many countries, especially developing and underdeveloped, depend on tourism as their major source of revenue and foreign exchange. Culinary tourism plays a vital role in adding value to the destination, as most tourists appreciate local culture and cuisine. According to shenoy (2005), tourists in Caribbean countries spend five times greater than locals on food, which supports the view of ICTA, that food tourists and regular tourists spend 50% and one third of their budget respectively on food. Tourists are less likely to make cuts on their food budget, which will substantially favour the local restaurants, eating places and the food industry and destination’s economy as whole.

Political trends

Worldwide Political will to promote culinary tourism along with its supporting sectors like agro-heritage, wine and farm tourism, is evident from the initiatives like culinary tourism alliance in Michigan and Barbados (IICA, 2006; MCTA, n.d.). Many countries are actively developing and promoting culinary tourism, realising its potential to contribute to the growth of national economy and agriculture. The strategic alliance and synergy of government, and various institutions with medium term plan to strengthen the competitiveness of agro, wine and culinary businesses and coordinate the entrepreneurs in culinary tourism are noticeable in many parts of the world.

Future of culinary tourism

As food tourism is correlated with most of the other forms of tourism, socio cultural, economic, technological and political impacts in most tourism sectors will affect the culinary tourism to a great extend. Due to increased competition, growing tourism price and other impacts, the industry in future will be more focused on leadership, organisation and multifaceted trade linkages and enhanced communication with all stakeholders. The enormous growth and multifaceted nature of tourism industry, will call for strengthened research, education and training to establish and promote new culinary products and to meet rising demand for skilled human resource. For these initiatives, tourism industry definitely need source of funding, especially from government. The industry will establish extended strategies to encourage funding from government as well as private partnerships (Hall, 2005; county, 2005). In future, the governments are more likely to extend the agricultural subsidies, than at present due to prospected increase in return on investment in tourism and agriculture (Hall, 2005).

Culinary tourism 2015

The above mentioned trends will remain more or less stable in next five years before making a shift in the total culinary tourism system. As yeoman (2008) indicated, people aged above 50 will be the most populous age group by 2015. This will increase the demand for package holidays, second homes, health facilities and organic healthy food which will influence the destination development strategies (Hall, 2005). The survey conducted by the North American lifestyles journal is a proof that older population prefer to travel as they have more leisure time and hold a good amount of disposable wealth. A specialised tourism sector focused on health oriented holidays will begin to emerge by end of 2015 in response to the increasing market size of the above said age group.

On a contrary, the shrinking population in western countries will definitely have greater impacts in global tourism industry. Hall (2005) indicates that many developed countries are falling in population by nearly 10% and as majority of global tourism receipts come from these countries, such a demographic drift will bring significant implications in the industry. In addition, rising living standards, changing values and priorities based on age, sex, education and marital status will also reshape the whole tourism industry. Changing lifestyles and employment patterns in western countries will result in more short holidays, affecting the volume of long haul destination choices.

Culinary tourism would emerge as an individual industry. The equipments used would be modernized and innovative methods would be used to keep the costs down. Paper work would reduce considerably and most of the transactions and dealing would be electronic. Increased importance would be given to the safety of the public on a whole. The restaurants would adopt local cuisine and wines proving their worth in the development of local culture (Hiemstra, 2004).

The issue of terrorism would be the agenda of every country. Countries across the globe would work together in order to eradicate terrorism. Effects of Globalization and Migration would be seen in developed countries and the industry would be more diversified than before. New tourism destinations will emerge due to low entry barriers to the culinary industry. Financial grants would be initiated by governments for the development of the culinary industry.

Culinary tourism 2020

The research carried out by future foundation (2008) indicates that the ratio of working married woman has increased from a quarter in 1950s to 75% at present. This will tend to increase by 5% in another 10 years, which indicates a beginning of shift in eating out trends.

One of the main determinants of quantity of tourism demand is the tourism price including living cost at the destination and the travel cost to the destination. Considering the past and current petroleum market, the fuel prices are more likely to rise drastically in near future, pushing the tourism industry into downturn. By 2020 a barrel of fuel would cost around US$180, resulting in the rise of tourism prices as it affects the whole supply chain of culinary tourism. Tourists will respond to this by demanding more domestic tourism, which is important substitute to foreign tourism (Song and Witt 2000). As culinary tourism is mostly favoured by domestic tourists (culinary niche markets, n.d.), the above trend will intensify the growth of culinary tourism. Currency Exchange rate would also affect the demand for tourism. A favourable exchange in any country may counter balance the inflation rate of tourism generating country. In addition, the unnecessary financial burdens on travellers (e.g. Air passenger duty by UK) by different developed countries will have a negative effect on those countries mostly dependent on tourism, especially the poorest countries (UNWTO, 2010).

Terrorism would affect the industry significantly. The world political scenario would further worsen due to the US acting as a world police (Hall, 2005). Tensions rising in terrorism affected countries such as India, Pakistan, England and US would be critical to the industry. Finally, the governments across the globe would understand about the value of culinary tourism and additional funds would be allocated in this industry.

Communication would be vitally important as it would help in assisting the growth of the industry (county, 2005). Research is vitally important due to less knowledge about culinary tourism. By 2020 website technology would be developed to its peak when an online knowledge arsenal would be formed to share upcoming technologies and knowledge about culinary tourism. The development cost of technologies would be reduced due to innovation which is critical to the industry (cockerel, 2000). Molecular gastronomy which is the application of scientific and technology in the preparation and improvement of food would be common along with “Culinology” which is the combination of technology and gastronomy. Innovative combination of food would be possible, for example artificial caviar or instantly frozen food with liquid nitrogen can be made with the help of molecular gastronomy.

Culinary tourism 2035

The ratio of married working women will increase by another 10% in next 25 years, which will result in remarkable habit of eating out ever before, to manage a work-life balance. In response to this, entrepreneurs will come up with more fast food options and culinary oriented holiday packages to provide an opportunity to working class to shape their leisure time and holidays alike

One of the significant commercial economic trends in tourism industry is the convergence of multi tourism sectors (Hall, 2005). Culinary tourism is closely correlated with organic food, wine, agro tourism and subsequently agriculture. Emerging culinary tourism alliance with agriculture and wine industry is an indication of such a convergence (MCTA, n.d.; IICA, 2006). The growth of culinary tourism will proportionally thrust the agriculture and wine industry, leading to greater economic benefits. But at the same time, due to increased demand, the prices of agricultural products will go up resulting in displacement effect and resident irritation. However, culinary tourism will keep growing, create huge job opportunities in all the related sectors including small and medium scale businesses (IICA, 2006). Culinary tourism will be the largest sector in tourism industry by 2035 in terms of tourism receipts, while developing countries will emerge as top most destinations due to their natural resources and cheap labour force.

Culinary tourism would encourage the restaurants to adapt more local wine produce in their menu, exploring the opportunities of wine tourism. By 2035 wine tourism would certainly grow to a great extend, providing increased job opportunities in this field and consequently economic benefits. By 2035 Wine tourism will merge with culinary tourism because of their interrelated nature and would compete directly with any other tourism sector.

By 2035 the urban slums dwellings would account for 1 out of 3 people in the world this would affect the culinary tourism due to changed demands of the people. Terrorism would pose a threat but would not be the only major problem as there would be other issues of more serious nature such as shortage of natural resources like water. Globalization would increase migration along with the cross cultural experience in terms of food tastes and preferences. Fusion cuisine would finally be a success after its failure in the past. Culinary tourism would be one of the largest contributors to the GDP of many countries. Wireless era would flourish and every aspect of the organization would be connected. Renewable energy sources would be a part of the industry due to high energy costs and this would lead to widespread of high speed trains (Hall, 2005).

Nanotechnology within molecular gastronomy is the manipulation and visualization of objects into Nano scale with the realm of molecules and atoms. This would give the culinary industry the leverage to develop further at lower cost. Nano technology would develop to micro Nano technology. Multinationals such as IBM is devoting one-half of its Research and Development budget to nanotechnology which guarantees tremendous growth. The work in the field of molecular gastronomy will lead to emergence of a subsector named “molecular gastronomic tourism”.

Stakeholder response and Sustainability

The probable future scenarios in relation to current trends and their prospective effects along with a range of stakeholder responses essential for future sustainability are given in the table below. The efficiency of the stakeholder response in the industry can be measured using a set of indicators as shown below.

Future scenario
Effect on culinary and general tourism
Essential Stakeholder Response
Indicators

Changing demographics (Ref.7.a, para.1)

Resize of different market segments due to shift in product demand

Industry: Research and Analyse demand forecast and adapt to the scenario

Tourism receipts from different age groups

Changing employment pattern (Ref.7.a, para.1)

Demand more culinary oriented short holidays

Scarcity of skilled labour and increasing HR turn over.

Govt: start new govt. funded hospitality educational institutions

Industry: revise pay scale, competent to other industries

Number of local population working in the industry.

Increasing fuel cost

Fall in international tourism receipts

DMO: Promote domestic tourism to compensate the fall in business.

Govt: Tax deduction for aviation industry

Ratio of international to domestic tourism receipts for a period of time

Average international airfare

Uncertainty in currency exchange rate and inflation

Rise in tourism flow to countries with favourable exchange rate and vice versa

Entrepreneurs: Flexible and competitive price to compete in this temporary situation

Govt: Subsidies to the small and medium food service operations

Average tourism price Inc. living costs and travel costs.

Total tax payable by food service industry

Terrorism and safety issues

Overall fall in tourism receipts, especially in terror affected and neighbouring countries

Govt: Alliance with International agencies, Tourism generating countries

DMO: positive public and media relations along with marketing campaigns

Travel warnings from different countries to terror affected destinations

Total tourism receipts by terrorism affected countries in a year.

Health issues

Overall fall in tourism receipts in affected countries

Health ministry: preparedness and short term recovery strategy

DMO: positive marketing strategy

Number locals and foreign national infected with transmittable diseases.

Time taken to stabilize the tourism flow

Technology

Outdated techniques and systems

Changing customer tastes and preferences

Industry: Incorporation of new technologies and systems to innovate products and services

Public-Private sector partnership for fund raising for technology adoption

Govt: allocation of funds for technology adoption in tourism industry.

Range of new culinary products and services offered across the globe

Total purchase of new technology by the food service industry.

The coming decades are important for relation between the whole tourism industry and sustainability in terms of industry development and environment (UNEP, 2002). A number of future scenarios which are most likely to occur are found critical to the industry. Changing demographics and employment trends are the most important scenarios in terms of socio cultural aspects, which need appropriate stakeholder response in order to receive sustained business in future. These scenarios not only resize the different market segments but also impact the human resource required. The industry should foresee this situation and adapt itself by various demand forecasting and human resource strategies. Support is also required from government to develop skilled human resource.

The increase in fuel cost is considered as the most important economic issue in future, which will get worst in 2035. The scenario will badly affect the whole tourism supply chain, unless the industry is prepared with alternate options to recover. In this case assistance from the federal governments is required in terms of tax deduction for aviation industry to sustain the tourist flow across the globe.

Terrorism is the most challenging current political issue, which will potentially impact the future as well. The coordination of all stakeholders in the tourism industry including international agencies is vital for overcoming this factor. The crisis management strategies and preparedness of the government and DMOs as well as international collaboration in terms of marketing and public relations are essential. Health and safety issues are the second most scenarios to be considered by tourism stakeholders. Close correlation with ministry of health along with national and international intelligence agencies is needed to prepare immediate response plan and short-long term recovery strategy.

Time will outdate all the existing technology and give way to new trends in accordance with the emerging ones. In this scenario, the matter will be of surviving in the industry and require all stakeholders to observe the global trends in technology and adapt themselves. Cost is a big constraint in this matter and the governments need to offer funding and assistance to adopt new technologies in the industry.

It is apparent that the future of culinary tourism will not be an extension of the current trends, but will show a real change in the scenarios in next 25 years (Yeoman and Beattie, 2004). The extent to which the culinary tourism will shift due to changing future scenarios is unknown to a great extend. The predictions are not necessarily accurate and the long term sustainability of the industry depends up on the degree of resilience of the tourism system and responses of the stakeholders to the different future scenarios that are likely to occur.

The Future of Tourism in the UAE

Introduction

The United Arabs Emirates has recorded significant developments in the recent past in a number of sectors. Travel and Tourism industry, one of the sectors, has since its initiation indicated high significance in the economic developments. Such economic developments have yielded a direct contribution of about 20 percent and consequent 6 percent in the entire GDP and total employment opportunities. Dubai, for instance, has a record of being among the top ten tourism destination cities in the world, fundamentally propelled by the numerous business ventures and leisure activities that are well established.

Among other sectors of the economy in UAE, tourism is thriving so well because of the excellent establishments, infrastructure, and landmark projects like the Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, and Meydaan racecourse, which are in addition to the marketing initiatives pumped in by the Emirates and DTCM. Existence and continuous success of the travel segment within the Tourism industry has been dependent of the high disposable income generation and an additionally high proportion of available expertise for the outbound travel from the city (Arab News, 2004). During Expo 2020 the tourism can visit many places in country for examples in addition to Dubai tourist places they can also enjoy to visit other places such as Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, Saadyat Island and many places also in Al Ain city.

Abu Dhabi Tourism supports and promotes the heritage and culture of Abu Dhabi emirate and leverages them in the development of a world-class, sustainable destination of distinction which enriches the lives of visitors and residents alike.

Contemporary Issue in Business

The contemporary issues in business come from the ever-changing business and tourist sectors environment. All organizations operating in the UAE, whatever their size and whether in the public or private tourist sector, operate in a frequently changing business environment. Within this change, organizations have the opportunity to improve and grow up.

The World Expo 2020 which is going be hold in UAE – Dubai will boost infrastructure in the city and help the growth of the emirate in the long-term. The infrastructure that will be created for Expo 2020 will be of great benefit to Dubai to continue growing by itself into the future (http://gulfnews.com/business/tourism/dubai-to-use-expo-2020). Dubai is enhancing its tourism and trade marketing efforts as it prepares to welcome 20 million visitors annually by 2020, which is underlined in Dubai’s tourism vision for 2020.

Research Problem

The United Arab Emirates is home to a rich culture heritage that has since time immemorial, been significantly influenced by the resourcefulness of its inhabitants. Through sufficient and effective exploitation of the natural resources, they transformed the harsh environment into a luxurious destination for leisure, business, and other activities. Strong inspirations of the Islam culture, that touches virtually every aspect of its occupants’ daily lives, have advanced the rich Dubai’s lifestyle specially the Expo 2020. In addition, there are the high levels of hospitality and courtesy that exists among the Arabs, hence leading to the most highly prized of virtues within the Arab World (De Lima, 2009).

Significance of Study

Life in UAE faces ever-increasing cases of advancing challenges, projected to hinder the wellbeing of its inhabitants, smooth operations of businesses, the ecosystems, justices, and the livelihoods within the surrounding. Among the issue that need re-address are the inadequacies of freshwater for daily human and plants use, poor housing facilities, inadequate number of sufficient health centers that can meet the demands of those living in UAE, and high rates of pollution caused to the environment. Much of these blames are on the tourism industry, held accountable for poor management of international tourists, businesspersons, investors, inhabitants, and local tourists. This study therefore highlights steps put forth by the tourism industry, in conjunction with the local governments to address the prevailing consequences, though with a vision of further promoting the industry for more revenue generation.

Research Objectives

The main objectives of this project are:

To know if the infrastructure that will be created for Expo 2020 would be of great benefit to Dubai to continue growing by itself into the future
To find if Expo 2020 can contribute to tourism in the UAE
What is the benefits of tourism companies in UAE will get from Expo 2020
To understand through personal observation, the behaviour of residents towards tourism development during Expo 2020
To develop recommendations for tourism plans and policies based on the findings of the study.

Research Design

This research was carried out using a mixed research approach, in which there were options of choosing more than one research method with which to collect relevant data. As part of the advantages that have been associated with this mixed research approach, it presents numerous characteristics in data collection. One of its main advantages is that by it helps in ensuring internal validity of data because it offers a researcher an opportunity to apply the most appropriate research techniques that best address issues of concern in research, without the limitation of a research to only one research method. For this study, there was an application of combined qualitative and quantitative research techniques.

In this project the research design will be depends upon data collection from different tourism organization.

Research instruments

Research of this nature, where there is the use of both primary and secondary data collection procedures, requires that a researcher make good use of instruments, which acts as a tool for collecting data from respondents. In the correct study, the use of research instrument having recognized that there were both qualitative and quantitative data to be collected and promptly analysed to reach the best conclusion.

Interview

An effective accomplishment of field data collection was realized with the use of interview questionnaire surveys between April 2014 and May 2014 in UAE. The questionnaire with a cover letter describing the purpose of the study was presented to the stakeholders in the case sector, a few tourists, and the local residents in UAE, with a request that the chief executive officers, directors, coordinators, managers or individuals. For non-response samples, an enquiry was made and the major reasons cited were lack of interest, confidentiality, the in-charge person was out of the office, or corporate policy was never to disclose information. Despite the comparatively low respondent rates, which are typical for interview surveys, the number of responses was sufficient enough for the purpose of this exploratory study was conducted.

Secondary Sources

Under the secondary sources, quantitative study was significant. A researcher is required to engage in authenticated document researches, which are more of a secondary data collection approach, to seek answers to some parts of the research questions and research objectives. A document research was delivered in a way that involves the researcher in gaining direct access to very vital and important UAE and tourism documents that have to do with information on the predetermined outcome of the tourism industries.

Geographical Area

The United Arab Emirates geography includes the location of the country, the demography and the climate. Located in the Middle East and situated between Oman and Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates outlines the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf (http://www.mapsofworld.com/UAE/geography/).

The geographical alignment of United Arab Emirates determines the climatic condition of the country. Located in 24 00 degree North and 54 00 degree East, the country enjoys a sub-tropical climate with extremely hot and humid conditions.

United Arab Emirates Mountains make the geography of the country all the more beautiful. Mountains in United Arab Emirates make the highest point in the country. Roads, which help in transport and communication, are built along the mountainsides.

Sample Size

For the purpose of the study we have decided to select 50 sample sizes from the population of study.

Sampling Method

Sampling is the process by which inference is made to the whole by examining a part. The purpose of sampling is to provide various types of statistical information of a qualitative or quantitative nature about the whole by examining a few selected units.

The samplingmethodis the scientific procedure of selecting those sampling units which would provide the required estimates with associated margins of uncertainty, arising from examining only a part and not the whole. In this research we decided to select a sample by using simple random sampling (SRS) method.

Data Collection Method

To examine the future tourism in the UAE the researcher made up to use the interview method in addressing issued faced by the tourism industry in UAE was accomplished through a number of instruments. For the purpose of the study we have decided to collect the data through questionnaire and interview methods.

Data Analysis

The collected data would be analyzed by using statistical software called SPSS

Timeline

Tasks

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

1

2

3

4

References

Arab News. (2004). UAE minister tells officials to face globalization challenges.
Arab News. (2009). Saudi outfits ready to face Asian professional league rivals.
De Lima, J. A. (2009). “Managing change: Winning minds and hearts, balanced scorecard reports”. Harvard Business Review, 11(1).
Goold, M., & Campbell, A. (2002). Designing effective organizations: How to create structured networks. SanFrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Heilpern, J. D., & Nadler, D. A. (1992). Implementing Total Quality Management: A process of cultural change.
Kanter, R. M. (2003). Leadership for changes: Enduring skills for change masters. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review.
Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2001). Real reasons people will not change. Harvard Business Review, 79(10).
Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press

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The economic uncertainty, ever changing market dynamics, changing competitive landscape, emergence of new channels of distribution, and increasing costs has created new challenges for travel companies, especially in the methods used to distribute travel products and still achieve profitable growth. Travel companies now realise the importance of adopting different strategies for effectively using multiple channels of distribution in order to maximise sales and revenues. To achieve the stated goal, companies need to manage the technology disruptions well by using them to create competitive advantages. Today, all the major players of Information Technology service providers are tapping the potential of Global Distribution System to attract their customers. At the same time, the demand of Cloud services has seen a rise hoping for increase in level of efficiency.

This paper discusses how GDSs and Cloud Computing, a disruptive force, has the potential to change the face of travel distribution systems and be leveraged for competitive advantage.

Survey was conducted among individuals and travel agencies agents to analyse the aims and objectives of the research study. The outcome of the survey states that how the existing system can be developed to give better results.

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction:
“There always comes a moment in time when a door opens and lets the future in.”
-Graham Greene (The Age of Unreason)
Introduction:

This chapter introduces the concept of the future of Global Distribution System; cloud computing as an alternative distribution channel to reader and provides the necessary background to the research. The chapter gives the idea about the focus and boundaries of the research by exact aims and objectives. The further section gives a detailed overview of the structure of this document.

Introduction to IT and Tourism:

O’Connor P. cited (Sheldon, 1993) “Tourism is acknowledged to be very intensive-in fact; information has been described as a ‘lifeblood’ of the industry, as without it the sector could not function.” Tourist needs information before going on a tour. They need plan prior to and choose options according to their availability of time during the or before tour (O’Connor P. 1999). “Information technology (IT) – the amalgamation of computing, communications and electronics- has almost universal feature of the tourism industry (Bennett, 1993).”

Internet is a part of every individual’s life since late 1990’s. The information provided on the internet has helped all in each and every field. It also helps commercial airline companies to have a better option in airline services avoiding travel agents. Being part of the service market, vacation has certainly been associated with upgrades in new technological innovation and recharged by business and structural upgrades. There has been a design to the balance of the visitor product by a way of customization, despite the pressure from visitor suppliers who still recommend provides of large vacation.

“Internet has a potential platform of tourism business but it also provides a tool for communication among the tourism supplier, agents and the consumers in a cost-effective ways.”(scribd)

“The advent of internet- based e-commerce has offered opportunities for small and medium size travel enterprises to expand their customer base and rationalise their business.”(OECD 2000)

IT is reshaping the structure of both society and economy in general and also consumers increased demand for information. This is more important for tourism enterprises to give services effectively. At the end tourism industry need to understand and utilize IT strategically in order to serve their target markets, improve their efficiency, maximise profitability, enhance services and maintain long-term profitability (Bahalis, 1998)

Introduction to Global Distribution System:

“A global distribution system, or GDS, is a computer distribution system for displaying available services, effecting bookings, and ticketing by tourism procedures (suppliers) – airline or otherwise – on an international scale.”(future)

Before the development of computerised systems, booking an airline ticket was a complex process. Airlines periodically published their schedules and fares in booklets, which were the distributed to travel agents (O’Connor P. 1999). The process of searching through multiple flight schedules was simplified by the publication of merged directories such as the official Airline Guide (OAG), which unite times, dates and prices from multiple airlines into one publication (Bennett, 1996).

The evolution of telecommunications technologies over the past 10 years has left virtually no sector of the world economy untouched, including the commercial air industry. This is the major change and fast improvement in the consumer-oriented applications, such as the World Wide Web for accessing the basic information and booking airline tickets. Today people use various websites which provides a good interface to the Central Reservation system and Global Distribution System such as Orbitz, Travelocity, etc., along with the direct reservations site operated by individual airlines, allow travellers to access information on schedules, prizes and travel times. (airport)

GDS were originally designed to distribute airline seats; their database structure was designed specifically to store information about that product (Emmer et al. 1993).

A Global Distribution System (GDS) has evolved from CRS.

“It is a computer reservation system that contains information about multiple airlines and is used by travel agents and other travel professionals. It also contains information about other types of travel products as hotel booking, car rental etc”

Introduction to Cloud Computing:

Today, the various software (set up) are simply available for users as a service, which can be accessed over web browser where user can be charged as per usage of these specific services. Cloud computing is used to utter a huge data centres of hardware and software. (Armburst 2009 Vi)

Instead of storing the huge amount of data on PCs or huge servers, now days it is rather stored on a centralised system called Cloud. This concept is called Cloud Computing. Cloud computing service provider’s aims to offer Pay-as-you go services to enterprises with low cost, scalability, increased efficiency and high returns of investment.

Many developed and developing countries are adopting this cloud computing technology, as it offer scalability, fast development and reliability and pay-as-you go financial model.( Dikaiakos et al. 2009 vi) The growing popularity and acceptance of cloud technology is eminent in the study conducted by Brocade. Using these special capabilities and characteristics tourism businesses are moving onto cloud. As per previous study conducted on cloud computing in the UK explains that 94% of existing users are delight by using cloud services from various providers (Marks 2001), at the same time US government also has increased its investment on cloud computing by 40% from annual income in respect of strong support for the development of Cloud Computing. (Hanning 2007)

Focus of study:

The research is to understand the competitive challenges and threats facing GDSs resulting from the emergence of cloud computing as an alternative distribution channel, as well as possible strategies they may adopt to remain competitive. A shift in distribution as a result of technology could bring into question the underlying economics of the GDSs. To what extent the emergence of the CC as an alternative distribution channel will mark the end for GDSs, or whether GDSs will be forced to evolve and offer additional services is the subject of this dissertation.

The research includes primary as well as secondary data, in which primary data will be gathered by conducting an online survey from individuals and conducting interviews with employee working as travel agents of different tourism enterprises in India. The secondary data is gathered from the available data, previous research on topic, journals, books and periodicals which will be further analysed in chapter five (discussions of results).

Aims:

Make a clear understanding about current airline information and ticket reservation system in airline sector.

To access the current impact of Global Distribution System (GDS) on the travel industry.

To investigate the development of cloud computing in the tourism industry.

To evaluate critically scope/impact GDS and cloud computing in relative to travel booking system /procedures.

Recommendations for the future of the tourism industry in terms of past and current technologies in context to air line.

Objectives:

To identify term GDS and critically analyse different factors of distribution channels in support to implementation of GDS.

To explore the nature of the current scenario of GDS and Cloud Computing in perspective of airline reservation system.

To recommend feasible business and information strategies to achieve best performance in service and real- time processing information related to air ticket sales and distribution.

To consider not only specific service provider but all stake holders in the air travel sector both in terms of cost and performance efficiency.

Reason for selecting a topic:

Tourism industry undergoing major change and facing new difficulties, the two dimensions of the change can be identified:

New forms of tourism, characterized by the tendency to depart from mass tourism.

The diffusion of information and communication technologies, with a pervasive effect on the creation, production and consumption of the tourist product. (SD )

GDSs, only administer reservations, they do not manage the stock of suppliers; this task falls on the supplier’s own reservation system. The cloud computing has added a commonly accessed, and broad channel of distribution, allowing airlines and other travel reservation systems. (Future)

In addition to the selection of the topic being source of competitive advantage, reservation systems become a profitable business.

GDS and cloud computing some cause of future intermediaries in the travel distribution process.

Dissertation Structure

The dissertation is comprised of the following 6 chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Research topic is introduced in this chapter along with my personal inspiration behind carrying out this research. It highlights the issues and background for selection for this topic. Aims and objectives are assured so that the research meets its desired goals.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The second chapter composed literature review about. This chapter come across literature about distribution channel, GDS system and cloud computing. Then further discussion about how they generate values to business. This chapter also tries to investigate the literatures about research reason and outline theories that would be help to analyse the result of research.

Chapter 3: Research methodology

This chapter focuses on the available research methodologies to carry out the research. It will discuss that how the objectives can meet its desired goals with the help of right approach and method. It will explain further that how the data will be gathered and analyzed. Ethical consideration and validity of the research will be stated at the end of this chapter. (This chapter studies the Research methodologies available to conduct Information systems research and finally make a choice of research design to conduct the study.)

Chapter 4: Results

This chapter will outline the findings of this research, performed via survey approach targeting individuals.

This chapter focuses on the basic finding of each section of the questionnaire with the help of figures and tables, denoting the responses achieved.

Chapter 5: Data Analysis/ Discussion of the Results

This chapter will discuss findings and result of the survey questionnaire. The analysis will be made on the result achieved, which will be combining with the outcome of literature review. This chapter also will end with a valid conclusion and well defined summary.

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Future Study:

This chapter will discuss findings and result of the survey questionnaire. The discussion will be made on the results achieved, which will be synthesized with the outcome of literature review. This chapter will finish with a valid conclusion giving a brief summary about the discussion made and outcomes achieved.

Summary:

This chapter gives a brief overview of the study being carried out and outlines the research objectives and the structure of the dissertation.

The hospitality industry is one of the most important industries globally since it generates billions of dollars across the world.This industry is large and it indirectly and directly employs staff in different professions including hotel industry, tourism industry, air travel industry and other industries. The hospitality industry mainly relies on disposable income of clients and presence of leisure time since many services in this industry are enjoyed during leisure time (Beaver, 2002). This industry is an important revenue earner in different economies especially those which rely on tourism as a major source of government revenue. However, the hospitality industry is a very sensitive industry which thrives on economic and political stability of various destinations and economies. Political and economic instability has a direct adverse effect on this industry and may lead to drastic revenue losses by such economies (Clifford, 2008).

It is therefore important to analyze this industry in relation to available opportunities and present threats in order to predict future trends. This paper will assess the future trends in the hospitality industry. The available opportunities and present threats will be used to ascertain these trends. The paper will focus on both a global approach and an approach from the United States business environment. Recommendations on what should be done to improve the future of the hospitality industry will also be given. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end.

Future trends
Short term decline of industry due to economic crunch

The hospitality industry is one of the most affected industries as far as the global economic crunch is involved. This industry relies on disposable incomes of families and due to the effects of the crunch; people are no longer able to afford holidays and leisure activities. Almost all countries experienced adverse effects of the crunch and the tourism industry was one of the most affected. For instance, tourism in Europe declined by over 5% over the past three years, due to effects of the financial crisis (Theobald, 2008). In the US, the industry declined by 3% in terms tourist arrivals. Worldwide, the tourism industry declined by an average of 4% over a similar period, which translated to 880 million tourists (John, 2010). Although many economies are struggling to reduce the effects of the crisis, the hospitality industry will be among the last to enjoy the benefits of massive financial injections to economies by governments. This is because services in the hospitality industry are considered luxuries by many households and luxuries are the final needs satisfied by rational beings after all other needs are exhausted.

Long term growth due to massive investments

In the long run, the hospitality industry is expected to grow largely due to the massive investments which are being undertaken around the world. One of the destinations where there is heavy investment in the industry is the Middle East and specifically Dubai. Billions of dollars have been invested in Dubai with the purpose of developing infrastructure needed to make it a world class destination. Investment in hotels, properties, golf courses, transport, buildings, cultural museums and other tourist attractions have been realized in recent years. This includes the worldaa‚¬a„?s tallest building and a seven star hotel (Conrad & Alison, 2009). Other governments which rely on tourism as an industry for revenue collection have also made massive investments. This shows that in the long run, consumers will have a larger variety of leisure activities to choose from, which will encourage the growth of the hospitality industry.

Implementation of total quality management

There has been a gradual improvement of service provision in the hospitality industry due to the implementation of total quality management. This strategy involves improvement of the quality of services provided to increase efficiency, reduce costs and meet the needs of all stakeholders in the industry. The Malcolm Baldridge Awards introduced in recent years has helped improve quality of service in this industry since it targets total quality management of firms in the industry (Christine, 2006). The Ritz Carlton hotel was one of the first to win the award, and to set new standards in provision of service in the hotel industry. Many firms in the hospitality industry have recognized the importance of improving service provision due to intense competition and market awareness of products offered. The improvement of service provision is likely to encourage the growth of the industry in the long run.

Potential threats and opportunities

There are various opportunities which can be exploited in the hospitality industry. There are also various threats to this industry and these should be mitigated to ensure the industry is successful in the long run. These opportunities and threats will be discussed below;

Opportunities

The major opportunity in the hospitality industry is investment in infrastructure needed to fuel the growth of the industry and target new and emerging markets. It has been discussed that many governments and private firm are investing in the industry especially in the Middle East. It is important to encourage consumers to demand such services if the effects of the global economic crunch are to be mitigated. This can be done through providing markets with unique services which were previously not offered and reduction of product prices to encourage local tourism in different countries (Jacques, 2000). Local tourism has a very large potential in many destinations, although it is underexploited in most cases. Packages which encourage local tourism should be developed and services which meet local needs made available in order to enable long term growth of the industry.

Threats
Global economic crisis

One of the greatest threats to the future of the hospitality industry is the global economic crunch. The global economic crisis has led to reduction of the growth and development levels of most economies. This crisis has also led to massive unemployment and reduction of the disposable income of many families (Lennon & Malcolm, 2008). It was previously discussed that the hospitality industry thrives on disposable income of clients and presence of leisure time. The global economic crunch has reduced the disposable income of families. It has also led to reduction in leisure time since many employees strive to work for longer hours in order to earn higher salaries which can mitigate effects of the crisis. The reduction of incomes and leisure time has led to a decrease in purchase of services in the hospitality industry by consumers. Fewer people are able to travel for leisure or have meals at restaurants and hotels since they consider these services to be luxuries. Unless adequate steps are taken to reduce the effects of the global crunch, many firms in the hospitality industry may face losses in the long run.

Implications of the trends on hospitality industry

The implication of these trends in the hospitality industry is a short term decline and a long term growth of the industry. Although the industry has declined recently due to the effects of the financial crunch, there is potential for growth in the future due to massive investments and consumer awareness of products offered. However, the private sector and government have a responsibility of cooperating of this growth is to be achieved. Massive investments, innovation of unique services and consumer awareness of products offered is key to achieving this growth. It is important to make the following recommendations if long term growth of the hospitality industry is to be achieved in future.

Recommendations
Government interventions

There are various government interventions which should be implemented if the hospitality industry is to grow and develop in future. Government interventions should mostly involve measures which stimulate economic growth and development as well as the creation of an environment which encourages the growth of the hospitality industry (Cooper, 2005). This includes a financial package which is geared towards encouraging more public investment and economic stability of firms especially during the current global economic crisis. It should also involve development of infrastructure which will ensure that the hospitality industry is able to meet the diverse needs of clients.

Product differentiation

Product differentiation is important in meeting unique market needs across different environments. It involves developing unique products to meet diverse needs in different environments. Firms in the hospitality industry should undertake research on market needs and develop products which meet unique needs across different environments (Wilkerson, 2003). This will ensure that customersaa‚¬a„? needs are satisfied and they remain loyal to providers of such services. In turn, the hospitality industry will enjoy long term profitability.

The hospitality industry consists of broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, restaurants, event planning, theme parks, transportation, cruise line, and additional fields within the tourism industry. The hospitality industry is a several billion dollar industry that mostly depends on the availability of leisure time and disposable income. A hospitality unit such as a restaurant, hotel, or even an amusement park consists of multiple groups such as facility maintenance, direct operations (servers, housekeepers, porters, kitchen workers, bartenders, etc.), management, marketing, and human resources.

The hospitality industry covers a wide range of organizations offering food service and accommodation. The hospitality industry is divided into sectors according to the skill-sets required for the work involved. Sectors include accommodation, food and beverage, meeting and events, gaming, entertainment and recreation, tourism services, and visitor information.

Hospitality is the relationship between guest and host, or the act or practice of being hospitable. Specifically, this includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, resorts, membership clubs, conventions, attractions, special events, and other services for travelers and tourists.

A manager’s primary challenge is to solve problems creatively. While drawing from a variety of academic disciplines, and to help managers respond to the challenge of creative problem solving, principles of management have long been categorized into the four major functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (the P-O-L-C framework). The four functions, summarized in the P-O-L-C figure, are actually highly integrated when carried out in the day-to-day realities of running an organization. Therefore, you should not get caught up in trying to analyze and understand a complete, clear rationale for categorizing skills and practices that compose the whole of the P-O-L-C framework.

It is important to note that this framework is not without criticism. Specifically, these criticisms stem from the observation that the P-O-L-C functions might be ideal but that they do not accurately depict the day-to-day actions of actual managers. The typical day in the life of a manager at any level can be fragmented and hectic; with the constant threat of having priorities dictated by the law of the trivial many and important few. However, the general conclusion seems to be that the P-O-L-C functions of management still provide a very useful way of classifying the activities managers engage in as they attempt to achieve organizational goals.

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Hospitality organization

Front desk manager (General Manager ? Front desk manager ? Front desk staff)

Function:

? Create and produce reports as required.

? Coordinate schedules, payroll and expenses to meet or fall below budget.

? Participates in property initiatives.

? Ensure that guest data and management reporting is processed efficiently and accurately while maintaining proper security standards.

? Ensure that all accounting transaction and cash handling procedures are in compliance.

? Relive front office departments for breaks/lunches.

? Conduct regular monthly meetings with members of the Front Office and Communication Team to address current initiatives, projects and long term goals.

? Pro actively identify potential guest issues.

? Assist housekeeping in day-to-day activities.

? Recruit, hire, train and retain associates for all supervised departments.

? Develop monthly training items to foster development and cross training with other departments.

? Perform associate evaluations, provide coaching and development.

? Monitor guest satisfaction processes, and respond to guest concerns, and inquiries.

Housekeeping manager (General Manager ? housekeeping manager? housekeeping staff)

Function:

? Manage the day-to-day activities of the housekeeping department.

? Plan, schedule, and organize work to ensure proper coverage.

? Communicate and enforce policies and procedures.

? Ensure all staff are properly trained and have the tools and equipment needed to effectively carry out their respective job duties.

? Develop and implement procedures for managing quality of housekeeping and laundry services.

? Control expenses within all areas of housekeeping.

? Participate in the preparation of the annual departmental operating budget and financial plans which support the overall objectives of the hotel.

? Conduct pre-shift meeting and review all information pertinent to the day’s activities.

? Establish par levels for supplies and equipment.

? Replenish shortages and other business supplies for daily business.

? Promote teamwork and quality service through daily communication and coordination with other departments.

? Assist with deep cleaning projects and assist housekeeping staff during unanticipated rush periods.

Food and Beverage manager (General Manager ? FNB manager ? FNB staff)

Function:

? Check that sufficient table linen, food and sundry items have been requisitioned for service periods and that buffer stocks are maintained.

? Allocate jobs and ‘stations’, monitoring the completion of tasks – before, during and following service periods.

? Ensure the restaurant is cleaned and fully prepared ready for service – checking table layouts, sideboards, buffets, special displays etc.

? Check buffet food levels are maintained during service, according to customer demand.

? Greet, seat, take orders, assist guests with food and wine selection. Check customer satisfaction during service.

? Liaise with the kitchen, for menu content, special customer requests, queries and complaints/compliments.

? Promote the menu and ‘special offers’.

? Ensure all post-service tasks are completed (e.g. unused foods/dishes/drinks are returned to kitchen, bar or cellar).

? Assist with planning and organizing of special functions/seasonal events/projects.

? Complete required administrative functions (e.g. customer bills, reports, time sheets) and assist with annual budget preparation.

? Ensure effective security of keys and property – company, guest and personal.

? Deal with lost property.

? Challenge and report any person acting suspiciously.

? Display and encourage a high level of personal hygiene, customer care courtesy and social skill.

? Assist guests and promote the hotel’s other facilities and services.

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Function of the hospitality manager

Then term management refers to the process of ensuring employees work together efficiently and effectively to achieve the goals set by the organization in which they work.

Managing physical and human resources to achieve an organization’s customer service goals requires managers to be able to effectively plan, organize, lead and control.

Four function of the hospitality manager: (POIC)

– Planning

– Organizing

– Leading

– Controlling

Planning

Planning is the function of management that involves setting objectives and determining a course of action for achieving those objectives. Planning requires that managers be aware of environmental conditions facing their organization and forecast future conditions. It also requires that managers be good decision makers.

Planning is a process consisting of several steps. The process begins with environmental scanning which simply means that planners must be aware of the critical contingencies facing their organization in terms of economic conditions, their competitors, and their customers. Planners must then attempt to forecast future conditions. These forecasts form the basis for planning.

Planners must establish objectives, which are statements of what needs to be achieved and when. Planners must then identify alternative courses of action for achieving objectives. After evaluating the various alternatives, planners must make decisions about the best courses of action for achieving objectives. They must then formulate necessary steps and ensure effective implementation of plans. Finally, planners must constantly evaluate the success of their plans and take corrective action when necessary.

For example:

– To guide their employees

– To achieve their goals

– Short-term plan

Organizing

Organizing is the function of management that involves developing an organizational structure and allocating human resources to ensure the accomplishment of objectives. The structure of the organization is the framework within which effort is coordinated. The structure is usually represented by an organization chart, which provides a graphic representation of the chain of command within an organization. Decisions made about the structure of an organization are generally referred to as organizational design decisions.

Organizing also involves the design of individual jobs within the organization. Decisions must be made about the duties and responsibilities of individual jobs, as well as the manner in which the duties should be carried out. Decisions made about the nature of jobs within the organization are generally called ‘job design’ decisions.

Organizing at the level of the organization involves deciding how best to departmentalize, or cluster, jobs into departments to coordinate effort effectively. There are many different ways to departmentalize, including organizing by function, product, geography, or customer. Many larger organizations use multiple methods of departmentalization.

Organizing at the level of a particular job involves how best to design individual jobs to most effectively use human resources. Traditionally, job design was based on principles of division of labor and specialization, which assumed that the more narrow the job content, the more proficient the individual performing the job could become. However, experience has shown that it is possible for jobs to become too narrow and specialized. For example, how would you like to screw lids on jars one day after another, as you might have done many decades ago if you worked in company that made and sold jellies and jams? When this happens, negative outcomes result, including decreased job satisfaction and organizational commitment, increased absenteeism, and turnover.

For example:

– Need to be allocated to individuals on the service team.

– This is known as task analysis.

– Ensure that every task is performed effectively and efficiently.

– Develop an organization chart and allocating duties.

– Make sure that enough trained staff on duty.

– Inadequate staffing is a frequent cause of customer dissatisfaction.

Leading

Leading involves the social and informal sources of influence that you use to inspire action taken by others. If managers are effective leaders, their subordinates will be enthusiastic about exerting effort to attain organizational objectives.

The behavioral sciences have made many contributions to understanding this function of management. Personality research and studies of job attitudes provide important information as to how managers can most effectively lead subordinates. For example, this research tells us that to become effective at leading, managers must first understand their subordinates’ personalities, values, attitudes, and emotions.

Studies of motivation and motivation theory provide important information about the ways in which workers can be energized to put forth productive effort. Studies of communication provide direction as to how managers can effectively and persuasively communicate. Studies of leadership and leadership style provide information regarding questions, such as, ‘What makes a manager a good leader?’ and ‘In what situations are certain leadership styles most appropriate and effective?’

For example:

– Giving instructions or telling and showing people what to do.

Controlling

Controlling involves ensuring that performance does not deviate from standards. Controlling consists of three steps, which include establishing performance standards, comparing actual performance against standards, and taking corrective action when necessary. Performance standards are often stated in monetary terms such as revenue, costs, or profits but may also be stated in other terms, such as units produced, number of defective products, or levels of quality or customer service.

The measurement of performance can be done in several ways, depending on the performance standards, including financial statements, sales reports, production results, customer satisfaction, and formal performance appraisals. Managers at all levels engage in the managerial function of controlling to some degree.

The managerial function of controlling should not be confused with control in the behavioral or manipulative sense. This function does not imply that managers should attempt to control or to manipulate the personalities, values, attitudes, or emotions of their subordinates. Instead, this function of management concerns the manager’s role in taking necessary actions to ensure that the work-related activities of subordinates are consistent with and contributing toward the accomplishment of organizational and departmental objectives.

Effective controlling requires the existence of plans, since planning provides the necessary performance standards or objectives. Controlling also requires a clear understanding of where responsibility for deviations from standards lies. Two traditional control techniques are budget and performance audits. An audit involves an examination and verification of records and supporting documents. A budget audit provides information about where the organization is with respect to what was planned or budgeted for, whereas a performance audit might try to determine whether the figures reported are a reflection of actual performance. Although controlling is often thought of in terms of financial criteria, managers must also control production and operations processes, procedures for delivery of services, compliance with company policies, and many other activities within the organization.

The management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are widely considered to be the best means of describing the manager’s job, as well as the best way to classify accumulated knowledge about the study of management. Although there have been tremendous changes in the environment faced by managers and the tools used by managers to perform their roles, managers still perform these essential functions.

For example:

– Check that everything for they are responsible is on track.

– Carefully balance these functions, the controlling process.

– Eventually reveal that things are going wrong.

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Conclusion

In my opinion, any function of manager must included four main functions, planning, organizing, leading, controlling. Even different type of manager has their own function; their main function is same with others, such as: front desk manager control his/her staff working process and eventually reveal that things are going wrong, this is same with housekeeping manager control his/her housekeeper working process if they do anything wrong, housekeeping manager must correct it.

Q2. List down any dining restaurant and explain what were the operations strategy and the new challenges for future growth.

Introduction

The term Fine Dining brings to mind all kinds of images, from crisp white table cloths to waiters in tuxedos. Fine dining, just as the name suggests, offers patrons the finest in food, service and atmosphere. It is also the highest priced restaurant you can operate. While you may bring in mucho bucks with a fine dining restaurant you will also pay out more money than if you were running a more casual restaurant, such as a diner or caf’. There are three main areas of focus with a fine dining restaurant: the menu, service and atmosphere.

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Fine Dining Restaurant Business Plan

Gabri’s Restaurant & Lounge

Operations strategy:

Competitive Edge:

Our competitive edge is the menu, the chef, the environment, the management, the service and our friendly place! We will have an international menu and our food will be made with the freshest ingredients and produce available. The chef has an excellent taste for what fine dining is and requires. Our environment is elegant and comfortable and our decor is warm and relaxing. Great service is very important to us. The management and servers will handle every detail to make customer’s special evening even more special! All this and our great atmosphere will make customers want to come back again and again!

Marketing Strategy

The total population in New Jersey is 8,414,350 people.

615,301 people live in Monmouth County, 50% between 25-55 years old. That is the age group that dines out two to three times a week and spends an average $795 a month on food and drinks.

There are 224,447 households in Monmouth County and an average 2.7 persons per household. The median family income in Monmouth County averages, $64,271/year. There are 636 registered businesses in Long Branch with 7,885 employees.

We mention that there are over 200,000 Scandinavians living in New Jersey and most of them live within 30 miles of Long Branch. We will be serving some Swedish cuisine as there is no Scandinavian restaurant in New Jersey.

Our primary customer base is from Long Branch, West Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, Rumson, Little Silver, Middletown, Red Bank, Shrewsbury, Deal, Eatontown, Freehold, Oceanport, Allenhurst, & Asbury Park.

Sales Strategy

Our sales plan is to establish and maintain position with our local customers. The strategy is to build more customers in order to increase revenue. A sale in our business is client service. It is repeat business. We will focus on making all our customers happy with our food, service and entertainment options.

Our strategy in the restaurant is to have an experienced staff that knows the food, wine and liquor. We will train every new employee so they will fit in with Gabri’s concept, which is “Wonderful food, reasonably-priced wine and knowledgeable service in an outstanding atmosphere.”

Exit Strategy

No one attempt a business anticipating failure, however sometimes ventures do not fulfill their promise.

We at Gabri’s are committed to our concept and its viability. In the event that our venture cannot achieve profitability and retire the encumbrances; we will first attempt to sell the operation and use the proceeds to clear all outstanding balances. If we are unable to sell the operation for sufficient proceeds we will forced to default whereby the SBA loan will be in senior standing. Any further outstanding balances will be borne by the investors on a weighted percentage basis of the total amounts due in bankruptcy proceedings.

New challenge for future growth

Important Assumptions

The financial plan depends on important assumptions, most of which are shown in the following table as annual figures. The key underlying assumptions are:

? We assume a slow-growth economy, without major recession.

? We assume that there are no unforeseen changes in the expectancy in the popularity of our restaurant.

? We assume access to investments and financing are sufficient to maintain and fulfill our financial plan as shown in the tables.

General Assumptions

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Plan Month 1 2 3

Current Interest Rate 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Long-term Interest Rate 7.00% 7.00% 7.00%

Tax Rate 34.58% 35.00% 34.58%

Other 0 0 0

Conclusion

Their strategy is simple; they intend to succeed by giving people a combination of excellent and interesting food in an environment that appeals to a wide and varied group of successful people. They will focus on maintaining quality and establishing a strong identity in their community. Their main focus in marketing will be to increase customer awareness in the surrounding communities. Their will direct all of their tactics and programs toward the goal of explaining who they are and what they do. They will keep their standards high and execute the concept so that word-of-mouth will be their main marketing force.

Their will create an appealing and entertaining environment with unbeatable quality at an exceptional price. An exciting and friendly restaurant, they will be the talk of the town. Therefore, the execution of their concept is the most critical element of their plan. All menu items are moderately priced for the area. While they are not striving to be the lowest-priced restaurant, they are aiming to be the value leader.

The Front Office function of a Hotel is to act as the public face of the hotel, primarily by greeting hotel patrons and checking in guests. It also provides assistance to guests during their stay, completes their accommodation, food and beverage, accounts and receives payment from guests. FRONT OFFICE – is the “nerve center” in the entire hotel operations. All the transaction passes through within this department. The Front Office Department comprise of the Reception, Guest Service Offices, Bell Services, Reservation, Operators, Executive Club, Health and Recreation Center and Business Center.

The purpose of the Front Office Department is to provide guests assistance with luggage, transportation, information concerning the hotel and the city, and any other service arrangements needed during their stay. Employees of the Front Office Department often provide the first and last impression of the hotel to our guests. It is therefore vitally important that employees display a prompt and courteous attitude to all guests and demonstrate the excellence in service.

The Front Office Manager who comes under the direct supervision of the director of rooms and supervises the Front Office Department. Important of Front Office Department to the Hotel Hospitality, warm welcome. Often provide first and last impression. Often have longest contact with guest. Continuity long term service, recognition of repeat guests, remember names, guest histories. Acquaint guest with hotel. Sell hotel food and beverage outlets.

1.0 Question 1

1) Front Office or Front desk (reception) is the first impression for lodging establishment. Explain in detail about the task and responsibility of the following:

Front Office Manager, Assistant Front Office manager

Front Desk Representative Night Auditor

Cashier Reservationist

Telephone Operator

Support your answer by giving a Front Office organization chart adapted from a small Hotel, mid size Hotel and large Hotel.

1.2 THE TASK AND RESPONSIBILITY:

1.2.1 FRONT OFFICE MANAGER

JOB SUMMARY:

To manage front of the house operations of the hotel ensuring that the highest standard of service and the best possible guest experience is maintained. Be responsible of establishing and maintaining professional relationship with hotel guests and patrons.

DUTIES RESPONSIBILLTIES:

Manage operation of the Front desk including Cashier. Besides that, ensure that policies and procedures are complied with the highest standard of service and guest satisfaction. Review room availability status, room blockage and special requests on a daily basis through working closely with Reservations Manager and liase on all groups and FIT movements. Monitor open and close on day status to maximize room revenue and demonstrate the concept of yield management. Ensure that budget and cost effectiveness at the Front Desk is achieved. Other than that, work with Housekeeping and Engineering on daily operations regards to guestroom status. Handle guest complaints and review compliments. Review Front Desk Logbook daily to monitor all activities. Review all VIP room blocking. Supervise and train all Front Desk staff to ensure that the best guest experience is provided. Familiarize with Front Office policies and procedures and special rate & programs. Participate morning briefing, or organize afternoon hand-over briefing daily and disseminate information to Reception team as soon as possible. Greet guests as time permits at lobby and assists Receptionist during busy period. Chair monthly Reception meeting to review performance & discuss existing problems for improvement. Approve duty roster prepared by Chief Receptionist and revise if necessary. Always conduct your job with concern for the environment and its resources. Where practical and possible, REDUCE use of items, RE-USE whenever possible, and RECYCLE those items that can be. Perform all duties, other than the above as requested by the hotel policies and/or his/her direct supervisor.

1.2.2 ASSISTANT FRONT OFFICE MANAGER

JOB SUMMARY:

Job purpose of Assistant Front Office Manager is to provide guidance and leadership as the Asst. Front Office Manager, ensuring the delivery of consistent quality customer service.

DUTIES RESPONSIBILLTIES:

Assist in the day-to-day operation of the hotel front office.

Supervise the operational activities of the hotel front desk within hotel guidelines to provide the highest standard of courteous service while permitting acceptable profit levels. Assign, coordinate, and supervise work activities of Front Desk Agents. Ensure work is completed to include, shift closings, room deposits, refunds and rebates. They also must train and develop Front Desk Agents. Prepare staffing schedules, complete payroll, and monitor labor costs to budget figures. Prepare and conduct Front Desk meetings and resolve issues. Besides that, perform house counts and review daily arrivals, identify potential problems with rooms???? activity and take appropriate action. Provide information and direction to staff to achieve 100% occupancy. Review and resolve dispute accounts and Housekeeping discrepancies and prepare a shift briefing to communicate activities, short take training, and any problems and/or special information to the next shift. Perform check-in and out procedures. Lastly, take personal responsibility for correcting customer service problems.

1.2.3 FRONT DESK REPRESENTATIVE

JOB SUMMARY:

Job purpose of Front Desk Agent is to perform all desk related functions including but not limited to checking guests in and out, making room reservations, giving recommendations, and providing directions

DUTIES RESPONSIBILLTIES:

Provide quotes for room rates and up-sell the guest when possible and assist in coordinating the Front Desk and the Housekeeping Department. Verify that the correct charges and credits are posted to the corresponding guest folio and collect payment for charges on the guest folio. Besides that, ensure all cash and cash equivalents are accounted for and balanced at the beginning and end of each work shift. Responds to guest inquiries. Provide administrative, reception and program support to management and staff .Manage phone activity including providing general knowledge to callers. Manage walk-in traffic. Sign in guests as needed. Smile and greet customers in a welcoming manner. Lastly, they also must register and assign rooms to guest and resolve guest complaints within scope of authority; otherwise refer the matter to the management.

1.2.4 NIGHT AUDITOR

JOB SUMMARY:

Responsible for reconciling hotel paperwork, posting to guest accounts, closing the day, greeting all guests in a pleasant, courteous and enthusiastic manner while registering guest information and settling guest accounts for the Hotel.

DUTIES RESPONSIBILLTIES:

Audit hotel paperwork to ensure the day has balanced Posts room charges and taxes to guest accounts. Then they must, verify all account postings and balances. Verifies all hotel paperwork is correct and balanced. Runs preliminary reports. Processes no shows and close of day. Stocks the front desk with daily supplies. Besides that, register arriving guests while implementing TRC service standards. Settle guest accounts with the ability to make good business decisions regarding discounts. Must be knowledgeable in making reservations. Greet guests and provide door service and bell/valet service when needed. Ability to operate multi-line phone. Provide guests with information on local attractions. Resolves or refers to Management all guest concerns, complaints or suggestions in a continuous effort to provide superior guest service. Remains current on room rates, room availability and emergency procedures. Remains current on groups and property events.

Direct workflow of Guest Service Attendants regarding guest luggage and amenity needs. Furthermore, ensures management is aware of guest special requests or needs. Ensures guests???? profiles are properly noted in the Micros Property Management System for action by the appropriate hotel department prior to check-in. Maintain appearance standards as outlined in departmental and TRC policies. Provide information and explain Players Club benefits, property amenities & marketing programs to our guests. Provide courteous service to our guests and be cordial to all Team Members. Lastly Communicate effectively both orally and in writing and. Maintain a good attendance record.

1.2.5 CASHIER

JOB SUMMARY:

Receive and disburse money in establishments other than financial institutions. Usually involves use of electronic scanners, cash registers, or related equipment. Often involved in processing credit or debit card transactions and validating checks.

DUTIES RESPONSIBILLTIES:

Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.. Compile and maintain non-monetary reports and records.. Monitor checkout stations to ensure that they have adequate cash available and that they are staffed appropriately. Post charges against guests???? or patients???? accounts. Offer customers carry-out service at the completion of transactions. Answer customers???? questions, and provide information on procedures or policies. Cash checks for customers. Weigh items sold by weight in order to determine prices bag, box, wrap, or gift-wrap merchandise, and prepare packages for shipment.

Sort, count, and wrap currency and coins. Process merchandise returns and exchanges. Pay company bills by cash, vouchers, or checks and request information or assistance using paging systems. Stock shelves, and mark prices on shelves and items. Calculate total payments received during a time period, and reconcile this with total sales. Compute and record totals of transactions. Sell tickets and other items to customers. Keep periodic balance sheets of amounts and numbers of transactions. Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers lastly, count money in cash drawers at the beginning of shifts to ensure that amounts are correct and that there is adequate change.

1.2.6 RESERVATIONIST

JOB SUMMARY:

A reservation agent serves an important role in providing information to customers by use of telephone and other communication media. Reservation agents can be employed by various agencies involved in reserving travel places for travelers. The information that agencies provide relates to fare details, tours, schedules, meals, and other important issues that affect clients. Reservation agents can book places for the client through online transactions. As such, they must be well equipped with computer skills. Reservation agents can contact clients through telephone conversation and back them up with a variety of reservation software on computers. The agents work on schedules that vary greatly with shifts that ensure that the agency????s offices are open 24 hours a day.

DUTIES RESPONSIBILLTIES:

Giving answers to enquiries by clients and advising them accordingly regarding bookings and reservations. Assisting customers who encounter problems in obtaining booking or operating self service equipment and walking around with clients and ensuring that they secure whatever services they are in need of. Ensuring that clients have access to various services without a hitch. Getting information about areas of interest in order to target more clients in particular seasons. Lastly making arrangements for clients???? travel programs. Helping clients to fill in reservation forms.

1.2.7 TELEPHONE OPERATOR

JOB SUMMARY:

Telephone operator job is to answer telephone calls, greeting callers with a positive, clear voice, answering general questions about the hotel and transferring callers to other departments.

DUTIES RESPONSIBILLTIES:

This individual will create relationships with the guests that lead to Renaissance and property loyalty. This individual serves as the main point of contact for all guest requests and needs.

The individual is responsible for answering calls, recording the guest requests and then pursuing the issue to a resolution and then, .the individual must exhibit courteous hospitality at all times and fully own each guest issue. When in communication with the guest, the individual must be proactive in every area, including offering additional services. Lastly, most importantly, the individual must coordinate the response to the guest issue and then follow-up with the guest to ensure satisfaction with the result.

1.3 CONCLUSION

As conclusion, this assignment to know different organizational structures in hotels, update and develop procedures necessary to practice in all aspects of fire, health and safety in the hotel workplace, providing effective leadership in the role of receptionist, inform and instruct trainee receptionist in a positive attitude to the responsibilities and duties of front office, an overview of job opportunities and progression, interpret job descriptions and process applications.

Small hotel

Medium hotel

Large hotel

2.0 QUESTION 2

2) Front office staffs must have certain skills to attract guests during the first impression. Write about Front Office staff skill in guest relations.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The Front Office Department comprise of the Reception, Guest Service Offices, Bell Services, Reservation, Operators, Executive Club, Health and Recreation Center and Business Center. The purpose of the Front Office Department is to provide guests assistance with luggage, transportation, information concerning the hotel and the city, and any other service arrangements needed during their stay. Employees of the Front Office Department often provide the first and last impression of the hotel to our guests. It is therefore vitally important that employees display a prompt and courteous attitude to all guests and demonstrate the excellence in service.

2.2 FRONT OFFICE STAFF SKILL:

Firstly, the front office staff should have a good personality, well dressed and neat. Individuals who well dress suggest power and status; therefore, the first impression is only part of creating a positive relationship between the hotel and the customers. According to Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons (1998 & 1994) presented that the front office staff must present an impeccable outward appearance to customers.

Secondly, the staff should be competent. They should know basic product knowledge, type of rooms and hotel facilities in the hotel. As Binham; Lampola; & Murray (1982: 17) suggested that front office staff should know many types of rooms and explain each type of rooms which are single rooms, double rooms, twin rooms, suites, connecting rooms and adjoining rooms.

Thirdly, the guests may have different accents in English and some words are difficult for front office staff to understand due to the different countries, particularly, for the reservations or the operators who deal with customers by phone. White and Beckley (1988) mentioned that front office staff should use alphabetic system which is similar to the system that used by travel agents and airlines. Tanpipat (1994) suggested an alphabet to be used, for example, M for Mike, N for Nancy, P for Peter. Moreover, White and Beckley (1988: 51) pointed out that when telephone operators answer the telephone, they should identify themselves, announce the name of the hotel, with the addition of ????Good morning???? or ????Good evening???? with the appropriate intonation. The additional words, ????May I help you????? will give the impression of willingness to serve, which is all important in hotel.

Conclusion

In conclusion, front office staff should make their guests happy and satisfied. As keys to the guest satisfaction driver, the front office staffs are critical to the continued success of the hotel. They offer constant guest interaction, with the most diverse operating exposure in the hotel. The important thing, the front office staff will also reflect the image of the hotel to the customers and they have a keen sense to anticipate the guests, needs and exceed their expectations.

The London Olympics has been a tremendous event for Jamaica the country on the international forum, and locally raised the old hackneyed question, How can Jamaica exploit and cash-in on the gains made in sports to a more useful and lasting level in the economy. A total of 12 medals were won in sprints by our athletes. Jamaica has the world’s fastest woman (Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce) and the world’s fastest man (Usain Bolt).

One particular question being asked is “what are the prospects for the Jamaican economy and investments in particular”. A business is any individual or group of individuals who has a goal of making a profit by selling products or services. The survival of a business depends on its profitability. Business environment is the aspects of the surrounding of the business enterprise which have control on the functioning of the business.

OJECTIVES OF STUDY

The objectives of the study are as follows:

To examine the Jamaican business environment and the political, economical, social, legal, technological and competitive environments impacts on business organizations.

To establish a plan to illustrate how the gains in sports can contribute to gains in business economy.

To develop a marketing and communication strategies to demonstrate how the plan will be communicated to various entities like Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Broad Association (JHUTA), Private Sector of Jamaica (PSOJ), Manufactures Association of Jamaica (MAJ) and others.

To identify means and ways of financing and budget the plan this is to be implemented.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

There are 4 major research questions of this study. These are as follows:

Analyze the Jamaican business environment and the economic, political, social, legal, technological and competitive impacts of these on the business organizations.

Develop a plan to show how the gains in sports will be translated to gains in business economy.

Develop marketing and communication strategies to show how the plan will be communicated to the stakeholders.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The study aims to demonstrate how Jamaica can exploit and benefit from the gains made in sports by our athletes to a more useful and lasting level in the economy.

BENEFITS OF THE STUDY

This study will provide information on the Jamaica business environment and factors which influences the business organization. The results of this study hopefully show how the gains in sports made by our athletes can benefit the country economically.

TASK 1 : ANALYSE THE JAMAICAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND THE ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, SOCIAL, LEAGAL, TECHNOLOGICAL AND COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENTS ON BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS
ANALYSIS OF THE JAMAICAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Since the London Olympics, there have been a lot of talks of how Jamaica can actually benefit from the gains made in sports both locally and internationally. According to (Keith Davis), business environment is a collection of all conditions, events and influences that surround and affects the business. Businesses are affected by internal and external environmental factors, which collectively constitute to business environment.

Environmental analysis helps to identify opportunities and to plan to take appropriate actions to avail these opportunities. Thus, environmental analysis becomes an important step towards corporate planning and business policy decisions.

A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the Jamaican economy is relevant when examining the business environment.

Strengths

Weakness

Opportunities

Threats

Culture, music , sports

Poverty

Global recovery — increased markets

Rising oil and commodity prices

Tourism products

High cost of energy

Import substitution opportunities

Upcoming election

Agricultural opportunity

Poorly structured economic foundation

Tax reform and simplification

Rising oil and commodity prices

Bauxite

Political system

Public sector rationalization

Focus on more investor-friendly emerging economies

Many of the initiatives taken by our politicians and bureaucrats over the years have been good. The problem, I believe, is that many of these initiatives have been taken within the context of the same inefficient structure that created the problem in the first place. So in effect what we end up doing is fixing the symptoms rather than the underlying problem.

FACTORS THAT IMPACT THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

According to Arthur M. Weiner (T.R. Jain, 2009-2010) business environment is the ultimate or set of conditions – economic, social, political or institutional in which business operation are conducted. All these factors are beyond the control of the business.

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

The activity of a business is shaped by the economic environment they operate in. The economic environment consistently changes with the change in government policies and changes in political situations. The Jamaican economic environment is complex in nature and is dynamic. This take into consideration unemployment rate, distribution of wealth and income, inflation rate, trade cycle, etc. The government of Jamaica has significant degree of influence over the flow of income and hence over the level and pattern of output by private and public sectors, with all this said; it creates difficulty for business to set-up in Jamaica successfully.

POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

The business world is affected by politics in a variety of ways; business growth is indispensable when there is a stable and dynamic political environment. Political influences on the Jamaican environment are political stability, political climate, budget deficit, etc.

SOCAIL ENVIRONMENT

The social environment refers to influence exercised by certain social and cultural factors which are beyond the control of business unit. Such factors include the attitude of people to work, case system, religion, education, marriage, family system and habits.

LEGAL ENVIRONMENT

The legal environment of business is a key influence on the business organization just like political and economic environments with which it is intertwined. Business, like individuals, exists and carry-on their activities within a framework of law which diverse from custom and practice from judicial decisions of the courts and from statutes put in place by the government of Jamaica. The purpose of legal environments is not only for the provision of enabling mechanism through which it can pursue its objectives, particularly the achievement of profits through entrepreneurial activity.

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

According to A.V. Knight and D.J. skills, information technology has been defined as “the convergence of computing” (Ivan L. Waterman, 2005). Information is thus a vital resource in the process of development and in the business environment as a whole. Technology creates both new business opportunity and threats for existing business activity. Technology is not cheap at any level, in some business computers are used to do much of the work. Technology is the most dramatic force shaping the destiny of people all over the world.

COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

The competitor’s actions are major constraint or limit on business strategies innovations by competitors maybe difficult to copy or better. The competitive environment significantly affects business but it is beyond the control of the business.

TASK 2: DEVELOP A PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE HOW THE GAINS MADE IN SPORTS WILL BE TRANSLATE TO GAINS IN THE BUJSINESS ECONOMY

With all the success of our athletes, it is only fair to utilize the brand ‘Jamaica’ to bring optimum benefits to the country’s business economy. We all know that Jamaica as a whole lot to offer and so we anticipate the economic growth and development o the country. If we can attract and convince investors to come do business in Jamaica, we can reduce unemployment rate, which will improve our standard of living and also get more visitors to the country to increase our foreign exchange earnings. The government will have more means of collecting taxes which will indeed benefit the economy. Selling brand ‘Jamaica’ will have significant benefits to the business economy of Jamaica. The plan will be called ‘Develop Jamaica’; this plan will focus on making Jamaica the place of choice to raise family, do business, work and live. We have to demonstrate to the rest of the world that we have a world class economy.

MISSION STATEMENT

To develop an environment which will facilitate economic growth and development and attract new and existing investors to the country to do business, hence bring significant benefits to the business economy and the country on a whole.

OBJECTIVES (SMART)

To attract new and repeated investors to the Jamaica economy.

To make brand ‘Jamaica’ known to the world as the ideal place to do business.

To increase the growth and development of the Jamaica business economy.

Make Jamaica a healthy, natural environment for its citizens and potential and existing investors

To create new business opportunity to improve the standard of living of the Jamaican people.

STRATEGIES

Raising the finance to build and improve the country’s infrastructure just for attracting new and repeated investors.

Launch a marketing campaign to sell brand ‘Jamaica’

Concentrating on sports development and events to make investors aware of what Jamaica has to offer.

Differentiate the resources and business opportunities Jamaica has to offer from those of its rivals, so has to attract new and repeated visitors to the country and also attracts existing and new investors.

Establishing a Jamaica house in more countries such as Rio and other countries which will give exposure of the music, culture and business opportunities of Jamaica and also what the country has to offer.

TACTICS

For the next six (6) months there will be a series of advertising events to promote brand ‘Jamaica’ countries such as the UK, USA, Europe, Canada and other countries.

Host sporting events such as ‘Jamaica Nationals’ where we can showcase our athletes and the offerings of the country.

Planning a tour of Jamaica house located in the UK, where all the beauty of Jamaica will be highlighted.

Making it more accessible for investors and / or stakeholders to do business in Jamaica by reviewing some of the present government policies and legislation which governs business operation in Jamaica and making a few necessary changes to accommodate the establishment of new and existing business.

MILESTONES
Milestones and Schedule

The milestones and schedule outlined below combine Develop Jamaica strategy and execution plan. Successful implementation will realize the economy growth and development of Jamaica projections discussed above.

Objectives

The Jamaica economy is positioning itself for steady and sustainable growth, forming long-term strategic partnerships with venture capital organizations and countries. ‘Develop Jamaica’ strives to achieve 100% new and repeated investors/ stakeholders business and satisfaction.

These milestones demarcate the growth of ‘Develop Jamaica’ plan and serves as a progress report of how well the strategies, mission and business model of the plan is being executed.

Milestones

Planned Start Date

Planned End Date

Budget

Manager

Department

Incorporation

11/18/2012

05/01/2015

$850,000

Thomas I

Marketing

Website

12/19/2012

12/25/2012

$80,000

Grant D

Web

Communication Infrastructure

12/30/2012

05/01/2015

$900,000

Thomas I

Marketing

Corporate Identity

12/20/2012

05/01/2012

$600,000

Thomas I

Marketing

6 Presentations

11/22/2012

01/07/2012

$120,000

Shaw S

GM

Advertising

11/25/2012

03/26/2012

$400,000

Jonas K

Sales

Seminar Implementation

11/30/2012

12/01/2012

$90,000

Shaw S

GM

Hire Employee

12/01/2012

12/20/2012

$800,000

Wallace I

Department

Venture Capital Partnerships

01/03/2013

–
–

Sharpe C

Department

Totals

$3840000

DUTIES AND RESIPONSIBILITIES

Managers will give weekly report on any progress or changes which occurs.

Each entity involve in implementing the plan will communicated the objectives of the plan to which they in return will communicate to their employees.

Persons responsible for marketing must come up with new and creative ideas to sell brand ‘Jamaica’ efficiently and effectively.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION
PROGRESS REPORT

Each entity involve will be required to report an update of the performance and progress of his/ her daily, weekly or fortnightly task depending on certain circumstances.

FEEDBACK FROM STAKEHOLDERS

Information received from each entity relating to the operations of the plan can be used to improve and/ or modify the performance of the plan.

CHANGE LOG

Document changes that occur during the plan, such as cost, risk and time.

There will also be a performance review to assess the plan status and progress. The performance review will be used along with the variance analysis, trend analysis and earn- analysis.

TASK 3: MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR COMMUNICATING THE PLAN TO THE STAKEHOLDERS
MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Increase new and our market share by 4% by June 2013 in attracting new and repeat stakeholder to come and broad and do business in Jamaica.

Develop new/ innovative offerings to attract 25% of implementation of plan.

Gain a competitive advantage over rival countries, by making Jamaica the ideal place to do or set-up business.

Make brand ‘Jamaica’ recognized through the world.

MARKETING STRATEGIES

Creation of advertisement to promote the brand Jamaica worldwide.

Hosting and participating in seminars to inform potential and repeat investors.

Sponsoring and hosting sporting events to showcase our achievements.

Allocate funds to develop the country’s infrastructure.

COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES

The plan will be sold to the consortium of business and economy including MAJ, JHTA, PSOJ, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and to other entities. A 2 hour PowerPoint presentation along with video-conference presentation will be use to communicate the plan. There will also be a 1 hour face-to-face meeting to inform the Ministry of Industry and Commerce about the aspects of the plan. After the plan is communicated there must be an understanding and agreement of all entities to implement the plan.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

The strategies which will be used to communicate the “Develop Jamaica” plan will be a series of methods, such as:

The language style used

Various colors and pattern to make the PowerPoint presentation attractive

Eye -catching graphic design styles to hold their attentions

Symbols and icons to communicate the objective of the plan. Such as the symbols of the develop Jamaica plan

Photographs of Jamaica and place here are which can be develop to attract stakeholders

TASK 4:BUDGETING AND FINANCING THE “DEVELOP JAMAICA”PLAN

The plan will financing by a grant given the ministry of industry and commerce by the government of Jamaica along with help from some of the entities involved in executing the plan. We will welcome any other investment to help implement the plan. The ministry is in dialog with the Chinese government on negotiations a possible lone option. Also the plan will be fund by all stakeholders involve in the implementation of the plan.

TWO YEAR INCOME STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDED 2014

The income statement (profit and loss statement) shows the revenue, expenses, and net income (or net loss) for a period of time.

Year 1

Year 2

Revenues

$197,60000

$207,48000

Cost of Sales

121,36590

127,43420

Gross Profit

$762,3410

$800,4580

Accounting

80,000

93,000

Advertising & Promotion

150,000

123,600

Bank Charges

41,496

43,571

Compensation & Benefits

246,643

254,042

Consulting Fees

24,000

0

Insurance

100,000

105,000

Lease – Facilities

336,000

336,000

Legal & Professional

56,000

67,000

Licenses & Fees

50,000

51,000

Maintenance

60,000

61,200

Miscellaneous

18,000

18,3600

Office supplies

27,000

27,5400

Security

72,000

74,200

Telephone

180,000

183,600

Utilities

420,000

441,000

Website

100,800

100,800

Total Operating Exp.

566,1471

561,1567

EBIDTA

$99,182

$132,135

Depreciation

40,9160

40,9160

Operating Profit

$5153129

$507,0272

Interest Expense

43,19900

40,27400

Earnings Before Taxes

833,229

104,2872

Income Taxes

500,870

400,431

Net Income

$332,359

$642,441

CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATIONS

Business and society are closely related to each other. Business influences the various aspects of society and the society in turn affects to business. Getting other well-known organizations to invest in Jamaica will benefit the country significantly. Why don’t we think of going an agreement with an organization country to establish a stadium here, where we can host larger sporting events? There and then the country will get significant benefits which will be see an in all the industries and also trickle down in the Jamaican economy.

REFERRENCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY

: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/business-theory/strategy/business-strategy.html#ixzz2BTDxNEBm. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://businesscasestudies.co.uk.

Chung, D. (n.d.). : http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/a-swot-analysis-of-jamaica-s-economy_8321834#ixzz2Azx5ZqOr. Retrieved from www.jamaicaobserver.com.

Ivan L. Waterman, D. R. (2005). Principles of Business for caribean examination. Macmillan publishers.

T.R. Jain, M. T. (2009-2010). Business Envirinment. Delhi: Rahul Jain.