Category: Free Essays

Introduction:

The movie under analysis is referred to as the tourist, and it was produced in the year 2010. This is a romantic comedy thriller that depicts the life of a tourist, who is wrongly mistaken to be a notorious criminal, being sought after by the Scotland Yard detectives. However, after the movie progresses, the police are able to find out that he was the real criminal they were looking after. This film stars some of the best movie talents, and this includes Johnny Depp, and Angelina Jolie[1]. This movie was written and directed by Florian Von Donnersmarck. This film was produced and financed by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, and it was distributed by the Columbia Pictures Production. The initial budget for this film stood at 100, million dollars, however, it went on to cost approximately 278 million dollars, before its release. This paper is an analysis of the movie Tourism. It explains the various thematic connotations of the movie, and this is in regard to tourism. The movie Tourism is one of the best movies that depict the challenges the factors that can promote tourism within a state or region.

Background Information:

In this movie, Angelina Jolie acts as Elise Clifton Ward, and she is being followed and monitored by the French police. This police force is working together with the Scotland Yard department, under the supervision and direction of Inspector John Acheson. Acheson has the responsibility of hunting Alexander Pearce, a tax fraudster, who managed to evade over 744 million pounds, in taxes, and he has altered his face, through plastic surgery. Alexander Pearce is aware of the plot, to use Elise Clifton to nail him, and he thus instructs her to pick any man in a train, who resembles him, so that they may mislead the police[2]. This is in a secret letter written to Elise, who later burns it. In the train, Elise Clifton manages to select Frank Tupelo, who is an American tourist. Tupelo is a mathematics teacher, who teaches in a community college, situated in Wisconsin. Elise Clifton manages to start a romance with Tupelo, just in a bid to fool the police that he is Alexander Pearce.

Meanwhile, the police manage to get the ashes, and retrieve the information written in it. On the other hand, a police informer, who is not aware of the ruse, manages to inform Reginald Shaw on the location of Pearce, upon sitting Elisa, with a man in Venice. The man under consideration is John Acheson. Reginald Shaw is the person whom Pearce stole some 2.3 billion dollars. Elsie further invites Frank to accompany her in her suite, in the Hotel at Venice. Alexander Pearce manages to leave another instruction to Elise, so that she should attend a ball. Elsie runs away from Frank, who in turn is being chased by the men of Reginald Shaw. While trying to escape, Frank is arrested and detained by the police force of Italy, and this is for purposes of protecting him from the men of Shaw[3].

It is important to denote that Reginald Shaw was not aware of the burnt ruse, which Pearce commanded Elsie to look for a person whom she could use to fool the police. However, Frank is betrayed by a corrupt police officer, who is motivated by the money that Reginald Shaw is offering, and he betrays him. However, Elsie manages to rescue Frank, and she gives him money so that she may escape to America. The movie ends, when Elsie explains to Frank that she loves two men, Pearce and, and himself. However, it later appears that Alexander Pearce is the same person as Frank Tupelo.

Analysis:

Tourism and violence are the major themes depicted in this movie. Tourism is depicted when Frank Tupelo, who is actually Alexander Pearce manages to travel to Venice, as a tourist. One of the important infrastructures that can ensure the success of tourism in a particular region is the development of a good transportation system[4]. This includes a good road network, an efficient water transportation system, and good security. There is also a need of having good hotels that serves the delicacies of the locals, and also of the foreigners. While looking at the movie, it is important to denote that Venice has an efficient transportation system. For example, the city is connected with Paris, via an electronic train.

This is an efficient mode of transportation, mainly because tourists are able to easily access the city. Some of the leading tourist destinations have an efficient transportation system. Cities such as Rome, Istanbul, Berlin, London, have an efficient transportation system which plays a role in transporting tourists in various destinations and locations around the city. The movie depicts a water transportation which is the major tourism attraction in the city[5]. Tourists are always attracted to natural scenes, such as the waterways, which are greatly depicted in the movie. The waterways are seen when the corrupt Italian detective is able to take Frank Tupelo to Reginald Shaw, the person whom Alexander Pearce was able to swindle the money[6]. Furthermore, there is a boat chase, involving the men of Reginald Shaw, and Elisa Clifton, who came to rescue Frank Tupelo. This is an important advertisement for the city of Venice.

A country such as Egypt has managed to utilize its historic pyramids, and initiated measures aimed at attracting tourists at the site. This is through movies that depict the pyramids. Furthermore, the movie manages to depict the traditional boats used by the people of Venice, that is, the gondola. Elisa and Frank used the gondola to run away from the men of Reginald Shaw. Indigenous activities play a great role in attracting tourists to any given location or city. Through the use of the gondola, producers of this movie are able to depict a traditional method that the people of Venice are using for transportation. From this movie, we can also denote that Venice is a city that is car-free. This is because while Elisa and Frank were in Venice, they mostly relied on the waterways, as a form of transport[7]. This normally gives a new experience to tourists, wishing to visit and experience such natural sites. Furthermore, the hospitality industry of Venice is good. The movie depicts very classy hotels, such as Hotel Daniele, and Hotel Reginae. For tourism to prosper there is a need of a good and efficient hospitality industry that offers high quality services and products.

The services offered at these hotels were of high quality, and good. Take for example the hotel where Elias and Frank Tupelo stayed. The hotel had good sceneries, the rooms were superb, and the customer service was good. This is an indication that the hospitality industry in Venice is of high quality, and good[8]. Without the existence of a good hospitality industry, then chances are high that the city under consideration would not manage to attract a high number of tourists. This is the reason the hospitality industry has developed the Michelin guide, whose aim and objective is to rate restaurants for purposes of ensuring that they provide high value services. The Michelin guide, normally rates restaurants and hotels, by giving them stars, the highest being three and the lowest is one. A hotel industry that achieves a three star rating is the best, and it attracts numerous customers. Tourists normally like to visit such kind of hotels, for purposes of experiencing their services, and enjoying a stay in the region they visit.

The producers of this movie are able to depict such kind of hotels, and restaurants. Security is also another important factor, that plays a role in determining whether a city is worth visiting or not. In this movie, there is a lot of violence, specifically directed, to the tourist, Frank Tupelo, and Elisa Clifton. However, the city itself is safe and secure, and this is seen through the numerous patrols by the police force, depicted in the streets of Venice. For example, we are able to see police officers moving to the rescue of Frank Tupelo, when he was being chased by the men of Reginald Shaw, at the Hotel Daniele[9]. The presence of a police patrols, is a sure sign that the state or region under consideration is secure. Security of a region or state is important for tourism, and this is because tourists are concerned with their security. They will never visit a region that is insecure, or is a threat to their security. This is the reason; the Egyptian tourism industry faced a downward spiral during the Arab spring. The country was viewed as insecure, and not fit for visiting.

Conclusion:

In as much as this movie is filled with violence, it promotes the tourism industry of the city of Venice. The first issue that we note in this movie is the transportation system of the city of Venice, which is connected to Paris, via a train, and it has waterways, which are serviced by the Godolo. The Godolo are traditional boats used by the people of Venice, to help them in navigating the waterways depicted in the city. This is a major tourist attraction, and this is because it offers a good experience to visitors, visiting the region. In fact, this is better depicted when many people are seen at the ports of the city, seeking to board the Godolo. The city has a good hospitality industry that can help in facilitating the manner which tourists can spend their time in the region. Through this money, we can denote that Venice is a good city, to visit.

Bibliography:

Barwick, John, and Jennifer Barwick. Tourism. Abbotsford, Vic.: Echidna, 2001.

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Dhaliwal, Nirpal Singh. Tourism. London: Vintage Books, 2006.

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The Tourist. Performed by Johhny Depp. Italy, 2010. DVD.

Moore, Danielle P. United States Travel and Tourism Industry. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova

Science Publisher’s, 2011.

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Spilsbury, Richard. Tourism Industry. New York: Rosen Central, 2011.

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Walker, Robin, and Keith Harding. Tourism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Tourism destinations abound throughout the word. Every year millions of visitors travel to a wide range of destinations and there are various factors that determine the choice of destination. These range from family pressures to independent, unscheduled travel (Um & Crompton, 1992). This study discusses one aspect of destination choice – tourists’ image of a destination. More specifically, it identifies the effect sex tourism has on destination image.

The better the image of a destination, the greater the likelihood of tourists selecting that destination (Gartner, 1993; Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Birgit, 2001). Even though an image of a destination may not based on fact, for example it could be misrepresentation in the media, tourists regularly use image, rather than factual information to decide where to travel (Um & Crompton, 1992; Tapachai & Waryszak, 2000).

A tourists image of a destination plays an integral role in comprehending the tourist destination selection process (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). When travellers are aware of positive images of a destination, they will decide to purchase a trip. Many researchers have examined the essence of destination image as an element in travel purchase (LaPage & Cormier, 1977; Um & Crompton, 1992; Tapachai & Waryszak, 2000; Prideaux, Agrusa, Donlon & Curran, 2004). Due to a travel purchase, tourists regularly use the image rather than the factual information for deciding where to travel (LaPage & Cormier, 1977). Um & Crompton (1992) also stated that visitors often have limited knowledge about a destination and usually obtain information from media or their social groups, therefore image appears as a vital feature in destination selecting process. It can be mentioned that image is utilised more as a substitute for the factual information in this circumstance. In other words, a destination’s image is an essential factor in purchasing travel for individual. This is related to the individual travellers’ decision making and satisfaction/dissatisfaction (Chon, 1990, as cited in Pike 2002). Furthermore, it is connected to perceived images of visitors’ destination (Prideaux et al., 2004). In short, destination image has an influence on a visitor’s travel decision-making, cognition, behaviour, satisfaction levels and remembrance of the experience at a destination (Jenkins, 1999). The image of destination is considered to be having many different facets, including numerous factors connected to cognitive, affective and overall image (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Bigne, Sanchez & Sanchez, 2001). Many components, such as motivation, sociodemographic characteristics and gathered touristic experiences have the ability to effect on destination image (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Beerli & Martin, 2004b). Generally, motivation relates to a need that forces a person to act in a particular way to meet the preferred satisfaction (Beerli & Martin, 2004b). Gartner (1993) mentioned that motives have a direct impact on the affective element of the image. In addition, individuals with different motivations evaluate a destination in similar methods if they are aware that the destination offers them with advantages (Beerli & Martin, 2004b). Therefore, motivation is one of major factors and influences on producing the image of tourist destination.

There are various reasons for travelling and sex acts as one of the significant travel motivations as well as a major component of international travel to tourist destination (Dabphet, 2005). World Tourism Organisation (2001, p. 44) defines sex tourism as “trips organised from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination.” Even though sex tourism is able to increase the number of tourist arrivals on the destination, it negatively affects on the destination image. For example, Rittichainuwat, Qu and Mongkhonvanit (2008), who study the motivation of travellers on revisiting to Thailand, found that prostitution and sex would not be the main motivation for travellers to revisit the nation. It can be mentioned that sex tourism has a negative influence on revisiting the destination. The sex trade takes related obstacles such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (Nuttavuthisit, 2007), thus the sex image could make tourists feel dangerous to visit, and then tourists would decide not travelling to the destination. Furthermore, Nuttavuthisit (2007) cited that the sexual image is capable of endangering crucial businesses in the destination. Accordingly, the erotic tourism is a key problem for the image of destinations.

As stated earlier, literature on image of destination has grown, while there is a little consideration offered to the sort of situations occurring in tourist destination, where undesirable image, such as sex tourism, has took place and took over from the favourite image. As a result of this, the main purpose of the study is to investigate the impacts of the sex tourism on the destination image. Because of the reputation of Thailand as the sexual destination, Thailand is selected as a case study to achieve the aim of the paper.

In order to understand how sex tourism affects destination image, it is important to first understand destination image theory. Followed by comprehending sex tourism is also realised in order to understand its impacts on the image of destination. Subsequently, using Thailand as a case study is to explore how sex tourism effects on destination image of a tourist and what the impacts that the sex tourism has on tourist destination are. Finally, discussion and conclusion are presented at the end of the paper, with further findings.

Destination Image Theory

To understand the image of destination theory, the definition and the formation is considered.

Definition of destination image

In the tourism research, numerous researchers mention that tourist destination image theory is broadly used in the previous studies, but it is not exactly defined (Kim & Richardson, 2003; Beerli & Martin, 2004b; Pike & Ryan, 2004; Mossberg & Kleppe, 2005; Martin & Bosque, 2008). Pearce (1988, p. 162) noted that “image is one of those terms that will not go away, a term with vague and shifting meanings”. Distinctive definition of destination image has been provided by various authors. Hunt (1975) explained that images held by potential travellers are essential in the selecting process of destination, which they are capable of affecting the destination feasibility. Subsequently, images are defined as the sum of beliefs, impressions, perceptions and ideas that individual has of a destination (Crompton, 1979). Afterwards Echtner and Ritchie (1991, as cited in Mariin & Bosque, 2008) suggested that image is the perceptions of a person’s destination traits and the entire impression, which are created by the destination. Moreover, Tapachai and Waryszak (2000) proposed that images are a destination’s impressions or perceptions held by travellers, who concern with the expected advantage or consumption values. In brief, image is entirety of beliefs, impressions, ideas, feelings and expectations, which is gathered towards a destination over time (Kim & Richardson, 2003). According to these definitions of destination image, the similarity between them is that image is tied to tourists’ perception, belief, idea, impression, feeling and expectation on a destination.

In this study, destination image is defined as a visitor’s perception and impression of the destination. This is because an image is formed by the visitors’ interpretation using the perception and emotion, and as a result of two intimately interrelated factors, which are the cognitive evaluation referring to the person’s perceptions about the destination, and affective evaluation connecting to the feelings of individual towards the place. This leads to making a decision of tourists where to visit.

Destination image formation

To understand the image of destination, the formation of destination image is also recognised. The process of the image formation is defined as the improvement of a mental construct predicated on some impressions selected from the flood of impressions (Reynold, 1965). These chosen impressions are complicated, embroidered and ordered in mind of the individual (Reynold, 1965). Similarly, Court and Lupton (1997) noted that the tourist’s perception on a destination is based upon the information, which is processed from numerous sources over time. Subsequently, this information is managed into a mental conception that is significant to the individual, for example, destination image (Leisen, 2001).

There are several elements playing an integral role in the process of image formation. The first factor is the sources of information, which includes promotional text such as posters and travel brochures, the viewpoints of others such as family and friends, and the common media such as newspaper, magazines, television and books (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003). In addition, the image will be influenced and adjusted based on first information and experience by actual visitation on the destination (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003).

Gunn (1988) has put the effect and the role of these abundant information sources in destination image formation into context in the model of the travel experience’s seven stages, which comprises of (1) amassing mental destination images, hence producing an organic image; (2) changing the preliminary image after gathering more information, thus creating an induced image; (3) making a decision on travelling to the destination; (4) travelling to the destination; (5) participating in the destination; (6) returning home from the destination, and (7) adjusting the image predicated on the experience in the destination.

In accordance with the model, image is differentiated between organic and induced image, which is formed in stage 1 and 2 respectively. The organic image is mainly predicated on non-commercial or non-touristic sources of information (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003). Examples of non-commercial sources of information are geography and history books, magazine articles, news reports, television reports, education and viewpoints of relatives and friends (Leisen, 2001). Consequently, people, who have never travelled to a destination nor have looked for any commercial information, will probably have some sort of information accumulated in their remembrance (Leisen, 2001). An image might be incomplete at this stage, thus the tourist adds a small amount of information to the image in order to complete it (Leisen, 2001).

Another image suggested by Gunn (1988) is the induced image, which stems from tourism promotion controlled by organisations in tourism industry and depends on commercial sources of information, for instance, colourful travel brochures, information from travel agencies, travel television advertising and travel magazine articles. In short, the area of destination controls the organic image, whereas, marketing outcomes of the destination are in charge of the induced image. Additionally, the image occurring in the final stage has a tendency to be more complicated, realistic and differentiated in consequence of real visitation and experience at the destination (Chon, 1991).

In addition to the image formation of Gunn (1988), Gartner (1993) classified image into three forms. The first categorised image form is the cognitive image, which is based upon the physical attributes of the destination (Gartner, 1993). Secondly, the affective image is the emotional reaction to those physical traits (Gartner, 1993). The third form of image is the conation image, which is the transformation from the cognitive and affective images into whether the destination is valuable to visit (Gartner, 1993). This type of image is accepted from a theoretical viewpoint (Beerli & Martin, 2004a).

The following model was presented by Stern and Krakover (1993).The authors pointed out that the destination image formation is effected by the gleaned information from diverse sources and the personal characteristics of the person (Stern and Krakover, 1993). This is consistent with Gunn’s work but builds on it by acknowledging the importance of personal characteristics. In accordance with the model, the characteristics of information and the person have an influence on the interrelations between the environment’s perceived incentives (Stern and Krakover, 1993). This is the cause of a complex image (Stern and Krakover, 1993). Moreover, this process indicates the cognitive organisation filtering the perception (Beerli & Martin, 2004b).

Apart from information sources, personal characteristics or internal components of an individual are another factor influencing on the image formation, since, as Um and Crompton (1990) cited that even though individuals, who is not protected from external incentives, create beliefs about the destination characteristics, the character of beliefs will differ relying on the individuals’ internal elements. Consequently, the image, which is made by the destination and the person’s motivations, own needs, previous knowledge, preferences and other personal attributes, will shape the perceived image (Beerli & Martin, 2004a). According to this method, individuals establish their own mental illustration of the destination, which turns to build their own perceived pictures (Gartner, 1993).

This factor relates to consumer behaviour. From the viewpoint of consumer behaviour, personal elements connect to the individuals’ social attributes such as gender, age, social class, education and family lifecycle, and the psychological nature, for example, values, motivations, lifestyle, personality and preferences (Beerli & Martin, 2004a). Beerli and Martin (2004a) also emphasised that these personal features effect on cognitive organisation of perception of the individuals, hence the impression of the environment and the resulting illustration are also influenced. Many researchers mention that motivations impact on the image formation process and the destination choice (Um & Crompton, 1990; Gartner, 1993; Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). This is because motivations use a direct influence to effect on the affective element (Gartner, 1993). Moreover, Beerli and Martin (2004a) cited that affective images relate to the feelings stimulated by a destination, and individuals with distinct motives will estimate a place in similar methods if the perception satisfies the needs of individuals. Additionally, the affective feature is worth that people link to destinations based upon motivations (Gartner, 1993). Indeed, as the affective aspect has an impact on the overall image, motivations also directly or indirectly affect that overall picture (Beerli & Martin, 2004a). In addition to the motivation, past experience also affects the perceived image of the destination. In case of tourism, previous experience may be more significant than information gained from external sources because people have a tendency to add more weight on the past (Beerli & Martin, 2004a). Another reason is that when there is previous experience, the standards for decisions become stronger, while the need to obtain information is weakened (Beerli & Martin, 2004a).

As aforementioned, it is demonstrated in model from Baloglu and McCleary (1999). In accordance with this model, image is predominantly formed by two main components: stimulus elements and personal elements (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). Stimulus factors are relevant to the external incentives, physical object and past experience whereas personal factors refer to the socio and psychological characteristics of individual (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). The image formation has cognitive and affective evaluations (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). The cognitive evaluation relates to the knowledge or beliefs about attributes of a destination, while affective evaluation is connected to feelings (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). Image is dependent on a cognitive assessment of objects and the affective reaction, which are produced as a function of the cognitive reaction (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). In brief, an overall destination image is created as a result of cognitive and affective assessments of the destination. Many studies have found that various sources of information and past experience significantly affect on perceived image of a tourist destination (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Litvin & Ling, 2001; Hsu, Wolfe & Kang, 2004). Similarly, the effects of social characteristics, such as sex, age and education, on the image of destination have been discovered in tourism context (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Hui & Wan, 2003; Rittichainuwat, Qu & Mongkhonvanit, 2008).

Regrettably, empirical research on the effect of unwanted image such as sex tourism, which is one of the vital motives and is a crucial factor of international travel to tourist destination (Dabphet, 2005), on the image of destination has been limited. In relation to past theoretical study, perception is commonly combined with attention, activities of exposure and external incentives’ interpretation (Martin & Bosque, 2008). Moreover, these activities stem from the attributes of incentives and the internal component of individuals (Hawkins, Best & Coney, 2003 as cited in Martin & Bosque, 2008). In the tourism context, the destination image in the mind of tourist is normally conducted based on stimuli process, which may be importantly affected by motivation. On the basis of this assumption, the impact of sex tourism, which is an unwanted image, on the perceived illustration of a destination is investigated in this study.

Importance of destination image

Based on the process of destination image creation, destination image is important for comprehending a tourist decision-making process. Various researchers agree that destination image is a significant aspect of decision-making process of a visitor in travel purchase (LaPage & Cormier, 1977; Um & Crompton, 1992; Tapachai & Waryszak, 2000; Bigne, Sanchez & Sanchez, 2001; Birgit, 2001; Gallarza, Saura & Garcia, 2002; Beerli & Martin, 2004; Prideaux, Agrusa, Donlon & Curran, 2004; Castro, Armario & Ruiz, 2007; Chen & Tsai, 2007). Birgit (2001) cited that when travellers perceive a positive image of a destination, the possibility of their choosing that place is raised. Moreover, it also affects the levels of visitor satisfaction on a destination (Chon, 1992, as cited in Jenkins, 1999; Kandampully & Suharatanto, 2000). In addition, numerous research has concluded that destination image has a major influence on the revisitation of tourists on the destination in the future (Bigne, Sanchez & Sanchez, 2001; Chen & Tsai, 2007). Accordingly, it can be pointed out that destination image is a key factor in effecting on the satisfaction and future behaviour of tourists. Fakeye and Crompton (1991, as cited in Vaughan, 2007) suggested that positive images are likely to make destinations affluent whereas negative images of destinations may never thrive. Significantly, visitors used the image more than the factual information in deciding where to visit (Tapachai & Waryszak, 2000). Hence, understanding influences of the negative destination image is crucial for destinations in seeking the solution in order to reduce the undesirable image. This paper only focuses on sex tourism, which is the unwanted image of many destinations.

The role of sex in tourism industry

In order to understand how sex tourism affects the image of destination, the position of sex having in the tourism industry is recognised. In the tourism trade, sex is utilised both secretly and openly as a tool of promotion. In the work of Oppermann, McKinley and Chon (1998, p. 21), the authors discussed on the utilisation of sex to market destination, and investigated that tourism destination images are “the sum of ideas and beliefs about the destination”. Moreover, they further pointed out that in spite of the great number of studies that have explored the image of tourism destination, the importance of sex as a variable has been unobserved (Oppermann, McKinley and Chon, 1998). However, marketers frequently use represented sexual information and images to advertise destinations. As a consequence, the words “sun”, “sand”, “sea” and “sex” may be employed collectively to form a destination image as the four Ss – sun, sand, sea and sex – destination or independently to explain a specific attribute of a destination. In a more delicate approach, appealing and little clothed female bodies may also be utilised to express a risque image (Prideaux, 1995). A sex appeal is essential in this situation but still not clearly mentioned. The utilisation of images connoting to sex to draw visitors is not new. An example is that Pan Am put images of bare-breasted indigenous females, who beckon travellers to visit Hawaii, on promotional brochures in the 1920s, while the women wore a neck-to-knee swimming costume (Prideaux et al., 2004).

From a tourism perspective, sexual action in destinations has an ability of being viewed from a wide range of viewpoints, which include between tourists who travel together to a place, visitors who look for short-term partners once at the place, and commercial services of sex that are available in the place (Prideaux et al., 2004). This study considers the commercial sex as a consequence and the development of destination on a reputation or image of commercial sexual actions.

The commercial sex industry’s constitution and organisation are able to be explained as industrial and craft (Hubbard, 2003). Based on this sense, “industrial prostitution” illustrates that prostitution is organised along industry with investment in bars, brothels, similar institutions, and managed marketing and distribution (Hubbard, 2003). This prostitution’s nature is very accessible and apparent, and also many nations including the Philippines and Thailand encourage prostitution of this environment. On the other hand, “craft prostitution” means lower level of official organisation where the staff works on an unofficial base such as from the street or via advertising sited on the media (Hubbard, 2003). For instance, Hubbard (2003) gives information about the craft prostitution along highways in the Central America’s border zones. It can be mentioned that a destination where craft prostitution is its key form may have a sexual image, which is hidden behind other favourite images. To a great extent, the erotic experiences must be vigorously looked for by visitors either along street sides, through the media or in concealed statements and ideas.

In nations where prostitution is worked as a craft industry, self-employed prostitutes frequently look for potential customers in areas visited by travellers, such as streets and bars. In the pre-Castro era, Cuba was famous for organised industrial prostitution (Prideaux et al., 2004). Although the prostitution was illegal after the revolution in Cuba, many self-employed young females have entered the industry of craft prostitution and offered foreign males for “date” in recent years (Prideaux et al., 2004). In this sense, a “date” commonly implies as a commercial sexual encounter.

There is also a possibility of finding destinations where there is a confirmation of industrial prostitution, which is partly concealed and used as organised industry, even though it is operated as camouflaged industry with sex workers hidden as social ascots, massage therapists or even hairdressers. Sex industry of Vietnam is a typical example of this approach. There are numerous beer bars using as fronts for the work of a prostitute in Vietnamese erotic industry (Agrusa & Prideaux, 2002), whereas, massage therapy practices and bars in China sometimes works as fronts for appearances of prostitution in areas, which are frequently visited by domestic and international visitors (Prideaux et al., 2004).

In other countries, some nations give less emphasis to disguising the erotic industry, and the sex industry components have turned to be semi-legalised as common attractions of tourism, for example, Sydney, Las Vegas and Kings Cross, and Amsterdam (Prideaux et al., 2004). On the other hand, industrial prostitute works more obviously, while it is illegal in principle. Examples of this are the case of the Philippines and Thailand.

The popularity of movies and television programme including sexuality act as a factor of the action, and lead to the recognition of sexual attitudes, which are permissive when comparing to the more preserved attitude towards sex without marriage happening in Western culture and Islamic society (Prideaux et al., 2004). Hence sex or romance for tourists is part of the trip, which is discovered in a variety of impermanent relationships with hosts or other visitors and is fulfilled by utilising workers of commercial sex or is wanted but never completed. In accordance with these reasons, it is not surprising that industries of commercial sex are found in various destinations of tourist.

Definition and history of sex tourism

Sex tourism is not a new topic in the tourism industry. There is an increase in a number of academic literatures studying in this area (Cohen, 1971; Oppermann, 1999; Clift & Carter, 2000; Ryan & Hall, 2001). However, the study of sex tourism relating to image of destination is limited. Cohen (1971) was one of the initial researchers to bring this issue to the attention of tourism academic research and highlighted the essence of sex as an element, which should be recognised as a serious field of tourism study. Therefore, sex tourism and destination image are considered in this paper.

In order to understand and assess the impacts of sex tourism on the destination image, a clear perception of what sex tourism is required. Sex tourism is typically defined as tourism for commercial sex intentions (Oppermann, 1999). Subsequently, World Tourism Organisation (2001, p. 44) also gives a definition of sex tourism as “trips organised from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination.” Additionally, sex tourism is regularly related to organised tours, which offer the opportunity to use prostitution along with hotels and flights (Davidson, 2005). Nevertheless, sex tourism is much more enormous than the organised tours’ incident, and encompasses a wide range of activities and individuals, who travel with the overt purpose of purchasing sex, purchase sex by accident during holiday and take part in holiday romance with a native, but also offer them with meals, gifts and money (Davidson, 2005). In this approach, sex tourism incorporates a diversity of relations, which entails both “straightforward cash-for-sex transactions” and “a wider range of sexual economic exchanges than those conventionally implied by the term “prostitution”” (Davidson & Taylor, 2005, p. 83). According to these sex tourism definitions, the similarity of sex tourism as mentioned is that the commercial sex is the main purpose of organised trips at the destination. Consequently, sex tourism in this study is defined as the sexual exploitation of a prostitute by an individual or the individuals travelling away from their home who takes part in sexual activities with the prostitutes. It generally entails some form of payment such as money, food and clothing. This is because the image of commercial sex in the mind of people relates to prostitution. According to Oppermann (1998), sex tourism is not able to be separated from prostitution. Furthermore, Leung (2003) points out in his work of sex tourism in Cambodia that the sex industry offers services to gratify one of the fundamental psychological needs of individuals, and prostitution is one of the oldest occupations in the sex industry. It is apparent that sex tourism connects to the prostitution as consequence people perceive sex tourism as the prostitution.

In addition to the meaning of sex tourism, sex tourism’s history is also recognised in order to evaluate its influences on the destination image. In many countries in Asia, the preliminary enlargement of the industry of commercial sex to service international tourists happened during the Vietnam War when a flood of American troops on Rest and Recreation Leave stayed in Thailand. In the period between 1962 and 1976, approximately 700,000 American servicemen visited Thailand and spent in brothels, bars and hotels (Agrusa & Prideux, 2002). After the American military forces withdrew from Thailand in the early 1970s, the sex industry started looking for new customers both in Asia and Europe (Agrusa & Prideux, 2002). At that time, several entertainment businesses also believed tourism as a chance to expand the market. A boom time for the sex industry in Asia was in a twenty-year period from 1970 to 1990 (Dabphet, 2005). There was a continuing increase in a number of prostitutes in Asian nations. For example, the number of prostitutes in Vietnam rose from 300,000 to 500,000 by the end of the US phase of the Vietnam War in 1973 (Kolko, 1997). By 1993, about 100,000 young women worked as a prostitute in Ho Chi Minh City alone, and then the number of prostitutes in this city grew more than at the Vietnam War’s peak by 1996 (Kolko, 1997). Thus, new brothels, bars and hotels rapidly appeared in order to meet the request for prostitutes. An example of this is that the number of brothels, pubs and bars in Bangkok had risen to 977 in 1980 (Dabphet, 2005). Based on the history of sex tourism, many countries in Asia, such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand, become to be a paradise of sex for foreign visitors. In short, international tourists perceive the sexual image of these destinations.

Impact of sex tourism on destination

Understanding the impacts of sex tourism on destination is crucial for comprehending tourist perception, which is relative to decision-making process of tourists where to visit. When visitors gain information about destination, they usually create their own mental image of the destination, and then make a decision where to travel. Tourists will decide to travel when they are aware of positive image of the destination (Tapachai & Waryzak, 2000). The impacts of sex tourism are capable of creating both positive and negative images of destination to tourists

Sex tourism positively affect on destination. Sex tourism can raise the number of tourist arrivals on the destination. For example, after the Italian magazine Viaggiarre stated that Cuba was the “paradise of sex tourism” in 1995, there was a 68% increase in tourist arrivals from Italy in the following year (Trumbull, 2001). The number of tourist arrivals connects to the revenue of the destination. It implies that when there is an increase in the number of visitor arrivals, the country revenue grows. In 1995, the tourism revenue of Cuba raised at 18.6% (Trumbull, 2001). In brief, sex tourism has a beneficial impact on destination in attracting more tourists to destination and improving the economy of destination.

Another positive effect of sex tourism is that for some people sex tourism leads to long-term relationships. This beneficial influence is seen when sex tourism is considered as noncommercial sex. The study of Pruitt and Lafont (1995) about romance tourism in Jamaica demonstrated that domestic men and female travellers frequently had a benefit from their relationships. The female visitors from the Great Britain and Europe found companionships and love in romance tourism (Pruitt and Lafont, 1995). The researchers noted that female visitors could investigate new sex behaviour free from the restrictions of their own society (Pruitt and Lafont, 1995). Nonetheless, local men obtained not only status, companionships, love but also financial rewards. Furthermore, the researchers stated that a number of female tourists also return to the same destination in order to continue

Hospitality and tourism are very closely linked; whenever a tourist comes to Scotland there are lots of restaurant and hotels to welcome them. In fact hospitality is a vital part of a tourist pack on their tour of any place in the world. From the inflight food to the luxuries travel in the cruise liners, from accommodation to eating out or travelling in leisurely cars and whether from hiring a tour guide to exploring the national treasures of the host country everything accounts for hospitality.

Although Hospitality management also covers other areas like hotels and airlines but tourism brings a lot of ethical, social and ecological consequences on the habitats or resident of those areas and demands the participation of the local community to promote in it in a healthy way.

Reason for choosing Scotland in the research is purely on the basis that it’s a country blessed with astounding landscapes and large variety of animal species. It is also famous for its art, history and culture and with these attributes there comes tourism and the impacts that it brings on the environment. With more and more people travelling to Scotland for tourism we should be ensuring that this is done in a way in which we are not avoiding the concerns of their residents and habitats. We should not be forgetting that UK have to meet its target of cutting CO2 emissions by 34 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020 and controlling deforestation would play a large part in achieving this, which is somewhat a product of ecotourism.

It is vital to understand that improper planning or being unaware of the ecotourism concept can have serious repercussions and all the benefits extracted by the government of Scotland from inviting tourist around the world and earning big money would be short lived.

Sustainability is also an issue which comes with ecotourism because of the negative effects on the environment and the community on the whole but it is good to see that many countries like Scotland are now taking an active part to address these issues. “The total tourist trips are predicted to increase to 1.6 billion by 2020. Due to this there has been a major impact on both people and nature” [Guidelines, WWF July 2001]. As this suggests that this matter has not been responded to as it should be and therefore it is essential that more thorough research should be undertaken to counter the effects that the ecotourism is bringing and may further bring in the future so that it can be supported in a positive way.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

The purpose of this study is to gather data for solving key problems which are caused by ecotourism and then formulating a strategy or guideline to resolve these issues. Some of the key questions that my research would be addressing to are:

What are the impacts of the ecotourism on the society, culture and environment of Scotland?

What guidelines can be laid out for tourism in Scotland to minimize its negative impact and use in future tourism policies?

To what extent these guidelines are being followed by the Hospitality and tourism industry to ensure safe and healthy tourism?

An empirical case study will be used to answer the research questions as the evidence required to support the answers will be coming from information gathered from human experiences and their observance. There would be a lot of assumptions made to find the answers for these questions and at the same time prior information available will be used to gather further information. All of the research would be done following the standard laws of research and the results would the formulated in to guidelines for implementation in the tourism and hospitality industry.

[http://library.manor.edu/tutorial/empiricalresearch.htm]

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

It seems very important to put some light on this topic which has not been emphasized as much as it should be. Tourist from all around the world are coming to Scotland to taste the beauty it’s been blessed by the Mother Nature but what been completely ignored are the repercussions of uneducated tourism and the environmental footprints it’s leaving behind which can make life difficult for the future generations to come. Just because a tourist has paid for his ticket does not give them the ticket to do what they want without being environmentally responsible in any way. Of course there are great financial benefits from tourist and it accounts for a large part of UK GPD and it promotes our country in various ways but what cannot be set aside are the negatives of tourism and the impact it has on our society, culture and ecology (environment).

“While protected natural areas are increasing in popularity as vacation destinations, little information exists on tourism’s impacts on protected areas”. [Boo 1990].

My research would be aiming at getting key reasons due to which we face ecological problems in Scotland due to tourism and then constructing a document stating how we can minimize the impact of ecotourism, creating cultural awareness and the empowerment of local people. It would further lay out how these reasons could be shaped in the form of new policies and rules by Scottish tourism industry in making tourism in Scotland more safe and responsible and at the same time educating tourist what behavior is expected from them when they visit our ecological treasures. In addition to that I would also be researching about how the hospitality industry is playing its part in promoting ecotourism.

My research would be on Ecotourism to act as a strategy which can be used in countries like Scotland, who want to provide hospitality to tourists but at the same time protect their natural sites and want to observe conservation and create earning opportunities for the residents of the country. All in all my research would analyze and reach a conclusion as to how the negative impact of ecotourism can be minimized which is the world’s largest industry.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Ever since the 1980’s it was noticed that an increase in visits to places blessed by Mother Nature which were also developing at time was taking place. The concept of ecotourism really came to scene in the 1990’s when there was an easy access made to naturally rich areas such as the construction of natural parks which constituted many plant and animal species, whose existence seen to be threatened by the presence of constant visitors to these sites. Government was enjoying great financial success due to increased tourism in Scotland and the effects of the ecotourism didn’t came to stage at that time but soon after this concept matured due to various conflicts and the legitimacy of many players calling them as ecotourism product was challenged.

Some of the key definitions of ecotourism are:

“Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” [TIES, 1990]

“Tourism is sustainable when its development and operation include participation of local population, protection of the total environment, fair economic return for the industry and its host community, as well as a mutual respect for and gratification of all involved parties” [Jafari, 1996, p.959].

These literatures have served the backbone for many further definitions of ecotourism which has proved to be a great contribution to the field of hospitality and tourism.

There are many organizations and governmental bodies who are taking an active part in sustainable ecotourism. Some of them and the steps they have taken to protect natural and cultural heritage of Scotland such as Green Tourism Business Scheme, Forestry commission Scotland, RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage. WWF is also playing its role to raise the quality of life, conservation of natural and cultural resources and to reduce the side effects of tourism.

[Guidelines for community based ecotourism development; WWF July 2001]

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The empirical research method is used as it allows the researcher to gather complex data usually from human sources, gives the opportunity to learn from the data collected, then confirm the information that has been analyzed and then try to transform that information in to learning document. It has four simple steps as stated by the diagram below.

Cycle Diagram

In this qualitative case study the research will be conducted with the aid of Interviews, surveys, questionnaire and gathering and analyzing public reports issued by governmental and international environmental bodies.

Some of the big names for my research are The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Wild Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, RSPB Scotland, The National Trust for Scotland , Forestry Commission Scotland, WWF and TIES.

I would be comparing information available from these organization and bodies and asking them various questions about key developments in the tourism industry and how have they responded to these developments.

I would be interviewing volunteer tourist at various tourist spots in Scotland and ask tourists as to which places they travel mostly, what they thing have changed since they first visited Scotland and how much money do they spend on their tour in Scotland.

I would also be handing over questionnaire to the tourist in hotels and expect to get their feedback on various aspects of tourism to Scotland and what ecological impacts they think it has on Scotland. Participants would be answering these questions on a scale of ‘1- strongly disagree’, to ‘5 – strongly agree’.

The research study will be conducted using purposeful sampling design which is described as “a strategy in which particular settings, persons, or events are selected deliberately in order to provide important information that cannot be gotten from other choices” [Maxwell, 1996, p. 70].

A letter of introduction will be distributed to the potential candidates via intra-company e-mail. For those that respond favorably, a consent form will also be distributed mentioning that their participation is voluntary and inform them of any risk involved in their participation.

I would be using a Survey Analysis Tool which will allow me to analyze the data that I have gathered in an automated way. The survey responses will be entered to a database and then analyzed using the SPSS 10.0 for Windows – a computer software data analysis tool. SPSS contains the capability of presenting data on a spreadsheet with the option of modifying and viewing data as to one’s convenience. Data can be viewed in various formats like statistics, in tabulated format or variance charts. It also has the option of editing a variable of removing one randomly.

RESEARCH ETHICAL ISSUES:

There are always issues about ethics during research which should not be neglected. During my research I would have to ensure that the participation by the participants is Voluntary i.e. people are not forced to take part in the research. If this is achieved then the next step would be to ensure that we are taking their informed consent, meaning they are aware of the risk and procedures involved in the research. Researchers should not be putting participants in a situation where they may be at risk of harm as a result of their participation. Almost in every research there is a principle of confidentiality being exercised where there personal details won’t be given to anyone who is not part of the study or research but sometimes the participant demand a stronger guarantee than that in which case the participant won’t even give their details to the primary person conducting the research.

Another key ethical issue would be that people fail to answer precisely the questions they have been asked and thus giving inaccurate information. It is my responsibility as a researcher that if someone doesn’t understand a particular question, or it doesn’t seem to apply to your field of research, it is up to you to me to ask them what it means.

Care must be taken that the information gathered is accurate to the best it can be because analysis of incorrect information would obviously lead to incorrect decision just making void the purpose of the research. We should be ensuring that the methods used for analyses and gathering of data should not be biased or impartial. We should be complying with the laws and standards of research ensuring safety and security of our colleagues.

RESEARCH PROJECT PLAN:

Although the timescale will be limited I will try to gather as much information as I could to analyse and come to a conclusion on the topic.

One can never be 100% satisfied with the performance with topics such as ecotourism as it’s a very sensitive topic and relates to a lot of people. Time management is critical element for the timely completion of this project, so I will be dividing my task in to five phases and then I will try to do full justice with each of them.

Phases

April

May

June

Literature Review

xxxx

Conducting Interviews

xxxx

Data Gathering and Analysis

Xxxx

Formulating outcomes and Implementation.

Xxxx

Xxxx

Final Copy

Xxxx

Today, tourism is one of the largest and dynamically developing sectors of external economic activities. Its high growth and development rates, considerable volumes of foreign currency inflows, infrastructure development, and introduction of new management and educational experience actively affect various sectors of economy, which positively contribute to the social and economic development of the country as a whole.

Most highly developed western countries, such as Austria, Italy, and Switzerland have accumulated a big deal of their social and economic welfare on profits from tourism. According to recent statistics, tourism provides about 10% of the world’s income and employs almost one tenth of the world’s workforce. All considered, tourism’s actual and potential economic impact is astounding. Many people emphasize the positive aspects of tourism as a source of foreign exchange, a way to balance foreign trade, an “industry without chimney” – In short, manna from heaven.

But there are also a number of other positive and negative sides of tourism’s economic boom for local communities, which not always considered by advocates of tourism perspectives. Therefore in this paper I will consider the main social and environment impacts of tourism at the country level.

‘Travel and tourism’ does not necessarily involve travelling abroad. Much tourism takes place within people’s home country, on visits to attractions, city breaks, trips to business meetings, sports events or concerts, and visits to friends and relatives (abbreviated as VFR). There are three main types of tourism: domestic tourism, incoming or inbound tourism and outbound tourism.

According to World Tourism Organisation (WTO) – affiliated to the United Nations and recognised as the leading international body on global tourism – tourism is defined as:

‘The activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.’

World Tourism Organisation, 1993

Domestic Tourism: This is when people take holidays, short breaks and day trips in their own country. Examples would be:

A couple taking a weekend break in their own country;

A family visiting relations in another part of the country, even if they live only a few miles away.

Incoming / Inbound Tourism: This describes people entering the country in question from their home country, so it is a type of international tourism. Examples could be:

A group of Chinese visitors coming to Egypt on a recreational trip;

Teams from different countries entering a country for an international event, such as the Olympic Games;

Outbound Tourism: This term applies when people travel away from their home country to visit other international countries for leisure or business. Examples of this could be:

Business people from the India travelling to Germany to visit a major exhibition;

A day tripper from southern Malaysia visiting Singapore.

It is possible to divide the components of the travel and tourism industry into six key areas, as represented in the Figure below,

IMPACTS OF TOURISM

Tourism has three major impacts namely, Socio-cultural, environmental and economic impacts.

SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACT OF TOURISM

Tourism may have many different effects on the social and cultural aspects of life in a particular region or area, depending on the cultural and religious strengths of that region. The interaction between tourists and the host community can be one of the factors that may affect a community as tourist may not be sensitive to local customs, traditions and standards. The effect can be positive or negative on the host community.

Positive impacts on an area include benefits such as:

Local community can mix with people from diverse backgrounds with different lifestyles which through ‘demonstration effect’ may lead to the development of improved lifestyles and practices from the tourists’ examples.

There can be an improvement in local life through better local facilities and infrastructure (developed to sustain tourism) which could lead to better education, health care, employment opportunities and income.

More cultural and social events available for local people such as entertainment, exhibitions etc.

Conservation of local and cultural heritage of an area and rebirth of its crafts, architectural traditions and ancestral heritage;

Urban areas which may be in decline can be revived and the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas for employment may be reversed as jobs will be available in the tourism industry.

Dubai is an ideal example of a tourist destination which has reaped the benefits of the positive impact of development, on the socio-cultural aspects of in the country. As noticed, considerable financial investment by both public and private sectors has resulted in development of the existing infrastructure and to job creation. Archaeological and heritage sites have been preserved, and local traditions are maintained. The hospitable culture of the Arab world and acceptance of others’ lifestyles implying that tourists are welcomed but do not threaten existing ways of life.

However, tourism may have negative effects on an area, such as,

Existing infrastructure (roads, railways, health care provision) may not be able to cope with the greater stress created by influx of people by tourism.

Local population’s activities and lifestyles may suffer intrusion from tourists leading to resentment towards tourists.

The local population may copy lifestyles of tourists through the ‘demonstration effect’ and the result could be loss to local customs and traditions as well as standards of behaviour.

Increased crime could develop through decline in moral values, leading to greed and jealousy of wealthier visitors.

Traditional industries may be lost and local goods substituted by imported and mass-produced goods which lack authenticity but appeal to a mass market.

Tourists may act in an anti-social manner which could cause offence to the local population. Unless sufficient information is provided by the host nation and tourist providers on the standards of behaviour expected in that area, local populations come to resent tourists and act aggressively towards them.

Language barriers between the tourist and the host community which may create communication problems.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF TOURISM

Negative impacts from tourism occur when the level of visitor use is greater than the environment’s ability to cope with this use within the acceptable limits of change. Uncontrolled conventional tourism poses potential threats to many natural areas around the world. It can put enormous pressure on an area and lead to impacts such as soil erosion, increased pollution, discharges into the sea, natural habitat loss, increased pressure on endangered species and heightened vulnerability to forest fires. It often puts a strain on water resources, and it can force local populations to compete for the use of critical resources.

The quality of the environment, both natural and man-made, is essential to tourism. However, tourism’s relationship with the environment is complex. It involves many activities that can have adverse environmental effects. The negative impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which it depends.

On the other hand, tourism has the potential to create beneficial effects on the environment by contributing to environmental protection and conservation. It is a way to raise awareness of environmental values and it can serve as a tool to finance protection of natural areas and increase their economic importance.

Direct impact on natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, in the provision of tourist facilities can be caused by the use of land for accommodation and other infrastructure provision, and the use of building materials.

Water, and especially fresh water, is one of the most critical natural resources. The tourism industry generally overuses water resources for hotels, swimming pools, golf courses and personal use of water by tourists. This can result in water shortages and degradation of water supplies, as well as generating a greater volume of waste water.

Forests often suffer negative impacts of tourism in the form of deforestation caused by fuel wood collection and land clearing. For example, one trekking tourist in Nepal – and area already suffering the effects of deforestation – can use four to five kilograms of wood a day.

In areas with high concentrations of tourist activities and appealing natural attractions, waste disposal is a serious problem and improper disposal can be a major despoiler of the natural environment – rivers, scenic areas, and roadsides. Solid waste and littering can degrade the physical appearance of the water and shoreline and cause the death of marine animals.

Construction of ski resort accommodation and facilities frequently requires clearing forested land. Coastal wetlands are often drained and filled due to lack of more suitable sites for construction of tourism facilities and infrastructure. These activities can cause severe disturbance and erosion of the local ecosystem, even destruction in the long term.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2001

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TOURISM

Tourism’s economic benefits are touted by the industry for a variety of reasons. Claims of tourism’s economic significance give the industry greater respect among the business community, public officials, and the public in general. This often translates into decisions or public policies that are favourable to tourism. Community support is important for tourism, as it is an activity that affects the entire community. Tourism businesses depend extensively on each other as well as on other businesses, government and residents of the local community.

Economic benefits and costs of tourism reach virtually everyone in the region in one way or another. Economic impact analyses provide tangible estimates of these economic interdependencies and a better understanding of the role and importance of tourism in a region’s economy.

Tourism activity also involves economic costs, including the direct costs incurred by tourism businesses, government costs for infrastructure to better serve tourists, as well as congestion and related costs borne by individuals in the community. Community decisions over tourism often involve debates between industry proponents touting tourism’s economic impacts (benefits) and detractors emphasizing tourism’s costs. Sound decisions rest on a balanced and objective assessment of both benefits and costs and an understanding of who benefits from tourism and who pays for it.

Tourism’s economic impacts are therefore an important consideration in state, regional and community planning and economic development. Economic impacts are also important factors in marketing and management decisions. Communities therefore need to understand the relative importance of tourism to their region, including tourism’s contribution to economic activity in the area.

A variety of methods, ranging from pure guesswork to complex mathematical models, are used to estimate tourism’s economic impacts. Studies vary extensively in quality and accuracy, as well as which aspects of tourism are included. Technical reports often are filled with economic terms and methods that non-economists do not understand. On the other hand, media coverage of these studies tend to oversimplify and frequently misinterpret the results, leaving decision makers and the general public with a sometimes distorted and incomplete understanding of tourism’s economic effects.

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

A standard economic impact analysis traces the path that money takes once it leaves a tourist’s pocket: this is also referred to as the flows of money from tourism spending. The first flow, (direct effect), is to the businesses and government agencies to which the tourists pay money directly. The money then flows through the economy as:

Payments from these direct recipients to their suppliers,

Salaries and wages for households who provide labour for tourism or supporting industries,

Various government taxes and charges payable by tourists, businesses and households. Continuing the fluid analogy, a leakage occurs when money escapes the economy of a region because a local consumer, (household, business or government), has purchased a product from an outside supplier.

DIRECT AND SECONDARY ECONOMIC EFFECTS

Economists distinguish direct, indirect and induced economic effects. The total economic impact of tourism is the sum of direct, indirect and induced effects within a region. Indirect and induced effects are sometimes collectively called secondary effects. These impacts or effects may be measured in terms of gross output, sales, income, employment, or value added. Although they are often used somewhat loosely by non-economists, these terms have precise definitions that are important when interpreting economic impact study results.

Direct effects, are production changes associated with the immediate effects of changes in tourism expenditures. For example, an increase in the number of tourists staying overnight in hotels would directly increase room sales in the hotel sector. The additional hotel sales and associated changes in hotel payments for wages, salaries, taxes, supplies and services are direct effects of the tourist spending.

Indirect effects are the production changes resulting from various rounds of re-spending of the tourism industry’s receipts in backward-linked industries. For example, industries supplying products and services to hotels). Changes in sales, jobs and income in the linen supply industry, for example, represent indirect effects of changes in hotel sales. Businesses supplying products and services to the linen supply industry represent another round of indirect effects, eventually linking hotels by varying degrees to most other economic sectors in the region.

Induced effects are the changes in economic activity resulting from household spending of income earned directly or indirectly as a result of tourism spending. For example, hotel and linen supply employees supported directly or indirectly by tourism, spend their income in the local region for housing, food, transportation, and the usual array of household product and service needs. The sales, income, and jobs that result from household spending of added wage, salary, or proprietor’s income are induced effects.

Total Economic Impact
Total Economic Impact = Direct + Secondary Effects
= Direct + (Indirect + Induced Effects)

A change in tourist spending can affect virtually every sector of the economy by means of indirect and induced effects. The magnitude of these secondary effects is directly related to the propensity of local businesses and households to purchase from local suppliers. Induced effects are easily visible when a large regional plant closes: supporting industries are hurt by the indirect effects, but the entire local economy usually suffers due to the reduction in regional household income. Retail stores may close, thereby increasing leakages as local consumers turn to outside suppliers. Similar but reversed induced effects are observable when there is a significant increase in regional jobs and household income.

INPUT-OUTPUT MODELS

An input-output (I-O) model is a mathematical model that describes the flows of money between sectors within a region’s economy. Flows are predicted based on the inputs that each industry must buy from every other industry to produce a dollar’s worth of output. I-O models also determine the proportions of sales that go to wage and salary income, proprietor’s income, and taxes. Multipliers can be estimated from input-output models based on the estimated re-circulation of spending within the region. Exports and imports are determined based on estimates of the propensity of households and firms to purchase goods and services from local sources (often called RPC’s or regional purchase coefficients). The more self-sufficient a region is, the fewer the leakages, so that the multipliers are correspondingly higher.

Input-output models make a number of basic assumptions:

All firms in a given industry employ the same production technology and produce identical products.

There are no economies or diseconomies of scale in production or factor substitution. I-O models are essentially linear: double the level of tourism activity/production and you must double all of the inputs.

Analysts generally report the impact estimates as if they represent activity within a single year, although the model does not explicitly keep track of time. One must assume that the various model parameters are accurate and represent the current year.

I-O models are firmly grounded in the national system of accounts which relies on a standard industrial classification system (SIC codes), and on various federal government economic censuses in which individual firms report sales, wage and salary payments and employment. I-O models are generally at least a few years out-of-date: this is not usually a problem unless the region’s economy has changed significantly. An I-O model represents the region’s economy at a particular point in time: tourist spending estimates are generally price adjusted to the year of the model.

Multiplier computations for induced effects generally assume that jobs created by additional spending are new jobs involving the movement of new households to the area. Induced effects are computed assuming linear changes in household spending with changes in income. Estimates of induced effects are frequently inflated when these assumptions are not accurate, (for example, when new jobs are staffed by existing residents). As induced effects usually comprise the vast majority of secondary effects of tourism, they should be used with caution.

Measuring the Economic Impact of Tourism

The economic impacts of tourism are typically estimated by some variation of the simple formula:

Defining the Economic Impact of Tourism:
Economic Impact of Tourism = # of Tourists * Ave. Spending per Visitor * Multiplier

Where ‘# of tourists’ = numbers of tourists and ‘ave.’ = average

Estimate the change in the number and types of tourists to the region that will result from the proposed policy or action:

Estimates or projections of tourist activity generally come from a demand model or some system for measuring levels of tourism activity in an area: economic impact estimates rely on good estimates of the number and types of visitors, which come from carefully designed measurements of tourist activity, a good demand model, or good judgment. This step is usually the weakest link in most tourism impact studies, as few regions have accurate counts of tourists, let alone good models for predicting changes in tourism activity or separating local visitors from visitors who originate outside the region.

Estimate average levels of spending (often within specific market segments) of tourists in the local area:

Spending averages come from sample surveys or are adapted from other studies. Spending estimates must be based on a representative sample of the population of tourists, and should take into account variations across seasons, market segments or types of tourists, and locations within the study area. As spending can vary widely by type of tourist, we recommend estimating average spending for a set of key tourist segments based on samples of at least 50-100 visitors per tourism segment. Segments should be defined to capture differences in spending between local residents vs. tourists, day users vs. overnight visitors, type of accommodation (motel, campground, seasonal home, with friends and relatives), and type of transportation (car, RV, air, rail, etc.). In broadly-based tourism impact studies, it is useful to identify unique spending patterns of important activity segments such as downhill skiers, boaters, or convention & business travellers multiplying the number of tourists by the average spending per visitor, (making certain that units are consistent), gives an estimate of total tourist spending in the area. Estimates of tourist spending will generally be more accurate if distinct spending profiles and use estimates are made for key tourism segments. The use and spending estimates are the two most important parts of an economic impact assessment. When combined, they capture the amount of money brought into the region by tourists. Please note: multipliers are needed only if one is interested in the secondary effects of tourism spending.

Apply the change in spending to a regional economic model or set of multipliers to determine secondary effects:

Secondary effects of tourism are estimated using multipliers, or a model of the region’s economy. Multipliers generally come from an economic base or input-output model of the region’s economy. Often, multipliers are borrowed improperly or adjusted from published multipliers or other studies. Avoid taking a multiplier estimated for one region and applying it in a region with a quite different economic structure. As a general rule, multipliers are higher for larger regions with more diversified economies. A common error is to apply a state-wide multiplier (since these are more widely published) to a local region. This will yield inflated estimates of local multiplier effects.

Stynes, D., (1997). ‘Economic impacts of Tourism’. pp. 1-19 Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, Cooperative Extension Service bulletin.

Hotel and hospitality industry is dynamic industry which changes fast with times. All the industry stake holders and business people have to be sharper and well prepared to keep them with the pace of changing environment. It is one of major industry on its outreach all over the world. In hospitality sectors decision makers have to go with proper tools to make their decisions. One of the most effective a popular business tool for industry analysis is porter five forces analysis. It was coined by Michael Porter. In this assignment we are going to study the brief history background, methods and its utilization in hotel industry. We will try to find what porter five forces are and how to use them for better understanding and analysis of happenings in hotel industry.

Back Ground of Hotel industry

The hotel industry consists of profitable business where people can stay in their time of need either for some work of for some holiday. During the 1920s this industry got a major increase and demand. Growth in world economy supported this industry to grow fast. Though the depression in 1930es slightly brought break to its expansion. Many hotels survived in this time of major crash as they were successful in starting hotel chains.

In mid twentieth century these industries start for a new change when demand for affordable cheap and healthy lodging was increased. This introduced new trend of motels business in the market. This new motels business competed better way with hotels till1960s, up to this these motels had a growth period with their size and facilities. To cover the business gap hotel industry made innovation of motor hotels. Stay at motor hotels was bit costly and it did not attract the business. By year 1970 hotel s start chains and they expand through franchises and thus industry was over extended. In 80s hotel industry made a boom once again by controlling their costs. Furthermore there was concept of new lodging ways like suite hotel. All the major runners in business started a diverse way to make more progress.

1990s was new era with better focus on commercial ways and advertisement. In recent years this industry taken new measures like reduction in wages, debt control, low interest rate financial investments and low rate area for installations of new venues. There are some major players like Hilton Hotels Corp., Marriott International, Trump Hotels & Casino Resort, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Promus Hotel Corp, Host Marriott Corp, Red Roof Inns, Inc. and MGM Grand Inc., These hotels performing well and making me than 30 billion dollar in industry alone in USA.

Background of porter five forces

There is always an interest by the academics and researchers in knowing the forces which impact performance of an organization or business. Many ideas and new models appeared in late 1970es and early 1980s these were focusing mostly on competitive advantage that any business can have over its rivals in same industry.

Harvard professor Michael Porter came with his idea of five forces analysis that according to him are always faced by any industry while doing business these are internal and external forces. Businesses have to get the understanding all dynamics in the market. Porter (1980) himself defined these forces that make competition and lead to competitive environment for a business. There is always rivalry existing between firms and also there is constant threat of new rivals in the market. Similarly suppliers and buyers also have impact. Porter’s Model makes outline of five important elements shaping any industry.

Features of Porter five forces

Porter’s five forces model simply identifies five factors that are most important and the formation of industry in order to identify it attractive for new entrants, or as a means to formulate a strategy for competitors in the industry.

There is continuing interest in the study of the forces that affect the organization, especially those that can be harnessed to provide a competitive advantage. There were many ideas and models that have emerged during the period from 1979 to the mid-1980s (Porter, 1998) on the idea that competitive advantage comes from the ability to get a return on investment that was better than the average for the industry sector.

It also tells that five forces analysis sees the factors outside any industry that affect the nature of competition in business within the industry. These things affect on profits of any business. If we go into the definition made by Porter (1980a) it says about forces which affect directly on competition, and it also considers that this competitive environment is created due to interaction between various forces.

Main Aspects of Porteraa‚¬a„?s Five Forces Analysis

As suggested by Porter forces which can affect the performance and behavior in any industry. These are included following forces :

Competition between sellers in market.

the customers power in the market.

Suppliers power in dealing on to the sellers.

Threat of new entries.

Threat of any substitute for buyers .

Force one: Rivalry among Sellers

It is intense competition to control the market and get more customers among the sellers. They use every tool to attract customers to them. It is main power in the industry where everyone facing tough competition. It is likely high in many of those industries in which a threat of new alternative products and is constant.

Force Two : The Threat of New Entry

It is not only about current rivals but there is threat of new entries always with the business. Both present and potential competitors can impact industry profitability. There is always discouragement of such new entries by all business people.

Force Three : The Threat of Substitutes

The is another threat pose by new substitute products within industry as the profitability always depends margins in price so it can make negative impact on performance. This always costs industries to make enough resources for their research and development department.

Force four : Buyer Power

Buyer try to get maximum from their investment or money it is important that buyeraa‚¬a„?s size values more in profit gains. Higher the buyers higher the profits are even with less margins. Normally this force very high especially with globalization of business.

Force Five : Supplier Power

Supply plays life line for any business so many times power supply makes your business into problems as they affect your sales. Because supply is necessary to sales without it one cannot make progress. So in industry there is always competition for getting low rates and proper supply according to demand. Where suppliers find they have chance or bargain they start utilizing it.

Nature of industry determined the nature of any competition in all industries. The powerful forces of all the buyers, suppliers, threats of entry and substitution and increase in competition can make negative impact on business. Porter five also have limits in its use. So it depend show it is being used by any of user.

With a smaller number of properties being built and a strong economy, and the industry enjoys steady increases in demand that exceeded the increase in supply over the past five years. And cause an increase in the demand for occupancy and average daily room rates to increase also

According to the hotels and hostels Association of America, 30 percent of the clients industry and business travelers and 25 percent of the tourists. Business conferences, representing 25 percent of customers in the industry, while 20 percent of the customers is to stay for a family or personal reasons10.

Dominant Economic Characteristics & Trends within the Industry

“It was the hotel industry enjoyed strong conditions during most of the ’90 s’ but is now facing a slowdown due to industry over capacity and the weakness in demand1”. The decline in occupancy rates of about 65% in the past few years to 64.5% in 19 972.

The hotel industry is going through a boom of mergers and acquisitions. It’s cheaper than buying the building. Management is now focusing more on value, and brand development and management experience rather than the number of rooms, using the franchise and property management1. Are the restoration of the oldest hotels are being added and upgraded features added such as voice mail, laptop hookups and computer centers of the rooms.

Is now the hottest category “extended stay” category, which serves people stay five nights or more. Room to provide accommodation and amenities such as kitchens and laundries.

General Economic Conditions affecting the industry

Transport and fuel costs to play a major role in determining the ability of consumers to travel. Ticket and fuel prices, as well as other complications such as recent industry pilot curb demand for housing. The political climate and economic conditions within and outside the United States play a role in driving demand for housing as well.

Porter 5-Forces Model

In general, competition in the housing industry is in itself a powerful factor of control. Government regulations, suppliers and agents representing moderate, and new entrants, buyers, substitute products are the most determining factors in the industry. Model Porter 5 – Forces attached to provide further details on the factors that affect the strategic decisions of firms in the industry.

In business and hospitality, and technology should focus the rest of the way in which services are produced and delivered. It would be incorrect, however, to assume that the manufacturing techniques do not apply to the hospitality industry. Consider, for example, the impact of computer technology to hotels or airlines distribution. Certainly, a similar revolution and the Sabre GDS reservation systems even before the Internet industry flourished. (12) global distribution systems are still active, while the Internet has fundamentally changed the way many people make hotel reservations, airlines and car rental.

Technology has made the current, much less expensive to implement a wide range of procedures for obtaining services. Instead of using a card file (as in the previous day), and can maintain the features of hotel clients on your computer. Ritz-Canton, for example, tracks the tastes and preferences of regular visitors. Ritz-Carlton properties to use their database as guest of a good feature by arranging to express check-in regular guests, who need only to call and say when you plan to access. Everything is ready when you push up to the curb. (13) and technology to track this type of information were not accessible until a few years ago – and the size of the market to make the manual operation is not applicable. Companies can also use the hotel technology to extract the data, and for intensive research and compile information in databases, as shown in the accompanying article in this issue than a quarter of Cornell. (14) In another example, he drew attention to the Wingate bars for the first time as a series a few years ago by installing the fonts that ections high-speed Internet in every room. This helped Wingate differentiation strategy to expand rapidly by appealing to business travelers and value-conscious World Health Organization, at the time, was known to sponsor this well-established processes and Hampton and Courtyard. (15)

Political and Legal Trends and Influences

Evaluation of policy and regulatory environment is vital to planning for the future, as evidenced by the implications of the lifting of restrictions on airlines in the United States (and other carriers). Although the restaurants and hotels did not have to face as the overwhelming change in the competitive environments of the airlines did after the lifting of restrictions and procedures, the government still does not resonate with these industries. And caused the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf sudden austerity in travel, which left many of the hotels are empty until the war led by the United States ended a brief and travelers ventured out again. Also, some government leaders are more protectionist than others, which have a direct impact on such things as tariffs and foreign trade. In general, it’s a good idea to follow up the situation of political leaders with regard to business factors, as well as any signal with respect to their positions on certain industries. With regard to foreign investment, it is important to assess the stability of the system of government, as well as Attitude towards foreign investors.

Major Innovations and Trends in Other Industries

The final category, you must also follow the main trends and innovations in other industries than those that you are working at the moment. Competitive advantage rarely comes from the tradition of innovation from other companies in the same industry. Following the example of the initial selection of hotels and most hotels currently operating a range of brands, each one usually used different, but related, the brand name. Although the work in the hotel several levels is still an idea worth pursuing, at this point than it is to create a competitive advantage to match the competition. On the other hand, a company that is the first to successfully apply the heresy of other industry usually have first-mover advantage that is sometimes difficult to pressure competitors to mimic. While it is true that can be easily most of the hotels, industry and innovations can be copied, and examples of the ideas that emerged directly from the innovations and trends in other industries include hotels locations in large shopping centers, locate and described staurants re fast food in the shops the gas station, offering video screens personal Each seat of the plane, and identify business service centers within the hotels.

After the completion of an analysis of the environment and wide, it is necessary to study the work environment. Environment and broad context in which the company, industry, and other external stakeholders are present. In contrast, the task environment includes external stakeholders with the organization interact on a regular basis to some extent, especially customers.

External Stakeholders

Michael Porter proposed that can be defined on the nature of competition in the industry by the market power of customers and suppliers, and the level of competition among companies, the strength of alternatives and barriers to entry. (16) despite the fact that these “five forces” socalled model stood the test of time, and boundaries of the process is also unclear. For example, despite the fact that Porter’s five forces approach helps to identify the competition by customers, suppliers, competitors, and alternatives to, barriers to entry, and it does not include an assessment of stakeholders other significant impact on industry and company performance, such as unions, financial institutions and the media , and local communities. Also, the model does not include political factors. Starting from Porter’s five forces 0.4 gallery contains a full description of the environment task.

Strategic collection of information on external stakeholders for a variety of purposes, many of which are clear and self. If you run a hotel, for example, it makes sense to follow the preferences frequent guests’ to meet their needs more effectively. Also, you must study competitors to search for innovations in products and services, processes and strategies. In fact, it can come excellent ideas from stakeholders, almost any. Industries, hotels and restaurants clearly adept at this aspect of environmental monitoring task.

Analysis is an important one to assess the impact of competitive, which stems from economic power and political power . Stakeholders with a strong influence big competitiveness requires more attention in the strategic planning process of doing this with less impact. And more powerful and stakeholders in the largest influence on the identification of strategies and more, you must try to anticipate the reactions that entity to any changes that may look. Stakeholders strong attractive candidates for partnerships. and the end of this section includes a table that displays the tactics that your company can be considered to establish partnerships with a variety of stakeholders (see Chart 5).

Economic Power

The influence of external stakeholders on the company’s ability to compete is partly a result of the economic power which has stakeholders. As Porter pointed out, economic power gives stakeholders the ability to extract profits or other benefits at the expense of the Company subject. the first column in Gallery 4 examples of factors that give the different stakeholders of economic power. For the purposes of illustration, and will touch briefly on some of these factors to Walamlae, suppliers, competitors and trade unions.

Customers and suppliers of power. There are a few of the customers with the company exposed to the risk of losing significant revenue and should be one client leave. Such a situation gives the client’s economic strength. In general, customers are relatively strong, if a few or if they make large purchases. By the suppliers of the same vein, tend to be a great economic power if there is a hack only a small number of suppliers that provide precise type of commodity or service that is required. It is also a strong if there is a high level of differentiation across suppliers, or if you were not particularly concerned about the sale for you because you were not wide range of customers for them.

Rival power. Competitors have economic power based on their ability to compete. May be players with strong resource bases are disproportionately to be aggressive and create strong competition. It is important to determine the nature of competition in all markets, as well as the industry as a whole. Competition in some key markets hotel pricing, for example, while in other cases it may be brand differentiation. In other markets is still the key to success is to identify the characteristics of the hotel near Qaim. He called the case of companies that have multiple properties in different markets and compete often against some of the same companies in many markets, and multi-point competition. In that case, it is important to assess the effects of strategic moves in one market responses to a potential competitor in other markets.

The labor force. Greater economic power of trade unions when the work is a high degree of organization. Trade unions and the enormous economic influence in Germany, for example. The nature of the trade union work-related (such as strikes and slowdowns) also gives the economic power of trade unions, which may be exercised during contract negotiations. To some extent, and the size of the EU budget is also a factor in the power that it possesses. Unions can be large, big-budget to participate in activities to protect its members.

The hospitality industry consists of broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, restaurants, event planning, theme parks, transportation, a restaurant, hotel, or even an amusement park. Hospitality industry covers a wide range of organizations offering food service and accommodation. 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 consists of multiple groups such as facility maintenance, direct operations, servers, housekeepers, porters, kitchen workers, bartenders, management and marketing. 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.

Premier Inn is the UK’s largest hotel brand, with over 40,000 rooms and more than 590 hotels. It is one of the biggest brand in hospitality industry. Premier Inn’s headquarter located at Luton, England, U.K. Originally opened by “Travel Inn” brand name in 1987. During the hard competition with other hotels, it has been owned by Whitbread. Premier Inn business spread in United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Republic of Ireland and India. Company office website is

http://www.premierinn.com

Hotels are found either in city centers or on the outskirts on major A-roads. Unlike its competitor Travelodge, they are rarely found in motorway service areas, concentrating on locations where they are allowed to serve alcohol. Ownership by Whitbread, historically a brewery, but now a pub and hotel chain, ensures that all Premier Inns, with the exception of motor side locations, have a pub/restaurant on-site serving alcohol

Structure of Organization

As per below is an organization structure

A commercial enterprise would have Line, Staff or Matrix organisations, split into departments and specialists. Departments could include Buying, Marketing, Manufacture, Quality, Accountancy, Payroll, Design, Administration, Security, Maintenance, Distribution, Computing, Call centers, Retailing, Customer Care.

History

The company founded in 1987 by Travel Inn, in 2004 Whitbread acquired Premier Lodge for ?505 million, and merge an additional 141 hotels to the existing Whitbread hotels, re-branded all hotels as “Premier Travel Inn”, which was soon shortened to “Premier Inn”. March 2006 – Premier Inn, the UK’s largest and fastest growing hotel chain announced today that their ‘Guest Recommend’ customer satisfaction survey has received its one- millionth-guest response since it was launched in March 2006.

Location

Premier Inn started in U.K., but its expansion in U.A.E., Ireland and India. Premier Inn is the UK’s largest and fastest-growing hotel brand with 578 budget hotels and more than 40,000 rooms across the UK and Ireland.

Competition

The branded budget hotel market in the UK continues to be dominated by just two large players, according to new research by TRI Hospitality Consulting. Figures from Budget Hotels 2010 UK show that the biggest brand, Premier Inn, had 41,511 rooms at the end of 2009 which gave it a market share of almost 38%.

The nearest rival to Premier Inn is Travelodge with 27,010 at the year end, giving it a market share of just under 25%. The top two budget hotel brands in the UK thus have more than two thirds of the market.

“The branded budget market in the UK is concentrated in just a few companies. But competition continues to flourish in the overall hotel sector as the branded budget hotels take on mid market hotels and guesthouses,” said Jonathan Langston, managing director of TRI Hospitality Consulting.

Since 1993, the number of branded budget hotel rooms in the UK has grown more than tenfold, increasing from 10,555 rooms to 109,528 rooms at the end of 2009. And while Premier Inn and Travelodge dominate, there have been many new brands entering the growing market.

As above table showing us Premier Inn is on number 1 Position in the market. Behind this reason is hotel chain Premier Inn is using a revenue management system to improve visibility of occupancy levels throughout the year, and steer sales and marketing activities accordingly.

As per above information premier Inn take over 35% of hotel industry in U.K.

Under the new system, Premier Inn expects to improve occupancy, book more guests over less popular nights and reduce marginal costs.

“We wanted a revenue management system that could cope with the unique requirements of our business,” said Warren Mandelbaum, head of revenue management at Premier Inn parent company Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants.

Contemporary issue

In any business, biggest and important person is “customer”, if customer is satisfied then business make profit. Premier Inn fully focuses to satisfy the customer, Premier Inn bedrooms feature en-suite bathroom, TV with Free view, and Wi-Fi internet access. Premier Inn offers customers a money-back ‘Good Night Guarantee’ of a good quality room, comfortable surroundings and friendly service, which is unique amongst Britain’s leading hotel chains.

Recession impact

As a report of produced by HotStats and published by industry newsletter Hotel Analyst, also makes clear that while resilient, the sector has not remained unscathed by the recession. During 2009, revenue per available room fell by 9.1%, with occupancy dropping by 5.9 percentage points to 67.8% and rate holding up better with a fall of 1.1% to ?50.97.

“The budget hotel market has truly been the hotel industry’s success story of the last decade. While trading has suffered in the recession, new hotels are continuing to open, reflecting the long term viability of the segment,” said Langston.

The hospitality industry is a measure of the wealth in people’s pockets then the news is very bad indeed. The industry is facing one of its worst times in memory as pubs, clubs and restaurants close at an unprecedented rate.

Insolvencies in the sector have risen by 95% in 2 years as people opt to stay at home and preserve their cash rather than splurging on luxuries like nights out, meals and other entertainment.

A report by consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed that there were 281 business failures in the third quarter of this year, up from 175 last year and well ahead of the 220 insolvencies reported in the first quarter and the 212 recorded in the second. It was almost double the number reported – 144 – in the final quarter of 2006.

“As the downturn tightens its grip, it is easy to believe what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg for hotels,” Stephen Broom said.

The report shows the historical development of branded budget hotels in the UK, also the report so gives demand figures by geographical region, by city and by market sector

Hospitality industry is closely related to tourism. By the advent of global crisis, it’s easy to figure out that tourism industry is down. So, relating to that, one can say hospitality industry also suffers. Moreover, those who can still afford to consider the hospitality of the industry are busy with their works too as the crisis has put extra burden in their work life.

Performance report -Year 2009/2010

As per above source UK chain Hotel, Higher staff costs hit profits at provincial hotels in the UK during August, according to the latest HotStats survey from TRI Hospitality Consulting. Revenue per available room rose year-on-year for the month by 1.5% but payroll costs as a percentage of revenue crept up by 0.5 percentage points and this helped cause Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room (GOPPAR) to drop by 1.2%. As a result, UK Provincial hotel performance was left languishing some way behind 2008 levels, following the 13.4% profitability decline during the same period in 2009.

Development
Strategy and progress

Premier Inn clear strategy underpins our aim of building the best large-scale hospitality brands in the world by becoming the most customer-focused organization there is.

2009/10 strategic priorities
Action
Result

Outperform market

Developing detailed action plans to focus on our customers’ needs, and particularly on establishing our value for money credentials.

All our businesses have outperformed in their markets.

Reduce operating costs

Streamlining management, improving the efficiency of back office processes and delivering a series of procurement initiatives.

On track to achieve ?25 million of annual savings, with ?20 million realised to date.

Achieve cash flow neutrality

Prioritising cash management and working capital together with the sale and leaseback of five properties.

Positive cash flow for the year of ?109.7 million, with net debt reducing to ?513.4 million.

They growth is also increases, In year 2003/04 they have 18,173 rooms comper to this in year 2009/10 they have 42,799 rooms. So growth is 136%

Predictions

Premier Inn increase there budget for more development.

In year 2009/10 15.0% budget sector value and in year 2018/19 budget sector value increase 22.0%. so as above figures we can get example of premier inn future plan.

(Annual Report 2009/10, Whitbread PLC)
Operational & Management factors
Operational
In the hotel industry where excellent, consistent service is a key factor in success, standard operating procedures, or SOPs, play an important role.
Identification

A hotel’s standard operating procedure sets out the policies and protocols of a hotel in a written format that’s easily accessible to hotel employees. A typical standard operating procedure has three parts: a purpose, or the clearly stated task the SOP details and what its expected results should be; a procedure, or step-by-step guide to tackling the task; and resources, including hotel staff, other employees or management and databases or other references.

Function

A hotel standard operating procedure’s purpose is to improve guest experience. Standard operating procedures do this by educating hotel staff on the best way to deal with a given situation, from fielding guest complaints to handling fire drills. By creating a guest service structure that’s consistent and clearly thought out by top management, hotels can ensure a positive guest experience.

Types

Hotels might use several different types of standard operating procedures.

Tool procedures focus on specific tasks that hotel staffers might have to deal with. Tool procedures may cover tasks that hotel staff is likely to run into every day, such as late check-out or temperature concerns, as well as rare circumstances, such as fire alarms sounding or elevator malfunctions.

Rule procedures help hotel staffer’s deal with potentially tricky situations. Rule procedures may cover acceptable employee conduct, such as whether an employee can accept a cash tip from a hotel guest. Rule procedures also may cover guests in sensitive areas such as signs of smoking in a non-smoking room or a declined credit card.

Job procedures clearly outline an employee’s role and responsibilities within the hotel so that expectations are clear.

Benefits
Management
Financial Savvy

The number one success factor for anyone in the hospitality industry knows how to manage company funds. Maintaining the proper ratios of labour, food costs, beverage costs and expenses is vital in today’s economy. A successful manager will be expected to maintain and keep a strict monetary budget, be computer literate, be knowledgeable of profit and loss statements and labour to sales ratios and be able to keep food and beverage costs in line.

Creativity

Hospitality managers must be able to be creative, to think outside the box and come up with new, trendsetting ideas. They must also have the knowledge to get those ideas out there through word of mouth and advertising. Food specials, room rate reductions, family packages and other details need to be presented to the general public in a new, fresh manner through email, web sites, regular mail, radio or television.

Multi-tasking skills

A manager must know the basics of accounting, the fundamentals of food and service, current market trends, what the competition is doing, licensing procedures and fees, general human resource rules and regulations and much more.

Teamwork

A good manager will understand that he cannot do the work single-handed and will hire the right people to carry out the vision of the company. A strong accounting office, an excellent chef, reliable restaurant managers and supervisors, a loyal core staff with low turnover and trustworthy assistants are all essential in creating a profitable business.

Vision

The ability to foresee trends and capitalize on them is a true gift, as is the foresight to prepare for a slow economy. These abilities come from years of experience and exposure to different hospitality environments. A truly proactive manager will choose the most promising employees of the company and train them properly to keep the vision alive and strong.

Impact on Staff

Hospitality industry is developed largest number of jobs in UK, lots of opportunity comes for people to get jobs. As per below table show us how’s the different hospitality businesses give jobs to people

Hospitality businesses

The industry continues to be dominated by small establishments. The hotel sector has the highest proportion of large establishment while the restaurant sector has most very small establishments. Between 1991 and 1998 the percentage of businesses with over twenty-five employees increased from 3 per cent to 4per cent of all establishments. There is now more employment in larger workplaces with 41 per cent of employment in establishments employing twenty-five or more employees, while 59 per cent of employees. Over the decade all sectors in the hospitality industry continued to grow, with the exception of hotels.

Premier inn has 34,000 people serve over 9 million customers every month. And as the frontline of our business, premier inn are 100% dependent on our people to deliver our brand promises, day in and day out. That’s why premier inn only employs the very best people in the hospitality industry. Time to time staff responsibility change and more focus on customer satisfaction.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders in the hospitality industry include owners, creditors, guests, employees, suppliers, vendors, industry associations, government agencies, and community members.

In starting of business stakeholders view point is Maximizing Shareholder Wealth, after time to time stakeholder’s view point is change and it’s ‘A Wider Range of Objectives’. In recent years, a wider variety of goals have been suggested for a business. These include the traditional objective of profit maximization. However, they also include goals relating to earnings per share, total sales, numbers employed, measures of employee welfare, manager satisfaction, environmental protection and many others.

As per above effect on staff and stakeholders role and view point Premier inn get lots of benefits. That’s the reason Premier inn best brand in hospitality industry in U.K. and one of the best brand in the world. They also try to make same value in abroad like Dubai and India. Positive implications on Premier inn hospitality.

The conclusion

Premier Inn has best customer/key relationship, business continuity, funding, and strategy. So that’s why they are top of the table in whole hotel industry in the U.K.

In 2008 Premier Inn launched in Dubai and will be opening in India later this year. On a domestic front, Premier Inn is set to be the largest provide of budget hotels in London by the 2012 Olympics.

Finally but not least, it discusses the significant impact of technology on the development of travel and tourism industry which is a big influence on the country.

So overall all this assignment is informing you of how quality services and technology can develop the tourism industries and also makes work much easier and create a major impact on the country. It also assesses some good points on the community based tourism it tells how it can increase tourist in the country and helps to build up the economy and by creating a good marketing plan, having the right amount of capital, objectives and good support services it can be successful.

The importance of delivering quality services in the hospitality industry.

The importance of delivering quality services is basically to get a good impact on the industry to increase revenues. In agreement with (The importance of customer service in the hospitality industry, 1999-2012), “Hotels, restaurants and other tourism-reliant business are included in the hospitality industry, each organization rely on effective customer service to earn industry accolades, positive media reviews, win repeat guests and increase revenue.” So basically the good service you give off will make others come more to increase the revenue and to give the organization an excellent review.

Quality services in some hospitality industry are poor and needs improvement but it is our major challenge. However in agreement with (William Lazer & Layton, 1999), “The hospitality managers if facing the major challenges in quality service delivery. It will be an essential condition for success in the emerging, keenly competitive, global hospitality markets, while the future importance of delivering quality hospitality service is easy to discern and to agree on, doing so presents some difficult and intriguing management issues.” It is very important that all hospitality industry provide excellent quality service so it will build up the economy of the organization and country.

2

Differences between service delivery in the hospitality industry and service delivery in other businesses.

Service delivery can be differentiated by the type of businesses you’re running. Service delivery can be delivered both inside and outside of an organization but it depends on the type because most organization does not have outside service delivery. According to (Service delivery system, 2012), “Hospitality and tourism services can be differentiated by the volume of customers processed and on the basis of variety offered. This can vary from a high-volume operation offering a very restricted range of products and services to a lower volume operation where every customer receives a unique or highly customized service. Another key variable in any service operation is the nature of the service contact. High contact has an extra level of social interaction associated with staff, while a low-contact service requires the staff to perform largely technical skills. Each requires a different approach, with a high level of contact requiring sophisticated social skills training, together with a good level of product knowledge, whereas a low level of contact requires simpler customer care and technical training. A low-contact service may also be suitable for substitution by information technology or self-service.”

Service delivery in businesses can be different in some cases. In some businesses the service can be delivered outside of the organization while some cannot.

3

TASK TWO

Pros and cons of community based tourism and a discussion on the implications on the country as a whole.

The Pros: The community based tourism has some advantages on both the communities and the country.

Employment for community

Some others are: according to (Williams & Haye, 2006), “Improved quality of life, Increased employment both directly and indirectly, increased opportunity for social and cultural interchange, increased income and improvement of infrastructure and enhancement of the community.”

Some other advantages are: according to (Oikos, 2009), “It enables tourist to discover local habitats and wildlife, celebrate and respect traditional cultures, rituals and wisdom.”

The Cons: Some disadvantages of community based tourism are:

Less transportations

Less support in human resources and connection with marketing channels.

Lack awareness of tourist

Lack of skills

Less capital

Lack of recognition

4

Discussion:

There are different implications of community based tourism on the country both advantages and disadvantages. Tourism in the country can help build up the economy and the community has a huge impact on the visitors which helps to increase the revenues. According to (Master Plan For Sustainable Tourism Development, 1998), “The importance of this interaction is increasing as a result of the greater interesting contact with local people and their culture. Thus, physical assets are, by themselves, not sufficient to deliver a world class visitor experience. The host community must also be pleased to welcome tourists into their communities and take pride in the experience offered. This is why the WTO and other commentators insist that involving the community in the design (planning), development and management of the tourism experience is a necessary condition for the sustainable development of tourism.”

In Jamaica, the communities have played a role in the development of tourism. According to (Master Plan For Sustainable Tourism Development, 1998), “To ensure stronger community involvement in the planning, development and management of tourism in Jamaica, the Master Plan aims to strengthen the community presence on the Resort Boards and co-ordination between the Resort Boards, parish councils and Parish Development Committees (PDCs) established by the Social Development Commission (SDC). Ventures sponsored by or involving the community would be eligible for receiving finance on preferential terms and technical support from a Community Support Unit at TPDCO.

5

The Resort Boards would be made responsible for all aspects of the interface between the visitor and local people, including involving local organizations in the management of anti-harassment and the resort patrols.”

Community based tourism can uplift the citizens and show them a brighter future. According to (Master Plan For Sustainable Tourism Development, 1998), “Tourism has the potential to become a tool for economic and social uplifting of the people of Jamaica. If it can play such a role and that role is brought to the attention of the people of Jamaica, a far greater number would consider them as benefiting from the industry and so, hopefully, would be committed to the delivery of an excellent visitor experience. The Master Plan attempts to enable the tourism industry to play the role of providing the means to social and economic uplifting through a combination of improving the linkages between tourism and other industries, improving the opportunities for local people to sell goods and services to visitors and using tourism to make viable investments in civic facilities. It is planned also to make visible the impact that tourism has on social conditions by publicizing more widely the role it plays in developing civic facilities and strengthening the JTB’s educational programmed in schools.”

6

In order for Jamaica to exceed in the increase of tourism they have to improve most of their products which they know most tourists looks forward to buy. In agreement with (Master Plan For Sustainable Tourism Development, 1998), “Within the tourism industry, the share of underperforming sub-sectors such as small hotels, guest houses, villas and apartments, food and beverages, leisure and entertainment, sports and transport must be increased. Further afield, the linkages with arts and crafts, agriculture and small businesses generally need to be improved. Improving these linkages with other sectors would help also to increase the role played by tourism as a lead industrial sector in pulling through other sectors of the Jamaican economy and so its effect on economic development generally.”

Community based tourism would have a good impact on the country because first of all it plays a big role and if the CBT develop a good marketing objectives and strategies to get the information worldwide it will bring tourist to the country and not only the country will get a good review but the community as well and it will benefit from it and not only that but it would make tourist wants to explore and learn more about other places in the country.

7

Discussion on community based tourism is an alternative type of tourism that can be used to diversify the Jamaica Tourism Product and provide Jamaica with a competitive advantage.

The main elements of tourism product are: Accommodation, Transportation, attraction and tours, dining and entertainment and support services. So basically the community based tourism can help improve all areas because it plays a minor role in the country.

Community based tourism can join partnership with the Jamaica Tourism Product (JTP) and provide them with a variety of different communities with various beautiful attraction to be one of their main product of attraction, which will help them to increase their revenues and bring in more visitors which will be benefited to both. Each group will have to address and see what their weakness is, in both social and physical infrastructure.

Jamaica Tourism Product can provide the communities with transportation to and from the accommodation and also give the visitors a tour of each community which can be included in the all inclusive package. Working together can both be a good thing for the country because it will increase the economy by number of visitors that comes into the country and it will also give the country a good name and good reviews.

8

Community Based Tourism and Jamaica Tourism Product can provide Jamaica with a competitive advantage. Basically each group would have a major development in all the areas that tourists love the most and by working well in their areas, finding ways to make each visit more differently and interesting and also by improving, making it better and better throughout each year there will be a increase in economy.

Each group competing against each other would be a big impact on Jamaica and everyone will benefit from what they are doing.

9

TASK 3

Some impacts of Technology on the development of travel and tourism industry.

Technology has a lot of impact on travel and tourism industry. It helps to make work a lot easier and much faster. According to (Youell, 2012), “Developments in technology in jet aircraft and computer technology have contributed to the growth in domestic and international travel and tourism. Technological factors travel and tourism has always been an industry that has made extensive use of new technology equipment. Central reservation system (CRS), the use of computers in travel agencies and sophisticated databases for marketing purposes are now ordinary. Increase in competition within the industry will force organizations to use new technology to the full. New developments in transportation make extensive use of new technology, for example the Channel Tunnel, the advances in aircraft design and opening up new

long-haul destinations.”

Technology has made it possible for people to accomplish multiple tasks within a time period and it has also brought advancement in many economic and business sectors which include travel and tourism industry.

10

Technology in the travel and tourism industry makes things more advanced, professional, less work and makes things run much faster. According to (The impact of technology on tourism, 2012), “The tourism industry is one of the most relevant examples in the context of a changing global environment. The pace of this change has most likely been set by the rapid technological advancements. Some of these new technologies have been integrated in tourism operations. The most eloquent example in this sense is the emergence of the internet, which led to reduced costs and increased operational efficiency within the tourism agencies and airports. Aside the internet, other major technologies that supported the continuous growth of the tourism industry are those implemented by transportation, which became safer, quicker and more pleasing. Finally, the technological implementations within tourism operations have led to modifications in working habits and have also generated an increased demand for labor force, implying as such that educational institutions place more emphasis on teaching tourism.”

So basically technology has a serious impact on travel and tourism it makes every aspect of completing daily task a lot easier and it also helps to develop the country. Without technology things would be slower and visitors wouldn’t be able to book online if wanting to visit other country and that would be more work for hotel employees and it wouldn’t make us citizens be aware of what is going on in the country. So having technology in both travel and tourism is major impact without it maybe we would have to get things done in a slower pace.

11

CONCLUSION

I have concluded that good quality service in both the hospitality and other business industries have a positive impact on the country. A first impression determines how a guest will enjoy their stay and must always treat visitors like how we would want to be treated.

Good quality service will keep customers and tourists coming back and it will also leave an excellent review of the business which will make others want to come to the country or firm. Service delivery in hospitality industry and other businesses are different in some extend for example in the hospitality industry some of their services can only be delivered within the organization while for some others their services can be delivered outside of the firm/organization.

I also concluded that community based tourism plays a major role in a country and both can benefit from it. It also uplift the residents in the communities by earning income as land managers, entrepreneurs, service and produce providers, and employees.

Technology is a major impact in the travel and tourism industry it makes work much easier and faster. It creates less confusion and helps to develop the industry in a more professional way.

12

Tourism is defined as the travel for recreational, leisure or business (Wikipedia).These people who travel are known as tourists, back in 1936 the League Of Nations (LON) defined Tourist as someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours. However, the United Nations rectified this definition in 1945, by adding a maximum stay of six months on the former definition. Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries and one of its fastest growing economic sectors. It has battalion of effects, both positive and negative, on people’s lives and on the environment.

For the past few decades, tourism has been growing very fast and according to the forecasts its going to be even faster in Asia and the pacific being the main continents which are promising to be the most important tourism destination of the world by 2020 because of its cultural heritage meaning that Pacific- Asia is the birth place of all the religions. The question would be, what does the religion have to do with tourism? Well one of the main significants of tourism industry is to see and learn other people’s culture from different parts of the world, which therefore gives an extra credit to Pacific- Asia. Domestically cultural heritage stimulates national pride in one’s history whilst internationally it stimulates respect and understanding of other cultures.

Tourism is made up of different forms; these forms are classified by typical features of spending time in the destination.

Domestic tourism- is the traveling of people within the country

inbound tourism – this is when non- resident traveling within the country

outbound tourism – involves residents visiting another country

internal tourism – basically a combination of inbound and outbound tourism

national tourism – involves the combination of domestic and outbound tourism

Malaysia in brief

Ever since independence in 1957, Malaysia has been a country of a progressive multi racial society. The political system is based on parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a Federal Government structure, comprising 14 states. The constitution and parliamentary system is almost similar to the British Westminster model, except the members of Local Governments are appointed by the ruling parties at Federal and State levels. The location of both Peninsular Malaysia, and Sabah and Sarawak (in Borneo) lies entirely in the equatorial zone.

The climate is governed by the regime of the north-east and south-west monsoons which blow alternately during the course of the year. The average temperature throughout the year is 26°C with diurnal temperature range is about 7°C. Annual rainfall is about 2500 mm with high humidity (80%) due to the high temperature and rate of evaporation. In the year 2000 the population was around 22 million.

Under the Malaysia constitution, travel and tourism are concurrent matters in which both the Federal and State Government have responsibilities. However under the Ministry there is an agency which is directly in charge of promoting tourism in Malaysia. The agency is known as the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB), which was formerly known as the Tourist Development Cooperation of Malaysia (TDC) which will be touched on later in this article.

Tourism development in Malaysia

Lying just north of the equator, with more than one thousand islands found there, not forgetting the marine parks and rainforests all filled with beautiful birds and wildlife. It is in this country again where people talk about golden beaches, ever green vegetation, mountains and unforgettable shopping malls. All these can only be found in Malaysia; in general this country is a fascinating place to be.

According to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Malaysia, before 1970 tourism was just an idle, it was not regarded as an important economic activity. It all then started in the 70s when the old Tourism Department of 1959 was developed or redefined to Tourism Development Corporation (TDC). It was officially formed in 1972 under the Ministry of Trade Industry (MITI) and was given a responsibility of acting as an authority development but with very low precedence therefore tourism sector did not really develop in Malaysia comparing it with other countries like Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. It was during this same year when Malaysian Airlines was formed too, this took the country’s economy by surprise a combination of MA and TDC led to the world tourism map. However, in the 80s the industry started increasing rapidly because of certain changes that took place in Malaysia, the increase of personal income, leisure time, and improvement in international transportation systems and finally the greater public awareness of other parts of the world due to the improvement in communications. The above mentioned developments gave a clear view to the Malaysian government that Tourism can play a big role in its economy and social development so as a result; it decided to promise to accomplish a series of positive initiatives to stimulate the development of the tourism sector. These include the following:

(a) The government established the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (which became the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism in 1990). This provided an institutional framework for the planning, coordination, and regulation of tourism and for the first time tourism was accounted for within the framework of recognized economic activities;

(b) By virtue of the Tourism Industry Act of 1992 and the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Act of 1992, the new Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism took over from TOC the function of formulation and implementation of policies, licensing and enforcement aspects of the tourism industry. TOC thereafter became known as the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (or Tourism Malaysia for short), with a role concentrated on marketing and promotion;

(c) The Investment Incentives Act was revised in 1986 to include the tourism sector, thereby giving additional stimulus to tourism investment, such as the Pioneer Status Investment Tax Allowance, Industrial Building Allowances, and tax exemption for large foreign group tours;

(d)The Investment Incentives Act was revised in 1986 to include the tourism sector, thereby giving additional stimulus to tourism investment, such as the Pioneer Status Investment Tax Allowance, Industrial Building Allowances, and tax exemption for large foreign group tours; In 1990, the federal government set up a Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 120 million special fund for tourism to stimulate its development, including small and medium scale enterprise.

Malaysia’s government is now focusing more than ever on its Tourism Industry for example through developing its tourist’s attraction like developing the island destinations. In addition Tourism is the second foreign exchange earner in Malaysia after manufacturing so the government does its best to stimulate this. Moreover in 2006 Malaysia was voted one of the top five popular outbound destinations out of hundred countries.

Malaysia’s reputation for tourism has been growing in the last years, travelers look for more beachfront resorts; they are turning to Malaysia’s beautiful coast. However that’s not the only way tourism is growing. Malaysia has become a hot destination for medical tourists in South East Asia, tourists seeking for cheaper prices on medicals, treatments, and drugs. Moreover, countries like Malaysia are beginning to protect their cultural heritage in order to increase tourism to traditional festivals and celebrations. Tourism in Malaysia can be divided into different sub sections which perform various activities but under the umbrella of the same tourism. Tourism activities can be divided into :

Education tourism: Malaysia school atmosphere is well known for its uniqueness and social interaction of different groups, as the number of institutions increase due to the help of foreign colleges and universities so did the foundation of the tourism industry. Curently over 50 000 foreign students are in Malaysia. In addition, this type of industry is not aiming to target students only but also their families for example when they come to visit their children then that means they will also get an opportunity to spend their holidays touring around Malaysia.

Medical tourism : health tourism existed long before during the eighteenth century. This tourism is associated with the following, spas, places with health-giving mineral waters, treating diseases from gout to liver disorders and bronchitis. Doctors have highlighted the benefits of bathing in sea water, and sea bathing, even this has become a part of health tourism. In Malaysia it was firstly introduced in 1999, known as the Medical Health Sector. It has become popular for its safe and mostly affordable medicine which therefore has attracted so many people around the world.

Tourism at the Festival: The calendar of Malaysia is made up of a number of festivals. Hari Raya Puasa is a Muslim feast to celebrate the ending of the holy month of Ramadan. The Festival of San Pedro occurs in mid summer on June 25th. This festival is a celebration of fishing and the great role fishing has place in Malaysian culture. The fishing boats are decorated in brilliant colors and then blessed and a prayer said for a better year of fishing in the year to come. In August and September, Malaysians celebrate the Chinese Mooncake Festival, commemorating the defeat of the Mongols in the fourteenth century. On the evening of the festival, celebrants pour out into the streets to watch a beautiful procession of colored lanterns. The other delight of the festival is the mooncake itself, a sweet round cake of nut paste, red beans, and egg yolk. From such diverse traditions, the Malaysians throw celebrations that draw tourists from all over the world (http://www.travels.com).

Adventure and Beach tourism: The world’s most attractive beaches are found in the south east of Asia. Beaches in Malaysia attract so many tourists because of its soft powdery sand and sun; however the jet-skiing and the excursions in banana boats also play a big role in drawing the tension of tourists. Adventure tourism involves Malaysia’s wild jungles, volcanic peaks and national parks. For example Taman Negara, chasing orangutans near Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo or searching out Malaysia’s very own legendary Bigfoot in Endau-Rompin National Park (http://www.ehow.com).

Stakeholder analysis

Firstly stakeholders mean any individual or group who has interest in a program and they can have either positive or negative impacts on the company’s oor organisation’s actions. Stakeholders can be devided into three types which are , primary stakeholders secondary stakeholders and key stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are those who are extremely affected, either positively or negatively by the organization’s actions. Secondary stakeholders are the intermediaries; these are the people who are indirectly affected by organization’s actions. Key stakeholders can belong to the above mentioned two types of stakeholders, there are very important within an organization. The stakeholder analysis given below provides a generic overview of the possible stakeholders in Tourism industry.

Service providers

Service providers encompass a group of diverse stakeholders engaged in public or private market-oriented activities of service provision. These include travel agency which acts as a business, that sells travel related products and services to customers, suppliers such as providers and companies involved in transport and communication for example, airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, sightseeing tours and package holidays. In addition the travel agent is supposed to be biased free when giving an advice of traveling to the tourists. Moreover traveling agency which indirectly has an impact in all the above mentioned services provider can help drive tourism industry forward by adopting good environment and hospitality practices, innovation and encouraging political representatives to support the development of industry.

Non-gorvernmental organizations

These organizations provide information and raise awareness. They also often advise the industry on the use of the environment and suport it for example through, financiing and institutions.

Developers and investors

Developers and investors from either the private or public sectors may initiate the development of the industry. The decision of developers and investors to introduce systems for the safe use of environment often tightly related to the sustainability entire progams

Financial institutions

The introduction of new infrastructure generally requires that the investment and operation costs be secured.

Research institutions

These may be universities or other research-oriented institutions or organizations that can provide evidence and advice to program initiators, developers, municipalities and non-governmental organizations.

9 International organizations

International organizations can ensure that external funds for tourism are bundled with appropriate environmental promotion and environment marketing activities; encourage governments to consider appropriate cheaper and more sustainable services; finance local tourism research; develop guidance and tools for facilitation good practice; disseminate information; actively endorse the idea of flexible technical norms and standards to allow for innovation and finally to facilitate safe use and resource efficiency.

PEST Analysis

In the book KERALAS Economic Development – Performance and Problems in the Post-Liberalization Period by B. A. Prakash, there is an article on Tourism Development in Kerala by Nalini Netto which says that Kerala has emerged as an undisputed tourism hotspot of India with its catchy promotional logo “God’s Own Country”. National Geographic Traveler, in a landmark issue in 2000, rated Kerala in ‘Paradise Found’ category. Ever since the govt. of India declared tourism as an industry in 1986 and Kerala was the first state to declare so, Kerala is doing aggressive marketing of tourism product by establishing “Tourism Mart” in Kochi which has its links with national and global tourism bodies like South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange, Travel Agent Association of India (TAAI), Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) etc.

Government of Kerala is also playing role of facilitator and regulator for the prosperity and growth of the tourism sector by encouraging private participations in the sector. Government is providing subsidy of 10 percent on capital investment in the sector subject to maximum 10 Lakh with additional subsidy of 15 percent on the investment in pollution control facilities and equipment.

Kerala with 600 Km coast line offers one of the best beaches in India. Western Ghats provide few finest hill stations for summer resort. Rich ecological forest, wild life reserves and backwaters provide a full eye soothing natural beauty to the state. Ayurveda, the health tourism product is another USP of Kerala Tourism due to abundance of herbs and medicinal plants.

The earnings from tourism in the state in 2001 were estimated to be Rs. 535 crore. This book also emphasizes that this sector still has unused potential which if utilized in an environmentally conscious way can generate more revenue for the state and the country.

[2]

In the book on “Tourism Marketing” by “Devahish Dasgupta” in the chapter of “Destination Branding: Building Brand Equity” a case study is presented on “Measuring Brand Performance -A Kerala Survey” in which analysis of the survey on the brand performance of Kerala is given which was conducted in India and abroad, featuring countries such as Spain, France, Denmark, Italy, Belgium and other countries. People, who have not visited Kerala before, responded that they came to know about the state by ‘word of mouth’ and wanted to visit. People, who had already visited Kerala expressed that they had a memorable experience in Kerala. This case study talked about effective marketing strategies to undertake market research to indentify and assemble a highly attractive product should be developed to differentiate from competing tourist destinations. More emphasis is given to Tourist-centric products and issues relating to price, security, health, safety and quality should be studied. It says that failure to build and sustain destination brand equity or the value of brand in the minds of potential visitors and investor, can lead to economic decline.

[3]

Article by E T N, Global Travel Industry News “Tourism is contributor to The Growth of The Economy” The Tourism Minister Kumari Selja has said that development of infrastructure holds the key to the growth of tourism and that is why the Government is investing heavily for integrated development of the Infrastructure Sector. She said that Tourism Sector, with 9.24% share of employment, accords a perfect opportunity to translate our vision of inclusive growth to reality.

[4]

In an essay written on “Medical Tourism in India: Progress or Predicament?” by Sunita Reddy and Imrana Qadeer, it is estimated that the size of the medical tourism market in the country will be Rs 1, 95,000 crore in 2012. The essay also examines the implications of medical tourism for general medical care and how such policy shifts distort health systems. This analysis raises questions of accessibility, affordability, and ethics in medical care, and asks if it is sensible to promote medical tourism in a democratic welfare state, with poor public healthcare facilities for the masses.

[5]

Contentious and contradictions of tourism as development option : a case of Kerala, India

by T T Sreekumar, Govindan Parayil

The projected picture of an emerging vitality in the tourism sector in Kerala stands in stark contrast to the general scenario of the poor performance of the tourism industry in India, as well as in South Asia in general. This paper takes a closer look at this scenario by placing Kerala’s performance against the larger backdrop of tourism dynamics as experienced in Third World countries in general and South Asia in particular. It shows that no effort has been made so far to assess the environmental sustain-ability of keeping tourism as a high-growth option, given the fragile nature of Kerala’s environment and the carrying capacity of the major tourist destinations.

It further reveals that the increasing comparative advantage of developing countries has not yet resulted in any significant rise in their share in global tourism arrivals and receipts and the regions which are able to grab the lion’s share of tourism arrivals and receipts are the economically advanced ones. In India’s case, the fact that tourism contributes to 6.9% of its total export earnings is not an insignificant point and Kerala tourism sector’s share in the State Domestic Product (SDP) remains at less than 1 % even after a decade of concerted efforts to boost the tourism industry. The belief that tourism has become ‘an engine of growth’ in Kerala is hence unfounded. Tourism is making only a marginal contribution to the local economy, its harmful impacts on the ecology of the region are becoming increas-ingly visible

[6]

Kerala: Exploring Future Frontiers in Tourism Development by Dept. of tourism, Kerala

This book talks about the possibilities and problems for tourism in Kerala. A fully literate population and astonishing geographical diversity full of beaches, backwaters, wildlife sanctuaries and evergreen forests in the smallest area possible, are factors that helps Kerala transform into an Important tourist state in India.

On the other hand, high density of population, consequent non availability of land, lack of professional training and distance from the important cities of India are all negative factors which constraint its overall growth as a tourism destination.

[7]

Reinventing Kerala : A success story by R. Krishnakumar

This article discusses about a series of innovative concepts and projects developed by the state to reinvigorate the State’s tourism sector without diluting its commitment to conserve nature. It is “multi-destination tourism” at its best, offering a multitude of variegated experiences and attractions within a relatively small area, luring tourists into staying longer and spending more. In order to attract foreign tourists new tourism concepts such as monsoon tourism, medical tourism, adventure tourism, heritage tourism, pilgrimage tourism, eco tourism, and farm tourism are being developed and popularized. In order to encourage more private sector investment and to conserve nature, a number of Special Tourism Zones are to be identified and developed under the purview of the Kerala Tourism (Conservation and Preservation of Areas) Act, 2005, which envisages the conservation, preservation and integrated development of such areas. Unexplored or lesser-known areas, especially in the Malabar region, traditional skills, handicrafts, art forms, and new tourism products are to be developed and marketed to sustain tourist interest. With new initiatives in providing better infrastructure and trained human resource, Kerala tourism is putting all its efforts with the slogan of vision 2025: “Conserve Nature and Culture and Promote Tourism” in order to achieve sustainable growth.

[8]

Tourist arrivals in India: how important are domestic disorders? by Dhariwal, Richa

India, with its rich natural beauty, is unquestionably a destination that should promote tourism and it has taken various measures to do this, but the tourism potential of the country has still not been maximized. In the past few years, Indian tourism industry is significantly contributing to the nation’s gross domestic product, foreign exchange earnings and employment. This paper analyses the determinants of international tourist arrivals in India using annual data from 1966 to 2000 and the results show that sociopolitical factors – communalism, terrorism and tensions with Pakistan – constitute serious threats to the tourism industry, limiting the gains that could otherwise have been realized.

Methodology
Quantitative Methods

To address the research question we will try to answer some related issues and objectives using quantitative methods as illustrated below:

Objective 1: To determine whether there is any change in the volume of inbound tourists over the years and what can be the expected projections in the arrival and the growth rate.

We will collect data from Kerala Tourism department and will conduct a regression analysis in order to estimate the volume of tourism in the future. This would let us know the importance of the need to boost tourism both domestic and international through promotions.

Objective 2: Is there any trend of decline in no. of International tourists arriving to the state.

Our hypothesis would be as follows:

Null Hypothesis: Number of tourists to Kerala does not decrease

Alternate Hypothesis: Number of tourists to Kerala decreases

From the simple linear regression we will find out if the prediction for tourists for the forthcoming years or increases with a certain percentage (95%) of confidence level.

Objective 3: What is currently the volume of domestic tourists to the state, and what are the projections one can expect without any additional focused marketing efforts. (maintaining the current level of activity)

We will obtain the information about the month wise domestic tourists’ arrival from the Kerala state department personals and website. We will plot the seasonal pattern seen in the inflow of tourists for any two years. After doing a regression on the obtained statistics, we can get the results for domestic tourists’ inflow annually

Data Collection
Questionnaires:

A questionnaire was designed to target tourists in and around major tourist spots in Kozhikode like Kappad Beach. Specific questions were asked in order to get the true picture of the situation and help to segment the data. For segmentation, we will use Cluster analysis on the set of data collected by the questionnaire. The questionnaire will try to focus on the interest of the tourists regarding the purpose of their visits, transportation mode convenient to them and their future plans to revisit the tourist destinations. Questionnaire we will be using is attached in the Appendix A.

Focus Group Discussion:

We will conduct a focus group discussion of about 10 people. These are students of IIM Kozhikode with keen interest in touring. These people want their vacations to be fun-filled, relaxing and rejuvenating, especially an escape from the hectic schedules and work stress. Demographically also they are similar with almost same age group and similar incomes. Moderator will ask them the questions about on what parameters they judge a tourist spot and regarding their opinions about the service and infrastructure facilities in the tourist spots they visited. Focus Group Discussion details are included in the Appendix B

Qualitative Methods

Since it is difficult to go far off places in kerala, we will be using the “observation method” in the qualitative method to be congruent with the research question. Data will be collected from the major tourist agencies, national tourism sites and state tourism centre which would help us analyse qualitatively the number of tourist that are visiting Kerala year after year. In case of survey regarding the tourist, the type of measurement scale used will depend on individual questions in the questionnaire. For example, to determine the major tourism places in kerala.

Scaling is a method of changing attributes (a series of qualitative facts) into variables (a quantitative series). Ordinal scale will fit better for the purpose. For collecting data on the tourist preference, we will be using Likert scale to measure the responses. It will be used to determine the attitude of the tourist coming to India.

Analysis
Objective 1: To determine whether there is any change in the volume of inbound international tourists and what can be the expected projections in arrivals and growth rate

Using the foreign tourist inflow data from Kerala Tourism department, we carried out a regression analysis in order to estimate the volume of international tourism in the near future. This would let us know the importance of the need to supplement domestic tourists with international tourists. The figures of the number of foreign tourists and the variance as compared to the previous year are shown in the table below:-

YEAR
Foreign Tourists
Growth

2000

209933

3.8

2001

208830

-0.5

2002

232564

11.3

2003

294621

26.7

2004

345546

17.3

2005

346499

0.27

2006

428534

23.7

2007

515808

20.37

2008

598929

16.11

2009

549756

-8.2

From SPSS analysis for the above collected data.

From Above SPSS Model, Eqn. will be

Y= 46110*X + 119502

Here Y= No of Foreign Tourists in a particular year

X=Year (we have taken value of x for year 2000 as 1 and subsequently for next year.)

Using the above regression model we can predict the international tourists for the next five years as shown in following table.

YEAR
EXPECTED FOREIGN TOURISTS
EXPECTED GROWTH (%)

2010

626712

13.99821

2011

672822

7.3574465

2012

718932

6.8532242

2013

765042

6.4136803

2014

811152

6.0271201

Objective 2: Is there any trend of decline in no. of International tourists arriving to the state.

In order to find out the above objective we use hypothesis testing

Null Hypothesis: Number of international tourists to Kerala is not decreasing.

Alternate Hypothesis: Number of international tourists to Kerala is decreasing.

From the simple linear regression we can see that the prediction for international tourists for the forthcoming years seem to decrease with 95% confidence and hence we accept the null hypothesis i.e. No. of international tourists to Kerala is not decreasing.

Objective 3: What is currently the volume of domestic tourists to the state, and what are the projections one can expect without any additional focused marketing efforts. (maintaining the current level of activity)

We obtained the information about the domestic tourists from the Kerala state department. The figures are as follows:

Year
Domestic Tourists
Growth

2000

5013221

2.6

2001

5329692

4.5

2002

5568256

6.3

2003

5871228

5.4

2004

5972182

1.7

2005

5946423

-0.43

2006

6271724

5.47

2007

6642941

5.91

2008

7591250

14.27

2009

7789056

2.6

From Above SPSS Model, Eqn. will be

Y= 287046*X + 4621000

Here Y= No of Domestic Tourists in a particular year

X=Year (we have taken value of x for year 2000 as 1 and subsequently for next year.)

Using the above regression model we can predict the international tourists for the next five years as shown in following table.

YEAR
EXPECTED DOMESTIC TOURISTS
EXPECTED GROWTH(%)

2010

7778506

-0.1

2011

8065552

3.7

2012

8352598

3.6

2013

8639644

3.4

2014

8926690

3.3

Secondary data Collection:

In order to obtain data, we took the help of online search for tourism data. We found that the number of tourists has been increasing. But the growth rate could have been more. The characteristics of the tourists have been seen to be urban based. They are young and employed.

Primary Data collection:

A questionnaire was designed to target specific groups of people in 4 Metros (Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi and Chennai) who are in job and also students of IIM Kozhikode. Specific questions were asked in order to get the true picture of the situation and help us to segment the data. Around 36 responses were obtained without missing values. The rest were separated out.

Initially, we looked at 10 different attributes i.e. Shopping, Historical Importance, Weather, Hospitality, Relaxation, Connectivity, Events, Adventure, Proximity and Value for money. Respondents to the questionnaire were asked about their opinion regarding the attribute importance for any destination. Then we went on to do a Factor analysis to identify the most significant factors and their correlations. Using principle component analysis, we came down to following four significant factors.

Factor 1-Characteristic culture: Hospitality, connectivity and adventure

Factor 2-Costliness: Value for money (positive correlation), Events, proximity

Factor 3-Climatic conditions: Weather, relaxation

Factor 4-Historical significance: Historical Importance, Negatively related with Value for money

Component Score Coefficient Matrx
Compoent

1

2

3

4

Shopping

0.212

0.246

-0.039

0.241

Historical_Importance

0.015

-0.002

-0.033

0.656

Weather

-0.208

-0.024

0.578

0.267

Hospitality

0.343

0.033

0.145

-0.022

Relaxation

0.079

-0.128

0.582

-0.18

Connectivity

0.335

0.053

-0.081

-0.086

Events

0.098

0.406

-0.166

0.021

Adventure

-0.389

0.231

0.184

-0.187

Proximity

-0.174

0.354

-0.108

0.143

Value_for_money

0.011

0.323

0.163

-0.351

For further segmentation, we used Cluster analysis on the set of data collected by the online questionnaire. The cluster variables were based on the demographics like income, age, employment status.

Using Hierarchical clustering and between group linkage procedure, we looked at the coefficients in the agglomeration schedule and the dendogram to reach a cluster of size 2 and 3. Next we also looked at the frequency distributions in order to decide if the clusters are large enough. Finally, we arrived at 2 clusters.

Cluster 1
Values
Implication

Mean employment

2.583

Post graduate and employee people

Mean geographical location

1.655

North and South Indians

Mean Marital status

1

single

Age group

1.172

18-25 years

Income

2.414

between 5-10 lacs

Cluster 2
Values
Implication

Mean employment

2.571

No differentiation

Mean geographical location

3.428

West and East Indians

Mean Marital status

1.428

married and single

Age group

1.571

18-25 years

Income

2.143

between 5-10 lacs

Analysis of the competition with other states:

We considered the major tourist hotspots in India like Goa, Andaman & Nicobar, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and the North-East to form an idea about the attributes that differentiate them. Using Multidimensional scaling we obtained the perceptual mapping of the states in terms of 4 different dimensions in two plots.

As we can see from the above plot, Kerala has a distinct image

If we look at crowd, Kerala and Goa are pretty similar. They pull decent number of similar kind of crowds to their destinations.

Other attributes: Cost and connectivity, Andaman Nicobar and Lakhswadeep are different from Kerala in these two aspects.

The plot below shows the Euclidean distance as observed from the dissimilarity matrix.

The second MDS process was run to compare on other attributes like beaches, hillstations, and other location characteristics.

The chart is shown in the following plot.

Results-

aˆ? It was found that Kerala differs in historical significance from Rajasthan

aˆ? In terms of scenic beauty Kerala is high up against Goa and the North-East

Conclusion-

Most people view Kerala to be a place of scenic beauty constituted by the Backwaters, beaches and Hills.

From the above analysis, we can say that Kerala has a distinct competitive edge over other states and should capitalize on it by promoting its strengths. Kerala should look into the specific segments and target the young and fresh in jobs people.

Media for Kerala:

The awareness about Kerala was high and Internet and friends were the highest contributors. The plot below shows the results of the research (questionnaire). Internet and word-of-mouth spread of news constitute over half of the publicity Kerala receives.

Recommendations

Based on the findings we suggest the following communication strategy:

aˆ? More Media campaign should be there to highlight Kerala’s distinct image.

aˆ? Internet should be used a powerful Communication channels

aˆ? More focus should be on the North and South urban centers.

aˆ? Leverage on existing customers to get new ones

Introduction

Dubai is a member country of the Middle East region. The whole of this region generally attracts few tourists thanks to political turmoil which over the decades have generated tensions and uncertainties not only in the region but also in the whole world. Some other hindrances to effective tourism development in the region include lack of poor state of infrastructural development, limited promotion and lack of attractions. In spite of all these setbacks, Dubai has however managed to see a flourishing tourism industry save for its tourism policies. The authorities in the country have managed to implement sound economic diversification programmes which together with extensive marketing have resulted in a booming tourism industry. Dubai has heavily invested in expensive state of the art facilities, undertaken deep marketing and these has resulted in the growth of her tourism. Her future expectations are very high as reflected by the setting of sky rocketing arrival targets. Actually Dubai has demonstrated a capability to overcome the challenges faced by the tourism industry and has established itself as an authority in the industry with a very high growth rate. This therefore makes Dubai an interesting example of a booming Middle East centre for tourism that is fast creating new and more opportunities and realizing its full potential.

This notwithstanding, there are some constraints that which may inhibit the potentiality of Dubai’s tourism industry to be achieved. These factors call for review of policies and strategies.

Destination development is a key factor in tourism literature and research approaches this theme from various disciplines and perspectives. These perspectives are;

Government policies.
Destination’s spatial evolution
Business strategies and marketing
Development impacts

A critical analysis of these factors helps indicate whether a place considered for resort is likely to grow into a major tourism hub or not. For the case of Dubai, tourism has progressed very well over the last three decades and the figures below affirm to this:

Factors central to tourism development in Dubai

Socio- Political Stability

Unlike most of its neighbors Dubai has enjoyed relative calmness over the centuries. Being stable in terms of economics, political and social domains is very important in ensuring smooth development of tourism. This is because disturbances scare away investors as well as tourists and the whole industry as tour operators and agents are discouraged. Dubai being one of the federations of the United Arabian Emirates has lived to the true spirit of the federation. Proceeds from sale of oil have enabled Abu Dhabi to finance the federation

Thereby improving the standards of living and providing security. The rest of the emirates, in return provide Abu Dhabi with some strength both geographically and demographically. Over the years there has been an uninterrupted political stability in Dubai together with economic prosperity. Dubai enjoys autonomy in making of economic policies although it has to support other emirates in such matters as defense and foreign relations.

Regionally, Dubai acts as an entrepot and promotes herself as the Gulf’s financial nexus.

Globally, Dubai is viewed as a liberal cosmopolitan society with almost nil threats of crimes and civil unrest. Dubai is a Muslim state in which women are traditionally inferior to men yet other religions are tolerated. More than 80% of her population is entirely made up of expatriates.

Government tourism policy

Tourism can only thrive in areas where the political systems clearly define the economic policies in a manner that is consistent with the revolutionary needs of the ever growing tourism industry. The semi- autonomous government of Dubai has been actively involved in initiating sound policies geared towards improving its tourism industry.

The federal authorities have identified tourism as a major economic pillar. Accordingly, the government has heavily invested in infrastructure. Pressured by the spirit of the federation policies, Dubai has made significant improvement in her investment in tourism.

Interest in tourism grew against a background of decrease in oil production and the need for diversification of economic activities. Dubai positioned tourism at the centre of this diversification programme together with construction, real estate, media and financial trading.

Dubai has also engaged the services of international advisers and external consultants to help in preparation of strategies to be adopted in improving the growth of the industry. All these measures have seen Dubai earn a reputation of being a tourism hub in the Middle East.

Accessibility

Tourism development in Dubai is closely linked to its advances in the transport sector and its accessibility to the outside world. Dubai has clear ambitions of being a major focus in the air transport in the whole region and to this effect the Dubai authorities are putting in place the necessary infrastructural facilities. Dubai’s civil aviation has progressed quite well and its airport is among the top twenty busiest in the world as measured by the passenger volume. Between 1990 and 2004, about 20 million passengers were carried by 100 airlines serving operating between 145 different destinations.

The Dubai airport is expected to handle about one forty million passengers in the next few years. In addition the Dubai government is preparing for a new airport so as to carter for increased freights. The Emirates airline is internationally reputed to offer the most excellent services in the region. Some of her planes are the most technologically sophisticated in the world and has won awards and recognition for good customer services. Dubai boasts of the world’s longest fully automated railway system stretching a distance of 43 miles and serving 47 stations. This project is made up of twelve elevated stations, nine kilometers of an underground truck, and an overground truck stretching fifteen kilometres. An upcoming project is on the way to construct a 1500 railway line. This proposed line will connect Dubai to Oman, Saudi Arabia Qatar and the other emirates. Again Dubai is one of the emirates that provide a hub for large cruise ships.

Attractions

Dubai has a rich attraction centre on its 64 kilometres long coast line. This magnificent coastline boasts of several high ranking tourist resort centres boasting of such important tourist activities as sailing, skiing, surfing, fishing, bird watching and golfing.

The desert provides tourists with magnificent excursions for camel riding, sand skiing, dune driving, exploration of wadis and visits to selected oases and forts. Dubai city also has an extensive network of shopping malls where world varieties are readily stocked. The industrial development of the city has in the recent past attracted large hordes of investors who also double as tourists. Elegant sky scrappers are a common view in Dubai which has greatly added to the scenic beauty of the city.

Well designed road networks with underground tunnels as well as over ground networks have gone a long way in eradicating traffic jams which is a common menace in several countries thereby ensuring smooth flow of traffic. Tourists no longer have to spend too much time in the city waiting for traffic jams to recede as was the case a few years ago.

Amenities

The essential amenities required by tourists are chiefly the accommodation. In Dubai the development of hotel industry is a top government agenda. Hotel rooms have more than doubled in the past decade and the number is fast increasing. Currently there are about three hundred hotels with well equipped recreational facilities. Development of hospitality is largely due to the relaxation of land leasing rules and several five-star properties are expected very soon. Among this is a hydropolis hotel constructed up to twenty meters under water.

Review

Potential challenges.

The emergence of Dubai as a major tourist centre is largely due to the prevailing economic, socio-cultural, political and historical structures which have shaped the tourism growth. This development has been driven by strong government policies which are geared towards reshaping of economic policies for sound development. Dubai actually has pursued a strategy of heavy expenditure and intervention geared towards attainment of tourism’s future goals. Internal peace and stability prevailing in Dubai and the neighboring countries has helped a lot to boost tourism activity. This is because the political stability has enabled foreign investors to consider venturing in Dubai in such areas as transport, accommodation and attraction. Vigorous marketing of the tourism industry has assisted in elimination of original inefficiencies and barriers to effective tourism development.

By undertaking proper strategic policies, Dubai has been able to surmount the setbacks which are hampering new upcoming tourism destinations. Given the potential setbacks, there are some doubts as to whether Dubai’s long term vision of becoming the world’s chief tourism hub will be met.

One major setback is lack of political stability in the Middle East region. Political turmoil in such countries as Iraq and Afghanistan have reportedly spilled over to neighboring countries and Dubai is never immune to these. Terrorists have of late found flesh grounds for unveiling terror against the West in moderate countries such as Dubai.

Elimination of tourism from the Middle East is a key step towards the realization of Dubai’s tourism vision. Any act of terrorism will have far reaching effects in Dubai’s economy and the tourism industry in particular.

Another impediment to tourism development is lack of enough land for expansion. Dubai’s geographical size is a natural limitation to its development. Progressive growth of the city requires more and more land for expansion. However, this cannot be achieved in Dubai where land prices are skyrocketing while the available facilities are not enough to meet the demands of modern tourism as necessitated by large numbers of tourists visiting Dubai annually.

Another challenge to growth of tourism in Dubai lies in her attractions and promotion. Dubai’s tourism inventory is scanty compared to its competitors in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Far East. Dubai has an extremely narrow collection of natural and cultural heritage. Concentration on beach activities and grand shopping malls has not done enough to secure the much envied pride.

For a period of less than 50 years Dubai has undergone a lot of industrial progress which has seen it rise to the status of an industrial power in the Middle East. This change is clearly evidenced in the economic, cultural and social development of Dubai. Contrary to major western countries where the industrialization process took a very long time, Dubai has undergone it in only relatively short time.

Tourism development in Dubai is still growing and it is important to bear in mind that there are several schemes that are not yet completed. The fulfillment of these schemes and the realization of their visions is the aim of the Dubai authorities. However these will depend on the availability of a favorable and reliable environment clear of uncertainties. Doubts have also been expressed concerning the feasibility of some of these visions. The demands of modern tourism have not yet been met in Dubai.

CONCLUSION

The study of tourism in Dubai shows how a small and relatively remote country with little natural attractions can become an internationally reputed tourist attraction centre. In Dubai potential weaknesses and threats have been turned into strengths and opportunities. The all year round hot weather and ugly desert landscape have been changed to provide modern needs of tourism. Technology has actually enabled the tourism industry to prevail regardless of the harsh weather conditions and some other geographic impediments. Economic prosperity has provided funds to support the expansion of the infrastructure upon which the tourism industry is pillared. This has seen speed growth of the air transport, modern railway lines and well developed communication infrastructure. The lavish metro-politan state founded on economic prosperity is a natural attraction for tourists. All these features have been tactfully marketed in such a manner that they have been able to lure tourists from all over the world to this small country which was until recently unknown to the outside world. All this has been achieved in spite of the general perception that the Middle East is a dangerous place unfit for tourists and investors. Dubai has considerably achieved some progress in negotiating the barriers that have for long impaired the development of tourism in the Middle East and areas beyond.

The achievements in Dubai are of interest to not only the rest of the emirates but also other tourist destination which aim at attaining the global recognition. However tourism development in Dubai is still ongoing and research is being done to monitor Dubai’s tourism evolution.

Important lessons can then be learnt from Dubai’s experience with tourism and the relevance of its tourism model can be assessed to ascertain their suitability in the context of other upcoming tourist destinations. The results of this will no doubt contribute to an increased understanding of the tourism industry which has largely been neglected in the Middle East due to misconceptions.