Category: Free Essays

Abstract

Research has shown that the marine and coral habitats within the Red Sea are being subjected to levels of damage from the effects of diving activities in the areas that cannot be sustained in the long term. With this area of tourism set to increase dramatically within the next decade, there is an urgent need for the industry stakeholders and environment organisations to work together to develop and implement sustainable diving tourism policies that will allow the marine eco-system to recover, or at least halt the current pace of degradation.

The research findings from this study show that there is a general willingness on the part of the diving consumer to accept the need for such protection policies. At present, this is not a position that is shared by all of the industry shareholders. This study highlights the fact that there is an urgent need for dive tourism stakeholders, irrespective of this individual goal, to work together in partnership in order to develop systems and policies that will preserve and protect the fascinating marine and coral life that exists beneath the Red Sea for the enjoyment of future generations.

Table of Contents (Jump to)

Abstract

Chapter 1 – Introduction

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Aims and Objectives

1.3 Overview

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Marine tourism environmental issue

2.3 Marine environment protection

2.4 Sustainable diving tourism

2.5 The Red Sea and diving tourism

2.6 Summary

Chapter 3 Methodology

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Choice of research method

3.3 The questionnaires and interviews

3.4 Performance of the research

Chapter 4 Research Findings

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Response to corporate questionnaire

4.3 Response to dive club questionnaire

Chapter 5 Analysis and discussion of findings

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Research findings

5.3 Discussion

Chapter 1 – Introduction
1.1 Introduction

As most academics acknowledge, including Brown (2000), Ryan and Page (2000) and Mowforth and Munt (2003), since the liberalisation of transport in the middle part of the last century, tourism has become the world’s fastest growing and largest industry. This is evidenced by the fact that over the past two and a half decades international tourist arrivals have grown by nearly threefold (Weaver 2005, p.2) and by 2020 this figure is expected to exceed 1.6 billion. As El-Adli and Bashandy (2003) rightly observe, globalisation and technological advances, which allowed international travel to become accessible to the masses, has been partially responsible for fuelling this growth pattern.

Initially, this expansion of tourism took the form of mass excursions, such as package tours with travellers flocking to the areas of beach, sea and sun, usually for a two week summer vacation. However, more recently an increasing number of tourists have become more discerning. Encouraged by media attention on exotic locations, the mass tourist sector has given way to the traveller seeking a new and more fulfilling experience, wanting to explore natural habitats that are foreign to their domestic experiences. As a result, due to the uniqueness of their climate and geographical position, the world’s developing countries have become the focus for those travellers who want to experience firsthand the wonders of nature and its exotic species of fauna and wildlife (Mowforth and Munt (2003, p.1).

One area of nature that has particularly attracted the attention of this new breed of tourist is the growing interest in experiencing the beauty of marine life in its natural setting. This has led to an explosion of diving tourism throughout many areas of the world, particularly the marine reef regions off the coasts of countries like Australia, the Caribbean and the Middle East, which boast some of the worlds most unusual and exotic species of underwater plants, fishes and marine life. For many thousands of people, diving in exotic locations throughout the world is a tourism experience that cannot be equalled by any other water sport or leisure activity, hence its increasing popularity.

Perhaps understandably, considering the recent increase in concerns about the damage that human activity is causing to the planet and its natural environment, it was not surprising that the explosion of marine tourism attracted the attention of environmentalists, concerned about whether the natural environment could survive the impact of this growth. This has led to a plethora of research studies during the past two decades seeking to assess the level of damage marine tourism is causing to the inhabitants of these natural environments. The consensus is that the present growth rate poses a real threat to marine life and that measures need to be adopted within the tourist industry that will reduce and reverse these risks (Weaver 2005). In other words diving tourism must move to adopt and implement a more sustainable policy.

In defining what is meant by sustainable tourism, McKercher (quoted in Ryan and Page 2000, p.157) provided the following explanation: –

“Sustainable tourism is defined as when tourism is sustainable, the natural and cultural resources and the environmental, social and economic well-being of an area are maintained forever.”

However, with the international tourism industry having effectively been given a “free reign to develop throughout the world” (El-Adli and Bashandy 2003, p.1), the difficulties being faced is how to resolve the conflicting demands of all the stakeholders within the marine destinations in order to reach agreement upon policies that will address the conflicts of over-use and environmental damage. As some academics remark, there are those who argue that the term sustainable cannot be applied to an industry that is seeing almost unparalleled growth and which, by its very nature, demands environmental damage as infrastructure is created to house these tourists (Wahab and Pigrim 1997, p.2). Others believe that it is imperative that new sustainable tourism products are designed to limit the environment damage being caused to marine destinations (Buhalis and Costa 2006, p.4). However, as these authors admit (ibid, p.230), the problem is how to resolve the dichotomy of creating products that meet tourists goals and ensure sustainable growth.

It is the issue of balancing the needs of the marine environment with those of the tourism industry, particularly as it relates to diving, that has prompted this research study. To provide a focus for this research it is intended to use the Red Sea area of the Middle East as a case study. The reason for this choice can be found in Sarha et al’s (2004, p.1) overview of the area, which can be summarised as follows: –

The Red Sea is one of the most important repositories
It has attracted a significant increase in tourist activity, particularly diving
Tourism accounts for 10% of Egypt’s GDP and 4% of employment
1.2 Aims and Objectives

With the concentration of this research being related to the Red Sea, the aim of the study is to identify the level of damage being caused to the marine environment within this destination and to evaluate the current level of sustainable measure that are being introduced to address these issues. From this evaluation the research will provide an assessment of the effectiveness of sustainable diving tourism in the region.

To assist in focusing upon and achieving the aims outlined above, the following objectives have been set for the research being conducted: –

Marine environment

To provide an overview of the marine environment, which will include an examination of the types and causes of the damage that is being done to this environment and the programmes designed to address this problem.

Diving Tourism

To provide a greater understanding of the attractions and component factors related to diving tourism, specifically its relationship to exotic locations. This will include an overview of the current standards that are applicable within this sector of the tourism industry

Sustainable tourism for the diving industry

To assess and evaluate the current sustainable programmes that are being recommended and introduced into diving tourism. The assessment will consider measures being considered by all stakeholders, including the diving industry, tour operators, destination managers and the international community.

In all of the above objectives particularly attention will be paid to their relationship to the Red Sea marine environment in the Middle East.

1.3 Overview

In chapter two a critical literature is undertaken, which is intended to focus upon the main issues that arise from the aims and objectives of the research question, namely the environmental impact of marine and coastal tourism. This review will also focus upon the contribution that diving has upon this situation and an examination of the diving tourism in the Red Sea area together with an overview of some of the actions that are being taken to address this problem. Chapter three provides an overview of the methodology used for this research, which includes and explanation of the reasons for this choice and the process by which secondary and primary data was collected, analysed and evaluated. Following on from the methodology outline, the findings from the analysis of both the secondary and primary researches are presented in chapter four and these are discussed in detail in the following chapter (5). The research is then brought to a conclusion in chapter six, where appropriate observations and recommendations are made. Attached to the main body of this research is a bibliography of the resources relied upon for the study together with appendices containing other information that is considered of value. This includes copies of the primary questionnaires and interview transcripts.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review
2.1 Introduction

As previously mentioned, sustaining the natural habit of the marine environment in the face of its increasing attractiveness to tourists, particularly divers, has become a contentious issue. There are many stakeholders to consider when looking at the process of sustainable tourism and, achieving a balance between financial reliance and environmental protection, especially if the resort has no prior knowledge in dealing with these issues, has proved to be fraught with difficulty (Weaver 2005, p. 26 and 61).

This critical literature review is intended to consider the currently published arguments and discussions that address these various issues and provide a deeper understanding of the problems that need to be resolved with all the wide variety of stakeholders.

2.2 Marine tourism environmental issue

The marine environment forms an important part of the world’s eco-systems. It not only provides a source of food and other natural resources for some of the world’s population, but also is in itself a living environment that is home to wide range of underwater plants and living creatures. Each of these relies upon the other for their continued life (Cote and Reynolds 2006, Carleton Ray and McCormick-Ray 2004 and Roberts 2007). Furthermore, it also influences the CO2 levels within the atmosphere. The bio-diversity that exists beneath the oceans can therefore be seen to be important to the natural balance of the planet and any issue or activity that upsets this balance is likely to have serious consequences to the long-term health of the world and its population.

Of particular importance to this research is the area of the marine environment that includes the coral reef eco-system, as this is the area that attracts the highest level of tourist involvement, attracting millions of visitors each year. As can be seen in from table Table 2 included in appendix 1, there are a number of coral reefs world wide, covering a total area of just under 285,000 km².

The eco-system of the coral reef is unique in the diverse level of services these regions perform within the biodiversity systems and the range of products it contains (see table 1).

There have been countless studies over recent years that have recorded the levels of damage that can be caused to coral reef and the manner in which this affects the ability of the reefs to sustain their eco-systems in the longer term. The studies of Jameson et al (2007), Cesar (2003), and Agarwal and Shaw (2007) are amongst recent academics who warn that ignoring these issues will have serious adverse consequences. Although causes of damage have been highlighted to include such factors as increases in carbon emissions, the consequence of air and sea travel and marine faming and fishing, diving tourism has also been shown to have a direct impact on the reef in this respect. Consequently it has generated its own expanding area of research attention (Ryan and Page 2000, p.275). In general it is considered that damage from diving tourism manifests itself in the activities of several industry stakeholders: –

The diving fraternity

Numerous academic studies have been conducted to assess the level of damage caused to the coral reef by divers (Cesar 2003, Barker and Roberts 2004 amongst others). Most have concluded that inexperience within this marine environment is one of the root causes of this damage (Barker and Roberts 2004, p.482).

Hawkins and Roberts (quoted in Cesar 2003), attributed 95% of all diver coral damage being the result of misuse of fins and hands, for example by kicking or brushing against the coral or using hands to grab onto coral and propel the diver through the water. In addition, lack of care with equipment is another contributory factor. Lack of buoyancy training or knowledge will often result in a situation where a diver’s scuba equipment will knock or fall against the coral, causing breakages. These results are confirmed by other studies carried out by Barker and Roberts (2004), who recorded 261 incidences of contact being made with the coral whilst observing 353 active divers, in other words incidences were occurring in approach 74% of dives. However, the also found that when accompanied by guides, this level of accident fell by around 80% (barker and Roberts 2004, pp. 485 and 488). This proved to the authors that guided dives were an important element of marine protection policies.

The destination resort

Increased levels of diving tourism have had an impact upon the local infrastructure of the resorts. To meet the demands of these tourists, in some cases sand is being taken from the beaches in order to fulfil construction requirements for projects such as hotels (Gladstone 2000, p.1023). In other words, through these and other actions, “resort hotels and other service providers and retailers are damaging the reefs to provide their businesses with better opportunities” (Mowforth and Munt 2003, 282).

Furthermore, the continual expansion of tourism resorts in coastal areas is creating more “sewage and other rubbish than local infrastructures can handle” (Brown 2000, p.48), which means that some of this effluence is finding its way into the seas surrounding the coral reefs. The level of waste that is being produced increases the incidence of damage caused to the fragile eco-system of the coral reefs.

Tour operators

Tour operators, whether these are international tour companies or local tour operators such as diving clubs are also criticised by the environment community, mainly because of the damage their methods of operations cause to marine sites. This criticism relates generally to two main issues. The first is the lack of knowledge and training that they provide to the diving tourist and indeed the lack of supervision (Agarwal and Shaw 2007). Research like that undertaken by Gladstone (2000) and Wilkinson (2006) indicates that when divers are being instructed and supervised in groups, the level of damage reduces significantly.

The other criticism levelled at tour operators is aimed at those who use boats as platforms from which to commence diving excursions. As Weaver (2005, p.83) and Prior et al (1995) point out, the dropping and dragging of anchors can and does damage corals. This area of activity has increased recently because beaches have become more exclusive in some exotic areas, Restricted from beach access, independent operators have had no choice but to move their operations to sea (Hess and El-bakry2007).

National and local authorities

The other stakeholder who actions, or inactions, have an impact upon the marine coral reef environment are the local and national governments and authorities. The problem in this respect is often related to the condition of the national economy and that country’s position in terms of economic growth compared with other nations (Cote and Reynolds 2006). Many coral reefs are situated close to developing countries. Many governments in developing countries, either due to lack of resources and the need for the revenue produced from marine tourism, lack the “political will” or inclination to take steps to protect the marine environment, irrespective of the consequences (Wilkinson 2006 and Roberts 2007).

As can be seen, the actions of all of the above contributing causes of damage are leading to the “depletion of coral reefs at sea” (Brown 2000, p.69). It is against the difficulties outlined above that marine environmentalists have needed to develop marine protection deemed acceptable by all industry stakeholders.

2.3 Marine environment protection

As Cote and Reynolds (2006), Carlton-Ray and McCormick-Ray (2004) and Orams (1999) research reveals, there have been a number of proposals put forward by various interested parties that are designed to reduce the impact of diving tourism on the marine coral reef environment. Some of these measures, including more supervision, charging fees to allow tourists to take part in dives in specific areas and closer control of resort planning regulations had been directly aimed at improving other stakeholders’ behaviour.

Some of these, including floating and submerged walkways (El-Adli and Bashandy 2003), are designed to improve environment use and enjoyment. However, other protection measures have been more restrictive. For example, a method of zoning is being implemented in a number of marine areas, which are seen as a means of prohibiting diving in areas that are considered particularly sensitive. Similarly, the use of mooring buoys for boats, whilst reducing the damage caused by anchors, can also be used in conjunction with zoning to direct divers away from certain marine areas (El-Adli and Bashandy 2003).

2.4 Sustainable diving tourism

Tourist destinations and tour operators have all be quick to exploit the expansion of recreational diving activities in areas of marine beauty (Wahab and Pigrim 1995, p.284) and that includes enjoying their hobby in the more exotic areas of the world that include the coral reefs eco-systems (Mowforth and Munt 2003, 147). Most observers and academics and observers are of the opinion that if they wish to continue with this pleasure activity, divers and their organisations need to change their practices to a more sustainable form (Mowforth and Munt 2003, p.4). As organisations such as the Coral Reef Alliance (2008) advice suggests, many of these conservation measures are based largely on common sense.

For example, perhaps the most basic aspect of advice is that which promotes the learning of skills such as buoyancy and avoiding physical contact with the reef (Kenally 2006). These skills will eliminate damage being caused either by physical or equipment contact. Another aspect of good diving is to stay clear of the sea bed and learn body control that avoids accidental contact (Coral Reef Alliance (2008).

In addition to this advice for diving activities whilst in the water, the Coral Reef Alliance (2008), also provides the following recommendations for divers when they are shore-side, which consists of the following: –

Support coral parks and other conservation projects by:
Paying user fees in recognized coral parks and conservation areas that are actively supporting coral reef conservation.
Encouraging and supporting the use of dive moorings.
Participating in cleanups
Volunteering your skills
Donating used equipment such as cameras, dive gear or reef ID books.
Avoid purchasing souvenirs made from coral, turtles or other marine life -often this is illegal, and it’s never environmentally wise.
Speak up; make sure your dive buddies understand these simple but important conservation practices.

Source: Coral Reef Alliance (2008)

2.5 The Red Sea and diving tourism

A stated previously, the increase in diving tourism is rising exponentially and there is little sign of this rate decreasing in the near future (Gladstone 2000, p. 1016). Although this endangers coral reefs throughout the world, as Prior et al (2007) and Harriott (2002), suggest, one of the most vulnerable sites has to be the Red Sea (see figure 2). As Hess (2007), also explains, because of its location in relation to Europe and other world nations, the coral reefs in the Red Sea act like a magnet in terms of attracting diving tourists, which places an additional burden upon the marine environment.

Although, at least up to 2004, the condition and status of the” coral reefs bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is generally good, with live hard coral cover averaging 20-50%” (Hassan et al 2002), research carried out since that comment was made indicates that there potential issues in terms of diving damage to be addressed in the area.

Egypt is planning to continue the expansion of its tourism industry, for which it has set a target of receiving “16 million tourists by 2017” (Shaalan 2005). A segment of this increased tourist population will be attracted by diving activities, continuing a trend that has been evidenced since the turn of the century (see table 2).

Already, with in excess of 250,000 dives per annum along part of the Red Sea coast, other research has revealed disturbing evidence of coral reef damage from diving activities. For example, in a survey conducted by Zakai and Chadwick-Furman (2002, p. 179), significant evidence of diver damage was reported. This survey reported the following conclusions: –

Around 10 incidents of coral damage per dive, ranging from sediment to contact damage.
Damage levels were related directly to the frequency of diving activities, and were not affected by the geographical design of the area.

Similarly, contrary to Hassan et al’s (2002) research, a similarly study carried out by Cesar (2003, p. 7), refuted claims that the coral reef remained unaffected, reporting in this case that “40% of dive sites have less than 30% coral cover, with one third having significant levels or broken and damaged corals.”

The consensus of opinion amongst academics who have studied this specific location, which includes Gladstone (2000), Cesar (2003), Zakir and Chadwick-Furman (2002) and Shaalan (2005), is that without the introduction of serious levels of marine protection and diving control policies, the current levels of damage to the marine eco-system in the area will be exacerbate. This might lead to irreparable damage to this environment.

As Shaalan (2005) also comment, all of the stakeholders, including the government, tour operators and resort managers and the divers themselves, have a role to play in introducing a range of policies and practices to ensure a level of sustainable tourism will be achieved and halt the current degradation to the coral environment that is taking place.

These concerns are aptly summarised by Jameson et al (2007, p. 309) who state that “From a historical perspective, at the Small Giftun site from 1987 to 1996, percentage hard coral cover decreased by 43% and algal cover increased over fourfold. If the diving tourism industry is to sustain itself in the Egyptian Red Sea, every management effort must be made to minimise controllable sources of stress on the coral reef system.”

2.6 Summary

From the analysis and examination of the literature indentified within this chapter, it is apparent that the marine environment is being subjected to environmental damage. Furthermore, whilst there might be some justification for those within the diving community to say that they and their activities are not solely responsible for this damage, to majority of research studied indicates that there are sufficient levels of damage being caused by this sector of the tourism industry to warrant the need for protective action.

In addition, current decisions being made regarding the future of tourism in Egypt, which suggests that 55% of the future growth is anticipated to occur within coastal regions along the Red Sea (Hawkins and Roberts 1994), confirm that the urgency of need to implement sustainable practices and policies to protect the marine and coral reef environment in the region. Furthermore, it suggests that the timescale of this introduction is limited.

The results of the primary research conducted for this study, which also concentrates upon the Red Sea area (see chapters 4 and 5), will provide an indication of the levels of responsibility felt by stakeholders in the diving sector and the level of their commitment to change.

Chapter 3 – Methodology
3.1 Introduction

The research question chosen for this research, namely to study the impact of diving upon the marine and coral reef environment was motivated by two main situations. Firstly, it is intended to examine this issue in an area that has indicated a preparedness to increase the current levels of diving tourism within the next decade by significant numbers. Secondly, the complexities of stakeholder demands within the region suggest that the creation of marine environmental protection policies that will satisfy the needs and of all those involved. Bearing in mind these limitations, the aim of the research therefore is to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of current and future sustainable tourism policies in the region, specifically those related to the diving sector.

There has been a considerable amount of research conducted into the environmental damage being caused to the marine environment and eco-systems of the coral reefs in the Red Sea. However, despite these advances, it is the author’s view that, although the plans and policies for sustainability suggested by various environmental academics are to be applauded, their successful implementation is dependent upon the views of others. Unless agreement is reached between all the stakeholders to take action any new initiative is doomed to failure. Therefore, a major part of the focus of this research project is to assess how and if the views of commercial stakeholders and diving service users, in other words the divers themselves, coincide with those of the policy makers.

3.2 Choice of research method

Any study relating to issues of a commercial or economic nature can be conducted through the choice of a number of methods. The options available consists of research study using secondary data collection processes, which can combine a case study investigation with pre-existing literature of sufficient expertise to provide an extensive overview of the subject matter. Alternatively, the research can choose the more focused route of conducting questionnaire and interviews with representatives from the sector being studied. In the case of this specific research into diving in the Red Sea, it was decided that, in isolation, the independent use of one of the above would not provide sufficient depth the research project embarked upon. It was therefore the author’s decision to use a combination of both methods as this was deemed to enable the achievement of a more valued resolution to the research question (Denscombe 1998).

In reaching this decision, the author also considered the limitations that can apply to these research methods. For example, one area that is often of concern with the collection of primary data is the achievement of an appropriate sampling that would serve as a sufficient representation for the industry as a whole. The issue to be aware of in this case is to ensure that, whilst the primary process can result in the revelation of data and information that might be difficult to obtain through other methods, its analysis should be kept free from personal or organisational bias. One method of ensuring the lack of bias, which contributed to the author’s choice of research method, is to use the secondary data collected for the process of cross-referencing and comparison with primary findings. This ensures that the research retains a balanced and accurate approach to the issues and results being studied.

3.3 The questionnaires and interviews

In view of the issue of diving and marine conservation being studied for this project, the process of primary data collection in this case

BAGRI. S (1995) sustainable development of pilgrimage tourism in destination areas, it is important to have responsible visitors with high pro-environmental orientation and a critical minimum knowledge of pilgrimage tourism. Most of the pilgrimage, adventurous, and leisure destination in India are in ecologically sensitive locations with environmental resources, thus understanding tourists’ environmental orientation is critical for destination management. In this context, the environmental orientation and eco tourism awareness of tourist visiting some of the key environmental orientations of pilgrimage tourism and leisure tourists is presented. The exits significant differences among these categories in terms of environmental orientation compared to the leisure tourists. Thus, the study implies that the transformation of general environmental orientation in to awareness of eco tourism and pilgrimage tourism

Batra and Kaur (1996) in their paper highlighted that there were two types of relationships between tourism and environment i.e. coexistence and conflicting. Coexistence relationship presented harmony between tourism and environment. However, conflicting relationship between tourism and environment caused huge problems like visual pollution, sewage problem, water and air pollution, and lastly ecological problem. They viewed that social costs in tourism industry were much more than any other type of industries but these costs were not included in financial report of the tourism industry.

Boyd and Butler (1996) in their study revealed that ecotourism was dependent upon the quality of the environment and extra care was required by managers to minimize negative tourism impacts on environment. The study concluded that eco-tourism development occurred in more remote areas of the world which required appropriate management and eco-tourism opportunity spectrum (ECOS) was best fitted to it.

Brohman (1996) in his study highlighted that the third world countries enjoyed very fast growth rate of tourism at the cost of socio-economic and environmental degradation. The author opined that the third world countries must adopt proper tourism planning after consulting local people and tourism related investment and revenue should be used for the benefit of local community. The study suggested that alternative

tourism strategies must be designed with the help of local people to reduce negative impacts and increase positive effects of tourism during unfavourable circumstances.

Buhalis (1998) in his study viewed that because of ever increasing use of information technology in tourism sector, future success of tourism organizations and destinations would be determined by a combination of innovative management, marketing and strategic use of advanced information technology.

Gupta (1999) in this study praised Indian religious tourism which grew for many years without causing negative environmental, cultural and social impacts. The author viewed that pilgrimage had less burden on environment, benefited local communities, was seasonal and provided economic benefits to the local community. The author recommended to develop such type of modern tourism which benefited local communities without harming natural environment.

Noronha (1999) in his study highlighted that local people felt threatened and degraded by inappropriate behaviour of the tourists. The study also revealed that the benefits from tourism were not utilized for the development of the local people in Goa. The author recommended that strategies must be formulated by the state government to manage tourism trade and plug back profits received from tourism trade for the development of local people in Goa.

Kreiner and Kliot (2000) in their paper stated that there was considerable differences between pilgrims’ and tourists’ behaviour towards any religious site inspite of the fact that both had three common elements like discretionary income, leisure time and social sanctions. The study concluded that although various differences were there between tourists and pilgrims but it was very difficult to present those differences.

Madan and Rawat (2000) in their study viewed that the tourism industry in Mussoorie got its saturation point and there was a need to develop some nearby places like Dhanolti and Park Estate for the development of tourism.

Mehta and Arora (2000) in this study appraised tourism promotion activities adopted by tourism ministry in Punjab. Published material of the state tourism department was incomplete, unattractive and insufficient for foreign tourists. The study recommended that the state government must adopt standardized form of media for the promotion of tourism industry in Punjab.

Mishra (2000) in his study stated that among pilgrim sites, Brajmandal was one of the highly recommended places to visit. The study also highlighted the main problems regarding poor infrastructure, accommodation facilities, quality of food, shopping facilities, public convenience, communication and cheating and misguiding etc. faced by pilgrims in Brajmandal. The author suggested both operational measures like restructuring of tourism related laws, need for systems approach in managing tourism development, interacting with tourists in a healthy manner and supportive role of non-governmental organizations and operative measures like strategy for tourism development, creation of Brajmandal Development Board and creation of Brajmandal region on the line of Vatican City to increase the tempo of pilgrimage tourism in Brajmandal.

Harsh nevatia (2001) ” Religious tourism in India has immense potential to evolve as a niche segment. There are hurdles to be overcome. The first hurdle is the poor tourism infrastructure in general, and perhaps the even poorer infrastructure of religious centres. Adequate facilities for lodging, boarding and travelling and travel will have to be created. what needs to be done is to create nodes near religious centres, where there is already a basic infrastructure present and plan day trips from there religious tourism in India can provide an experience that cannot be had anywhere in the world, but for it to fructify, the seeds will have to be sown and the saplings will have to be natured”.

Wilson and John (2001) in this study highlighted several factors namely tourism package, good leadership, support of local government, funds, strategic planning, coordination between local people, and technical assistance for tourism promotion etc. which were essential for rural tourism development. The authors viewed that rural tourism provided income and employment opportunities to local people in rural areas having unutilized huge natural resources.

Cheerath (2002) in his study found that the main reason behind foreign tourists’ attraction towards Kerala was ayurveda. It revealed different types of ayurvedic treatment techniques like nasyam, snehapanam, sirovasthi, sirodhara and vasthi etc. used in Kerala for treatment of both domestic and foreign tourists. The study suggested that appropriate tourism policies must be formulated by Kerala government to prevent such activities.

Biju (2002) in his study made an attempt to explain evolutionary process of global tourism. The study concluded that the advancements made in transport and communication systems were the main reasons behind rapid growth of tourism globally.

Caprihan and Shivakumar (2002) in their article observed that India adopted age old tourism strategies those targeting only two countries U.K. and USA. The author emphasized on the adoption of innovative and customized tourism strategies by Indian government.

Singh (2002) in his paper gave a brief overview of tourism policy in India. The author highlighted that these policies were domestic tourism oriented rather than international tourism oriented. The study concluded that India had huge potential to develop tourism but the absence of appropriate process of policy formulation and implementation seemed to be the main hurdle in tourism development.

Singh (2002) in his research paper highlighted the need for managing the impact of tourist and pilgrim mobility in the Indian Himalayas. The study revealed that heavy flow of pilgrims and tourists during the peak season from April to June lead to problems relating to accommodation, catering, sewage, sanitation, water supply, tariff and ecological degradation. The study suggested the need for travel regulation, education of visitors, marketing of alternative destinations and targeted marketing to get rid of problems relating from mass tourism and pilgrimage in Garhwal.

Bansal and Gautam (2003) in their study described that Himachal Pradesh had large number of heritage sites with status of first heritage village of India. They also highlighted that lack of resources, lack of expertise, lack of ready product, mutual lack of knowledge and minimal marketing were the main reasons affecting heritage tourism in Himachal Pradesh. They suggested the introduction of entrance fees from tourists visiting heritage centres and separate heritage management board to preserve and promote the heritage sites.

Bar and Hatab (2003) in their study stated that tourism and pilgrimage tourism stood at opposite ends of a continuum with wide range of journey within these two ends. The authors revealed that the main reason behind modern tourists’ travelling was cultural curiosity, education and desire to enrich themselves. Despite this they found that pilgrims preferred to visit holy sites only during religious festivals. The study concluded that while pilgrims most of the time visited only religious places the modern tourists visited the holy places and secular places equally.

Batra (2003) in his study on different Buddhist pilgrimage sites viewed that India had tremendous potential to attract a large number of tourists from Far East and South-East Asia but due to lack of proper roads, basic amenities, infrastructure facilities and inadequate promotional efforts on the part of both the central and state government the growth rate of Buddhist tourism in India was very slow.

Biju (2003) in his paper stated that eco-tourism was both nature based and ecologically sustainable. It entailed minimum impact on environment because as required less infrastructure facilities and services when compared with conventional tourism. However, ecotourism activities lead to an unnecessary pressure on natural resources worldwide which required appropriate environmental planning and management of natural areas for sustainable development of ecotourism.

Bleie (2003) in his study discussed pilgrimage tourism in central Himalayas with the help of Manakamana temple in Nepal. The author evaluated local people’s perception about socio-cultural, economical and environmental risk associated with modern mechanical transport.The study suggested that pilgrimage tourism must build on principles of sustainable tourism to overcome the cultural, developmental, conservational and commercial risk associated with it.

George (2003) in this article emphasized the need for master plan with long term vision including development of basic tourism facilities such as road, railways, airport, walkways, drainage, benchmarking and tourism laws for development of tourism. The author also recommended a strategic management committee for tourism administration function.

Poria and Airely (2003) in this study discussed the effect of religion and religiosity on tourism industry. They observed that religion had direct impact on tourists’ consumption habits and their preference to choose any destination. The study highlighted that the tourists’ preference to visit a particular site was directly dependent upon their religion and their strength of religious belief. Moreover, different religious sites represented different things with different meanings to different tourists and these different meanings determined the behavioural pattern of tourists towards particular religious sites.

Singh (2003) in his study evaluated the relationship between travel and different aspects of societal structure with the help of a comparison between India and United States. The study highlighted different similarities like complex societies, democracies and stratification system between India and United States. To know the behavioural pattern of people towards travel he also explained differences on the basis of population, area and societal development between the two societies. It revealed that travel related decisions by the Indian middle class were directly influenced by religious thought. However, travel related decisions by the American middle class were influenced by leisure time and money. The study concluded that huge differences between societal structures of India and United States gave birth to different types of tourism i.e. pilgrimage tourism in India and secular tourism in United States.

Bahuguna (2004) in her paper made an attempt to evaluate development of tourism industry in India with the help of tenth Five Year Plan approach. She highlighted that tenth plan considered enhancing India’s competitiveness as tourist destination. Moreover, tourism study revealed that the share of India in world tourism was stagnant with only 0.38 per cent. Further, in case of domestic tourism India had prominent share of 4.3 per cent worldwide. She concluded that India had vast potential for different types of tourism like ecotourism, health tourism, pilgrimage tourism and health tourism which required proper planning.

Caprihan and Shivakumar (2004) in their study highlighted mainly four features of eco-tourism i.e. preservation, supportiveness, involvement and empowerment to provide more livelihood opportunities to local people. Authors viewed that India had vast potential of ecotourism but proper planning required for preservation of natural resources was lacking. Further only few Indian states like Karnataka, Kerala, Sikkim, Rajasthan and Andhra pardesh had announced tourism policy for the development of eco-tourism. They highlighted the issue of mis-management at national parks and sanctuaries which required a well defined eco-tourism policy and states’ strong willingness to preserve the environment.

Kolas (2004) in his study highlighted the development of ethical and religious tourism in Shangri-la. It revealed that the development of tourism in this region provided revenue to the local community. The author also highlighted that with the help of place making strategies China renamed Zhongdian County as Shangri-la and promoted this place as per notions of Tibetan religious identity. The study concluded that similar strategies could convert an unfavourable tourist destination into a favourable one.

Kumar and Chandersekar (2004) in their study highlighted that tourism had tremendous potentials of earning foreign exchange, yielding tax revenue, generating employment and contributing to the economic growth of the country. To cater the need of tourism industry, more hotels, resorts, recreation facilities, transportation facilities and other auxiliary services were required.This unplanned development of tourism infrastructure lead to several problems like congestion, overcrowding and pollution etc. The authors suggested a tourism management plan including standard for resort development, style and location of structure, planning for sewage and preservation of open spaces to be adopted by every country for sustainable development of tourism industry.

National Council for Applied Economic Research Report (2004) indicated that religious tourism emerged as booming market in India. The report highlighted that in comparison to 28 per cent share of leisure tour packages, the number of religious trips was much more with 50 per cent share. It also highlighted that with 23 million visitors, Tirupati was at first place followed by Puri and Mata Vaishno Devi with 18.17 million and 17.25 million visitors respectively. In spite of this, Buddhist pilgrimage also flourished in India. Buddhist pilgrims from Japan, South Korea, Thiland and Sri Lanka and recently from China liked to visit India to see places related to Buddha. The report concluded that India had great potential of religious tourism and therefore Confederation of Indian Industry had recommended the government to identify 25 domestic tourist sites and spend upto Rs. 22 million at each site for infrastructure development. Rana (2004) in his study evaluated behavioural perspective of pilgrims and tourists in Banars (Kashi). The study highlighted different factors like economic, social, cultural, job status and perspective of life to study the behaviour of tourists’. The study also examined tourists’ purpose of visit, accommodation used, media of information, tourist attractions, mode of transportation, expenditure, overall impression, symbolic meaning of Kashi and sound scape and smell scape in Banars. The author found that the tourists faced several problems like scarcity of parking space, non-availability of accommodation, lack of publicity material and authentic map while visiting Kashi. The study suggested that to solve the problems of both domestic and international tourists and to preserve the cultural heritage and aesthetic values in Banaras proper plans and policy must be formulated by both the state and central government.

Singh (2004) in his study discussed pilgrimage tourism in Indian Himalayas and highlighted different types of tourism like pilgrimage, adventure, wild life, eco-tourism and leisure tourism offered by modern Himalayas. He highlighted that modern form of tourism in Himalayan states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir was totally unplanned and had drastic effect on natural and sociocultural environment. He recommended that a well planned tourism development approach must be adopted by Himalayan states because their income was largely dependent upon travel and tourism.

Singh and Mishra (2004) in their study highlighted social, economical and environmental dimensions of tourism in Manali. They observed an increase of 270 per cent in tourist arrivals in Manali from last three decades. The authors revealed that Manali was experiencing environmental problems like acute shortage of water, overcrowded roads, heavy traffic, excessive garbage, unplanned growth and illegal constructions and sanitation problems. They also examined several variables like tourist season, expenditure pattern, tourism taxes, accommodation, transport and carrying capacity of town which were essential for tourism industry in Manali. Besides this they suggested different short and long term strategies for accommodation, transportation, water, sewage, energy and finance. The study suggested that cautious steps must be taken by the state government to avoid mass tourism and create healthy eco-tourism in Manali.

Srinivasan and Nath (2004) in their article discussed the role of information technology for development of tourism industry in India. They stated that only Kerala was making use of information technology in tourism. The researchers stressed on mainly three elements of tourism industry i.e. service providers, agencies of tourism and tourists which required an adequate information system. Moreover they presented an integrated tourism information system model to facilitate most of the functions of all the three elements of tourism industry. The authors also highlighted the importance of integrated tourism information system in hotel industry, travel industry and handicraft industry. The study recommended that India must adopt modern information technology practices for tourism to sustain in both domestic and international market.

Woodward (2004) in his article made an attempt to represent religious sites as an important source of income for many countries. He opined that the income generated by religious sites could be used for repair and maintenance of those particular sites and other religious sites. The study highlighted that most of the world famous religious sites were not able to accommodate large number of visitors at one time which lead to several accidental damages, noise pollution, overcrowding, theft incidents, littering and parking problems. The author suggested several remedies like charging for vehicle access and entry fees to religious site etc. to overcome the above mentioned problems. He felt that there was need for separate planning for those who visit for religious purpose and those who visit only as sightseers.

Anbalagan, Selvam and Amudha (2005) in their study highlighted tourism as India’s third largest export industry after ready made garments, jams and jewellery. The authors suggested five point strategy i.e. strong sustained policies, private sector involvement, liberalization of aviation, elimination of red tape and investment in human resource development to achieve sustained growth rate in tourism industry in India.

Murgan (2005) in his article highlighted that the main reason behind explosion of domestic tourism in India was world famous pilgrimage sites. Further, till 1980 it was the North that dominated the Indian tourism industry with 70 per cent market share but now it declined to 49 per cent. He viewed that the main reason behind this declining trend was more focused tourism development in the Southern region. The author highlighted that Indian tourism industry was facing several challenges like scarcity of hotel rooms, high taxes, sick aviation policies and unnecessary delay in visa etc.

Dixit (2005) in his study examined tourism pattern in Uttarakhand. He highlighted that religious tourists, pleasure tourists, and adventure and nature lovers preferred to visit Uttarakhand. Further these tourists had different behaviour patterns regarding food, transport and accommodation. The study revealed that adventure tourism was the fastest growing sector in Uttarakhand as compared to religious tourism. Moreover, religious tourism in Uttarakhand was affected adversely by seasonality syndrome. The author recommended that adventure tourism, yoga and meditation related tourism could help in overcoming seasonality syndrome of Uttarakhand. He also emphasized a close coordination of public, private and local government for expanding tourists’ season in Uttarakhand.

Rao and Sikha (2005) in their study presented Bollywood as an effective tool for promotion of Indian tourism industry worldwide. They highlighted that Bollywood produce 27 per cent of total global film production and the reach of Bollywood was 188 million audiences in Indian sub-continental, 20 million NRIs, and large number of non- Indians in other countries. Further, different countries invited Indian film industry for film shooting in their country because it generated revenue and employment for local communities. The study recommended that India should also present itself as favourable destination for film shooting.

Sarathy (2006) in this article gave an overview of religious tourism with respect to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Jainism. He mentioned various levels of religious tourism like international, national and regional. He revealed that pilgrimage peak during the religious festivals and people visited the centres of their faith in groups. The author also found Hinduism as third largest faith amongst the world’s religions and having largest number of religious places. He also highlighted different religious festivals celebrated in India like Kumbh Mela, Brahmotsavam, Makar Jyoti and Rath Yatra and described Kumbh Mela as the largest religious gathering at a single place in the world. The author also explained Buddism, Islam, Sikhism and Janism as important religions in India and the world.

Singh (2006) in her study highlighted pilgrimage tourism in Indian Himalayas with the help of four dimensions of tourism namely travel, strangers, leisure and secularity. The study also highlighted four main reasons behind Hindu pilgrimage in Indian Himalayas i.e. social and national integration, social cohesion, growth of intellectual knowledge, and source of values for human beings. The author opined that increasing number of pilgrims and tourists in Indian Himalayas was responsible for several problems like overcrowding, congestion, traffic and environmental pollution. The researcher suggested that education and awareness building programmes could directly help in increasing the awareness level of both pilgrims and tourists regarding pollution free environment in Himalayas.

Sud (2006) in this study highlighted the external tourism and its positive impacts on Indian economy. It revealed that India had huge potential for tourism but problems like lack of airline seats, non availability of rooms in hotels, and lack of professional expertise to handle tourists discouraged foreign tourists to choose India as tourist destination. Moreover tour operators overseas never mentioned India because of poor infrastructure facilities. The study also highlighted that though India had inadequate tourism infrastructure yet foreign tourists liked to visit India because of its rich culture. These foreign tourists directly helped the rural economy by staying in local hotels, eating local food and buying local handicraft.

Dasgupta, Mondal and Basu (2006) in their study made an attempt to evaluate the impact of pilgrimage tourism at Ganga Sagar Island. They viewed that in India people travelled large number of pilgrimage places to earn virtue. Similarly Ganga Sagar was the place where a holy dip during Makar Sankranti earned that much of virtue which one could earn by visiting all the pilgrim centres through put life. The study highlighted that pilgrimage tourism in Ganga Sagar opened several sources of cash earning and supported several new occupations like tea stalls, hotels, vans, rikshaw pullers, auto drivers and STD shops etc. However, it had some negative social-cultural impact on their life in the form of immoral activities by tourists. The study concluded that though pilgrimage tourism had some negative impact in Ganga Sagar, the overall impact of tourism in Ganga Sagar was positive and provided a large number of economical and developmental benefits to the local people.

Kumar (2007) in his study made an attempt to evaluate impact of Tsunami on beach tourism. It revealed that about 3 lac people were killed due to Tsunami in 12 countries. Further, most of the displaced people suffered from several psychological problems. The study highlighted several natural disasters like cyclones, floods, Tsunami and earthquakes which affected beach tourism adversely in both the developed and developing countries. The author found that out of 1192 islands of Maldives 42 were lost. The study suggested several measures like installation of advance warning system, coastal zone management, community awareness and disaster training programmes to reduce the impact of Tsunami.

Motiram (2007) in his study described the impact of globalization on mass tourism in India i.e. Beach Tourism, Mountain Tourism, and Religious Tourism. The study highlighted that due to globalization the tourism industry generate more employment, and more foreign exchange earnings. Further, it facilitated infrastructure development in the country. The researcher pointed out that India was the third fastest growing travel and tourism economy in the world after Montenegro and China. The author suggested that India must develop tourism infrastructure to attract international tourists in large numbers.

Rishi and Giridhar (2007) in their paper evaluated tourism industry in Himachal pradesh with the help of SWOT analysis. It highlighted the unique natural offerings of Himachal Pradesh which it could not cash due to lack of various facilities like food, transportation, water and accommodation etc. The researcher viewed that to leverage tourism potential it was necessary to analyse the needs, perceptions, preferences and satisfaction level of tourists. The study concluded that Himachal Pradesh had vast potential of becoming one of the world’s top destinations provided it developed its infrastructure facilities and promoted its offerings in a suitable manner.

Patnaik (2007) in his article highlighted that Shree Jagannath Dham was among the 1000 most preferred destinations visited by salvation seeking foreigners and have second place in case of religious tourism in India. Further, he revealed that Mahodadhi (the birth place of goddess Luxami) was another important place in Puri for both foreign and domestic tourists and they take dip at this place during Ganga Sagar mela. The author suggested that religious places in India attract million of devotees every year and to tap the tourism opportunities, appropriate policies for religious tourism must be formulated and implemented.

Singh (2007) in his study made an attempt to analyse Buddhist tourism in India. He highlighted mainly four Buddhist pilgrimage circuits i.e. Kapilvastu, Magadha, Varanasi and Kusinagar in India having their importance at both national and international level. The study also revealed that different places like Sri Lanka, Myanmar and South-East Asia claimed that Buddha also visited their places. Further, to attract foreign tourists these countries developed themselves as Buddhist pilgrimage centres. The author opined that to survive in competitive situations and to attract more tourists, India must adopt appropriate tourism planning and strategies.

Winter (2007) in his study discussed the present scenario of tourism in Asia. It highlighted that within ten years Asia would have one of the fastest growing tourist population in the world. Despite this very little attention was received by Asian tourists in Asian countries. The author highlighted that the Asian countries mainly targeted Western countries for tourism and formulated tourism policies accordingly. Moreover, they ignored the needs of Asian tourists. The study suggested that a balanced approach which considered both Asian and Western tourists must be adopted by Asian countries while formulating tourism policy.

Chadha and Singh (2008) in their study discussed the need and expectations of religious tourists in Punjab. The study highlighted the difficulties of religious tourists pertaining to transportation, accommodation, food, shopping and hospitality. The researchers found that railways and air mode of transportation dominated all other forms of travel. They revealed that most of the religious tourists liked to stay near religious places because of convenience factor. It was also observed that problems like price discrimination in some products, lack of parking space, and improper signboards required immediate attention. The study concluded that combined approach by the Punjab Government and the State Tourism Department must be adopted to identify tourist circuits and to develop tour packages to attract more tourists to the state. Libison and Muralledharan (2008) in their study discussed the economic benefits of pilgrimage tourism in Subrimala to the local residents of Pandalam rural area. The study highlighted that the number of pilgrims visited Subbrimala temple was almost equal to the population of Kerala state. The author revealed that during pilgrimage season, a large number of economic activities including petty trading, accommodation and dormitory facilities, food and tea shops, transportation etc. took place in Pandalam which provided numerous socio-economic benefit to the region. They also found that during pilgrimage season, the standard of living of families based on food habits, clothing and saving pattern improved. The author suggested that a development committee including officials from Gram Panchayat, Devaswon Board, Pandalam Executive

Committee and local people must be formulated for development of long and short term plans to reap maximum benefits from pilgrimage season. Sinha (2008) in their study made an attempt to evaluate the impact of religious tourism on Gir Na

Airline industry provides us air transportation that improves our lives by shortening the time it takes us to reach a destination and also deliver goods. Airline industry undergoes oligopoly market, where only a few sellers that provide similar products or services but differentiated in the branding and the promotion method. Basically, there are four main categories in the airline industry, which is international, national, regional, and cargo. International flights provide services between countries; both national and regional flights are domestic flights within a country, but regional flights have shorter distance compare to national flights; cargo is mainly for the use of transport goods. In this assignment, we are going to briefly explain the determinants and the changes in market condition that affect the demand and supply of the airline industry.

There are few determinants that will cause a change in the supply demand curve in the airline industry.

Determinants on demand curve.

The first determinant is income. When a country experiences a growth in the economy, the average income of citizens will increase.

In this case, air ticket plays a role as a normal good, this is because an increase in the income will lead to an increase in the demand of air ticket purchased, one example is families might travel more often as they are in good economic condition.

The second determinant is prices of related goods, where a change in price of a good might affect the demand of the other good.

In the airline industry, the price of fuel has a direct influence to the demand of air ticket. When the price of fuel increases, airline industry has to increase the price of air ticket to maintain its revenue. Therefore, the fuel price and the demand of air ticket have a relationship of complements, where increase in the fuel price leads to a decrease in the demand for air ticket. However, in some special cases especially during a decline in the economy, the airline industry will not raise the price of air tickets because the customers would scare away. Therefore, the demand of air tickets is also quite dependent to the condition of economy.

The third determinant is number of buyers. The more the buyers in the airline industry, the demand of air ticket will be higher.

When a promotion is held by the industry airlines, there will be more buyers on the purchase of air ticket. This is because the air tickets normally sell at a lower price to attract more customers especially during a not-so-peak season. Thus, the demand or air tickets will increase and the airline industry will gain more profits even though the air tickets are selling at a lower price.

The last determinant is expectation on future income and future price, which means the prediction of consumers on how much they will earn and the value of a good in the future.

For example, if the economy has a positive development, where people expect a higher income in the future, they might go for a vacation and shift the demand curve of air ticket to the right. However, if they realize there will be an increase in price of air ticket in the future probably due to peak season, they will choose to purchase now then later and cause the demand curve to shift to the right.

For the other variable like tastes that can affect demand curve, we will ignore it because it is based on personal behavior and is uncertain to the airline industry.

Determinants on supply curve.

The first determinant is input prices. When the cost of producing goods increases, the supply will decrease.

In airline industry, one of the main input prices is the fuel price. As other variables are constant, when the price of fuel increases, the number of flight per day will decrease to reduce the cost of airline industry.

The second determinant is technology. A better technology can shift the supply curve to the right.

Technology advancement plays a very important role in airline industry. Airline industry is trying their best to seek for better technology in fuel conservation. Besides, they also work with airframe and engine manufacturer in designing the components of aircraft to reduce the fuel consumption of each flight. Thus, with the improvement of technology, airlines can provide more flight then before using the same amount of fuel.

The third determinant is weather. As this is air transportation, weather often becomes a big issue to the airline industry.

A heavy snow during winter, or a bad pollution, often disrupts the takeoff and landing of aircraft. Unfortunately, weather is not control by humans, the airline industry only can do their best in providing complete and safety facilities to protect their users. Although bad weather does not last very long, it does bring some effect on flight for short periods.

The last determinant is expectation on future price. When a firm expects there is a raise of price in future, they will supply less today until the price of the product increase.

In the airline industry, when they expect the price of air ticket to rise in the coming peak season that brings higher profits, they will reduce or maintain the number of flights now. Thus, when comparing the number of flights for two periods, the supply for now can said to be less compare to future.

Since airline industry undergoes the oligopoly market, the determinant of number of sellers will be excluded. Other variables like taxes and subsidies will also be excluded as they are not uncertain.

Conclusion

As we can see from above, airline industry has to concern many determinants that can affect the airlines demand and supply. Besides, they have to observe carefully on the changes in market condition and take immediate action if there is any unexpected issue. According to the Air Transport Association (ATA), labor is the largest expenses of the airline industry, followed by fuel cost. Other variables like weather and technology also have to put well attention to ensure the safety and revenue of the airline industry. The study of economics may help the airline industry when making a decision and better choice by providing knowledge on the efficiency use of resources.

As per the case study the courthouse hotel is a privately owned establishment which is considered as the major hotel in the city. As it is a three star hotel it needs to control its cost so that the hotel runs on profit margin and not on the loss side. Keeping these things into mind the hotel keeps its cost low as compared to others hotels operated in the city. Only few managers and staff members of the hotel use to work once a week in comparison to a month.

As the management wants to restaff its organization they need to keep in mind certain factors as the the person should be having good communication skills, should give good level of service to the guest, well gained with good qualifications. In this case study the hotel is moving from three star to four star hotel so he needs to follow the managerial functions which will lead a organizations to high limits.

SUMMARY:

“Staffing is a term that refers to the management of employee schedules”. For many retail businesses, staffing is monitored hourly because the cost of employee pay checks is a significant cost driver for the organization. (MANAGING HOTELS EFFECTIVELY, EDDYSTONE C.NEBEL,3 EDITION,PAGE NO.159)

Staffing also says that the persons should be recruited in such a manner that the organisation should get ample level of service that a hotel wants from them in order to run on profit margins. No. of staff in the hotel is one of the main key point so that in order to run a company or organisation there is ample staff to run so that it should provide good level of service.

Staffing is one of the most vital functions in the function of management. As staffing is all about recruiting the people whenever a new hotel opens. It also acts as ongoing functions because of high rate of employee rate and management turnover. As this turnover rate the hotel needs to restaff its hotel with proper selection of employees keeping in mind that they are well trained enough to run the hotel and leads the hotel towards profits. ”Properly designing jobs staffed by employees well suited to their work is an important first step in providing superior guest service”.(MULLENS 1985) (MANAGING HOTELS EFFECTIVELY,EDDYSTONE C.NEBEL,3 EDITION,PAGE NO.159).

As the courthouse is changing his level of service and recruiting more peoples he needs to keep in mind some of the key points which need to run the hotel and to maintain the profit margin.

The following key points or staffing issue are as follows:

Training and development:-

“Training is designed to improve the knowledge or skills of the hotel’s staff “. It is obvious to train the staff in order to do the required job or say task.(Hotel operations management,david k.Hayes,jack d.ninemeir, edition 2,115,116).

As the hotel is recruiting new staff for the upcoming four star hotel he need to keep several things in mind that the employee should be enough skillfull so that he can run the organisation in profit margin and his recruitment is also depends on the qualification he holds. Training also plays a vital role in the development of the employee as the hotel is allocated to Germans there is a need of training to be developed in them that how to welcome them and the way of communication. It is important to develop the training program both for the benefit of the staff and the organisation.(supervisory management, Robert w.eckles,Ronald l.carmicael, Bernard r. sarchet IInd edition,338). In order to maintain the standard and level of service the hotel needs to give the same level of service to the German peoples and this is possible by training the staff more efficiently and making them enough skilful so that they can caters the needs of them.

Directing:

The second key point which a hotel needs to keep in mind is the directing as it is a managerial function which initiates action. Its primarily means issuing instruction, assignment ,and directives (orders). “Directing also includes building an effective work force encouraging each employee to work willingly and enthusiastically towards the accomplishment of the desired objectives.”

(Supervision: concept and practices of management,theo haimann, Raymond l. Hilgert,edition 4th ,305).

As the hotel is changing from three star to four star hotel so it needs to follow some strategies which can take them to high sky so that it can make profit out of it. Directing in this case study plays an important role as the hotel is changing his level of service as the German is allocated to the courthouse hotel. The hotel has to direct the staff in order to meet the challenge they are about to accept. Giving right direction to the employees can result into profit for the organisation. Directing employees according to the needs of the Germans can result into good customer satisfaction. Directing can also be defined as the art of encourage for the staff to work more effectively and efficiently. In order to do any task we need to have some direction or say planning so that we should know that the work we are doing is going on the right direction or not. Directing to the staff boosts themselves to earn more confidence in what they are doing and the result they want to cater to them is also on the right direction. .(supervision: concept and practices of management,theo haimann, Raymond l. Hilgert,edition 4th ,305).

Time management and activity planning:

In order to complete the task we need to keep in mind the time factor which plays an important role in doing the activity or a task. In order maintain time management we need to do a certain planning by which the task can be completed. ”working smart is more important then working hard”. To be effective or in order to maintain the time management and activity planning u need to keep some factors in mind:-

Devising action plans.

Delegating the actions needed to achieve the objectives.

Providing support and help whenever needed.

(Hospitality retail management, Conrad lashley, ed 2000, 209).

As in the case study the hotel is moving from 3 stars to 4 stars and in the coming months the hotel is setting up a plan for opening the banquet halls and room service. In order to run smooth organisation we need to manage the time factor which is very important. Doing the work in the specified period of time is what success all about is in hotels. In order to run a smooth organisation we need to manage all the activity in time. As the banquet is opening so the staff should be more specific about the time management and in that time they need to plan a activity which should be completed in the required time. (Hospitality retail management, Conrad lashley, ed 2000, 209).

2(A) Existing staff may react to the following changes in the following ways:

Overtime : As the staff requires ample amount of training in there development so they need to cope up with the skills which can run the smooth organisation. As in the case study first there was only few staff working and that only one weekend in a month. So the new staff might have problem as they have to give extra hours to there work. The problem can be the work pressure on them as they were if working for 10 hrs but now they are working for 20 hrs. (managing change, carnall,1991,92 )

Work load or stress on employees: “Changes creates anxiety, uncertainty and stress, even for those managing change. Even peoples are fully committed to change may experience stress”

.( managing change, carnall,1991,92).

As per the case study first the worker were doing their job as per the requirements but now as the new facilities are introduced in the hotel they need to give more attention to their work and this might can take them to stress and overtime in their duty rota.

Mutual understanding between the employees: If there will be no understanding between the employees there can be a situation of disputes regarding the wages as the people of the hotel which are new are not familiarise.

“Planning, organising and staffing can be used as preparatory or preliminary managerial function.”

The problem of directing can also come into this as everyone has its own way of doing the work. As earlier there was no one to tell them what the best way of doing work is. But now they are pointing out different queries that this is not the way to do the work. (Supervision: concepts and practices of management,4th edition,305)

As if there will be no planning no organising and no proper staffing then will be no proper directing towards the work. Even more without these management problems the organisation cannot run properly and proper planning=proper organising=proper staffing= proper directing staff. Every one has its own way of working and if someone impose some thing on them then there is a problem which arises in the organisation and to them also.

Steps could a supervisor take to minimize the impact of these reactions are:

“A supervisor can change the individuals who work in the organisation.” In order to follow the managerial functions the supervisor need to follow them on the workers as if the supervisor is planning a strategy then the staff should implement it as a supervisor will not tell something else which will lead a organisation towards the negative level..(managing change 2nd edition, Christopher mabey, bill mayon-white, 165 )

“working smart is more important then working hard”.(hospitality retail management,2000,Conrad lashley,209). This is what a supervisor wants to tell his employees that don’t be in any hesitations jus ask the problem which you want to. Don’t jus do the work but should know that what work are doing.

” Planning for each organisation and time management allow to run the organisation more efficiently and more effectively”.(hospitality retail management,2000, Conrad lashley,210). The supervisor maintains the time in which the certain task have to be fulfilled and for doing so the supervisor do a meeting in which he get assured by all the worker to finish there task according to the time give by him.

Conclusion

After the discussion on the staffing issue and to the proposed changes the conclusion comes that the in order to run a smooth organisation we need to follow the important or say relevant steps for the profit margin. Staffing a right employee and motivating him towards his work is more important if a organisation want to be success in future. As courthouse is moving from three star to for star he need to develop certain strategies and need to be implemented.

After developing these implement on them the hotel will be running in profits in the coming future and there will be good level of service which will cater to the guests. The more skillfull the staff will be the more quick service he will be catering to the guest.

This report will focus on the environment in which GL events is currently operating. GL events started as a small company based in Lyon in 1978 providing furniture and stands for exhibitors. Through mergers and acquisitions, they have progressively evolved to become an important player in today’s exhibiting and event world with 34 venues around the world, an event and exhibition full-organising service and a portfolio of 250 trade-shows in various industries (food & beverage, sport & leisure, health, etc.).

Influencing all trends and being influenced by all trends, the exhibition and events industry is in the centre of it all. No company can succeed without being aware of the environment it is evolving in. In the exhibition and events industry, companies need to pay particular attention to details impacting not only its industry directly but also every other sector of activity as it would soon have repercussions on future events, exhibitions, product launches, etc. For this reason, a good PESTEL analysis for the industry needs to cover a broad range of issues and analyse many trends which may not influence events yet but could soon be a threat if companies do not react and stay in the times.

This report will focus on a PESTEL analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Environment, Legal) of the exhibition and events industry conclude by establishing which factors GL events should most take into account going forward as they could be potential threats or areas of opportunities in the years to come.

Political:

There are two main political factors influencing the industry today. One is the increasing political pressures to make regulations and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We will see in the environmental section that this trend started with consumer awareness but it is no longer just something the clients want to know more about, it has become an obligation. This has greatly impacted the transport industry, in particular airlines which found their image hit as people all around the world pointed to airplanes being a major source of pollution. This impacts the event and exhibition industry, especially at a time when various “green” technologies are evolving to permit meetings, conferences and even exhibitions to take place online (Long, 2009). This will be developed further in Environmental and Technology sections.

The second is the increased globalisation and liberalisation of trade and deregulation (Dwyer, L and Edwards, D 2009). This is very important in terms of number of potential competitors and number of potential clients. Companies need to learn to evolve in a globalised economy, taking advantage of it by going to find new markets, possibly entering into partnerships with similar companies to widen market share and visibility. With this liberalisation of trade comes political pressure to have global higher standards of living. If you do not see your neighbour’s yard, you do not know that it is greener, when you break the fence, you find that it is. It is this situation that developing countries are finding themselves in today. Citizens all around the world can use internet to gain knowledge about how others are living and become envious. Because of this, countries want to attract foreign investment to boost local economies and gain wealth and higher standards of living. This creates opportunities for countries not only to establish new and cheaper production lines but also to display their products in emerging markets. Last week for example, Apple launched the Iphone4 in China (AFP, 2010).

Economy

This last point brings us to analysing the economic trends and pressures impacting on the exhibition and events industry. Although the UNWTO 2002 forecasted world tourism to grow at a rate of 4.1% annually until 2020 (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009) due to rising wealth internationally, the exhibition and event industry has seen a slow in growth since 2005 but a rise in exhibition and event attendance (Biba E, 2008). This puts the industry in a rather awkward position. There are people coming to exhibitions but exhibitors have switched their approach towards events and exhibition.

Indeed, especially with the recent crisis, the first expenses cut by organisations worldwide were advertising and travel. Exhibitions and events being in the centre of this, the industry was hit and forced to react. The expectations from exhibitors will be looked into more fully when we look at the social aspects of the trend but the main ideas are that companies are looking to maximise their ROI (return on investment) (Kovaleski D, 2009) and minimise the perception of frivolous spending (trips, events, etc.) (Events Managers, 2010). In order to do this, companies are squeezing suppliers to get more value for money and investigating the return on investment of their events much more closely and looking at alternatives more then they did before. Companies are not so much cutting their exhibition and event spending so much as allocating it more carefully and with conditions of an assured return (Biba E, 2007). This has changed to job of the event organiser who needs to think of more innovative ways that the company can use to introduce their product. A leaflet handout at the exhibition is no longer sufficient, people want to be amused, entertained, really involved in the product (Furness V., 2007). Because of this, the industry is moving away from major events in favour of smaller, more intimate events where companies can really interact with potential clients (Biba E, 2007).

Another aspect companies are putting under the microscope is how to measure ROI generated from social networking and e-marketing. Indeed, if an event is posted on Facebook, LinkedIn, various industry blogs and online magazines this all takes resources in terms of man-hours put into promoting the event on these new channels but how can a company measure that this was efficient? How can the event planner know that the Facebook invitation attracted the client and not some Email they receive every year which pushed them to look for a Facebook event? (Terrero R, 2009). Today, there is little way of knowing exactly what path a client took and what really convinced them to attend your particular event.

Social

Indeed, the main goals of events and exhibitions are brand awareness, brand preference and networking. Although brand awareness can be achieved through various communication mediums (advertising online, billboards, TV, etc.), it is not the way to create brand preference. Brand preference is achieved through interaction, experience of the brand with the client (Kovaleski D, 2009) and leads to better ROI for the company. This means that exhibition halls and event organisers are not expected to provide a massive attendance so much as a good promotional space and real, targeted potential buyers (Biba E, 2007). From the buyers’ perspective, they want to experience and know the brand as a whole. With globalisation came increased competition and consumers now have the possibility to buy from anyone anywhere around the world. The quality and price are no longer the only issues, people and therefore companies look at the triple bottom line. It’s no longer just about economics but also the social and environmental benefits of a product or company.

Clients don’t want a coupon or a price comparison when they come to a product launch, they want to feel and experience the product for themselves (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009 and Furness V., 2007). There needs to be a real interaction between companies and clients. Companies want to build a rapport with their clients, want to become part of their lives. This has forced exhibition halls and event managers to re-think space use and create sections that are dedicated to sitting down in a relaxing atmosphere with a drink to discuss business more casually. The bottom line is still to get the client but the approach is much friendlier then boxed up in a meeting room (Kovaleski D, 2009). This also has an impact on stand design. Exhibitors are encouraged to pay more attention to details such as carpet colour as it has been shown that if the carpet colour of the stand is different from that of the exhibition hall, it may create a barrier and deter clients from approaching (Kovaleski D, 2009).

Technology

With the development of various technologies, companies have the opportunity to have a virtual event run along-side of the live event. This allows them more time to prepare the client for the interaction and pursue the relationship after the event (Furness V., 2007 and Kovaleski D, 2009). This phenomenon of virtual event is not only to accompany live events, there are now events using only virtual platforms, simulating a physical event on the online world. Platforms such as Second Life are being used by companies to reach potential clients without having to create an event in one physical place. This has the advantage, if not necessarily of price reduction, but to be able to reach clients who may not be prepared to travel to meet you. You can meet them where they are all at once (Biba E, 2008). Using 3D technologies, your virtual exhibition can be as simple as visitors being able to look around at the different stands and as complex as re-creating the event in a completely online world (web chatter, 2010). This is not to say that virtual events will completely replace live events because, as we have seen, people still want to interact and know who they are dealing with but it certainly does replace certain live events already (Biba E, 2007).

Another important aspect of the new technologies that the exhibition and event industry should be aware of is the democratization of the internet. This means two things. First, even small firms can bring competition to the large, well-established event organizers if they have good SEO (search engine optimization) and general web-marketing skills as they have equal visibility (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009). Second, through UGC (user generated content) anyone can post their feedback about their experience with a certain organizer and make it available to the world (Papathanassis A, Buhalis D, 2007). This is good news for companies who have good relations with their clients and suppliers but will be difficult for companies who were focusing on “one-shot” clients and therefore not paying much attention to details.

The final aspect of technology refers to the traditional definition of technology, ie: “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry” (Oxford Compact dictionary). Here we are referring to how to build ecologically friendly stands? What technologies can we use to handle the new products that now need to be used in order to create a “green” stand?

Environmental

We are now obviously diverging to the environmental issues around the exhibition and event industry. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to be perceived as environmentally aware (Biba E, 2008). This presents a good opportunity in term of cost reductions as decisions such as travelling less can be explained as an “environmentally gesture” rather then cost-cutting in a bad economy (Events Managers, 2010). However, it presents a challenge for events and exhibition companies who now need to develop “green” stands made with ecologically friendly materials and production techniques and purchased from local suppliers to avoid pollution from transport (Biba E, 2008).

Another aspect the exhibition and event industry will need to look at closely is the impact that global warming will have on their choice of venue and the viability of these choices with respect to client attendance and attractiveness (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009). Indeed, sunny destinations which are very pleasant to hold events at may be changed for the worse in the next 30-50 years while new destinations will establish themselves as more favourable climate-wise.

Legal

The final point we will view is the legal aspects that the industry needs to pay attention to. The policies regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the liberalisation of trade have lead way to many legal documents and laws by countries around the world which need to be followed by event and exhibition organisers and by venues to make sure they are acting within the limits and scope of the law.

However, an important legal issue is the terms and conditions put forward by events and exhibition planners and venues. First, with regards to particular cancellation fees, they need to protect themselves without being outrageously unfair to the potential client which is looking at cancellation fees and possibilities more closely since the crisis. Second, with respect to the inflexibility of minimum numbers, if venues hope to attract client, they need to consider the advantage of having one definite client with a contract who may not bring exactly 1000 participants versus one potential client who is still shopping around and may never sign (Event Manager, 2010).

From this PESTEL analysis, we can draw several conclusions for GL events next step. First, it is clear that the new technologies, though they will not fully replace live events, are certainly complementing them and they are here to stay. GL events could take advantage of this by creating a network with all its venues. When one event is organised in Nice for example, they could offer the possibility of extending it via 3D conferencing tools to other of their venues around the world. This would increase the potential number of attendees who would not have to sit in front of a computer to enjoy the virtual event but would benefit also from meeting with others who are also in their geographical areas and enjoying the event virtually. People in China could enjoy the conference of the event taking place in Nice and have the opportunity to network with other people afterwards via video-conferencing and face-to-face with people who were also unable to attend the meeting.

A second opportunity GL events could take advantage of is the growing importance of the perception of being environmentally friendly which pushes companies to invest in “Green” stands. Through their event organising service, GL events should try to develop the competencies to offer this possibility to their clients, if possible at a similar cost, to make sure they are in keeping (and even a little ahead) of their times.

In these fast changing times, the opportunities are still up for grabs but will soon become threats if venues and organisers do not react quickly.

The purposes for this essay are to present the structure of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Firstly, we need to know what the definition of tourism is. As the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), tourism is ‘the activities of person 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). Therefore, the tourist is a person who travels to another place outside of their normal place of residence at least 100 miles for more than 24 hours and less than 12 months. Travel and tourism does not necessary involve travelling abroad. It could be in domestic tourism such as people’s home country, on visits to attractions, city breaks, trips to business meetings, sports events or concerts, and visits to friends or relatives.

According to Weaver & Lawton (2002, p.3), tourism includes the businesses that provide goods and services wholly or mainly for tourist consumption such as restaurants and food/beverage services, and lodging. Hence, it linked to hospitality industry which including accommodations segments, food services segment and other hospitality operations segments.

Structure of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry

The travel, tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It includes many sectors that we need to go through each part of the industry on its own. The key sectors in the travel and tourism industry can be distributed into three different parts. They are public, private and voluntary sectors.

Figure 1: Tourism industry

Tourism industry

The private sector

The public sector

The voluntary sector

Tour operators

Travel agents

Accommodations

Government

NTOs

NATA

UFTAA

IATA

SHA

Private sector

The private sector is generated of commercial operators run or owned by individuals or companies such as travel insurance, travel press, travel marketing, private colleges, tour operators or travel agents, whose main purpose is to produce benefits from the facilities and goods, which they deliver to their consumers.

In addition, these agencies play a very important role in the development of the travel and tourism industry. They are the components which communicate directly with customers. For instance, they arranged a group which understand the demands of visitors and advertise their packages at different tourist locations through interactive methods of communication such as distribute brochure or advertise in their websites.

Accommodations are the basic needs in tourism industry which including hotels, resorts and timeshares or condominiums, conference centres, camp and park lodges, food and beverages. For example, resorts offer good services such as spa, massage, hot tub for customers who come to relax on holiday. They gain high benefits due to customer’s consumptions when they provide good services. Therefore, the private sectors are commercial businesses with the objective of making a profit for shareholders and owners. They run businesses at all levels of the distribution chain – suppliers, wholesalers and retailers.

Public sector

Public sectors are major groups who decide on the strategy and leadership for the growth of the tourism sector. This is the government body which supporting the tourism industry. The role of this organisation is to work with the industry and provide the required amount of support.

The services offered by the public sector are delivered to the public and paid through government. Public sector includes NTO’s and RTO’s (national & regional tourist offices). It may also be “suppliers”, especially in transportation and visitor attractions. Most of the public services are non-profit-making.

Voluntary sector

Voluntary sector contains different bodies involved in the lobbying and being the force factors who work for the benefit of the tourism sector and the benefit of the respective associations they represent. They are namely National Parks Association, YHA (Youth Hostels Association), National Trust, ANTOR (Association of National Tourist Office Representatives), FTO (Federation of tour Operators), ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies), Museums Association, UK Inbound Tourism, Tourism Concern and PSA (Passenger Shipping Association).

Organizations of the voluntary sector are controlled and ran mainly by volunteers. These organizations are usually not making profit or contributively. This creates some financial benefits that may include reduced rates and VAT, income tax exemption for investments, covenants and bank deposits. Voluntary sector organisations that register as contributions have to satisfy specific terms. Their purposes must be charitable, non-profit-making, for the education’s improvement or for other aims beneficial to the society.

Horizontal integration

According to Weaver & Lawton (2002), horizontal integration takes place when firms reach a higher level of consolidation or control within their own sector. Horizontal integration is where an organisation owns two or more companies, on the same level of the buying chain. For example, EasyJet took over Go! in 2002. It was a case of one budget airline taking over another no-frills airline. Although the two companies became one, they could have retained their different brand names. In fact in this case, EasyJet rapidly re-branded all of Go!’s planes with their own distinctive livery.

Principal
Figure 2: Horizontal integration
Principal
Tour operator
Tour operator
Travel agent
Travel agent

Vertical integration

Vertical integration occurs when a company achieve greater control over elements of the product chain outside its own sector (Weaver & Lawton, 2002). This integration can be forward in the direction of the chain, or backward against the direction of the chain.

Forward vertical integration is more common. Company gains greater control over distribution. It helps them getting closer to the customer. For example, an airline sets up a subsidiary to distribute or market products to consumers such as buying-out a hotel chain or car rental operation.

Figure 3: Forward vertical integration
Tour operator
Principal
Travel agent

Backward vertical integration is buying upward in the distribution chain. In contrast to forward vertical integration, company gains greater control over supplies using backward vertical integration. For instance, First Choice is a tour operator which also has an airline named First Choice Airways, or Thomas Cook Holidays setting up Thomas Cook Airways.

Principal
Figure 4: Backward vertical integration
Tour operator
Travel agent

Key historical developments

Socio-economic

Leisure time: Tourism currently very popular and it is widely acknowledged as a global social phenomenon. In most advanced developed countries, the natural of society has now changed from an economy based on manufacturing and production to focus on the services and consumer industries. Simultaneously, the disposable income and the amount of leisure time and holiday in many countries increased in the post-war period. Therefore, employees have the opportunity to engage in the new forms of consumption such as tourism.

Incomes/holiday taking: The income is produced from wages, profits and interest, has increased every year. The UK economy is one of the strongest in Europe, levels of disposable income and consumer credit are rising and expenditure on leisure is growing at around 6 per cent. Depend on that, employee’s life is improved. They can spend time to enjoy their life such as travel without worry too much about money. Most people today will have travelled abroad and expect to take at least one holiday a year. When tourists are willing to pay for travel, tourism industry will generate more profit.

Car ownership: By the early 1900’s the car was being used for public transport in most cities. But it wasn’t until the 1950 when the car really took off. There were only 8,000 cars in the whole of Britain at the start of the 20th century. By the end of the century the car population had soared to 21 million. Car ownership statistics gives an indication of the level of personal mobility in a population (domestic, continental travel). In 1989 in Britain, each car was used for an average of 30 trips per week, which declined to 24 by 2006. The distance travelled by car per week slightly decreased. Car ownership in the UK has increased considerably in recent decades. It is not uncommon for a household owning two or more cars in nowadays.

Technological

Transportation is an essential need in the tourism sector. It is divided into different areas such as air, road, rail, sea. Transportation is a tool to assist travellers to get to where they want to go.

Sea: Up until the 1920’s the only way to travel abroad was by boat. It used to take days/weeks to travel abroad. Nowadays, ships are mainly used for ferries to mainland Europe and for cruises.

Road: Road travel is the first method people used to travel. In the past, people used to travel by horses, camels, or even humans carrying goods over dirt tracks that often followed game trails. The most famous road in the past is Silk Road. The start of the Silk Road was on 2nd century BC when Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian visited the countries of Central Asia with diplomatic mission. Thus, travel by road is the pioneer in tourism. Nowadays, road travel can be buses, private cars, bicycles, motorbike, etc. People using those transportations to travel are much faster than in the past.

Rail: After sea and road, rail is the third method people use to travel. By the end of the 2nd world war (1940’s) the rail network covered nearly every town and village. Japan is the country famous for mass and high-speed trains. Moreover, Japan has an impressive number of subway systems.

Air: Travel by air is the latest and fastest transportation in the world. The first commercial flight from the UK was to Paris in 1919, but it was very expensive. In the 1970 the introduction of the Boeing 747 brought flying cost down dramatically and open doors to mass tourism. In our time, people can travel from one place to another place very convenience. For example, a flight from Singapore to Vietnam only need 4 hours including food and beverage in the plane, while traveling by sea needs days.

As we can see, tourism cannot develop without technological. It is a part has a great contribution to the tourism industry.

Business developments

Airlines/air travel: Airlines or air travel play a very important role in the travel and tourism industry. Early forms of technology in the travel and tourism industry were systems which linked tour operators to travel agencies via terminals and allowed travel agents to make bookings through the system. Meanwhile, airlines developed computer reservation systems (CRS). Airlines started to use computers in the 1950s to store and change the huge amount of information they needed to access. The CRS was used internally by airlines, and agents would use the OAG publication to look up flight times etc., and then telephone the airline to make a booking.

Tour operators: The role of tour operators is to put together all the different components that make up a holiday and sell them as packages to the consumer. They make contracts with hoteliers, airlines and other transport companies to put the package together. All the holiday details are incorporated into a brochure which is distributed either to travel agents or directly to customers. In simple terms, they organise and package different elements of the tourism experience, then offer “the product” for sale to the public through different mediums like leaflets, brochures, advertisements, etc.

Travel agents: The role of travel agents is to give advice and information and sell and administer bookings for a number of tour operators. They also sell flights, ferry bookings, car hire, insurance and accommodation as separate products. Thus, they are distributors of products. Increasingly, travel agents also do a little tour operating, for example putting together a holiday for a group. Some industry professionals believe that the role of the travel agent is in decline as many people are booking their own holidays and travel on the Internet or by telephone directly to tour operators.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this assignment helps me know more about the structure of travel, tourism and hospitality and key historical developments of its industry. Hence, I will know how tourism and hospitality work.

Briefly, tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It plays a very important role in the industry. There are many sectors which contribute and help to generate the tourism and hospitality industry. They are indispensable parts of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.

The structure of the Travel and Tourism industry consists of six components of sectors.There is the TOURIST ATTRACTION, a location visited by the tourist.Immediate examples called to mind are Blackpool beach or Alton Towers.To arrive at the destination TRANSPORT is required.This could be by train or car etc.ACCOMODATION has to be available for any visits extending more than a day so there are hotels,guest houses caravans.TOUR OPERATORS then combine these components into a package fulfilling all the customers’ requirements and then refer to the TRAVEL AGENT.Or if wishing to eliminate this it is sold directly to the customer.Holidays are sold with brochures with the Travel Agents earning a small commission for his/her services.TOURISM AND DEVELOPMENT situated all over the country ensure that prospective visitors learn of their location and all it has to offer by extensive advertising and promotion work.

ATTRACTIONS are either natural in themselves or are man-made.It is easy to think of natural attractions eg Lake District or Blackpool Beach that has some 6million visitors each year.Man-made attractions are constructed for tourists.Alton Towers is a very famous theme park full of activities for the family originating as a stately home.Other very famous attractions are the London Eye,Tower of London,Eden Project Legoland Windsor.

TRANSPORT forms at least 25% of a tourist’s outlay for a trip.With many ways of getting around it forms a major role in the tourism industry.In order to get to their destination it usually involves at least two forms of transport.The public in the UK expect a high standard of service involving all forms of travel information.

The rail network has been extensively modernised with many private companies competing with each other.Virgin,GNER and Eurostar.Over 5million passengers travel each year with Eurostar through the channel tunnel.Train journeying has declined somewhat but some services are paying their way.Coach travel has always been an essential and popular form of transport enabling the public to travel at very low cost including abroad.National Express and Eurolines carry more than 12million passengers a year to over 1200 destinations.

Air travel may consist of scheduled flights flying to strict timetables.Especially important for business people.And there are charter flights with planes hired for certain journeys at no set time.Some large tour operators own their own charter airlines.More than 75% of all package holidays use air travel.

The sea ferries have become very popular for visiting Ireland and France.There is also hovercraft.Cruising around the Mediterranean has maintained its worth with P&O.

Accomodation is naturally very important to the travel and tourism industry.Consisting of hotels,B&B’s with overall standards significantly improved.Travel inns,campsites,caravans and self-catering villas all contribute to the industry.Over recent years self-catering where you supply your own food and meals has grown in popularity.Half-board offers you breakfast and tea with full-board supplying everything.

TOUR OPERATORS produce holidays in the form of a package.A contract is negotiated with accommodation and transport providers.Buying in bulk reduces overhead costs and the holiday is presented as a brochure to the travel agents.And then sold;either directly or via the agent.There are four types of tour operators.Mass Market;examples are Thomas Cook,Thomson,First Choice.Holidays offered would be an all-inclusive city break,the Lakes and Mountains.Specialist Holidays for the special interests of the holidaymaker.18-30 Club;Seniors(Young at Heart).Domestic Holidays such as Butlins;Health Spas.Holidays for overseas tourists visiting the country.Usually providing guides for the history and culture of the UK.Catering mainly for the Americans and Japanese.

TRAVEL AGENTS do their job of selling the brochures.This is the link between tour operators and the public.They usually cater for specialist holidays.There are multiple travel agents with agencies all around the UK.The most famous are Going Places,Thomson and Lunn Poly.There are miniples consisting of about twenty to thirty shops.Independent travel agents are small and family owned.Very popular are Call Centres where the customer can book a holiday by phone.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Tourist boards offer information concerning the region involved to prospective visitors.Clients can pop into a tourist information centre to obtain literature and anything else concerning the area.The tourist information board is concerned with promotion in any form.For advice and information and to undertake research.Blue Badge Guides have very intensive and specific training to provide tours of their respective regions for visitors.

The Travel and Tourism industry has changed dramatically as a result of the amount of integration.Integration has both a positive and negative effect on the industry.Vertical integration occurs when an organisation buys another at a different level on the buying chain.An example is Thomson who bought Britannia Airways together with Lunn Poly the travel agent.Britannia Airways is allowed by the parent to offer lower fares.The tour operator makes more profit.But the travel agent only receives a low rate of commission leaving most of the profit to the tour operator.Integration is good if it permits the organisation to control pricing and communicates well with every level of such a chain.

An organisation buys another that is on the same level of the buying chain. ‘Go’ then owned by British Airways was bought out by EasyJet. This move resulted in ‘power branding’ where all logos of ‘Go’ became that of EasyJet.This occurred a negative impact with customers.Prices were able to be controlled by EasyJet.But the resultant for EasyJet is more market space for self-promotion.

Tour operators have a much larger market share than travel agents.Thus upon integration with a tour operator the agent sells and promotes the services of the operator.The rate of commission is in the control of the tour operator.

The independent travel agents are seriously affected by integration.The tour operators and airlines will sell their products over the internet directly. ‘Niche’ markets are developing to meet the needs of the customers in the high street and prefer personal attention in such matters.

The airlines have also been affected by integration.British Airways tried to merge with American Airlines but IATA said no,because such a pairing would dominate completely transatlantic flights.

Horizontal and vertical integration has significantly reduced competition within the industy.The demand from the public has set a pattern.Smaller companies are not going to be able to cope.A large organisation can absorb failure impact if the arrangement does not work.For a smalle company such failure would spell ruin.

The purposes for this essay are to present the structure of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Firstly, we need to know what the definition of tourism is. As the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), tourism is ‘the activities of person 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). Therefore, the tourist is a person who travels to another place outside of their normal place of residence at least 100 miles for more than 24 hours and less than 12 months. Travel and tourism does not necessary involve travelling abroad. It could be in domestic tourism such as people’s home country, on visits to attractions, city breaks, trips to business meetings, sports events or concerts, and visits to friends or relatives.

According to Weaver & Lawton (2002, p.3), tourism includes the businesses that provide goods and services wholly or mainly for tourist consumption such as restaurants and food/beverage services, and lodging. Hence, it linked to hospitality industry which including accommodations segments, food services segment and other hospitality operations segments.

Structure of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry

The travel, tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It includes many sectors that we need to go through each part of the industry on its own. The key sectors in the travel and tourism industry can be distributed into three different parts. They are public, private and voluntary sectors.

Figure 1: Tourism industry

Tourism industry

The private sector

The public sector

The voluntary sector

Tour operators

Travel agents

Accommodations

Government

NTOs

NATA

UFTAA

IATA

SHA

Private sector

The private sector is generated of commercial operators run or owned by individuals or companies such as travel insurance, travel press, travel marketing, private colleges, tour operators or travel agents, whose main purpose is to produce benefits from the facilities and goods, which they deliver to their consumers.

In addition, these agencies play a very important role in the development of the travel and tourism industry. They are the components which communicate directly with customers. For instance, they arranged a group which understand the demands of visitors and advertise their packages at different tourist locations through interactive methods of communication such as distribute brochure or advertise in their websites.

Accommodations are the basic needs in tourism industry which including hotels, resorts and timeshares or condominiums, conference centres, camp and park lodges, food and beverages. For example, resorts offer good services such as spa, massage, hot tub for customers who come to relax on holiday. They gain high benefits due to customer’s consumptions when they provide good services. Therefore, the private sectors are commercial businesses with the objective of making a profit for shareholders and owners. They run businesses at all levels of the distribution chain – suppliers, wholesalers and retailers.

Public sector

Public sectors are major groups who decide on the strategy and leadership for the growth of the tourism sector. This is the government body which supporting the tourism industry. The role of this organisation is to work with the industry and provide the required amount of support.

The services offered by the public sector are delivered to the public and paid through government. Public sector includes NTO’s and RTO’s (national & regional tourist offices). It may also be “suppliers”, especially in transportation and visitor attractions. Most of the public services are non-profit-making.

Voluntary sector

Voluntary sector contains different bodies involved in the lobbying and being the force factors who work for the benefit of the tourism sector and the benefit of the respective associations they represent. They are namely National Parks Association, YHA (Youth Hostels Association), National Trust, ANTOR (Association of National Tourist Office Representatives), FTO (Federation of tour Operators), ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies), Museums Association, UK Inbound Tourism, Tourism Concern and PSA (Passenger Shipping Association).

Organizations of the voluntary sector are controlled and ran mainly by volunteers. These organizations are usually not making profit or contributively. This creates some financial benefits that may include reduced rates and VAT, income tax exemption for investments, covenants and bank deposits. Voluntary sector organisations that register as contributions have to satisfy specific terms. Their purposes must be charitable, non-profit-making, for the education’s improvement or for other aims beneficial to the society.

Horizontal integration

According to Weaver & Lawton (2002), horizontal integration takes place when firms reach a higher level of consolidation or control within their own sector. Horizontal integration is where an organisation owns two or more companies, on the same level of the buying chain. For example, EasyJet took over Go! in 2002. It was a case of one budget airline taking over another no-frills airline. Although the two companies became one, they could have retained their different brand names. In fact in this case, EasyJet rapidly re-branded all of Go!’s planes with their own distinctive livery.

Principal
Figure 2: Horizontal integration
Principal
Tour operator
Tour operator
Travel agent
Travel agent

Vertical integration

Vertical integration occurs when a company achieve greater control over elements of the product chain outside its own sector (Weaver & Lawton, 2002). This integration can be forward in the direction of the chain, or backward against the direction of the chain.

Forward vertical integration is more common. Company gains greater control over distribution. It helps them getting closer to the customer. For example, an airline sets up a subsidiary to distribute or market products to consumers such as buying-out a hotel chain or car rental operation.

Figure 3: Forward vertical integration
Tour operator
Principal
Travel agent

Backward vertical integration is buying upward in the distribution chain. In contrast to forward vertical integration, company gains greater control over supplies using backward vertical integration. For instance, First Choice is a tour operator which also has an airline named First Choice Airways, or Thomas Cook Holidays setting up Thomas Cook Airways.

Principal
Figure 4: Backward vertical integration
Tour operator
Travel agent

Key historical developments

Socio-economic

Leisure time: Tourism currently very popular and it is widely acknowledged as a global social phenomenon. In most advanced developed countries, the natural of society has now changed from an economy based on manufacturing and production to focus on the services and consumer industries. Simultaneously, the disposable income and the amount of leisure time and holiday in many countries increased in the post-war period. Therefore, employees have the opportunity to engage in the new forms of consumption such as tourism.

Incomes/holiday taking: The income is produced from wages, profits and interest, has increased every year. The UK economy is one of the strongest in Europe, levels of disposable income and consumer credit are rising and expenditure on leisure is growing at around 6 per cent. Depend on that, employee’s life is improved. They can spend time to enjoy their life such as travel without worry too much about money. Most people today will have travelled abroad and expect to take at least one holiday a year. When tourists are willing to pay for travel, tourism industry will generate more profit.

Car ownership: By the early 1900’s the car was being used for public transport in most cities. But it wasn’t until the 1950 when the car really took off. There were only 8,000 cars in the whole of Britain at the start of the 20th century. By the end of the century the car population had soared to 21 million. Car ownership statistics gives an indication of the level of personal mobility in a population (domestic, continental travel). In 1989 in Britain, each car was used for an average of 30 trips per week, which declined to 24 by 2006. The distance travelled by car per week slightly decreased. Car ownership in the UK has increased considerably in recent decades. It is not uncommon for a household owning two or more cars in nowadays.

Technological

Transportation is an essential need in the tourism sector. It is divided into different areas such as air, road, rail, sea. Transportation is a tool to assist travellers to get to where they want to go.

Sea: Up until the 1920’s the only way to travel abroad was by boat. It used to take days/weeks to travel abroad. Nowadays, ships are mainly used for ferries to mainland Europe and for cruises.

Road: Road travel is the first method people used to travel. In the past, people used to travel by horses, camels, or even humans carrying goods over dirt tracks that often followed game trails. The most famous road in the past is Silk Road. The start of the Silk Road was on 2nd century BC when Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian visited the countries of Central Asia with diplomatic mission. Thus, travel by road is the pioneer in tourism. Nowadays, road travel can be buses, private cars, bicycles, motorbike, etc. People using those transportations to travel are much faster than in the past.

Rail: After sea and road, rail is the third method people use to travel. By the end of the 2nd world war (1940’s) the rail network covered nearly every town and village. Japan is the country famous for mass and high-speed trains. Moreover, Japan has an impressive number of subway systems.

Air: Travel by air is the latest and fastest transportation in the world. The first commercial flight from the UK was to Paris in 1919, but it was very expensive. In the 1970 the introduction of the Boeing 747 brought flying cost down dramatically and open doors to mass tourism. In our time, people can travel from one place to another place very convenience. For example, a flight from Singapore to Vietnam only need 4 hours including food and beverage in the plane, while traveling by sea needs days.

As we can see, tourism cannot develop without technological. It is a part has a great contribution to the tourism industry.

Business developments

Airlines/air travel: Airlines or air travel play a very important role in the travel and tourism industry. Early forms of technology in the travel and tourism industry were systems which linked tour operators to travel agencies via terminals and allowed travel agents to make bookings through the system. Meanwhile, airlines developed computer reservation systems (CRS). Airlines started to use computers in the 1950s to store and change the huge amount of information they needed to access. The CRS was used internally by airlines, and agents would use the OAG publication to look up flight times etc., and then telephone the airline to make a booking.

Tour operators: The role of tour operators is to put together all the different components that make up a holiday and sell them as packages to the consumer. They make contracts with hoteliers, airlines and other transport companies to put the package together. All the holiday details are incorporated into a brochure which is distributed either to travel agents or directly to customers. In simple terms, they organise and package different elements of the tourism experience, then offer “the product” for sale to the public through different mediums like leaflets, brochures, advertisements, etc.

Travel agents: The role of travel agents is to give advice and information and sell and administer bookings for a number of tour operators. They also sell flights, ferry bookings, car hire, insurance and accommodation as separate products. Thus, they are distributors of products. Increasingly, travel agents also do a little tour operating, for example putting together a holiday for a group. Some industry professionals believe that the role of the travel agent is in decline as many people are booking their own holidays and travel on the Internet or by telephone directly to tour operators.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this assignment helps me know more about the structure of travel, tourism and hospitality and key historical developments of its industry. Hence, I will know how tourism and hospitality work.

Briefly, tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It plays a very important role in the industry. There are many sectors which contribute and help to generate the tourism and hospitality industry. They are indispensable parts of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.

This piece if assignment covers destination marketing and what it is. Reading through thoroughly will widen your knowledge about the marketing of a destination and how a plan is created to market a destination. A destination marketing tools is what is used to market a destination. The plan which is called a Tourism Marketing Plan is developed in processes which are described further in the project. It also names an external body that helps to market a destination like Jamaica and the economic significance of them.

What is a destination?

Traditionally a destination is thought to be a specific geographical area but in today’s world a destination can be an alloy of tourism products used to satisfy visitor located in an area. There is a destination of every kind to suit the personality of every traveler. With so many choices for tourist they must be convinced as to why they should visit your destination as opposed to another.

Destination Marketing

Destination marketing is very important. The better a destination is at what it does will aid in how others view it. If the destination brands itself as the one with the best water sports in the world then it should aim to develop that area and maintain it. Destination marketing includes employing marketing tools to achieve a destinations objective. The objectives may include a number of things from becoming the premier tourist destination in its region, having increased arrivals for the next tourist season or even to generate maximum income to boost the country’s economy. A destination must have attractions, be accessible, necessary amenities, available packages and provide ancillary services, this is known as the six A’s framework and can be a guide for destinations looking to market tourism.

The island of Jamaica is located in the Caribbean. It is a magical and natural haven of palm trees, blessed with a climate many only dream of. The island is known for its many white sand beaches, turquoise waters and beautiful sunshine. Jamaica is marketed by a body known as the Jamaica Tourist Board (J.T.B). The marketing slogan of Jamaica is “once you go, you know”. Jamaica appeals to many sectors of the market and this is exploited by the J.T.B. The segmented markets includes: honeymooners, groups, convention groups, overseas Jamaicans, Nature tourism, sports (cricket, golf, football) and the family among others.

If a destination is not marketed it does no harm to the visitors because there are many other islands in the Caribbean. The J.T.B should market Jamaica effectively by employing marketing tools. The destination is not a tangible tool but like other goods and services must be marketed.

Marketing Tools

Destination marketing is quickly becoming a competitive sport worldwide with every destination wanting to be the premier destination of choice for tourist. The marketing of a destination is to maximize the benefits for the country on a whole from tourism. Some of the marketing tools and techniques that can be used by the Jamaica Tourist Board to effectively market destination Jamaica are: Branding, Market research, Development of partnerships, event-lead marketing and a destination website.

Branding- according to the Brand Science Guide for destination research a brand is “the internalized sum of all impressions received by customers and consumers resulting in a distinctive position in their minds eye based on perceived emotional and functional benefits”. Branding of the destination needs more than just a slogan or logo. The brand must not be built through advertising only but mainly through the actual experience that the visitor receives. The brand should not be designed but be as a result of carefully crafted, comprehensive and well thought out strategies. These strategies are all that encompasses the destinations experience for needs and expectations.

Market Research- a survey and or investigation into the market. The aim or purpose of the research is to find out what exactly it is that the consumers want. As it relates to the marketing of the destination a CVB wants to know, what is it that appeals to them, why they visit and how many are they travelling with. After conducting a market research it should help to understand the consumers, to reach them, what attracts them and how to provide for them. The market research also identifies the main type of visitors that goes to the destination and where they come from. It helps to identify trends and potentially new markets as well. Target markets are identified allowing the CVB to position its self in the best way to meet their needs.

Development of Tourism partnerships- partnerships in the business environment is where two or more persons come together, form a business with the aim of providing a service and making a profit. Tourism partners can do a wealth for those destinations that are seeking growth. Partnering with other tourism organizations provides benefits which include: bringing new market intelligence on customers, open new routes for marketing, providing expertise and experience, help reposition the destination and share costs. Tourism partners could be other destination targeting the same markets.

Event-lead strategy- an event is something that happens. Events can be used to market a destination. Jamaica has a mixture of festivals and events. The events are seasonal and the destination can be marketed by the events. Events are good stimulants because they encourage the traveler to visit now rather than to put it off for a later time.

The creation of new events can help, however, it must be carefully planned, well resourced and be committed to. Jamaica has many existing events such as Jazz and Blues festival, Reggae Sumfest, Sting, ATI and others that drives tourist coming to the island at different time in the year.

Destination website- the creation of a website is ideal. The website allows potential and existing visitors to view and find out about the destination before going and getting information about destination. The website should provide detailed precise information about attractions, accommodation, transportation and activities that will they will be interested in.

Strength Weakness Opportunities Threat Analysis
Techniques
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

Branding

Uniqueness of destination for its experience

Too much slogan and logo oriented branding

Becoming the premier destination of the Caribbean

The image that is portrayed is not what the destination is

Market Research

Knowledge provided about consumers

Misinterpretation of consumer behavior may occur

The opportunities to provide what the consumer want

Tourism Partnerships

More efficient and wide spread marketing

Partner may focus on marketing their own destination more

Recommendation of tourist to partners destination

Resources needed to market a destination maybe costly to share among partners

Event-led Strategy

More visitors are attracted to the destination

Overcrowding without proper facilities

Increase in hotel stays

Visitors refuse to come because of inadequate accommodations

Destination Website

Awareness is created about the destination

Where blogs and feedbacks are negative it could damage the image of the destination

More visitor since they have an idea of what the destination is like with visual aid

Open to hackers

The value of a Tourism Marketing Plan

A well-conceived tourism marketing plan for any country is essential to guide growth and provide vision for the tourism industry in the country. The aim of the marketing plan for an area is to capitalize on the strongest interest within the destination. The marketing plan provides a framework as to how and what actions will be taken to successfully market the area. The marketing plan identifies and exploit what makes the destination different from others and promote it. The promotion leads to actual travel from prospects and existing visitors. The value of having a tourism marketing plan is great, for it is indeed a necessity. The plan packages the destination as a complete product, values available and in country such as Jamaica, its accessibility. The marketing plan is essentially to communicate with the target markets and appeal to them in the most creative way as possible.

Processes involved in creating the Marketing Plan

The creation of a tourism master plan for a destination is very important to successfully market the destination. Since it is important to create the plan, it is equally important to take the necessary steps in making functional. There must then be processes involved in the creation of such a plan. The processes involved in the development of a tourism marketing plan are: wide spread consultation with industry stakeholders, identifying strategies for growth and an analysis of where the countries tourism sector is.

Wide spread consultation with industry stakeholder- the development of the tourism marketing plan is to sell the destination. The plan has to be effective in order to reach intended market and create impact. In a business organization, managers do not want to find out from other managers only how the organization is doing but also those at the bottom and outsiders. Finding out from industry stakeholders such as community members, investors, suppliers and others. Consultation internally and externally is one of the most critical processes since it provides information of varying quality from those who are in the industry. The process of consultation maybe timely but is provide valuable information. Some industry stakeholders interact with the tourist and know what will satisfy them.

Identifying strategies for growth- a destination marketer needs to identify those things that will facilitate growth for the industry. The destination has a product is often difficult to market. Due to the complexity, it is best to understand the characteristics and personality of the destination in order to choose the best way it can be marketed. The aim of the destination marketer is to develop a marketing strategy or mix that will help to increase competitiveness. The strategies identified should include assessing a variety of impacts on the industry and devising strategies to deal with them. The impacts includes: environmental impacts, social impacts, economic impacts, visitor safety or security, and local attitudes towards tourism. Identifying this will aid in the development of a marketing plan that will fulfill all the strategic objectives need for growth with the industry.

An analysis of where the countries tourism sector is and where it wants to be and what are the tourism products- the process of analyzing the tourism sector is very vital because the destination marketer needs to know what is the position of the tourism industry. A step cannot be taken to make or market something without knowing exactly what it will offer. If the marketer knows where the destination wants to be and should be positioned. There also needs to be knowledge of what the tourism products are that the destination is offering. The products that countries has to offer varies because demographic, geographic and cultural aspects of the destination and has to market based on what they have to offer.

External organizations that assist the Jamaica

The name of Jamaica’s Convention Visitors Bureau is called the Jamaica Tourist Board. The C.V.B is responsible for the marketing of the island. Five external players that could assist the J.T.B are: T.P.D.co, J.H.T.A, J.A.V.A, JAMPRO and T.E.F.

(T.P.D.Co)- Tourism Product Development Company mainly deals with product diversification, community based tourism development, human resource development and culture tourism.

(J.HT.A)- Jamaica Hotels and Tourist Association represents local hotels and other tourist accommodation as well as those who are suppliers of goods and services to the tourism industry.

(J.A.V.A)- Jamaica Association of Villas and Apartments is an organization that represents the condonium sector of Jamaica’s tourism industry villas, apartments and cottages. It mainly monitors their operations and helps to market them overseas.

(JAMPRO)- Jamaica’s Investment and Export Promotion was established to promote the development of trade and industry as well as export and investment in all sectors of the island economy.

(T.E.F)- Tourism Enhancement Fund, an organization geared to enhance the tourism products. The way they try to enhance the product is by supporting the industry’s development monetarily by collecting all the necessary taxes.

Economic Significance of their Assistance

Marketing a destination requires the creation of a destination marketing plan. The plan acts as a guide for destination marketers to successfully market the particular destination. The success comes because of the strategies and processes involved in the initial creation of the plan. The previously listed external bodies that could assist the J.T.B in successfully implementing the destination marketing plan come with a number of benefits. The assistance received from T.P.D.Co, T.E.F, J.A.V.A, J.H.T.A and JAMPRO has economic values.

The external assistance from these bodies can help in the implementation of the plan. This help has economic significance. The aim of the plan is to maximize the gains from tourism therefore if each plays a part in putting the plan into action will ensure greater success. Each organization is involved in the tourism industry and carries out a different function. Economic gains can be drawn from the functions they carry out. They can do their part and be specialized in targeting a particular objective. This will allow faster results which is primarily more tourists arrivals and more tourist dollar and more economy.

In addition to this their assistance can also help and have economic significance in the form of saving time and more importantly money. The more bodies that are involved in doing a part shares the work load and there can be a greater focus on developing the tourism product. This allows the J.T.B to get more out of the plan and save time and money that would be spent to carry out a function that is already being done by these organizations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a destination when being marketed by must be marketed as any other product but greater effort must be put in to get the most rewarding results. A destination is marketed by using marketing tools such as branding, joining partnerships with other tourism organization, using events to drive tourist’s arrivals and even creating a websites. A market research can also help in marketing a destination because it does direct investigations into the market of an area to find out who they are and what appeals to them. The tool used to achieve a successful marketing has strengths, weaknesses and opportunities as well as threats. The process of developing a marketing plan must take careful consideration since marketers want to achieve the best possible results.

Secondly, Greece has a family-friendly environment, making it ideal for tourists of all nationalities and creeds. One of the factors that contribute to this is its hot, dry Mediterranean climate, with an average of 290 days of sunshine a year. The capital city, Athens, has an average of only seven days of rain during summer and daytime temperatures in the low thirties [4] . These ideal climate conditions make it more accessible for tourists to experience the plethora of outdoor activities that are available, from swimming at Greece’s picturesque beaches and yachting, to more rigorous activities such as mountain climbing and long-distance trekking to see some of the country’s most ancient landmarks and artefacts in the most inconspicuous locations.

Finally, Greece has a sense of individuality and uniqueness to it. In comparison with other European countries that may claim to have a long history, Greece has one of the oldest civilisations and cultures outside of the Middle East. Infact, many historians perceive Greece as the cradle of Western civilisation, as well as the origin of democracy, the Olympic games, Western literature, political science, Western philosophy, and major scientific and mathematical principles [5] . This is validated by the fact that 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites [6] can be found around the country.

Therefore, many foreigners see the country’s rich culture and history as a major attraction that intrigues them and inspires them to visit Greece.

However, amidst the current strengths in tourism industry are some weaknesses and barriers to the tourism industry development. One of the strengths mentioned earlier has also proven to be a weakness: climate, or more precisely, seasonality problems. Mediterranean climates are characterised by hot and dry summers, and also have mild and wet winters. The peak season for travel to Greece is May-September, which is further supported by the fact that an overwhelming 75% of all tourists who travel to Greece travel during this period [7] . That means only a paltry 25% of the tourists travel between October-April. Although the cooler months in Greece don’t have sub-zero temperatures like its other Eastern European neighbours, the large amount of rain the country receives during this period serves as a deterrent for people who enjoy outdoor activities and sightseeing. Therefore, the revenue levels of a lot of local businesses that rely heavily on tourism decrease substantially during this period of time.

Another major weakness is the lack of public transport infrastructure and accessibility. While countries such as Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom and Germany have reputable public transport systems; it is a hassle to travel to some of the most majestic and beautiful parts of Greece. This is because the country as very spread out and the population density, when compared to its European counterparts, are very low, ranked 115th in the world with 85.7 people per square kilometre [8] . A lot of people may see the public transport infrastructure as a negative, because they want to travel between locations with minimal complications.

Other major weaknesses and barriers include marketing and management. Although countries like France and Germany have managed to ‘modernise’ themselves despite their long histories and have made themselves more cosmopolitan and attractive to younger people, Greece has, to a large extent, chosen to remain ‘stuck in the past’ and relied heavily on its 3500+ year history to promote its tourism industry. This is an obstacle when it comes to targeting potential tourists who may not have the same level of appreciation for things related to historical matters. In other words, Greece tourism promotion and marketing hasn’t evolved with the times, leaving potential tourists with a fixed stereotype of the country and hence little opportunity for surprise.

The weaknesses and barriers to the tourism industry development lead to an issue that may benefit the Greek tourism industry as a whole: what are the opportunities to enhance the tourism’s economic contribution? Well, as one of the weaknesses mentioned earlier, there is an opportunity to improve the public transportation. An improvement in this area could lead to a vast increase in tourism for the Greek Islands off the mainland of Greece, and overall, an increase in tourism for Greece. Places such as Mykonos, Crete, Rhodes and Kassos could all experience a large inflation in tourist numbers, hence leading to increased revenues and profits for the local businesses in those respective areas. Continued improvement in infrastructure and technology will also go a long way towards enhancing the tourism’s economic contribution. Giving the country a ‘modern appeal’ will help to counteract the weakness mentioned earlier about Greece’s outdated marketing techniques in the area of tourism promotion. Finally, a decrease in accommodation prices may lead to an influx of tourists. As we know, not everyone can afford to stay in four or five-star accommodation. In 2009, Athens was named the city with the 10th most expensive hotel prices in the world, with the average hotel in Athens costing AUD $321 a night [9] . This price is deemed to be very expensive for people in the middle and lower-class income brackets and may deter them from visiting Greece in the first place. Affordable accommodation may be able to break the mindset that Greece is an expensive place to travel.

There are various threats that need to be overcome, in order to enhance Greece’s reputation as a safe and hospitable tourist destination. The first issue is riots. Major riots occurring in December 2008 [10] and more recently, May 2010 [11] , have tarnished Greece’s reputation as a safe destination. This has had adverse effect on the tourism industry, with pre-bookings being down 8% for the peak-season in comparison to last year. With tourism being absolutely pivotal to Greece’s economy, equating to 17% of its Gross Domestic Product, any sharp decline in this amount could be detrimental to the Greek economy on a whole. Also related to the issue of safety are two terrorist attacks that occurred last year [12] 13.

Environmental pollution is another threat to the tourism industry that needs to be confronted. This problem emanates back to the 1970s [14] , when rapid industrialisation began to take place in Greece. This industrialisation culminated in serious air pollution in Athens during the 1980s. Smog (carbon monoxide) and exhaust fumes from cars became prevalent in Athens and even resulted in 87 industries and 73 factories being order to cease production [15] , due to the government’s concerns over the effects the pollution was having on people’s respiratory systems. The widespread ramifications of this problem don’t stop there. Various species of mammals, reptiles, birds and freshwater fish are on the brink of extinction because of failure to minimise the pollution5 [16] .

The issue of political intervention appears as a threat to the tourist industry. The recent riots in May 2010 were the result of protests against the government’s austerity decisions to combat the country’s large sovereign debt levels [17] 18. Countries with political instability and countries that impose austere decisions, which are likely to lead to civil unrest, make the country less attractive to foreigners and hence will find it very difficult to attract potential tourists.

So far, we have discussed the current strengths, weakness and barriers of the Greek tourism industry, as well as potential benefits and threats that could either enhance or decimate the industry. Combining the main points discussed in this research, we can extrapolate implications for specific strategies of industry, government and the community to enhance the economic impacts of tourism in Greece. In our opinion, we believe there are three main implications.

Firstly, there should be a strategy to consolidate on the profitable and competitive Greek tourism industry, both in the short-term and more importantly, long-term future. Possible techniques to achieve this objective include improving the marketing and promotion, aim to increase levels of tourism and try to promote different types of tourism to appeal to a wider variety of people. Improvements in these areas should lead to a considerable increase in revenues and profits for businesses in Greece that rely on tourism and will allow Greece to maintain strong percentages of tourism in its GDP (as mentioned earlier, 17% of GDP in the Greek economy is derived from the tourism industry).

Secondly, there should be an increasing need to cultivate and maintain Greek tourist destinations and attractions, which thereby will lead to economic prosperity in the future. This strategy is concerned with improving the environment, public transportation infrastructure, general infrastructure and decreasing pollution. By improving the standard of public facilities, making transport more accessible for tourists and improving legislation to decrease pollution, not only will it appeal to more potential tourists, but furthermore, Greece will develop a reputation as a nation that cares for the general wellbeing of people and will take the respective measures to make a tourist’s experience as enjoyable and pleasant as possible.

Finally, there should be a strategy for improving the general satisfaction of tourists. This may be achieved through improving general services and also promoting different types of tourism for the people of varying economic backgrounds. For example, the Greek tourism industry should promote certain holiday packages for the higher-income earners who may want to experience a bit more extravagance and luxury, packages for families with small children, packages for those who are on a budget and so on. Certain types of lifestyles (attributed to the amount of money the tourist is willing to spend) should be targeted to achieve this objective.