Category: Tourism

Introduction

Tourism is a vital economic activity for every country. Over the last few decades, several governments have come up with strategies of promoting the activity (Hinch & Higham, 2004). Equitours is a leading organizer and consultant of horse riding tours in various destinations around the world (Welcome to Equitours, 2014). The company has been in operation for over 40years. Its horseback riding services provide an interesting opportunity of exploring tourist attraction sites in a unique way. To obtain an analysis of the company’s demand and supply, this paper assesses wildlife in Kenya, natural scenery and landscapes in Arizona, and horseback riding in ranches situated in Patagonia Argentina.

Wildlife makes the largest portion of Kenya’s tourist attraction. Kenya has several wildlife national parks and game reserves (Abubakar & Shanka, 2006). Equitours horse riding began its operation in Kenya in 1979 at the Maasai Mara national park. Mel and Bayard Fox, who are both the founders of Equitours, started the organization (Stellin, 2006). Ever since then, the country has become a favourite destination. The guests are allowed to take horseback rides around the Wyoming ranch in the national park.

Equitours horseback riding in Patagonia is undertaken on a 15,000-acre cattle ranch, which is located at the foothills of the Andes (Stalcup, 2007). The horseback riding offers a clear view of vast open grasslands. Usually, guests are allowed take part in moving the cattle to new pastures. Here, guests can take the rides in the Andes, where they can view snow capped-mountains, lakes, hills, and rivers. Patagonia offers strong riding horses, beautiful scenery and modernized accommodations.

On the other hand, Arizona and Utah regions offer fascinating sceneries (Church, 2008). The Equitours provide horseback riders a means of exploring amazing sceneries and landscapes. Arizona has Mesas tower that rises several feet above the plain, saguaro cactus, deserts, and the biggest canyon in the world. All these provide beautiful sceneries, especially during the sunsets hence a suitable for horse riding vacations. In addition, the guest riders have a chance to observe rich cultures, which include Navajo culture.

Demand and supply analysis

Demand in general is the quantity of a service or a product that buyers desire at a particular market price. Tourism demand refers to the total persons who travel or plan to travel to tourist attraction sites, which are usually away from their residential places. Tourism demand is supported by the existence of the tourists attraction mix. For any tourist destination to succeed, it should offer quality services to boost tourism demand. In Kenya, wildlife attraction contributes a large portion of tourism demand. The demand for horseback riding in Kenya’s wildlife national parks is increasing since it is a fascinating activity. The report and data collected by the ministry tourism Kenya supports the increase in demand for tourism (Saarinen, 2013). There several factors, which have contributed to demand for tourism in Kenya. They include good infrastructure, large number of attraction sites, rich culture, security, standard accommodation facilities, and diverse wildlife.

Since 2011, tourist arrivals have increased due to the improved security. Kenya military forces cracked down al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia enhancing security in the region. Data from the ministry of tourism Kenya indicate that the total number of tourists in 2012 was 1,265,136 as compared to 1,095,842 in 2010 (Mayaka & Prasad, 2012). This represents an increase of 15%. The number of tourists from China and India, which are new markets in the Kenyan industry, aided the increase in demand. It resulted in an increase in 32% of the country’s revenue. Analysis of tourism demand in Kenya indicates that the state of security determines the number of tourist arrivals.

UK is the largest market for Kenya’s tourism and it translated to 203,290 in 2011, and it is followed by the USA, which accounted for 119,615. Within Africa, Uganda was the biggest market with 42,647 tourists followed by South Africa that contributed for 38,354 arrivals. Based on the Kenya National Bureau of statistics, the number of arrivals during 2013 were 2,061,127 and it is projected to hit 2,267,240 in the 2014 (Saarinen, 2013). The number of domestic tourists in Kenya is on the rise due to awareness of the destination sites and the subsidized fees by the government. Local tourists increase the demand for tourism within the country.

The demand for horseback riding from the Equitours in Maasai Mara is on an increase because the overall demand for tourism in Kenya is increasing. In Kenya, Wildlife is diverse and most of the national parks have wildlife acting as the major tourist attraction (Pearce & Butler, 2009). The Maasai Mara Safari is fascinating for most horse riders because the rides offer them with opportunities to see a number of wild animals in their natural habitat. The local community, the Maasai, has an interesting culture that attracts a number of tourists to the region.

The analysis of tourism demand in Arizona with respect to horseback riding is important in understanding the tourism industry in the region. It helps the government in formulating strategies, which are necessary for the success of the tourism industry. Several attraction sites contribute to tourism demand in Arizona. They include the spectacular riding tour through national parks located in remote places. Another important adventure is the winter ride that takes place in the rocky Grand Canyon and ponderosa forests. The canyon offers cattle and wildlife place to shelter during winter season. The lodging sales have increased to $500million in 2012 translating to 4.4% increase from 2011 sales. This follows 3.9% and 4.6 % increase in 2009 and 2010 respectively (Saarinen, 2013).

The tourist arrivals in Arizona have been on an increasing trend since 2010. In 2012, the arrivals increased by 6.7% and increased by 5.8% in 2011.The total number of tourists was 27.2 million in 2011 and 29 million 2012. The above statistics indicate that the demand in tourism in Arizona is increasing steadily due to favourable exchange rates in reference to the US dollar. The report released by the Arizona office of Tourism (AOT) indicated that both domestic and international tourists spend 36.9 million on each night (Saarinen, 2013).

AOT deals with the travel industry, taxation, and related works in the Grand Canyon State. As such, tourism contributes $ 48 million into Arizona’s economy. Actually, the demand for tourism, especially on horseback riding is rising since it is fun to ride on a beautiful scenery of Arizona. The visitors from Canada in 2010 were 650,000 (Saarinen, 2013). The above figures represented a 16.5 % increase compared to 2009’s figures. For the last few years, the economy of Arizona has been largely funded by tourism indicating the demand for tourism is increasing.

Figure: Arizona Travel trends between 2010 and 2012.

On the other hand, tourism demand in Argentina has been on an increase, as evidenced in the data by the Secretaria El Calafate. The tourist visitor’s index was 110.924 in the year 2006, and it increased to 174.943 in the year 2011. This clearly indicates that the demand for tourism is increasingly turning Argentina into a major a tourist destination country. It implies that the tourism in Patagonia with a combination of horseback riding is on increasing demand. Most of the people in Argentina trace their descendants to Spain, Italy, and France. As such, this is the reason why most of the tourism market is from European countries. For instance, tourists from France accounts for 15%, tourists from Spain accounts for 44%, and tourists from Germany accounts for 10% of the European tourists visiting Argentina. Patagonia offers great horse riding tourist attraction in the region and provides an opportunity for exploring other tourist attraction sites.

Figure: Tourism projections compiled by WTTC Travel and Tourism (Kenya National Bureau of statistics 2012).

Supply in tourism refers to availing the goods and services that the tourist will enjoy and buy as they visit a tourist attraction site in a particular destination country (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2008). Supply entails a variety of attraction mix. Supply helps in shaping tourism demand of a particular country. The resources that are essential in tourism can be either manufactured or offered naturally by the environment. The telecommunication, transport, and accommodation facilities are the basic infrastructures and forms of tourism supply. Other services include car rental agents, visitor information agencies and travel advisory companies. The government of the destination country provides all these services and facilities. Tourism supply ensures that that tourism demand is met in the tourism industry.

Tourism supply in Kenya is able to meet the rising demand for tourism. For instance, the accommodation facilities in Kenya are enough for tourist visitors. From the above data on Kenya tourist, it is apparent that the number of bed nights available is more than bed nights occupied every year. For instance, bed nights available in 2012 were19, 335,756 while the bed nights occupied were 7,997,328.The above indicates that the services supplied is more than that demanded. Kenya has several hotels and resort facilities that can accommodate tourists visiting Kenya. Around Maasai Mara national park there resorts for tourists where they get food and accommodation services.

The Equitours horse riding at Maasai Mara supply is higher than the demand of the tourists. For the tourist wishing to camp within the park, food, wines hot showers and accommodation is provided. Kenya has several wildlife parks, cultural activities, and scenery to meet the increasing tourism market. The infrastructure and communication facilities are well conditioned thus facilitate tourism industry.

The tourism supply in Arizona is enhanced by good infrastructure of US and standard four and five star hotels to accommodate tourist visiting the Arizona. The horseback riding is suitable in Arizona and the availability of the above services helps to meet the demand of tourism. On the other hand, the demand for tourism in Argentina is able to meet the demand for tourism. For instance, the hotel bed trends indicate an increasing number in the number of tourists. In 2005, 19752000 hotel beds were occupied. The number rose to 103386000 in the year 2011. The restaurant supply was estimated at 18 216000 and 138528000 during the same years respectively. Actually, the hotels and restaurant accommodation facilities are inclining supporting the growing demand for tourism in Argentina and Patagonia in particular. The availability of riding horses in Patagonia region also helps to meet the growing demand for horseback riding by the Equitours.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT refers to a mechanism tool, which is used to indicate the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats that face an organization. Tourism industry just like any other organization has its strengths and weaknesses and it is the role of the government and the ministry of tourism in a given country to analyze SWOT to come up with strategies for improving the industry (Font, 2004).

In Kenya, there several strengths the industry is enjoying. Kenya is a renown tourist destination worldwide and most of international travellers are aware of its wildlife attraction sites. In addition, Kenya has a reputation for its diverse tourism and hospitality. Therefore, tourists enjoy visiting Kenya to see the variety of Wildlife in several national parks. Maasai Mara is one of the national parks that are rich in wildlife. The above arguments are supported by the increase in demand for tourism and increased supply for tourism in terms of hotels and accommodation facilities. Tourist arrivals were 1,873,752 in year 2012, 2,061,127 in 2013, and it is projected to hit 2,267,240 in 2014.

The above statistics show the existence of strengths that Kenya tourism is benefiting. Kenya has quality staff and well standard tourist facilities compared to other African countries. Another aspect that Kenya tourism derives its strength is the political stability. The country has a stable government. Therefore, both citizens and tourist visiting the country enjoy peace. Ministry of tourism in Kenya has embraced marketing strategies and advertising of the tourist attractions within the country. Tourists are able to know about all the existing tourist sites within the region. Similarly, the country is a conference tourism destination in Africa, and it enjoys the existence of NGOs, which play a great role in educating citizens on the importance of conserving wildlife and environment for tourism sustainable.

Despites its strengths, the Kenyan tourism have some weaknesses which affect the performance of the sector. Ministry of tourism lacks enough financial resources to develop efficient tourism marketing institutions (Irandu, 2004). The general poor infrastructure of roads in the country also is a challenge that the industry is facing. Poaching is another huge threat to Kenya wildlife since poachers target elephants and rhinos for ivory. Over reliance on fewer traditional markets is also another challenge the industry is facing since competitor markets might seek new markets (Sindiga, 2000). Lack of enough tourist security and agents is also another threat that the country is facing, as it leads to reduced number of tourists wishing to visit the country.

In Argentina, tourism enjoys several strengths in the industry. The availability of well-established infrastructure in Argentina helps to boost tourism within the country. The accommodation facilities are increasing as shown above. For instance, in 2005 the accommodation facilities in the restaurants and hotels were estimated at 19,752,000 and 18, 7216,000 (Moss, 2011). In 2011, the figures rose to 103, 386,000, and 138,528,000 respectively, indicating the existence of strengths in Argentina tourism. Other strengths observed are enhanced marketing and availability of information to visitors. Marketing of the horseback riding within the cattle ranches in Patagonia helps to increase the number of visitors in the region.

Equally, Argentina has had a stable government. Through this, peace within the country has been upheld hence tourists are sure of their safety during the visit to Argentina. Political stability boosts the number of visitors into the country, especially those who are coming to horse ride (Leiper, 2004). The government of Argentina has also come up with long public holidays to boost domestic tourism. For instance, the number of public holidays was 12 in 2009 and it increased to 19 in the year 2012. Most of these holidays were fixed on Mondays and Fridays to create long weekends. The strengths contribute to increase in tourism demand in Argentina and particularly the horse riding by visitors in the regions of Patagonia (Puri & Chand, 2009).

However, some weaknesses affect the industry. The exchange rate appreciated leading to decreased number of international tourists. The situation increased the expenditure of the tourists. The exchange rates also affected the accommodation’s investors as the operating costs increased, leading to fewer facilities for tourists. Poor policies and legal framework is another challenge that faces the tourism sector in Argentina. Another problem is the deficit in the finance of the Aerolineas Argentina, which is responsible for transportation of tourists (Withers, 2009). The federal government of Argentina has imposed huge charges on air traffic reducing the number of international tourists.

In Arizona, the presence of excellent infrastructure facilities in the United States is one of the most important strength in the tourism industry. The US government and the Arizona County have invested in infrastructure that ensures good roads and air facilities. Good infrastructures ensure accessibility of the tourist attraction site of Arizona thus leading to increased demand for tourism (Murthy, 2008). At 2010, tourists from Canada were estimated at 650,000, which represented a 16.5% increase from the previous years (O’gorman, 2010).

Arizona has standard hotels and restaurants to accommodate tourists during their visits. The weaknesses facing tourism in Arizona include the lack of variety of places to visit and limited accessibility for horse riding. Tourists like to visit places with numerous alternative attractions. In addition, the sector faces numerous competitions from sectors in the county. The beautiful scenery in Arizona faces competition from other destinations, which are renowned worldwide, especially those rich in wildlife and cultural activities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that each of the three destinations has strengths and weaknesses, which are either same or different to some degree (Laws, 2005). For instance, the diverse wildlife in Kenya is a major strength while in Arizona the standard infrastructure and accommodation facilities. In Argentina, the government’s introduction of public holidays and political stability are some of the strengths.

References

Abubakar, B., & Shanka, T. (2006). Research Note: Tourism In Kenya: A Preliminary Examination. Tourism Analysis, 10(4), 411-416. Web.

Church, M. (2008). Southwest camping destinations: RV and car camping destinations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Livingston, TX: Rolling Homes Press. Web.

Font, X. (2004). Environmental management in the hospitality industry: a guide for students and managers. Tourism Management, 25(3), 409-410. Web.

Goeldner, C. R., & Ritchie, J. R. (2008). Tourism Principles, Practices, Philosophies. (11th ed.). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Web.

Hinch, T., & Higham, J. E. (2004). Sport tourism development. Clevedon, England: Channel Veiw Publications. Web.

Irandu, E. M. (2004). The Potential for Cruise Tourism in Kenya. Anatolia, 15(1), 69-86. Web.

Laws, E. (2005). Tourism management, managing for change. Tourism Management, 26(1), 118. Web.

Leiper, N. (2004). Tourism management (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson/Hospitality Press. Web.

Mayaka, M. A., & Prasad, H. (2012). Tourism in Kenya: An analysis of strategic issues and challenges. Tourism Management Perspectives, 1(1), 48-56. Web.

Moss, C. (2011). Patagonia a Cultural History.. Luton: Andrews UK. Web.

Murthy, E. K. (2008). Management of tourism & hospitality industry. Jaipur, India: ABD Publishers. Web.

O’gorman, K. D. (2010). Philosophical Issues in Tourism (Aspects of Tourism). Tourism Management, 31(2), 293-294. Web.

Pearce, D. G., & Butler, R. W. (2009). Tourism Development. London: Routledge. Web.

Puri, M., & Chand, G. (2009). Tourism management. Chandni Chowk, Delhi: Global Media. Web.

Saarinen, J. (2013). Tourism and the Millenium Development Goals: Tourism, Local Communities and Development.. London: Routledge. Web.

Sindiga, I. (2000). Tourism and African development: change and challenge of tourism in Kenya. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate. Web.

Stalcup, L. D. (2007). Human Resources Management In The Hospitality Industry: An Introductory Guide (8th Ed.). Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 31(1), 130-132. Web.

Stellin, S. (2006). How to travel practically anywhere: the ultimate travel guide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.. Web.

Welcome to Equitours. (2014). Web.

Withers, A. (2009). The gap-year guidebook 2010. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational. Web.

Key Tourism and Migration Issues Post WW2

“Migration is difficult to define for many reasons. Firstly, migration involves movement with a spatial and a time dimension. Its definition requires establishing criteria pertaining to each aspect, to some degree subjective and arbitrary” (Bilsborrow 1998, p. 3). Bilsborrow (1998) goes on to state that, for a movement to be considered as migration, one must travel across a political or administrative boundary and then reside in that new place of residence. Since 1998, Italy has received about 7,112 asylum applications that increased by about 380% compared to the applications made in 1997 (Accardo 2012). Most of the asylum applications that the country has gotten originate from countries like Iraq, Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro. In effect, refugee status was awarded to about 29.6% of decisions of applications that were granted in 1998.

The country has further hosted about 5,816 people from Macedonia in 1999 following the NHCR/IOM Humanitarian Evacuation Programme (Pridham 2001). In 2004, the number of asylum seekers seeking to gain entry into the country was zero, even though the country had about 15,604 refugees and 886 stateless persons of concern to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The net migration was further estimated at 2.07 migrants per 1,000 populations in 2005. Thus, Italy is suffering from a migration problem with most of the migrants coming from the war zone countries. For instance, the coastal town of Sicilian at the Porto Empedocle boasts about 9,480 immigrants that have already arrived in the country, with a total of 31 deaths of people that were trying to cross into Italy from North Africa.

One major problem that the country is however facing is that the north and the south will not agree on how to handle the migration problem that is currently affecting the country (Massidda, Etzo, & Piras 2014). In effect, there is a north-south divide, with cities located in the south of the country like Puglia, Sicily and Campania being forced to bear the migrant burden and the North refusing to offer any assistance to the problem. Notably, the migrant problem has invaded Italy with many migrants from different countries coming to the country.

The negative effect of the problem is felt on the exertion to the country’s natural resources and security, as the government has accepted to host all the migrants making the people quite angry. However, the country complains that it does not have a choice other than to host the migrants owing to the fact the most of the EU partners located in the north have evaded the migrant problem responsibility facing countries in the south of the Mediterranean to handle the problem, without their support (Squires 2009).

In response to mitigating this problem, Italy has stated that it could consider issuing new migrant with temporary travelling documents, thus, giving them the opportunity to travel throughout the borders of Europe. In effect, this move could be contrary to the Dublin record which requires that such asylum requests be processed by the receiving member states where the applicant arrived (Salis 2012). Further, the country is also contemplating restricting the British, German and French boats from dropping the migrants rescued from the Mediterranean at its borders and ports, to force these countries into taking responsibility for these people.

An Internal and External Assessment of Tourism in Italy

The State of Inbound Tourism in Italy

International inbound tourists are referred to people that travel to an individual country other than their normal country of residence, and outside their customary environment for not more than a year for the purpose of visiting other than conducting remunerated economic activities. Notably, the number of inbound visitors travelling to Italy from other emerging nations is still small; though there is a steady increase. Noting from the impact they pose when they go to Italy, the arrival of tourists from Russia account for about 2.3% of the total inbound nights in Italy (Baldigara, Pagliuca & Rosciano 2012).

This figure has steadily risen from 1 635 639 in 2004 to 3 730 458 in 2008. Another emerging country, Brazil, also accounts for about 0.8% of the total number of inbound tourists to Italy, while China also accounts for 0.8%. Further, visits from India are also increasing steadily though its increasing share of inbound markets is about 0.24%. However, there are numerous changes like lifestyles, values and demographics of people from the developed countries, which tends to affect the demand for tourism in Italy (Figueroa & Moseder, 2015). In effect, this has resulted in fragmented tourism markets with the emergence of novel niches like retired travellers from the developed nations, the need for health tourism in the developed countries among others. Consequently, these niche markets tend to demand new tourism experiences other than the traditional offerings existing in the market.

Notably, the change in tourism niches tends to affect tourism demand in Italy, meaning that the country may have to re-evaluate the nature of its current business. Further, there has been a new demand for tourism with most consumers choosing to travel to destinations that are closer to home following the effects of the economic crisis on most people’s financial status. This has resulted in a longer-term trend of tourism demand, other than the frequent visits that would be characterized by extended stays. In fact, from 1998 to 2008, residents in the EU have increased the holiday trips they make to about 47% with a rise in shorter trips at about 75% and a reduction in long trips by 25% (Etzo, Massidda & Piras 2014b).

Outline of Italy’s Commitment to Tourism

The government of Italy has come up with a plan to revamp the tourist state of the country. The plan includes an amendment of the regulations that govern hotel buildings, a review of the tourist taxes, and analytical use of the available public funds targeted for use in the sector. Also, the government commits to the education and training of potential aspirants seeking to work as hoteliers or graduates in the tourism industry.

The first proposal is the need to implement a law that would be keen on the regulation of hotel buildings. This law proposes that the present statute on hotel buildings, especially those that are owned by families should be amended to allow for their reconstruction into houses of office space so that the owners of these dilapidated structures can find it easy to exit the business. This is because while Italy has many hotel rooms and space, its occupancy levels are low owing to the nature of these buildings (Angeloni 2013)

Another government plan is to create a national tourism fund. This public fund will be solely reserved for the tourism sector through which allocated taxes will be reserved and assigned to the tourism industry. Notably, hotels and bars in Italy are highly charged at about 10% compared to the 7% charged by hotels and restaurants in other European countries (OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2014). Owing to the high taxes charged, the 3% difference should be channelled to the tourism sector. Further, the local taxes that are levied on overnight hotel guests should be made standards and applied to effect change in the tourism industry. In response to achieving this plan, the secretary of state has specified some guidelines as a national strategy through which the tourism sector in Italy can be revamped. Among the actions that the plan is looking to implement are:

To set up a task force that is keen on the promotion of Italy as a tourist destination. One way through which these goals are going to be made possible is through strong advertising and marketing of Italy as a tourist destination (Presenza 2005)

Improve both local and international administration to effect positive change in the country’s service networks, logistics and infrastructures. This is going to be made possible through signing treaties with tour operators’ from other countries among others.

Improve the nature of the national observatory of tourism. This improvement is to be carried out with the intention of improving data reliability and collection to ensure appropriate information management.

Spatial Analysis of the Key Attractions, Tourism Products and their Access in Italy

Italy’s key attractions can be categorised into three. These are the cultural attractions, environmental attractions and social attractions. Cultural attractions comprise of the essential cultural inventories and art features that increase the appeal of the country (Di Lascio, Giannerini, Scorcu, & Candela 2011). These are historic buildings, churches, museums, castles and archaeological sites. Environmental attractions are those that enhance the appeal of the environment to the people. These are like available parks, the number of protected areas, and natural assets like mountains, beaches and lakes. Third, are the social attractions that determine the intensity of social activities carried out by the people. These include historical celebrations, religious festivals, gastronomic fairs among others (‘Italy 2015 Country Review’ 2015).

Tourism attractions in the country are categorised and recognised through their regional existence. Among the key regions with attractions are Lombardia, Piemonte, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Toscana, Umbria, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, Sicilia and Sardegna. Rome, Venice, and Florence are the top three destinations for tourism in Italy. Other tourist attractive locations are Milan, Turin, Bologna, Naples, Padua, Genoa, Sardinia, Perugia, Sicily, Salento and Cinque Terre (Goffi 2013). The two attractive factors in each of these locations are the historical and the geographic nature of these regions. Notably, the Roman Empire, middle ages and renaissance have constructed many attractions that tourists love to visit (Patuelli, Mussoni & Candela 2013).

Also, many other cities in the north also use the Alps as a great source of attraction to carry put winter sports, while the towns on the coast of the country are known for their appeal due to the presence of the Mediterranean Sea, which tends to attract many tourists looking to bask in the sun. Notably, Italy is the home to approved forty-three UNESCO world heritage sites as compared to any other country. These are through cities like Siena, Verona, Vicenza, San Gimignano, Ferrara, and Urbino, while Ravenna is known for being the home of eight different internationally known tourist sites. Ideally, Italy is an authentic museum carrying about 655 of the worlds’ total artworks and monuments.

Among the products that Italy has to offer are seasides. The Seaside continues to represent the largest area of tourist attractions in Italy. Another product that the city has to offer in the art cities that constitute about 22% of the products that domestic markets love to see. They are also the main attraction source for inbound tourists at about 38%. However, other tourism products are steadily growing and gaining visitor traffic in the country. These products are normally a combination of destinations and include agri-tourism, cruise tourism and food tourism. Further, The Intesa Sanpaolo study shows that the country has also had a considerable increase in other products like yachting and cruise tourism.

Also, the tourism concept of the country has significantly changed evolving from docking regions to residential villages. In effect, the state is taking advantage of this evolution to offer packages and products like lodging and mooring locations around the marinas and ports. Thus, there is the development of complex apartments and commercial activities. The new trend is to offer combined packages of lodging and mooring places; therefore, around the new ports and marinas, a complex system of apartments, commercial centres and stores.

An Analysis of the Regulatory, Legal and Business Environments of Italy

Political Analysis

Italy is one of the most politically stable countries in the world. However, the northern part of the country is largely xenophobic meaning that citizens from the north do not tolerate outsiders. Among the primary outsiders that are not welcome are Africans and Arabs. It is assumed that these populations of people come into the country to exploit their economy and compete against the available resources. However, inbound tourism statistics have shown that there is an influx of in-bound tourists from emerging nations like India. As such, this kind of behaviour discourages tourist activities for fear of security and safety (Schmidt & Gualmini 2013).

Economic analysis

The economic analysis of the country shows that there is a disparity between the north and the south regarding development. The south of Italy is less developed compared to the north of the country as it has poor infrastructure and inadequate opportunities. Further, there is an inadequate density of motorways in the southern city of Mezzogiorno as compared to the north. Such a difference in economic development tends to impact on the accessibility of the areas to remote place leading to poor tourism.

Legislations

Italy faces a host of environmental problems. Among the critical environmental issues that the country faces are air pollution and water pollution. While it is the responsibility of the ministry of culture and environmental quality, most of the responsibility and conservation has been left for the regional authorities. While there is a principle law, known as the Merli law responsible for the care and conservation of the environment, enforcement has been impractical (‘Country Reports – Italy’ 2015). Owing to the environmental issues that the country is facing and poor legislative to enforce environmental protections, the country is likely to face a problem of exhaustion of its key artefacts’ from erosion, flooding among others. In the end, this will affect the number of present tourism attractions.

Key Competitors of Tourism in the European Region

Italy is one of the sought after tourism destination. The demand for this country progressed over the years up to about 43.4 million visitors in 2009. Thus, Italy is the fifth in world tourism ratings, with its greatest competitors being the United States, France, China and Spain. A comparison of the statistical tourism performance in the country shows that Italy’s tourism number has greatly improved over the years with about 2.9% of annual growth every year.

While France is its greatest competitor, Italy has outperformed France with a slightly higher arrival percentage at about (2.7%) and 2.1% above that of Germany. However, this has been below Spain’s arrival numbers by at least 3.3%. Such a performance compared to the competition is considered good being that the country no longer has a fast-moving advantage and has developed tourism resources. Compared to other EU countries, Italy’s tourism balance was the second-best in 2008 after Spain’s EUR 28.1 billion, and better than Greece’s EUR 9 billion Austria’s 7 billion Euros (Bulin 2014). Notably, inbound tourism in Italy has performed well over the last 20 years. Such a performance gas enabled the country to perform well regarding market shares in the region.

However, an evaluation of the country’s competitive nature in regards to prices gives mixed results. For instance, while the evolution of tourist products in Italy has been favourable compared to the country’s main competitors, there has been the effect of negative indications of tourism mainly due to visitor perception (LaMondia, Snell & Bhat 2010). Nonetheless, the cultural attractiveness of the country is considered one of the key tourism strengths, while the quality of services offered is a key weakness. However, the productivity growth in the country is slow since 2000 which is also affecting the country’s tourism productivity (Lennon 2003).

Regional Agreements and Global Political Issues That Have Influenced Tourism Flows in Italy

Italy is one of the regional members of the European Union. Being a member of the union implies that the entire region becomes a single market, through which the flow of goods, capital and services are allowed. Notably, citizens from these member states are also able to move freely into the country as they seek to tour Italy. This has an impact on the level of tourism floes on the country (Peeples 2012).

SWOT Analysis of Italy’s Tourism Business

An analysis of the issues affecting Italy has shown that the country’s tourism sectors are active. A key strength is a high cultural attractiveness with the advent of historical sites and artefacts that attract people into the country. Further, the country enjoys a robust population of ancient resorts that make it more attractive to tourists coming in. Most of these resorts date back from the time of the Roman Empire to the development of key cities like Naples, Pompei, and Capri, among others. Further, there is a host of key destinations that people could visit as they tour the country (OECD 2011).

These are like the cities of Venice, Rome, Milan and many others. A key weakness is the xenophobic nature of the northern people, which could essentially disrupt tourism to the region. Also, the south is underdeveloped infrastructure wise meaning that it might be hard to explore the key attractions in the area. This is mainly in reference to the facilities available, the buildings in place among others. The poor quality level of services in the country is of great concern to the tourist industry as these tend to impact on the competitiveness of the European Union region.

Possible Strategies that the Tourism Authority Could Implement

There is a high likelihood for Italy to develop its tourist industry and flows. This is possible if only the government can undertake a host of strategies as explained below.

First, it is necessary that the country’s tourism authority reanalyses the nature of product quality offered to tourists in the country. Through the research, it has been seen that Italy is price competitive as compared to its competitors like France, Spain among others. However, it still gets a slow influx of tourists owing to the poor service quality offered. Thus, a key strategy that the tourism authority in the country could apply is through providing incentives to service providers in the service industry so that they will be encouraged to improve their delivery.

Another strategy that the tourism authority can apply is through creating tourism niches. A tourism niche refers to various tourism activities that are preferred by different tourists (Novelli 2005). Research has shown that major tourists are seeking health tourism programs, wine tourism activities, among others. In this case, the tourism authority could repackage its offerings to include products that are attractive to given market niches. This way, the country is able to expand its product range.

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Introduction

Competitiveness is sought by every business throughout the world. Most businesses seek to attract more customers and increase their profitability. This is not an easy task as it involves several processes of growth. Among these elements of growth is their backbone, which is known as sustainability. Sustainability is so essential to Hotels that if wrongly implemented, have the capacity to collapse the business all together. Hotels need guests to survive, and therefore its sustainability is entrenched in their ability to keep attracting enough customers.

This has left Hotels to seek new ways that would ensure their guests are well served, and to be more than willing to return to the same Hotels. To achieve this, Hotels have evaluated several aspects of sustainability that they would pursue. These aspects include innovations, leadership, performance and environment, among others. This paper will explore sustainability in Hotels all over the world and then in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will as so endeavor to discuss the elements of sustainability that have contributed to growth of Hotel industry in the UAE as well as the world (Schwartz, 2009, p. 1).

Literature Review

Sustainability is essential to every business since it ensures their survival in the competitive business world. Of most concern are Hotels which depend on the number of guests to survive. Their survival is so critical that they would not do without proper plans to implement and enhance sustainability. It is therefore inevitable for Hotels to ignore sustainability and its implementation. Several Hotels worldwide, such as Intercontinental, Hilton, and Carlson, among others have put in place strategies for achieving sustainability.

These have included among others, environmental awareness, as Hotels become eco-friendly. Sustainability is achieved through stages as explained by Bob, Willard. These stages involve value-led strategies that are implemented to not only attract customers but save on cost of these services. Reduction of wastes by recycling recyclable materials, mitigating on energy consumption rates as well as water usage is very instrumental to sustainability of Hotels (Visele, 2011, p. 1).

Many Hotels nowadays incorporate elements that promote sustainability in their businesses to encourage recycling habits, which is essential to conference planners and guests. Cities like Atlanta have taken proactive stance in ensuring sustainability when it comes to recycling of plastics, glass, grease, and aluminum among others. These steps are very important to planners and guests who have considerably grown to be aware of their environment as well as the need for its conservation. Meeting professional international (MPI) recommended various elements of sustainability that should be undertaken by Hotels to achieve sustainability.

These include recycling of pallets, plastics and glass, among others, in common areas as well as in the guest rooms, providing for composting, mitigating the use of polystyrene, implementing programs that allow reuse of towels, providing local foods along with sustainable seafood to guests, providing cleaning products that are environmentally friendly and coffee grown in shades, among others. All these aspects are very important in promoting sustainability and hence higher profitability (Tjolle, 2009, p. 1).

It is estimated that Five-star Dubai Hotels lose over $27 million as payment for utility bills. This is mainly because they have been unable to embrace carbon management initiatives as well as poor electricity and water management. In addition, it is believed that this figure is set to rise to unimaginable level, as the agency that controls water and electricity tariffs are set to review it from 2011. This calls for implementation of sustainability in all Hotels in UAE (Presidio Buzz, 2009, p. 1).

Sustainability in Hotels

Every Hotel must be able to sustain itself. This is mainly because several investors have ventured in Hotel business, stirring stiff competition. Hotels such as Hilton and Intercontinental, among others, have branches worldwide and therefore provide great competition to upcoming and already established five-star Hotels. This is quite good for service delivery and awareness for customer needs, as they fight to provide all these services. In the process, significant world issues like global warming and the need to save our environment have taken center stage in Hotels’ work towards sustainability. Most customers like visiting hotels that offer solutions to global and environmental issues as opposed to those that continue to pollute the environment (Terracurve, 2008, p. 1).

Large Hotels such as Hilton, intercontinental and Carlson have embarked on strategies, which are aimed at reducing environmental wastes. These programs include switching to green technology, which is eco-friendly, saving energy and water consumption, among others. In this regard, several hotels worldwide, such as Hilton worldwide, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Four Seasons and Fairmount Hotels and Resorts, among others, have entrenched environmental policies on their mission statements so as to promote sustainability. For instance, Intercontinental Hotels Group have made an ambitious environmental policy which is clear as well a aggressive in implementing Green engage program, which is one of the leading environmental schemes aimed at achieving efficiency and hence sustainability (Thompson, 2008, p. 1).

Sustainability in Hotels (UAE)

Dubai is one the most visited tourist destination and business hubs in the world. Its location is ideal for commerce and summer holidays. Hotels that flourish in Dubai are among the best in the world. For instance Taj Hotel is among the best Hotels in the world. As much is this predestines UAE as a potential tourist hub, its future depends on sustainability strategies. The average carbon dioxide emissions by an average Dubai-Hotel as at 2009 were estimated to be 65000 tonnes.

If all Hotels are combined, then this came to 500 thousand tonnes, which is almost equals over 120000 flights to London from Dubai. This has increased interest in saving the environment to add to its sustainability. In 2009, the government of Dubai through the Department of Tourism and Commerce marketing announced its plans to launch its first environmental initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Dubai Hotels were thus encouraged to embrace sustainability schemes that would improve their competitive edge on a global scale (S.H.K. Infortech, LLC., 2011, p. 1).

It is estimated that Five-star Dubai Hotels lose over $27 million as payment for utility bills. This is mainly because they have been unable to embrace carbon management initiatives as well as poor electricity and water management. In addition, it is believed that this figure is set to rise to unimaginable level, as the agency that controls water and electricity tariffs reviews it to a higher level from 2011. This raised concern and companies like Farnek Avireal have taken the initiative to facilitate sustainability management throughout the region by developing energy benchmark assessment systems that uses online software known as “Hotel optimizer” to enable hotels manage their energy consumption rates and hence achieve sustainability. Among the Hotels that have attained Green globe status in Dubai following their investment in sustainability includes Dubai Deira Creek. Other hotels pursuing sustainability in UAE include Taj Hotels, which presented its sustainability report the United Nations in 2010, and all Abu Dhabi Hotels (Hard, 2011, p. 1).

Significance of sustainability

Sustainability is very essential in ensuring survival of Hotels, where there are several competitors. Hotels that have achieved sustainability make good grounds for conference planners as well as guests who emphasizes on environmental awareness and reduction of obvious global warming causes. Sustainability is therefore important in maintaining and improving profitability. Moreover, for Hotels to gain competitive edge in this increasingly competitive world, they need to achieve sustainability (Berry, 2009, p. 1).

Summary

The business world is becoming eco-friendly and this does not exclude Hotels, their emissions have been credited with unacceptable amount of carbon emissions as well as their high rates of energy and water consumption. These are integral elements of sustainability that requires attention. This has caused Many Hotels seeking competitive edge to focus on environmental initiatives that would reduce carbon emissions. UAE Hotels, for example releases over 500 million kilos of carbon to the environment, this is disturbing and it continues, then global warning and sustainability would be neglected. Most customers are focusing on sustainable Hotels and this has helped foster sustainability in Hotels. Sustainability is therefore very essential towards the measure of competitive edge of Hotels (Europe Real Estates Publishers, 2010, p. 1).

Conclusion

Hotels are seeking competitive edge over others, and this cannot be achieved without sustainability. Conference planners as well as guests are continually seeking sustainable Hotels and this has helped in conserving the environment as more Hotels implement Green Hotel programs. Sustainable Hotels are therefore essential for environmental awareness and a better world (Courtland, 2010, p. 1).

Reference List

Berry, J. (2009). Popular Hotels Begin Sustainability Initiative. Web.

Courtland, M. (2010). Environmental Mission Statements: A List of Hotels Sustainability policies. Environmental Leader. Web.

Europe Real Estates Publishers. (2010). Dubai’s First Five-star Hotel Acquires Green Globe status. Europe Real Estate. Web.

Hard, R. (2011). Incorporate Elements of Sustainability and Recycling into Hotel Vendor Contracts. Web.

Presidio Buzz. (2009).The Business Case for Sustainability: Intercontinental Hotels. Triple Pundit. Web.

S.H.K. Infortech, LLC. (2011). Farnek Avireal to focus on hotel sustainability at FM Expo. Web.

Schwartz, A. (2009). The Top 10 Eco-Friendly Hotels. Fast Company. Web.

Terracurve. (2008). Carlson Hotels launches Sustainability Program. Web.

Thompson, C. (2008). Hilton Hotels Sustainability Plan. Why Go Business. Web.

Tjolle, V. (2009). Sustainable Travel: Dubai Announces Big Emission Reduction Targets and Green Tourism Award. Travelmole. Web.

Visele, N. (2011). Dubai’s Five-Star Hotels Wasting $27 Million Annually. Web.

Choosing a holiday destination is normally an uphill task for many people, especially for those who are on a family holiday. According to Mancini (2008), the safety and the happiness of everyone during the family holidays are usually the two important factors to consider when selecting a holiday destination. Issues concerning accommodation, teenage entertainment, nightlife, and the financial stability of a family are also some important factors to consider when selecting a family holiday destination (Patterson, 2004). The aim of this research paper is to undertake a feasibility study of the Lake of Geneva Region and its two major cities, Montreaux and Lausanne, to examine the suitability of this Switzerland region, as a holiday destination for a French family of four, two adults in their early 40s, and two youngsters below 15 years.

Choosing the right holiday season is an important factor when organizing for family trips (Boushie, 2012). Winter seasons are often unfavorable for most of the whites, because associating with the lake regions during the cold seasons is often a risky and a ridiculous idea (Govers, Go, & Kumar, 2007). Imagine of the extremely cold environment around the lakeside, with ice pellets that cover several kilometers and a misty breeze that often determines the regional microclimate. One of the unimaginable holiday destinations is the Lake of Geneva Region, which lies within the regions of the Canton Vaud Districts of Switzerland. Being among the coldest parts of Switzerland, none of the parents in a family trip would like to see his or her child unhappy and shivering along the glaciers.

While planning for winter family vacations, people should consider the destination attractions (Lopes, 2011). Never imagine, because almost everyone across Europe would wish to visit the Lake of Geneva Region of the Canton Vaud Districts because of its vast activities that pertain to the hospitality and hotel industry. One would wonder whether the chilly lakeside and the tiring mountains around Lake Geneva have anything to offer for the aging individuals and the teenagers. The Lake of Geneva Region is an amazing tourism destination that offers a variety of leisure places and activities that both the old and the youngsters (Girardclos, Fiore, Rachoud-Schneider, Baster, & Wildi, 2005).

For the aging population, although their stiff legs may face some moving challenges along the ice-filled regions, the region has many memorable activities and leisure places to make a holiday pleasant.

Family tourist destinations are interesting when there are various places to visit (Carr, 2012). With a budget of $30,000, the aging French tourists in their early 40s can tour the zoos to see some of the unique world creatures, enjoy the exciting nature that is full of icy mountains, valleys, lakes, countryside landscapes, and several leisure parks located within the premises of the Lake of Geneva Region. Slow hiking with tour guards, sea cruising, and viewing the sea stalagmites and stalactites are some of the memorable experiences that the aging French tourists can enjoy at affordable prices (Girardclos et al., 2005). With a budget of $30,000, the aging people can also enjoy visiting the museums, the unique castles, the religious monuments, the historical sites, and sharing the interchangeable cultural heritage.

One might wonder where the aging people would spend the chilly nights. Surprisingly, most tourists prefer visiting Lake Geneva during the winter season because the climate allows various tourism activities to take place. The pleasure that the aging people would feel extends beyond the natural aspects to the form of hospitality that comes at affordable rates. Carr (2012) asserts that apart from the natural attractions, a family holiday destination must be highly welcoming. The Lake of Geneva Region has state-of-the-art hotels and several restaurants. Lausanne hotels such as the Hotel Bellarive, the Discovery Hotel, and Hotel Novotel Lausanne, are some of the fantastic tourist hotels (Girardclos et al., 2005).. With a budget of $30,000, a French family of four can afford to pay for some of the above hotels. These hotels offer chef-prepared French delicacies and indoor activities that adults and children can enjoy.

Parents often fear about the safety and health of their children during the family tours (Mancini, 2008). Parents may remain suspicious about the highly cold temperatures that are often unfavorable for the youngsters. The hotels of the Lake of Geneva Region can sometimes seem unfavorable for the children to spend their nights around. The cities of Montreaux and Lousanneone have nightlife full of beer joints, which may only favor the mature generation. However, the Lake of Geneva Region can be the most appealing place for the children aged between 10 and 16 years. Think of the amazing bicycle riding experiences, the safe hiking zones, the icy hill slopes that allow the ice skating activities, and several other activities and excursions that are breathtaking.

In a family holiday for the French tourists, children entertainment is what will always keep them lively in the tour (Govers et al., 2007). In the Lake of Geneva region, children can also enjoy interacting with others around the water sport areas, and within the swimming pools. Communication is easy for the French children, as most of the tourists communicate in French, Italian, Germany, and Romansh. They can also engage in horseback riding, ball sports, and even play with the hot-air balloons. The hotels and the restaurants have cool surroundings that allow the children to move around safely and freely, while enjoying the modern children foods and snacks (Girardclos et al., 2005).

A short leisure visit to Montreaux can offer a unique tourism experience for both the adults and the teenagers. The adults will enjoy interacting with others around Montreaux, Congress, and at the Jazz town.

The adult visitors can visit the Chillon Castle and spend their nightlife dancing jazz during the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Travelling on a cogwheel train from Montreaux to Rochers-de-Naye, where people are capable of viewing Lake Geneva and the Alps on a 360 degrees angle can be a breathtaking experience for the children and the adults (Girardclos et al., 2005). Lausanne is another tourist destination that a family of four can visit during the winter period. Of course, one cannot avoid sneezing and even a running nose due to the extremely cold climate (Girardclos et al., 2005). However, a short trip to Lausanne area can allow individuals to have unique adventure experiences. Adults can enjoy associating with the unique nature, some historic towns, a blend of modern architecture, and some exceptional surroundings such as the Olympic capital (Girardclos et al., 2005). Children can enjoy free bike rides, museums, theaters, and fast foods.

Conclusively, the Lake of Geneva Region of Switzerland is one of the most interesting tourist destinations that the French families on family trips can enjoy during the winter season. During the winter season, the region offers a series of tourism activities due to the presence of the ice that allows the children and the adults to enjoy various leisure activities. The region has several tourist destinations and towns that make family holidays enjoyable. The Montreaux and the Lausanne regions of the Lake of Geneva Region are some of the sub regions that tourists can visit for shopping, recreational activities, accommodation, food, and other tourism-related activities. In terms of costs, most services are slightly affordable during the winter season.

References

Carr, N. (2011). Children’s and Families’ Holiday Experience. Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism, and Mobility. United Kingdom, London: Rutledge Publishers. Web.

Girardclos, S., Fiore, J., Rachoud-Schneider, A., Baster, I., & Wildi, W. (2005) Petit-Lac (western Lake Geneva) environment and climate history from de-glaciations to the present: a synthesis. Boreas, 34(1), 417-433. Web.

Govers, R., Go, F., & Kumar, K. (2007). Promoting Tourism Destination Image. Journal of Travel Research, 46(1), 15-23. Web.

Lopes, S. (2011). Destination image: Origins, Developments and Implications. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Heritage, 9(2), 305-311. Web.

Mancini, M. (2008). Selling Destinations. United Kingdom, London: Cengage Learning Publishers. Web.

Patterson, K. (2014). How to Budget & Save for a Family Holiday: Money Saving & Budgeting Tips. United Kingdom, London: Mobile Bounty Pty Ltd. Web.

Thomke, B., & Boushie, K. (2012). The Guide to Planning the Perfect Winter Family Vacation. Web.

Introduction

Background information

The hospitality sector is one of the most lucrative economic sectors in the world. The industry has undergone exponential growth over the past decades. A large number of investors have ventured into the industry in an effort to exploit the prevailing market potential. The Australian hospitality industry plays a fundamental role in the country’s economic growth. For example, the industry has been a source of employment for over 500,000 employees. The industry is comprised of hotels, bars, and restaurants. Firms operating in the industry have implemented a number of changes such as diversifying their product portfolio in their quest to align their operations with the prevailing economic, demographic, and social situations. Most of the industry players deal with provision of beverage, accommodation, and food products.

Despite its attractiveness, the industry is experiencing a myriad of challenges. Some of these challenges relate to an increment in the intensity of competition, change in consumer behaviours, labour shortages, and the regulatory environment. These changes have arisen from the high rate of globalisation and economic changes. For example, the recent global economic crisis led to a significant decline in occupancy ration. On the other hand, the intensity of competition might lead to a decline in the level of profitability. These forces show that the industry is very volatile.

Despite these pressures, the industry players have an obligation to satisfy their customers and at the same time maximise their profitability. This assertion underscores the importance of the industry players adopting effective strategic management practices in order to cultivate their competitiveness (El-garaihy 224). One of the aspects that the firm should take into account relates to quality of service.

Currently, service quality is a key determinant on the extent to which an organisation nurtures a strong customer relationship. Therefore, it is imperative for service-oriented firms such as hotels and restaurants to consider differentiating their operations based on quality. However, this goal can only be achieved if hotel and restaurants’ management teams understand the customers’ needs. Service quality is subject to the implemented processes, outcomes, and interaction between a firm’s employees and its clientele.

Aim and scope

This report illustrates how Hotel Windsor, which operates in Australia, can improve the quality of its services. The report assesses the various issues that the hotel’s management team should incorporate in its strategic management practices.

Literature review

Company profile

Hotel Windsor, which is owned by the Halim Group, is one of the largest hotels in Australia. The hotel is strategically located at Spring Street in Melbourne, Australia. The firm has undergone remarkable growth since its inception in 1884. Some of the notable changes include the purchasing of the “building by the state government in 1977 and its subsequent lease to the Oberoi Group in 1980, which undertook major restorations and refurbishment of the hotel, which re-established the hotel’s market position” (The Windsor par. 8). In 2005, the hotel was sold to the Halim family, which has since then improved it.

Currently, the business has successfully developed into a 5-star hotel. Currently, the hotel operates 180 rooms and 20 suites. Over the years, the hotel has attracted renowned personalities such as Richard Branson, Margret Thatcher, Don Bradman, York’s Duke and Duchess, George VI, and Elisabeth Bowes-Lyon, which indicates that the firm has improved its public image. In 2007, Hotel Windsor was ranked amongst the top 18 hotels for its best service. In addition, Hotel Windsor is committed to giving memorable experiences to its customers. In 2014, the hotel’s management team announced its intention to undertake comprehensive re-development and restoration of the hotel, which is expected to take 3 years [from November 2014-November 2017] (The Windsor par. 2).

Industry outlook

The Australian hotel industry underwent notable growth in 2013 due to the improvement in domestic and international tourism. Domestic overnight trips increased by 4.1% in 2013, which is the highest rate of growth since 2000 (Deloitte Access Economics 7). Similarly, leisure travel experienced a 6.6% growth, which is the highest rate of growth since 2007. On the other hand, corporate trips increased by 3.5%.

International tourism has further accelerated the rate of industry growth. International arrivals increased by 5.5% in 2013. Significant proportions of international tourists in Australia are of Chinese, Malaysian, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, and Taiwan origin. Moreover, the country received a substantial number of tourists from Europe and the US. Deloitte Access Economics (7) posits that the number of visitors from the United Kingdom and the United States increased by 6.8% and 6.2% respectively. The increment in international tourism has been facilitated by the growth in the airline industry, for example, the emergence of the low cost carriers.

The increase in domestic and international tourism led to a significant increment in revenue per available room, especially in Melbourne, Hobart, Darwin, and Sydney cities. This trend is expected to be sustained into the future. A study conducted by Deloitte shows that domestic visitor nights will increase to 300 million by 2016, which projects growth in market potential (Deloitte Access Economics 5). Furthermore, the study shows that international visitors from Asian countries will account for a significant proportion of the industry’s growth over the next 3 years. The chart below illustrates the projected growth rate with regard to international tourism.

Analysis of the macro environment

PESTLE analysis

Hotel Windsor’s operations are subject to different macro-environmental forces such as politics, the country’s economy, and social-cultural environment coupled with technological and legal changes. Therefore, it is essential for the hotel’s management team to take into account these forces. Below is an analysis of how these macro-environmental forces are affecting the firm’s operations.

Political and legal environments

Over the years, Australia has been experiencing a relatively high degree of political stability. This aspect explains why the hotel industry is experiencing growth in the level of profitability arising from increment in the rate of domestic and international tourism. The political stability has arisen from the adoption of democratic system of governance and a comprehensive constitution. Judging from the country’s governance system, there is a high probability of the hotel industry experiencing remarkable growth in the future. The Australian tourism industry will also benefit from the adoption of the Chinese Tourism Law, which was enacted in 2013. The law’s objective is to enforce tour operators to avoid breach of contract in order to offer consumers a unique experience. Firms in the Australian tourism industry such as hotels and restaurants have supported the law broadly (Deloitte Access Economics 9).

Economic environment

Most regions around the world have recovered from the recent global economic recession. The recovery has been occasioned by the implementation of economic stimulus packages by respective governments. In 2013, the United States economy grew with a margin of 2%. Similarly, countries in the European and Atlantic regions have also recorded growth. The Chinese economy has also recorded continued growth. At the end of 2013, China’s economic growth was estimated to be 7.7% and has remained stable over the past 6 months. In 2014, China is expected to grow at an average rate of 7.2% (Deloitte Access Economics 7). A study conducted by Deloitte in 2013 shows that Australia’s economy would experience growth in 2014. Subsequently, there is a high probability of improvement in the citizen’s living standards. This trend will improve the likelihood of consumers integrating travel into their consumption process (Deloitte Access Economics 3).

Socio-cultural environment

The world has undergone remarkable economic growth over the past decade, as evidenced by the improvement in individuals’ living standards. A study conducted by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in 2011 underscores an increment in the number of consumers who can afford air travel. By 2010, the total number of international arrivals around the world had increased to 940 million. This aspect shows that consumers are increasingly adopting travel [domestic and international] in their consumption patterns. This trend underscores the projection that Australian will experience an increment in the number of international arrivals over the next three years. Moreover, the high rate of globalisation means that firms in the Australian hotel industry will experience an increment in the rate of cultural diversity.

Therefore, it is imperative for the industry players to take into account this element in their service delivery processes in order to attract and retain a large number of customers. Another notable social-cultural change that is affecting the hotel industry relates to change in the consumers’ lifestyle, as evidenced by the high rate at which they are demanding unique experience in their consumption processes. Additionally, consumers are demanding value for their money in their consumption processes.

Technological environment

The 21^st century has been characterised by remarkable evolution of information communication technology, which has arisen from the high rate of innovation. The Internet is one of the technologies that have extensively revolutionised information communication. Consumers across the world have embraced technology in their consumption process, as evidenced by the high rate at which they are purchasing goods and services online. In an effort to align with the prevailing market trends, firms in the hotel industry are incorporating technology in their operations with the objective of achieving operational efficiency and entrenching the customers’ experience.

Environment

Climate change is one of the major challenges facing the long-term success of firms in the tourism industry. Different economies are advocating businesses to adopt environmental sustainability as one of their strategic management practices. The National Australian Built Environment Rating System [NABERS] is one of the government agencies that are charged with the responsibility of assessing the extent to which the existing buildings have complied with environmental regulation. Moreover, consumers prefer being associated with organisations whose operations are environmental friendly. In its quest to undertake the improvements slotted for 2014 to 2017, Hotel Windsor should adhere to the set quality specifications.

Competitive analysis

Developing competitiveness is critical in an organisation’s quest to achieve long-term survival. Thus, it is imperative for Hotel Windsor’s management team to understand the prevailing market dynamics in order to formulate effective operational strategies that will promote the firm’s profitability. The competitiveness of the Australian hotel industry is affected by a number of forces, which include threat to entry, buyer and seller bargaining power, threat of substitute, and rivalry amongst the industry players. These forces have profound impact on an organisation’s competitiveness.

Threat of entry

The industry is characterised by high threat of entry due to its attractiveness. Over the past few years, the industry has experienced an increment in the number of local and foreign firms. This trend is expected to continue into the future as the global economy recovers. More investors will enter the industry in an effort to exploit the prevailing market opportunities. The threat of entry will further be increased by the view that there are no significant barriers of entry into the industry. Therefore, the likelihood of increment in the intensity of competition is very high.

Supplier bargaining power; high

The hotel industry is service oriented. Thus, its success depends on the skills and knowledge of the labour force. However, the industry has experienced an increment in the rate of employee turnover over the past few years. Furthermore, the rate of employee turnover in the Australian tourism industry is increased by the high rate of the aging population. This trend is affecting service delivery amongst hotels.

Buyer bargaining power; high

The hospitality industry is characterised by a large number of firms. A study conducted by ABS in 2006 showed that there were 3,454 hotels operating in Australia. Subsequently, consumers are faced with a wide range of options from where they can seek hotel services. Moreover, the large number of industry players means that the cost of consumers switching from one firm to another is relatively low. Therefore, it is imperative for Hotel Windsor to be concerned with fostering a high degree of brand loyalty amongst consumers in order to minimise the likelihood of consumers switching to its competitors.

Industry rivalry; high

The large number of industry players has made the degree of industry concentration in the Australian hotel industry to be relatively high. Consequently, the industry is characterised by a high degree of rivalry. The emergence of the information age has increased the consumers’ knowledge on the industry players, hence leading to an increment in the degree of competition. The majority of the industry players are using the Internet in creating awareness on their market existence. Therefore, it is imperative for Hotel Windsor to consider utilising the Internet in creating a unique customer experience.

Threat of substitute; high

The Australian hotel industry is characterised by a large number of industry players. The hotels are distributed in different parts of the country. Therefore, consumers can easily switch to a competing firm if they are not satisfied with the services provided by a particular firm.

Findings

The analysis above shows that the hospitality industry in Australia is likely to be very competitive and challenging in the future. Consequently, it is imperative for the industry players to implement effective operational strategies in order to enhance their competitiveness. One of the aspects that the hotel’s management teams should focus on relates to improving quality of their services.

Strategies to improve quality at Hotel Windsor

Service oriented companies such as hotels and restaurants are required to establish a comprehensive quality design similar to their counterparts in the manufacturing industry. Consequently, firms’ management teams should understand what constitutes quality of their service by conducting consumer-market research. Mehrabi, Nasiripour, and Delgoshaei argue that focusing on the customers’ tastes and preferences is fundamental in determining an organisation’s long-term success (568). Therefore, it is imperative for service-oriented firms to integrate the concepts of total quality management in their service quality management. By focusing on high quality, Hotel Windsor will be in a position to attain a competitive market position. Furthermore, the firm’s performance will improve significantly.

Hotel Windsor should understand that managing quality is relatively complex due to its service orientation. In order to survive in the competitive business environment, the hotel’s management team should consider investing in continuous quality improvement. Some of the issues that the firm’s management team should take into account are evaluated herein.

Customer service training

One of the most important elements that the hotel should take into account in its quality improvement process is people. Employees are considered as an important component in an organisation’s long-term success. Customer experience in service industry is subject to the effectiveness of service delivery (Naik, Bhargavi, and Prabhakar 240). Consequently, the firm’s management team should focus on fostering a strong customer relationship. Firms that are successful in the hospitality industry invest in improving the quality of their human capital in order to nurture an excellent customer experience. Tourism Australia, which is charged with the responsibility of promoting tourism in Australia, is focused at attracting high-yielding tourists into the country. This aspect means that firms in the industry are under pressure to offer premium experiences to customers (Service Skills Australia 4).

Hotel Windsor should invest a substantial amount of its resources in training its workforce. One of the areas that the firm should focus on relates to customer service training. Currently, the tourism and hospitality industries in Australia are experiencing labour shortage. First, the country’s education system does not fully address the skills needs of firms in the industry. Secondly, the high rate of globalisation has increased mobility of labour. Therefore, the rate at which employees are seeking more fulfilling jobs has increased significantly. This trend is likely to persist over the next two decades.

Investing in customer service training will improve the effectiveness with which Hotel Windsor attracts and retains customers. The hotel will be in a position to address the skills gap in its service delivery. The hotel will be in a position to leverage on human capital as a source of competitive advantage. According to Service Skills Australia (4), investing in customer service training improves an organisation’s operational efficiency by minimising the likelihood of an organisation scrambling to recruit job candidates from the external labour market who have compatible skills to fill positions that are left vacant.

Hotel Windsor should implement a comprehensive customer service-training program. The training program should aim at enhancing the skills of its workforce. In a bid to ensure a high rate of success, Hotel Windsor should conduct a comprehensive consumer market research in order to understand the market demand. Some of the dimensions that the firm should focus on in its training program include

1. Assurance
2. Responsiveness
3. Empathy
4. Reliability

Focusing on reliability will improve the effectiveness with which Hotel Windsor consistently and continuously delivers the promised quality to customers. Consumers are adopting technology in the process of consuming hospitality services. For example, consumers are increasingly making reservations with regard to hospitality services through the Internet. Hotel Windsor has to ensure that the quality promised through its marketing communication mediums such as its website is met. In line with its commitment to attract a large number of customers, Hotel Windsor should ensure that its workforce offer a high degree of assurance to its clients. Thus, the firm should train its employees on how to be courteous coupled with inspiring trust and confidence amongst its workforce.

The customer service-training program should incorporate the concept of responsiveness. The firm’s employees should be trained on how to serve customers promptly and respond to their service needs in a timely manner. It is also imperative for the firm’s management team to ensure that its employees give individual attention to customers. This aspect will increase the probability of customers developing a high degree of trust and loyalty. Previous studies show that responsiveness is directly related to service quality (Auka, Bosire, and Matern 42). The training program should also focus on inculcating empathy amongst its employees. Empathy refers to the extent to which employees depict a sense of personalised attention and care towards employees.

Tangibility

Hotel Windsor should consider improving tangibility in its premises. One of the ways through which this goal can be achieved is by integrating the concepts of interior design. Previous studies conducted show that the ambience of particular premises influences the duration that consumers stay in a particular retail store. The hotels management team should ensure that the hotel has incorporated effective interior designs (Naseem, Ejaz, and Malik 52).

Considering the view that the hotel intends to undertake a major improvement of the hotel premises over the next three years, it is essential for the management team to implement modern hotel facilities in addition to ensuring an effective layout. The hotel’s walls should be painted artistically and the areas surrounding the hotel building be nicely kept in order to influence service quality. Taking into account these elements will increase patronage within the hotel, hence increasing customer loyalty.

Implementing digital technology

Koutroumanis argues that restaurants and hotels “have historically been slow in adopting new technology” (76). Most hotel owners had the perception that integrating technology in their operations would shrink their profit margins. Subsequently, they shied from the prevailing technological advancement. However, the past decade has been characterised by improvement in the rate at which hoteliers are appreciating the role of technology in promoting their competitive advantage and long-term success.

The 21^st century has been characterised by a high rate of technological advancement. One of the technologies that have experienced remarkable growth relates to information communication technology. The technology has greatly revolutionised organisation’s operations. Most firms in the hospitality industry are integrating digital technology in an effort to achieve competitiveness with regard to service delivery. Digital technology is perceived as an avenue through which organisations can exceed customers’ expectations, hence developing a high level of customer satisfaction.

Hotel Windsor should consider integrating emerging digital technologies in an effort to develop unique guest experience. The industry analysis above shows that tourism in Australia will undergo substantial growth in the future. Therefore, there is a high probability of Hotel Windsor experiencing an increment in the number of customers. In order to meet the travellers’ contemporary needs effectively and efficiently, the hotel’s management team should evaluate how it can adopt digital technology.

Some of the areas that digital technology can greatly improve the quality of service delivery at Hotel Windsor relates to internal communication, quest data management, hotel-property management systems, and inventory management. Internal communication technologies will improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which customers make reservations at the comfort of their hotel rooms. On the other hand, hotel-property management systems will ameliorate the customers’ stay in the hotel rooms. For example, the firm should consider implementing a technology whereby they can use their fingerprint to check-in their hotel rooms.

The hotel’s management team should implement a property management system that will provide customers with an opportunity to pay for hotel services and check-in and out of the hotel at different points. This move will minimise the burden of carrying identification and payment forms during their stay in the hotel. Implementing hotel-property management systems will provide the firm with an opportunity to understand the customers’ tastes and preferences. For example, the firm’s management team will be in a position to understand the customers’ preferences with regard to beverage and food products. Subsequently, Hotel Windsor will gather additional market intelligence that can be used in improving the quality of service delivery at the hotel.

In a bid to improve the customers’ experience, Hotel Windsor should consider simplifying the client’s check-in process by minimising the amount of time spent during the checking in process. For example, the hotel should provide customers with an opportunity to check-in using their wireless devices upon arrival at the hotel’s premises. The firm should also consider implementing a technology whereby customers can check-in at their homes. However, this technology should be enhanced using an effective identification technology such as biometric fingerprint identification in order to ensure that it is secure. Consequently, the technology will provide customers with an opportunity to by-pass manual check-in procedures.

Conclusion

The hospitality industry in Australia is expected to experience notable growth in the future. The growth will emanate from changes in the macro business environment. For example, improved political stability and collaboration between Australia and European, Asian, and American countries will improve the rate of international tourism. Subsequently, firms in industries such as hotels will experience an increment in the number of visitors.

The recovery of the global economy from the global economic recession and the recent debt crisis in the Euro Zone means that more jobs will be created. Therefore, consumers will experience an increment in the size of their disposable income. Considering the high rate at which consumers are appreciating domestic and international travel, there is a high probability of experiencing an increment in the number of visitors.

Currently, the Australian hospitality industry is characterised by intense competition. The degree of industry rivalry is likely to grow in the future considering the lucrative nature of the Australian hospitality industry. The likelihood of more investors venturing the industry in an effort to tap the market potential is very high.

In addition to the above changes, the industry faces a challenge emanating from change in consumer behaviours. Consumers are increasingly anchoring their level of satisfaction in consuming services on the extent to which they achieve unique experiences. Therefore, it is imperative for the industry players to undertake a comprehensive analysis on the prevailing market changes in order to gain intelligence on how to improve the quality of their operations.

Recommendations

In order to achieve the desired level of competitiveness, it is imperative for Hotel Windsor to take into account the following elements in its quality improvement process.

Employee training

The hotel’s management team should be concerned with improving the effectiveness with which its workforce interact with the customers. One of the ways through which this goal can be achieved is by investing in a comprehensive employee-training program. The program should focus on imparting employees with adequate and relevant skills and knowledge on customer service. This move will ensure that customers are served effectively and efficiently, hence improving their level of satisfaction.

Digital technology

During the 21^st century, technology has become a critical component in organisation’s quest to develop unique customer experience. Therefore, it is critical for Hotel Windsor’s management team to implement diverse digital technologies. The technologies should be designed in such a way that they make the consumers stay at the hotel premises to be enjoyable and easy.

Improve on the ambience

Hotel Windsor should improve the ambience of the hotel. For example, the hotel should invest in interior designing. In a bid to improve on the hotel’s ambience successfully, Hotel Windsor’s management team should adopt emerging architectural designs. This move will play a fundamental role in ensuring that the combinations of the various elements in the interior designing processes contribute to promoting the level of customer satisfaction. Additionally, it is also essential for the firm to outsource well-established interior designing firms.

Works Cited

Auka, Daniel, Joseph Bosire, and Victor Matern. “Perceived service quality and customer loyalty in retail banking in Kenya.” British Journal of Marketing Studies 1.3 (2013): 32-60. Print.

Deloitte Access Economics: tourism and hotel market outlook 2014. Web.

El-garaihy, Wael. “Developing and validating a hospitality service quality scale in Saudi Arabia.” International Journal of Business and Social Sciences 4.14 (2013): 224-239. Print.

Koutroumanis, Dean. “Technology’s effect on hotels and restaurants; building a strategic competitive advantage.” Journal of Applied Business and Economics 12.1 (2011): 72-81. Print.

Mehrabi, Felix, Aden Nasiripour, and Bermad Delgoshaei. “Customer focus level following implementation of quality improvement model in Tehran social security hospitals”. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance 21.6 (2010): 562-568. Print.

Naik, Krishna, Swapna Bhargavi, and Gantasala Prabhakar. “Service quality and its effects of customer satisfaction.” European Journal of Social Sciences 2.4 (2010): 231-243. Print.

Naseem, Afshan, Sadia Ejaz, and Khusro Malik. “Improvement of hotel service quality; an empirical research in Pakistan.” International Journal of Multidisciplinary sciences and engineering 2.5(2011): 52-57. Print.

Service Skills Australia: Tourism and hospitality; workforce development strategy 2014. Web.

The Windsor: Heritage 2014. Web.

Hospitality and tourism are one of the most profitable spheres in business due to their high popularity. Nonetheless, the primary goal of the paper is to provide the overview of the hospitality and tourism industry in the state of Virginia. Firstly, the challenges of opening the restaurant business are discussed. Moreover, the interdependence of food service, lodging, and meeting segments is also analysed. Furthermore, the potential ways of improving the relationships between these segments have to be discussed. Additionally, the impact of computerization on the food services and lodging has to be evaluated due to the constant advancements in technology. Finally, the consequences of gaming entertainment are assessed to determine the impact on the society of Virginia. In the end, the conclusions are drawn to gain the clear image of the tourism and hospitality industry.

Challenges in the Restaurant Business

Maintaining the restaurant is a challenging mission in any state. In this instance, the organizations tend to experience problems related to the recognition of the brand and maintenance of the human resource. Nonetheless, one of the potential solutions to these issues is to join the Virginia Restaurant Association offers the opportunity to minimize the risks related to the legal matters (Virginia Association: Restaurant Membership, 2015). In this instance, the member of the association gets the professional assistance in the matters, which remain questionable.

Another obstacle is the presence of high competition in the state of Virginia. It remains evident that restaurant, tourism, and hospitality industry is highly occupied in any states. For example, some of the Virginian cities are referred to as being the happiest places in the country by providing liberal views, “good food”, and high-quality entertainment (Helmore, para. 5). It is clear that the completion remains high, as there are a lot of restaurants and other facilities with the high recognition in Virginia. The primary solution to this problem is to focus on the establishment of the interesting features on the menu and determine the key competitive advantage of the place.

Impact of Computerization on Food Service and Lodging

The rapid development of technology contributes to the introduction of the computer processes in the food services to increase the quality of production and provided services. Additionally, the computerization allows performing a particular set of tasks by one machine efficiently (Gordon-Davis & Rensburg, 2004). In this case, it allows eliminating the number of employees, which is required for conducting coherent operations in the industry. Additionally, the computerization makes lodging in the Virginia state rather easy, and it allows saving time on operations. Moreover, the availability of the services online contributes to the increase of the demand in the hospitality and tourism industry, as it makes the services easily accessible. In this instance, it could be said that introduction of computerization is beneficial for the development of the tourism and hospitality industry in Virginia.

Analysis of the Interdependence of Food Service, Lodging, and Meeting Segments of the Hospitality Industry

It remains evident that the interdependence between food service, lodging, and meeting segments has a tendency to exist in the hospitality industry in Virginia. It is evident that these segments are interdependent due to the operations in the same segment. One of the ways the interactions are presented in the hospitality industry is the presence of Virginia Association, which protects the rights of the food services and lodging from the rising taxation and changes in legislation (Virginia Association: About Us, 2015). In this instance, the representatives of the segments tend to integrate the services to stay protect from the external changes.

As for the recommendations, the food services, lodging, and meeting have to establish the agreement between each other and develop a sufficient plan, which will help distribute their resources efficiently. In this instance, discussing responsibilities between the different segments of the tourism and hospitality industry will contribute to the development of high recognition of Virginia in this area. Another way is to create the governmental program, which will provide additional financing to the projects from different areas of hospitality. This aspect will contribute to the improvement of the relationship between these segments and help the state generate higher revenues than before.

Improvement of Relationships between Segments

Nonetheless, the relationship has to between the segments has to be improved to provide a higher quality of services and products. It is evident that the connection between food service, lodging, and meeting segments remains on the high level due to the strong dependence. The primary solution to the problem is to improve the infrastructure of the state of Virginia. In this instance, the representatives of the segments should create a strong association, which is aimed at reaching the common goal.

The establishment of the partnership will contribute to the creation of the positive images of the other places. Providing the discount systems together with the representatives of the other segments will contribute to the cultivation of the positive attitude about the place among the potential clients. In the end, the creation of the coherent association and establishment of the united discount system will contribute to the development of the tourism and hospitability industry in Virginia.

Consequences of Introduction of Gaming Entertaining

The gaming industry is one of the challenging and controversial types of entertainment, as it evolves the tourism and hospitality industry. As for the Virginia, it proposes the charitable gambling (Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 2015). This gambling approach implies giving the money acquired from the gambling to charity (Apinummahakul & Devlin, 2004). However, gambling can be one of the generation income instruments as it helps improve the particular spheres and segments of the state economy. Moreover, it can attract more tourists and visitors as the gaming is considered as one of the sources of entertainment during the vacations. For instance, the slot machines attract the potential gamblers by the accordance with the specific theme, bright colours, and excitement (Arnett, 2015).

Nonetheless, it remains evident that the development of the gaming segment might have an adverse impact on the community as the gaming industry has a tendency to modify the values of the community. In this instance, highly investing in the gaming segment might not be a suitable solution. In turn, the government has to pay close attention to the existing sources of entertainment and their quality in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Conclusions

In the end, the technological improvement and computerization have a vehement impact on the development of the tourism and hospitality industry due to its high dependence on the technological processes. Nonetheless, the restaurants, hotels, and other places have to face challenges due to the lack of infrastructure and well-established connections between the segments. However, the ways of improvement have a tendency to exist. Finally, it remains evident that the introduction of the gaming entertaining has adverse influences on the infrastructure and the future development of the state. However, despite all the obstacles and potential negative outcomes the hospitality and tourism industry has a tendency to develop and improve in a positive direction.

References

Apinummahakul, A., & Devlin, R. (2004). Charitable giving and charitable gambling: An empirical investigation. National Tax Journal, 57(1), 67-88.

Arnett, G. (2015). The fascinating maths and economics of slot machines. The Guardian. Web.

Gordon-Davis, L., & Rensburg, L. (2004). Handbook on nutrition and menu planning. Lansdowne, India: Juta & Co.

Helmore, E. (2014). Happiness is the place called Charlottesville, Virginia. The Guardian. Web.

Virginia Association: About Us. (2015). Web.

Virginia Association: Restaurant membership. (2015). Web.

Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Charitable Gambling. (2015). Web.

Introduction

The culmination of the World War II brought about an upsurge in the globalisation wave. The United Nation was formed and global regulations enacted to govern the countries that are signatories to the UN statutes. Improvement in technology and infrastructure has further enhanced globalisation. Globalisation has improved the movement of people from one country to another. The ease in movement of people has greatly increased the number of tourists and migrants.

Migration involves voluntary movement of people from one country to another with an aim of improving living standards through searching for jobs, further education, family reunions among other reasons (UNHCR 2015). Tourism, on the other hand, involves the movement of people from their usual environment for a period of not more than twelve consecutive months for leisure and business purposes (Ugurlu 2010).

The fundamental issues that affect tourism and migration are interrelated since both involve movement of people from a country to another. The following are some of the key issues that are associated with migration and tourisms in Turkey in the post World War II period.

Government laws and support

The Turkish government has made legislations that support the development of the tourism industry. Through the Ministry of Tourism, the government has implemented most of the enacted laws and made some strategic plans for the tourism industry. The Vision 2023 is a perfect example of government strategies and plans for the industry. On the matter of migration, Turkish government has enacted some laws allowing foreign investors and hence permitting regulated legal immigration. The governments of Germany and the Turkey have a bilateral agreement dating back to the early 1960s that led to high emigration rates from Turkey (Sari n.d). The Turkish Law on Foreigners and International Protection enacted in 2013 opened Turkey for political refugees (Johnson 2013).

Economy

Migration and tourism in Turkey has resulted to economic growth of the country with a considerable source of the country’s GDP coming from the tourism industry and investments made by immigrants. Emigration has also been an economic determiner with a considerable amount of foreign currency coming from remittances. However, dealing with the refuges issue has negatively affected the Turkey economy, with significant budgetary allocations to cater for refugees from the Middle East and some parts of Africa.

Social and cultural systems

Tourism and migration involve movement of people. In the course of movement, people meet with persons from different parts of the world and people with different social cultural systems. Turkey’s social cultural system has highly been impacted by tourists especially from Europe and Russia.

Environmental impact

Tourism, like most economic activities, is dependent on depletion and manipulation of natural resources. The interdependence of tourism development and natural environment has two principal dimensions where the natural resources are crucial asset of a tourist destination, but developing the tourism industry as tourist destination have impact on the environment if not done in a sustainable manner.

Turkey’s most resorts are erected in land that is productive in agriculture and consequently reducing the land for farming.

Additionally, Turkey’s historical and archaeological sites are under threat following the continuous developments in the tourism industry. These developments also have a negative effect on rural and urban buildings, most especially in the coastal region. Over the years, small towns which dependent on farming and fishing have transformed into extensive tourist centres marked with modern infrastructure. Development of the industry has further resulted to deterioration of wetlands, forests, rivers, and seas.

The land in coastal areas is also congested with buildings and the problems associated with congestion like sewerage problems are evident.

Terrorism and political instabilities

Terrorism and political instabilities especially along the Middle East has greatly influenced migration and tourism into Turkey. Most of political refugees from Iran, Iraq, and more recently Syria have moved to Turkey seeking asylum. Tourism has been negatively affected with most countries especially the US issuing travel advisories to their citizens.

Population

Population increase and decrease in countries are realised when there is mass movement of immigrants. Mass movement of immigrant mostly result from political and terrorism refugees. After the World War II, Turkey’s population drastically reduced with increase in the number of emigrants headed to Europe. However, the trend has changed in the recent past where immigration has increased Turkish population because of illegal and irregular immigration from the former Soviet Union Block countries (Kirisci 2003).

Technology and infrastructural development

Technological and infrastructural developments have heightened success of the Turkey’s tourism industry. Additionally, the improving transportation networks and communication systems have enhanced movement of immigrant and emigrant in relation to Turkey.

Turkey’s inbound tourism

Turkey is among the leading tourist destination in the world ranking number. The number of tourist has been in steady increase since 2004 despite the economic meltdown experienced in Europe, major source of tourists visiting Turkey.

The number of inbound tourist has been steadily increasing reaching an all-time high of approximately 37 million in the year 2014, drastically increasing the Turkey’s rankings in the worlds’ most visited countries charts. This is notwithstanding the political crisis in the region (Anadolu Agency 2015).

As mentioned earlier, majority of the foreign visitors come from Europe with Germany, Bulgaria and Georgia having a considerably contribution in the number. From Asia, Russia and Iran constitute the highest number of visitors to Turkey. In 2012, these six countries made up 79% of the total number of visitors from the world. Additionally, the number of local tourist has been in the increase.

Imperatively, the tourism sector in Turkey is growing healthier in comparison to other countries to the Middle East and North Africa, which have been negatively impacted by the political and regional crisis. Forecasts show that international inbound tourist rate will increase fast to exceed 42 million by the end of 2015 (Bridgewest 2015).

Turkish government’s commitment to the tourism industry

Tourism is one of the main earners of the Turkeys GDP. Therefore, the government of Turkey is fully committed to ensure that the tourism industry is successful. The government is involved in the industry through the Ministry of Tourism in a number of major ways. First, the government is the grand strategic planner. It lays down the plans that will drive the industry. In 2007, the government involved all the tourism stakeholders and put down a long-term strategy. The strategy elaborates every aspect of the industry and all the factors that will affect it from 2007 to 2023 (Ministry of Culture & Tourism 2007). The Turkey tourism strategic plan is one of the longest in the world.

The second major way that the government involves itself is through funding the activities in the industry. It also funds other related industries like the transport and communication.

The government of Turkey is the main marketer of the tourism in both the local and the international market. Therefore, it involves itself in the process of advertising and signing of bilateral and multilateral agreement with different countries on matters of tourism.

The fifth way, the Turkish government is the chief organiser of the whole industry in the country. It has put in place institutions throughout the local, regional, provincial and the national levels. The institutions with the help of proper governance promote public and private sectors, the NGOs participation in the decision-making process pertaining to the tourism industry.

Turkey tourism resource audit, and key tourism products and their accessibility

Coastlines and beaches

Turkey’s coastlines are key resource in attraction of tourists. The country coastlines go beyond 8,000 km and high number of sandy beaches. About 430 of these beaches have been awarded blue flag status and they include beaches in the Mediterranean coast and Aegean coastlines among others (Sayan et al. 2011).

Hotel and hospitality

The hotel and hospitality industry in Turkey is another key tourist attraction. Most of the resort hotels are found in Antalya, and Ayden. Hotels with relatively large bed capacity are found along The Mediterranean and Aegean regions. The former capital, Istanbul is endowed with the biggest and the best city hotels. Throughout the country, the hotel industry is thriving and a major tourist’s attraction.

Historical sites

Turkey is considered to be among the origin of human civilisation due to prehistoric Anatolian civilisation. The remains of these ancient civilisations are preserved in museums in Ankara. Ottomans mosques and schools dating more than 100 years are major tourist attraction sit (Turkey Travel Guide n.d).

Sacred sites

Turkey has significant sites and building for Islam, Christianity, and other religious philosophies. They include Sues Alter in Bergama, Temple of Artemis in Sardis, Alaeddin Mosque in Konya, Blue Mosque in Istanbul, among many others.

Access

Airports

Recently, the Turkish government has committed a lot of money in building and renovating airports. Modern airports are mostly found in large cities of Ismir, Ankara, and Istanbul. Other towns have old and new, big and small airports. The privatisation of airports in the region has further diversified sources of money for expansion (Aviation Economies 2014).

The road transport

Most of the roads in the urban areas especially in major cities are modernised with privatised but organised transport services. The rural Turkey has feeder roads that allow accessibility to tourists. Tour companies are available and they use their vehicles to ferry tourists in the urban and the rural Turkey.

Intercity trains

Modern high-speed trains have improved travelling and therefore, enhanced tourism accessibility especially between the cities of Istanbul, Konya and Ankara. However, older trains are still in use in some towns and cities.

Accessibility for the handicapped

The Turkey tourism industry has put in place measures to ensure that tourist attraction sites are accessible to the handicapped. Modification of airports hotels and other infrastructure to include ramps and enough spaces is a major change that has enhanced accessibility for handicapped tourists especially in Istanbul (Sage 2015). However not all the aspects of tourism has been modified and therefore, some parts are still not accessible.

The legal and business environments in Turkey, and their influences on the tourism industry

Turkey regulatory and legal environment

In Turkey, regulatory and legal issues are outlined in the country’s constitution. Article 10 of the constitution gives an implication that Turkish citizens and non-citizens should be regarded as equal. However, Article 16 of the constitution gives restrictions on to foreigners’ rights in line with provisions of the international law.

The law clearly outlines the process of visa acquisition and the related restrictions. In addition, the law is clear on processes of business permit acquisition and more so on the running of tourism industries.

Turkish regulatory and the legal environment have significantly influenced the tourism and travel industry especially the free Visa legislation. Some of the effects include the sustainability of the industry due to legislations on environmental conservation. The privatisation of some aspects of the industry has drastically improved tourist services standards in the country. However, some of the regulatory are retrogressive and, therefore, hindering development of the tourism industry.

Turkey business environment

Turkey has a favourable environment for business especially foreign investment. Turkey’s strategic position, connecting Europe and the Middle East, and strong domestic market and stable economic policies has attracted investments form local and international businesspeople.

Growth in business has necessitated the development of infrastructure. The development of infrastructure has increased the accessibility of Turkey tourism destinations. The thriving foreign investment together with bilateral and multilateral trade has helped in marketing the Turkey’s tourism products.

Key competitors of Turkey within the Middle East and Europe region

Though the tourism in Turkey is gradually making improvement, it is facing considerable competition from the European countries and the Middle East.

Some of the key competitors include Spain, France and Switzerland among other countries.

Spain

Spain has an approximate of 60.6 million visitors. Spain is endowed with beautiful heritage sites, cultural resources, and the entertainment industry and is a popular destiny for business travellers. The Spanish government also ranks among the first in travel and tourism prioritisation (World Economic Forum 2015).

France

France has an approximate of 84 million visitors and continues to attract more with its cultural and natural resources, rich history, attractive coast lines, and ski resorts among others. The infrastructure and airports are and high international openness has enhanced accessibility. The government commitment to the travel and tourism industry is high (World Economic Forum 2015).

Italy

Italy has considerable competitive index and it is famous for its monuments, scenic towns, scenery and various world heritage sites. Culture and entertainment demand for the Italy tourism and travel industry is relatively high. Additionally, Italy’s tourism services facilities are exceptional (World Economic Forum, 2015).

Switzerland

Switzerland is known for its beautiful mountain landscapes, natural resources and world-class tourist services. The infrastructure and conducive business environment has increased Switzerland tourists competitiveness.

The United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates attracts business and leisure travellers due to its unique environment and infrastructure. The government has significantly supported the travel and tourism industry more so by infrastructure development.

Israel boasts of unique cultural history and religious importance. It also has World Heritage cultural sites (World Economic Forum 2015).

Notably, the language barriers, especially in the interior eastern parts, security issues in the Middle East, are among the aspects that have derailed competitiveness index of Turkey.

Middle East and Europe regions agreements, global political issues, and their influences to the Turkey’s tourism industry

The East Mediterranean International Tourisms and Travel Exhibition

Turkey’s participation in the tourism expo has continued to market the tourism products to the participating countries. Additionally, the show has cemented partnership that will shape the future of tourism of the participating countries. In the past, Turkey has sent its travel and tourism agencies, hotel manager among other tourism professional to the exhibitions and will host the 2016 exhibition.

The European Union’s Schengen arrangement and visa agreements

The visa multilateral agreement in the European region and the free Visa policy in Turkey has enhanced cross boarder movement. The agreement has increased the number of tourist in the region. However, measures to regulate illegal immigration and curb terrorism.

Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism

This is an agenda that pushes, for among other things, caring for the environment. Tourists tend to relate care of environment to the care extended to the environment, thus the agenda gives European countries a competitive advantage. Additionally, with caring for the environment will preserve the natural tourists’ attraction sites (European Union 2011).

The security issues in the Middle East

The Middle East region is a popular tourist destination, but insecurity is a major concern for the visitors. The tourism industry is due to lose a lot with nations issuing travel advisory to their citizens (Duran & Ösdemir 2015). The tourism sector is further affected by the escalating refugee crisis in the region and Europe. The Russian sanctions on the Turkey’s economy are likely to affect the tourism with the competitors taking advantage of the situation.

Turkey’s overall strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the tourism industry

Government support and solid plans

The Turkish government fully committed to the tourism industry. Through its Ministry of tourism, it has put in place strategic plans for the industry. This is a positive mechanism since the government provides a solid sense of direction. The government also funds major projects related to tourism such as infrastructure development. The commitment of the government is a major strength in the Turkey’s tourism industry.

Endowment of unique tourists’ attraction sites

Some of the historical and significant sites are only found in Turkey. This is a strength that if the Turkey’s tourists authorities can make use of to enhance the global competitiveness of the country’s tourism industry.

Syria war and terrorism

The increasing state of insecurity in Syria and the Middle East poses a serious threat to the Turkey’s tourism industry. Some countries are giving travel advisories to their citizen against visiting Turkey. The linking of Turkey to radicalisation further brings damages to the industry due to the consequent hostility from other countries (Avci 2015).

Lowering the cost of tourism

Turkey has employed the mechanism of lowering the cost of tourism to attract more tourists and heighten its competitiveness. The mechanism has paid and that explains why there are drastic annual increases of the number of tourists visiting Turkey. However, the cutting of cost mechanism is a weakness if it leads to compromising the standards of tourists’ services.

The threat from competitors

The Turkey’s tourism industry is facing a somewhat stiff competition in the regions of Middle East and Europe. The competitiveness of some of the countries in Europe is far too higher than Turkey’s especially from the global market. The lowering of tourism fees could have a negative impact with some of the tourists considering it cheap and therefore not suitable for them (Yusbasioglu 2010).

The strategic geographical location

The position of Turkey is so strategic, bridging Asia and Europe. The position is a key strength of Turkey and its tourism industry. Visitors who are travelling from Asia to Europe and from Europe to Asia make stopovers in Turkey boosting the tourism industry.

Language barrier in the rural interior

Although language barrier is not a major issue in Turkey’s urban cities, it is a weakness in the interior eastern part of the country, which hinders deeper access of most of the international tourists (Rogen 2015).

The Russian sanctions and boycotts to Turkey

The recent political tension between Turkey and Russia, after Turkey authorities shot down a Russian warplane, is a bad precedence for the Turkey tourism industry. Russian president ordered bans to Turkey’s products and economic sanctions, which will adversely affect tourism (Karagiannopoulos 2015). The citizens of Russia are actively involved in the sanction debate and hostility towards Turkey is apparent. Reports of tour cancellations are becoming more and more. The threat to the tourism industry is made worse by the fact that other countries allied to Russia may also be hostile to Turkey and further harming the industry (Mulderij 2015).

The Turkey’s propensity to develop its tourism products and the possible strategies the government can implement to make the destination remain competitive

Turkish government has proclivity of developing its tourism product by the virtue that it has set future goals pertaining the tourism industry, Vision 2023. However, continued use of economic resources can lead to depletion, which in this case includes tourism products. Therefore, the Turkish government should develop and preserve the current tourism products. On the same note, the government and all the stakeholders in the tourism industry should implement critical strategies to retain regional and improve global competitiveness.

Turkey should take development of infrastructure as a prerequisite in the process of improving accessibility. Airports need to be improved and road networks upgraded especially in the rural regions. The modernisation of all rail transport system is also required. Additionally, the government should invest in further development of communication networks.

Turkey should make elaborate plans to foster sustainable tourism. Decongestion of streets, proper town and cities planning, and environmental conservation measures should be put in place.

The lowering of tourism fees should be done in a sustainable way ensuring that the standards of services are not compromised in the process. Further, all the stakeholders need to offer intensive training to the workers in the industry with an aim of improving the services delivery.

Turkey is obligated to continually advertise and market its tourism product. It should make use of exhibitions such as the East Mediterranean International Tourisms and Travel Exhibition, international media, and other avenues to market its tourism product especially to new markets like the Americas and Africa.

The Turkish government should encourage investors who are willing to invest in the tourism industry by giving incentives and creating an enabling conducive business environment. Turkish government should commit itself to world peace sustainability, supporting political ideologies that lead to global cohesiveness and political stability. It should also liaise with countries that fight terrorism in order to curb refugee and illegal migration crisis.

Reference List

Anadolu Agency 2015, ‘Turkey hits record-high tourist numbers in 2014’,Daily News, Web.

Avci, K 2015, ‘Syrian refugees affect Aegean, Mediterranean tourism in Turkey negatively’, Todays Saman, Web.

Aviation Economies 2014, Airport Privatisation Update – 2014, Web.

Bridgewest 2015, 42 million tourists expected to visit Turkey in 2015, Web.

Duran, AE & Ösdemir, S 2015, Turkish tourism hit by security concerns, Web.

European Union 2011, Agenda for a Sustainable and Competitive European Tourism, Web.

Johnson, C 2013, ‘Turkey: New Law on Foreigners and International Protection’, Global Legal Monitor, Web.

Karagiannopoulos, L 2015, ‘Greece eyes lion’s share of diverted Russian tourism’, Reuters, Web.

Kirisci, K 2003, Turkey: A Transformation from Emigration to Immigration, Web.

Ministry of Culture & Tourism 2007, Tourism Strategy of Turkey -2023 A Brief Summary, Web.

Mulderij, R 2015, Russian boycott to Turkey because of warplane downing?, Web.

Rogen, S 2015, New Report Travel and Tourism in Turkey to 2017. Web.

Sage, J 2015, Istanbul Disabled Access Review, Web.

Sari, OL n.d., Migration and Development: the Case of Turkish Migration to Germany, Web.

Sayan, S, Williams, AT, Johnson, DE & Ünal, Ö 2011, ‘A pilot study for sustainable tourism in the coastal sone of Antalya, Turkey: Tourists, Turtles or Both?’, Journal of Coastal Research, no. 64, pp. 1806 – 1810.

Turkey Travel Guide n.d., Historical Sites in Turkey, Web.

Ugurlu, T 2010, Defination of Tourism (UNWTO Defination of Tourism) / What Is Tourism?, Web.

UNHCR 2015, UNHCR viewpoint: ‘Refugee’ or ‘migrant’ – Which is right?, Web.

World Economic Forum 2015, Index Results—The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index Ranking 2015, Web.

Yusbasioglu, S 2010, ‘Competition turns Turkey into ‘poor tourist paradise’, Hurriyet Daily News, Web.

The Cost of a Tour in Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital city of Denmark, which is in the continent of Europe and is a prime tourism destination. As Copenhagen is a metropolitan city, the major tourism attractions within the city are man-made and include gardens, museums, and statues. According to Hudman and Jackson (2003) the unique town of Christiana, Tivoli gardens, the little mermaid statue, and the palace of Amalienborg are some of the main attractions in the city. Significantly, most of these attractions are within the locality of Copenhagen, and so, tourists can walk or drive to the destinations.

Calculating the Cost of a 7-Day Holiday in Copenhagen

When calculating the cost of a holiday in a tourism attraction, travel agents and tour operators need to consider factors like the cost of transport, accommodation, food and beverage, and other requirements of the tour. Imperatively, the facilities in the city employ a competitive pricing strategy, which offers a minimum price difference in their products (Boone and Kurtz 2012). The average cost of accommodation in various hotels such as Nyhavn Guest Room, DGI-Biens Hotel, and Comfort Hotel ranges from $50 to $150. Moreover, the prices of food and beverage range from $4 to about $15, while beers average at $0.90 to about $2.00.

Auxiliary services such as swimming range from $8 to $12, whereas transport from the airport to the hotels and attractions in the city of Copenhagen using a taxi ranges between $35 to 45. Conversely, a ride within the city is about $10 to $13 using a taxi and $5 using a bus and charges apply for every 3 kilometres of the ride. Entrance fees in various tourism attractions in the city vary from $5 to $11 for kids with the age bracket of 12 to 17 years, while adults pay between $12 and $36.

Since

• The food prices are about $4-$15
• The prices of beer range from $0.90 to $2.00
• The prices of auxiliary services range from $8 to $12
• Transport from the airport to the hotels or tourism attractions is $35 to $45
• Transport around every 3km of the city varies from $10 to $ 15 using a taxi and $5 using a bus
• Accommodation is about $100 to $250

Therefore,

The cost of an all-inclusive 7-day tour package for a domestic tourist will be

• 4+0.90+8+5+50= $67.90 (For 1 day)
• 67.90×7= $475.30 (For 7 days) (at its lowest)

Or

• 15+2+12+15+150=$194 (For 1 day)
• 194×7=$1358 (For 7 days) (at its highest)

The cost of an all-inclusive 7-day tour package for an international tourist will be

• 4+0.90+8+5+35+100=$152.90 (For 1 day)
• 152.90×7=$1070.3 (For 7 days) (at its lowest)

Or

• 15+2+12+15+45+250=$339 (For 1 day)
• 339×7= $2373 (For 7 days) (at its highest)

Thomson TUI Brochure and the Planning Decisions Considered

Some of the planning decisions that Thompson TUI considered during the design of its brochures include the type of target tourists, their purchasing power, marketing strategies, and the available tourism products. Horner and Swarbrooke (2004) explain that the latest brochures by Thomson TUI emphasise on a range of tourism products in various parts of the world. From the brochures, it is clear that the type of target consumers comprises one of the planning decisions considered. The inclusion of recreational, adventurous, and relaxation sites implies that the brochures incorporate the demands and preferences of all tourist segments. The incorporated tourist segments include leisure and recreation, as well as the adventurous tourists. Furthermore, the diverse hospitality facilities, which offer a range of product prices such as food and beverage and accommodation, compound the fact that the purchasing power of consumers is among the key planning decisions in the brochure design.

The appealing and attractive nature of the brochures facilitates effective marketing of its services to the target consumers. Additionally, the design of the brochure by Thomson TUI employs an artistic format, which is small, attractive, easy, and quick to read and understand. The ease of reading and understanding is due to the size and the language used in the brochures in an attempt to ensure that the message conveyed is correct and strategic.

Correct and strategic conveyance of the message of tourism destinations in organisations enables achievement of objectives like increased tourist awareness and willingness to visit the destinations (Pike 2002). Thomson TUI also highlights the major attractions across the world and presents the diverse hospitality establishments, which provide quality services to tourists. By sampling and highlighting the various available tourism attractions, Thomson TUI elucidates the significance of informing the target consumers of the available tourism products, and thus, increases their level of awareness.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising Using Agencies and the Internet

Agencies and the Internet are some of the major advertising channels that tourism establishments can use in reaching the target tourists. The use of agencies and the Internet in advertising tourism products facilitates a number of advantages, which include increased consumer awareness, effective competition, and increased purchases. By using agencies and the Internet to advertise products of a tourism establishment, the level of information available for the potential consumers increases. Therefore, consumers become aware of the products, and thus, are tempted to visit the subject destination and purchase them.

Significantly, the channels used in the advertisement, which are agencies and the Internet, must convey the right information to the target consumers. Devashish (2011) asserts that conveyance of the right information helps the tourists match their pre-consumption and consumption experiences. Since agencies and the Internet facilitate high levels of consumer awareness, the establishments become capable of competing effectively with other firms in the industry, irrespective of their sizes. Increased awareness in the minds of the target consumers leads to high levels of purchases as the tourist willingness to buy the advertised tourism products soar.

Although the use of agencies and the Internet in advertisement of tourism products has a range of advantages, it also has a number of disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages that the agencies and the Internet pose in advertisement of tourism products include low levels of trust among consumers, high tendency of misrepresentation of the products, and the absence of standardisation (McCabe 2009).

The use of agencies and the Internet has increased the opportunities for fraud and impersonations among individuals, who defraud oblivious potential tourists, while posing as agents of tourism establishments. Therefore, the level of trust that potential tourists accord to the Internet and agencies is low as opposed to other forms of advertisement. The products advertised by agencies and the Internet may misrepresent the products and fail to reflect their real states in the destination. As a result, the pre-consumption and consumption experiences of the consumers fail to match during the moment of reality. The absence of standardisation occurs because majority of products offered in the tourism industry are in the form of services, which demonstrate diverse experiences.

Suitability of a Brochure in a CD Format as Opposed to Paper Format

CD brochures have various advantages over the popular paper brochures. Some of the advantages that a CD brochure has over paper brochure include clarity, convenience, increased amount of information, and effectiveness in passage of the required information. According to Beeton (2005), the element of clarity takes place because a CD employs audio and visual attributes when relaying information. As a result, the potential tourists can watch, read, and listen to the information relayed by the CD using their televisions or computers. The ability to listen and read the contents contained in the CD implies that the message that the target tourists receive about a tourism destination is clear and elaborate as opposed to the paper brochure. Moreover, CD brochure is convenient as individuals can turn on the CD and listen, while doing their chores, unlike the paper brochure, which requires attention to read.

The fact that individuals can watch the CD implies that mobile pictures incorporated and the words used increase the amount of information about a tourism destination. Information about a destination increases because potential tourists look at the pictures in the CD, read the words, and get a clear impression of the subject destination. Unlike CD brochures, paper brochures do not have the capacity of displaying mobile pictures, but instead have the words and static pictures. Therefore, CD brochures facilitate passage of clear, elaborate, and improved information about the tourism products in a destination (Pritchard & Morgan 2013).

Effectiveness of CD brochures is evident since they can reach out to several individuals easily as opposed to paper brochures, which require distribution to every potential tourist. Several potential tourists can listen to one CD brochure and receive the intended information in the correct state. In addition, the elderly, who cannot read clearly, and visually impaired individuals can listen and receive the message about a tourism destination from a CD brochure.

Cost Based and Competitive Pricing Strategies

Cost based pricing strategies use the cost of production to allocate monetary value to products. With cost based pricing strategy, the overall price of a product is a reflection of the total cost of production together with the profit that the establishment expects from the sale of the product (Garret 2008). Some of the advantages of cost based pricing strategy include the ability of the establishment to shield itself from the losses associated with production and labour. In addition, cost based pricing strategy helps the establishment define its product price in a transparent manner. However, cost based pricing can lead to disadvantages such as reduced purchases and losses. Since cost based pricing does not consider the competition, demand, supply, and prices of substitute products, but rather the cost of production and the mark-up, it can price its products higher than that of competitors. Higher product prices than that of the competitor products lead to reduced sales and an eventual loss

Competitive pricing strategy focuses on the prices of competing firms when allocating product prices. During pricing of products using competitive pricing strategy, an establishment looks at the prices of the competitors and decides whether to price its products higher or lower than the rivals by a minimal range. Boone and Kurtz (2012) explain that the advantages of competitive strategy are that it enables establishments compete successfully with the other firms and sale their products to the target consumers. Moreover, through competitive pricing strategy, the establishments can price their products at slightly lower prices than those of competitors, and thus, increase their market share.

Conversely, some of the disadvantages associated with competitive pricing strategy include minimal sales and price slashing due to competition. Minimal sales ensue as several consumers may opt to stick to products of competing firms, which offer products at prices within the competitive range. In addition, price slashing can lead to low prices and huge losses on the sale of products.

Price Discounting and Maximisation of Contracted Bed Occupancy by Tour Operators

Price discounts are strategies used by tour operators to increase the amount of tourists in a destination and achieve high levels of purchases. Tour operators usually manoeuvre around the brochure prices and reduce the prices of tourism products such as accommodation, transport, and food and beverage so that the demand for the products increases. Palatkova (2012) asserts that price discounting increases the willingness to purchase tourism products among potential tourists. Furthermore, discounting can enable consumers, who initially would not afford the brochure product prices, to purchase the products when the discounted prices fall within their purchasing powers.

Tour operators maximise the occupancy of contracted beds through a variety of ways, which comprise of discounting, marketing, and mergers. Discounting increases consumer willingness to purchase, and hence, the amount of consumers willing to purchase the tourism products from the tour operator increases. In addition, marketing of tourism products augments the amount of information that potential tourists have concerning a tourism attraction, and thus, their reluctance to visit the destination reduces (Candela & Figini 2012). To ensure maximum bed occupancy and consumption of services in a tourism destination, a tour operator can merge or work with other tour operators so that they can practise distribution of supply or demand. Through employment of factors such as discounting, marketing, and mergers, tour operators increase purchases and maximise occupancy of contracted beds in tourism establishments.

References

Beeton, S 2005, Film-Induced Tourism, Channel View Publications, London. Web.

Boone, L & Kurtz, D 2012, Contemporary Marketing: 2013 Update, Cengage, New York. Web.

Devashish, D 2011, Tourism Marketing, Pearson Education India, New Delhi. Web.

Candela, G & Figini, P 2012, The Economics of Tourism Destinations, Springer Science & Business Media, London. Web.

Garret, G 2008, Cost Estimating and Contract Pricing: Tools, Techniques and Best Practices, Commerce Clearing House Incorporated, New York. Web.

Horner, S & Swarbrooke, J 2004, International Cases in Tourism Management, Routledge, London. Web.

Hudman, L & Jackson, R 2003, Geography of Travel and Tourism, Cencage Learning, New York. Web.

McCabe, S 2009, Marketing Communications in Tourism and Hospitality: Concepts, Strategies, and Cases, Elsevier, New York. Web.

Palatkova, M 2012, ‘Travel and Tourism Marketing-Review’, Czech Journal of Tourism, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 30-52. Web.

Pike, S 2002, ‘Destination image analysis: a review of 142 papers from 1973 to 2000’, Tourism Management, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 541-549. Web.

Pritchard, A & Morgan, N 2013, Advertising in Tourism and Leisure, Routledge, London. Web.

Introduction

Sustainability in tourism and hospitality industry is essential for profitability and environmental conservation. Tourism is a global industry which allows for the influx of people and goods from all over the world to a destination of choice. United Arab Emirates is one such preferred destination in the Middle East courtesy of its versatile hotel industry and Arab architecture (Al-Ali, 2008).

The Emirate of Dubai is a spectacular tourist destination with indigenous products and seven star hotels among other attractive natural sceneries. Sustainable hospitality and tourism development entails the practice of applying universal principles such as ecotourism, cultural diversity and national heritage in the industry. In addition, the interaction of people from different cultures could compromise host cultures as far as religious and traditional values are concerned.

Literature Review

Ecotourism and hospitality

The UAE context is a good example of how ecotourism and sustainable hospitality have been applied towards boosting revenue earnings from tourism beyond revenue traditionally obtained from petroleum resources. Currently, western principles and operations apply most in the management of tourism activities in UAE hospitality industries (Al-Hamarneh & Steiner, 2004).

The lack of career knowledge and technical capacity is the reason behind the labour shortages in UAE hospitality industries. Most expatriates working in the country are migrants from “Philippines, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka” (Ali, 1989). Performance management demands that UAE nationals are effectively trained in order to develop their skills appropriately. It is also worth noting that Arab leadership is characterized by Islamic principles replicated in the management of organizations.

Cultural peculiarities and business practices

Business practices and development of products are also designed to reflect the resilient Islamic principles of the Arab world. Shari’ah compliant hotels provide significant opportunities to locals keen on developing their culture and society economically. This has also inspired Muslim travelers around Middle East to visit the Emirate Sheikhdoms particularly Dubai.

Features unique to the Muslim culture are reflected at the workplace setting “through traditional uniforms with a strict dress code for women staff, markers indicating the direction of Mecca, female and male prayer rooms, prayer mats and prayer beds, ‘halal’ food with no pork, conservative television channels, art that does not depict human form, and beds and plumbing placed away from facing Mecca” (Atiyyah, 1992).

Islamic tourism and its perspectives

Islamic tourism is not just about pilgrimage to Mecca. Sustainable tourism within the UAE Islamic context appreciates the need for broader ways of promoting host religion and sacred values without bordering on the extremes. Religiosity principles only apply on aspects relating to reception and accommodation of visitors. According to Islam, visitors should be warmly received and respected irrespective of their cultural, political or religious inclinations. The Qur’an considered sacred by Muslims dictates that its believers must be “good hosts” (Amidon et al, 2006). Social justice and communal development are equally revered values from the Islamic perspectives.

UAE hospitality industry in perspective

Localized tourism products exemplify Islamic principles but which promote museum facilities and national heritage. Some of the spectacular tourist facilities include “Dubai city itself, the so-called eighth wonder of the world (Palm Island), the world’s tallest building (Burj Dubai), the world’s largest shopping mall (Dubai mall), the world’s richest horse race (Dubai Cup) as well as the world’s seven star hotel (Burj Al Arab)”( Ali, 2002). The phenomenon Dubai-based tourism facilities provide a cosmopolitan experience for shoppers and travelers interested in entertainment and holiday pleasures.

Culture and society for international ecotourism

At this point, it is worth noting that culture and society are crucial elements for promoting ecotourism internationally from a local standpoint. The UAE context has been reconstructed in order to emphasize a global image to a large extent as compared to the social identities associated with traditional regalia and artifacts. It is important that foreign tourists obtain more satisfaction in appreciating traditional cultural heritage rather than imported sceneries (Amidon et al, 2006). To this end, managers in the tourism and hospitality industry have preserved approximately 40 traditional buildings around the Dubai Creek where several museums have been established as a cultural heritage.

Influence of global crises on ecotourism

The recent global recession and financial crisis had a serious impact on the hospitality and tourism industry all over the world. UAE was equally affected by the financial crisis through decreased profit margins and massive employee layoffs. However, “the rapid increase of low-cost airlines” in the region combined with budget hotels affordable to both local and international tourists has led to sustainability in the industry in terms of holiday travelers interested in Dubai as a destination of choice (Amoah & Baum, 1997). Apart from the socially sustainable environment, the UAE hospitality industry is also reaping much financial benefits from cultural designed tourism products that are Islamic by nature.

Spiritual enlightenment and Arab civilization can thus be much appreciated through the educational experiences available at various tourism mosques and shopping malls. Financial transactions are strictly done based on the Zakat principle which prohibits the commercial concept of “predetermined interest” referred to as Riba in lending. Based on this concept, fellow Emiratis and like-minded Muslims are advised to assist one another in the spirit of brotherhood without charging interest on the loans advanced to people in need. The table below illustrates facts and figures about tourism in UAE:

Table 1: Facts and figures about Tourism in the UAE

Leadership and innovation in the UAE hospitality industry

Age is not a key factor in leadership styles and organizational activity but a robust national culture with strong Muslim fundamentals inspires motivation and innovation (Al-Ali, 2008). Leader-follower relations in the UAE multicultural organizations determine the quality of exchanges they develop towards innovative perspectives. A multicultural organization develops innovation through proper leadership styles and employee commitment.

Islamic hospitality and tourism has been developed by the capacity of human resources and innovative approaches in industrial product development and education. Industry skills are benchmarked on nationalization of employment (Au & Ekiz, 2009). In addition, the hospitality industry is developed through management practices that take into account dynamic customer expectations and global market trends.

Ethnicity and religion in marketing and advertising

Marketing and advertising has exploited popular causes in athletics and sports for product endorsement and development (Al-Hamarneh & Steiner, 2004). Ethnic and religious attributes of the mainstream Muslim culture are integrated into professional ethics. Integration of foreign nations working in UAE through naming, language, dressing and eating culture of the host society is used to promote socialization. The cultural approach in hospitality industry is a product of competing cultures which meet at the point of intersection in organizational management. Dubai as the business hub of the Islamic republic of UAE is extensively networked through modern internet infrastructure which positions the hospitality industry on the global competitive market (Ali, 1989).

Supply chain management in terms of environmental protection

It is necessary to mention that the industry of tourism has its capital and can be sustained with the help of investments; “The tangible aspects, such as the condition and suitability of the constructed facilities, and the intangible aspects, such as environmental ambience, are important not only because of working efficiency…” (Penny, 2007, pp. 286-287). The issue of environmental protection became more recognized in the hotel industry in recent years (Chan, 2009, pp. 542-544). Though the hospitality is very important for hotel business, it is necessary to remember about environmental protection measures that are being adapted by most fashionable hotels of the world with regard to global initiatives (Tzschentke, Kirk, and Lynch, 2004).

As reported by Peršić-Živadinov and Blažević (2010),“The traditional concept of development, including tourism, the unlimited use of natural resources, and the combustion of fossil fuels have led to pollution of the environment and to climate change” (p. 162); the climate is changing and people should take some steps to prevent it. Bader (2005) enumerates the benefits of sustainable hotels (p. 71); these benefits can be used to improve the situation that takes place with the natural environment, partially this happens due to tourism industry. As reported by Tzschentke, Kirk, and Lynch (2008), the practices adopted by representatives of the touristic industry have been scarce and inappropriate to deal with the global problems of environmental pollution (pp. 127-128).

Performance measurement in different countries

The performance measurement of Australian hotels and motels was conducted by Bergin-Seers and Jago (2006) who analyzed the performance effectiveness of those hotels and motels with the help of financial measures. The results of this research can influence the sustainability of these businesses with regard to environmental protection measures. Australia, Croatia, China, and other large touristic countries that are well-known for their hospitality and high-class hotels should measure the sustainability of their hotels and other units that are considered tourism-oriented in terms of environmental protection measures taken to discontinue and even prevent global warming.

Effective performance

As effectiveness of performance of the touristic sector depends on a great number of factors including the performance of hotels, restaurants, transport units, and other influential parties, it is necessary to take into account the economic factors for these areas while suggesting environmental protection measures (Sigala, 2008, p. 1590). So, the assessment of effectiveness of environmental protection measures depends from the supply chain management and measures taken by this unit in terms of all other integral parts of the business.

For instance, Hopkins (2010b) investigated the issue concerning the sustainability case of the SAP to learn about the major benefits of sustainable business. Moreover, Hopkins (2010d) reviewed the case to monitor the supply chain management and its functions; it turned out that sustainability of the business depends on all factors while supply chain management helps to control and coordinate all units coherently. The issue of supply chain management has also been approached in the study by Krause, Vachon, and Klassen (2009) who analyzed manufacturing organizations with regard to their performance.

Employees’ well-being and environmental

The employees’ well-being was assessed with the help of the study conducted by Pagell and Gobeli (2009) who measured the attitude of plant managers toward the employees and their concerns about the natural environment. It is necessary to take into account the practices adapted by the net of hotels Scandic where the main changes were introduced at customers’ demands. As indicated in the study by Goodman (2000), guests “…who stayed in Scandic’s German and Danish hotels … began to ask about the company’s waste-disposal practices and larger environmental policy” (p. 205). This demand was satisfied and the company established necessary practices to meet the customers’ requirements and expectations.

Environmental performance

The environmental performance became one of the major concerns of most global companies, especially regarding the touristic area (Golicic, Boerstler, and Ellram, 2010, p. 47). Sustainability of global businesses was also addressed by Seuring and Muller (2008) in their study that focuses mainly on the sustainability of supply chain management with regard to the sustainability of global companies that manage to effectively put issues like hotels, transport, and restaurants together.

The problem of sustainability in terms of supply chain management was also considered by Berns et al. (2009), Johnson (2009), Hopkins (2010c), Keating, Quazi, Kriz, and Coltman (2008). Hopkins (2010a) analyzes whether the sustainability is the issue to strive for or it can be achieved through implementation of other factors that cause sustainability of the business. Sustainability can be considered an integral part of every business while it can be achieved through measures applicable to most areas of business; for instance, the study by Britoa, Carboneb, and Blanquart (2008) approaches the industry of fashion clothes.

References

Al-Ali, J. (2008). Emiratisation: drawing UAE nationals into their surging economy. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 28 (9/10), 365-379.

Al-Hamarneh, A., & Steiner, C. (2004). Islamic tourism: rethinking the strategies of tourism Development in the Arab world after September 11, 2001. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 24 (1), 18-27.

Ali, A. J. (1989), Decision style and work satisfaction of Arab Gulf executives: a cross-national study. International Studies of Management and Organization, 19, 22-37.

Ali, A. J. (2002). Islamic perspectives on organizational development. In Kaynak, E. and Sarvan, F.D. (Eds.), The impact of globalization on world business in the new millennium: competition, cooperation, environment, and development. The International Management Development Association, Hummelstown, PA, pp. 151-158.

Amidon, D. M., Formica, P. and Mercier-Laurent, E. (Eds.) (2006). Knowledge economics: Principles, practices and policies. Tartu: Tartu University Press.

Amoah, V. A. & Baum, T. (1997). Tourism education: policy versus practice. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 9 (2), 5-12.

Atiyyah, H.S. (1992). Research note: research in Arab countries. Organization Studies, 13 (1), 105-112.

Au, N. & Ekiz, E. H. (2009). Issues and opportunities of internet hotel marketing in developing countries. Journal of Travel and Tourism, 26 (3), 225-243.

Bader, E. E. (2005). Sustainable hotel business practices. Journal of Retail & Leisure Property, 5 (1), 70-77.

Bergin-Seers, S., & Jago, L. (2006). Performance measurement in small motels in Australia. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 7 (2), 144-155.

Berns, M., Townend, A., Khayat, Z., Balagopal, B., Reeves, M., Hopkins, M. S., and Kruschwitz, N. (2009). Sustainability and competitive advantage. MIT Sloan Management Review, 51 (1), 19-26.

Britoa, M. P. de, Carboneb, V., & Blanquart, C. M. (2008). Towards a sustainable fashion retail supply chain in Europe: Organisation and performance. Int. J. Production Economics, 114, 534–553.

Chan, W. W. (2009). Environmental measures for hotels’ environmental management systems ISO 14001. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 21 (5), 542-560.

Golicic, S. L., Boerstler, C. N., & Ellram, L. M. (2010). ‘Greening’ transportation in the supply chain. MIT Sloan Management Review, 51 (2), 47-55.

Goodman, A. (2000). Implementing sustainability in service operations at Scandic hotels. Interfaces, 30 (3), 202-214.

Hopkins, M. S. (2010a). 8 Reasons sustainability will change management (That you never thought of). MIT Sloan Management Review, 51 (1), 27-30.

Hopkins, M. S. (2010b). How SAP made the business case for sustainability. MIT Sloan Management Review, 52 (1), 69-72.

Hopkins, M. S. (2010c). How sustainability fuels design innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, 52 (1), 75-81.

Hopkins, M. S. (2010d). The four-point supply chain checklist: How sustainability creates new opportunity. MIT Sloan Management Review, 51 (4), 65-69.

Johnson, R. L. (2009). Organizational motivations for going green or profitability versus sustainability. The Business Review, 13 (1), 22-28.

Keating, B., Quazi, A., Kriz, A., & Coltman, T. (2008). In pursuit of a sustainable supply chain: Insights from Westpac Banking Corporation. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 13 (3), 175-179.

Krause, D. R., Vachon, S., & Klassen, R. D. (2009). Special topic forum on sustainable supply chain management: Introduction and reflections on the role of purchasing management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 45 (4), 18-25.

Pagell, M., & Gobeli, D. (2009). How plant managers’ experiences and attitudes toward sustainability relate to operational performance. Production and Operations Management, 18 (3), 278-299.

Penny, W. Y. K. (2007). The use of environmental management as a facilities management tool in the Macao hotel sector. Facilities, 25 (7/8), 286-295.

Peršić-Živadinov, I., & Blažević, B. (2010). Sustainable hotels: Sustainable life cycle practice in Croatian hotels. Tourism & Hospitality Management 2010, Conference Proceedings, 161-177.

Seuring, S., & Muller, M. (2008). From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16, 1699–1710.

Sigala, M. (2008). A supply chain management approach for investigating the role of tour operators on sustainable tourism: the case of TUI. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16, 1589–1599.

Tzschentke, N., Kirk, D., & Lynch, P. A. (2004). Reasons for going green in serviced accommodation establishments. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 16 (2), 116-124.

Tzschentke, N., Kirk, D., & Lynch, P. A. (2008). Going green: Decisional factors in small hospitality operations. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 27, 126-133

Recent Developments in the Attraction Market

As mankind continues to socialise, the need to ensure continuity and interaction has created a series of ties that has made the process continuous across the globe. Basically, the interaction has become an instrumental part for exchanging ideas through hospitality, cultural events, festivals, and tourism. The benefits of the interaction process have expanded as the interaction level become global due to shared values, cultural exchange, and new business opportunities to the parties interacting during these events. The recent developments in the attraction market are music museum, Dismaland art exhibition, Indiana art festival, Girona Park, Gotherburg Park, and casino.

These attractions are supported by services such as private chatter flights, music, special shows, and concert themes. The main socio-cultural products are entertainment, lotteries, and cultural interaction among others. The other products such as edge walk, red rocket, and night lighting offer entertainment satisfaction to tourists. These products are non-tangible since tourists only pay for the entertainment experience without having to personally own any of the products after making payments. Basically, tourists only pay for the services of using these products without having to assume ownership (Winchester, 2006).

Role of Events within the Attraction Offer

Promoting the Attraction product and Promotional Mix

The brand of the community is presented in the most attractive way with simple but clear messages of pleasant experiences in the museums, parks, festivals, and exhibitions. The touch points include the affordable prices, private entertainment, one-on-one conversation with the agents, and the unique experience of accommodation services. At the centre of each event, a potential client can have different entertainment plans with different packages to cover for the different tastes and preferences within and without the local culture (Shimp, 2007). Such plans are classified as regular or premium, depending on the bundle chosen by an individual. The regular alternative enables tourists to reduce expenses due to pooled services. Upon selection of a tour package, a potential tourist is able to request for a special tour guide.

Communication is characterised by integration of different channels of encoding and decoding information between parties involved. The communication channels may be multiple or singular, depending on the nature of information and complexity of the interaction process. With the rapid modernization, the use of technology and information system within the tourism industry is necessary in increasing market catchments.

The industry has quickly embraced the e-marketing strategies to be at par with other industries. The most common e-marketing platforms in the industry include social media, the internet, and cable television. Besides, the event tickets are significant tools for self advertising that targeted different classes of clients. Social media has played a central part in the liberalization of communication across the industry.

The players in this industry communicate and use internet to interact with customers and promote several products and services (Yan, Myers, & Wang, 2012). Currently, the industry is characterised by presence of a common form of interaction, irrespective of language, social, cultural, and other barriers of communication. As a result, the process has assumed a unique culture and interaction between parties involved. Due to the entry of technological advancement in the world today, internet has been the most common means of product and service promotion within the industry.

Resources and Services offer within an Attraction to Event Managers Seeking Services and Venues

This social media advertisement application (television) is capable of reaching the audience targeted, irrespective of the distance involved. Besides, visual media messages have become effective in passing information to the audience while enabling companies to track information flow and other dynamics of encoding and decoding messages. Therefore, when effective messaging, planning, and general objectivity aspects are observed, it is possible to implement different messaging strategies without any hitch. This level of effectiveness can be achieved through building viable brand awareness in different campaign messages to influence higher level of acceptance over a period of time. Besides, the message branding strategy should be customised to appeal to the high level customers and business associates (Hakala, Svensson, & Vincze, 2012).

Recommendations and conclusion

There is need to increase the scope of operations through strategic and innovative ideas of tourism service delivery to customers. There is also need to provide efficient, cost effective, and comprehensive tourism logistics services to customers (Shimp, 2007). This may be achieved through complete synchronization for different tour packages to different regions within the targeted location. In order to succeed with this plan, excellent marketing and other promotional activities should be balanced to ensure that customers have high confidence, which is a recipe for continuous brand loyalty.

Besides improved logistics system, there is need to introduce o improve the current green services. The notable green practices in the current lodgings include paperless services, solar water heaters, natural air fans, underground floor heating system from natural solar, and energy saver bulbs. Besides, the bathrooms are fitted with water saver flashers and showers. The hotel rooms are well lit because of large windows. Thus, electricity for lighting is only used at night. However, the swimming pools in the hotels should be heated by a green energy source (Sharp, Riebe, & Dawes, 2002).

References

Hakala, U., Svensson, J., & Vincze, Z. (2012). Consumer-based brand equity and top- of-mind awareness: a cross-country analysis. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 21(6), 439-451. Web.

Sharp, B., Riebe, E., & Dawes, J. (2002). A marketing economy of scale-big brands lose less of their customer base than small brands, Marketing Bulletin Journal, 13(1),1-8. Web.

Shimp, T. (2007). Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. Mason, Ohio: Thomson South-Western. Web.

Winchester, M. (2006). Positive and negative brand beliefs and brand defection/uptake. European Journal of Marketing, 42(6), 553-570. Web.

Yan, R., Myers, A., & Wang, J. (2012). Price strategy, information sharing, and firm performance in a market channel with a dominant retailer. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 21(6), 475-485. Web.