Category: Tourism

In a recent decade, the UAE government initiated a major transition in terms of economic revival. The one of strategic transitions was to focus on investments in the tourism sector. The main focus was made on customer-centricity and the use of advanced internet technologies to promote the tourism sector internationally. However, the coronavirus pandemics negatively influenced these efforts. Now it requires critical analysis of industry capabilities versus supply chain planning.

The research objectives of the study include the exploration of organizational perspectives related to dynamic capabilities and digital orientation through sensing UAE hotel staff responses, the evaluation of the impact of customer centricity efforts on the hotel supply chain optimization, and providing meaningful recommendations for hotel supply chain performance improvement using both primary and secondary research.

The importance of the research is explained by the following factors. First, it is important to develop a clear vision of whether current practices are well adopted by hotel operators. Second, during crises, times hotels should develop new marketing and supply chain management strategies to ensure business profitability. Finally, new investment mechanisms might be relevant to ensure that the business sector is being developed, anticipating the importance of tourism and construction sectors for the UAE economy.

The study contributes to the business and academia in the following manner. First, it is expected that one could be helpful to design new policies that help to attract and retain tourists, both locally and internationally. Second, the study is aimed to provide the UAE government with evidence of the tourism sector perspectives. Finally, the contribution to academic research among UAE research practitioners will be made to ensure the comprehension of factors that affect supply chain resilience, agility, and traceability.

The literature review related to the exploration of how hotels develop dynamic capabilities is based on two studies. In the first study, Khan et al. (2017) mentioned that sensing, seizing, and business transformation are essential components of the hotel destination management practice that leads to a better understanding of the customer value. Gretzel et al. (2015) mentioned that purchase or service is no longer relevant for the hotel industry since the experience is a more important variable to be estimated in terms of dynamic capabilities. Hence, the co-creation of experiences is essential for dynamic capabilities development.

Digital orientation in hotels is primarily driven by the principles of smart hospitality that were described in several research papers such as Jasinskas et al. (2016) and Zaidan et al. (2016). The importance of collecting the data through the use of ICT was considered critical to ensure the principles of interoperability and managing basic aspects such as room occupancy rates. However, digital orientation principles described in the aforementioned studies were also helpful for budget optimization and developing logical cost-saving strategies.

Supply chain resilience is the ability of hotels to manage critical stages of business operations and restore back to the normal stage. It could be caused either by crisis times or external factors that lead to business transformation. The factors such as procurement and legislative changes, managerial disagreements, and travel bans are considered as the most significant issues (Brown et al., 2017; Moon & Sprott, 2016).

Speaking about supply chain agility, it is essential to consider that one is aimed to promote transparent information flow among third parties, customers, and suppliers. The use of information technologies helps to excel in this area. However, it is also important to ensure that hotels are adaptive to external shocks such as travel restrictions, while they are still agile to work on a common basis for the local customers.

Traditionally, hotels seek for collecting customer data based on official documents. However, in the digital era, the supply chain traceability aspect could be utilized through more advanced research methods like building digital profiles of regular customers based on the big data analysis that shows the tendencies towards hotel preferences. Hence, the traceability of the hotel supply chain is seen as highly dependent on the ICT capabilities and overall technology penetration.

A quantitative research approach was used for the current study. A survey that targeted 86 participants overall was used through online distribution, where the respondents are hotel operators in the UAE. The responses were collected during one month, asking the respondents to evaluate the statements pertaining to the sections of dynamic capability, digital orientation, and supply chain resilience, agility, and traceability. The data were analyzed using statistical tools such as descriptive statistics and ANOVA analysis.

The proposed theoretical framework assumes that we use dynamic capabilities and digital orientation as independent variables, while each of those acts as factors to evaluate the case-by-case relationship with supply chain resilience, agility, and traceability. The framework is based on the literature proceedings and group awareness about the patterns of UAE hotel management systems.

In terms of the employee service period, the largest cohort is 22 individuals or 52.4% of respondents working in the organization for two years or less. They are followed by 11 individuals or 26.2% of respondents working in the organization for more than 5 years, and 9 individuals or 21.4% of respondents working less than 5 years. In terms of the workforce size, half of all respondents indicated that the hotel employs less than 500 employees, followed by 17 individuals or 40.5% of respondents specifying that the hotel employs between 500 and 1000 employees, and 4 individuals or 9.5% of respondents indicating that the hotel employs more than 1000 employees. Finally, in terms of sales volumes as of 2019, 18 individuals or 42.9% of respondents reported having more than $5 million, 16 individuals or 38.1 of respondents reported having between $1 and $5 million, while 8 individuals or 19% of respondents reported less than $1 million of sales volume.

The table supports the findings by demonstrating average values above 5 for all variables specified in the framework. The highest scores are observed for independent variables of dynamic capabilities, with a mean of 6.128, the standard deviation of 0.759, and variance of 0.576, as well as digital orientation, with a mean of 6.107, the standard deviation of 0.815, and variance of 0.761. However, the dependent variables show that the opinions about hotel supply chain effectiveness were less optimistic, where supply chain was reported with a mean of 5.899, the standard deviation of 0.945, and variance 0.893, supply chain agility was reported with a mean of 6.040, the standard deviation of 0.751, and variance of 0.565, while supply chain traceability was rereported with a mean of 5.958, the standard deviation of 0.831, and variance of 0.690. Nevertheless, the overall skewness of the data with average scores higher than 5 and comparatively low values below 1 for both standard deviation and variance demonstrate that all participants positively agreed about the success of organizations they employed with. It implies that there is a positive organizational climate in researched hotels, while additional inquiry on employee judgment is needed.

To validate internal data consistency, reliability testing was performed using Excel formulas. Creswell and Creswell (2017) explained that reliability should be measured by the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, which considers the number of items in a survey, the sum of variances per each response item, and the total variance per individual response. For the current study, the estimated reliability coefficient is 0.9689, which is a very good result since it is close to 1 and much higher than 0.7 as a minimum threshold to treat the survey results internally consistent (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).

For the hypotheses, the ANOVA analysis was used as a methodological approach. The above figure provides a common reporting approach that was used for the hypothesis analysis highlighted in the paper. The common finding is that dynamic capabilities and digital orientation are not significantly related to supply chain resilience, agility, and traceability.

Referring to the descriptive results, the study suggests that overall hotel employees are confident about organizational stance and potential to satisfy increasing customer demands, as well as feel confident about the overall hotel supply chain effectiveness. With minor deviations, almost all respondents rate dynamic capabilities and digital orientation as highly developed components of the internal service model, while some express certain concerns about the supply chain effectiveness. Considerably, it is generally a good sign of organizational climate and future potential of the hospitality industry in the UAE during crisis times that would support emerging trends in developing customer focus as a core competence.

The first implication is employee sensing, which is needed to understand whether hotel employees are prepared for transformation related to the scope of services provided by hotels. The second implication is to evaluate whether the digital focus on service provisions relates to innovative supply chain practices. Finally, the search for government partnership is essential to develop new opportunities for hotel services improvement.

There are several important limitations that were identified for the current research. First, there is a lack of academic background to develop a theoretical framework for the UAE context. Second, international hotel management practices were considered because of the aforementioned constraint. Third, in quantitative terms, 42 responses for the survey are not enough consistent statistically, since 100 responses fit best to report statistical significance. Eventually, it is affected by coronavirus pandemics and the non-availability of the hotel staff.

Hotel supply chain operations based on resilience, agility, and traceability are not affected by dynamic capabilities and digital orientation. Potentially, supply chain effectiveness should be analyzed based on external factors such as pandemics and actions of the UAE government. Hence, the development of new models for societal interaction is needed to ensure hotel focus on local visitors.

References

Brown, N. A., Rovins, J. E., Feldmann-Jensen, S., Orchiston, C., & Johnston, D. (2017). Exploring disaster resilience within the hotel sector: A systematic review of literature. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 22, 362-370. Web.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5^th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: Foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 179-188. Web.

Jasinskas, E., Streimikiene, D., Svagzdiene, B., & Simanavicius, A. (2016). Impact of hotel service quality on the loyalty of customers. Economic Research-Ekonomska istraživanja, 29(1), 559-572. Web.

Khan, M. S., Woo, M., Nam, K., & Chathoth, P. K. (2017). Smart city and smart tourism: A case of Dubai. Sustainability, 9(12), 2279. Web.

Moon, H., & Sprott, D. E. (2016). Ingredient branding for a luxury brand: The role of brand and product fit. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5768-5774. Web.

Zaidan, E., Taillon, J., & Lee, S. (2016). Societal implication of UAE tourism development. Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 27(4), 543-545. Web.

One of the most beautiful places I have visited is the country of Kyrgyzstan. It lies in a mountainous area with stunning landscapes and nature untouched by humanity’s footprint. Kyrgyzstan is one of the former Soviet republics, which declared its independence in 1991 and joined the CIS. The country is unique with its pristine nature and numerous biosphere reserves. Besides, the Kyrgyz culture represents the nomadic lifestyle and rich history of the people. Along with an authentic cultural experience, Kyrgyzstan offers a great backpacking adventure for those who pay a visit.

When I first saw the beauty of the country’s nature, I was genuinely impressed. The picturesque scenery made me feel like I found myself in a storybook or a fairy tale. The open space seems to have no limits and stretches as far as the eye can see. Many countries are known for their beautiful nature, but the experience in Kyrgyzstan is unlike any other. As Stamboulis (2018) stated, the country is not highly populated, and no strict regulations prevent locals and tourists from exploring the countryside in its beauty, which, nevertheless, is not harmful to the wildlife. In such conditions, nature is blooming, the air always smells fresh, and clear water runs in rivers and streams.

Kyrgyzstan is often referred to as the “Swiss Alps of Central Asia” because of its location. The country lies between the Tien-Shan and the Pamir-Alay mountain ranges and encompasses a variety of ecosystems, among which mountain glaciers and arid canyons, alpine pastures and valleys, lakes and rivers (Jenish, 2017). The continental climate adds up to the unique experience one can get in the country, as various activities are available in different seasons, from swimming and horse riding to snowboarding and skiing. Kyrgyzstan cannot be boring, because wildlife is abundant and worth sightseeing in the country.

Visiting Kyrgyzstan is like being alive a hundred years ago, living in a country that is pure and innocent. As I arrived in Kyrgyzstan, the atmosphere of people’s life there astonished me. Even though the country has become more progressive, some locals still practice a semi-nomadic lifestyle, allowing the tourists to learn about the Kyrgyz culture and traditions. Apart from hiking in the mountains, another remarkable experience was tasting beshbarmak, a dish made of meat and noodles. It is meant to be eaten with hands, without cutlery, to focus on the flavors. However, it is difficult to name just one notable thing about Kyrgyzstan, since many experiences come to my mind. During my trip, I saw ancient petroglyphs of an old civilization and the historical routes of the Great Silk Road, tasted blini (traditional pancakes), touched the waters of Lake Issyk-Kul, and got a chance to see the works of local artisans. The hospitality of the Kyrgyz people, direct descendants of Genghis Khan, to westerners made my experience unforgettable.

To sum up, Kyrgyzstan is a country of friendly people and beautiful views, attractive for tourists who want to expand their horizons and come into contact with nature. The Kyrgyz culture has developed over the centuries, but the influence of nomadic life can be tracked up to today. This feature makes the country a fascinating destination for people who like to learn something new about other nations. The country is highly underrated as a tourist landmark, but visiting it is a remarkable experience.

References

1. Jenish, N. (2017). Tourism Sector in Kyrgyzstan: Trends and Challenges. (Vol. 42).
2. Stamboulis, D. (2018). Central Asia’s Switzerland: Paradise in Kyrgyzstan. Web.

Executive Summary

In a crisis, the instability of the external and internal environment increases, and the likelihood of an even greater aggravation of the negative aspects of the crisis due to a rise in the share of adverse risks in the activities of enterprises in the service sector increases. The topic of various risks is today the most relevant in the scientific research of many scientists. Therefore, in crisis management of a small business in the hotel services sector, it is important for management to clearly know the types of risks, the degree of their impact on the enterprise, and be able to identify the riskiest objects of a small business in the hotel services sector. Atlantis Dubai resort is a large and top-notch hotel that needs to focus on options between futurism and medieval-style in order to be resilient to customer behaviour changes. In addition, the resort needs to have sufficient funds in order to ensure financial stability during crises.

In the case of Anantara Palm Dubai, the hotel excels at providing a wide range of options to its customers, and thus, its resilience needs to be focused on the correct marketing strategy regarding the alternatives. Poppies Samui resort is an outstanding example of a small and high-quality resort that needs to improve its resilience through maximum sustainability. Lastly, Vythiri Resort does not possess any form of resilience measures, but it can handle crises due to the lack of sophisticated procedures and entertainment. Therefore, the resorts’ unique location and its simplicity make it resistant to potential disruptions. Today, there are many risks that can affect the work of a small enterprise in the hotel services sector, especially in conditions of instability or crisis. Among a large number of threats, it is necessary to single out the most probable areas of hotel services for small enterprises.

Resort Management Report

The essence of enterprise crisis management can be explained using the psychological, financial, and economic, political, and structural-technological categories. From the point of view of the psychological approach, crisis management is considered as a necessary procedure that people resort to as a result of irrational behaviour and the desire for enrichment, which often leads enterprises to a crisis state. The report will focus primarily on four resorts, where two of them are Dubai-based resorts, one is Indian, and the last is situated in Thailand. Atlantis Dubai is an example of the most luxurious hotels that offer top-notch services but lacks the required flexibility. Anantara Palm Dubai is also a high-quality resort that focuses on providing a wide range of options depending on the clients’ needs. Poppies Samui is an outstanding illustration of trading its capacity and size for the quality of experience, which elevates its actual category. The last resort is the Vythiri Resort, and it is a highly affordable option that attracts guests with unique jungle-based features. Both Dubai based resort express a fairly high level of resilience towards crises due to a strong infrastructure of the region as well as the resorts’ inner management systems. Poppies Samui is less resilient, but it can sustain itself due to its size, whereas Vythiri Resort lacks any form of crisis resilience.

Crisis Evaluation

The overall approach of crisis evaluation is based on assessing the resort’s particular risks and evaluating its preparedness to the dangers. Each resort faces a different set of challenges due to its unique location, financial reserves, size, political influences, and the surrounding geography. Therefore, each unit needs to have a complete comprehension of potential sources of threats and dangers in order to develop appropriate response protocols. In addition, the given resilience is also reliant on current measures that ensure the functionality of the resorts.

Resort Crisis Resilience and Impact

Anantara Palm Dubai

Competition – 8, price – 6, natural disaster – 2, political conflict – 2, economic crisis – 2, employment – 2, property damage – 1, food and sanitation – 1, entertainment safety – 2, crimes – 1, power outage – 2, service errors – 1, and seasonal dependence – 1.

Insurance resilience – 4, interruption protection – 5, price adaptability – 4, model – 3, approaches – 3, supervision – 4, insurance – 4, entertainment control – 4, emergency access – 5, staff retention – 4, off season compensation – 5, and competition sustainability – 5.

The competition level in the region is high, and the marketing strategy is based on providing a multitude of options. These approaches are effective because they attract all sorts of clients. The core strengths of the resort are infrastructure and alternatives, and they provide a sustainable competitive advantage because it is challenging to build such structures. Safety control and quality management procedures are highly effective at service improvement, and the response plan during a crisis is utilizing the most suitable structures. The main characteristics impacting the operation is the overall luxuriousness of Dubai. The resort does not possess major sustainability solutions, and thus, it can undergo restructuring through the use of the latest technology. The weaknesses can be observed in marketing, where a potential client might not fully understand the uniqueness of each option, and it can be eliminated by better social media and website design.

The Anantara Palm Dubai approach methodology implies a series of actions for several stages of crisis management. This analysis of data, including financial, commercial and service, and identification of the possible consequences of the crisis for the hotel. This also includes identifying possible actions to overcome the crisis, identifying potential risk factors for identified activities, and setting deadlines for implementing anti-crisis measures. For example, the fact that Anantara Palm Dubai offers three additional options in conjunction with the main hotel makes it resilient to consumer preference changes (Anantara the Palm Dubai resort, 2020). The first stage is carried out by experts, hotel workers, or invited specialists. In the practice of running the Anantara Palm Dubai hotel business in times of crisis, it is customary to independently audit data. During this event, a working group is formed, consisting of experts and senior managers, as well as leading managers of departments of the hotel company. The working group assesses the status of such areas as the organisational structure, staffing, compliance with standards, finances, organisational dynamics, and the quality of services.

In addition, it is obligatory to carry out an analysis of external factors through an audit of relations with partners, a review of relationships with suppliers, and inspection of relations with interested parties during the verification of the state of a hotel company. The auditing task of Anantara Palm Dubai is to compare the received data not with the previous ones, but with the planned indicators. The impact is manifested in an anti-crisis program that should be developed, and in hotel practice, as a rule, the main anti-crisis measures for the hotel business include a number of indicators (Brown et al., 2018). This is personnel who must have an understanding of their involvement in the process and actions, increase the level of motivation, determine the growth opportunities for each employee. The business is controlled in a crisis through adjustments to the operational and financial parameters, which should be aimed at stabilizing the financial condition, optimizing the number of partners and customers. The main objective is to preserve the flow of customers and the development of a strategy for overcoming the crisis, which will correspond to the interests of owners and managers. The milestones for Anantara Palm Dubai are distinctive in this approach. Thus, one can understand what the owners and managers of the hotel business are focused on during the crisis in different countries of the world.

Poppies Samui, Thailand

Competition – 9, price – 8, natural disaster – 4, political conflict – 4, economic crisis – 4, employment – 4, property damage – 2, food and sanitation – 2, entertainment safety – 4, crimes – 4, power outage – 4, service errors – 4, and seasonal dependence – 4.

Insurance resilience – 5, interruption protection – 3, price adaptability – 3, model – 2, approaches – 3, supervision – 3, insurance – 4, entertainment control – 2, emergency access – 3, staff retention – 4, off season compensation – 3, and competition sustainability – 4.

The general competition in the hotel industry of the region is extremely high, and marketing strategies are focused on promoting quality over size. The latter approach is effective at attracting clients who do not enjoy crowded hotels. The core strengths of the resort are its low capacity and interior design, and these features provide a sustainable competitive advantage for a niche of tourists. Both quality management and safety control are decent at ensuring service improvement. The response plan in case of a crisis is based on tight control and regulatory policies due to a small size. The main characteristic of Thailand is the seasonality of the climate, which can influence the operation of the resort. The design of the resort is highly sustainable due to the overall smallness of the structures, and thus, the next step in improvement can be making it fully dependent on alternative sources. Weaknesses are minor, and they are based in the resort’s marketing, which does not advertise its smallness as strength.

In the case of Poppies Samui, measures are needed to increase sales through the formation of new hotel products and changes in price proposals. In addition, cost optimization measures are required, as these provisions are drawn from the best practices of successful enterprises in the hospitality industry. This condition is undoubtedly relevant in the modern world, but it is worth noting that the main task in the operation of a hotel enterprise such as Poppies Samui during a crisis is to maintain competitiveness. For instance, a simple tour through a hotel Poppies Samui shows that the resort is fairly small, but the quality is outstanding (Take the tour, 2020). An important aspect directly related to the emergence of a crisis situation within the hotel business is the insufficient level of professional qualifications of employees, which entails irresponsibility to the owners for the consequences of managerial decisions and the financial result of activities.

The effectiveness of Poppies Samui in a crisis situation consists in a set of business processes, taking into account internal and external factors influencing the crisis situation, as well as constantly assessing the effectiveness of the existing strategy at the level of the organisational structure, marketing, and the enterprise management system as a whole. Currently, new conditions and trends are emerging, which largely determine the efficiency and competitiveness of hotels in a crisis (Brown et al., 2017). Poppies Samui depends on external factors, globalization processes, and scientific and technological progress, and the latest modern technologies radically change the consumer behaviour model, their preferences, as well as the conditions for the functioning of enterprises. It should be noted that in the impact of interaction between Poppies Samui, both with external and internal factors, a crisis situation arises, the reasons for which may be the quality of the services provided, the state of market demand, and the price of the service.

In addition, there are also factors such as the material base of the hotel company and external factors that do not depend on the hotel sector. This prompts Poppies Samui to offer an expanded content of the provided hotel services, to strengthen the service component in its work. Taking into account the heterogeneity of the flow and the factors that form it allows the hotels to offer the market the services required in terms of quality, volume, and quantity and to combat the seasonal demand factor in Poppies Samui. Deep personalization of service and full concentration on the requests and needs of customers.

Atlantis Dubai

Competition – 6, price – 4, natural disaster – 2, political conflict – 2, economic crisis – 2, employment – 2, property damage – 1, food and sanitation – 1, entertainment safety – 4, crimes – 1, power outage – 2, service errors – 1, and seasonal dependence – 1.

Insurance resilience – 5, interruption protection – 4, price adaptability – 2, model – 3, approaches – 4, supervision – 5, insurance – 5, entertainment control – 5, emergency access – 5, staff retention – 5, off season compensation – 4, and competition sustainability – 4.

The competition in the hotel industry of the region is fairly serious, because other resorts are also luxurious. The main marketing strategy for attracting and retaining guests is providing a lux-level environment in either futuristic or traditional settings, and they are highly effective due to adhering to a wide range of tastes. The core strength of the resort is a dual offer, which allows it to compete with major hotels. Being one of the top Dubai’s resorts, it’s quality management, and safety control procedures are effective in improving the service. The response plan is to adjust to the relevant crisis and rely on reserved funds. The main characteristic of a region is its location and infrastructure, which is partially due to Dubai’s inherent state. The resort is not highly sustainable, but the usage of solar panels is present, and the latter can be expanded through large investments. The weakness is the lack of options for individuals who do not seek highly futuristic or castle-looking resorts, and thus, the resort needs to offer a wider range of options.

Atlantis Dubai’s approach to crisis management considers various methods of financial management, depending on the reasons causing the insolvency of the enterprise. The latter includes management inefficiency due to the actions of the owner, the formation of a suboptimal cost structure for the production and sale of products, and an inefficient tax system. This requires a change in financial and economic policy at the macro level to eliminate these shortcomings, that is, to determine other conceptual foundations for the content of financial recovery.

The financial and economical approach of Atlantis Dubai is interpreted by anti-crisis financial management as a process of restoring solvency, eliminating the imbalance of incoming and outgoing financial flows in order to achieve economic equilibrium to ensure the activities of enterprises. Atlantis Dubai’s structural and technological approach is based on the innovative renewal of enterprises, and it can be fully used in the conditions of a forecasted creative economy. The impact of this approach is that although it requires significant investment, it can subsequently lead to substantial economic growth. The crisis financial condition of enterprises is determined, on the one hand, by the general economic and political situation, and, on the other, by their ineffective management. The development of measures aimed at increasing only financial stability will not lead to a real restoration of solvency and financial well-being (Zech, 2016). Atlantis Dubai can achieve these positive results in its development and overcome the crisis situation through the implementation of an economic recovery plan based on an appropriate strategy.

With regard to Atlantis Dubai at the luxuriousness level, interest in crisis management grew at a time when countries were exposed to various external factors of influence. For example, it only offers two resorts with highly different themes, such as futurism and medievalism (Atlantis Dubai, 2020). In such situations, hotel companies were looking for ways out of the problem, developed anti-crisis programs. Another example is the impact of global financial crises on the purchasing power of the population. Under the influence of such trends, the people of many countries are changing their priorities in acquisitions, including traveling less or reducing the time and budget of their holidays. Consequently, hotel enterprises incur losses. This situation also raises many questions among specialists, motivating them to develop anti-crisis programs.

Vythiri Resort, India

Competition – 4, price – 8, natural disaster – 4, political conflict – 6, economic crisis – 4, employment – 6, property damage – 6, food and sanitation – 4, entertainment safety – 2, crimes – 6, power outage – 6, service errors – 6, and seasonal dependence – 6.

Insurance resilience – 2, interruption protection – 2, price adaptability – 3, model – 1, approaches – 2, supervision – 2, insurance – 3, entertainment control – 1, emergency access – 2, staff retention – 3, off season compensation – 3, and competition sustainability – 3.

The overall competition in the hotel industry of the region is not high due to the unique location of the resort. The marketing strategy used to retain and attract guests are price and location, and the latter is effective at achieving the goal. The core strength of the resort is its uniqueness because it is located in the middle of the jungle. The tendency of resorts being situated at the beaches allows Vythiri Resort to remain competitive. Safety control and quality management procedures are fairly basic because it does not offer a sophisticated form of entertainment. There is not a direct response plan in case of a crisis, but the resort will adapt and operate under the limitations. The main characteristic of the region is that it is surrounded by thick jungle forest. The resort design does not include sustainability solutions, and it can change this state by introducing basic solar panels. The weakness is the lack of a spacious open area, which can be eliminated by property expansion.

It is important to note that the situation at Vythiri Resort, compounded by current action and terrorism, is forcing executives to monitor trends and innovate in order to attract tourists at any cost. Business intelligence and vision play a role in doing business in order to integrate purpose-built hotel services and design into the environment in which they are located, combining with the cultural, historical, and natural resources of the destination. For example, a tour video shows that cultural context is highly preserved in order to ensure that guests are able to undergo an immersive experience (VR Studios, 2017). It is important to consider some of the trends that Vythiri Resort executives are implementing in the hotel complex during a crisis due to local conditions. This includes providing uninterrupted power to Vythiri Resort and focusing on the health and well-being of visitors.

In addition, it is important to consider the overall impact of the underlying activities. Thus, the given functional model of Vythiri Resort allows one to have an idea of ​​the need for measures during a crisis of hotel events and a basic set of actions. Each hotel, such as Vythiri Resort, should have its own characteristics depending on the causes of the crisis. If negative phenomena affect the financial efficiency of a hotel company, it loses profits, and hence profitability has inadequate liquidity indicators (Mikulic et al., 2018). Business reorganisation measures are aimed at restoring the solvency of the hotel business. This is the restructuring of debts, if there are difficulties with the return of loans, increasing the liquidity of hotel resources, eliminating cash gaps, and optimizing costs.

Recommendation

The recommendation for both Atlantis Dubai and Anantara Palm Dubai is to create a reserve fund and be involved in financial stability through diversification. This will allow these large resorts to survive crises that will completely shut down any form of operations. In the case of Poppies Samui, the resort needs to ensure the maximum level of sustainability and use it as a backup strategy in order to maximize the resilience factor. Vythiri Resort needs to utilize its relative simplicity by undergoing a steady growth pattern without involving itself in a financial burden.

It is important to understand that reducing the share of risks affecting a small enterprise in the sphere of hotel services is realized through timely assistance to guests, signing in advance longer agreements with the most convenient counterparties, constant optimization of financial flows, and improving the quality of guest service. Reducing the number of risks is implemented by eliminating them, preventing them, and avoiding them. The risk substitution method involves the use of risks that are not directly aimed at the operation of a small hotel business, but that can compensate for the negative impact of other threats (Masa’deh et al., 2018). In practice, this is a complicated model for working with risks, although it requires not so much material or time resources as the ingenuity and experience of anti-crisis managers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the hospitality industry is an important business globally, and current development trends and tourism demand are driving its transformation. Numerous trends highlight the importance of the modern hospitality industry, as the modern tourist is not satisfied with just the basic hospitality offering, such as in Atlantis Dubai or Anantara Palm Dubai. It requires a differentiated and personalized service that becomes the main motive for travel. As a result of the existing and ever-growing variety of hotel complexes, the competition in which businesses need to survive is increasing. In addition, crisis situations cause the situation in the country’s economy as a whole and external international relations, such as the case of Poppies Samui. As a result, the operation of hotel enterprises, such as Vythiri Resort, during the crisis is a fundamental goal for maintaining the value of the hospitality industry. It is important to form a model of enterprise management in the hotel industry during a crisis, which has a basic set of actions necessary to improve the crisis situation.

References

Anantara the Palm Dubai resort (2020) Web.

Atlantis Dubai (2020) Web.

Brown, N. A. et al. (2017) ‘Exploring disaster resilience within the hotel sector: a systematic review of literature’, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 22, pp. 362-370.

Brown, N. A. et al. (2018) ‘An integrative framework for investigating disaster resilience within the hotel sector’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 36, pp. 67-75.

Masa’deh, R. et al. (2018) ‘The effect of promotional mix on hotel performance during the political crisis in the Middle East’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 9(1), pp. 33-49.

Mikulic, J. et al. (2018) ‘Strategic crisis management in tourism: an application of integrated risk management principles to the Croatian tourism industry’, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 7, pp. 36-38.

Take the tour (2020) Web.

VR Studios (2017) Vythiri Resort of Wyanad in vr/360 video. Web.

Zech, N. M. (2016) Crisis management within the hotel industry – a stakeholder relationship management approach. PhD Thesis. University of Latvia. Web.

Introduction

Tourism is an economic activity that contributes to the growth and gross domestic product (GDP) of a given region or country. Different investments and businesses operating in the hospitality industry form an integral part of this source of revenue. Within the past three decades, tourist value has emerged as a critical aspect for dictating future performance and attraction of more potential clients. Analysts apply the concept to refer to the overall experience of the individual for the time he or she utilizes a specified service. Many organizations and hotels have been focusing on this element to transform their practices and ensure that they deliver the best support to their tourists. A detailed understanding of tourist value can guide scholars and professionals to predict its future applicability in the industry. This discussion presents a summary of literature in this field and how the emerging ideas can guide more investors in the hospitality industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to achieve their objectives.

Literature Review: The Future of Tourist Value in the UAE Hospitality Industry

The identified concept has continued to influence the decisions and goals different organizations involved in the tourism sector make. Using the Tourism Encounter Mediated Experience Value (TEMEV) tool, Barnes et al. (2019) managed to describe how experiential value played critical roles in different companies in Denmark’s tourism industry. Such a value emerged as a strong mediator between the intentions of the visitors to recommend the experiences and the established tourist-employee encounters. The study revealed that diverse relationships existed in hotels and the wider hospitality sector since many individuals focused on the emotional, personal, and flexible constructs of the emerging encounters (Barnes et al., 2019). The findings went further to indicate that experiential or tourist value lacked a mediating role between recommendation intention and knowledge in future encounters (Barnes et al., 2019). These observations mean that the stakeholders and players in the UAE’s hospitality industry would need to consider additional strategies to maximize the interactions and satisfaction levels for foreign visitors.

The business model of a given hotel or business within the hospitality sector is capable of dictating its present and future gains. Different researchers have tried to analyze how different clients would be willing to evaluate the available services and make appropriate recommendations. For instance, Kim et al. (2019) conducted a study aimed at developing a powerful measurement scale that could be adopted to analyze tourists’ evaluative processes for the dining and accommodation services offered. The completed observations indicated that the majority of the clients considered these five key dimensions: emotional experience value, utility value, social, value, service quality value, and authentic experience value (Kim et al., 2019). The completed research managed to offer additional attributes for players within the hospitality industry to consider when focusing on the concept of tourist value. The UAE sector could go further to introduce and make such dimensions integral attributes for maximizing tourist value and ensuring that more potential tourists use such services.

Dark tourism has emerged as a new area of interest that different stakeholders continue to take seriously. Many foreigners and travelers are presently willing to visit places associated with past human suffering, genocides, or death (Sharma & Nayak, 2019). The consideration of tourists’ values remains critical since they will have both indirect and direct impacts on the level of satisfaction. The emotional value stood out since it dictated whether one would recommend the same experience to another visitor (Sharma & Nayak, 2019). In the UAE, the emotional aspect can become a strong guideline for encouraging more investors to consider how they can deliver it and eventually attract more clients. Such a trend can become a new opportunity for maximizing profitability and revenues.

The changes recorded in different parts of the world have presented new concepts for maximizing the tourist value in various areas. Cranmer et al. (2020) proposes the introduction of emerging technologies to streamline operations and eventually enhance the experiences of different tourists. Such a strategy can reduce errors and ensure that companies do not miss new opportunities to meet the needs of the tourists (Cranmer et al., 2020). Other key dimensions that investors can consider include the nature of the existing organizational structure, the performance of the industry, and the marketing processes put in place (Cranmer et al., 2020). The concept of augmented reality (AR) is also essential since it can result in superior practices and initiatives to leave more tourists satisfied and willing to recommend or use the available services again.

The idea of brand awareness is essential in any business field or process since it dictates the number of potential customers identified and attracted to use a specific service. Xu et al. (2020) indicate that the engagement of tourists in all marketing activities can improve equity and result in value co-creation. Organizations in the tourism sector that pursue the concepts of brand equity, awareness, and the image would be in a better position to engage the targeted clients and maximize the level of trust (Xu et al., 2020). Businesses in the hospitality industry can encourage more tourists to be involved in value co-creation initiatives as a way of improving performance and making the venture more sustainable.

The idea of tourist co-creation remains essential in different sectors that support or promote the effectiveness of this sector. Using the case of China, Wei et al. (2020) observed that such measures were capable of encouraging more visitors to be part of the process and engage in other initiatives that can maximize their experiences. The expansion of guest-host interactions can make it possible for more individuals to become contented and event consider encouraging other visitors to use the same services (Wei et al., 2020). This would also maximize experiential value and deliver additional benefits to the venture or investment. The companies and players within the wider UAE’s hospitality industry can focus on the benefits of social and emotional experiential value to improve service delivery and eventually record positive outcomes.

The ultimate objective of any investment is to maximize sales and record additional profits within a stipulated duration. In the tourism sector, the notions of loyalty and satisfaction have become essential and worth pursuing. The variance recorded in the level of client satisfaction within the tourism industry was mainly due to the introduced strategies for perceived value and motivation (Huang & Choi, 2019). For ventures that want to attract and retain more visitors in the future, they have to pursue such attributes and ensure that most of the customers are contented with the available services (Wei et al., 2020). The idea of motivation could be improved by empowering more employees and encouraging them to consider evidence-based approaches to add value to the identified tourists and make it easier for them to be involved in future business endeavors.

The idea of customer engagement (CE) has become a powerful tool for understanding the experiences different people record when doing business with a given firm. Applying the same concept, Huang and Choi (2019) decided to develop a new model known as a Tourist Engagement Scale (TES) that could incorporate different stakeholders in the industry. They utilized the framework to understand tourist co-creation and how it could predict visitors’ behavioral experiences and intentions (Huang & Choi, 2019). For companies that wanted to record positive results, it was necessary to consider a number of aspects, such as positive employee-tourist interactions, engagement, and social interaction (Huang & Choi, 2019). When more investors in this sector consider such an approach, they will be in a position to develop new initiatives to meet the needs of more clients and eventually improve the level of business performance or profitability.

Conclusion

Tourist value has become an integral concept that all businesses or firms in the tourism sector need to pursue or promote diligently. When different organizations in the UAE hospitality sector consider the above ideas and approaches, chances are high that they will attract and meet the demands of more tourists. The major stakeholders will get a new opportunity to retain the increasing number of visitors and eventually record improved profits. The concept can also become powerful for influencing service delivery, motivation, and employee empowerment practices in the sector. The consideration of such attributes will make restaurants and hotels in the UAE hospitality industry more sustainable and successful.

References

1. Barnes, S. J., Mattsson, J., Sørensen, F., & Jensen, J. F. (2019). The mediating effect of experiential value on tourist outcomes from encounter-based experiences. Journal of Travel Research, 59(2), 367-380. Web.
2. Cranmer, E. E., tom Dieck, M. C., & Fountoulaki, P. (2020). Exploring the value of augmented reality for tourism. Tourism Management Perspectives, 35. Web.
3. Huang, S., & Choi, H. (2019). Developing and validating a multidimensional tourist engagement scale (TES). The Service Industries Journal, 39(7-8), 469-497. Web.
4. Kim, O. Y., Seo, S. & Nurhidayati, V. A. (2019). Scale to measure tourist value of destination restaurant service.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(7), 2827-2844. Web.
5. Sharma, P., & Nayak, J. K. (2019). Dark tourism: Tourist value and loyalty intentions.Tourism Review, 74(4), 915-929. Web.
6. Wei, M., Bai, C., Li, C., & Wang, H. (2020). The effect of host–guest interaction in tourist co-creation in public services: Evidence from Hangzhou. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 25(4), 457-472. Web.
7. Xu, F., Bai, Y., & Li, S. (2020). Examining the antecedents of brand engagement of tourists based on the theory of value co-creation. Sustainability, 12(5), 1958-1978. Web.

Introduction

Scientific and technological progress, changes in social and ethical norms and innovations in business standards do not exhaust all the factors that significantly affect the national and international hospitality industry. Companies in this area are adapting to rapidly evolving market conditions, influenced by digitalization, sustainability standards, viral marketing and less apparent trends. According to Dzhandzhugazova et al. (2016), “innovations of all kinds are essential for both the viability and competitiveness of hotel enterprises” (p. 10387).

Consumer demands in the hospitality industry are subject to the same transformation as business supply, as some researchers note (Boella and Goss-Turner 2019; Legrand, Sloan and Chen 2016). This paper provides a critical analysis of tendencies and issues that affect the hospitality industry, evaluates the moral, legal and ethical dimensions of these issues and makes proposals and recommendations based on the research.

Tendencies and Issues Affecting Hospitality

The development of online marketing and the advent of information technologies have radically transformed the hospitality business all over the globe. Modern guests are given the opportunity to choose the services of any of the vast number of hospitality companies, and the number of advertising in the information field is exceedingly high. Researchers point out that viral marketing and promotion content in social media at the moment may even play an unforeseen role of demotivation of potential clients and tourists (Daif and Elsayed 2019).

At the same time, new digital trends and smart technology greatly facilitate the process of booking, check-in and customisation of in-room options for guests (Ristova and Dimitrov 2019). It may be stated that technological progress and the increasing role of digital communication, on the one hand, overload people with information and, on the other hand, provide many amenities.

Cultural and managerial trends of modern time also significantly affect the hospitality industry. Compliance with standards of responsibility and sustainability by hospitality market participants is considered one of the most crucial reputational factors. For instance, researchers note that “both major international hospitality companies and small businesses recognize that there are tangible benefits in being proactive in mitigating environmental impacts including real efficiency gains and an improved corporate reputation” (Legrand, Sloan and Chen 2016, p. 19).

Also, the significance of HR management in the hospitality sector has increased critically. The success of this business and the satisfaction of guests depends entirely on the performance of the staff. Therefore, large international companies, as well as local organizations operating in this field, spend considerable resources to organize professional labour market analysis, recruiting and training (Boella and Goss-Turner 2019). Thus, human and corporate responsibility factors contribute to the modification of modern management strategies of the hospitality market participants, which differ significantly from those in the industrial age, when the profit was the primary efficiency criterion.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that some tendencies of modern hospitality business are at first glance counterintuitive. Despite the globalization and digitalization of marketing and management processes and the increasing complexity of corporate administration, smaller and medium-sized family-owned firms still remain popular and in high demand. According to several researchers, this type of business even dominates this industry (Peters and Kallmunz 2018). Authors state that indicators of competitive aggressiveness and risk-taking attitude in this sector of the hospitality industry are low, but innovativeness and proactiveness are at a high level (Peters and Kallmuenzer 2018). Thus, given the high demand for economical apartments, family companies can seriously compete with big players at least on a local level.

Moral, Legal and Ethical Concerns

The use of online marketing and digitalization of hospitality business organizations is mostly unregulated in the legal field and causes few ethical and moral concerns. For instance, clients and guests should have the right to be forgotten both in online resources and corporate databases, as well as the right to refuse the mailing and advertising of a certain kind. This issue, however, is not specific to the hospitality industry and covers many spheres.

Despite the high standards of corporate responsibility and rapidly developing HR management industry, the problems of interaction between employees and clients, as well as working conditions in the hospitality business, remain urgent. Researchers note that due to social, economic and infrastructural reasons, the employees of hospitality companies are often representatives of vulnerable groups, including “female, young and minorities” (Ram 2018, p. 764).

Such circumstances often result in staff being negatively affected by administrators and customers. Disregarding junior workers is a centuries-old social norm and an echo of the notion that the client is always right, resulting in tolerant attitudes towards “violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality” (Ram 2018, p. 765).

Obviously, legal regulations prohibit such behaviours in relation to any individual. However, as a rule, its effect does not reach the problem sector of the hospitality industry due to the conventional acceptance of this phenomenon. At the same time, managers require pro-social behaviour and customer-oriented services from employees (Cheng and Chen 2017). Thus, external corporate responsibility and sustainability, as well as developed HR strategies, do not mitigate this challenge.

Proposals and Recommendations

It should be noted that based on the above analysis, two groups of recommendation can be proposed. The first concerns the introduction of modern innovations and following all emerging tendencies and developments in the hospitality business. Competitive promotion and strengthening of the market position without the use of social media and online marketing methods is almost impossible at present. Besides, compliance with corporate responsibility and sustainability standards improves business efficiency and leads to reputational benefits. These areas of hospitality industry development are actually the novelties of the 21st century, which require serious consideration.

The second group of recommendations is more specific and relates to a revision of the approach to HR strategies and the position of staff. Companies should ensure that they provide a safe environment and enhanced social protection for their employees. In addition, hospitality management should develop effective instruments for mediating conflicts between customers and junior staff. According to Torres, van Niekerk and Orlowski (2017), customer incivility results in “customer aggression, negative employee emotions, employee-to-customer incivility, employee-to-employee incivility and employee sensitivity to uncivil acts” (p. 49).

Such conditions directly threaten business success, as they can have a straightforward negative impact on the satisfaction of both clients and staff. Thus, by protecting vulnerable groups of employees and allocating additional resources to the development of new HR methods that would address this challenge, hospitality companies would receive additional benefits.

Conclusion

It should be noted that technological progress, popularization of digital communication and new social and managerial trends have greatly influenced the hospitality industry. At the same time, some challenges that have a long history and are directly related to the HR sphere are still relevant and require resolution. It should be concluded that despite the emergence of issues and tendencies that significantly modify the hospitality sector, some problems remain unaffected by these innovations and require special consideration.

Reference List

Boella, M. J. and Goss-Turner, S. (2019) Human resource management in the hospitality industry: A guide to best practice. London: Routledge.

Cheng, J. C. and Chen, C. Y. (2017) ‘Job resourcefulness, work engagement and prosocial service behaviors in the hospitality industry’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(10), pp. 2668-2687.

Daif, R. and Elsayed, K. (2019) ‘Viral marketing impact on tourism and hospitality industry’, International Journal of Research in Tourism and Hospitality (IJRTH), 5(3), pp. 34-41.

Dzhandzhapanyan, E. A. et al. (2016) ‘Innovations in hospitality industry’, International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 11(17), pp. 10387-10400.

Legrand, W., Sloan, P. and Chen, J. S. (2016) Sustainability in the hospitality industry: principles of sustainable operations. London: Routledge.

Peters, M. and Kallmuenzer, A. (2018) ‘Entrepreneurial orientation in family firms: The case of the hospitality industry’, Current Issues in Tourism, 21(1), pp. 21-40.

Ram, Y. (2018) ‘Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry’, Current Issues in Tourism, 21(7), pp. 760-774.

Ristova, C. and Dimitrov, N. (2019) ‘Digitalisation in the hospitality industry-trends that might shape the next stay of guests’, International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 11(3), pp. 144-154.

Torres, E. N., van Niekerk, M. and Orlowski, M. (2017) ‘Customer and employee incivility and its causal effects in the hospitality industry’, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 26(1), pp. 48-66.

Executive Summary

This investigation explores the role of sustainability within the scope of the hospitality industry, as well as its primary issues and challenges that the involved companies tend to face. It was figured out that unreliable sustainability reports and inappropriate corporate social responsibility policies along with some external dangers hinders firms’ addressing of sustainability issues. On the best practices of Hyatt and Yum! Brands it was proved that a sustainable strategy is a crucial element of business success. Then, it was found that consumers play an essential role in developing sustainable supply chains by their passive and active rejection from dealing with unsustainable practices. Finally, it was recommended to create more positions of “knowledge agents”. It was supposed that policymakers in developing countries may justify the contribution of sustainability to welfare, in the developed ones – to provide refunds for sustainable cooperation.

Introduction

It seems that sustainability has been the primary theme of many scholarly discussions. They indicate the importance of this strategic element for business operations. The hospitality industry tends to pay much attention to the mentioned aspect as customers are becoming more demanding. In this paper, the sustainability issues within the said market and the related best practices will be discussed, as well as recommendations on the matter will be provided.

Sustainability Issues and Challenges within the Hospitality Industry

As the economy develops, the role of the hospitality sector intensifies, and plenty of people are being involved in it. An essential place in the mentioned sector is occupied by the hotel business, the wide and varied nature of which also covers elements of related industry sectors, for example, food, leisure and entertainment. Accordingly, this business demonstrates a broader and more diverse organisational structure than other areas of the industry (Hospitality: A complete overview, no date). Direct participation in the service process gives rise to specific problems: it is necessary to create an appropriate environment where the service is carried out. Since the provision and consumption of services in the hospitality industry occur simultaneously, here, unlike in the production sector, the storage of services is not required. Services occur in the process of direct communication and interaction with the client.

Unlike production, the service process is limited in time considerably. In a period of falling demand and high prices, underutilisation in enterprises cannot be compensated in the following days of this high demand. Another difference between the hospitality industry and production is that the supply of services and consumers must be connected with each other, so the economies of scale cannot be achieved here by using centralised supplies for different markets. Offering services directly to the client limits service locations and reduces the volume of operations. The role of management in the hospitality industry is determined by the constantly changing market conditions for its services, competitiveness, the desire to increase profitability and the necessity of the high quality of services (Frangos, 2015). Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the processes in the market is required.

Currently, a plethora of clients are concerned with the environmental aspects of a hospitality business they deal with. Hence, for the involved actors, it is vital to behave ethically and environment-friendly. For this reason, “sustainability has been one of the most noticeable hospitality trends of recent times, with a growing number of hospitality businesses promoting their eco-friendliness” (Hospitality trends, no date, para. 7). Such conditions require, for instance, menus with healthier options from restaurants or more robust room services from hotels. An exhaustive formulation of environmental issues that occur within the scope of the hospitality industry might be as follows. Jones, Hillier, and Comfort (2016, p. 47) state that these issues are: climate change, water stewardship, waste management and recycling, environmentally responsible sourcing, the protection of natural resources and the reduction of environmental impacts. In order to address the mentioned aspects appropriately, businesses are to develop consistent and coherent strategies.

It seems rational that in the framework of sustainability issues, along with the environmental ones, social policies also matter to a significant extent. They include equal possibilities within the workplace, health and safety, acceptable labour terms, supremacy of human rights, maintenance of local communities and charity (Jones, Hillier, and Comfort, 2016). Furthermore, the economic aspect also has a notable and essential role. It indicates the creation of workplaces, the provision of quality to clients and building shareholder value (Jones, Hillier, and Comfort, 2016). Given such a broad and convincing range of the issues of sustainability, it might seem that chains, corporations and companies of the hospitality market are to implement the best practices to remain competitive.

To be more precise, the determinants of sustainability within the hospitality market may be considered as being built around business efficiency and the aspiration for competitive advantages. Plenty of environmental strategies and achievements are included in the sustainability reports of the primary actors of the industry. Mostly, they indicate the importance of the reduction of water and energy consumption, as well as benefits that were gained from this. Moreover, such reports reveal corporate commitments to personnel, which make an accent on training programmes and consistent and fair labour practices. The described approach means that hospitality companies pay much attention to transparency, as well as to relevant, reliable and convincing data.

The mentioned reports play a vital role for managers as they found their activities and principles of work on the provisions given in these reports. Being among the most crucial resources of hospitality firms (Hospitality management, no date; Prud’homme and Raymond, 2016), the way a manager organises his or her working environment is important. Thus, the ideas and regulation formulated by these firms should be evidence-based and concrete. Nevertheless, it seems rational to say that most corporations carefully choose environmental and social information on which they account. Hence, they define their determinants of sustainability, founding it on their own experience and communication with stakeholders. Such a policy does not genuinely support managers’ performance regarding the development of a sufficient sustainability strategy. The world’s most noticeable chains have set up programmes that are based mostly on commercial interests. The support of “natural ecosystems and a reduction in demands on the earth’s natural resource base” has been moved to the second plan (Jones, Hillier, and Comfort, 2016, p. 48). The described approach cannot be considered acceptable in the current conditions.

Then, the internal challenge that hinders the successful implementation of sustainable practices might be an appropriate realisation of corporate social responsibility, or CSR. A plethora of scholars has investigated the issue and united in the statement that a proper CSR contributes to a great extent of employee’s job satisfaction (Kim et al., 2018; Singal and Rhou, 2017). Healthy internal working environment results in a focus on developing and implementing sustainable practices, which results in significant and profitable performance. Personnel might be considered as a critical factor in providing the best strategies of sustainability because within the hospitality industry, they are responsible for clients’ satisfaction directly (Singal and Rhou, 2017). Hence, the way a company build relations with its employees via a CSR might be defined as a key element and predisposition of the further implementation of sustainable practices.

Finally, a number of external challenges might take place and negatively affect sustainable performance. Among them are taxes and fees, growing competition, the unstable flow of constant customers and reputation being formed by clients independently via social media. Such severe conditions indicate the compliance of adopting sustainable practices. The mentioned factors tend to vary from period to period; thus, hospitality actors should apply flexible and adaptive policies. It requires a vast amount of resources, as well as continuous improvements and market investigations. To summarise, the hospitality market provides its actors with a notable amount of challenges and issues of both internal and external character. It allows assuming that the below analysis of the best practices and how these challenges and problems are being addressed might contribute to an in-depth understanding of the theme being discussed.

The Best Sustainable Practices within the Hospitality Sector

Hyatt’s Case

As mentioned above, the hotel industry might be the most important sector within the hospitality market. Hence, it seems reasonable to suppose that the exploration of one of the successful and profitable hotel chains is quite relevant to discuss the best sustainable practices. Hyatt is a luxury chain that has gained an excellent reputation and is among the most remarkable actors in the market (Hyatt’s competitors, no date). It should be mentioned that the company tend to care about its sustainability issues, which is evident from the arguments below.

To begin with, Hyatt states that its environmental policies are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN. Among them are clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, responsible consumption and production and climate action (About Hyatt, no date). The Hyatt chain makes noticeable efforts to deal with environmental challenges. In order to build more sustainability, the company’s guidelines for new construction and renovation highlight central themes – insulation, lighting, cooling and heating effectiveness and water and ventilation systems. (About Hyatt, no date). The firm founds its strategy on reliable and consistent data that is being obtained via its environmental management database. The latter is called Hyatt EcoTrack, that is a primary tool to collect sustainability data from properties worldwide. What is more, the company does not hesitate to cooperate and interact with various organisations and rivals within the scope of reducing waste.

The chain also pays attention to the construction of its sustainable social practices. It is visible from Hyatt’s corporate responsibility that indicates the importance of human resources as well as appropriate care about them. The company aims to provide its staff with a friendly working environment. According to Hyatt’s Code of business conduct (2018), the routine is to adhere to the following provisions: mutual respect, diversity and inclusion, safe workplace and supremacy of human rights. This policy allows personnel to focus on their duties, which leads to a significant chain’s performance as a whole. Hyatt gives its employees diverse possibilities for professional development with numerous training and exchange programmes between properties.

It should be stated that the chain tends to demonstrate a great concern about its sustainability practices. Such an approach may be considered as a crucial element to remaining successful within the hospitality industry (Thompson, no date). Hyatt’s strategy also shows a notable extent of adaptiveness as in the current conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic (Ecker, 2020), the firm’s policies are flexible. It is apparent from the fact that Hyatt does not panic and not fire employees in order not to lose assets.

Yum! Brands Case

The fast-food market might also be considered as an essential element of the hospitality industry. Yum! Brands has been among crucial actors within the mentioned market for a substantial period as remains profitable and recognisable (Yum! ’s competitors, no date). Functioning at the global scale, for the company that has 50,000 restaurants in about 150 countries (Building global, no date), it is essential to develop significant and sustainable practices. The necessity of the latter is emphasised by the fact that the fast-food market is exceptionally competitive, and plenty of actors are paying attention to sustainability.

In the framework of addressing environmental issues, Yum divides its activities into green buildings and supply chain. The first means that the company pursues the goals of “reductions in energy consumption, water use, GHG emissions and waste” while organising functioning of the restaurants (Our recipe, 2017, p. 7). The second implies protecting forests, supporting animal welfare and enabling noticeable antimicrobial stewardship. It should be mentioned that similarly to Hyatt, Yum tends to follow international initiatives and standards within its sustainable strategy (Our recipe, 2017, p. 64). There is a number of great attainments within the mentioned framework. According to Our recipe (2017, p. 29), “Yum! restaurants work to recycle used cooking oil, cardboard and plastic waste, … surplus food from our restaurants, with 6.9 million pounds of food donated in 2017.” Moreover, Yum demonstrates notable achievements in addressing the issues of animal welfare, energy, climate change, sustainable sourcing, waste and recycling and water.

The corporation also is dedicated to the highest standards of CSR. Yum states that its crucial goal is to implement the best practices regarding employee development, diversity and inclusion, human rights and labour. The company aims “to create an inclusive and ethical workforce … and to drive business results by connecting meaningfully with diverse employees, customers, franchisees and suppliers worldwide” (Our recipe, 2017, p. 44). The latter is intersected with the “training and development that builds world-class leaders and business results” (Our recipe, 2017, p. 44). Such a coherent and unified CSR results in the efficient talent retaining and building a working environment of mutual trust and cooperation.

It might be supposed that the company never misses the opportunity to implement new sustainable practices in its performance. The described approach of Yum! Brands seems to follow crucial elements of success within the fast-food market particularly (Xaxx, 2019), and within the hospitality industry generally (Tanner, no date). Achievements of economic, social and environmental character that are discussed above prove the latter claim, which is evident from a significant market share (Yum!’s competitors, no date). It might be concluded that if a company continually develops and improves a sustainability strategy, both profits and recognition will become an integral part of the business.

Role of Consumers in Developing a Sustainable Supply Chain

It seems reasonable to claim that customers participate in the process of developing a sustainable supply chain to a great extent. The above discussion refers mostly to sustainability from a company’s perspective, but the exploration of consumers’ role is also essential. They take part in the implementation of sustainable approaches in a supply chain through their activism. For instance, they may refuse from buying from or cooperating with firms that demonstrate a low level of environmental and social responsibility. Such action puts pressure on hospitality service and products providers to adhere to the fundamental principles of sustainability. Quite a popular example of the described situation might be how McDonald’s decided to stop using antibiotics while raising poultry. The mentioned shift was caused by the increased health concerns of the firm’s clients. Hence, this crucial decision of the industry’s giant was founded on the aspirations of consumers to a healthier way of life.

The above example might be defined as the result of the passive activity of consumers as they did not take any action – McDonald’s solution was based mostly on data collected. It should be emphasised that if customers tend to act in order to protest companies’ unsustainable supply chains, the impact is even bigger. For instance, consumers may launch a vast promotion of environment-friendly production, luring people worldwide. The more potential and actual clients are involved, the more substantial the influence is. Unsustainable corporations will simply have no choice but to implement appropriate practices. In another case, such firms will face the lack of customers, which is likely to result in several issues – starting from a lousy reputation and ending with insolvency.

Furthermore, consumer-orientated corporations and chains tend to encourage their clients to be concerned about sustainability issues. A bright example might be the unique approach of Starbucks. The firm developed a tool on its website with the help of which consumers could calculate the number of trees that would be saved if they use their own mugs rather than Starbucks’ paper cups. Then, it might be suggested that organising and promoting sustainability-related forums and initiatives will motivate consumers to adopt sustainable practices. Thus, it should be stated that both hospitality companies and consumers are capable of making a significant contribution to the development of a sustainable supply chain. The intersection and interdependence of these two perspectives indicate the importance of the high level of awareness about the current problems that may take place due to unsustainable corporate values.

Recommendations on Reducing Harmful Environmental and Social Impact

From the investigation above, it is quite obvious that the aspect of sustainability has become critical nowadays. Its continuous implementation in an appropriate way is possible if the scholar findings are available as they make it possible to determine an evidence-based foundation for a sustainable strategy. Within the environmental scope, it seems important that businesses and consumers are to be acquainted with the related issues properly. Hence, it is essential to develop and adopt environmental knowledge base and people who are responsible for its deliverance. The scholarly dimension provides a significant concept of “knowledge agents” (Martínez-Martínez et al., 2019). Martínez-Martínez et al. (2019, p. 382) define them as “individuals with the willingness to invest their own resources into acquiring environmental knowledge for the benefit of the environment and, directly or indirectly, of their own institution.” These agents are to organise the process of advancing the sustainability awareness of both companies and clients. It has been proved that the presence of such a position in hospitality companies contributes to the improvement of business performance; thus, the increase of these positions is a good option for providing sustainable policies.

Furthermore, the issue of sustainability is to be handled consistently by policymakers too. In developing countries that do not have many natural resources, authorities may encourage consumers to apply sustainable practices by providing the rationale that these practices result in a country’s welfare. A notable example might be the sustainable approach of the Moheli Laka Lodge hotel from Comoros Islands. Due to the implementation of solar panels, the resort contributes to the country’s reduced usage of diesel, with which there are many problems. If the consumers reject the services of diesel-using hotels, Comoros Islands economy will suffer less. In developed countries, it is visible that the hospitality market is becoming digitalised (Top 10, no date). Policymakers may promote governmental refunds or discounts via social media for cooperating with sustainability-orientated hospitality companies.

Conclusion

To conclude, the hospitality industry has become an essential element of the global economy nowadays. The issues and challenges of sustainability are of the characteristic of this market; hence, many actors aim to address them befittingly. The above investigation revealed several sustainability issues of environmental, social and economic character. Then, the challenges that hinder handling these issues were identified. These are unreliability of hospitality companies’ reports and insufficient CSRs – internal ones; taxes and fees, growing competition, the unstable flow of constant customers and reputation being formed by clients – external ones. The best practices of Hyatt and Yum were analysed, and it might be assumed that the maintenance of sustainable practices is their common feature that leads to success. Moreover, the importance of consumers’ role in developing sustainable supply chains was discussed. The recommendations are to create more positions of “knowledge agents”. For policymakers in developing countries, it was suggested to argue the contribution of sustainability; in developed countries – to provide refunds for cooperating with sustainable businesses.

Reference List

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17. Thompson, S. (no date) Critical success factors in the hotel industry. Web.
18. Top 10 latest hospitality marketing trends (no date) Web.
19. Xaxx, J. (2019)Key elements of success in the fast food industry. Web.
20. Yum!’s competitors, revenue, number of employees, funding and acquisitions (no date) Web.

Introduction

The method to attract a greater number of visitors to the remote Arugam Bay with its numerous advantages for the fans of surfing and other water sports is the construction of a new 5-star resort. Therefore, its principal operations should be orientated on the corresponding services for travelers. As the location is chosen, it is vital to ensure the provision of surfing and snorkeling equipment by the resort as these activities should become the main reason for the visitors to stay there. In this way, sustainable development of the recreational facility will be guaranteed.

Main body

Another aspect that should be considered is the correspondence of the resort’s activities to the principles of environmental, economic, and socio-political sustainability. Hence, the facility will be promoted as an eco-friendly place with no plastic waste due to the ban on using plastic straws. As for unavoidable waste, it would be addressed by the resort’s recycling initiative and clothes production out of these materials. Consequently, such products can be sold at the place, and this policy would allow attracting people who are concerned about environmental problems.

Economic sustainability, in turn, will be reflected in the development of programs intended to help specific categories of people. Thus, for example, the first project started by the resort will be aimed at supporting the local people from SOS Children’s village by providing them with financial assistance. Further initiatives will refer to the help of environmental organizations, the goal of which is to protect marine and land animals. As for measures related to socio-political sustainability, they will be focused on the creation of jobs for the local population, as well as the participation of tourists in the process of educating children.

Possible Managerial Issues Discussed

In addition to the apparent benefits of the new resort intended to promote the development of tourism in Arugam Bay, there is a number of managerial issues that should be addressed for its efficient operation. The principal problem relates to the lack of educated professionals in the field of tourist services and hospitality as local inhabitants are not used to significant amounts of visitors. It is critical since the plan is to build a 5-star resort, and this level of services implies their high quality. Therefore, to bring the new business to prosperity, it will be necessary to invite employees from other places. In a while, the facility’s local workers will learn how to manage it and run all operations independently.

Another issue is the time required to gain the trust of tourists in the resort’s eco-friendly policies. However, these complications are temporary, and they will be eliminated in a while. Indeed, such a measure as the ban to use plastic straws could be viewed as insufficient in terms of protecting the environment, but the right policy of the owners will allow creating the necessary image. As a result, the people concerned about nature and marine and land animals will be content with the resort’s initiatives.

Conclusion

With the development of the region as a tourist attraction, the management might also face a challenge such as increased competition in the future. This possibility poses a threat to the environment, as the rapid development of the industry will inevitably be harmful to it. In this case, the image of an eco-friendly resort might deteriorate, but the process is reversible. The proper management of resources and its reputation as a pioneer of eco-tourism in Arugam Bay will allow the resort to weather the crisis.

Executive Summary

The dark and historical tourism industry has the right to exist and needs to be supported as a potentially lucrative and very promising industry. With the clear focus on ethics and the need to respect the historical legacy, as well as the lives that may have been lost to a specific event, the dark and historical tourism, will be able to thrive and offer insightful discoveries to its participants. The dark and historical tourism niche may face some resistance from more conservative people and governments, which is why establishing alliances with public organizations and state authorities should be seen as an important step. However, given the surge in enthusiasm and curiosity toward the specified niche, an increase in its profitability and the number of opportunities that it provides for new businesses is expected.

Introduction

The tourism industry is rather lucrative as a business due to the comparatively steady demand rates within the tourism market, as well as the opportunities that the existing tourist attractions offer. Although traditional sightseeing prevails in the tourism industry, the requests that are more exotic and unorthodox are also quite common. Specifically, the niche of dark and historical tourism deserves closer analysis as one of the possible tourism options. Although dark and historical tourism as a phenomenon has been in existence for quite a long, it has only recently gained a semi-official status as a legitimate business (González, 2018).

Niche Definitions and Key Characteristics

Before going any further with the exploration of the niche of dark and historical tourism, defining the specified niche will be necessary. Although the title is rather self-explanatory, one should clarify that the dark and historical tourism industry concerns itself mostly with the sights that hold a particular historical value as the reminders of a particular disaster (Salehuddin Mohd Zahari et al., 2016). Martini and Buda (2020) are more accurate in their definition: “Dark tourism refers to visitations to places of death, disaster, and atrocities” (p. 679). Therefore, the current definition of dark tourism extends not only t the places that are marked by a specific disaster but also the ones that are in some way linked to a specific grim subject or occurrence.

In turn, the addition of the term “historical” to the specified notion creates the context into which companies operating in the dark and historical tourism realm are placed. Specifically, the sights that are advertised to the target audience include the areas that have been known as the places where a specific historical event leading to a tragedy or a disaster took place (Stone et al., 2018). Thus, despite being rather stretchy, the current definition of the dark and historical tourism niche allows gaining the attention and loyalty of new audiences.

Niche Assessment

SWOT Analysis

As the SWOT analysis above proves, the niche of dark and historical tourism has a plethora of issues through which it needs to work to establish itself as a legitimate business domain. The necessity to receive admission to the key tourist destinations is, perhaps, one of the points of the greatest concern for the organizations that are trying to inch their way into the specified industry. In turn, the opportunity to expand the range of attractions for tourists and introduce new audiences to the unique experience of dark tourism seems to be rather a viable option. However, to ensure that the specified opportunities can be used by most companies, it is necessary to relieve the domain of dark and historical tourism from its ethical stigma. Currently, the target business context is seen as an attempt to capitalize on tragedies and pain associated with the sights that are typically selected as tourist attractions (Henama, 2017). Therefore, it is imperative o shift the focus toward the exploration of the historical significance of the said events, at the same time retaining the original sense of mystery, danger, and morbid curiosity that the original dark tourism movement incorporated.

PESTLE Analysis

Major Issues and Challenges

As the SWOT ad, PESTEL assessments performed above indicate, the potential of dark tourism is currently rather high, yet it may be diminished significantly once the current sights become mundane and lose a major portion of their appeal. As a result, the process of dark tourism will no longer seem exciting for visitors. Another issue to be managed when making a foray into the dark tourism industry is to handle the potential ethical biases. Namely, since the target sights are seen as the places of a catastrophe or a similar disaster that must have taken numerous lives, using these sights as a tourist venue could be perceived by the public as a way of capitalizing on the said tragedy and the sorrow of numerous people.

In addition to the sociocultural concerns mentioned above, one will also have to add to the current issues the difficulty of locating an appropriate venue and marketing it in a way that would attract tourists immediately. Indeed, in the cases such as Chernobyl and Auschwitz, the nature of the disasters defined the publicity that they received, thus causing the specified places to have become some of the most valued dark tourism sights. At the same time, the described sights seem to have been attended frequently enough for them to lose their edge as the areas where dark tourism can take place. Once an area becomes open for legal tourism, the extent of excitement experienced by its explores is expected to drop.

Moreover, one should mention the fact that the demand for dark tourism is quite difficult to track down as a part of the analysis of the current trends. Since the curiosity toward the subject matter has been generally frowned upon in modern society, a range of potential customers for the dark tourism niche may prefer not to share their interests in public. As a result, the assessment of the demand and the evaluation of the current trends in the target setting is barely possible.

For the same reason, the evaluation of customers and the assessment of their needs, as well as the overview of their feedback as the platform for future improvements, becomes highly difficult to conduct. Arguably, the specified issue can be addressed by creating a website with higher levels of online security. However, the specified change does not nullify the presence of contempt for the industry and the people using it.

Strategies for Overcoming the Challenges

The need to renew the brand of dark tourism and introduce innovative options into the set of services offered to the tourists should be accepted as one of the main strategies. For this purpose, creating narratives that surround previously uncharted and unexplored areas will be needed. Namely, the areas that may not be as well-known and well-advertised as Chernobyl or similar venues will have to be marketed to potential customers so that they could recognize the appeal of a previously uncharted area. Thus, companies will be able to keep the levels of excitement high and the impressions that the specified service delivers fresh and new. Consequently, it is crucial to remain respectful and introduce clear ethical standards for tourists’ behavior, ensuring that all visitors adhere to the specified standards fully.

In addition, studying new sights for tourists to visit is crucial since, with the rise of interest toward Chernobyl as it received a substantial amount of attention in media, the need to seek out less known sights has emerged. Currently, the opportunities for fresh ideas in dark tourism include the analysis of China’s potential sights (Weaver et al., 2018). The reasons for the specified trend are quite self-explanatory since China has been one of the most explicit examples of a totalitarian regime (Wang, 2018). Consequently, China has a range of sights that demonstrate the gigantic flaws and the dreadful outcomes of the Communist regime, specifically, the instances of people having massacred (O’Lemmon, 2017). Specifically, the Nanjing massacre memorial can be considered one of the many destinations that China can offer to the proponents of dark and historical tourism.

Possible Hindrances

In the process of implementing the specified strategies, one may expect certain difficulties to take place. Namely, the resistance of local authorities in allowing a specific place to become a tourist sight is most likely to take place. Another possible obstacle that one will encounter when preparing a specific area for becoming a sight for dark and historical tourism involves the high levels of risk and threats to visitors’ health. Apart from the issue of radiation mentioned above, the absence of sanitation, the presence of numerous threats to tourists’ physical and mental health has to be placed on the list of problems that a company will have to overcome when implementing a dark and historical tourism service. Furthermore, utilizing the support of local and state authorities can be considered an important boost in the development of the organization for his reason, the current evolution of the community needs to be perceived through the lens of metamorphosis

Alternative Solutions

Another option that the dark and historical industry could use to boost its efficacy and the performance rates of the companies operating within it includes the enhancement of the use of innovative technology. First and most important, the specified step will have to be taken to improve the security of the services and safety of participants. The described measure is essential for visiting the areas that have been affected by artificial disasters, such as Chernobyl. Specifically, in the latter case, controlling the exposure of visitors to radiation and ensuring that they do not reeve the dose that will hurt their health is critical.

In addition, a public campaign aimed at reconsidering the attitude toward dark tourism could be launched to increase the levels of acceptance toward the subject matter and, thus, the willingness of potential customers to participate. The specified task could be approached from the historical perspective by emphasizing the importance of educating young generations about the past, as well as keeping the historical legacy and promoting education. The specified perspective removes the most controversial aspects of dark and historical tourism, placing the emphasis on the latter component of it and representing it as a learning opportunity and a means of establishing a cross-cultural bond. Thus, one of the main weaknesses of the specified industry, namely, its problematic ethical side, can be reframed as a strength and an opportunity.

With the focus on the educational options that dark and historical tourism can provide, one will be able to avoid a range of restrictions imposed currently on the specified domain of tourism due to the specific political and legal standards of target countries. Therefore, the change in the marketing approach and the manner of representing the said locations should be considered as the issue of the highest necessity for attracting target audiences. The proposed strategy will also help to expand the range of categories of customers that the industry currently attracts. For this reason, companies operating in the dark tourism industry will need to perform a customer analysis to understand what motivates people for such morbid curiosity.

As a result, the marketing approaches to be adopted by companies will speak not only to a very narrow range of customers, mostly those who focus on chasing thrilling and often frightening activities. It will also address those that are willing to study the history of international relationships, different cultures, and their evolution, as well as the relationships within the specified culture-specific communities. Thus, tourist organizations offering dark tourism services will contribute to the enhancement of the global cross-cultural dialogue.

However, at this point, the reasonability of expanding the niche might be brought up as a serious point of contention in the realm of dark and historical tourism. By definition, dark tourism has a clear and direct appeal that is supposed to target a very specific type of customer. Therefore, diluting it with the elements of traditional tourism, which can be tracked down in the attempt at giving dark tourism historical importance, may divert the target demographic from the organization offering it. As a result, the threat of losing a very important part of the customer base that makes dark and historical tourism possible becomes more tangible.

Nevertheless, it is possible to balance between the original idea of dark and historical tourism as the point of attracting people with the mystery and at the same time introducing new audiences to the industry. Although, admittedly, the specified type of entertainment is not going to suit the tastes and needs of all audiences that the traditional tourism industry targets, it still is possible to expand the range of potential customers. The specified goal can be accomplished by retaining the original dark flair of mystery and tragedy, while at the same time providing a historical commentary for the uninitiated, as well as those interested in a more in-depth analysis of the events of which the sights are emblematic.

Ethical Concerns

Although the dark and historical tourism niche is very lucrative, especially with the recent surge in popularity caused by the rise in discussions of the subject matter in online communities, there are some ethical concerns to be aware of when establishing a business in the specified setting. Namely, it is important to keep in mind that the sights selected as the key tourist attractions are the symbols of a major tragedy first. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that the approach used toward the establishment of the dark and historical tourism business is delicate and tactful.

Conclusion

The dark and historical tourism industry has been witnessing a massive rise in popularity, which can be attributed to the increase in the use of social media and the process of sharing related interests. In addition, the presence of a political agenda and the increase in the global political tension may have caused the spike in curiosity toward the places symbolic of particular disasters and catastrophes, including both artificial and natural ones. Therefore, the dark and historical tourism industry needs to be developed as a legitimate business.

One might accuse the supporters of the specified idea in attempting at capitalizing on people’s grief and pain, yet the existence of dark and historical tourism has been known long before it became lucrative. Implying the need to study the past and make important discoveries concerning the said events, dark and historical tourism provides a learning opportunity. Being a retrospect into the past and the mistakes made by previous generations, dark and historical tourism invites opportunities for a deep social study and the reconceptualization of some of the crucial historical events.

Reference List

1. González, D. (2018) ‘Dark Tourism and Memorial Tourism: Nexus and Divergences between Theoretical Models’, European Journal of Tourism Research, 20, pp. 46-58.
2. Henama, U. S. (2017) ‘Marikana: Opportunities for Heritage Tourism’, African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6(4), pp. 1-10.
3. Martini, A. and Buda, D. M. (2020) ‘Dark Tourism and Affect: Framing Places of Death and Disaster’, Current Issues in Tourism, 23(6), pp. 679-692.
4. O’Lemmon, M. (2017) Analysis of the Legacy of Conflict among International Tourists in Vietnam. International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, 6(1), pp. 1-17.
5. Salehuddin Mohd Zahari, M., Hafiz Hanafiah, M. and Syafeera Syed Mahboob, S. (2016) ‘Dark Tourism: Is It a Growth Segment for the Malaysia Tourism Industry?’, Tourism and hospitality Management, 22(1), pp. 47-56.
6. Sasana, H., Nurcahyanto, H. and Novitaningtyas, I. (2019) ‘The Development Strategy of World Heritage Tourism in Indonesia’, African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 8(5), pp. 1-14.
7. Sixaba, Z. and Rogerson, C. M. (2019) ‘Black Economic Empowerment and South African Tourism: The Early Pioneers’, African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 8(4), pp. 1-10.
8. Stone, P. R., Hartmann, R., Seaton, A. V., Sharpley, R. and White, L., eds. (2018) The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
9. Wang, S. (2018) ‘Inquiries about Dark Tourist Classification and Related Sustainable Issues of Dark Tourism’, Tourism Today, 1(17), pp. 116-130.
10. Weaver, D., Tang, C., Shi, F., Huang, M. F., Burns, K. and Sheng, A. (2018) ‘Dark Tourism, Emotions, and Postexperience Visitor Effects in a Sensitive Geopolitical Context: A Chinese Case Study’, Journal of Travel Research, 57(6), pp. 824-838.

Introduction

For the last ten years Ice Hotels have changed to a new brand of luxury living and they are attracting people from worldwide. There are some ice hotels in the World and they are really fat in revenues. Basically the frost-bitten places of the world attract a lot of tourists and the promoters of ice hotels want to capitalize on this. The first concept of ice hotel came to Yngve Bergqvist, who is the founder and CEO of Ice Hotel, a hotel chain. “In the year 1989, he visited Japan during the cold winter season, especially to the town of Sapporo during their annual snow and ice festival”¹. This gave him the idea about how the snow filled rivers and landscapes can be used for tourist attraction and earns revenues from this. In the November of that year, they started the First Ice Seminar and brought snow sculptors in Kiruna. Two Japanese chefs were also invited along with artists who showed them the necessary skills for serving patrons who will come to visit them in ice. But the breakthrough came in next year as the build a snow house and hosed an art exhibition there. It was a 60 meter arch shaped building and the exhibition attracted a lot of tourists. Actually at that exhibition once some people had no place to stay and decided to stay in the ice exhibition hall. Every one of the staffs was excited to know that how comfortable was the stay was for the boarders and they were really fascinated by the experiences to live inside an ice house. This was the first time that some one actually stayed in the ice hotel².

The Making of Ice Hotel

Every year the process of making the ice hotel starts from the start of winter. A number of experienced snow-builders, architects, designers and artists devoted their hard labor and artistic skills to build the unique ice hotel. The process of making an ice hotel generally ranges from one to one and half months. After it is completed guests start to pour in. It is noted that every year thousands of guests come to the ice hotel and hundreds of marriage take place in the ice hotel. The ice hotels are one of the most popular destinations of modern world³.

There are 12 ice hotels in the world in recent times:

1. ICEHOTEL-This is situated in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. The first and probably the best ice hotel in the planet, it has facilities such as an ice bar and an ice church inside the hotel.
2. Ice Hotel Canada– It is situated in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, Quebec. The specialty of this hotel is a chapel. It is a major tourist attraction.
3. Snowland– This ice hotel is situated in Finland. It is basically an ice restaurant, but the most important attraction that it has a number of sleeping igloos.
4. The Aurora Ice Museum: This hotel is unique as it is situated at a hot spring. But the place does not have hotel rooms for overnight stays for people as once they had⁴.
5. “The Igloo Village ice hotel.
6. Lainio Snow Village: This is in Finland too where conventional and icy accommodations both are available.
7. LumiLinna SnowCastle: This is also in Finland and is one of the customary ice hotels.
8. The Alta Igloo Hotel
9. The Kakslauttanen Cabins & Igloos
10. Hotel Ice Balea Lake
11. Iglu Dorf
12. Snow Village”⁵

Michael Porters Five Forces Model

Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model is an important tool to understand the power in a business situation, basically to be more precise it shows where the power lies in any business situation and a widely discussed model internationally⁶. It simultaneously shows that the strength the reviewer and what he has to achieve at the end.⁷ When it is clear that where the power is than one can take advantage of any situation. This can be achieved by avoiding taking any wrong footings. It helps to improve on the weaknesses. It also makes a great planning kit too. It can be used as to understand new products too.

The five important forces are as follows:

1. “Supplier Power
2. Buyer Power
3. Competitive rivalry
4. Threat of Substitution
5. Threat of New Entry”⁸

This model is really very important in the context of creating an ice hotel. The ice hotel is mainly build by ice and to make an ice hotel one has to depend on the skilled engineers and artists who can build a hotel out of ice, and also to the skilled persons who can run this types of unique hotel. The management has to keep in mind that the ice hotel is completely different from any general hotels that are available in the market. If someone builds a hotel the hotels stays for long. But ice hotel is temporary it only stays for a season. So the company who is building the hotel has to calculate all the steps before venturing into the ice hotel market.

Then, the area where the ice hotel has to be made is taken into consideration. The company has to be sure that it must not be made in any deserted part of a country where people will find hard to reach. Actually, staying in an ice hotel is a type of recreation and so people who would go there will always want good transport system to be provided there to reach there. Sometimes the company making the ice hotel can also make arrangements for the transport. It has to be remembered that some people come to get married and the company has to make sure that the experience to be a memorable and lifetime experience⁹.

In the case of competitive rivalry, there are already a number of ice hotels in the market and they are popular too. A new company has to compete against these companies at the start of the business. The company has to study all the strengths and weaknesses of the other ice hotels and plan their business strategies accordingly. Along with all these they also have to think of the threats of substitution from the market too¹⁰.

Customer relationship management is the process to organize and synchronize all the business processes like sales, marketing, customer services etc by using technology. It is a broadly recognized and also very popular strategy. The main goals of it are to find new clients and retain the old ones, which are to expand the business. There are some benefits of customer relationship management like:

1. “Ensures higher sales
2. improved service
3. Reducing expanses of the company
4. high profit
5. marginal costing”¹¹

But the process can be challenging to be implementing in large companies. The companies sometimes can not able to bear the required funding to implement the process and it lacks effectiveness.

After the company has build the ice hotel or decided to build the ice hotel and finalized the spot and other important details, another important aspect comes to front. This is the aspect of publicity and it is really something very important now-a-days. In the era of globalization, new avenues of promotion and marketing are opening and internet, as one of the most popular mediums in modern world is used in marketing of every aspect.

Marketing through Social Networking Sites

In modern internet, social network sites are really popular and they can be used as marketing tools. Generally social networking sites contact with friends and relatives who stay far and is one of the most popular interacting tools of the world. They also offer a number of additional services. And now-a-days the social sites are really in increasing demand for marketing. Here we give the names of the most popular ones:

By the analysis, we can understand that these sites are really a goldmine for publicity. And using these sites for publicity will be an intelligent thing. From the very beginning, online marketing is really different than general publicity. In this process one can interact with a person who is not connected with the person in any length. The social networking sites generally attract a lot of people mostly in the age bracket of 18 to 35 and who are really interested in their favorite brands and they also want to try the new things. They also sometimes like adventure. And Staying in an ice hotel is a hell of an adventure¹². Let us thoroughly go through the details of the social network marketing.

Social networking sites is revolutionizing how people communicate with each other and marketing through the sites needs definite strategy. The new trend that is prominent is really powerful and open. And if we look at the sites about what they do we can find these things:

• by these sites one can contact with friends and unknown persons alike
• One can easily create and publish content he or she wishes any time.
• Others can comment and rank the content too.
• The communications here in these sites involve many options and most importantly, they are free or very cheap, and this is the first and foremost cause of the popularity¹³.

Social network marketing strategies have to be developed as the company’s requirements and it has to be presented in a unique manner so that it will serve the company’s existing business strategy too by adding new tools and promotional equipments. But a successful social networking site based promotional campaign has to have several perspectives like:

• “The potential customers of the hotel
• The objectives of the company by making the hotel
• The message of the company
• The platforms of the company on which they want to base the hotel
• The intellectual property of the company.
• The networking of the company.
• Planning, structure, resource gathering and final implementation of the plans
• The measurement of the project”¹⁴.

The ultimate effort of the promotion will be educating the members about the product and the strong points of the ice hotel with respect to other available options in the market. As like all the business strategies social network strategies require a well thought out process in the approach to the work and they have to an integrated part of marketing and communications strategy. And they must have unique characteristics of user generated contents that is any user can comment on the company or the hotel. If the service and other features of the hotel are good then the word of the mouth publicity will be great with the use of the social networking sites. Marketing, IT, communication, management, intellectual property, all is included in the marketing along with a lot of legal steps. So starting this kind of marketing comes with a lot of responsibility.

The steps:

To make a successful social network strategy, one must take some well thought steps in the case.

• In the very first case the company has to profile the audiences, and these means they have to look at all the economical conditions of the hotel and what type of people will come there and all

1. The second step will be defining the objectives
2. The third and very important part will be the formulation of the budget of the company and ensure that the company must not lose in any ground
3. Defining the intellectual property in the social networking sites will be one of the most important steps as in any social networking sites the people will only read about the hotel and if they get interested by the writing then they will be interested in further actions. Sometimes pictures of the property and the facilities provided by the hotel can be highlighted in the cases¹⁵.
4. The people who will have the responsibility to promote the property through the internet and most importantly the social networking sites must be well experienced in both marketing and social networking sites. A person with knowledge in marketing and who can write catchy things in the internet and can easily interact with people in any means is the best suited person for the job.
5. As for all marketing campaigns go, the company has to decide the plan, processes and the budget accordingly.
6. Measuring the results will be one of the most important steps in the case.

Communicating with the people who are interested in the Hotel

After promotion there will be a number of people who will be interested about the hotel and all. Then the question comes that how the company should communicate with them. It can be said that the communication can be multidimensional and peer-to-peer communication, and this is the most important aspect of the social communication. It can be said that the people who visited the hotel can be made member in a community under a social networking site where the members will discuss about the hotel. May be in some cases the employees of the hotel run the community and they can send emails to other peoples who have an e-mail id for a single browser, and ensure that the mail does not land in the spam mail of the receiver. This is a new technology of promotion¹⁶.

The success of social network marketing depends on some very important aspects and the aspects are as follows:

1. Critical success of the marketing process- the critical appreciations of the marketing process, if it is innovative or different in some other way, will surely catch the attention of the users of the social network sites.
2. The peer groups or the members with common interests, if they are active in their profiles will surely increase the success-quotient of the hotel.
3. The site has to be very easy to use and that will help the less tech savvy people to join too.
4. The site has to be open and it has to easy to use.
5. And finally the social networking fanatics who regularly use the sites. If the community catches the attention of the fanatics it will surely boom in popularity. These “champions” will drive the discussions and also invariably contribute high quality content to the community, which will ultimately benefit the company¹⁷.

Social networking provides organizations to provide new avenues for communications and promotion and this is one of the most important facts to associate more richly. There are virtually no barriers in this type of communication. It increases the intellectual content of a company and it ensures future success too.

From the construction to the marketing of a new ice-hotel will need a lot of steps. In the final analysis we can discuss the total steps in short:

• The planning of the job, the determination of the budget, the hunt for the location of the ice hotel and the selection of the architects and designers who will ultimately make the hotel.
• The initialization of a transport system if the hotel is far from public living place
• The recruitment of the employees who will be there to help the boarders
• The promotional works regarding the hotel and other things¹⁸.

Conclusion

In the work we have discussed about the promotional strategies of the hotel through social networking. Along with the social networking sites the conventional methods must be applied in the promotion of the hotel. The most important thing for the hotel would be that it must not use any negative publicity against any competitors in the market rather than focus on their strengths and the offers and comforts they are providing. Ultimately the company has to remember that the most important way to stand in today’s highly competitive market is good service and they will have to provide that. Bad service but good publicity will not help in the development of the company. And the word of the mouth publicity is also crucial too. With all the aspects going well the hotel will surely do well. It can be placed in one of the best ice-hotels in the World.

Reference list

Brake, R, ‘On the Rapid Rise of Social Networking Sites: New Findings and Policy Implications’, Children & Society, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, pp. 75-83.

Chung, LH, Integrating hotel environmental strategies with management control: a structuration approach’, Business Strategy and the Environment, no. 17, no. 4, 2008, pp. 272-286.

Duven, CJ, ‘Privacy and social networking sites’, New Directions for Student Services, vol. no. 124, 2008, pp. 89-101.

Lugosi, P, ‘Hospitality spaces, hospitable moments: consumer encounters and affective experiences in commercial settings’, Journal of Foodservice, vol. 19, no. 2, 2008, pp. 139-149.

Miller, FC, AF Vandome & J McBrewster, Hotel: Lodging, Accommodation, Modern History, Facility, Bathroom, Air Conditioning, HVAC, Mini- Bar,Capsule Hotel, Public House, Bar (establishment), Ice Hotel, Motel, Eco Hotel, Boutique Hotel, Alphascript Publishing, Boston, 2010.

White, C, ‘The relationship between cultural values and individual work values in the hospitality industry’, International Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 7, no. 4-5, 2005, pp. 221-229

Zimmerman, J, Destination Ice: A New Marketing Tool, BLT Pb., Auckland, 2009.

Footnotes

1. FC Miller, AF Vandome & J McBrewster, Hotel: Lodging, Accommodation, Modern History, Facility, Bathroom, Air Conditioning, HVAC, Mini- Bar,Capsule Hotel, Public House, Bar (establishment), Ice Hotel, Motel, Eco Hotel, Boutique Hotel, Alphascript Publishing, Boston, 2010, 63.
2. J Zimmerman, Destination Ice: A New Marketing Tool, BLT Pb., Auckland, 2009, 145-147.
3. FC Miller, AF Vandome & J McBrewster, Hotel: Lodging, Accommodation, Modern History, Facility, Bathroom, Air Conditioning, HVAC, Mini- Bar,Capsule Hotel, Public House, Bar (establishment), Ice Hotel, Motel, Eco Hotel, Boutique Hotel, Alphascript Publishing, Boston, 2010, 64.
4. LH, Chung, Integrating hotel environmental strategies with management control: a structuration approach’, Business Strategy and the Environment, no. 17, no. 4, 2008, pp. 272-286.
5. J Zimmerman, Destination Ice: A New Marketing Tool, BLT Pb., Auckland, 2009, 144.
6. P Lugosi, ‘Hospitality spaces, hospitable moments: consumer encounters and affective experiences in commercial settings’, Journal of Foodservice, vol. 19, no. 2, 2008, pp. 139-149.
7. LH, Chung, Integrating hotel environmental strategies with management control: a structuration approach’, Business Strategy and the Environment, no. 17, no. 4, 2008, pp. 272-286.
8. C White, ‘The relationship between cultural values and individual work values in the hospitality industry’, International Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 7, no. 4-5, 2005, pp. 221-229.
9. P Lugosi, ‘Hospitality spaces, hospitable moments: consumer encounters and affective experiences in commercial settings’, Journal of Foodservice, vol. 19, no. 2, 2008, pp. 139-149.
10. C White, ‘The relationship between cultural values and individual work values in the hospitality industry’, International Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 7, no. 4-5, 2005, pp. 221-229.
11. LH, Chung, Integrating hotel environmental strategies with management control: a structuration approach’, Business Strategy and the Environment, no. 17, no. 4, 2008, pp. 272-286.
12. R Brake, ‘On the Rapid Rise of Social Networking Sites: New Findings and Policy Implications’, Children & Society, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, pp. 75-83.
13. CJ Duven, ‘Privacy and social networking sites’, New Directions for Student Services, vol. no. 124, 2008, pp. 89-101.
14. R Brake, ‘On the Rapid Rise of Social Networking Sites: New Findings and Policy Implications’, Children & Society, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, pp. 75-83.
15. CJ Duven, ‘Privacy and social networking sites’, New Directions for Student Services, vol. no. 124, 2008, pp. 89-101.
16. R Brake, ‘On the Rapid Rise of Social Networking Sites: New Findings and Policy Implications’, Children & Society, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, pp. 75-83.
17. CJ Duven, ‘Privacy and social networking sites’, New Directions for Student Services, vol. no. 124, 2008, pp. 89-101.
18. R Brake, ‘On the Rapid Rise of Social Networking Sites: New Findings and Policy Implications’, Children & Society, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, pp. 75-83.

Britain remains a quite popular destination among tourists, but they often overlook the diversity of the British scenery and head straight to London or Edinburgh. While both of these cities deserve the attention they get, tourists can have an opportunity to discover Britain differently by visiting Glasgow. The infamous Scottish port city is home to modern art and experimental architecture, which it manages to combine with traditional Celtic hospitality. Voted one of the friendliest cities in the world, Glasgow is not a stereotypical gritty Scottish town, but a place of humor and hospitality. The city is a mix of unique architecture, vibrant arts, and good-hearted people, all of which make it a perfect place to visit even for the most sophisticated tourists.

Glasgow masterfully combines modern, experimental buildings and medieval structures, which are often centuries old. The city’s architectural heritage is reflected in Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s works scattered all over the city. Necropolis and Glasgow Cathedral are some of the most beautiful medieval complexes in Europe. Brutal buildings of the twentieth century neighbor with the Victorian architectural marvels and red sandstone tenements, which adds a unique contrast to the city’s atmosphere. The town’s recent projects include the Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow School of Art, and a shimmering Riverside Museum designed by Zaha Hadid. They manage to introduce a unique approach to architecture and city design through the use of eclectic styles and experimental techniques. Glasgow’s architecture is unparalleled in offering a window into the past while actively reshaping the future.

Glasgow continues to be a patron of fine arts, including sculpture, painting, and music. Scotland’s biggest city is full of creative energy, which is evident based on the number of galleries and art spaces. The magnificent Kelvingrove Art Gallery, the Riverside Museum, and the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) are among the most influential cultural institutions in Europe. Moreover, most of the museums are free since the city’s authorities support the majority of artistic initiatives. Glasgow has the Mural Trail, which is partially funded by the local government. It helps tourists navigate the street art scene of the city, including the stunning piece “The Bird that Never Flew” that can be found on the High Street. A UNESCO city of music, Glasgow hosts hundreds of live music events during the year. Music fans can appreciate the vibrant music scene with dozens of festivals and fresh, new talent. With venues ranging from Barrowland Ballroom to the legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and the SSE Hydro, visitors can always find a music occasion to enjoy. Glasgow has established itself as one of the most creative areas in Britain, which makes it a special place for someone who can appreciate true art.

The city’s slogan “People Make Glasgow” represents everything Glasgow stands for and continues to cherish. Hospitality and kindness are synonymous with the town and its inhabitants. Residents of the city are called Glaswegians, and they are among the friendliest people in the world, according to multiple polls. Therefore, it is not surprising how affordable food, accommodation, and attractions are in the city, where everyone wants tourists to feel welcome and entertained.

The town is an exceptional tourist destination that charms visitors with a mix of medieval architecture and modern galleries. Glasgow is a creative oasis for musicians, painters, and architects, who continue to transform the atmosphere of the centuries-old port city. The world-class music scene and unique artistic initiatives neighbor with the simplicity and hospitality of Glaswegians who try to make everyone feel welcome. Glasgow is an excellent place to start exploring British distinctive culture and traditions.