Category: Tourism

The most famous food that has ever come out of Philadelphia is the Philly cheesesteak. It first appeared in 1930, invented by Pat Olivieri. The main ingredients are a crusty roll and delicately cut up beef (Alicia 22). Another meal important for Philadelphia is the roast pork sandwich. This is an Italian-American food that became a signature meal of the region, with tender pork shoulders layered with broccoli rabe and provolone cheese on an Italian roll. The last instance of exclusively Philadelphia-bred food is hoagie. It is stuffed with a variety of ingredients, including cheeses, fresh meats, or any other products.

The most famous attraction in Philadelphia is the Liberty Bell. It appeared in 1753 as an attempt to embellish the State of the House. After all, the Liberty Bell became one of the most persistent symbols of freedom. Another crucial attraction from the region is the Independence Hall. It is the building where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence (Hunter 333). The last important attraction of Philadelphia is Elfreth’s alley. This is a residential street with quaint row houses and paving stone roads. One may find flower boxes and Flemish bond brickwork there.

The biggest challenge related to bringing in more tourists consists in the fact that Philadelphia is not as sunny as a lot of its neighbors. It also does not feature a lot of attractions that have nothing to do with the history of the United States. This ultimately means that tourists visiting Philadelphia would be most exposed to the history of the place and not some entertaining places intended to attract more visitors from all over the world.

Traveling is always a pleasure. The start point of traveling is deciding on what country or city to choose. Choosing the company which is going to sell tickets is the other decision. When the place where to go and the company is chosen our task is to book tickets. Online booking became very popular for several reasons. First, it is very quickly, second, you shall go nowhere, just sit at home and in several minutes you will have your tickets booked. We are going to book tickets in Orbitz Company, which web site is www.orbitz.com.

Orbitz is a global online travel company that uses innovative technology to enable leisure travelers to research, plan, and book tickets. Having entered the website of Orbitz Company, you may see that Orbitz Company specializes in tickets booking. Before ordering something, a person should register. It is not difficult, and very quickly.

The website is constructed in such a way that answers all questions about the flight the system will choose the most appropriate and comfortable place of departure and arrival. So, first what person should be to register. The next step is to choose the activity: just flight or hotel, or it may be flight + hotel, people may also book a car to the airport. The choice of activities predetermines the next steps.

If the flight was chosen, the system will ask about the cities, date and time of departure and arrival, the number of adult passengers, the flight preference (whether a person prefers non-stop flights). Choosing the hotel room booking, a person will be asked the place where the hotel is situated, the dates of check-in and check-out, the number of rooms, and people.

The car booking is similar to flight tickets booking: a person should just choose the time and place of picking up and dropping off. The system also may choose the driver according to the aged person may require. Choosing a cruise, a person should give the approximate area of the cruise which is more preferable. The next procedure is the same as with flight tickets booking.

Orbitz online company offers to book tickets to different shows and other activities in cities of the country. After choosing the country, a person may see the description of the shows which run at the moment. The price and photo are next to the description.

The combination of services is also available in Orbitz Company. After choosing the type of activity, a person should click the bottom “find”. After that, the list of packages will be seen. The task of the client is to choose which is the most preferable or appropriate for him/her.

All these procedures are very important as the person pays money for booking and the mistake in the time or date may bring some inconveniences to the client. The travelers’ names, which should be typed in the appropriate field, should match with the government-issued photo ID. The mistake in one letter may become a problem as the documents are checked in the airport and the mistake in one letter may be the border for a person to leave the country.

Reviewing the trip costs person will see the optional services, such as trip Protection, receiving flight status alerts, and request seating preferences. If the person is not interested in it, he/she may shift it. The last step is the card details. A person should be very careful with it. Clicking on purchase, a person will see the receipt window. The best variant is to print it.

So, as we may see, the procedure of booking tickets is not very difficult if to follow all instructions, which appear on the screen.

Works Cited

Orbitz. 2001. Online. Web.

Introduction

All over the world, there is an insight that boutique hotel are attracting more guest from the chain hotels at very alarming rates and they have the potential to the provision of unequal services for their clients (kotler & Keller, 2008). The capability of taking care of the increasing guest transfer from the other well renowned hotels by the boutique types makes it an issue that is considerable to base a research on. Boutique hotels have over time in New York led to the reduction of the so used to be loyal clients of the chain hotels and hence the reduction in the profits that these units are likely to get is too brought down. Due to this and many other variables, this research has to be undertaken to ascertain the claims that boutique hotels are snatching chain hotels clients and the reasons that may be stimulating the success.

Background of the study

Since the emergence of boutique hotels in United States capital City New York, the chain hotels that used to enjoy a reasonable market share of the respective leisure clients have experienced reduction in the client’s base and this is believed to be due to their being: Boutique kind of hotels. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2009), a boutique hotel is defined as a small to medium-sized facility that is able to typically render to its clients a higher level of service than the majority of the chain hotel units and its presence is communicated to the potential clients through basic avenues of media.

They are moreover, marketed to the prosperous, and serve as a Boutique business hotel like any other. In addition to this, an organization is aimed at the provisions of enhanced service levels at a premium rate to particular clientele portfolio.

The aptitude of a boutique hotel to own a bigger share in the service industry is young and good nurturing would result to better performance and revenue increases. It has been found that the chain hotels that used to enjoy the visits of the affluent in the society have in recent time experienced the reduction on their visits a factor that is due to the exceptional service and product that Boutique hotel offer to clients. After a nonprofessional scrutiny, a conclusion has been arrived at that these wealthy clients are opting for the boutique hotels instead as they feel that the value for money they spend is achieved.

According to the researches that were conducted prior to this, boutique hotels have been the first option for the affluent as they plan for their holidays and getaways. Much of these shifts have downgraded other facilities and they are only reliant on the average customers who do occasionally take a trip for relaxation. This issue requires addressing if the chain hotels will at all be able to recover their customer’s base.

Problem statement

Boutique hotels are not out to downgrade the chain hotels. A thorough investigation of New York hotel and tourism business in recent years that was due to the fall in the chain hotel business as the Boutique commerce went up was realistic and a problem that needed an address. It is believed that the significance of the study would to investigate the secrets that the boutique hotels are using to facilitate the creation of a better market share through a snatch program of the former chain facility clients.

Management question: why do the affluent opt for Boutique hotels as opposed the former chain hotels?

Research questions

1. What account for the reduction in the chain hotel affluent customers?
2. What are the necessary actions that would ensure the chain hotels are able to retain their customers in this era of boutique hotels?
3. Is there any linkages flanked by the quality of service that the boutique hotels offer and the rise in customer preferences of their usage?

Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between the rise in boutique hotel client’s base and the decline of the chain hotels affluent customers.

Objectives

The objectives of this research scheme are to:

1. Examine the factors that are conscientious for the decline in the chain hotels customer base.
2. Identify the particular actions that are needed to ensure that the chain hotels will not go on losing the customer to boutique hotels.
3. Establish the relationship between the service quality and the rise in the number of clients that are going to Boutique designed hotels.

Significance of the study

It will be a study to:

1. Come up with ways that the chain hotels will adopt to ensure that their customers do not run away from them.
2. Improve the service delivery specifications in the hotel industry.
3. Fulfill the Boutique hotels customer retention and owning strategy need.

Literature review

Boutique hotels have emerged recently or not so long in the United States of America capital city New York. The chain hotels on the other hand have been operational for long and they have an existing image in the global scale as compared to the regional New York Boutique hotels (Homes, Levinson & Gerber,2008). Boutique hotels are designed for specific market segment; the affluent in the society due to the levels of privacy and personal touch that is accorded to the customers at a premium charge. These hotels are medium sized and do not accommodate as much as the chain hotels but they do offer a lasting image more advantageous to their growth.

From, Abraham (2001), such an ability to create lasting memories to its clientele, gives a Boutique hotel an upper hand when the rich want to go on vacation in areas that are free from human congestion and disturbances as opposed to the wide and congested chain hotels. People go to places in their leisure time because they want to stay away from the normal ills that they are subjected to while at home. Boutique hotels have realized that this is the secret behind the astonishing clients booking and dissatisfaction in the noisy expounded chain hotels.

Chain hotels on the other hand, are reactant to change and still thrive on the market positioning and targeting that was used in many centuries back (Kennedy, 2006). Their products are no longer exciting and they are boring to customers due to lack of creativity and captivating designs. The kind of service that chain hotels do give to their clients does not change much, which is one of the reasons why the loyal clients have decided to move onto the Boutiques side.

Human satisfactions are dependent of many variables, which a compromise of one would create a discontent. Thus for a chain hotel to be able to retain the customers it has to revaluate itself and reinvent the product packages that it does offer to the customer for them to see the value for money and other realize significance of their revisiting the facility. I guess it is due to such factors that the business in chain hotels has gone down and led to the shifts in the customer who were even recruited into loyalty.

Boutique hotels have over time developed three strategies that they have decided to major on and facilitate the rise in their customer base. These are as follows:

1. Proficient practice scaffold that aims at ensuring that key service elements are followed to the latter for the creation of a memorable experience to the users of what they have in the market.
2. The development of human resources for the sole purpose of ensuring the service providers are able to able to excite the clients and influence the overall perceived service.
3. Eminence service pledge and improvement that is aimed at ensuring the customer get to integrate with the organizational employee who is in personal contact with.

Definition of a hotel

According to Nicholas, (1998), it is a facility, which is able to offer services to the clients for a price. It avails the food and beverages paramount to the enjoyment of the stay in a hotel and other subsidiary factors such as the relaxation of body and soul in the message Parlor. Being a service industry, little things such as a delay to deliver a meal to the guests table result to complaints and it is not positive for any the overall experience.

A Chain hotel on the other hand stands for the wider hotel group that has managed to get through the tourism sector and establish itself significantly (Kragen, 1994). It is a string of hotels that are under single ownership, as well as related to the same product line or sector. Such hotels units are developed and have been in the tourism industry for a significant time to an extent that they are internationally celebrated, and receive customers from all angles of the globe (Kennedy, 2000).

This definition does actually seek to highlight the depth and breadth of chain hotels relative to the Boutique kind and then compare them to examine the organization that should be affected by the existence of the other (Caples & Hahn, 1998). Therefore, the scope of chain hotels is not limited to destination but it covers operations in literally the major regions of the continent.

The ability of the Boutique hotels to attract more guests from the chain hotels revolves around the marketing efforts and the product that they do offer to the clients. In addition, their marketing efforts are as well linked to it due to the manner in which they deliver to the consumers what they are had packaged.

Marketing requires the promotion of a product to be made intensive for reaching out to the clients who are interested to have a trial of the product. Together with a realistic product mix, the Boutique hotels are able to reach out to the clients and persuade them to try what they are availing to the market (Sugerman, Hugher & Hafer, 1999). Promoting a product that does not meet the client’s needs is another variable that might make the chain hotels to lose out from the market and due to the intensiveness of the efforts to promote their product, the Boutique hotels end up being the beneficiaries.

Proper product mix seems to be the secret that Boutique hotels are adopting and it involves the product design and quality as well as the features and branding. The Boutique Hotels may be designing products that are posing as the organizational selling points at the expense of the chain hotels. Secondly, the product quality must be at par with the other elements of marketing mix to ensure that value for money is realized through the usage of the product (Sugerman, 1998).

To give an emphasis to this, a premium-based model of pricing is advisable. What the Boutique Hotels offer to the market is in line with moderate pricing of superior products; a factor that Boutique hotel do adopt to give them a better market position. Product features might also be attractive to the clients as opposed to the dull ones that are availed or supplied by the chain hotels. Determination of the features that are going to add value of the product and merits to the target market facilitates the ability to capture the market.

The marketing theoretical concerns of promotions and product that an organization offer to its market might be the advantageous reason that is giving Boutique hotels more clients from the chain hotels

Methodology

This is the fragment that does illustrate the system that was used during the investigation process (Polynor, 2002). It covers the research design and population as well as the sample used and case techniques, data album, and analysis.

Research design

The study will rivet the evaluation of the likeliness of chain hotels missing their customer base because of the existence of Boutiques hotels. Accordingly, the research shall be premeditated to realize the objectives that the researcher already outlined.

Population

New York City is the biggest town with the largest number of Boutique hotels and chain hotels in the United States of America. The population that is aimed at in this study includes the following:

1. The clients who are using the services of the Boutique hotels more often
2. The marketing directors of both the chain hotels and Boutique kind
3. The National Tourism Board heads that are responsible for regulations of the tourism sector
4. Service provision members of staff that are working in both the chain and Boutique hotels

Sampling and case technique

It is not realistic to have a census in this study. The researcher shall on the other hand adopt the survey-oriented approach to this study and a sample of the population targeted shall be chosen for the study (Lupton, 1998). In total, a sample of 14 elements will be chosen from the total target population of 42.The minutiae of this sample shall be as it is hereby shown.

1. 4 marketing heads and 2 director of the organizations
2. 3 clients and 3 service provision employees
3. 2 National Tourism board heads

This study shall espouse a multi-stratified scheme of sampling the elements involved. There shall be a flaxen representation of the two organizations because the operations of each are different in a significant way.

Data collection

This study is focused on the business variations between the chain hotels, Boutique oriented hotels, and the connotation of crucial data cannot be over-emphasized. On top of that, the secondary data sources will also be used to support the study. Prior to the data collection process, the researcher shall seek approval from the hotel directors and the consent of the National Tourism board. More so, the researcher shall have to do an initial preliminary procedure where he or she will formalize with organizations of interest.

Data collection tools

Questionnaires shall be administered for the data collection process. It will apply the structured questions format that shall be inclusive of twenty questions subdivided into a three-section outline: A, B and C (Polynor, 2002).

Part A shall involve the at least 7 questions aimed at getting the answer to the first research goal and the six questions section B will be directed at the second objective of the research. Part C shall have question that are able to test the supposition beyond answering the research third aim.

The questionnaire shall look as follows:

Conclusion

After a careful investigation, it will be proven either to be true or false that the Boutique hotels are being preferred by the affluent as opposed to chain hotels.

References

Abraham, J. (2001). Getting Everything You Can Out of All you’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition. Blackburn: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Caples, J. & Hahn, F. (1998). Tested Advertising Methods.Uk. Prentice Hall.

Holmes, C., Levinson, J & Gerber, M. (2008). The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies. Toronto: Portfolio Trade.

Kennedy, D. (2000). The Ultimate Sales Letter: Boost Your Sales With Powerful Sales Letters, Based on Madison Avenue Techniques. Sydney. Adams Media Corporation.

Kennedy, D. (2006). The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost Your Sales. Sydney. Adams Media.

Kennedy, D. (2006). The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Find Your Hook. Communicate Your Message. Make Your Mark. Sydney. Adams Media.

Kotler, P & Armstrong, G. (2009). Principles of Marketing.Cambrige: Prentice Hall.

Kotler, P & Keller, K. (2008). Marketing management. Manchester: Prentice Hall.

Kragen, K. (1994). Life Is a Contact Sport: Ten Great Career Strategies That Work. Iowa: William Morrow.

Lupton, E. (1999). Design Writing Research. Phaidon Press.

Nicholas, T. (1998). Magic Words That Bring You Riches. New Delhi: Access Publishers Network.

Poynor, R. (2003). No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism.Licester: Yale University Press.

Sugerman, J. (1998). Marketing Secrets of a Mail Order Maverick: Stories & Lessons on the Power of Direct Marketing to Start a Successful Business, Create a Brand.NY. Delstar.

Sugerman, J., Hugher, R. & Hafer, D. (1999). Triggers: 30 Sales Tools you can use to Control the Mind of your Prospect to Motivate, Influence and Persuade.NY: Delstar Pub.

Sugerman, J. (1998). Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs.NY: Delstar Pub.

The first type of Greek food that can be found in Athens is the taramasalata. It is also known as the fish roe dip and can be seen as much more popular than other dips such as tzatziki or fava. The potato or bread base is blended with white/pink fish roe and a small portion of olive oil. On the other hand, dolmades are the signature food that one can meet in Athens. Dolmades are hollowed out vegetables stuffed with rice and minced meat and baked in the oven. One more instance of classic Greek foods is the moussaka. Foscolou states that it features layers consisting of minced lamb, sautéed aubergine, tomatoes, garlic, and other spices and a topping made of cheese and béchamel sauce (116).

The most famous attraction in Athens is the Acropolis. It is represented by ancient ruins and other great artifacts that contain the history of the region. Around the Acropolis, one may find large neighborhoods and Byzantine churches. The ancient Agora is another tourist attraction that is worth mentioning, as it was the core Greek marketplace back in the day (Roussou et al. 411). The third attraction mentioned within the framework of the current paper is the National Garden. It can be found near the Greek parliament and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. There are many tall trees taking the tourists away from the busy streets, allowing them to get away from all the stress caused by numerous visitors flooding the area.

Even though Athens has become home for many visitors throughout the year, there is one issue that the Greeks do not know how to deal with just yet. It relates to the fact that the majority of attractions in the region are mere stones and stone constructions. That quickly makes visitors reluctant to anything else in the region.

Tourism is the sphere of business which is rather old, but it became be very profitable for the last 20-40 years, as people began to be interested in other countries and want to see as much as possible during their lives. The spread of information adds to this desire. The increase of tourists leads to the increase of the tourism facilities which are irreplaceable, such as hotels, transportation, excursion specialists, and others. Hotels are the main facilities in the tourism business, as the first impression from the country is the place where the person is going to live. Intercontinental Hotel Group is one of the biggest and luxury hotels chains in the world.

Intercontinental Hotel Group springs from William Bass, who first organized the chain of breweries in the United Kingdom in 1777. The further life of breweries continued till 1989, and then, following the legislation which forbade such places, the breweries were reconstructed in the chain of hotels, which continued to develop and grew in the biggest chain of international hotels (Page 125). Intercontinental Hotel Group contains more than 3,500 hotels and about 535,000 hotel rooms in more than 100 countries of the world (Bardi 131).

Providing some research in the sphere of hotel chains, which can compete with Intercontinental Hotel Group, it was discovered that there is a lot of companies, which possess the same experience. The top hotel chains are Intercontinental Hotel Group, Starwood Hotels, and Resorts, Marriot International, Accor, Hilton Group PLC, Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts (Pasiuk 4; Cunill 184). These companies possess a great number of hotels in different countries of the world and are the most influential in the tourism sphere, so it is impossible to avoid the competition.

The current crisis in the world could not avoid tourism as one of the most developed spheres of business. Moreover, the laying-offs in some companies led to the reduction of the traveling for business, which reduced the inco9mes of all hotel companies. The change in the Intercontinental Hotel Group income became obvious on August 18, 2009, when the corporation bounced back 100 points, according to the information in the Financial Times Stock Exchange Index (Elder par. 1).

The corporation makes its offers according to the reasons and the ways out of the situation. The company provided the analysis of the situation and noted that the increase in the activities in June was the result of holidaymakers, and the next step forward is marked for September, when the “corporate customers renegotiate rates” (Elder par. 4). The situation beat the positions of the company a little, but it is impossible to bowl down such a huge corporation as Intercontinental Hotel Group. The hotel chain is not a simple hotel that can be beaten by such a crisis. The hotel chain is a structure that can sustain even in such difficult times.

So, Intercontinental Hotel Group is a chain of hotels that obtains the top position among other corporations in the hotel business. The recent changes can just reduce the incomes of the company and lower its positions in the international arena, but even the crisis cannot eliminate such developed corporations from the tourism international map. The changes, which occurred in the last month, are temporal and the corporation analytics predicts that September is going to be the month, when the company is going to raise its positions, and strengthen them in the international arena.

Works Cited

Bardi, James A. Hotel front office management. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2006.

Cunill, Onofre Martorell. The growth strategies of hotel chains: best business practices by leading companies. Oxford: Routledge, 2006.

Elder, Bryce. “IHG profits on ‘turning point’.” Financial Times. 2009.

Page, Stephen. Tourism Management: Managing for Change. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009.

Pasiuk, Laurie. Vault Guide to Hospitality & Tourism Industry Employers. New York: Vault Inc., 2005.

Executive Summary

This report is prepared for use by investors in Hawaii Amusement park who are interested to know which factors that are most influential in the construction of amusement park in Hawaii. Apart from the expansion of tourism industry in Hawaii, the tourism destinations can develop economically and the local people can experience the benefits, provided that the local culture, environment, and wild life are protected from exploitation by the park. The Amusement park will promote the idea of encouraging responsible approach towards the conservation of environment and emphasizes the importance of the welfare of the local people.

The political, social, and environmental climate of the Hawaii is considered as sensitive issue in determining the acceptance of the project. The Park aims at positive experiences for both visitors and host. It will be also creating awareness regarding environmental and cultural factors. The providers of hospitality services are expected to promote the possible recycling of the resources including the reuse of water and conservation of energy. Hospitality businesses should also encourage the economic activities in order to provide benefits of opportunities to the local people.

Active participation of the local people in the construction will be very important as it is their cultural and economic activities that are associated with the dynamic tourism industry of Hawaii are involved. Sustainable economic development in a tourism industry will achieve if the project, while exploring all the opportunities available in the present context of improved status of Hawaii. In the process of ensuring the sustainability, appreciable jobs are taken up by the locals; the amusement park should be accepted by the locals (Johnson and Perkin, 2008, p.75).

Introduction and background

Authenticity in tourism of any area must be approached with some flexibility in order to be accepted in the society. It must be perceived as an issue with multifaceted influence over the tourist, the community, the government and the environment influencing the tourism. Almost every influential factor in the life of an individual is involved in the experiences felt by the tourist. The cultural, religious, linguistic, geographical, and socio economical factors are influential in shaping the perception of a tourist about the authenticity. The most influential factors in this regard are seems to be the religious, environment and cultural factors.

When the religious faith, environmentalist and cultural leaders are the leading force for an individual or a group the perception will be entirely oriented towards the particular direction and the authenticity will be influenced by the devotion of the tourist towards the object. As far as the time and space is concerned both these factors are plating influential and decisive role regarding the success of the tourism project (Weaver and Lawton 2006, p.62).

Distance is involved in the process of tour and the distance may simultaneously involve the time also. Other factors such as culture, language, religion may also play very crucial role in deciding the success. In the context of the global economic conditions and highly dynamic information and communication technology, the tourism also has undergone tremendous changes (Johnson et al, 2008, p.75).. The transformation of cultural values to the price of a tourism product is part of the commoditization process.

This commoditization process is part of the commercialized industrial sector of tourism. Even in this context the tourist will have his/her own approach towards the authenticity of tourism, irrespective of the commercial value of the tourism product in the commercial market decided by the economic environment prevailing in the industry. Especially in the case of cultural tourism, the tourist’s attitude will not be much affected by the commercialization of the tourism product(Kelner, Leonard, Kadushin, Canar, Matthew, Ossman, Perloff, Phillips, Teres, Wolf and Meredith, 2000, p. 28).

The individual’s perception towards his own surroundings, the space, and time will be influential factor in deciding the authenticity of tourism, pertaining to the views of that individual. Personal attitude, Social awareness, perception of humanity and the universe as a whole etc influence the approach of a tourist towards the objects of tourism.

The self of the individual will be approaching the new surrounding at the tourist place in the most convenient way possible for his mind. To an extent this is possible due to the act of symbolization. Symbolically the products of tourism are approached so that such objects will have values according to the perception of the touring individual. In such cases the decisive factors are those factors which are influential in monitoring and guiding the perceptions of the individual (Johnson et al, 2008, p.76).

In almost every case of tourism, the process of modification and standardization of the cultural assets into the tourism products is involved. Such a conversion or transformation is initiated with the intention of making the cultural asset suitable for the consumption of the tourist. This process of commoditization will be advancing at an increased rate in the coming years of dynamic global economy and ever advancing technological environment. Accordingly the concepts of authenticity in tourism will also undergo changes. The faster rate of tourism as an industry all over the world and the emerging of the concept of global tourism will result in the modern approaches and trends in this field and accordingly the concepts of authenticity in tourism will also take new forms and innovative and symbolic approaches, so that the charm of tourism is kept alive in the face of advanced technological changes (Kelner et al, 2000, p. 24).

This paper will endeavor to find out the societal significance in the creation of amusement park in Hawaii. This will cover some historical accounts and importance of culture, and the contemporary societal relevance of having some sites(Johnson et al, 2008, p.76).

Resistance to project implementation

Resistance against a project is usually influence by a number of factors. Usually the human resist any project if they are involved in decision making and are not informed the importance of the project to avoid negative attitudes towards this project. If proper the implementation process does not followed proper channels, the project may face resistance and eventually collapse. The project being new and the issue of resistance not being addressed properly some members of community may opt not to turn up to their cause fear among people who will be visiting the area. Implementing a new project will require planning, organizing and monitoring the project.

The company may forget the importance of project if resistance persists and take an approach to implementation that is acceptable by all stakeholders. Project introduction must be properly managed in order for the organization to have a good result for future prosperity. This will ensure the project doesn’t face resistance from stakeholders but compliance (Weaver and Lawton 2006, p.162).

The company needs to have project implementation strategies in order to optimize the position of the firm in implementing the new project. The period between the emerging events and the consequences that follow after the project has to be clearly to be set out to allow success. Therefore the strategic response to prevailing conditions of a community must be determined and the human factors that are involved investigated (Pettrey, 2003, p. 82).

Culture and community

Cultural and moral aspects involved are closely associated with the views imposed by religious institutions involved in the different social lives. Various dimensions of cultural values amongst the social groups all over the world are influenced by various important factors such as geographical, historical, religious, linguistic, political, and legal issues. In this regard the cultural values differ significantly between the societies. Accordingly the different social groups across the word have developed their own modes of arts, paintings, and architectural models to represent their distinct cultural approaches towards life.

For example the philosophy of postmodernism illustrates the evolutionary stages of various distinct cultural values. Postmodernism spread into all kinds of arts including the painting and architecture. This spreading effect caused a movement Painting and architecture are two forms of arts which are closely related to each other. All factors which led to the evolution of postmodernism affected both the architecture and the painting simultaneously. There are many factors of historical and political importance which had influenced such an evolution (Grover, 2005, p. 45).

The cultural aspects associated with the low scale in long term time orientation, found in the culture of Hawaii is very helpful and supportive for promoting creative ideas and innovations. The resistance towards changes, in such cultures will be very much limited because of less orientation towards time and tradition(Kelner et al, 2000, p. 24).

Tourism Authenticity

In the constructivist position approach, from a property inherent in toured objects, authenticity is getting transformed into a set of socially constructed symbolic meanings. These symbolic meanings are communicated by the objects. Unlike objectivist concept, the existentialist concept is not worried about the real nature of the toured objects. While pointing out about the imaginative characteristics of the constructive authenticity, Hughes argued that individuals’ expressed commitments, resistances, and choices are influenced by the constraints and limitations of global tourism. (Hughes, 1995).

According to Cohen modern quest for authenticity is a characteristic associated with tourism. (Cohen 1972). The dualisms associated with the authenticity of tourism are closely related to the conception of boundary. The similar binary notions such as self/other and the here/there are leading to the dualistic concepts involved in the boundary approach. (Hughes, 1995). According to the objectivist approach the authenticity of tourism is presumed to be located in the remote half of these dualisms. Structure of this concept is similar to that of cultural tourism where the movement is from the familiar here to the strange there. In the point of view of definitions the authenticity can be located within a specific time, place or actor. Firm territorial integrity and strict demarcation of space are involved in the concept of authenticity. (Hughes, 1995).

By citing the example of Maori culture Taylor illustrated the concept of the boundary based on time. When the New Zealand was not discovered the existence of Mari culture was seen to be in a vacuum. As a result of tourism projects cultural authenticity is invoked, and the uniqueness of the product value is realized by the application of a distance between the subjective and objective aspects. In this case both the temporal and spatial definition of subject and object are taken into consideration. (Kelner et al, 2000).

Authenticity of tourism can also be located in specific actors. Specific actors can be individuals or collectivities. In the case of authenticity based on actors there are two forms such as: the distinction between us and them, the concept which distinguishes the subject from object. The other concept of authenticity is based on the distinctions between the authentic and inauthentic locals (Grover, 2005, p.68).

Expectations which are generating authenticity can take two forms. One is regarding the specific images of the object that is viewed. This aspect can be clarified further by citing the example of the tourists visiting the western Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Involvement of religious inspiration is important in this case. In the second form the generalized categories of expectations are applied to various sites (Cohen, 1988, p. 372).

According to Culler, the tourists perceive the authenticity as sets of idealized conceptions which are projected into one side of a dualistic space. (Culler, 1991).In terms of existential terms while defining the authenticity in tourism, the condition of the tourist is defined as the condition by which the act of touring itself is resulting in severing of any necessary connection. In the cases where there is a link between the authenticity of objects and the authenticity of self, the existential authenticity is relevant to the cultural tourism (Johnson et al, 2008, p.76).

The transformation of cultural asset into a cultural tourism product is necessitated for the consumption of the tourist. In this conversion or transformation process, the various levels such as modification, commoditization, and standardization of the assets are involved (McKercher & du Cros, 2002, p. 115).

The perception about the authenticity associated with a cultural performance or a tourism product, itself is a highly subjective concept and it may create tensions and conflicts by initiating different expectations about authenticity (Weaver, D & Lawton, L 2006).

Depending on the views of the tourist consuming the image, authenticity is constructed in many ways. The traditional western imagination of the third world influenced the strategy involved in the marketing of the concept of the ‘other’ by the travel literature through the portrayal of the local people as authentic (Ira Silver, 1993).

Cohen argues that for some tourists alienation may be the motivation factor. At the same time for others alienation may not be a motivating factor. Cohen proposed a typology for representing the difference between different tourists and the different forms of tourisms. It is a well understood fact that some tourists are motivated in search of real or authentic, but regarding their purpose there is confusion. It is not clear that whether or not for the purpose of accruing some form of cultural or social capital. It is yet to be clarified through debates. (Cohen, 1988 p.165).An authentic experience may be required by the tourist. But when the question of confrontation with reality arises, the concept is consuming and this leads to add the view of the viewer or tourist. (McKercher, B & du Cros, H 2002, p.76).

Recommendation for the success of the project

For the company successively implement the project they will need to need to do the following (Pettrey, 2003, p. 82).

1. Educate the local people of the importance of the project to the people of Hawaii especially the job opportunities to be crated.
2. Involve the residence of the locally in decision making process on how to conservation the culturally sceneries in the area where the amusement Park will be constructed.
3. Proper communication should be used to pass information on the process of the project now and then to avoid resistance.
4. Culture of the local people should be observed to ensure it success is accepted.
5. The company should hire the local people to work during the construction of the amusement park.
6. The company should set aside money for development projects in the area.
7. Above all they should implement sustainability projects in the area to convince the local people.

People favoring such project will argues that it will help Hawaii to keep its own development intact, which will help the them in days of distress regarding a supply of jobs. People boasting against such project will raises questions regarding the sustainability of their culture, the sustainability of park as the main source of tourist attraction, disturbing scenario and hostile environment of the supply source nations, availability of a cheaper alternate, political compromise or disgracing the global image of Hawaii and the possible environmental threat(Pettrey, 2003, p. 82).

Alternatives for the failure of the project

It is clear that the effective implementation project can either resisted or accepted. The main concept that needs to be understood when deciding what should be done if resistance makes it impossible, is that creativity is the key. Old concepts of how an organization should be run need to be placed on the backburner and a newer model of an all inclusive business need to be considered (Pettrey, 2003, p.78).

Alternative 1

The Company will have to team up with a local investor to invest in the project. This will be partnering with a local invest for long term success. This will make the project succeed. Strategic alliances should be formed to have the business and also to protect their core business. Strategic alliances would make more sense in Hawaii because it will be emerging markets go through a continuous phase of development. While forming a strategic alliance it is important that the companies look at mutually beneficial goals instead of individualizing them. Organizations should evaluate several dimensions of international environmental uncertainty before choosing an entry mode. Organization design changes when entering different types of markets. This partnering will move to the right direction, if the attitude towards it is very important. It must possess the following requirements (Carlopio, Andrewartha and Armstrong, 2005, p. 79);

1. Sharing of ideas- All those who have been involved in partnering should share anything positive they to the group for its success. There should be openness so as no to create doubt.
2. Trusting each other- There should be mutual trust amongst all those involved. Everybody should be free to each other without an doubt
3. Management commitment- The top-level management should be highly committed towards the partnering so that it ca succeed
4. Improving of the customer service- One of the major aims of partnering is to customer focused. They should aim at providing efficient and satisfactory services to the customer who, will be attracted into doing business with them if handled properly.

Strategic alliances involve a number of processes considered to be important. The processes considered include the customer finance operations and people. In these objectives, collaborations processes are defined and you will find issues like design of the product outsourcing configuration of the project and product development (Pettrey, 2003, p.79).

At the same if the local invest fails to succeed in convincing the people, the company will source another place near the current proposed site and come up the park there. This will also capture the target market to the sites (Carlopio, Andrewartha and Armstrong, 2005, p. 78).

Alternative 2: Sponsors as Change Agents

In the context of a business environment, the term sponsor refers to an individual within the organization who is called upon to support an important project. The role of a sponsor is so critical that they have the ability to either stop a project, determine if the project is on the correct path and basically steps the concept or tone for the direction that each project takes. There are certain projects within the bank that may have more than one sponsor working on it at a time. The reasons why a sponsor may take on a certain project make depend on a wide variety of benefits that they hope to achieve from its outcome. These benefits include (Carlopio, Andrewartha and Armstrong, 2005 p.75):

1. The reduction of certain costs
2. An increase in customer loyalty
3. Increased or improved productivity

However, if a sponsor does not take an active role in promoting the benefits of a certain project to the all of the members of society, the project will never reach its full potential. In order to make sure that the benefits of a particular project reach all members of the community thus foster Amusement Park, sponsors must take an active role and endorse the implementation of a particular project. Sponsors can openly endorse change in the following ways (Carlopio, Andrewartha and Armstrong, 2005, p. 81):

1. Promote the project and the change it brings in direct reports
2. Use their own behavior to clearly demonstrate how the change will bring positive benefits to the entire community.
3. Enforce positive reinforcements for those who embrace the change
4. Enforce negative reinforcements for those who resist the changes (Carlopio, Andrewartha and Armstrong, 2005, p. 75).

Recommendation of course of action

The culture of Hawaii has already gone a long way, from the ancestors to today’s modernized people. It cultural meaning or societal relevance also has evolved since the practice of it is a society of diverse people. Initially, cultures were considered to be important recordings of early humans’ day-to-day description of their lives. It served as significant markings that celebrated rites of passage, for instance rite of passage to manhood, religious beliefs, and other ancestral traditions and practices (Kelner et al, 2000, p. 25).

However, in today’s Hawaii the relevance of culture has changed. Despite of the many connotations and stereotypes made with some cultures, there is one thing that should be realized. Having a strong culture, just like our clothes, our hairstyles, our shoes, is a decent way of expressing one’s self. It is a way of sharing to the rest of the world our inner thoughts and feelings, and a way of communicating to other people our successes, failures, trials, and other important events that define who we truly are and in order to move forward the management of the amusement park must promise to conserve the culture (McKercher and du Cros, 2002, p.78).

Another course of action is the reduction of resistance so that the project can move forward. One of the best methods of reducing resistance is defined by Johnson and Perkin (2008) as empowering the stakeholders to bring about change in individuals and communities through the development of skills, awareness, increased confidence and distribution of power and decision making. The stakeholders in the Hawaii should be empowered through skills of what is required at the end of project. This will convince their followers develop a sense of self efficacy or feeling successful or effective at the project.

Empowerment of the stakeholders is one of the best methods as it enables people to understand and encourages them to actively participative in the project. However, one must obtain the conflict resolution skills that enables him maintain stakeholders, self-esteem, engage their ability to listen and respond with empathy, increase their willingness to ask for help in the project and lastly be able to offer help without taking responsibility (Kelner, et al, 2000, p. 48).

Another way of reducing resistance of the community in Hawaii is effective communication. Communication being the exchange of information between people may involve an entire community and company. It therefore implies that there must be an effective transmission and reception of information for communication to be effective (Pettrey, 2003, p. 82).

Due to the fact that citizens of Hawaii are of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and sets of personalities, resistance is inevitable in organizations. They occur as a result of clash of personalities, disagreement, or misunderstanding but there are appropriate ways in which they can be approached. Skillful management of conflicts encourages teamwork, reduce stress, preserve integrity and increase staff morale among other benefits (Kelner, et al, 2000, p. 48).

Again being able to recognise bias is essential in being able to hear other perspectives on an issue (Pattrey 2003, p.18). When resistance occurs, we tend to react almost immediately with anger or hurt, and not being able to stay calm to underlying the reason behind this reaction.

Conclusion

By adopting the appropriate policies and by effectively implementing them, it will be possible to successive implement the project without much resistance from members of the public. Fro Amusement park, the tourism industry is expected to be highly dynamic situation in the area. Strategic goals for the organization must be set by the planning team as per the findings of the strategic diagnosis. The accuracy of strategic diagnosis will help to identify the critical aspects and accordingly such aspects can be allotted with well defined goal in line with the goal of the business.

Reference List

Carlopio, J., Andrewartha, G., Armstrong, H. 2005. Developing Management Skills 3^rd ed. French Forest: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Cohen, Erik. 1972. “Toward Sociology of International Tourism.” Social Research 39(1):164-82.

Cohen, Erik 1988. “Authenticity and Commoditization in Tourism.” Annals of Tourism Research 15:371-86.

Culler, J. 1981. “Semiotics of Tourism.” American Journal of Semiotics 1:127-40.

Grover, S., M. 2005. Shaping Effective Communication Skills and Therapeutic Relationships at Work: The Foundation of Collaboration. AAOHN Journal, 53(4): 177.

Hughes, George. 1995. “Authenticity in Tourism.” Annals of Tourism Research 22(4):781-803.

Daniel, Yvonne Payne. 1996. “Tourism Dance Performances: Authenticity and Creativity.” Annals of Tourism Research 23(4):780-97.

Johnson, L., and Perkin, S. 2008. An Empowering Approach to Weight Management. The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, 128(1):15.

Kelner, S., Leonard, S., Kadushin C, Canar, R., Matthew Lindholm, M., Ossman, H., Perloff, J., Phillips, B., Teres, R., Wolf, M. and Meredith Woocher M (2000). Making Meaning: Participants’ Experience of Birthright Israel. Birthright Israel Research Report. 2. Waltham, MA: Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University.

McKercher, B & du Cros, H 2002, Cultural Tourism: the partnership between tourism and cultural heritage management, Haworth Hospitality Press, New York 115).

Pettrey, L. 2003. Who Let the Dogs Out? Managing Conflict with Courage and Skill. Critical Care Nurse, 23: 21.

Weaver, D & Lawton, L 2006, Tourism management, 3^rd edn, John Wiley & Sonds, Milton, Qld.p285).

Hotel d’Angleterre Geneva (Hôtel d’Angleterre Genève) is one of the most luxurious and top-ranking five-star hotels in Europe. This boutique hotel was established in 1872 and still remains a family-run business, which provides all the modern amenities, including a cigar lounge. Located on Quai du Mont Blanc, the building boasts exceptional views of the largest water fountain in Switzerland, Jet d’Eau, Mont Blanc, and Lake Geneva, which can be observed from the hotel’s Window restaurant. The award-winning Leopard Room Bar is the centerpiece of the hotel, which offers a wide variety of both rare and popular wines and whiskies. While the interior design of the hotel’s lobby features marble floors, exquisite chandeliers, and artworks, every room’s décor is different from another, which maintains the sense of exclusiveness. The hotel provides high-quality services which are in accord with the centuries-old traditions of Swiss and British hospitality.

Visual Representations of Brand Identity

There are two primary forms of visual representation of the brand’s identity, these are the logo and photos of the hotel’s interior. The brand’s logo features the names of the hotel, written in an elegant cursive, and the city of its location, written in a classic serif font. The logo perfectly reflects the brand’s philosophy and values since it helps build an aura of grandeur around the hotel. The photos featured on the hotel’s website channel an atmosphere of wealth and comfort, which matches the expectations of potential clients.

The Promise and Persona of Hotel d’Angleterre

The brand’s promise and persona are essential to every business because they allow to market products to the appropriate audience. Promise is a set of functional features such as quality and emotional ones, for example, a lifestyle a particular product offers to the buyer (Jin & Cedrola, 2017). While persona, or personality, constitutes a variety of human characteristics, a brand espouses encapsulated in a person or a character (Scussel & Demo, 2019). Hotel d’Angleterre promises to its clients that they will be treated to the finest quality of services and can avoid compromising on the comfort even while traveling. The role of this promise is to demonstrate the benefits of the brand and attract new customers, making them eager to use its services. It is conveyed through both the visual elements discussed earlier and texts which describe experiences a client will receive if they choose to stay at the hotel. For instance, the website has a segment dedicated to the photos of clients pictured in the hotel’s spaces taken directly from their Instagram accounts (Hotel d’Angleterre, n.d.). This allows potential customers to better relate to real individuals and understand that they also can have similar experiences provided by a five-star hotel. Since Hotel d’Angleterre’s is a luxury brand, the role of its persona is to facilitate the consumer-brand relationship (Tong et al., 2017). The upper-class family of Jannet and Harrold are the ultimate Hotel d’Angleterre’s persona since they represent key traits which are promoted by the brand, these are affluence, competence, and prestigiousness. Staying at Hotel d’Angleterre means paying extra for a roof over one’s head, and the couple can afford it since they prioritize coziness and convenience over money. A good example of a premium service is the hotel’s cigar lounge, which Jannet and Harrold can use to satisfy their expensive needs (Hotel d’Angleterre, n.d.). The couple is also competent because Harrold occupies a higher position in Bentley while Jannet is knowledgeable about art, which highlights their professionalism. Finally, the couple is prestigious since they value classicism, traditionalism, and spending time at restaurants with exquisite cuisine.

The Customer Reflected Image and Customer Self-Image

Every hotel has to carefully design its customer reflected image and be able to determine the customer self-image of their audience to better adjust their services and thus maximize their profits. The customer reflected image constitutes the image of the brand’s typical consumer who serves as the standard for developing a business strategy (Berrozpe et al., 2017). The customer-self image is the image built by consumers themselves while or after using the services of a particular brand (Berrozpe et al., 2017). The Hotel d’Angleterre customer reflected image can be expressed in the essential qualities of their usual clients, which are elitism, orientation towards satisfaction, and penchant for traditionalism but with a modern twist. A relatively high price tag for spending a night at the hotel automatically filters the audience and guarantees that only people with at least an upper-middle-class income stay there. Such people tend to have necessities which cannot be satisfied with cheap hotels, and thus they require a certain level of quality of services, which indicates their elitism. Thus, it is an obligation on the part of the hotel to match the expectations of such a demanding audience which has prior experience with luxury brands. Hotel d’Angleterre understands that its customers look for complete satisfaction in exchange for a large sum they pay for the services. The clients also like to be surrounded by traditional décor but without compromising on the modern amenities, which is skillfully managed by Hotel d’Angleterre. The architectural components of the hotel, including marble floors, expensive wallpaper, and vintage furniture, befit the tastes of customers. The customer-self image of the Hotel d’Angleterre typical clients can be described in three elements, these are luxuriousness, elegance, and self-importance. People who choose Hotel d’Angleterre do it not only because of the comfort it provides but also because of the value of the brand itself. Thus, clients of Hotel d’Angleterre tend to be concerned about their social status and position in the eyes of their peers and business partners. Some individuals may instantly start trusting those who stay at this hotel because this fact guarantees that these people are wealthy. Moreover, the typical clients often have refined art tastes, and they need their environment to inspire them and be a place where they can enjoy observing their surroundings, and Hotel d’Angleterre can provide it. They think of themselves as elegant since they wear fashionable clothing, drive expensive cars, and consequently want hotels they stay at to be a continuation of their sumptuous lifestyle. Finally, people who are clients of Hotel d’Angleterre feel that they are more important than others since they are among those few who can enjoy excellent views of Geneva, living in the city’s center.

The Dream of Hotel d’Angleterre

The dream which Hotel d’Angleterre offers is the feeling of temporarily becoming a person who lives near Lake Geneve and Mont Blanc and owning a space in a grand-looking building at the heart of Europe. This dream is easily maintained since many people want to realize it, but access to it is limited due to a high price of staying at the hotel. This helps ensure the balance between awareness and the rate of purchasers, which is vital for businesses selling luxury goods and services and trying to stay relevant (Bastien & Kapferer, 2009). Hotel d’Angleterre manifests an example of an ideal place for many individuals who wish to spend their time in one of the greatest cities on the planet and enjoy the local scenery. Moreover, it provides an environment of comfort and coziness, which is unattainable for the majority of people in their daily lives, which adds the qualities of uniqueness and rarity to the hotel’s offer. The dream is further reinforced by the myth and story the hotel sells to its potential clients, which is its heritage of a family-run business. The elements which reference traditions and classicism are also part of this narrative about a century-old hotel surrounded by breathtaking views and superb quality of services tested by time. Moreover, the hotel, its location, and the interior design of rooms contribute to maintaining the dream, especially in pictures posted on the website or in different magazines. When a person sees such photos, they instantly become attracted to the idea of visiting this place and hopefully spending some time there. While the elite, which can actually afford it, can choose to stay at the hotel in order to demonstrate to others their success and the ability to partake in a dream.

Marketing Channels

Hotel d’Angleterre uses a variety of marketing channels to communicate its promise of excellent services and exceptional comfort is but the primary ones are its website and pages at different booking websites. The hotel’s persona of the family of Jannet and Harrold are well-acquainted with new technologies and, as the majority of people nowadays, spend a lot of time online. This makes it perfect for the hotel to promote its promise over its website, a marketing channel which, according to studies, is an effective tool for increasing hotel clients’ satisfaction (Ali, 2016). The Hotel d’Angleterre’s website looks clean, modern, has easily identifiable navigation, and is responsive and convenient since it allows to book a room without any additional procedures. The visual elements in the form of photos of the hotel’s building, rooms, and Windows restaurant match the promise conveyed by the brand. It is a communication channel which fits the hectic schedule of the aforementioned persona since Jannet and Harrold are busy people, and they expect their time and efforts to be respected. Another important communication channel used by Hotel d’Angleterre is its page on booking.com, a platform for booking hotels which is popular in Europe and particularly in the UK, the persona’s home country (Martin-Fuentes & Mellinas, 2018). The hotel’s page features the same elements found on the official website, including photos and texts. Booking.com also has an app for Android phones and iPhones, which is extremely convenient for modern users who tend to use their devices for performing the majority of their activity on the internet. Jannet and Harrold are the primary target audience of booking.com, people who want to see all available choices and be aware of all the advantages and disadvantages of hotels. Thus, the decision of Hotel d’Angleterre to promote its brand on the aforementioned platform is reasonable and ideal for attracting customers such as Jannet and Harrold. 309

Dream Equation Management

The problem of the dream equation for luxury brands is that they have to be concerned about increasing their awareness among the public and simultaneously restrict access to its products (Bastien & Kapferer, 2009). Making their goods or services affordable for the majority of people eradicates the dream promoted by the company and kills its exclusiveness, which makes it no longer a luxury brand. Relying on the 7P model, Hotel d’Angleterre manages to maintain this balance by employing the elements of product, place, and price (Blythe, 2009). It offers a product which is targeted at a specific group of people, namely, the upper-class individuals who are willing to spend more than usual for a hotel room. The high price charged for staying at the hotel reflects this intention of the brand to provide services to a particular type of individuals and thus poses an obstacle for those who cannot afford it. Yet, at the same time, the brand is widely present on the internet, which is available to a large number of people with different levels of income, which boosts brand awareness. This ensures the balance between availability and unavailability and works to maintain the dream equation, which is essential for keeping the brand relevant and in demand. According to Bastien and Kapferer (2013), luxury brands should not utilize classical strategies of marketing and instead focus on the so-called “anti-laws,” which stress the importance of not only the tangible but also intangible value. Hotel d’Angleterre adheres to several of them, but the main two are highlighting the brand’s heritage and not trying to be fashionable (Bastien & Kapferer, 2013). The first one is expressed through the hotel’s description on the official website, which states that it has a long history and was established in 1872, which makes customers value and trust the brand more. The second anti-law used by the brand manifests itself in the hotel’s design, which does not feature any trendy elements which are currently popular and instead opts for a traditional style yet with modern amenities.

Recommendations on Marketing Strategy

The current marketing strategy of Hotel d’Angleterre is reliable, and it demonstrates positive results, yet there are some areas which need improvement. One of them is the hotel’s presence and outreach on popular social media platforms, primarily Instagram. The hotel has a page on this website, yet its audience is rather small in number compared to what potentially can be achieved with the brand’s resources. The first step would be to add more people and emotions to the photos posted on the platform since they will contribute to the brand’s dream value by making viewers want to have similar experiences. By expanding its audience online, the brand will simultaneously increase the demand for its services, which in turn will provide an opportunity to raise prices. This will compensate for the newly generated awareness and help keep the hotel in the luxury segment, making it even harder to access. Secondly, the brand has to start working with influencers of different scope, for example, the brand can ask a YouTube blogger to stay at the hotel and make a video about their experience. This will also stimulate brand awareness and allow the brand to charge its clients larger sums of money. Lastly, the hotel can personalize the experience of its customers by adding a feature which would allow clients to register on the official website. This would considerably save customers’ time spent on the process of booking and grant the hotel personal information of its clients. Such information will help the brand create individual offers tailored to the needs of a particular person based on their previous experience at the hotel. This will also create an emotional bond between the hotel and its customers, thus ensuring long-lasting relationships and trust. Moreover, such a client-oriented approach will attract new customers since the previous ones will recommend the hotel to their friends and colleagues.

References

Ali, F. (2016). Hotel website quality, perceived flow, customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 7(2), 213–228.

Bastien, V., & Kapferer, J. N. (2009). The luxury strategy: Break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands. Kogan Page.

Bastien V., & Kapferer, J. N. (2013). More on luxury anti-laws of marketing. In: Wiedmann K. P., Hennigs N. (eds), Luxury marketing. Gabler Verlag.

Berrozpe, A., Campo, S., & Yagüe, M. J. (2017). Understanding the identity of Ibiza, Spain. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(8), 1033–1046.

Blythe, J. (2009). Key concepts in marketing. SAGE.

Hotel d’Angleterre. (n.d.). Hotel d’Angleterre.

Jin, B., & Cedrola, E. (2017). Fashion branding and communication: Core strategies of European luxury brands. Springer.

Martin-Fuentes, E., & Mellinas, J. P. (2018). Hotels that most rely on Booking.com – online travel agencies (OTAs) and hotel distribution channels.Tourism Review, 73(4), 465–479.

Scussel, F., & Demo, G. (2019). The relational aspects of luxury consumption in Brazil: The development of a luxury customer relationship perception scale and the analysis of brand personality influence on relationship perception on luxury fashion brands. Brazilian Business Review, 16(2), 174–190.

Tong, X., Su, J., & Xu, Y. (2017). Brand personality and its impact on brand trust and brand commitment: an empirical study of luxury fashion brands. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 11(2), 196–209.

Introduction

Overview

This section covers the background to the study, problem statement, research objectives, hypotheses and the significance of the study.

Background to the study

According to the statistics of World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), in the next 10 years, as the world’s largest industry, the global tourism industry will grow by more than 4.4 percent annually, the number of international tourists and international tourism revenue is postulated to expand by between 4.3 percent and 6.7 percent annually. This is far much higher than the 3 percent of world’s wealth increasing rate (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). By the year 2020, tourist arrivals worldwide are expected to reach 1.6 billion passengers; the tourism industry revenue will increase to 16 trillion dollars, which is equivalent to 10 percent of the global GDP. At least 300 million jobs will be provided, accounting for 9.2 percent of the total global employment, further strengthening its position as the world’s largest industry (Shiwen, 2008). According to the World Tourism Organization, the global financial crisis in the US and Europe crippled tourism market in mature economies, tourism in emerging economies is still developing. Tourism industry has become the first industry to rebound in the international financial crisis. It contributes to reducing the negative impact of the crisis and plays an active role in the global economic recovery (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011).

Since the occurrence of the global economic crisis, UK’s tourism industry continued to maintain the momentum of rapid development. Its international tourism ranked first in Europe in addition to a strong tourism growth domestically (Shiwen 2008, p.25; Sorensen, 2004). There are at least 20,000 travel agencies, 14,000 star hotels, 18,500 tourist attractions and 1.350 million practitioners. In 2010, UK’s domestic tourism revenue was 1.26 trillion Yuan (equivalent to £ 117.3 billion), increasing by 23.5 percent. Tourism foreign exchange revenues were $45.8 billion, increasing by 15.5 percent. UK’s total tourism income was 1.57 trillion Yuan (equivalent to £146.15 billion), increasing by 21.7 percent and equivalent to 3.94 percent of UK’s GDP. Tourism industry, as a new economic growth point, has been further strengthened (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011).

However, the data above only shows that UK is a big tourist destination, not a destination with powerful competitiveness. UK has a long way to go on efficiency of resource allocation and competitiveness of tourism enterprises as compared with the other developed countries (Southall, 1998). In terms of the overall economic benefits since the 1990s, there were two distinct characteristics: at the macro level, entailing that the industrial system and the size of the market are growing rapidly, and at the micro level, entailing that the total number of enterprises and incomes are increasing. The total profits and profit margins of tourism are declining even to negative profit margins and zero profit, thus, the tourism market as a whole marks a poor performance (Leslie, 2009; Tang, 2005). UK’s tourism market performance is summarized in Table 1.1 below.

Table 1.1 Performance of UK’s tourism market. Source: (He & Xu, 2007, p.53).

According to the structure conduct performance model of industrial organization, market structure determines market behavior, and market behavior has further affected the market performance (Bain, 1968; Unger & Chan, 1994, p.37). Therefore, the poor performance of the UK’s tourism market can be attributed to the market structure. Table 1.2 shows the characteristics of UK’s tourism market structure.

Table 1.2 UK’s tourism market structure. Source: (He & Xu, 2007, p.54).

The table above depicts that UK’s tourism enterprises have not become a real mainstay of the market, with small scale and low competitiveness. Against the backdrop of market expansion, while the overall effectiveness is growing, the acceleration is sluggish, resources allocation is inefficient and the market performance is poor (Wang, 2003).

Statement of the problem

Over the recent years, UK has developed to turn out to be one of the top tourist destinations worldwide. The relatively good performance of the tourism market in the UK is because of the existence of some large travel companies (Wang, 1995; Wang, 2003).

UK is a major tourist destination with development potential; UK is a big tourist destination, not a destination with powerful competitiveness (Wu 2002, p.1081). UK has a long way to go on efficiency of resource allocation and competitiveness of tourism enterprises as compared with the other developed countries. Potential converting into real productivity needs to establish a number of powerful national or multinational leveled enterprises with international competitiveness (He & Xu, 2007, p.57; Wu, Xu & Yeh, 2007). Increasing UK’s tourism market performance should be attributed to improving tourism market structure, forming large scale tourism enterprises, improving the correlation of assets in tourism industry, optimizing the industrial structure, regulating the tourism market behavior and ordering market competition (Wu & Ma, 2005; Yin & Wang, 2000). The development of enterprise conglomeration is the only way for UK’s tourism.

Aims of the study

The general objective of this study was to determine the economic effects of sports tourism in the UK. In line with the general objective, the study examined the following specific objectives:

1. To determine the role of sports tourism in exploitation of the country’s natural resource;
2. To determine the effect of sports tourism on the country’s terms of trade;
3. To determine the effect of sports tourism on the country’s balance of payment;
4. To investigate the role of sports tourism in employment creation in the country;
5. To explore on the role of sports tourism on the balanced growth of the country’s economy.

Research Hypotheses

In order to meet the above objectives, the following hypotheses were tested:

1. Ho₁: Sports tourism does not exploit the country’s natural resources;
2. Ho₂: Sports tourism has no impact on the country’s terms of trade;
3. Ho₃: Sports tourism has no effect on the country’s balance of payment;
4. Ho₄: Sports tourism does not create employment opportunities;
5. Ho₅: Sports tourism does not contribute to the balanced growth of the country’s economy.

Purpose of the Study

The findings of this study are of great value to policy makers and regulatory authorities. It provides the policy makers with a wide exposure with regard to the assessment on how sports tourism affects the economy of the country, thus enabling them to adopt the relevant strategies in line with the situation. The findings of this study also add to the body of knowledge of related studies concerning the effects of sports tourism in the economy of the UK.

Literature Review

Introduction

This chapter reviews the theories both empirical and theoretical that are closely linked to the economic effects of sports tourism in UK.

Definitions

The various standardized terms used in the field of tourism have been built up and approved by the World Tourism Organization (WTO). According to the WTO, tourism entails the complete combination of actions of any person who is travelling from his/her home environment to somewhere outside that environment for a standard period of time, normally less than year. The person travelling pays for the activities that he/she is involved in at the place of visit (He & Xu, 2007, p.53; Abelson & Levi, 1985, p. 16; Arnould & Price, 1993, p. 26). Sports tourism, however, should not be confused with migration as the travelling person does not move out permanently.

The various activities that the tourists engage in include: leisure, business, recreation, etc. The WTO has classified tourism into various categories. The categories include:

1. Domestic tourism, which entails local country residents visiting tourist attraction sites located in the country,
2. Sports tourism, which entails the visit to a country by people who are not residents,
3. Outbound tourism, which entails residents of a particular country visiting tourist attraction sites located in other countries,
4. Internal tourism, this is a mixture of both domestic tourism and sports tourism,
5. National tourism, this is a mixture of both domestic tourism and outbound tourism, and
6. International tourism, this is a mixture of both sports tourism and outbound tourism (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Baloglu, 1997, p. 225; Bargeman & Poel, 2006, p. 710; Barros & Proença, 2005, p. 300; Barsky, 1992, p. 52).

The conceptual foundation of analysis of economic impacts of sports tourism

The analysis of the economic impacts of tourism is concerned with the approximation of the transformations of the economic activities in a particular region as a result of tourism activities (He & Xu, 2007, p.55; Baker & Crompton, 1998, p. 800; Baker & Burnham, 2002, p. 352; Baker & Hart, 1999). To various scholars in the field of tourism, economic impact analysis deals with the estimation of government revenue, the level of income, the level of employment and the revenue generated from the import of the tourists’ expenditure (Leslie, 2009; Beerli & Martín, 2004, p. 660). The direct economic effects of tourism are the transformations that occur in the line-industries that are connected to the tourists’ activities. For instance, if a visitor checks him/herself in a hotel and pays $200, the payment is bound to directly increase the volume of sales in the hotel for that day. In this way, a direct sales effect is achieved as a result of the expenditure of the visitors. This payment will enable the hotel to hire more employees and pay them well (Bentler & Speckart, 1979, p. 455; Bettman & Park, 1980, p. 235; Bultena & Klessig, 1969, p. 350; Correia & Crouch, 2004; Correia, 2002, p. 24).

When the hotel makes purchases from suppliers who mainly are from industries that are connected to the activities of the hotel, an indirect economic effect of tourism is achieved, as the purchases made by the hotel will increase the volume of sales to the suppliers and also enable the suppliers to employ more attendants and give them good remunerations (Shiwen, 2008; Crompton & Ankomah, 1993, p. 463; Fleischer & Pizam, 2002, p. 110; Fodness, & Murray, 1997, p. 512; Fodness, 1994, p. 560). For instance, the hotel can buy bed sheets or blankets or foodstuffs from various industries so that they can provide quality services to their customers; the incomes gained or the jobs created from the sales of these products by the linked companies are the indirect economic effects generated from tourism (Gnoth, 1997, p. 300; Goosens, 2000, p. 312; Howard, & Sheth, 1969; Kozak, 2001, p. 790; Lancaster, 1966, p. 140).

Apart from direct and indirect economic effects, there are also induced economic effects. The induced effects are connected to the sales or the earnings received from the direct or indirect spending by the tourists (He & Xu, 2007, p.53; McCabe, 2000, p. 1050; Mohsin & Ryan, 2003, p. 120). The induced economic effect of tourism is in most cases evident from the activities of the hotel employees or employees of catering companies, for instance, when they spend their salaries, they create more sales, jobs and incomes (Guo, 2000, p.208; Morley, 1992, p. 252). The induced expenditure can be lost partly through savings or through importation of goods or services. When the losses occur, they are termed as leakages (Shiwen, 2008; Oliver, 1993, p. 420; Smith, 2003).

The expenditure by tourists creates extra economic effects to other sectors of the economy. As a result of this, the level of income and expenditure of the various households increase and a chain of spending and re-spending is initiated. This is referred to as the ‘multiplier effect’ (Leslie, 2009; Ryan, 1994). Multiplier effect depicts the ultimate output change in the economy in relation to the original visitor’s expenditure change. In addition, the multiplier effect is important to the assessment of the economic effects of tourism in the economy. When the multiplier effect is so large, it means that the impact of the visitors’ expenditure to the economy is also great (Guo, 2000, p.207).

The multipliers entail the magnitude of all effects. It is more often than not the ratio of the total effects of tourism on the economy to the direct effects of tourism on the economy (Miller & Blair, 1985). For example, suppose the sales multiplier for an accommodation industry is 1.5 in a certain region, any visitor who spends $100 on accommodation will generate a total effect of $150 with regard to sales in that region; this translates to $100 direct sales effect to the accommodation industry and $50 secondary effect to the related industries that are in the region. Hence, the real economic impact of tourism lies on the expenditure of the visitors (He & Xu, 2007, p.53).

Economic impact analysis

In order to support the decisions that are related to tourism, there are various economic analyses that are undertaken. These forms of economic analyses are related to each other and in many occasions, they tend to be confused with each other. Thus, every kind of economic analysis is recognized by the issues it addresses and the type of model it is based on (Leslie, 2009).

Types of economic impact analysis

Economic impact analysis

This type of analysis focuses on the role of tourism activities to the economic position of a region. It mainly checks out the patterns of expenditure related to tourism activities based in the region so as to point out the changes with regard to sales, incomes and tax remittances that come about as a result to tourism activities (Frechtling, 1994). The important methods that are used in this kind of analysis include: a survey involving the expenditure of the visitors, a survey of the government economic statistics, a survey of the region’s economic models, a survey of the input-output models and a survey of the multipliers (Frechtling, 1994).

Fiscal impact analysis

This type of analysis focuses on whether the revenue that the government generates from activities related to tourism, taxes, or other sources will sufficiently finance the government’s expenditure (Burchell & Listokin, 1978). Therefore, fiscal impact analysis points out the various changes with regard to the government’s expenditure in connection to the amount of revenue collected or received from the government’s services (Burchell & Listokin, 1978).

Financial analysis

This type of analysis focuses on whether any extra profit can be realized from the tourism activities; for instance, it analyzes whether the revenue generated from the tourism activities will surpass the total cost used in those activities so as to make a substantial amount of profits. Financial analysis always covers the availability of capital to start up and also the availability of funds to finance the operating cost and other overhead costs. The analysis of finance for a small private enterprise is equivalent to the fiscal analysis of the impacts of tourism in the economy (Burchell & Listokin, 1978).

Demand analysis

This type of analysis focuses on the assessment of changes to the number of tourists visiting a certain area as a result of changes to the prices of tourist activities, changes to promotional activities, changes to competition, changes to the quantity and quality of the tourism facilities and changes to other determinants of demand (Walsh, 1986). Using the demand analysis, it is possible to make a forecast concerning the qualitative or quantitative aspects of the visiting tourists through estimations. These forecasts are usually made paying attention to the past and current trends of tourist activities in the region. In addition, these predictions are made through the use of a model that analyzes the various determinants that affect patterns of tourists’ visits and expenditure. These determinants include: size of the population, the levels of income, the nature of competition and the distance between the market and the accommodation area (Johnson & Thomas, 1992).

Cost benefit analysis

This kind of analysis focuses on the assessment of whether there exist other optional policies that provide the society with the largest package of benefits during a certain period of time (Sudgen & Williams, 1978). Therefore, a cost benefit analysis plays the role of approximating the competence of the other optional policies by weighing their benefits in terms of cost over a period of time, so as to point out the best policy in overall. In order to achieve this, the cost benefit analysis approach employs a wide array of methods; such methods include: the travel cost technique and also the contingent valuation technique (Sudgen & Williams, 1978).

Feasibility study

This kind of analysis evaluates whether the selected project should be embarked on. In other words, it aims to point out whether the selected policy has good chances of succeeding once it is commenced. In many cases, feasibility study involves carrying out the financial analysis in order to investigate whether there are chances of success. A feasibility study that is conducted by the private sector is equivalent to conducting the cost benefit analysis in the sector. The main difference between feasibility study and cost benefit analysis is that in feasibility study the benefits and the cost go to individual people or individual business organization while in cost benefit analysis, the benefits and the costs mainly go to the society as a whole (Warnell, 1986).

Environmental impact analysis

This kind of analysis focuses on the assessment of the effects of the projects or policies selected on the environment. The projects or policies can affect the environment in various ways, for instance, cultural changes, physical changes, changes to the ecological system, social changes, etc. (Williams, 1994).

The tourism industry

Tourist destination can be categorized with regard to the sectors they originate from, i.e. transport sector, infrastructure sector, attractions sector, supporting facilities sector and accommodation sector. All these sectors are related in that tourists are encouraged to visit through attractions, they make their visits through transportation, the supporting facilities (for instance, banks, hotels, shopping centers) ensure that the visitors are well taken care of during their vacation, a proper infrastructure confirms that all the other related sectors are properly working (Leslie, 2009).

The tourism industry is majorly concerned with setting up enterprises or organizations that make it easy for people to travel from their normal environment to a different environment. The business of tourism can be divided into two levels, i.e. level one encompasses enterprises or organizations that cannot survive without the existence of tourism e.g. hotels, travel agencies and airlines. Level two encompasses enterprises or organizations that would still thrive even without tourism existing; however, their existence would be of a diminishing form. Some examples of these enterprises include: gift shops, taxis, rental car agencies, etc. (He & Xu, 2007, p.53).

Ecotourism is the most recent style in the tourism industry. It entails travelling that consists of both conservation of the natural environment and maintaining the interests of the people who live in that environment (Frechtling, 1994). There are significant differences between ecotourism and traditional tourism. Ecotourism focuses on measures that guarantee that the visitors do not engage in any activity that endangers the natural environment. In addition, ecotourism encourages sustainable tourism. Thus, any tourism activity that causes harm to the environment or diminishes the local cultures of the people in the environment is not attuned to ecotourism (Guo, 2000, p.203).

Relationship between tourism business and economic development

Global tourism has significant impacts on different economies, suggesting that tourism is a business that has great economic magnitude. Tourism is a great source of income and job opportunities, besides being a significant aspect of balance of payment for various economies. As a result of this, many governments give special treatment to the tourism sector because of the huge contributions it makes to the economy (Leslie, 2009).

In the developing countries, tourism plays various important roles in the economy. Tourism necessitates the utilization and management of the natural resources in the country. In addition, tourism enables the developing countries to be in a position to compete internationally as a result of favorable terms of trade. More so, tourism contributes to an improved balance of payment. Tourism also creates job opportunities and raises the level of income of the people. Due to the tourism industry, the developing countries have a balanced growth in their various sectors of the economy (He & Xu, 2007, p.53).

Due to the fact that tourism industry employs several people, it calls for the improvement and expansion of the education sector in order to offer training to the local people and expose them to this field. With regard to this, the levels of professionalism have risen as many more jobs have been created. It is beneficial to conduct an elaborate economic impact analysis of tourism in order to equip the policy makers with the relevant information that will guide them in making reforms (Frechtling, 1994). The revenue that tourism pumps into the economy is mainly got from the expenditure or the spending of the tourists, especially when they source for goods and services.

The tourism sector offers a wide variety of job opportunities. These jobs are spread across retail firms, communication sector, construction companies and manufacturing companies. A large potion of the population is a beneficiary of these jobs. Tourism, therefore, plays a major role in the development of emerging economies as it improves the welfare of many people, hence, raising their standards of living. Tourism is just like any other product for sale that can be imported or exported; the only difference is that it is intangible; therefore, it cannot be manufactured, packaged, or transported to the destined market. In the same way, tourism resembles a product for sale; the customer (tourist) travels to the market (point of sale) and pays for the good or service and eventually receives it. Therefore, tourism is a product that is sold to consumers who majorly come from abroad; hence, it is regarded as the biggest and the widest export product (Guo, 2000, p.207).

Impacts of sports tourism on economic and business development

For many developing countries, especially the ones in the Caribbean, tourism has been regarded as a very important foreign exchange earner; hence, it is a major source of wealth to these countries. Therefore, for these countries to continue earning from tourism activities, they should ensure that the tourism activities should be friendly to the environment and sustainable (Frechtling, 1994). For other developing countries, tourism is quickly replacing agriculture as the main foreign exchange earner; hence, fostering for the diversification of their financial systems. The main motivation for a country to have a well developed tourism sector is to maximize their foreign exchange earnings in order to maintain an efficient balance of payment. The tourism sector is a sector that grows continuously, thus, it is always viewed as a sector that enables the country to earn much through foreign exchange for over many years (Leslie, 2009).

International tourism experienced a major shock when the United States was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001. This affected international tourism both in the short run and in the long run. When terrorism is not controlled, international tourism is highly affected as the travelers have minimal confidence to travel around and tour the world. The risks involved cannot be measured; hence, it becomes so difficult to quantify the effect of terrorism on tourism (He & Xu, 2007, p.53).

The tourism industry is assisted by a wide range of associated companies or enterprises. They include: airline companies, accommodation industries, manufacturing firms, tour firms, travel and tour agencies, financial institutions, and taxi and car rental agencies. Tourism enables these industries to expand and grow, thereby, creating more jobs and increasing income earnings for the people concerned. In addition, tourism facilitates the flow and exchange of wide varieties of cultures all across the world. This has played a great role towards the development of the associated industries, businesses, firms or enterprises that assist the tourism industry (Guo, 2000, p.205). The direct revenue or income that is obtained from tourism include: money spent by the visitors on accommodation, meals, travelling, leisure and entertainment, and visit to game reserves or game parks or beaches. The direct revenue from tourism makes it possible for indirect revenue to be earned.

Various scholars have pointed out that tourism as a quickly expanding and rapidly growing industry, aims at promoting programs that protect the natural environment, because this environment serves as a home to the animals and plants that the tourists aim to see. Tourism also aims at addressing the issues that touch on the social factors, economic factors and natural factors that change from time to time. Through tourism, resources are allocate in a balanced manner; thus, enhancing the development of infrastructure and eradication of poverty (Leslie, 2009).

The dynamics of international tourism have rapidly changed over the years since the end of the Second World War. In the year 1999, tourism industry was estimated to have a value of US$8,000 billion, accounting for 6 percent of the world’s total economy (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). That is to say, from the year 1949 when tourism started to develop, it took only 50 years to match the contribution of mining and agriculture to the world’s total economy (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). In the same year (1999), the tourism sector managed to employ at least 200 million people across the entire world (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011).

The quick growth and expansion of the tourism sector year after year has not failed to be noticed as the most outstanding element of tourism. In the 1950s, the number of international tourists was only 25 million visitors; come the year 2000, this number had rapidly grown to at least 699 million visitors world wide. This indicates that the annual tourism growth rate has been 7 percent (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). The total revenue received from tourism or tourism related activities grew by 11 percent in this period (Guo, 2000, p.201).

Economically, the receipt from international tourism entails export and import of international tourists’ expenditure. Several countries receive direct revenue from tourism or tourism related activities. The direct revenue mainly entails the revenue that is received by a country as a result of taxes. Developing countries greatly rely on the tax revenue in order to enhance their economic growth and development. There are at least 40 different types of taxes that are enforced on the tourism industry; the most common taxes include: accommodation taxes, visa taxes and airport arrival and departure taxes. There are various variables that relate to the direct revenue earned from tourism. The variables include: the total number of visitors expected; the number of days that they are expected to stay; and the level of their daily expenditure (He & Xu, 2007, p.53). The government has an option of influencing any of the variables so as to achieve maximum direct revenue from tourism.

The governments need to identify tourism as the top earner of revenue. In order to support this, the various governments should work out policies that aim at expanding both travel and tourism so that the sector should grow exponentially. The country’s business set up needs to offer a very competitive field so as to raise the business standards and improve the quality of the business products. In addition, the various governments need to expand the transport sector, the communication sector and international trade, as these are the sectors that play a great role toward the development of the tourism sector. Moreover, the various countries need to work on the security measures so as to ensure that the tourists are safe. The tourism sector should also be expanded so as to make it more sustainable and it should aim at protecting and preserving the cultures of the country residents. With these mechanisms in place, the tourism sector is greatly improved and well maintained in order to satisfy all the stakeholders who are concerned (Frechtling, 1994).

Tourism policies and their impacts on the national economy

Tourism is viewed as the fastest growing industry all over the world as it the main creator of jobs and source of revenue for the governments. Statistics from the World Tourism Organization (WTO) indicate that at least 10 percent of the total world’s income is generated by tourism, and at least one tenth of the total world’s population is employed by the tourism sector (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). These figures indicate that tourism plays a very important role in terms of safeguarding the economic welfare of the country; hence, the need to set up a proper management authority to check on the welfare and the growth of the tourism sector. In the emerging economies, the great benefits of tourism on the economies is very hard to point out due to the fact that a very large amount of income that is got from tourism is transmitted out of the country since the local enterprises, firms and products are excluded. Therefore, increase in income, employment opportunities, and improvements in the standards of living are negligible.

When the government formulates the tourism policies effectively and plans properly, the tourism sector is greatly boosted; thus, its chances of growing and expanding are majorly boosted. The economic effect of tourism in the economy cannot fail to be recognized as it is exceptional and easy to point out. The balancing of a country’s terms of trade is always regarded as a very positive contribution of tourism to the economy. Apart from impacting the country’s economy, tourism also has social impacts to the local societies. When there is a boom in tourism, the government moves swiftly to welcome and contain the visitors. In addition, sustaining and maintaining the tourism activities require extra money from the government or from the local community who pay tax (He & Xu, 2007, p.53).

These extra costs are required to meet the expansion of roads, airports, hotels and other infrastructure that are associated to the tourism sector. Tourism necessitates the development of social infrastructures such as hospitals, schools and colleges, cyber cafes, etc. These social infrastructures make it possible for the local society to be linked to the tourism activities and participate in one way or the other. As a result of this, several businesses are expanded as many interested investors opt to invest (Guo, 2000, p.201).

The developing strategy of UK’s sports tourism

The macro-development strategy of UK’s tourism

On the motivation of the conglomeration of tourism enterprises, there are three different voices in the academic world:

Government led strategy

The reasons to advocate for government led strategy are based on three points: First, UK’s tourism development experience over the past 30 years. Second, the lessons learnt from the developed countries. Third, the nature of tourism industry makes it to revolve in many related sectors (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990, p.24; Ruan 2000, p.57).

Government support for advanced project

Some scholars have argued that the government should actively encourage the consortia to enter the hotel industry or form groups, but the method should be based on acquisition, equity transferring and improving the existing hotels. In particular, the government should promote the cooperation between consortia and hotels and famous hotel management companies in order to let big financial groups hold shares and pass the management rights to the management company; thus, setting up the giants in hotel industry (Zou, 1999, p.122).

The market oriented strategy

Experts in the industry thought that capital is the key for the success of UK’s tourism conglomeration. That means that capital management should be a mode of operation to form tourism groups. In order to develop tourism groups according to the market oriented standards, the expansion ought to follow the market laws. First, conglomerate groups should implement an internal management strategy to improve management and enhance the effectiveness of internal allocation of resources. By expanding markets, companies can develop new products, adjust the organizational structure, improve management, increase productivity and control costs to integrate the internal resources under the capital structure (Wang, 2006, p.202).

Business strategy of UK’s tourism group

Conglomerating a group itself is not hard. What is difficult is what comes after the establishment of a group. Can it develop orderly and durably?

UK’s tourism market development strategy

• The strategy in the country: major travel agencies should expand under the same brand and integrate the internal business. The market focus should be mid end domestic tourism and business tourism market (Dai, 1999, p.124). Low end starred hotel are the best choices for agencies to conglomerate and network (Zhang, Qin & Li, 2000, p.43).
• The strategy worldwide: in the process of merging with the international tourism market, the main competitors are changing from the small and medium enterprises to large enterprises and enterprise groups, and the competition among countries bears a nature of global strategy (Guo, 2000, p.201). The development of international strategy will not only help to make extensive use of foreign resources, but also improve the international competitiveness of UK’s tourism enterprises (Li, 2000, p.14).
• The market development space of UK’s tourism group: under the context of industrial restructuring in the country, a comprehensive restructuring of the asset structure has happened in some industries. Thus, a number of new tourism enterprises with modern management system have come into being. These companies with loose alliances and the ones with systematic management are the ideal companies for cooperation with the UK’s tourism groups (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990, p.24; Ruan, 2000, p.57).

UK’s tourism development strategy within the group

Without cohesion, the effectiveness of conglomeration is not much strong. There will be no business combination, no powerful group benefits, no upwards power, and no sustainable development vitality (Wang, 2006, p.210). Since the development of UK’s tourism group determines the group’s internal cohesion, there are many studies that have been studied on this topic. The specific strategies can be divided as follows:

1. The importance of clear property rights is the consensus within business and academic fields: The facts and figures of the recent years show that, the diversification of property rights, joint-stock reform and the list of the shares on stock can not only increase the funding for the tourism enterprises, but can also dump the non performing assets, select high quality asset for listing and raise more money (Zou, 1999, p.120). As the groups have not solved the core issues like the form of restructuring their corporate assets and property rights allocation, they failed to form an organic combination and failed to form a strong large scale and intensive management, resulting in the high cost of doing business, bloated organization and low efficiency; thus, the result of conglomeration is not obvious and the awareness is not high (Zhang & Zhang, 2000). The UK’s Travel Group should stand on the basis of the clarification of property rights, improvement of the level of capital operation, and transfer of the capital to cost effective enterprises and fields so as to achieve capital efficiency (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990, p.24; Ruan, 2000, p.57).
2. Improved management: First, companies ought to concentrate on the development of human resources. After the establishment of a travel group, more expert consultants, strategic management staff and professional managers are needed. Tourism human resources development is an important guarantee for orderly and sustainable development of the group. Professional management is a necessary means to accumulate the core competitiveness for the travel group (Liu & Dong, 2001, p.132).

Secondly, travel groups need to establish related organizational structures. Organizational innovation of tourism enterprises has two means, one is to collaborate with organizations in the fields and the second involves collaborating with large companies and co-investing in tourism enterprises (Dai, 1999, p.127). Virtual chain entails a management model of using the strongest power and limited resources to maximize its effectiveness, based on computer network technology and it will be an indispensable operating mechanism in the future (Dong, 1999, p.125). With the development of tourism, it is a realistic and feasible way to develop UK’s tourism by establishing strategic alliance (He & Xu, 2007, p.52).

3. The innovation of mode of operation: In the process of development, tourism groups need to create on operation mode according to their environment and conditions. Actually, the operation mode is diversified (Wei, 2000, p.130). The conglomeration needs to build five resource system, human resource, capital resource, material resource, time and space resource and information resource (Wei, 2000, p.133). From the perspective of market operation of tourism enterprises, the competition of level 1 is price competition, which is on the lowest level and most common one. Level 2 is quality competition, and level 3 or the highest level is culture competition (Wei, 2000, p.133).

Methodology

Introduction

Methodology is the process of instructing the ways to do the research. It is, therefore, convenient for conducting the research and for analyzing the research questions. The process of methodology insists that much care should be given to the kinds and nature of procedures to be adhered to in accomplishing a given set of procedures or an objective. This section contains the research design, study population and the sampling techniques that will be used to collect data for the study. It also details the data analysis methods, ethical considerations, validity and reliability of data and the limitation of the study.

Research philosophy

For this part, choosing a philosophy of research design is the choice between the positivist and the social constructionist (Easterby, Thorp & Lowe, 2008). The positivist view shows that social worlds exist externally, and its properties are supposed to be measured objectively, rather than being inferred subjectively through feelings, intuition, or reflection. The basic beliefs for positivist view are that the observer is independent, and science is free of value. The researchers should always concentrate on facts, look for causality and basic laws, reduce phenomenon to simplest elements, and form hypotheses and test them.

Preferred methods for positivism consist of making concepts operational and taking large samples. The view of the social constructionists is that reality is a one-sided phenomenon and can be constructed socially in order to gain a new significance to the people. The researchers should concentrate on meaning, look for understanding for what really happened and develop ideas with regard to the data. Preferred methods for the social constructionists include using different approaches to establish different views of phenomenon and small samples evaluated in depth or over time (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009). For the case of analyzing the London Olympic business opportunities on the local tourism industry in the United Kingdom, the philosophy of the social constructionists was used for carrying out the research. Because it tends to produce qualitative data, and the data are subjective since the gathering process would also be subjective due to the involvement of the researcher.

Sample selection

Population refers to the total elements that are under investigation from which the researcher draws conclusion (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009, p. 90). A sample is a subset of the population, i.e. it is a representation of the total population (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009, p. 90). This study mainly used a non-probability design of sampling. In this design, not every participant in the study has an equal chance of being chosen. Non-probability sampling design does not utilize much cost and time, hence it is widely preferred. When smaller samples are used, a non-probability research design is susceptible to errors, thus, normally a larger sample size is selected. In addition, it was preferred for the number of observations to be more than the number of variables as a regression analysis was to be conducted.

Research design

In line with the main objective of this study which is to identify the relationship between employee commitment and job attitude on service quality for the elderly in tourism industry, this study employed a cross-sectional research design. Under this design 450 respondents were targeted. They were issued with questionnaires to assist with data collection. The respondents were assured of the confidentiality of their participation.

Statistical method

Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were both applied in the study in order to test the hypotheses.

Descriptive statics

Descriptive statistics is mostly applicable for analyzing numerical data. It uses distribution frequencies, distribution of variables and measures of central tendencies (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009, p. 93). The characteristics of the sample chosen will be used to compute frequencies and percentages with regard to the questionnaires.

Inferential statics

Inferential statistics gives the researcher the chance to convert the data into statistical format so that important patterns or trends are captured and analyzed accordingly (Easterby, Thorp & Lowe, 2008, p. 72). Regression analysis is utilized in inferential statistics. Regression analysis is employed to check on the relationship between a dependent variable and independent variable. It allows for the researcher to predict and forecast the expected changes to a dependent variable when one independent variable changes (Easterby, Thorp & Lowe, 2008, p. 72).

Data Collection and Instrumentation

Questionnaires were used to collect the data. The questionnaires were issued to 450 respondents who were mainly employees in the tourism industry. The participants’ responses were treated with much confidentiality.

Data Analysis Methods

Data from the survey were entered into the Excel spreadsheet program for future analysis. Data was analyzed using SPSS, ANOVA, regression and correlation analysis.

Limitation of data collection methods

There have been a lot of concerns on additional budgetary expenses for collection of the data, regardless of whether the gathered data is really genuine or not and whether there may be an explicit conclusion when interpreting and analyzing the data. In addition, some employees were reluctant to offer some information they deemed confidential and unsafe in the hands of their competitors. This posed a great challenge to the research as the researcher had to take a longer time to find employees who were willing to give out adequate information.

Validity and reliability

Validity of the data represents the data integrity and it connotes that the data is accurate and much consistent. Validity has been explained as a descriptive evaluation of the association between actions and interpretations and empirical evidence deduced from the data. More precaution was taken especially when a comparison was made between employee commitment and job attitude. The impact of the Olympics games may differ from country to country and may not be identical in an industry. Reliability of the data is the outcome of a series of actions which commences with the proper explanation of the issues to be resolved. This may push on to a clear recognition of the yardsticks concerned. It contains the target samples to be chosen, the proper sampling strategy and the sampling methods to be employed.

Results, Data Analysis and Interpretation

Introduction

This section covers the analysis of the data, presentation and interpretation. The results were analyzed using SPPS, ANOVA, regression and correlation analysis.

Descriptive statistics

Biographical information

237 respondents (52.6%) of the expected 450 respondents completed the questionnaires. The respondents had varied age distribution which is summarized in the Figure 4.1 below.

The figure indicates that many respondents were from the age group 40-49 years (43%, n=101). This was followed by respondents in the age group 30-39 years (24%, n=57). The third largest age group was 50-59 years which had 55 respondents (23%). The age group under 30 years had the lowest number of respondents (10%, n=24).

An analysis of the gender of the total respondents was made. The gender distribution is summarized in Figure 4.2 below.

The figure indicates that many respondents (60%, n=142) were female, whereas only 40% (n=95) were male emloyees.

An analysis of the respondents’ acaemic qualification was made. The qualification level is summarized in Figure 4.3 below.

The figure shows that many respondents (54%, n=128) had Bachelors degrees. This was followed by those who had Higher diplomas (18%, n=42), Diploma holders (16%, n=39) and Masters degree holders (12%, n=28) in that order.

An analysis of the employment category of the respondents was done. The employment category is summarized in Figure 4.4 below.

The figure shows that a majority of the respondents (55%, n=130) were employed on a permanent basis. This was followed by 89 respondents (37%) who were temporarily employed. Only 8% (n=18) of the respondents were employed on contract.

Summary of descriptive statistics

Descriptive statistics using the measures of central tendencies were computed from the results gathered from the questionnaires. The questionnaires focused on the economic effects of sports tourism in UK.

Results for economic effects of sports tourism

Respondents who were majorly employees in the tourism industry were issued with questionnaires in order to express their responses regarding the role of sports tourism in UK’s economy. The summary of the results is in Appendix 1. The results show that from the sample of 237 respondents, the mean for tourism’s role in exploitation of natural resources is 113.20 with a standard deviation of 14.30. From this computation, it can be deduced that many employees believe that sports tourism contributes to the exploitation of the county’s natural resources; this is indicated by the higher value of the standard deviation. In addition, the calculated arithmetic means for the role of sports tourism in improving terms of trade, balance of payment and balanced economic growth are less than the calculated arithmetic mean for the role of sports tourism in creating employment. It is, therefore, evident that sports tourism is a major employment creator. Sports tourism creates employment (Mean=127.20, SD=15.30) than balancing the economic growth (Mean=114.35, SD=14.22), improving balance of payment (Mean=103.10, SD=10.80), and improving terms of trade (Mean=102.12, SD=11.30).

Results for the economic impact analysis

Respondents who were majorly employees in the tourism industry were issued with questionnaires in order to express their responses regarding the role of sports tourism in UK’s economy. The summary of the results is in Appendix 2. The results show that the total environmental impact of sports tourism had a mean of 65.43 and a standard deviation of 19.24. With regard to the fact that an average level of impact is represented by a mean of 60, it is evident that sports tourism has a significant environmental impact. In addition, economic impact (mean=60.12, SD=13.02) stipulates that sports tourism has great economic benefits. Fiscal impact (mean=62.41, SD=15.02) stipulates that sports tourism had an effect on the country’s expenditure or spending. Financial impact (mean=67.02, SD=17.41) stipulates that there are financial benefits associated to sports tourism.

Inferential statistics

The results of inferential statistics were used to establish the relationship that exists among the variables that analyzes the economic effects of sports tourism; in addition, inferential statistics was used to ascertain the connection among the variables. The results are summarized in the Appendices 3 to 6.

The results in Appendix 3 show that there are major correlations between improvement of terms of trade and sports tourism (r = 0.598, p < 0.01), employment creation and sports tourism (r = 0.585, p < 0.01), balanced economic growth and sports tourism (r = 0.386, p < 0.01) and between improvement of balance of payment and sports tourism (r = 0.268, p < 0.05). There was also a significant relationship between the exploitation of natural resources and sports tourism (r = 0.273, p < 0.05).

The results in Appendix 4 show that there is a relationship between economic impacts and the economic impact analysis (r = 0.342, p < 0.01). There was also a strong relationship between fiscal impacts and the economic impact analysis (r = 0.436, p < 0.01). Furthermore, there was a strong relationship between financial impacts and the economic impact analysis (r = 0.701, p < 0.01). There was a significant relationship between environmental impacts and the economic impact analysis (r = 0.472, p < 0.01).

The results in Appendix 5 are for the economic variables regressed against sports tourism. Appendix 6 shows the ANOVA Analysis. The result found out that the multiple R-value is 0.602. The R-Square value of 0.361 indicates that 36.1% of the variables explained the dependent variable. The F-statistic (5.295) is statistically significant at 0.01 level; meaning that the economic variables significantly enlighten 36.1% of the variance in sports tourism. Improvement of balance of payment is the best predictor of sports tourism as it has a beta coefficient value of -0.3189 and is statistically significant at the 0.01 level. In addition, improvement of terms of trade, exploitation of natural resources and balanced economic growth are statistically significant at 0.05. The negative value of the beta coefficient of balanced economic growth indicates that sports tourism has a higher effect in terms of economic growth in developed countries than in the developing countries. In the same manner, the negative beta value of the exploitation of natural resources coefficient shows that the natural resources are very important for sports tourism.

Discussion

Introduction

This chapter presents the summary of the findings and discussion of the results in accordance to the objectives of this study. Finally, the chapter contains the conclusions and recommendations.

Summary of findings

The general objective of this study was to determine the economic effects of sports tourism in the UK. In line with the general objective, the study examined the following specific objectives: to determine the role of sports tourism in exploitation of the country’s natural resource; to determine the effect of sports tourism on the country’s terms of trade; to determine the effect of sports tourism on the country’s balance of payment; to investigate the role of sports tourism in employment creation in the country; and to explore on the role of sports tourism on the balanced growth of the country’s economy.

The objectives were satisfied by collecting and analyzing pertinent data using various statistical techniques. In line with the objectives, the following hypotheses were tested: sports tourism does not exploit the country’s natural resources; sports tourism has no impact on the country’s terms of trade; sports tourism has no effect on the country’s balance of payment; sports tourism does not create employment opportunities; and sports tourism does not contribute to the balanced growth of the country’s economy.

According to the World Tourism Organization, the global financial crisis in the US and Europe crippled tourism market in mature economies, tourism in emerging economies is still developing. Tourism industry has become the first industry to rebound in the international financial crisis. It contributes to reducing the negative impact of the crisis and plays an active role in the global economic recovery (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). Since the occurrence of the global economic crisis, UK’s tourism industry continued to maintain the momentum of rapid development. Its international tourism ranked first in Europe in addition to a strong tourism growth domestically (Shiwen 2008, p.25; Sorensen, 2004).

With regard to the questionnaires issued to the respondents, the results revealed that sports tourism holds a significant weight in the UK’s economy. Sports tourism leads to the exploitation of the natural resources of the country. Sports tourism also leads to the balancing of the country’s terms of trade as it is a major foreign exchange earner. In addition, through sports tourism, the country is in a good position to correct the imbalances that exist in the balance of payment. Apart from also creating many employment opportunities, sports tourism contributes to the balanced growth of the UK’s economy as it stimulates the growth of other sectors of the economy.

According to the structure conduct performance model of industrial organization, market structure determines market behavior, and market behavior has further affected the market performance (Bain, 1968; Unger & Chan, 1994, p.37). Therefore, the poor performance of the UK’s tourism market can be attributed to the market structure. The tourism industry is majorly concerned with setting up enterprises or organizations that make it easy for people to travel from their normal environment to a different environment. The business of tourism can be divided into two levels, i.e. level one encompasses enterprises or organizations that cannot survive without the existence of tourism e.g. hotels, travel agencies and airlines. Level two encompasses enterprises or organizations that would still thrive even without tourism existing; however, their existence would be of a diminishing form. Some examples of these enterprises include: gift shops, taxis, rental car agencies, etc.

Conclusion

Sports tourism has the capability to produce from one sector of the economy to the other. It does this by facilitating the flow of income and resources from one sector of the economy to the other; combined with the multiplier effect, increased revenue, expansion of employment opportunities and increase in foreign direct investment and earnings from foreign exchange. All over the world, there is a wide perception that tourism contributes highly to the economic growth of a country; thus, making it play a significant role in the economy of the country. A well developed tourism sector will boost the public pride of the residents of the country, improve education system and professionalism, and improve earnings for the country.

UK is a major tourist destination with potential for further; UK is a big tourist destination, not a destination with powerful competitiveness. UK has a long way to go on efficiency of resource allocation and competitiveness of tourism enterprises as compared with the other developed countries. Potential converting into real productivity needs to establish a number of powerful national or multinational leveled enterprises with international competitiveness. Increasing UK’s tourism market performance should be attributed to improving tourism market structure, forming large scale tourism enterprises, improving the correlation of assets in tourism industry, optimizing the industrial structure, regulating the tourism market behavior and ordering market competition. The development of enterprise conglomeration is the only way for UK’s tourism. The quick growth and expansion of the tourism sector year after year has not failed to be noticed as the most outstanding element of tourism. In the 1950s, the number of international tourists was only 25 million visitors. Come the year 2000, this number had rapidly grown to at least 699 million visitors world wide. This indicates that the annual tourism growth rate has been 7 percent (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). The total revenue received from tourism or tourism related activities grew by 11 percent in this period.

Apart from direct and indirect economic effects, there are also induced economic effects. The induced effects are connected to the sales or the earnings received from the direct or indirect spending by the tourists. The induced economic effect of tourism is in most cases evident from the activities of the hotel employees or employees of catering companies. For instance, when they spend their salaries, they create more sales, jobs and incomes (Guo, 2000, p.208). The induced expenditure can be lost partly through savings or through importation of goods or services. When the losses occur, they are termed as leakages.

The expenditure by tourists creates extra economic effects to other sectors of the economy. As a result of this, the level of income and expenditure of the various households increase. Due to this a chain of spending and re-spending is initiated. This is referred to as the ‘multiplier effect’ (Leslie, 2009). Multiplier effect depicts the ultimate output change in the economy in relation to the original visitor’s expenditure change; in addition, the multiplier effect is important to the assessment of the economic effects of tourism in the economy. When the multiplier effect is so large, it means that the impact of the visitors’ expenditure to the economy is also great (Guo, 2000, p.207).

Experts in the industry thought that capital is the key for the success of UK’s tourism conglomeration. That means that capital management should be a mode of operation to form tourism groups. In order to develop tourism groups according to the market oriented standards, the expansion ought to follow the market laws. First, conglomerate groups should implement an internal management strategy to improve management and enhance the effectiveness of internal allocation of resources. By expanding markets, companies can develop new products; adjust the organizational structure; improve management; increase productivity and control costs to integrate the internal resources under the capital structure

Recommendations

The findings of this study reveal that sports tourism plays an important role in contributing to the economic growth of UK. Stakeholders and major players are called upon to formulate policies that support the growth and expansion of the tourism sector. In addition, the stakeholders should formulate policies that protect and conserve the environment and the tourist attraction sites so as to make the tourism industry to be sustainable.

The UK’s economy expects to earn a lot of foreign exchange from tourism. Thus, they should create much awareness to the local community so that they can know the country’s position with regard to the tourism sector. When this is done, everybody will be motivated to participate toward sustaining the tourism sector. The government should establish a scientific organizational structure to assist UK’s tourism industry. The development of tourism conglomeration must be based on their own development, and build a compatible property rights, governance structure, operational modalities and management mechanism with the market economy system.

When the government formulates the tourism policies effectively and plans properly, the tourism sector is greatly boosted. Thus, its chances of growing and expanding are majorly boosted. The economic effect of tourism in the economy cannot fail to be recognized as it is exceptional and easy to point out. The balancing of a country’s terms of trade is always regarded as a very positive contribution of tourism to the economy. Apart from impacting the country’s economy, tourism also has social impacts to the local societies. When there is a boom in tourism, the government moves swiftly to welcome and contain the visitors. In addition, sustaining and maintaining the tourism activities require extra money from the government or from the local community who pay tax.

These extra costs are required to meet the expansion of roads, airports, hotels and other infrastructure that are associated to the tourism sector. Tourism necessitates the development of social infrastructures such as hospitals, schools and colleges, cyber cafes, etc. These social infrastructures make it possible for the local society to be linked to the tourism activities and participate in one way or the other. As a result of this, several businesses are expanded as many interested investors opt to invest

Statement of contribution

Summary

The main aim of my study is to explore on the economic effects of sports tourism in the UK. In line with this objective, my study investigated whether sports tourism contributes to the exploitation of the country’s natural resources, whether sports tourism corrects the imbalances in both the terms of trade and balances of payment, whether sports tourism creates many job opportunities and whether sports tourism contributes to the balanced growth of the economy. My study explored elaborately on the various forms of economic impact analysis with regard to sports tourism. The study relied on primary data using structured questions to explain the main objective and the data was analyzed using statistical tools like SPSS, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and regression analysis.

The study found out that sports tourism plays a very important economic role to the UK’s economy. Apart from being the job creator for a great number of the population, sports tourism also necessitates the exploitation of the natural resources. It corrects the imbalances in both the terms of trade and the balance of payment. In addition, sports tourism also contributes to the balanced economic growth of the country. Other than the economic effects of sports tourism, there are also social effects which are drawn from the economic effects. The social effects include: expansion of roads, expansion of airports and building of hotels, construction of schools and hospitals, and development of other social amenities that are associated to sports tourism.

Contributions and impacts

According to the statistics of World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), in the next 10 years, as the world’s largest industry, the global tourism industry will grow by more than 4.4 percent annually, the number of international tourists and international tourism revenue is postulated to expand by between 4.3 percent and 6.7 percent annually; this is far much higher than the 3 percent of world’s wealth increasing rate. By 2020, tourist arrivals worldwide are expected to reach 1.6 billion passengers. The tourism industry revenue will increase to 16 trillion dollars, which is equivalent to 10 percent of the global GDP. At least 300 million jobs will be provided, accounting for 9.2 percent of the total global employment, further strengthening its position as the world’s largest industry. According to the World Tourism Organization, the global financial crisis in the US and Europe crippled tourism market in mature economies, tourism in emerging economies is still developing. Tourism industry has become the first industry to rebound in the international financial crisis. It contributes to reducing the negative impact of the crisis and plays an active role in the global economic recovery.

The tourism industry is majorly concerned with setting up enterprises or organizations that make it easy for people to travel from their normal environment to a different environment. The business of tourism can be divided into two levels, i.e. level one encompasses enterprises or organizations that cannot survive without the existence of tourism e.g. hotels, travel agencies and airlines. Level two encompasses enterprises or organizations that would still thrive even without tourism existing. However, their existence would be of a diminishing form. Some examples of these enterprises include: gift shops, taxis, rental car agencies, etc.

Ecotourism is the most recent style in the tourism industry. It entails travelling that consists of both conservation of the natural environment and maintaining the interests of the people who live in that environment. There are significant differences between ecotourism and traditional tourism. Ecotourism focuses on measures that guarantee that the visitors do not engage in any activity that endangers the natural environment. In addition, ecotourism encourages sustainable tourism. Thus, any tourism activity that causes harm to the environment or diminishes the local cultures of the people in the environment is not attuned to ecotourism.

The UK’s economy expects to earn a lot of foreign exchange from tourism. Thus, they should create much awareness to the local community so that they can know the country’s position with regard to the tourism sector. When this is done, everybody will be motivated to participate toward sustaining the tourism sector. The government should establish a scientific organizational structure to assist UK’s tourism industry. The development of tourism conglomeration must be based on their own development, and build a compatible property rights, governance structure, operational modalities and management mechanism with the market economy system.

When the government formulates the tourism policies effectively and plans properly, the tourism sector is greatly boosted; thus, its chances of growing and expanding are majorly boosted. The economic effect of tourism in the economy cannot fail to be recognized as it is exceptional and easy to point out. The balancing of a country’s terms of trade is always regarded as a very positive contribution of tourism to the economy. Sports tourism holds a significant weight in the UK’s economy. Sports tourism leads to the exploitation of the natural resources of the country. Sports tourism also leads to the balancing of the country’s terms of trade as it is a major foreign exchange earner. In addition, through sports tourism, the country is in a good position to correct the imbalances that exist in the balance of payment. Apart from also creating many employment opportunities, sports tourism contributes to the balanced growth of the UK’s economy as it stimulates the growth of other sectors of the economy.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Descriptive statistics for economic effects of sports tourism

Appendix 2: Descriptive statistics for economic impact analysis

Appendix 3: Pearson correlation matrix for economic effects of sports tourism

NOTE:

1. * = p<0.05
2. ** = p<0.01

Appendix 4: Pearson correlation for economic impact analysis

NOTE:

1. * = p<0.05
2. ** = p<0.01

Appendix 5: Multiple regression results: sports tourism and economic variables

NOTE:

1. * = p<0.05
2. ** = p<0.01

Appendix 6: ANOVA Analysis results: sports tourism and economic variables

Introduction

The company offers hotel services. The current situation has not been pleasing since it is marked by a decline in performance, occupancy, regular daily rate, and gross working profit. In the leisure market, the company makes extensive steps to attract a city get-a-way experience that will encompass entertainment and architecture currently lacking in their home operation. The company has identified the most attractive points that reserve the potential of increasing their performance are the city’s sports, arts, and entertainment settings. As such, setting up business near these settings will immensely contribute to increased sales. Customers seeking leisure would prefer to receive the best benefits of a center city hotel at an affordable price which may be at the market rate. On the other hand, the leisure market will be more attracted when offered rooms at premium prices (Schmidgall 2010). Tour groups are potential clients to the business. These customers visit the cities frequently to enjoy the festivals, schoolmates’ reunions, as well as, planned historical, tours. These potential customers are likely to consider rooms that contain two people so as to reduce renting or lodging cost. They would also prefer utilizing the meeting area for organizational meetings. The company reserves a significant product for the large groups to enjoy their interconnection. The groups need enough area for lodging and holding conferences. The company has diversified its products for these clients from meeting space, banquets, as well as, audio visual, services to cater for the conference meetings. Again, business facilities and decoration come in to cater for large groups holding ceremonial events like weddings (Jagels & Ralston 2006). The small groups have not been an exception. Hotelism ensures that its products cut across all markets, which show indication of growth, development and of higher frequency including the small groups. As such, the business provides products for small groups like families and couples on honeymoon. The market also includes in social gatherings groups, which collectively prefer enjoying meals and beverage as well as recreation outlets.

Human Resources

Hotelism is endowed with highly efficient computerized staff guide that facilitates display recommendation according the staffing stage of advancement for all positions. The staff are proportionately distributing among the occupancies with respect to their duties as indicated below.

According to the local hotel association, area hotels have traditionally invested between 1% and 3% of Salary and Wages on management and staff training and development.

Facilities

The company offers a number of facilities, which make their chain of products unique. They have over 250 guest rooms of which are offered at a premium (50 rooms) and at standard price (200 rooms). The restaurant are furnished with over one hundred seats with adjoined 50-seat bar lunge section that regulars constrains constant flowing visitors from all groups. Notwithstanding, the company has a conference hall that contains over 200 people not to mention of its flexible configuration. Their efficient business equipment is crowned with one bay exercise area, a pool and open-air recreational area.

Stockholders

Food & Beverage Performance (breakfast lunch and dinner) earned the shareholders a gross of $194,609. Price Points comparison gave the competitive prices range within the limit; thus they were within the covers. According to the current financial statement, reveals that the stockholders will have a 70% return on investment in the current year as well as security of $40,995,000 accruing from the company assets.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

The company prides in having the biggest guest rooms, as well as F & B facilities that enable the business to be convenient and accessible from the streets. The spacious areas renders exterior acquaintance for signage and increases their flexibility in reconfiguration. The company has been in business for several years. The business experiences escalation in restaurant closing, as well as an effective pricing strategy that has contributed to the influx of customers in the hotel restaurant. Today the company reserves a stiff competitive niche marked by the escalation in requests for proposal.

The proposal acceptance will mean regular flow of customer since the main visitors expected are military, tour and technical professionals. The products have an efficient décor with a mixture of old and new architecture that attracts customers from all market segments. The business is located next to underground public transport, not to mention of its exclusive ground-breaking meeting places. It also reserves immense pride of historic attachment to historic photographs and memorabilia that fall in line with the hotel position statement. Its main entry is positioned on the backside of the street to offer an element of accessibility making it is the unique form its competitors.

Weaknesses

The business experiences challenges in financing its activities coupled with immense reduction in profit from operation. The company does not have the capacity to refurbish its projects, neither is it able to expand its investment, which would crease value and a competitive advantage over its competitors in the neighbouring industry areas. This is a time when the company has experienced internal dormancy since it has not been allowed to undertake any hotel construction because no permits have been given in the annual period making it difficult to develop ADR.

Opportunities

The industry has shown signs of potential customers in the non-resident social gatherings and holding of events to escalating in the first quarter of the year. The freshly relocated hotels are about to be completed which will mark exceptional facilities in the industry. Sensing an upswing in the economy, there is increasing room demand for three to four day corporate and association meetings.

Threats

As the company experiences improvement in the general economic status, there is the existence of inefficiencies that threaten the hotels operation below capacity. A soft economy, along with increased competition from other cities, has combined to erode occupancy, average daily rate, and gross operating profit. Finance and credit have been nearly impossible to obtain. It is clearly a ‘buyer’s market’, where both Individual and group clients expect exceptional value at discounted prices (Schmidgall 2010).

Position, Product, Quantity, Promotion

The highly competitive market in hospitality has forced Hotelism to increase their sales through the product diversification and flexibility in the reconfiguration of services at fairly cheap prices that enable the consumer afford and take up the services in large quantities and numbers. Thus, the cheaply Low cost services will enable the business to immensely penetrate Asian, Europe, USA, Middle East, and Latin America markets. Over 50% of the hospitality industry products sell at low costs have had a significant increase in the sales of their products and services as compared to those who profess on the notion that quality goods are meant to be expensive.

Hospitality leisure and tourism closely interrelated. In many instances, anybody spending his leisure time would opt to tour a restaurant that offers hospitality services. Hospitality is popularly referred as a friendly reception between guest and host (stranger). In the hospitality industry, it is a relationship created between a guest (tourist) and a host (the hospitality industry). Particular, hospitality covers the reception and entertainment of the tourists and other guests spending their leisure in resorts.

The quality of hospitality will attract the resorts to be a home of tourists and leisure spending. As such, hospitality, tourism and leisure act in a vicious cycle in complimenting each other as a reserve for attraction and special events.

In effect, sophistication and system integration has there has been rapid and demanding in an effort to enhance the operational efficiency in the sector (Schmidgall 2010). The industry is a big contributor in building venues for redesigning and impact positively to the local environment. The processes of tourism and hospitality have made it possible for people from various parts of the world to meet and exchange ideas. The hospitality and tourism industry serve as strong economic contributors since they influence diverse set of related sectors of the economy. Ultimately, socialization has made many individuals get business ideas to build their lives. Again, the activities in the industry provide the best avenues to have investors, coincidentally, meet investment opportunities. In addition, many businesses today enjoy applying more sustainable practices to enhance a green image that pleases consumers. For instance, using organic products, recycling waste products and reducing the amount of using toxic products ensure efficient environmental practices. The hospitality and tourism industry are not sustainable because of their contribution and effects from the environment. Among the major factors that contribute are leadership in environmental energy design, Indoor air quality, and green lodging certification.

Sales prices and product definition

It is an increasing notion that increasing demand might do little wrong. However, when the demand goes up, the costs attached for increased production, unless the business is able to get the economies of scale and has enough technological resources to minimize the costs. On the other hand, approaching from the demand decrease it may be quite impossible to make a decision on retrenching employees and the subsequent reduction in production.

The following price points and limits are expected as the economy rebounds. The best rate strategy is the one that produces the highest departmental profit. Generally, higher rates reduce occupancy but increases profit, but only to a point. When rates approach the price point limit in the market, occupancy can drop dramatically to the point that profit is severely affected. There would probably be no occupancy at the price limit.

The number of staff will range with the proportion of work and responsibilities required in a certain area of work. As such, they will be paid a minimum basic salary and commission in case the expected tasks surpass the predetermined amount. Capacity building shall be undertaken through seminar semi-annually. Again, training shall be carried out during the working hours to increase efficiency.

Refurbishment decisions and Investment decisions

Expectations of both hotel guests and non-resident guests continue to change and intensify. The hotel will require investment in refurbishment, facilities, and services in order to stay competitive. This is through replacement Reserve Fund. This will involve the annually budgeted capital investment fund for the property. This fund is topped up each month by a percentage of total revenue. It is the first and primary source of funding.

Again, the company may use Investment borrowing. This is undertaken when the hotel is in excellent financial condition and able to pay for an additional debt, funds can be borrowed from the bank to make up for any shortfalls in the refurbishment reserve fund. A bank request and interview is required. Shareholders capital will be used when there is a high cash balance. The owner may be willing to apply some of these funds to additional refurbishment, facilities, and services. If so, the hotel would save the interest expenses resulting from additional bank loans.

Budgets for Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 including

Assumptions used to determine revenues and costs

The fluctuations in the Volume of products demanded by customers are usual as indicated by the changing seasons and different business cycles. Sudden plunges of recessions within a country and global economic recession as recently experienced calls for a firm that is flexible enough to shift its production as per the market trend and demand. It is an increasing notion that increasing demand might do little wrong. However, when the demand goes up, the costs attached for increased production, unless the business is able to get the economies of scale and has enough technological resources to minimize the costs. On the other hand, approaching from the demand decrease it may be quite impossible to make a decision on retrenching employees and the subsequent reduction in production. The ability to effectively change in a dynamic industry benefits the company essentially on their flexible operational strategies.

Operations Budget

The effectiveness and efficiency in the capacity to easily change from one product to another through reconfiguration of the spaces and rooms is significant in this endeavour. In light of high costs and, production of new products at a high speed is crucial for the success of any hospitality industry in a highly competitive industry.

Financial Plan

Improving economic conditions and increased capital investment should support higher room rates. According to the present financial situation, the company will advance to reduce cost as a way of serving and developing the market. With a cost minimization strategy, it is evident that retained earnings will increase through an increase in depreciation and seeking more funds. It is evident that the company is liquid having a cash balance of $325,000. The company has identified the most attractive points that reserve the potential of increasing their performance are the city’s sports, arts, and entertainment settings. As such, setting up business near these settings will immensely contribute to increased sales. Customers seeking leisure would prefer to receive the best benefits of a center city hotel at an affordable price, which may be at the market rate.

Financial position

The proposal acceptance will mean regular flow of customer since the main visitors expected are military, tour and technical professionals. The products have an efficient décor with a mixture of old and new architecture that attracts customers from all market segments. Therefore, specific focus shall incline of funding leisure and the large groups because they showed the highest percentages in frequencies according to the table below.

Conclusion

The company tooling industry is an extensive establishment of the provider of the service in cooperation of the local and international drivers’ in the hospitality industry. The country’s hospitality industry has developed a strong standing of the complexity, excellent quality tooling at comparatively reduced costs in comparison to the competitors in Asia, Europe, USA, Middle East and Latin America. The market’s competitiveness is engineered by the advanced technological advanced and a strong quest from outside forces for investment, ground-breaking designs, highly diversified products of refreshment and comfort with a professional touch for large groups. Eventually, it accrues a leading advantage in capital equipment that facilitates a highly efficient hotel services.

References

Schmidgall, R 2010, Hospitality industry managerial accounting 7^th edn, Educational Institute American Hotel & Motel Association, New York.

Jagels, MG & Ralston, CE 2006, Hospitality management accounting, John Wiley and Sons, London.

Research Design

Interview procedure

The purpose of this study is to achieve a deeper understanding of the Saudis’ desire to communicate with international visitors based on the researcher’s experience from the perspective of the selected interviewee living in Riyadh. The selected participants will be the point of departure for the researcher (Maykut & Morehouse, 1997, p.43; Creswell, 2003, p.179-183). For this reason, the interview procedure is critical to the collection of reliable data that the researcher can use to answer research questions. It is important to note that, even though, the main purpose of the interview is to help the researcher understand the viewpoints of the interviewee, the researcher should nevertheless, have adequate knowledge of issues he or she would like to hear deliberated upon (Lewis & Ritchie, 2003, p.144). S/he has a significant role in guiding the interview process. The researcher should therefore, be familiar with the various phases of an in-depth interview, comprehend terms of the agreement between him or her and the interviewee, and clarify the role of the interviewee during the actual process.

In-depth interviewing is a multistage procedure. Throughout these stages, the main role of the researcher is to direct the participant from an everyday social perspective towards a deeper level of analysis at which they can jointly probe the social phenomenon of interest (Lewis & Ritchie, 2003, p.146). Question development or designing an interview guide, is the starting point of an in-depth interview. It is followed by actual staging of in-depth interviews and then interview analysis. A typical in-depth interview has six important stages in which the researcher is expected to guide the participant through them. The first stage is arrival where the researcher establishes a reliable relationship with the participant. At this point, the researcher should allow the participant to be at ease and feel in control of his or her territory. After the interviewee seems comfortable, the researcher introduces his or her research topic. At stage three, the interview starts whereby, the researcher starts interacting naturally through a question-and response arrangement (Maxwell, 2005, p.150). The fourth stage is essentially a continuation phase whereby; the researcher directs the participant through the main themes of the study. It is a very important stage because it enables the researcher to explore each subject deeply with a sequence of probes and follow up questions (Lewis & Ritchie, 2003, p.148). The fifth stage is the ending of the interview in which the researcher should signal approach to the end and ensure that the participant has not been left with any feelings of incomplete deal like a feeling of unmentioned information. The final stage is the after interview phase where, the researcher should warmly thank the participant and assure him/her the confidentiality and importance of his/her views in the study.

In-depth interviews in this study will be conducted in natural settings within the Riyadh community where interviewees are comfortable and at ease. It is pertinent to remember that participant’s perception and experience of the topic of study hinges on the context of their daily lives (Maykut & Morehouse, 1997, p.45; Marshall & Rossman, 2010, p.93). In most cases, I will allow participants to choose their most convenient venue. This could be at their homes, places of work, market place or even in my house.

Interview analysis

The object of conducting an in-depth interview is to collect data from participants that can help the researcher to answer research questions. This study will use thematic analytic method. Thematic analysis is a method of setting aside, examining, and reporting themes in data sets (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p.79). It has many benefits such as flexibility and epistemological and ontological independence. Just like actual in-depth interview, thematic analytic method is a multistage and enables the researcher to create a rich and thick description of the reality out there (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p.87; Holloway, 1997, p.156). The first stage is orienting you with the data followed by establishing codes that set aside the aspects of the data. Then the researcher searches for themes by sorting the codes before reviewing and defining the themes. Finally, the researcher compiles a report and provides evidence of themes in the data collected (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p.87).

Conclusion

The topic of this study is relevant and timely in establishing challenges facing Saudi citizens who desire to communicate with international visitors. By conducting a qualitative research that deploys in-depth interviews, it will enable the researcher to achieve a deeper understanding of the phenomenon from the participants’ experience within a natural setting. Moreover, thematic analysis will enable the researcher to create a rich description of reality on the ground.

References

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006).Using thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3. Web.

Creswell, J. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. New York, NY: SAGE.

Holloway, I. (1997). Basic concepts for qualitative research. London: Wiley-Blackwell.

Lewis, J., & Ritchie, J. (2003). Qualitative research practice: a guide for social science students and researchers. New York: SAGE.

Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (2010). Designing Qualitative Research. New York: SAGE.

Maxwell, J. (2005). Qualitative research design: an interactive approach. New York: SAGE.

Maykut ,P., & Morehouse, R. (1997). Beginning Qualitatative research:A philosophical and Practical Guide. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.