tourism and hospitality marketing essay

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Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism

Introduction.

Tourism and hospitality enable cultural exchange, employment opportunities, and infrastructural development. Tourism and hospitality require a business-friendly environment to thrive. Favorable legal regulations and a calm political environment allow tourism companies to stay afloat in the business. Furthermore, stable suppliers and reliable customers promote tourism among different countries. Natural scenery, beautiful flora, and fauna, among other tourist attractions, positively impact tourism. Environmental factors that affect flora and fauna significantly impact the industry. Abercrombie & Kent, a hospitality and luxury travel services provider, is affected by the external business environmental factors. A service marketing mix that includes the ‘seven Ps’ model benefits tourism and hospitality. The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) applies the service marketing activities to attract potential client. This research paper explores external environmental factors affecting Abercrombie & Kent and (IHG) service mix marketing analysis.

Abercrombie & Kent LLC Overview

Abercrombie & Kent LLC offer luxury travel services to tourists internationally. Furthermore, the company offer additional products such as foreign currencies exchange, clothing, and global phones (Abercrombie & Kent, 2019). Tourists’ traveling services is the company’s primary product allowing individuals explore the world. With its headquarters in the US, the company received recognition among the top tourism and hospitality companies globally. Abercrombie & Kent enables tourists to visit different destinations and make holiday plans (Abercrombie & Kent, 2019). The company competes with other travel agencies such as Black Tomato, Nomad Hill, and Scott Dunn.

External Environmental Factors Affecting Abercrombie & Kent LLC

A business’ external environment include factors outside a business’s internal environments affecting a company’s operations. External environmental factors present either opportunities or challenges to a business. Companies often have no control over the external environment but can use the setting to identify growth opportunities (Pulka et al., 2021). The external environment includes political, legal, economic, social-cultural, technological, physical, and ecological factors: PESTLE analysis. While the government can control legal, political, and economic elements, physical and environmental factors are natural and cannot be controlled by businesses and the government (Torgler, 2021). Like any other business, various external environmental factors affect Abercrombie & Kent’s operations.

Political Factors

Politics includes the activities associated with a country’s effective governance, including improving people’s standards. Politics is significant for tourism and hospitality industry growth since it determines new laws and infrastructural development. Countries like China and Egypt have the most attractive tourist attractions and supportive governments (Habibi, 2022). Abercrombie & Kent’s operations have been stifled by the political differences and disagreements among the European Union members (Phan & Stachuletz, 2022). Tourism and hospitality thrive in a calm political environment. The company’s operations were negatively affected during the unstable political climate between the US government and other develop countries like China. Abercrombie & Kent has its main operations in the US that has stable political climate enabling the organizational survival.

Legal Factors

Abercrombie & Kent is a multinational company that is affected by international laws on business, environment, and labour rights. The company enjoys the dependable and favorable US commercial legal system. However, the company also operates in countries with harsh tax laws making it difficult for the company to thrive (Khan, 2020). Meanwhile, favorable tax laws in the US and other developed countries like Canada encourage Abercrombie’s & Kent’s business growth and expansion (Khan, 2020). Furthermore, friendly immigration laws in the US, Canada, and China boost the company’s operations since the tourists easily obtain travelling documents (Morgan, 2021). The international laws prohibiting poaching and deforestation help protect the natural environment that attracts the company’s clients. Therefore, favorable laws and regulations are beneficial to Abercrombie & Kent’s operations in the various countries.

Social-Cultural Factors

Abercrombie & Kent operates in different countries with different social and cultural values. The cultural values and social norms are critical for tourism and hospitality since they create distinctiveness in the crowded industry (Lehto et al., 2020). Countries such as India and South Africa have multifaceted communities with distinguished cultures attracting tourists. Social norms shape the interaction among the locals and the tourists and determine the likelihood of tourists’ visitation (Osipova & Kazmina, 2021). Consequently, the company’s operations thrive in countries with distinct culture and social values that attract visitors. Abercrombie & Kent makes more profits in countries with distinct social activities and cordial culture.

Technological Factors

Technological developments have significantly contributed to the growth of the tourism and hospitality industries. Technology has made communications and transportation easy within the tourism industry. The advancements in information technology have led to website development among hotels that allow remote bookings and reservations (Borges-Tiago et al., 2021). For instance, companies like Abercrombie & Kent have advanced websites to make reservations and feedback on their services. Furthermore, technology has significantly contributed to the company’s advanced marketing activities (Borges-Tiago et al., 2021). Technology-led marketing activities enable Abercrombie & Kent to advertise their services locally and internationally. Technology help Abercrombie & Kent save on operational costs and enhance customer service and experience among tourist companies.

Physical Environmental Factors

The physical environment encompasses mineral formation, climatic conditions, vegetation coverage, and other ecological factors. The physical environment is crucial for tourism and hospitality since it helps determine travel patterns among tourists (Lehto et al., 2020). Adverse weather conditions such as storms negatively impact tourism since air transportation is risky during storms (Proebstl-Haider et al., 2021). Meanwhile, countries’ calm weather conditions attract tourists due to smooth movements to tourist destinations. Favorable climatic conditions such as rain and fresh air enable wild animals’ growth, attracting tourists. Therefore, Abercrombie & Kent receives more tourists in areas with favorable climatic conditions than in countries with harsh climate. Furthermore, the company receives more clients during summer holidays than Winter.

Economic Factors

Abercrombie & Kent is a multinational company affected the trends in the global economy. Economic factors include interest and tax rates, governmental activities, wages, and other factors determining a country’s financial status. High tax rates negatively affect tourism and hospitality since the companies record less return on investment (Habibi, 2022). Favorable tax rates attract tourists due to affordable travel and accommodation costs. Furthermore, changes in the inflation rate affect products and service prices among countries (Phan & Stachuletz, 2022). An increase in the inflation rate leads to increased raw materials and products costs crucial for tourism (Phan & Stachuletz, 2022). Government policies on employee wages can also affect the tourism industry, mainly depending on human resources. Economic factors affect Abercrombie & Kent’s operations since they determine service and product costs.

Abercrombie & Kent’s Micro Environment

The microenvironment consists of the factors affecting business operations, but the companies can control them. Customers, suppliers, and competitors form the microenvironment are significant to tourism and hospitality (Leyva & Parra, 2021). The micro-environment factors determine the competitiveness of the tourism and hospitality industry. The tourists’ choice of travel destination determines the profitability among countries. Alternatively, stable and dependable suppliers among tourist companies help boost business profitability. The microenvironment is significant for competition and business growth.

Tourists are attracted by various sites, cultures, and sceneries among multiple countries. Therefore, countries with the most attractive tourist attraction sites receive many tourists. The tourists’ travel choices are influenced by factors like political stability, climate, and cultural values among their destination countries (Gidebo, 2021). Consequently, Abercrombie & Kent has invested in marketing its services in the global market to attract potential customers. The majority of the company’s clients are from the highly developed countries such UK, US, and Canada bringing high revenues. While Abercrombie & Kent has a broad consumer base, the company invests in the various marketing activities to attract more clients.

The suppliers include those people and organizations supplying hotels and other tourism-related companies with raw materials, food, and other products. Abercrombie & Kent also rely on the motor service industry that provide and repairs its vehicles. The suppliers boost the industry by providing quality and international standard goods (Hoe & Mansori, 2018). However, the suppliers are affected by factors like economic and political. An unstable economy with increased taxes would increase supply prices (Al-Thaqeb et al., 2020). Furthermore, the suppliers would supply companies that pay well, increasing competition. Increased supplier power affects the business since the suppliers provide their goods and services at their desired prices that are expensive. Therefore, suppliers affect operations in the tourism and hospitality industries.

Competitors

The tourism industry is highly competitive due to unique tourist attraction sites among the different countries. Furthermore, the advancing technology has increased competition among tourism-related companies. Consequently, many competing companies adopt e-commerce and digital marketing to sell their services and goods. For instance, Black Tomato, Nomad Hill, and Scott Dunn have adopted e-commerce giving them competitive edge over Abercrombie & Kent. Companies that have adopted the technology receive many tourists due to efficient and affordable services. Abercrombie & Kent’s dependable suppliers enable the company remain competitive in the global market (Abercrombie & Kent, 2019). Increased competitors in the industry reduce revenues among companies.

Abercrombie & Kent-Competitive Environment Analysis: Current Global Situation

Tourism and hospitality are highly competitive but profitable during the peak seasons. The global market remains dominated by high-end hotels and luxurious traveling agencies in countries with the most beautiful sceneries. Abercrombie & Kent has taken advantage of the favorable business environment in the US and other developed countries. Unfortunately, the onset of the novel coronavirus greatly affected the company’s local and global operations. Various governments-imposed travel bans restricted tourism activities among the countries (Riady et al., 2021). The closure of industries that promote tourism affected the sector due to the limited supply of products and services needed by the tourism company.

The hospitality businesses, including Abercrombie & Kent, were hit hard, leading to jobs and increased financial losses. According to an American Hotel & Lodging Association survey, about 71% of American hotels could not make it without federal relief (2020). Therefore, the covid 19 negatively impacted the tourism and hospitality industries leading to the closure of the businesses and stifling the economy. However, the discovery of covid-19 vaccines has led to economic recovery, and the industry is stabilizing.

Abercrombie & Kent-SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is used to determine the competitive environment of a business. Therefore, the analysis will help understand Abercrombie & Kent’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the industry. The analysis help understand the company’s position in the global market.

Table 1: Abercrombie & Kent SWOT Analysis

IHG Service Marketing Mix Activities

Marketing is crucial for business growth since it helps attract potential customers and maintain existing customers. Technology has significantly improved marketing activities and has assisted in analyzing consumer behaviors. Furthermore, the invention of social media platforms has dramatically improved digital marketing activities. Companies like Trek Trave LLC and IHG have utilized digitization to enhance their marketing activities. A successful marketing activity considers the ‘7Ps’ model: product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence (Parra-López & Martínez-González, 2022). The ‘7Ps’ marketing model is adequate for tourism and hospitality since the marketing activities are carried out by considering the critical business factors.

Product means goods or services offered by a company to its consumers. The tourism and hospitality companies provide a wide range of products and services, including tour guides, guest rooms, and food. For instance, the IHG offers services including luxurious accommodation, conference venues among other hotel services. When marketing companies present their products or services to potential consumers, the marketed products and services ought to be unique and of high quality to attract potential customers (Parra-López & Martínez-González, 2022). Furthermore, the companies should have a broad product category from which the potential consumers can choose. Clients are often attracted to affordable, unique, and high-quality products.

The price corresponds to the customers’ money for products or services. Companies identify effective pricing strategies that suit their brand positions. For instance, a penetrative pricing strategy is suitable for marketing products to a new market. Meanwhile, a value-based pricing strategy can be applied if the company’s products are considered valuable compared to other companies in the industry. A competitive pricing strategy is used when the company is in a competitive industry (Pholphirul et al., 2021). IHG has adopted competitive and value-based pricing strategies since it offers quality hospitality services. The competitive pricing strategy aims at selling products or services at prices similar to the competitors. Therefore, price and a pricing strategy are crucial during marketing since they can either attract or scare potential customers away.

The place refers to the location where the products are available to the customers. A company’s physical location and look determine the buyers’ purchasing decisions and could be influenced by the products or service availability (Pholphirul et al., 2021). IHG operates in countries like Dubai that have beautiful sceneries attracting more clients. The hospitality industry involves the availability of hotels near tourist attraction sites and accessible roads. For instance, hotels in coastal regions attract many tourists compared to those far away from the coastline. When deciding on the location of a hotel, tourist attraction sites should be considered.

Promotion involves the activities carried out by the companies’ marketing departments to advertise their products and services. Furthermore, it requires communication and strategies supporting products and services. Integration of technology has bolstered promotional activities through social media. IHG has taken advantage of international trade fairs and sporting activities to promote their products and services (Pholphirul et al., 2021). The use of international communication media such as global Television and radio channels helps the company reach out to many potential customers. When choosing a product promotional activity, a company should consider its effectiveness and affordability.

The people are the core target of any marketing strategy and help determine the profitability of a business. Therefore, a marketing strategy should meet consumer needs and fill the market gaps. Marketing activity should involve an analysis of consumer behaviors and help determine purchasing patterns among the buyers (Parra-López & Martínez-González, 2022). Furthermore, a company’s employees should present the company’s values and culture that is attractive to consumers. IHG attracts high-end tourists, and takes advantage of the summer holidays and international conferences that encourage different stakeholders to market its services. IHG’s astute management and clients that are invited to luxurious services boost the company’s business operations in various countries.

Business processes involve activities that result in product and service delivery. Companies invest in technology to improve product quality and service delivery. The use of e-commerce among hotels allows customers to choose their desired products and services. IHG has automated and digitized websites that allow clients from different countries choose their preferred services. Furthermore, the excellent IHG’s brand image helps the company attract many potential customers due to strong trust in the service and product delivery (Parra-López & Martínez-González, 2022). Effective business operations involve technology integration and quality products or service delivery.

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence promotes companies’ brand images since the customers can give feedback from their point of view. Many hotels invest in landscaping and other decorative activities to attract tourists. Furthermore, the adoption of an eco-friendly environment attracts clients that are concerned about nature. The physical evidence can also include a representation of a country’s culture that attracts tourists. Eco-friendly and attractive hotels support excellent brand images.

IHG Marketing Activities’ Analysis and Effectiveness

When it comes to product promotion, the company utilizes digital marketing and public relations. The company runs its adverts on various social media platforms, including global Tv and radio stations. Public relations are a vital marketing strategy of the company. The company has adopted customer loyalty programs that allow loyal customers to get free vacations and reservations. The company awards its clients with free flights and discounted services depending on how many times they use the company’s assistance.

The adoption of practical marketing activities has boosted the company’s brand image and positioning. The company is viewed as high-end and providing quality services to its consumers compared to its competitor Hilton ( Figure 1 ). The excellent brand reputation has enabled the company to gain consumer-based brand equity (IHG, 2019). Consequently, the company records profits making it sustainable to acquire non-imitable products and services (Antikainen et al., 2018). The company should utilize the growing use of technology among the hotels to improve its innovativeness, expansion, partnerships, and service delivery.

Innovation involves identifying new ideas and business gaps and the use of sustainable solutions. Technological advancements have led to development of artificial intelligence that hotels can use to improved their service delivery. Formation of partnerships could help the IHG become competitive in the hospitality industries. The partnership would also help the company increase its products and service categories (Antikainen et al., 2018). Partnering with global hotels would help the company expand to new countries and attract more clients. Furthermore, adoption of digital marketing and introduction of customer loyalty programs would help the company attract more loyal customers and retain its consumer-base. While the InterContinental Hotels Group adopts an effective marketing activity, the company can improve on its innovativeness, expansion, and partnership formations.

The tourism and hospitality industries are among many countries’ highest foreign income earners. Like any other business, the industry is affected by external and micro factors. External factors include political, legal, environmental, economic, technological, and social-cultural factors. Companies have no control over the external environment and can do very little to improve the environment. Factors like technological developments have boosted the industry’s innovation. The companies can control Micro-environment factors like customers, suppliers, and competitors. Marketing is crucial among hotels and other hospitality companies since it helps attract potential clients. When marketing, the companies should consider the ‘7Ps’ model. The hospitality and tourism industry is lucrative and can be effective if the companies adopt efficient marketing strategies.

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Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Planning

• First Online: 09 May 2021

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• Richard George 2  

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This chapter examines the tools used in tourism and hospitality marketing planning. It begins with a definition of marketing planning and an explanation of why planning is important to both the tourism marketer and the organisation. The chapter then discusses the differences between a firm’s strategic marketing and its tactical marketing. Further, the chapter examines the stages of the marketing planning process. These stages are analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Within the stages of this process, the various strategic analysis tools, such as the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and General Electric Company (GEC) grids are briefly discussed. Next, several techniques for making strategic choices, including Porter’s generic strategies, the price/quality matrix, and the Ansoff matrix are introduced. Finally, the elements necessary to construct a marketing plan are outlined. The chapter’s case study applies the principles of marketing planning to Marine Dynamics Shark Tours in South Africa.

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George, R. (2021). Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Planning. In: Marketing Tourism and Hospitality. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64111-5_5

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Currently there are 28 states and Washington DC that have legal medical marijuana available. This is more than half of the United States. Even with the majority, employment law and the hospitality industry do not have much guidelines to help pave the way in legal terms. With marijuana, illegal federally and legal at the state … Read more

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Writing essays on hospitality and tourism

Here are some themes and topics to consider when writing your next essay on hospitality or tourism:

• The importance of hospitality and tourism in the global economy
• The role of hospitality and tourism in promoting cultural exchange and understanding
• The impact of tourism on local communities and the environment
• The challenges faced by the hospitality and tourism industry, such as changing consumer preferences, geopolitical tensions, and economic instability
• The benefits and drawbacks of different types of tourism, such as ecotourism , adventure tourism, and mass tourism
• The ethical and social responsibility of the hospitality and tourism industry, including issues related to human rights, labor practices, and environmental sustainability
• The role of technology in transforming the hospitality and tourism industry, including the use of artificial intelligence , big data, and social media
• The importance of customer service in the hospitality industry, including the impact of customer reviews and ratings on businesses
• The relationship between hospitality and tourism and other industries, such as transportation, entertainment, and retail
• The future of hospitality and tourism, including emerging trends and opportunities for innovation.

When writing an essay on this topic, students should choose a specific aspect of hospitality and tourism that interests them and focus on developing a clear thesis statement that addresses a particular issue or question. They should also provide evidence to support their arguments, draw on relevant academic sources, and consider the perspectives of different stakeholders, including travelers, local residents, businesses, and policymakers.

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Tourism and Hospitality Marketing (Essay Sample)

Demonstrating understanding of the experiential nature of tourism and hospitality marketing by writing an essay of 1000 words. nature of the experience economy importance of experiences in tourism and hospitality the concept of experiential marketing and its applicability in tourism and hospitality. Sources 3

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Important To Hospitality And Tourism Industry Marketing Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Disclaimer: This essay has been written and submitted by students and is not an example of our work. Please click this link to view samples of our professional work witten by our professional essay writers . Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of EssayCompany.

Introduction

The thesis of this paper is the following: quality of the service is one of the main factors influencing on customers' loyalty.

To support this thesis it is necessary to make the literature review related to the thesis. The first stage of the research includes the definitions of the customer's loyalty and quality in tourism and hospitality industry. Many associations and organizations in different countries set up their own standards of quality. However, the closer observation proves that these standards are almost similar all over the world, though every country has its own specifics.

The importance of customers' loyalty in tourism and hospitality industry should not be argued. Studies show that the most effective marketing technology in tourism and hospitality is the relationship marketing. Clients' loyalty is the significant part of it. Thus, the increase of loyalty means the development of the whole industry and the growth in revenues.

Different authors propose different methods of customer loyalty increase. However, Philip Kotler proposed the most systematized material for building the customer loyalty by quality.

The outcomes of the research summarize the general coverage of the issue in the contemporary media.

Defining Customer Loyalty and Quality

The definition of customer loyalty is a complex task. Many organizations pursuing a relationship approach with their customers consider customer loyalty as a key objective for their organizations. However, there is no agreed definition of customer loyalty.

It is impossible to define the customer loyalty in tourism and hospitality industry without the review of the relevant marketing theories. The literature provides some definitions of it dependently of typology. There are two main typologies of customer loyalty, relying on behavior and attitude. Richard L. Oliver in his book "Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer" provides the behavioral typology of customer loyalty. Though the book is not directly related to the hospitality and tourism industry, it can be useful because of the detailed descriptions of customer's behavior. The author describes the satisfaction, reviews the diversity of its definition, compares it to the related concepts, analyses the dissatisfaction as the opposition to satisfaction. Oliver describes basic mechanisms of satisfaction, attributes, features and dimensions. He pays some attention to such important factor as customer perception of quality and describes the interrelation between satisfaction and quality, customers' retention/repurchase and loyalty. Describing the loyal customers, he writes: "Loyal customers repeatedly purchase products or services. They recommend a company to others. And they stick with a business over time" (Oliver, p.189). Oliver concluded that the satisfaction is a necessary step in loyalty formation. Nevertheless, ultimate loyalty "is a combination of perceived product superiority, personal fortitude, social bonding, and their synergistic effects" (Oliver, p.302)

The followers of attitude typology claim that attitude have an impact on behavior. The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing makes difference between repurchase and loyalty. The theory distinguishes two types of commitment: affective and calculative. The article by Robert Morgan and Shelby Hunt explores the nature of relationship marketing and provides the outcomes and consequences of relationship commitment and trust. Their results indicate that both commitment and trust are important for achieving cooperation, but statistical data shows that the commitment has the strongest effect (Morgan, Hunt, p.32).

Mark Uncles et al in the article "Customer loyalty and customer loyalty programs" calls customer loyalty a paradox. He writes that this attitude-based phenomenon can be influenced with some special methods, like loyalty programs. However he notices that "loyalty in competitive repeat-purchase markets is shaped more by the passive acceptance of brands than by strongly-held attitudes about them" (Uncles et al, p.101) Thus, it is obvious that the single definition of customer loyalty was not developed yet.

The criteria of quality in tourism are relatively well-studied in the literature. It is possible to start from the "Mapping service quality in the tourism industry". The main finding of this article is the graphical interpretation of SERVQUAL data. The graphs should help tourism managers in decision making.

Christine Williams and John Buswell published a book containing the analysis of the subject. They pay much attention to the standards of quality in tourism, however, their attention is concentrated on the problem of quality management. Anne-Mette Hjalage discusses the "Quality in tourism through the empowerment of tourists". The article discusses many aspects of tour business, from tour operator to Internet-network. The author suggests that the quality of tourism is related to the empowerment of tourists.

Thus, it can be summarized that quality of service in tourism is sufficiently studied and described, there is enough new articles describing the latest trends in quality of tourism.

Why Customer Loyalty and Quality is important to Hospitality and Tourism industry

The relation between quality and customer loyalty is obvious: the loyalty is impossible with the low quality. The importance of loyalty is also obvious: the mature industry require the long-term relations with clients. Some publications support this point of view. The «Journal of travel research» published a number of articles related to customer's loyalty in tourism. Augistin and Ho in "Service Quality and Tourism" discuss the different aspects of quality, and emphasize the value of quality in tourism. They also mention the changing scenario in the tourism industry nowadays. They claim the value of tourism is revised now and provide some recommendations how tourism-related organization can improve their quality.

The idea of new marketing paradigm in the hospitality industry was also discussed by Xiang Li and James Petrick in the article "Tourism Marketing in an Era of Paradigm Shift". In this article they proposed three alternative marketing perspectives: "relationship marketing, the network approach, and the service-dominant logic" (Li, Petrick, 235). The article also discusses the implementation of these alternative perspectives in practice.

XIang LI also published one more article related to the loyalty in tourism, "Loyalty Regardless of Brands? Examining Three Nonperformance Effects on Brand Loyalty in a Tourism Context". In this article he continues his previous research of loyalty formation and studies the interrelation of general loyalty and the loyalty to the definite brand. In particular, he tries to evaluate the influence of nonperformance factors, such as brand parity, brand market share, and loyalty proneness, on the customer's loyalty. His study proved that the loyalty of customers is closely connected with their willing to be loyal, and the willing to be loyal is related with the brand market share.

The importance of customer loyalty for tourism is also proved with some practical cases. The case study by Spanish researchers, "Loyalty programmes as a tourism service sales channel: a Spanish multi-sponsor programme case study" discusses the effectiveness of "multi-sponsor loyalty platforms and the high volume of tourism service offers (flights, journeys, hotel accommodation, etc.)" (Casada, Lara, p.35) They used the data from leading loyalty program on Spanish market, and proved the effectiveness of individual preferences for every client or group of clients. The individual preference can be considered as the element of quality service and the instrument of getting customer loyalty.

Campo and Yague discuss the customer loyalty in tourism in other aspect. Their article "The formation of the tourist's loyalty to the tourism distribution channel: how does it affect price discounts?" points on the importance of keeping clients loyal. The author write that the long-term business relations include the attraction of new clients as well as loyalty of the existing clients. Price discounts can motivate short-term sales, but they are questionable in the long-term perspective. Retailers in the service industry "employ price discounts on products to motivate short-term sales, they often establish promotional policies without considering their effect on the long-term business results." (Campo, Yague, p. 454) The price discounts can decrease the revenues, but according the results of the study, they don't have much influence on customer loyalty.

Implementation (how to Building Customer Loyalty through Quality)

The contemporary literature related to the building customer loyalty through quality proposes some sources to study and analyze. First source is a book of Kotler «Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism». Probably no literature review in the area of marketing in tourism and hospitality can avoid mentioning the works of Philip Kotler et al. Kotler and his team, John R. Bowen and James C. Makens, are the authors of the most widely used book on hospitality marketing. The book combines the theory with the descriptions of cases, it is easy to read and it covers contemporary material. The authors describe the situation in the hospitality marketing at the beginning of the new millennium. Nowadays hospitality marketing managers can face the necessity to find the balance between their resources against opportunities and needs in today's global marketplace. The latest edition of the book, 2008, contains the part about the electronic marketing. This book contains a chapter discussing building the customer's loyalty through the quality.

The chapter 11, «Building Customer Loyalty Through Quality», claims that "The customer's satisfaction depends on the product's or service's performance relative to the customer's expectations." The author claims that the loyalty is a measure of possible return of the customer, and customer's satisfaction is very important, though it does not guarantee that the customer will return. The author recommends concentrating on the relationship building, in particular, the individual relations with individual client. He claims that it would be useful to use three customer values: financial benefits, social benefits, and structural ties. The last one means the links within the industry, for example the link tourist firm and Air Company.

Among the other publications related to building loyalty in clients through quality are some articles from the «Journal of travel research». One of these articles, "Can Tourism Providers Buy their Customers' Loyalty? Examining the Influence of Customer-Provider Investments on Loyalty" by Morais, Dorcsh and Backman, discusses the formation of loyalty. Their idea is close to the ideas by Mark Uncles and the paradox of customer's loyalty. Like Uncles, they write about the overvalued effectiveness of special customer loyalty programs, especially in tourism. They claim that there is no consensus as to how loyalty develops. The maturation of tourism industry in many countries led to the shift in the marketing purposes. Now every marketer in tourism and hospitality industry wants to have long-term and trusted relationship with clients. That is why marketers develop the programs of loyalty for their customers. However, the effectiveness of these programs is under discussion. Studying the loyalty formation, the authors have got the interesting finding: "The results indicated that if customers perceived that a provider was making an investment in them, they in turn made a similar investment in the provider, and those investments led to loyalty" (Morais, Dorcsh and Backman, p. 240) In this case the quality means the communication with customer as well as good service.

The article by Rosemary Stockdale "Managing customer relationships in the self-service environment of e-tourism" discusses the comparatively new trend in tourism and hospitality, the self-service technologies. These technologies became widely spread because of the development on the Internet and e-commerce. Despite the initial impression, this article is closely related with the thesis of this research. The reason is that self-service technologies decrease the market share of tourism firms and contradict their willing to build the long-term and trusted relationship with their clients. The author recommends to tourist firms to develop the relationship within the borders of self-serving service. To her opinion, the hospitality business should follow the newest trends to increase the service quality.

At last it worth to mention the article by Fick and Brent Ricche. They propose special SERVQUAL scale for quality measuring in tourism.

The information above allows creation the general picture of the media coverage of building customer loyalty in tourism and hospitality industry with the quality. First, the issue of client satisfaction and customer loyalty was studied by many researches. Te agreed definition of customer loyalty was not found. Generally, the literature related to this issue is lacking the system approach. There is no single study summarizing the results of the researches in this area.

The issue of quality in tourism is covered sufficiently. The industry media, like "Journal of Travel Research", published the number of articles discussing the quality standards in tourism and hospitality. These publications not only describe the quality standards, but also highlight the newest trends in the industry and evaluate the new quality standards.

The theme of client loyalty in tourism and hospitality is covered in the specialized media. Al publications related to this issue mention the importance of relationship marketing. Some analysis of practical cases put under discussion the effectiveness of programs of loyalty. The latest articles propose the alternative approach to marketing strategies aimed on the customer loyalty in tourism and hospitality.

The literature containing the recommendations for building the customer's loyalty through quality starts from the book of Phillip Kotler. Some articles support his point of view and add additional argumentation to the issue.

However, the entire picture is not so optimistic. On the one hand, the latest articles discuss the most actual themes in the modern tourism. On the other hand, there is no systematization and generalization in these articles. This is the most perspective dimension for further researches. The literature on this issue is also lacking the case studies describing the real results of new strategies implementation.

The customer loyalty is the «hot topic» nowadays. Most of the sources reviewed in the first part of the research were published during the last decade of the 20th century. The idea of keeping customers is timeless, but the relationship marketing became the popular term approximately in 1980s. Within this and the following decade the researches created the scientific and terminological base of this kind of marketing. Customer loyalty became one of these terms. However, the research showed there is no agreed definition of customers' loyalty. This is related with the different typology in the base of different definitions. The marketers of all industries develop different methods to develop customer loyalty. The tourism and hospitality industry is not the exclusion. The researchers published a number of materials related to this issue. The researches described the quality standards in tourism and hospitality, and highlight the newest trends in the industry. Many articles proved the importance on customer loyalty for tourism. Generally, the customer loyalty is important in every industry, including tourism and hospitality. The attraction of new clients can not solely support the development of industry without the long-term relations with clients. These long-terms relations are based on loyalty. The quality is one of the most important factors influencing on loyalty, this fact was also discussed and proved by latest publications.

At last, there are many recommendations for building the customer loyalty through quality. Some of them have great practical value, but the area lacks the systematization. However, it can be concluded that this issue has the sufficient coverage in media and literature.

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The tourism and hospitality career progression pathway

International Hospitality Review

ISSN : 2516-8142

Article publication date: 22 July 2022

Issue publication date: 25 March 2024

The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive investigation into declining and emerging occupations and job titles and to develop a national career progression pathway for the tourism and hospitality (T&H) sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Anchored on the Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study used face to face in-depth interviews of 33 industry stakeholders: policymakers, trade association, training providers and beneficiaries (T&H).

The finding reveals that only the “watchman” occupation was identified as the declining job while majority of the emerging jobs were more related to information technology and environmental occupations (website designers, digital marketers, data analysts, hygienists, and safety and hazard experts).

Practical implications

The findings provide a valuable signal for the growing number of jobs in security services, hygiene and information technology-oriented occupations, which the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture including practitioners including HR directors and general managers should respond timely to and to these growing needs in order to remain competitive in the sector.

Originality/value

This is the first study in context that responded to a call by industry players to fill in a practical knowledge gap in examining declining and emerging jobs and job titles in the T&H sector. The study provides vocational insights into mapping the entry level requirements for the jobs allied with occupations in the national technical and vocational educational training qualifications framework of Ghana at the national level.

• Career progression pathway
• Declining occupation
• Emerging occupation
• Social cognitive career theory
• Tourism and hospitality

Preko, A. and Anyigba, H. (2024), "The tourism and hospitality career progression pathway", International Hospitality Review , Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 54-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/IHR-02-2022-0005

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Alexander Preko and Hod Anyigba

Published in International Hospitality Review . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

A career development path provides employees with an ongoing mechanism to enhance their skills and knowledge that can lead to mastery of their current jobs, promotions and transfers to new or different positions – Society of Human Resource Management ( SHRM, 2017 , p. 12).

Employability and career development in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) industry has become the key focus for researchers and practitioners, particularly for hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, cruises, events, casinos, parks, entertainment and other tourism-related services ( Calinaud, Kokkranikal, & Gebbels, 2021 ). To this end, employers in the hospitality and tourism sector are directing efforts toward recruiting and selecting industry-specific talents and candidates for jobs in the sector to avert underperformance and turnover rates ( Aicher, Buning, & Newland, 2020 ; Calinaud et al. , 2021 ; Cassel, Thulemark, & Duncan, 2018 ). The barriers to career development in the T&H industry and hence their mobility in the industry are evident, and have been in the apparent frame of attention ( Cassel et al. , 2018 ). For example, Cassel et al. (2018) noted that in Sweden, the supply of labour and supply of competence are critical issues facing the sector. Similarly, due to the industry's poor reputation for good jobs, attracting and retaining staff worldwide has always been a challenge ( Barron, Maxwell, Broadbridge, & Ogden, 2007 ; Baum, 2015 ). Mobility in the T&H industry is particularly alarming because the education levels in the sector are low, the entrance barriers are relatively low compared to other industries, renumerations are low, and it is quite easy to change jobs in the sector because most jobs are mostly temporary, and sometimes seasonal ( Hemdi & Nasurdin, 2006 ). These staff mobility problems pose serious challenges to career development and overall growth of the sector. A few studies have attempted to address the mobility, turnover and career pathway problems in the T&H industry. These studies, however, have largely been conducted in advanced economy contexts (see: Cassel et al. , 2018 ; Chang & Tse, 2015 ), with set limitations in terms of methodology, theory and scope. This issue presents an apparent evidence gap and practice–knowledge gap. A different study context, such as a developing country context, presents a rare opportunity to investigate career pathways pertinent to the local T&H industry.

According to TIME's 2021 world's greatest places list, Accra (capital of Ghana) is the Number 1 destination in Africa for tourists ( Oluwole, 2022 ). In spite of this gain, Ghana's T&H industry has faced major challenges of fragmented and uncoordinated career pathway progressions that undermine the development of the sector. This suggests the inability of the T&H sector to comprehensively define the occupations in the industry. For example, Ghanaian graduates who enter the T&H labor market are not perfectly aligned and suited to the requirements of the labor market. The T&H labor market, as it is today, is having growth problems. A resource constrained post-COVID-19 scenario unsurprisingly poses an existential threat – calling for a proper retooling and skill-set enhancement for industry players. Currently, an overview of Ghana's T&H industry indicates that tourism is regarded as the fourth income generating sector after gold, cocoa and oil ( MOTAC, 2019 ). In 2018, the industry contributed US$ 1,947.5 million, which was an increase of 4.9% of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ( MOTAC, 2019 ). A report of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) (2017) estimates that the sector's contribution to Ghana's GDP will increase by 4.2% to US$ 4,522.3 million by 2028. In terms of employment, the industry has offered approximately 692,000 direct and indirect jobs, which represented 5.3% of the total national employments in 2017 ( WTTC, 2017 ). This figure is estimated to grow to 807,000 jobs by 2028 ( WTTC, 2017 ).

to examine existing, declining and emerging occupations in the Ghanaian tourism and hospitality sector;

to examine the entry level requirements for the jobs associated with the occupations in the sector in accordance with the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training Qualification Framework (NTVETQF); and

to develop national career pathways for possible T&H job progressions from lower to higher qualifications.

Indeed, investigations of this nature within the tourism literature are important, given the critical roles (income earner, employment generation, foreign exchange earner and investment attracter) the sector plays in the development of any given economy. It is, therefore, imperative to critically examine the status quo, and offer practical yet crucial solutions to policymakers and practitioners. There is also the need to extend our understanding of the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT).

The study contributes to the growing literature on career development in the T&H in three ways. First, this study is among the first to develop a career map and anticipation structure for the T&H industry to fill an evidence gap. Second, the study contributes to the practice–knowledge gap in the literature by heeding to ILO and researchers' calls to solve the turnover, career mismatch (skills anticipation and mismatch), career progression and job satisfaction problems in the T&H industry ( Cassel et al. , 2018 ; ILO, 2020 ). Third, the novelty of the study is hinged on three theoretical contributions. First, the SCCT is extended and applied to fit career development in the T&H sector. Previously, self-efficacy or individual behavior was a major consideration in personal career development. However, in today's dynamic and competitive labor market, the T&H job environment is largely influenced by the national career paths, which is an extension of the SCCT theory. Second, the study reveals that self-efficacy may be enhanced when individuals are subjected to training in specific career pathways. Lastly, the SCCT has been used extensively at the personal and organizational levels. This study attempts to apply the theory to a national career pathway to fully harness the triadic reciprocity of person, behavior and context.

The study is structured in the following ways. First, we present a review of the existing literature on career progression in T&H. Next, we present the data collection and data analysis and then the main findings, discussion, limitation and future research direction. Finally, we present the conclusions and implications of the study.

Literature review

The social cognitive career theory (scct).

In general, career theories are usually contingent on environmental, economic and social factors. Hitherto career paths and development were structured by organizations, which were fundamentally a linear progression through the career stages ( Arthur & Rousseau, 2001 ). Earlier, employee success was defined by promotions, allowances, increments and job stability. Traditionally, organizational careers have been conceptualized as linear trajectories where employees progress in their careers in a linear hierarchical structure within the organization. This lifespan development model, which contrasts the “boundaryless career” model, discusses steady states and linear careers marked by a common work role for life and upward mobility ( Arthur & Rousseau, 2001 ; Eby, Butts, & Lockwood, 2003 ; Marler, Woodard Barringer, & Milkovich, 2002 ; Miller & Form, 1951 ). Given today's fast-paced and volatile organizational environment, scholars are beginning to put together new career development models and theories that explain the dynamic and changing nature of careers in diverse sectors, including the T&H sector.

There has been considerable vitality evident in career development research in the past 40 years. At its inception, Bandura (1986) paved the way by expanding his research on the Social Learning Theory (SLT) to Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). The SCT posits that employees (for example, individuals in the T&H sector) learn through a social complex environment with a dynamic and reciprocal interaction of the individual, environment and behavior. The theory lays emphasis on social influence and its accompanying internal and external social reinforcements. Previous fundamental and related theories have been refined and reconceptualized, and expanded ( Holland, 1985 ; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ; Super, 1980 ). As a result, several novel theoretical perspectives have been introduced ( Hackett, Lent, & Greenhaus, 1991 ). The SCCT, an extension of the SCT in the context of career development, helps to “(a) bring together conceptually related constructs (e.g. self-concept, self-efficacy), (b) more fully explain outcomes that are common to a number of career theories (e.g. satisfaction, stability), and (c) account for the relations among seemingly diverse constructs (e.g. self-efficacy, interests, abilities, needs)” ( Hackett & Lent, 1992 , p. 443).

The SCT is predominantly hinged on the concept of triadic reciprocity. In this model, (1) observable behavior or responses depicted in the forms of actions; (2) personal attributes and physical attributes; and (3) external environment, all work together as interlocking mechanisms that affect each other bidirectionally ( Bandura, 1986 ). Personal attributes in the SCT are linked with a variety of self-reflective, vicarious, self-regulatory and cognitive processes ( Bandura, 1986 ). Each of these mechanisms are assumed to play a vital role in guiding psychosocial functioning, but goal representations, outcome expectations and self-efficacy beliefs are particularly important in the SCCT. The SCCT of career development focuses heavily on the mechanism of personal agency (i.e. self-efficacy appraisals). Self-efficacy refers to “people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances” ( Bandura, 1986 , p. 391). Specifically, self-efficacy percepts are considered to be responsible for a person's emotional reactions, choice of activities, choice of environment, thought patterns, expenditure and career paths. These personal attributes or beliefs are dynamic, not static, and may be context specific. Together, person, behavior and context , affect each other bidirectionally in the SCCT of career development ( Hackett & Lent, 1992 ).

Individuals’ environment exposes them to different activities and career paths from childhood to adolescence. These observed experiences expose them to various organizational tasks. Apart from the exposure from this environment, they are differentially strengthened to pursue certain selected activities in which they may excel, thereby receiving the appropriate reward. In other words, people pick career choices in which they view themselves as most efficacious ( Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ). In the context of the T&H industry, career options are selected by people based on their self-efficacy, particularly personal behavior or traits they exhibit, and the environment in which they find themselves. The application of the SCCT in the T&H sector influences our thoughts in three ways:

First, the T&H job environment is largely influenced by the national career paths available to people. This is because people find it easier applying and selecting jobs that are within their competency areas once the national career pathway has predefined roles. The national career pathways consequently influence individual choice. For example, a room attendant who understands the various career paths available to him/her may develop interest and work (through education and training) toward becoming an interior décor designer. Second, outcome expectations – an attribute of self-efficacy, may be enhanced when individuals are subjected to training in specific career pathways. Once individuals are taken through job specific trainings, they develop more realistic expectations concerning the prediction of their next job or promotion. This systematic approach to expectation enhances self-efficacy of employees who, in turn, grow more confident in the respective job roles, which translates into better performance. Third, the SCCT has been used extensively at the personal and organizational levels. This study attempts to apply the theory to a national career pathway to fully harness the triadic reciprocity (person, behavior and context) . The national career pathway presents a unique opportunity to understand how unique individuals reach specific career contexts, considering the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute a particular course of action required to achieve the desired work outcomes in the T&H sector.

Career progression in tourism and hospitality

The existing literature ( Amissah, Mensah, Mensah, & Gamor, 2020 ; Armoo & Neequaye, 2014 ; DeMicco & Forgia, 2020 ; McGinley & Martinez, 2018 ; Murry et al. , 2017 ; Kim, Chun, & Petrick, 2009 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ; Weber & Ladkin, 2008 ) has indicated the importance of career progression as a catalyst for human development in the T&H industry. Tolkach and Tung (2019) noted that the industry depends on recruitment and employee career progression. This is also considered relevant in human capital development. Usually, workers are optimistic about career progression in their lifetime. Sheu et al. (2010) examine the significant role employees' choice goal plays in the social cognitive career theory context. It was found that choice goal significantly explains self-efficacy and outcome expectations of employees. This finding provides the understanding that people develop goals to pursue academic and career relevant programs that are in-line with their interest, as well as their self-efficacy and outcome expectation. From the organization's point of view, the provision of career progression pathways offers opportunities for employees to have a clear direction and become managers of their own career paths, and motivates them to work hard in achieving higher positions. In addition, clear and concise career pathways may enable employees to choose a path that correlates with their interest and abilities or realign their career path. Using data from the Ghanaian T&H sector, Armoo and Neequaye (2014) found that industry–person congeniality, social benefit factors, opportunity for professional development and job competitiveness were crucial in determining Ghanaian students' choice of career options. This finding referenced that occupational development is a significant factor in explaining choice of career options in the T&H sector. On the other hand, the career literature has indicated some related human resource management elements such as employee competency behavior, employee bonding, citizenship behavior, career decisions and how they affect career progression ( Amissah et al. , 2020 ; Chang & Tse, 2015 ). Yoganathan, Osburg and Bartikowski's (2021) study on employee competency in the tourism sector established that social media competency increases bonding. Competency helps employees to build better and broader connection with others, which enhances bonding in the workplace. This signifies that when bonding exists in an organization, workers are more likely to protect and defend their organizational reputation. In addition, Shehawy (2017) investigated how the tourism education process, tourism employability and job competitiveness using the Egyptian tourism data. The findings showed that there are significant relationships that exist between tourism learning outcome and other indicators (tourism curriculum mapping, design measurements and employability competitiveness). Earlier studies (See: Hall, 2011 ; Voight & Laing, 2010 ) have also identified the importance of fertility and reproductive tourism, which are directly connected to productivity of the labor. The recent study of Elbaz, Mathew, Maher, Onjewu and Shehawy (2021) on motherhood fertility found that motherhood desire has a positive influence on attitude, subjective norm and female tourists' revisit intentions and actual behavior. Again, it is important to note that fertility exerts a negative influence on workforce participation when women have a newborn baby. This has a decreased effect on workforce participation for women who have just become mothers, which has implications for female workers' careers in the T&H sector.

The recent literature defined career progression pathways as a sequence of positions, which might be occupied by workers from the junior to the senior level in any given organization ( Gebbels, 2019 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ). In the context of this research, the career progression pathway is contextualized as a step-by-step development of employees' career stages, from a lower to a higher rank in T&H organizations or between organizations with similar professions or specialization. This study's definition highlights the fact that the concept of career progression in the T&H study context implies employees will remain at the same job position or make a calculated effort to move up the occupational ladder. O'Leary and Deegan (2005) , using data from the career progression of Irish T&H context, found that there is a significant dropout of workers in the T&H sector due to poor remuneration and unfavorable working hours. Similarly, Hakim's (2020) study provided evidence that career development significantly influenced organizational commitment of employees in the tourism sector. The above empirical findings emphasize the importance of career progression in the T&H industry as a catalyst for the sector's development.

Research is still lacking in developing a national career progression pathway for the T&H workforce within the Ghanaian perspective. Hence, it is opportune to conduct a comprehensive career progression pathway assessment, and map occupations and their respective job titles for the Ghanaian T&H sector, which has been neglected in the career progression literature. In all, we present a literature matrix (see: Table 1 ), which demonstrates how extant studies have investigated career progression in different research contexts.

Research methodology

The focus of this study was to gather primary qualitative data from policymakers, T&H trade related associations, training providers and beneficiaries (T&H businesses). Note that the training providers were selected across the entire country while policymakers, trade associations and beneficiaries were selected in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. We used the purposive sampling method to select the participants to answer questions relating to the national framework that regulates T&H jobs including technical and vocational jobs, qualification requirements or guidelines and possible career progression. In all, this study used in-depth interviews of 33 industry stakeholders (interviewees) out of the 35 participants sampled earlier through face-to-face and telephone interviews to collect data that focused on unearthing the T&H occupations (existing, declining and emerging) and job titles, and further developed occupational pathways’ progression taking into consideration all the “eight-levels” of the NTVETQF (See: Figure 1 ). We followed the recommendation of Saunders et al. (2018) to use the strategy gathering rich (quality) and thick (quantitative) data to achieve data saturation and rigor. The sample size of 33 was determined by achieving data saturation, and there was an agreement between the researchers to halt recruiting more interviewees. Table 2 shows the detailed sampled summary of the number of interviewees used for this study and their respective institutions. Purposively, this study interviewed participants from the above institutions on the basis of their deep understanding of the industry.

In this study, the job title is regarded as a rank or position of an employee, while occupation is the task or core function performed by an employee. Following Creswell's (2014) definition, an in-depth interview is a technique designed to elicit information from an interviewee's perspective on a research topic. The key industry players or stakeholders interviewed for this study were categorized into four groups based on the final outcome of the study where a comprehensive career progression pathway was to be mapped in consultation with the industry players. The categories include policymakers (government ministries, departments and agencies), employer and trade associations (members of Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF)), training providers (hotel, tourism and catering training institutes, master craft persons and other relevant training institutions) and beneficiary partners (selected small, medium and large size tourism and hospitality companies/businesses).

In order to explore the research objectives in a consistent manner, the researchers developed a comprehensive interview guide including probing questions based on the three specific objectives proposed by the funding partners of the project, namely existing, declining and emerging jobs; entry qualifications; and possible career pathways development. All the participants responded to Question 1 to 6, and the remaining questions were stakeholder specific (see A ppendix ). First, the researchers presented a draft of the research instruments for this study to the industry players at a workshop where comments and suggestions were provided. Secondly, the revised questions were scrutinized by four tourism and hospitality experts from industry and academia appointed by the funding partners of the project.

Each participant was interviewed in English language by the researchers at an agreed location most convenient (e.g. offices and homes) for the interviewee. The interviews were conducted between October 9 and 16, 2020, using digital recorders, allowing for a word-by-word transcription of each interview that lasted approximately 40–65 minutes. A follow-up was done by phone for clarifications and more information when necessary. The transcriptions were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis to examine patterns in the occupations identified in the industry. We followed the recommendations made in the existing literature ( Mayring, 2000 ; Schreier, 2012 ) to conduct the content analysis for this study. First, we read the transcriptions over and over for content familiarity, keeping in mind the specific objectives of the study. Second, with the help of NVivo 12, we separately employed “in vivo coding”, which allows the researchers to derive codes from the actual words of the interviewees in the data itself. This form of coding is useful when the researcher interacts with the interviewees on particular issues. For example, we were interested in specific jobs and job titles in the Ghanaian T&H sector. Interestingly, the researchers individually coded the data in order to check whether we have obtained the same conclusions after reviewing the same data. This guarantees data validation, credibility, dependability and confirmability, which are considered as strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research ( Lazaraton, 2017 ; Shenton, 2004 ). Third, the identified codes were processed into three specific categories such as existing occupation, declining occupation and emerging occupation. Finally, the categories were developed into the three main themes: information technology jobs, environmental jobs and job titles.

This study adhered to the COVID-19 protocols in the data collection stages. The COVID-19 protocols of social distancing of at least two meters apart, use of a face mask, avoidance of handshakes, hand washing and use of hand sanitizers as recommended by the World Health Organization ( WHO, 2020 ) were observed during the entire period of the field research. The sample comprised 23 males (69.7%) and 10 females (30.3%). Averagely, all the interviewees had working experience in the industry of ten years and above. In all, the findings and the proposed national career pathways were validated at a workshop based on the inputs received from key stakeholders such as the employers and employees of the sector.

The findings revealed six subsectors within the Ghanaian T&H sector, proposed as “travel and tour”, “lodging”, “catering”, “events”, “education and training” and “arts and culture”, which were useful in mapping occupations and their respective job titles. Tables 3–8 showed occupations and job titles plotted according to the “eight levels” qualification framework (minimum to maximum levels), which responded specifically to Objective 2 of this study (entry level requirement of occupations associated with the T&H sector). Table 9 presented the national career progression pathways for the sector, which specifically addressed Objective 3. In summary, the key findings of the study revealed that “watchman” ( Table 5 ) was found to be the only declining job in the Ghanaian T&H sector; whereas the emerging jobs were website designers, digital marketers, data analysts, hygienists, and safety and hazard experts, which were labeled in red texts in Tables 3–8 .

I don't think there is anything like that […]

Training provider

[…] not really. What I remember is the new Ghana Tourism Authority law, which I think made a provision that managers should be licensed; even that one has not seen light of the day.

Trade association

At the moment I will say “Yes” and “No”, because we have National Hospitality Act, which helps to set up a hospitality and build the capacity of employees. However, most hospitality companies in Ghana operate as private individuals, and the career progression in the public sector cannot be aligned with what they have.

Policymaker

Declining or emerging occupations and job titles

Correspondingly, the result of the first objective showed the declining and emerging jobs and titles.

I can see one emerging job “hospitality accountants”. Like hospitality accounting, which has not been popularized in our part of the world. Mostly, we use “financial accountants” to support the sector. Our institutions should train more “hospitality accountants” who will be able to manage the sector effectively. […] one of the declining job titles in this country now is “watchman” which literally means keep an eye on something for me. Sophisticated devices like CCTV and security gadgets have taken over their job.

Mostly, the foreign hospitality firms come to work in Ghana with their chefs who are specialized in the international or continental foods. They only employ our local chefs when they are engaging in local foods which serve local consumers and some international tourists. Usually, these occupations “sommelier”, and “executive chef” are not available in our labor market. This is because our higher institutions do not have programs for these specializations. For example, if you examine how people become chefs, most of the chef started like a steward or cleaner or gardener in the industry after completion of secondary schools. Then, they developed later the passion to be cooks and become chefs as they get the opportunity to progress.

Entry level requirements for the jobs and possible pathways in the T&H sector

On our beaches you can find people parading themselves as they help people who are drowning. They have learnt swimming informally and they help people at the beach. Some people called them local informal rescuers.

Beneficiary

We have the reservation agent who deals with ticketing and making travelling arrangement for tourists to travel to their destinations […] tour operator will put the tour package in terms of transportation and other logistics in place. In my organization I employ data analyst , who manages customers' data and other data related issues. It is seen as one of the emerging occupations that the industry cannot avoid if we want to be competitive. We must always analyze our markets' characteristics in order to plan and develop business strategies as well.

We are looking for food, beverage and sanitation officers as well as a Chef. I know they have various ranks of Chefs from executive Chef to the head Chef . Nowadays, you can also have pastry Chef, who specializes in pastry.

Trade Associations

[…] room attendant, cook, security, kitchen porters , waiters and waitresses usually consist of workers in the lower class in the Ghanaian labor market. Some people also see the cashiers as part of the restaurant service and the front officer in the reception. We also have the purchasing officers, store keepers, marketers as well as sales person who markets the tour packages to tourists. We are seeing demand for web designers and digital marketers as the industry strives hard to promote Ghana's T&H to the outside world on the social media and other digital platforms.

[…] if you go to other countries, they have specific courses for people to become bartenders . Bartenders in Ghana don't have any qualification before they begin to practice. They just enter as trainers and later they develop the passion to be bartenders.

Beneficiaries

Discussions of findings

To understand the career pathways’ progression, this research investigated the declining and emerging jobs and job titles and their respective entry level requirements in the T&H sector. Findings revealed that there are clear occupational paths available to all categories of workers in the six subsectors to progress in their choice of occupations. According to the SCCT, self-efficacy outlines the employee's capability to organize and attain the highest career paths. Further, the theory emphasizes that employees will pick a career path for which they view themselves as most efficacious ( Lent et al. , 1994 ). Interestingly, the possible career pathways accommodated diversification or realignment of occupations in the sector. For example, within the arts and culture subsector, woodcarver of Level 3 can diversify or realign an occupation after acquiring some level of training and formal education and become an assistant fashion designer or a sales trainee in Level 4 and progress to Level 6 to become a fashion designer, manager, sales manager or customer relationship manager. This pathway is possible because the individual, through training, develops a self-efficacy trademark such as positive attitudes, abilities and cognitive skills that boosts one's self confidence to make great strides in the job market.

Noticeably, the sector's career pathways’ progression is envisioned on some key emerging occupational areas: safety and security; technology adoption; and hygiene (environmental occupations). The findings on technology strengthens the understanding of how Ghanaian T&H businesses have gradually started deploying the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) within the field of robotics, which is regarded as one of the most exciting and promising applications for individuals and businesses operating within T&H. For example, providing the chatbots’ services that allow a hotel or travel company to provide 24/7 support through online chat or instant messaging services, even when their staff are not available. Analytically, the findings on technology, security, safety and hygiene imply that these findings are in line with UNWTO (2003) initiatives for nations to develop a national policy to safeguard tourists against risk and hygiene related matters such as crime, sexual assault, terrorism, food safety and hygiene. Furthermore, this shows that Ghana, a country ranked as the 115th of 136 tourism destinations in the world, is adhering to and aligning career paths that cover security and hygiene issues addressed in the UNWTO developmental plans for the T&H sector. In addition, the emerging technology supported occupations and job titles also demonstrated the level at which technology-oriented occupations have been responded to in the Ghanaian career pathways progression of the T&H sector. This signifies that the Ghanaian T&H sector is conforming to the best practices in the world T&H space. Furthermore, this study's finding highlighted Ghana's acceptance of various technology adoption measures supported by legislation such as the Electronic Transaction Act (Act 772 of 2008), National Information Technology Agency Act (Act 771 of 2008) and Data Protection Act (Act 843 of 2012) to protect and ensure quality service provision in the sector. This provides evidence of Ghana's preparedness in supporting the innovation technology that will benefit the T&H sector. The T&H sector depends on the Internet as one of the technological ways tourists can access the needed information related to online traveling sites, booking, photo check out, price comparison for vacations and e-transactions. Added to this, Ghana's Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All (2017–2024) of the Coordinated Program of Economic and Social Development Policies emphasized the transformation of the T&H sector through investment in innovation technology and job creation for excellent e-service to tourists such as websites, e-check-in and online booking.

The finding on the declining job and job title “watchman” reaffirmed that security related matters have become complex and the roles of “watchman” have been expanded to cater for the safety and security need driven for the sector. Ten years ago, the role of “watchman” in context was to watch over a property or premise at night when the owners or occupants are asleep. Today, the direction of crime has changed, given that there is daylight robbing, kidnapping, property theft, mugging, armed robbery, as well as terrorism acts evidenced in the sector. Previous studies in context have evidenced how tourists feel unsafe at some destination sites ( Boakye, 2010 ; Poku & Boakye, 2019 ; Preko, 2020a , 2020b ). It is also important to note that during the COVID-19 pandemic, security personnel have had an add-on function of checking the temperature of tourists, and ensuring the strict adherence of the COVID-19 protocols on site. This signifies that the security personnel job description has been expanded to include safeguarding the health and safety of tourists at sites. This observation is similar to the findings of Cheung, Takashima, Choi, Yang and Tung (2021) , where they investigated the impact of COVID-19 on psychological needs of tourists using the existence, related and growth theory. Their findings reinforce the importance of safety and security during COVID-19. This provides a signal that advances the understanding on how safety and security personnel and their careers can strategically be defined to manage any given situation in the sector.

Conclusion and implications

In conclusion, the current study revealed one declining job and 12 emerging jobs, mostly in the security, hygiene and information technology-oriented occupations; and developed national career pathways for the sector. Strategically, these results suggest that Ghana is on course in developing career paths that incorporate key components of the tourism and hospitality agenda of the UNTWO advocacy in the areas of safety, security, hygiene and deployment of technologies in the sector. This will position the country to compete effectively with other tourism nations worldwide. It was also found that the possible career paths developed make provision for diversification and realignment of occupations in the sector, which serves as a motivational factor to all employees who aspire to choose occupational paths with high social status, and promising and rewarding careers within the sector. Indeed, the results of this study have extended the national understanding of career progression, which has not been examined earlier in the T&H sector in context. The current study makes significant contributions that fill gaps in the extant tourism career literature. First, this is the first study in context that comprehensively examines declining and emerging jobs and job titles in the T&H sector. Second, the research provides vocational insights in mapping the entry level requirements for the jobs allied with occupations in the NTVETQF of Ghana at the national level. Third, findings from this research differ from earlier career research of Amissah et al. (2020) , who found perceptions toward the careers in the sector unfavorable in terms of the knowledge transfer skills, employee exposure to other career avenues and the offer of good promotion prospects using tourism students' data in context. Fourth, this study extends tourism studies ( Armoo & Neequaye, 2014 ; Kim et al. , 2009 ; Murry et al. , 2017 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ) on career paths within the literature by using first-hand qualitative data from the key industry stakeholders. Fifth, this study has addressed the lack of national career pathways progression in accordance with the NTVETQF based on the six identified subsectors of the T&H sector, which will help to overcome the challenges of upgrading from the lower to higher ranks in the sector.

Practically, this study's findings provide learning opportunities for HR managers and general managers to develop specific HR policies and practices regarding recruitment, education, talent management and career progression management that will boost employee self-efficacy in the sector. It is important for the HR practitioners and managers in the sector to conduct periodic trainings, workshops, conferences, seminars and open fora on career progressions’ awareness matters for the T&H employees in order to increase their knowledge on the subject matter. Again, the T&H sector and its allied institutions should employ both hard and soft media (e.g. newspapers, television programs, brochures, websites etc.) in the dissemination of information about employee career progressions to ensure a continuous increase of knowledge on career pathways’ subjects. At the national level, the entry level for T&H occupations and career mapping for the T&H may now be adopted for use in the T&H industry. The career mapping for the T&H serves as a standardized career progression pathway that may guide T&H practitioners and administrators on job placement and promotion, to solve the practical knowledge gap of career misalignment in the T&H industry. Strategically, T&H businesses should embrace the significant role played by robotics and AI in order to develop the sector by deploying a variety of technologies, including collision detection, Wi-Fi and AI to navigate hotels and provide services. For industry practitioners, one practical implication is the valuable signal for the growing number of jobs in security services, hygiene and information technology-oriented occupations. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, including practitioners, HR directors and general managers, should respond timely to these growing needs in order to remain competitive in the sector. In addition, the findings inform HR managers, other practitioners and business owners about the need to pay attention to the entry level requirements for each occupation and apply them to useful ends accordingly. At a glance, the results reveal that only “watchman” occupation and job title was identified as a declining job. It is important to inform HR managers and general managers that they should always be up-to-date in looking out for jobs that might need training and re-qualification in their respective organizations. This strategy might be treasured in developing new skills needed for the sector. The finding of scarcity of some key professions or skills such as “hospitality accountant”, “sommelier” and “executive chef” in the sector implies that T&H managers and businesses, including HR managers, can make recommendations to the higher learning institutions to prepare these skills for the sector. This will encourage businesses in the T&H sector to begin engaging the services of Ghanaian workers to occupy these key positions in the sector. Again, the findings suggest to HR managers that organizational structure, design, culture and process should simultaneously create work-based learning for Ghanaian employees to acquire the skills that are a scarcity for the sector. Scholars have widely acknowledged that a structured and diversified career path progression offers employees mobility within the sector, which then motivates employees to work hard in achieving higher positions ( Gebbels, 2019 ; Kim et al. , 2009 ; O'Leary & Deegan, 2005 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ). This research supports these viewpoints and further recommends that managers should consider providing working conditions that will boost employee self-efficacy to work harder to migrate from the lower to the higher positions in the industry. Practically, the study identified six subsectors in the T&H industry, namely: “travel and tour”, “lodging”, “catering”, “events”, “education and training” and “arts and culture”. Educational institutions could take a cue from this and develop courses and programs to fill the skills gaps in the sector. The recommendations provided in this study are not country specific but similar geographic settings can adopt some of the suggestions when necessary.

Our study furthermore contributes to the SCCT in three ways: First, the T&H ecosystem is largely influenced by the national career paths available to the people. As such, the SCCT inherently supports a national career path ecosystem that opens up career pathways to individual actors in the T&H sector. This opportunity helps individual actors or employees to organize and accomplish the highest career progression possible in the industry. Secondly, it is envisaged that individual actors in the T&H will work and progress with aplomb when the individual is taken through on-the-job training and education. In other words, the SCCT theory improves our understanding of how individual actors or employees in the T&H sector progress through the ranks on the back of an important outcome expectation of the SCCT – “self-efficacy”. Lastly, the SCCT has been used extensively at the personal and organizational levels. This study is the first to apply the SCCT to a national career pathway to fully harness the triadic reciprocity.

Limitations and area for future studies

In all, the findings of this study cannot be overlooked because, significantly, this is the first study in context that responds timely to the development of a national career progression, although there are some limitations. This research has the inherent limitations of a qualitative study that discourages the results to be generalized due to the lack of randomness in the selection and statistical representation of interviews although the qualitative approach is perhaps one of the best approaches to gathering unique insights from the industry. Further studies should investigate how HR managers, practitioners, employers and other stakeholders in the sector are applying and complying with the national career paths and provide recommendations for updates that will see continuous relevance of the career path document to the sector, as well as furthering investigations into the applications of robotics and AI in the sector. For future study directions, researchers should consider gathering quantitative data from employees of the sector regarding the applicability of the developed career path based on their choice, attitudes and viewpoints that can be gathered through different engagements such as workshops, seminars, conferences and open fora, etc.

National TVET qualifications framework

Compilations of the relevant literature used for this study

Number of interviewees sampled

Entry level requirement for lodging related occupations

Entry level requirement for the catering related occupations

Entry level requirement for events related occupations

Entry level requirement for education and training related occupations

Entry level requirement for arts and culture related occupations

Tourism and hospitality career pathway map

Appendix Research instruments

What is the specific regulatory document that defined career progression in the tourism and hospitality sector?

Is it a regulatory framework for only tourism or hospitality or for both tourism and hospitality?

Does the regulatory framework identify and describe all existing jobs including job titles, duration, entry requirements in the sector?

Does the regulatory framework define the opportunities for possible progression from the lower to higher qualifications with the respective jobs?

Are these occupations in the sector documented with their titles and job descriptions?

Are there any emerging or declining jobs in the tourism sector that should be titled and defined for the industry?

Are there any emerging or declining jobs in the hospitality sector that should be titled and defined for the industry?

Does the career path map the possible pathways for progression from lower to higher qualifications and respective jobs?

What is the minimum entry requirement for jobs in the tourism and hospitality sector?

What are the possible career paths for Proficiency I holders to obtain a bachelor degree in the sector?

What are some of the professions identified in the sector that are aligned to the NTVETQF guidelines?

What are the entry requirements for these qualifications: Proficiency I, II, Certificate I, Higher National Diploma, and Bachelor degree?

What are the further education and training programs on offer to individuals in the technical and vocational occupations to their career pathways?

In what specific ways is the institution preparing occupations in the sector for progression from the lower to higher qualifications and respective jobs?

Are you (employers' association/trade unions) represented on the regulatory body?

What are the tourism and hospitality academic qualifications offered in your institution? ( Training providers )

What programs of education and training do you provide for your employees? ( Beneficiary institutions )

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Further reading

Bowen , G. ( 2009 ). Document analysis as a qualitative research method . Qualitative Research Journal , 9 ( 2 ), 27 – 40 .

Dworkin , S. ( 2012 ). Sample size policy for qualitative studies using in-depth interview . Achieves of Sexual Behaviour , 41 ( 6 ), 1319 – 1320 .

Frontex ( 2019 ). Risk analysis for 2019 , Available from: https://frontex.europa.eu/publications/riskanalysis-for-2019-RPPmXE ( accessed 10 October 2020 ).

Manning , J. ( 2017 ). In vivo coding . In J. Matthes (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods . NY : Wiley-Blackwell .

Zhou , G. ( 2000 ). When will the embarrassed hotel management graduates become unembarrassed . North Economy and Trade , 203 , 158 – 160 .

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the ILO team: Ms. Vanessa L. Phala (ILO Country Director for Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Liaison for ECOWAS), Ms. IIca Webster (ILO Senior Skills Specialist for West Africa), Mr. Adetor Frank Kwasi (National Project Coordinator-ILO SKILL UP Ghana Component) and Mrs Elsie Amo (Project Administrative Officer-ILO SKILL UP Ghana Component); SSB team: Dr. Eunice Amissah (Chairperson), Mr. Kwesi Eyison, (Vice Chairperson), Dr. Adelaide Mensah-Kuffour (Secretary), Mrs. Bella Ehu (President of GHATOF), and Mr. Emmanuel Frimpong (Executive Secretary of GHATOF) and Tourism & Hospitality Sector Skills Body members and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments from which the present paper greatly improved. The authors give special thanks to CTVET: Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah (Director General-CTVET), Mr. Theophilus Tetteh Zogblah (Coordinator-CTVET), and Ms. Edith Adotey (Program Officer-CTEVT), Data Collection/Interviews- Mrs. Egi Gaise. Any remaining errors or deficiencies are solely the authors’ responsibility.

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88 Tourism Management Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best tourism management topic ideas & essay examples, 🔎 good research topics about tourism management, 📝 most interesting tourism management topics to write about, ❓ tourism management research questions.

• Destination Marketing and Destination Management in Tourism The purpose of this task is to discuss reasons why misunderstanding of the concepts of destination marketing and destination management leads to poor sustainable tourism planning and management of tourism impacts.
• Tourism Destination Management and Development Tourism destination development and management is a key factor to the success of the tourism industry in any given region. The regional bodies come in with professionalism that is key to the success of the […]
• Human Resource Management in Tourism In his research, Nickson points out that the human resource management in the tourism incorporates the management principles to integrate with the specific needs in the tourism industry.
• “Coolness” of the City in Tourism Management The ‘coolness’ of the city and its culture is a powerful instrument in advancing the city’s attractive features, infrastructure, and business.
• Human Resource Management: Tourism and Hospitality Industry To recognise the variety both of the diversity of sub-industries and kinds of careers the tourism and hospitality sector in Australia is likely to create, this paper cannot take into account all of these elements […]
• Tourism Management of the National Parks and Heritage The National parks are credited for being major tourist attraction sites as compared to national heritage and promotion of the tourism industry as they have what the tourist wants to see, that is, the beauty […]
• Revenue Management in the Tourism Industry To predict the behavioural patterns of customers, the availability of the product in the market is optimised with a hope of maximising on revenues.
• Home Exchange and Implications for Tourism Management A listing refers to a list of people who are also interested in exchanging a home from a particular country and the quality of their homes is also given.
• Tourism Industry: Emergency and Crisis Management The technological and scientific breakthrough that has been witnessed over the past several decades has created the foil for the rapid development of the tourism industry. What are the primary causes of emergencies and crises […]
• Hospitality Management: Arabian Desert Resort In addition, it is the role of the sales manager to improve the facilities, maintain awareness of factors, which affect the hotel, and to gain a deeper perceptive of the needs and feelings of the […]
• Service Management of Innovation Tourism Industry Innovation taking place in tourism industry is resulting into new ideas, services, and products to the marketplace and as part of overall changes taking place in the industry, innovation in the industry is leading to […]
• VisitBritain’s Marketing Strategy for the 2012 Olympic Games and Diamond Jubilee The VisitBritain campaign is significant in helping Britain realize economic growth before, during, and after the 2012 Olympic Games as well as the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
• Contemporary Tourism and Hospitality Management I have always enjoyed visiting other countries, and Europe remains one of my favorite destinations since I see it as a small corner of the planet connecting a great variety of cultures.
• Yield Management and Tourism Industry in Saudi Arabia Thus, the hospitality industry of the country can rely on the support of the state, and this factor can contribute to the development of the hospitality industry.
• Tourism Management as an Ethnographic Theme Thus, as it is stated in some of the interview, tourists generally expect the attitude of obeisance towards them, and the workers of the tourism sphere feel themselves as the obedient servants.
• Sustainable Hospitality Management The paper will clear some concepts of Hospitality Management and Sustainable Hospitality Management, Assessment of Operational Efficiency of Hospitality Organizations, Critical analysis of Hospitality Parameters, Critical evaluation of Principles and Procedures Involved in Environmental Management […]
• Sustainable Tourism Development Management It includes the air, the climate of the place, the water bodies, the landscape, the animals, the birds and other life forms habiting the place, the plants and its overall beauty.
• Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism’s Conflict Management The concept of Sulha, although not directly outlined in the organization’s code of conduct, is the main driving instrument of internal conflict resolution in the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.
• Sun Peaks Resort: Tourism Management One is determined to examine the relevant aspects of the example of the Ski School in the Sun Peak Resort as the latter has the highest rating among all the Canadian resorts from the standpoint […]
• Sex Tourism Management Controversy As explained in the introductory section above, sex tourism refers to an aspect of tourism where the primary aim of the tourist is to have in sexual engagements with the people in their destination.
• Ethical Dimensions into Tourism Policy and Management Therefore, in analyzing the aspiration and practical application of ethics in tourism in regard to the policy and management of tourism endeavours, emphasis will be on the above aspects.
• Tourism Disaster Management In this phase, the main element of the management strategies for the disaster that is going on is assessment of the impacts and reconstruction.
• Forecasting the Tourism Activity as a Risk Management Instrument
• Casino and Gaming Management in Tourism: Monte Carlo, Baden Baden, and Las Vegas
• Business Continuity and Crisis Management in Tourism
• Traveling to India: The Problems Management of Tourism Business in One of the Most Conservative Countries
• The Importance of Total Quality Management in Tourism
• Management in Services as a Marketing Instrument for Increasing Customers’ Satisfaction With Tourism Products
• ICT Tools as Management Support in Croatian Tourism
• Strategic Management Within the Tourism and the World Globalization
• A Bass Model Application to Tourism Facility Management
• Strategic Management Problems for Romanian Tourism Companies
• Economic Possibilities and Management of Solar Energy Use in Tourism
• Sustainable Development and Tourism Destination Management of Hot Springs Hotels in Taiwan
• Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Management by Razaq Raj and Kevin Griffin
• Management Strategy and Policy of Etihad Airways Tourism
• Events Management in Tourism: Attracting More Tourists
• Creation and Management of Innovative Tourism Products in Italian Networks of Reserves in the Alps
• Rural Tourism: Development, Management, and Sustainability in Rural Establishments
• The Place and Role of Financing in the Management of Small Businesses in the Tourism
• Effective International Tourism Management
• The Use of Digital Technologies in the Tourism Management
• Online Tourism Information Management System
• Environmental Management and the Competitiveness of Nature-Based Tourism Destinations
• Yield Management Tourism: A Pricing Strategy to Generate Maximum Revenue
• Social Sustainability Tourism Management: Human Rights, Inclusion, Health and Safety
• Marketing and Management Implementation on Megatrends in Modern Tourism
• Destination Management Organizations and Health Tourism Visual Identification in Central and Eastern Europe
• Risk and Crisis Management in Tourism Industry: Linking Tourism Into Emergency Management
• Why the Development and Management of Tourism Can Not Be Left Entirely in the Hands of the Private Sector
• Tourism Development in Zambia: Planning and Natural Resource Management
• Management and Development Possibilities for Spa Tourism in Serbia
• Logistics and Supply Chain Management in Tourism
• Main Stages Involved With Capacity Management Tourism
• Information Systems Management for Travel and Tourism
• Stakeholders and Public-Private Partnerships Role in Tourism Management
• The Strategies for Management of the Tourism Sector During the Coronavirus Pandemic
• Collaboration, Management Contract, and Franchising in the Tourism Industry
• Operation Management Practices and Tactics of Hotel Novotel Tourism
• China’s Tourism Resources and Management
• Strengthening the Employ Ability of Hotel Restaurant Tourism Management Through Work and Travel Program
• Enterprise Risk Management With Foreign Exchange Exposures: Evidence From Taiwan Tourism Industry
• What Is the Future of Tourism Management?
• What Skills Do You Need in Tourism Management?
• What Are the Features of the Management Decision Making Process in Tourism Management?
• What Are the Benefits of Being a Tourism Management?
• When Did Tourism Management Originate?
• What Is the Task of Tourism Management?
• Is Tourism Management a Part of Economics?
• What Are the Main Features of Tourism Management?
• How Has Tourism Management Evolved?
• What Are the Functions of Tourism Management?
• What Are the Principles of Tourism Management?
• What Are the Popular Methods of Tourism Management?
• What Are the Features of Tourism Management Organizational Structures in Tourism Management?
• What Are the Management Issues in Tourism Management?
• What Is the Biggest Problem in Tourism Management?
• What Is the Main Purpose of Tourism Management?
• What Is the Concept of Tourism Management?
• What Are the Features of Tourism Service Quality Management in Tourism Management?
• Which Type of Trade Is Tourism Management?
• Who Is the Father of Tourism Management?
• Is Tourism Management a Market or Industry?
• What Is the Value of Tourism Management?
• What Is the Most Important Impact of Tourism Management?
• What Will Happen if There Is No Tourism Management?
• How Does Tourism Management Affect Society?
• Hilton Hotels Paper Topics
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Creating a ‘wow’ factor makes corporate events memorable

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Corporate teambuilding events or brand activations and displays are popular in B.C.’s warm summer months, but many can fail to dazzle those who attend.

Executives might try thinking creatively or hiring an event planner to provide fresh ideas for engaging teams and clients.

Carte Blanche Events owner Julie Connolly told BIV that one company, which did not want to be named, hired her to organize its summer staff party.

She booked three adjoining soccer fields at the Burnaby Sports Complex’s eastern side.

“Finding an available date in a park in the summer was a big challenge,” Connolly said. “There were not very many available dates. I had to book them three-to-four months out.”

One of the three fields at the July 28 event was reserved for some of the approximately 300 attendees to play soccer.

The middle field included a large buffet area with seating, and two food trucks—one by Yo-Bones BBQ Catering and one by Crema Ice Cream & Dessert.

The other field had three large inflatable games and a bouncy-castle obstacle course.

“We also had a three-lane bungee race, where someone would put on a vest attached to bungee cords and they ran far as far as they could to place a Velcro sponge,” she said. “A bungee cord would then pull the person back.”

Staff were put on teams and members got points for strong performances in games. Winning team members then got prizes.

Hiring event planners can also pay off for corporations who want to create buzz around a new product or new branding.

Connolly said one way she creates a “wow” factor for clients has been to provide experiences from Belgium’s Dinner In The Sky.

That venture often forwards North American customer requests to Carte Blanche, which organizes events across the continent, Connolly said.

The dining experience can be for various amounts of time, but often is for 20-minute excursions where diners get champagne and charcuterie after they and their table are lifted 150 feet into the sky. Diners wear harnesses and are strapped to their seats so they do not fall.

Connolly provided this experience for client The Score Bet at the RBC Canadian Open golf tournament in Hamilton, she said.

That client wanted to increase its brand recognition so it provided the elevated dining experience free of charge to various invited guests who were attending the golf tournament, Connolly said.

Holding innovative dining events that create lasting memories for attendees has long been a goal for event organizers.

Whistler-based Bearfoot Bistro director of marketing and communications Marc Des Rosiers told BIV that he would like to reprise SkyHigh—a five-course dinner held on the Peak2Peak gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

The charitable SkyHigh dining event took place in 2016 on gondola cabins operating between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains | Glen Korstrom

Des Rosiers conceived the event during a brainstorming session in early 2014 and then was able to host it in 2014 and again in 2016.

“We cannot confirm it yet,” he told BIV . “But it’s something that we are investigating and that we would like to do again.”

The dining experience raised money for the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, which supports local charities.

Des Rosiers said any revival of the event would need support and cooperation from the foundation and Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE:MTN), which owns the Whistler Blackcomb Resort and the gondola.

At SkyHigh in 2016 , 260 people consumed five-course dinners while seated around tables inside 26 Peak2Peak gondola cabins, which made multiple trips between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

Temporary chandeliers were added to the gondola cabins and the gondola’s speed was slowed to prevent cutlery and plates from sliding off the tables.

Diners ate each course during 18-minute trips between the mountains while staff at kitchens on each mountain had approximately 80 seconds to enter the gondola cabins, clear plates and bring the next serving and wine selection.

The gondola’s normal travel time is 11 minutes.

Companies paid $8,500 per cabin to invite up to 10 people to dine on food provided by Bearfoot Bistro. Proceeds after costs went to the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation.

The novelty of the event was why the cost per cabin was so high. Diners would simply not be able to go out and buy an experience like it on any random Saturday night anywhere in the world.

Des Rosiers said his 160-seat restaurant is a Whistler meeting venue that is available year-round.

One aspect that sets Bearfoot Bistro apart is that it has an ice bar—a room in which the temperature is set to -32 C that has a bar with shelving made of ice.

Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler has a room set to -32 C where guests can go to drink vodka | Bearfoot Bistro

Up to 20 people can visit the room at a time, so at corporate events where the restaurant is fully rented out, the guests rotate into and out of that bar.

“You go in with a vodka expert, and we have more than 50 different vodkas that you can choose from,” Des Rosiers said.

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Moscow City Tourism Committee concludes its first-ever digital roadshow in India to a resounding success

The 4-day panned virtual event was specially curated to present the “City of Moscow” as an attractive travel destination to the vibrant Indian outbound travel fraternity spread across 15 major cities PAN India.

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Moscow wins in two categories of world travel awards europe, dear moskvichi: 10 stories about moscow told by its citizens.

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For the first time, the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, opened in 2014, was awarded the highest 5-star rating. In addition, the 4-star rating was awarded to Lotte Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton, and Ararat Park Hyatt in Moscow. The “Recommended” rating was awarded to The St. Regis Nikolskaya Hotel in Moscow.

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Moscow restaurant listed in the russian book of records.

Birds, a restaurant with a panoramic view of Moscow, has set a record and become officially the highest restaurant and club in Europe. This fact has been registered in the Russian Book of Records. The restaurant is located in Moscow-City (MIBC).

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FITUR Madrid 2020 will be the first international event this year where Moscow will present its tourism potential. It will be held from 22 to 26 January.