Tourism Essay Examples

Question 1 Critically evaluate the impact of globalization on the structure of the international tourism and hospitality industry citing examples where appropriate.
The tourism and hospitality industry has gone through a rapid development in the past few decades, and these are attributed to changes brought about by globalization. The tourism sector has progressed in the past several years, and this course of development plays a significant role in bringing a closer relationship and interaction among different culture and tradition across the globe. Globalization has allowed the added convenience in movement and travelling from one region to another, and the tourism and hospitality industry have to fulfill the demands of the increasing number of travelers from different parts of the globe. Tourism is one of the prominent and fastest growing business sectors globally, bringing different influences on the social, cultural, economic and environmental concerns.

A. Positive Impact of Globalization on Tourism

There are various ways through which globalization has influenced the tourism sector, and this is most manifested in the speedy growth of the world economy. The tourism and hospitality sector has paved the way for heightened foreign investment in many countries, thus allowing for the inflow of foreign currency as well as other revenue generating activities worldwide. Some factors, such as the revenue from the tourism sector, increased employment rates, and other positive impact of tourism resulted in the industry becoming a universal answer to global sustainability. For many developing countries, resorting to the tourism and hospitality industry is a sure way to earn billions of dollars and can help them pay foreign obligations in the process. Another impact of globalization to the tourism sector is the encouragement of environmental protection measures. Moreover, there is also the promotion of cultural interaction among people from different culture and countries which promotes friendship and peace around the world.

B. Negative Impact of Globalization

Accordingly, the positive impact of globalization and tourism are not without undesirable consequences. For instance, environmental concerns arose due to the need to expand businesses for tourism purposes. While there are claims that the tourism sector is the most environment-friendly industry, its rapid expansion all over the globe resulted in an adverse environmental impact. An example of which is the increased number of travelers that can damage the natural environment, especially when the number of visitors in a region exceeds the local capacity to accommodate them. Moreover, the introduction of foreign values and tradition may lead to wearing away the culture and tradition of the host community.
Question 2 Critique the necessity and validity of pre-departure training activities undertaken by expatriate management of international tourism and hospitality operators using examples in order to support your argument.
People who are sent for offshore assignments are required to undergo pre-departure trainings, not only to make them adapt a mindset and attitude that are compatible to their job, but also to get an assurance that they can cope with the new culture and environment in another country. Despite the additional costs of pre-departure programs such as the introduction to the culture of the host country, these are an important concern that should be taken into consideration by companies operating in other countries. It was noted from several studies that CCT plays an important role during the process of cultural adjustment as cultural intelligence influences expatriate performance based on improved effectiveness, competency, teamwork and overall work performance (Pessala, 2012). Previous studies revealed that the rate by which of American expatriates failed in their offshore assignments ranges between 25 and 40% due to various reasons. These include insufficient training, the failure to select a qualified representative, the ineffectual compensation programs, as well as the adjustment difficulties experienced both by the expatriate and the members of his family.
Businesses that opted to explore foreign markets realize a huge difference in markets across cultures, thus the emergence of diverse training methods to orient expatriates and their families to be able to better adjust to the new environment. For instance, the training on cultural consciousness exposes the individual to his own culture, and this gives the ability to determine the difference between one’s own culture and that of the others. Moreover, learning the local language of the host country is also an important in training employees who are sent offshore in order to be fully equipped to deal with the new working environment. Most cross-cultural coaches point out that while it may be favorable for expatriates to have a working expertise of the host country’s language, just having a basic understanding of it is essential in order to earn the high opinion of the locals.

Question 3

Analyze and evaluate the role of the human resources department for tourism and hospitality operators citing examples to justify your argument. Comment on the implications of promoting service quality in an industry with a high staff turnover rate.
The need to recruit qualified and committed employees who can uphold the organizational objective is a challenging task for the human resource management. This is especially true in the human resource department within the tourism and hospitality industry, because dealing with other people is an inherent part of these businesses, thus the necessity to set an example to the employees on how best to deal with other people. There is always the human factor that plays an important role in directing the business. Dealing with other people is the core activity of this industry, and the manner of dealing with the employees reflects on the way they treat the customers.
The tourism and hospitality industry is considered as the main pillar of economic progress in many countries, it is therefore important that the business is done the right way. The human resource department has the responsibility to hire and train employees who are fully equipped with the skills and know-how to ensure customer satisfaction in the process. It is to be noted that keeping the customer happy is crucial in the industry, thus the team that deals with them must have the enthusiasm, communication and interpersonal skills to better serve the customers.
The Intercontinental Hotels Group is an example of the hospitality business that gave prominent importance to the role of its human resource department in managing its diverse team of employees from its thousands of branches all over the world. The hotel group leadership knew of the importance of an increased customer loyalty in the success of the company, thus it placed a priority in the uplifting the morale of its employees. This is where the role of the human resource department came into play as the social network that boost the leadership ability of its senior leaders through diverse training programs. Consequently, the HRM is not only concentrated on hiring employees, but also in training and implementing programs that keep them motivated to work for the company in the long run. Some of the common problems in the hotel industry are the difficulty to retain employees, thus for the IHG, the management makes it sure that there is always something to improve on for its employees, “there is always room for improvement in IHG’s learning offerings, particularly related to retention and measurement, because there is almost always something to learn and improve” (Margolis, 2012).

References

Margolis, D. (2016). InterContinental Hotels Group: Developing Hospitality. [online] Clomedia.com. Available at: http://www.clomedia.com/articles/intercontinental-hotels-group-developing-hospitality [Accessed 2 Jan. 2016].
Pessala, H. (2012). Analyzing the Effectiveness of Expatriate Pre-departure Cross-cultural Training in Finland. University of Applied Sciences. [online] Available at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/50336/Thesis%20Heli%20Pessala.pdf [Accessed 1 Jan. 2016].