The Impact of Migration on The Hotel Industry in Bucharest - Research Proposal Example

THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BUCHAREST   Consultants Brief (for IRS     Overall Aim:     To enable to producea proposal related to a focused and specific topic that is of an acceptable standard to be used in the preparation for the dissertation/independent research study requirement (IRS).        Learning Outcomes:      1. Identify and focus a business related research idea using research based academic theories, models, concepts, principles found in academic sources of information and knowledge.     2. Develop a research business related proposal.     3. Demonstrate the relative value of information and data gathering techniques and presentation.     4. For honours students: demonstrate an appropriate application of quantitative and/or qualitative methods for collection, analysis, interpretation and triangulation of data.     5. For Independent Research Study students: identify the type of data to be sought, where this data can be found, how the access to this data will be obtained, how the validity and reliability of this data will be verified.     6. Provide written documentation of an appropriate academic style and standard.     7. Apply the above in relation to the requirements of both the dissertation, IRS and statistics modules of the degree courses.         Cognitive Objectives:     1. To develop critical reading skills in the production of the literature review, and the research sections of the dissertation/independent research study proposal.     2. To expand conceptual skills in the formulation, design and development of the dissertation/independent research study proposal.     3. To incorporate synthesis and assimilation skills in bringing readings of the literature into the context of the literature review and the research sections of the dissertation/ independent research study proposal.     4. To demonstrate comprehension of the topical area and the research sections of the dissertation/ independent research study proposal.     5. To establish a data analysis design, with the logic of referenced and supported in research literature, the research methods used to collect, analyze/interpret, and discuss data.   Introduction   The study and research project is based on the effects of migration on the hotel industry, especially with regard to Bucharest. Since many Romanians are leaving for work abroad, there is a general lack of unqualified labor in Romania and this migration process has been rather continuous leading to economic and social impact on the labor market of Romania. The focus here is on the hotel industry and the perspectives for hotel management that brings out several issues about the hospitality and tourism sector in Romania and in Europe. Here the specific focus is on the tourism industry because tourism and hotel industry is an important part of the developing economy of Romania. The hotel industry is Romania is dependent on several factors including the levels of service, the workforce available, the tourists and visitors to Romania and Romanian and world economy, condition of the tourism industry in general. In one relevant study, Nield et al (2000) discussed the importance of levels of service in the hotel industry and the differences in levels of satisfaction. In this research proposal the methodology as also the background and further analysis of the research data are given along with the research questions, the literature review provides the basis for research and the questionnaire prepared aims to bring out the impact of migration and the state of the economy on the hotel and tourism industry of Romania as asked to 100 respondents working within the tourism/hotel industry and based in Bucharest. Background The hotel industry in Romania is as dependent on tourists as it is dependent on the workforce and the amount of unskilled labor. In fact the hotel industry is largely dependent on unskilled or low skilled labor comprising of cleaners, hotel supervising staff, clerks, security and doormen, concierge staff, taxi drivers, car drivers, bus drivers, waiters and waitresses, kitchen staff, room service staff, gym and spa low skilled staff, unskilled staff for other services and facilities related to tours, travels or the hotel. There is a great need of unskilled labor across Romania, especially as the government tries to develop the hotel and tourism industry. However due to Romania’s unstable economy, the development of the tourism industry has been slow and apart from finances and investment, in terms of the work force and development of human resources is also an area that the government needs to focus on. In order to make this possible, the government has to make sure that there is ample amount of human resource or workforce available and this is possible by putting a check to or at least monitoring migration of unskilled workers from Romania to neighboring European nations. This study highlights the role of the unskilled workers, the necessity of more labor within the hotel and tourism industry of Bucharest and the state of the tourism and hotel industry in Romania. The study shows whether the hotel/travel industry is looking up or there are faint prospects for the industry in the near future due to several reasons such as unstable and bad economy, mass migration of workers and poor infrastructure and management in Romania. An examination of the visitors and tourism at the Black Sea resorts in Romania highlighted the role and importance of food service and the differences in satisfaction levels of regional groups. There were however significant differences revealed in the perception of tourist groups for issues related to value for money, quality of food, number of dishes and presentation of food and speed of service. This paper by Nield et al (2000) suggested that food service is an important contributor to tourist satisfaction with difference in satisfaction levels between European and Romanian tourists. The workforce or human resource is an important aspect of research analysis for travel and tourism management and in this study the links between migration and changes in the hotel or hospitality industry could be established as large scale migration as seen in Romania would be responsible for changing number of workers and dwindling workforce in the hotel industry leading to a sort of crisis in human resource management. This study focuses on several important issues associated with hospitality and tourism industry and highlights how the migration issue or problem actually seem to have long term and short term impact on the hospitality/hotel industry in general. The studies selected for the purposes of research would give some idea of the state of the hotel industry in Romania and especially Bucharest and also suggest how migration and the amount of workforce availability have been changing the hotel and hospitality industry in recent years. In fact the literature review will specify the studies and findings on the hospitality sector to analyze whether increased migration has been good or bad for Romania and how the situation, both political and social is having an impact on the tourism/hospitality sector and hotel industry in general. Apart from the literature review on secondary data, primary data will also be collected with surveys focusing on identifying varied perceptions on migration issues and how the process of migration affects the hotel industry in terms of workforce availability, and general efficacy of the hospitality facilities and services in Romania and Bucharest. Aims and Objectives The aim of this research is to understand the importance of workforce and the role of migration of local workers in the context of the tourism and hotel industry in Romania. In fact the impact of migration on the hotel industry in all aspects will be studied. The objectives of this research focus on 1. Providing a better understanding of the tourism industry in Romania 2. Analyzing the factors that are important in the survival of the hotel industry in Romania 3. Examining the impact of increased migration on the tourism sector 4. Focusing on human resource and workforce related issues that are associated with lowered availability of labor and unskilled workers. 5. Bringing out the research question on the hotel industry in Romania, focusing on the flaws and pitfalls and the future of the industry considering the present problems. Literature Review     Some of the search terms used to locate research papers in the journal databases such as ingenta and JSTOR were on ‘migration’, ‘hotel industry Romania’ ‘tourism in Bucharest’ ‘impact of migration on workforce’ etc. The published articles and research papers were selected to provide information on migration and hospitality and the relation between migration and the human resource changes within the hotel industry. Workforce availability and presence of unskilled labor is very important in the hotel management business as cleaners, to bellboys, many low skilled workers are necessary for working within the hotel and tourism industry. Yet with increased migration in Romania there may be a lack of unskilled or low skilled labor in Bucharest and other cities and this lack of proper workforce is detrimental to the tourism and hotel industry in Romania. The impact of migration and increasing number of people leaving Romania could be examined in the context of how this migration is affecting the tourism industry and the state of hotel industry and the labor issues within Romania. Light (2001) brought out the broader implications of tourism and suggested that it is an important process of identity building and can allow a country to project its self image and create an impact on the wide international community. Thus according to Light, Tourism seems to have considerable ideological significance with post socialist ideologies being used as a part of the process of re-integration into the political and economic structures of Western Europe. Light points out that there is link between tourism and identity building in post socialist economies as in Romania. Romania’s economic condition has a lot to do with the demographic changes in the country including migration as with a dwindling workforce and limited labor the costs of production might increase and this in turn can adversely affect the hotel industry. The House of the People has been considered as a large tourist attraction as the building reconfigures the past and brings out Romania’s post socialist identity and also aids in Romania’s aspirations to become a part of mainstream Europe (Light, 2001). Such tourist attractions are thus dependent on the socioeconomic and political identity of any region and also largely affect the hotel and hospitality industry. Piperno (2007) used data collected by the Centre for International Political Studies (CeSPI) from qualitative interviews with Romanian workers working in Rome and suggested the impact of migration on Romania’s economy including the fact that people migrate for several reasons and for better life. However mass migration could lead to losses for any economy and this is particularly relevant for Romania that as seen several changes in the availability of workforce can lead to further management change, human resource problems and declining tourist or hotel industry. This is the subject of study for this research project that analyses the impact long term and short term of migration on the tourism and hotel industry using collected data and research results available as secondary means and some primary method of data collection as well. Light and Dumbraveanu (1999) discussed the process of tourism development in post communist Romania and examined the trends in tourism between 1989 and 1997. Considering the political and economic instability in the region since 1989, international arrivals and visits of tourists have been declining and this is even supported further by the fact that there is a decaying tourism infrastructure and poor standards of service within the hotel and tourism industry. There have been changes in the economy along with significant restructuring in post communist Romania with a depressed domestic tourism and decline in the accommodation sector. This will obviously lead to restructuring of tourism, privatization of accommodation and introduction and regulation of standards for the training and education of personnel within the industry. The rural, heritage and cultural tourism prospects are considered in this paper and Light and Dumbraveanu (1999) have suggested that despite the tourism potential in Romania, the immediate or future prospects of the industry within Romania are not too good. Some of the reasons that could be analyzed here include the decaying tourism infrastructure and poor service standards as well as Romania’s unstable economy. These factors may have affected jobs and in turn led to migration and through a cyclical process and the migration creates a slowdown in economy when there is shortage of unskilled labor. However Turnock (2002) examined the prospects of rural tourism and hotel industry in Romania. The mountainous regions of Romania or the Maramure were selected for study on sustainable cultural tourism. The resources considered for the study relate to lifestyles of communities and with consideration of sustainability indicators tourism businesses seem to be under local control although through tourist associations. However remoteness could be an issue and greater cohesion would be necessary to connect local networks so that they could operate on a national and international level. The obstacles to this sort of rural cultural tourism could be localized environmental problems such as that of mining and recreation that could be a deterrent of the positive image of tourism that Romania might try to project. Thus rural tourism although a possible success, could have major drawbacks and environmental obstacles. These could in turn have an impact on the hotel and hospitality sector of Romania and especially affect tourism in Bucharest as tourists visiting Bucharest would also prefer visiting rural areas apart from the main cities. Thus from the literature review and background analysis many issues could be delineated and this include the state of Romanian economy, unstable political or social condition, unstable economic condition, poor service standards, environmental obstacles in rural tourism, demographic changes, dwindling workforce and human resource problems, changing lifestyles and necessities, decline in number of tourists, decaying tourism infrastructure and all these factors could sum up to the problem of migration that is either caused by or cause of all the other problems. Thus migration is central to all other factors that seem to affect tourism in Bucharest and thus forms the basis of this research study that will delineate in detail the causes and effects of migration and the impact it has on the tourism industry of Romania, especially with reference to the hotel industry in Romania. Research Methodology   The research methodology chosen for this project would be based on both quantitative and qualitative analysis as a balance of both the research methods could provide a comprehensive and complete analysis of the subjective and objective mathematical aspects of the results of study. Quantitative analysis is focused on statistical methods and on the quantitative findings through the surveys that could be tabulated and examined in terms of statistical quantities such as mean, media, mode and standard deviation. Quantitative analysis focuses on numbers and quantities or values and all responses are measures and compared with an average or mean. This suggests that responses are scored and responses are considered similar or different on the basis of these scores. The mode value of scores show the maximum number of people agreeing to any idea or question and the mean value show the average scores and helps to draw a pattern of responses that could be marked as general or normal among individuals who respond to the questions. These questions are generally presented in questionnaires or surveys drawn up with 15-20 questions and the respondents are chosen from Bucharest and they are all part of the tourism or hotel industry. The questions will be presented in questionnaires and the respondents will be asked to choose one among 5 possible answers ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The participants will be given instances on possible scenarios within the tourism industry and will be asked whether they agree or don’t. The responses will be scored on a five point scale. These questions will be prepared on a survey questionnaire and distributed to more than 200 people and 100 completed questionnaires will be randomly selected for tabulation and analysis of results. The questionnaires are to be distributed to people working in the different units of the hotel industry. The questions will be 15-20 depending on the requirements of the hotel industry and will be based on the state of the hotel industry, the expectations of the tourists, the expectations of employees and issues related to finances and investment for the tourism industry, the problem of migration and availability of workers and the condition of the industry in general. The respondents to be chosen for answering the survey questions will be workers of the tourism industry as well as tourists or people closely related to the industry as investor or hotel managers, owners etc. The questionnaire is given in the end of this section. Interviews will also be conducted and a qualitative analysis could be drawn from extended interview answers from at least 10-15 respondents/interviewees chosen. 10 interview questions will thus be prepared on the state of the hotel and tourism industry in Bucharest and the impact of migration on hotel management and tourism management in general. The interview questions will then be presented to the selected respondents who will provide extended answers and responses on their views about tourism and the state of hotel industry following large scale migration in Romania. The interview responses could then be analyzed qualitatively and the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study will thus bring forth the subjective and also the numerical or objective aspects for analysis of this study. The interview questions and the extended responses will thus be analyzed from a qualitative viewpoint as the responses will have to be considered individually and understand or analyze subjective viewpoints of the participants who are working in the tourism and hotel industry. Thus there are three phases of this research. The first involves literature review and background search using search engines on journal databases. The second phase is on data collection through surveys/questionnaires and interviews thus preparing for the third phase of qualitative/interpretation of interviews and quantitative/statistical findings from the surveys and questionnaire responses. A final conclusion will be drawn on the scope and range of the study and the relevance or usability of the findings suggesting whether the aim and purpose of the study have been fulfilled. Questionnaire: 1. Do you think that the Romanian Tourism and Hotel Industry is doing well in recent times? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 2. Will the Romanian Tourism and Hotel Industry improve and does the industry have bright prospects in near future? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 3. Do you expect a large number of tourists to Bucharest and Romania in the next few years? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 4. Do you think that the government is doing enough for tourism and the hotel industry in Romania? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 5. Do you think the hotels and tourist facilities in Romania are of world standard? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 6. Is Romania and especially Bucharest capable of attracting tourists from all over the world? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 7. Do you think unskilled or low skilled labor in Romania plays a very important role within the tourism industry? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 8. Are there enough investments and investors in the tourism sector of Romania? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 9. Is tourism being properly developed in Bucharest and Romania in terms of infrastructure, facilities, etc? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 10. Do you think migration of workers from Romania is a major problem that can affect the tourism and hotel industry very badly? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 11. Is the tourism and hotel industry largely dependent on human resource for its survival? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 12. The government may have to do more and not doing enough to control migration of workforce from Romania? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 13. The Tourism industry needs to develop more focused plans with more structured management needs Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 14. The hotel and tourism industry is largely affected by Romania’s unstable economy Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 15. The workers at the hotel and travel industry of Romania, especially Bucharest are completely satisfied with the nature of their work? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 16. The pay levels of working staff in the tourism/hotel industry of Bucharest are adequate and world standard? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 17. The management focuses and objectives of tourist related companies and hotels are on the right track? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 18. The government and the private hotels and people of tourism sector must work together to improve the state of the tourism industry in Romania Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 19. As a worker in the hotel/tourism industry of Bucharest, you are happy with your work and pay? Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree 20. The hotel/tourism industry in Romania is getting better and there is much to look forward to in terms of improvement, development and stabilization of the tourism industry. Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly disagree A GANTT chart for the research project is given as follows: Bibliography Brandstätter, A.; Egyed, B.; Zimmermann, B.; Duftner, N.; Padar, Z.; Parson, W. Migration Rates and Genetic Structure of two Hungarian Ethnic Groups in Transylvania, Romania Annals of Human Genetics, Volume 71, Number 6, November 2007 , pp. 791-803(13) FOX, JON E. 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Volume 19, Issue 4, Pages 375-384 Piperno, Flavia (2007) From Care Drain to Care Gain: Migration in Romania and Ukraine and the rise of transnational welfare Development, Volume 50, Number 4, pp. 63-68(6) Petrovici, Dan; Ritson, Christopher (2006) Population, health and risk factors in a transitional economy Journal of Consumer Policy, Volume 29, Number 3, pp. 279-300(22) Romania: Economy, Politics and Government. (2001) Business Intelligence Report : Romania, , pp. 1-55(55) Scoffham E. (1999) Modernism sustained: Bucharest in the 1930s and 1990s The Journal of Architecture, Volume 4, Number 3, pp. 319-329(11) Machedon F.; Machedon L.; Scoffham E. (1999) Inter-war Bucharest: city in a garden Planning Perspectives, Volume 14, Number 3, pp. 249-275(27) Lascu D-N.; Manrai L.A.; Manrai A.K. (1993) Marketing in Romania: The Challenges of the Transition from a Centrally-planned Economy to a Consumer-oriented Economy European Journal of Marketing, Volume 27, Number 11 Turnock D. (2002) Prospects for sustainable rural cultural tourism in Maramure, Romania Tourism Geographies, Volume 4, Number 1, pp. 62-94(33) Light D. (2001) Facing the future: tourism and identity-building in post-socialist Romania Political Geography, Volume 20, Number 8, pp. 1053-1074(22) Light D. (2000) An Unwanted Past: contemporary tourism and the heritage of communism in Romania International Journal of Heritage Studies, Volume 6, Number 2, pp. 145-160(16) Light D. (2000) Gazing on communism: heritage tourism and post-communist identities in Germany, Hungary and Romania Tourism Geographies, Volume 2, Number 2, pp. 157-176(20) Light D.; Dumbraveanu D. Romanian tourism in the post-communist period Annals of Tourism Research, Volume 26, Number 4, October 1999 , pp. 898-927(30)           Read More