Conceptual Reflection of the Accumulation of Human Capital in Tourism - Essay Example

Tourism al Affiliation Tourism Tourism in the developing country has become a panacea for growth and support major of its socioeconomic environment. Although not initially identified, tourism has developed concerns in human resources that tend to inhibit these important purposes. In this perspective, human resource issues attempt to understand and identify concerns about the quality of tourism personnel and the effects of tourism personal in macro-level (Zhang, et.al 2010, p. 77). In attempting to identify the deficiency involved in human resource, a research paper with the title “Planning tourism employment: a developing country perspective” helps to identify and bridge the human resource gap in tourism. The rationale of this paper has been to improve the quality of service delivery and develop the investment of human capital in serving this noble task. According to Liu 2006, plans are fundamentally important to improve human resource for tourism by the local individuals to conform to grow and more sophisticated demands in the developing countries. There is increasing concern for academic institutions to go beyond the hospitality orientation and further integrate and equip personnel with quality and practical skills. Despite the fact that tourism has been prioritized in the national development plan, there have been minimal efforts employed to improve human resource for tourism, which is essential in achieving this plan (Dale & Robinson, 2012, p. 82). Institutional framework and concerns have constrained the type and focus of accumulation of human capital in developing countries. International standard compliance and professionalism has limited individual involvement through integrating local cultural concerns. Liu and wall addressed conceptual reflection of the accumulation of human capital in tourism in a policy-industry-locality structure that includes broad issues of tourism policy, employment concerns that influence tourism in the developing countries and the contribution of local people in this industry. They also identified the nature and the probability of acquiring education or rather training facilities and opportunities for developing countries. The primary concern of this article was to identify and determine the contribution of tourism plan and policies as well as tourism institutions and opportunities in delivering internationally demanded human resource for tourism (Sigala, 2012, p. 96). The article identified that local tourism plans and policies have not been adequately addressed human resource issues for tourism. In fact, the continued accentuation for local involvement, including directing, participating and benefiting from this economic activity exemplifies gaps in the planning system. Effective community participation and involvement can only be achieved if the local people are adequately prepared to take advantage of these economic benefits among other related benefits. To achieve this fundamental perspective, planning must be adjusted go beyond the market reflections, institution associated and philosophical growth to incorporate the development of human resource and opportunities for tourism. The needs and capabilities of the tourism plan in the destination country therefore must be modified in order to realize the economic potentials and development. If a country fails to integrate, proper measures and plans in the tourism sector will result in studies identifying positive correlation of tourism. On the contrary, the actual benefits will be accrued to foreigners (Dale & Robinson, 2012, p. 99). In the developing destinations, the tourism strategies adopted are usually governmental-led development strategies formulated to meet their political, social and economic agendas. Holistic approaches have lingering effects on the mechanisms that public sectors adopt in planning human capital for tourism in the country. In this perspective, the human resource requirement determines the type and the focus of the program. Initially, human resource development mainly through education and training primarily objects to create human capital to work for others. The origin of this perspective lies in the failure of tourism planners and educators to devise measures that serve all employments demands. Researches in tourism’s human resources have been trying to identify human resource requirements and the impact of employment of the development of tourism (Zhang, et.al 2010, p. 106). Qualitative information is sought to evaluate the employment effects on the development of this industry and is fundamentally important in eliciting financial aids and attracting support from the local community. However, the qualitative approach used to address the employment effects fails to meet these objectives since narrow range jobs are included in this study. Currently, researchers have diverted their focus in understanding the employment effects by utilizing dynamics of the labor market and incorporating informal sectors. Conversely, the dynamic nature of the tourism labor market imposes further issues, thereby generating more difficulties in tourism planning and policy making processes. Other factors that constitute planning difficulties in the developing countries include intense competition in the tourism labor market, lack of technical expertise and adequate training and education programs. A sub-Saharan African study suggested that the rationale for the poor performance of the tourism industry in developing destinations was generated by lack of adequate technical skills, which increase the liability in the tourism industry (Zeng, et.al 2011, p. 190). The mismatch of skills between the demanders and suppliers is pointed out as a major factor that inhibits growth of Turkish tourism. Although most of the Asian countries economies depend on tourism, minimum efforts and measures have been applied to improve human resources for tourism. Deficiency of human capital for tourism in China to manage effectively tourism facilities and lack of tourism service culture resulted in a sludge tourism contribution to the nation’s GDP. According to report by the WTO, Philippine’s stagnant tourism sector has been facilitated by lack of trained tourism personnel at the required quantity and standard (Sigala, 2012, p. 120). This deficiency in human resources influenced the economic benefits that local people achieved from tourism. By nurturing local capacity and abandoning international service standards, can help in to realize the economic benefits locally. In the developing countries, deficiency of tourism skills and knowledge, lack of tourism personnel and stiff competition due to increasing labor supply of unskilled laborers reduces participation by locals. As a result, an industry driven desires can alter the education and training approaches to improve the employment effects in tourism. The desire permits the acquisition and nurturing local personnel with quality and sufficient skills necessary to propel this industry. Human resource development strategies adopted in the developing countries are inappropriate in identifying to the demands and opportunities; tourism industry has on the destination population. Community altitudes upon tourism and employment effects on tourism have dramatically influenced the developments of tourism (Dale & Robinson, 2012, p. 177). Remunerations and social and cultural implications of tourism have been factored as impediments to the economic benefits of tourism to locals. An advanced study on tourism human resources needs to address several concerns, including the number and quality of skills required, remunerations and employment effects for expansion of the tourism industry in the future. In addition, there is need to evaluate relations of tourism policies and impacts of these dynamics on tourism employments in the tourism sectors (Zhang, et.al 2010, p. 129). In sum, upon the reflection of the above opportunities and challenges in the tourism sector, the current human resource for tourism needs to be modified to serve local communities. To this end, to realize economic benefits in the destination country, the authorities and the government must address several topics including quality and quantity of human resources, involvement of minority population, and integration of cultural concerns amid others. References Dale, C., & Robinson, N. (2012). The theming of tourism education: a three-domain approach.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. doi:10.1108/09596110110365616 Sigala, M. (2012). The Evolution of Internet Pedagogy: Benefits for Tourism and Hospitality Education. Journal of Hospitality Leisure Sport & Tourism Education. doi:10.3794/johlste.12.4 Zeng, Z., Wang, W., Wang, Q., & Tang, M. (2011). A Research on Tourism Human Resource Development Based on Competency Model. doi:10.1109/ICMSS.2011.5998099 Zhang, H. Q., Chong, K., & Ap, J. (2010). An analysis of tourism policy development in modern China. Tourism Management. doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(99)00020-5 Read More