Current and Emerging Issues in Hospitality and Tourism - Literature review Example

Investigating current and emerging issues in hospitality and tourism Name: Institution: Date: Investigating current and emerging issues in hospitality and tourism Introduction The hospitality and the tourism industry remains one of the largest sectors globally. This is because it comprises tourism, leisure, and travel, which are essential for economic development. There are various contemporary issues in the hospitality and tourism industry that include globalization, ethics and outsourcing. Most of the changes in the mentioned issues have been due to globalization. Globalization The hospitality and tourism industry is dynamic in nature, and is changing constantly because of different factors. For the last years, the industry has grown and become increasingly competitive. In hospitality and tourism industry, some companies succeed while others fail. Globalization is described as a process whereby firms develop or expand their operations overseas. It has different effects on the hospitality industry. First, globalization makes hotels to choose only best places in the world for their operations. Location is important to a hotel regardless of the target market. Knowles, Diamantis & El-Mourhabi (2004, p. 15) points out that both the size and nature of place that a hotel is based remains a significant factor for both small and big firms. CBD of a city and famous tourist destinations are some of the best places for hotels to expand their businesses. Nonetheless, when the places are in a foreign land, hotels have no option but to globalize. Baum (2006, p. 15) adds that successful companies not only acquire and manage but also develop various resources that provide them with competitive advantage in the global market. Globalization has increased competitiveness of firms. However, for hospitality and tourism industry globalization has intensified the rate of competitiveness. This is because they have continuously expanded the relationship networks and also collaborated with other firms in order to remain competitive in the global market (Lynch & Veal, 2003, p. 34). Therefore, most companies have started to monitor and manage major indicators with an aim of cutting on costs and saving money. According to Knowles, Diamantis & El-Mourhabi (2004, p. 30), globalization is the key concept in not only business but also political and economic activities. The hospitality industry is always perceived as the most global in terms of service activities. Presently, people are increasingly travelling around the world, therefore they end up looking a place to sleep and eat, making hospitality important. Moreover, because of increase in business and tourism activities across the world, hotels such as Westin, Hilton and Marriot have expanded globally to cater different kinds of guests. Another impact of globalization to the hospitality industry is on economics. A hotel can enjoy a lot of market share simply by remain local or operating domestically. Knowles, Diamantis & El-Mourhabi (2004, p. 18) point out that globalization makes the hotel sector to expand their operations to other nations hence achieve extra market share. Additionally, hotels have embraced globalization because of their desire to attain a wider customer base, and compete favorably in the global market. Big hotels such ad Hilton, Marriot and Hyatt are surviving even in the global crisis because they have embraced globalization. The world has changed to a global village, and every places has its unique culture and traditions. Globalization makes hotel firms to adopt different cultures so to attract customers. Expansion to a foreign country with a different culture remains a most risk to the industry. Moreover, it is important for the industry to know the differences in language and currency of the host country. For example, Hilton hotel in Japan should have receptionist who speak Japan and English fluently so to serve both local and international guests. Globalization has also contributed to diversity in the hospitality and tourism industry. This has made firms in this sector to have a better understanding of different cultures and traditions. Lastly, globalization has not only created more job opportunities but also contributed to stability and growth of the sector (Knowles, Diamantis & El-Mourhabi , 2004, p. 21). Ethics Ethics entails learning what is right or wrong, before doing the right thing. However, in the business sector, it is challenging to deal with business ethics, and hospitality and tourism industry is not an exception. Business ethics is defined as either written or unwritten codes of values and principles that govern not only the actions but also decisions within a firm. in the business world, the organizations' culture is responsible for setting the standards that determine the existing differences between good and bad behavior or decision (Hall, 2002, p. 16). In the modern business world, a new business ethics has been created. Business ethics involves respects for the interests and rights of other in addition to social interests that include a good working environment where business competitiveness, success and profit do not rely on other things but only on duties and rights, which are applied in decision making. In the hospitality and tourism sector, the subject of ethics is a set of moral rules in the firm and are directed towards realizing not only a successful but also a profitable business (Lynch & Veal, 2003, p. 27). The standard of ethics are mainly based on various ethical principles, and the content expressed by judgment of successful or unsuccessful business behavior or good and bad business conduct within the hospitality sector. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the expression of unethical behavior relies on the organization and individual whereby one is employed. Hence, ethics are important for regulating employees conduct within organizations and hospitality industry is not an exception. In the hospitality industry, there are morals that guides the employees behavior particular how they related with guests (Fennell, 2006, p. 39). The most significant moral issues in most organizations codes of ethics include honesty, fairness, respect for the public and human dignity. Most successful firms in the hospitality and tourism sector are able to reconcile various responsibilities such as economic, legal, environmental and social. Additionally, hospitality and tourism firms have incorporated the mentioned in order to succeed both in the local and global markets. Hall (2002, p. 22) points out that it is important for the hospitality and the tourism sector to operate in a socially responsible manner. All the stakeholders should participate in solving problems in the society via fair payment to the workers and employment. The mentioned will cause an impact not only on the prevention but also resolution of various environmental challenges in the society. For the last two decades, most hospitality and tourism firms have strive to improve education, health and other sectors of the economy. Lastly, for the hospitality and tourism firms to compete favorably in the global market, stakeholders should embrace ethical training. This is because ethical training can teach employees to be develop ethical behavior in their daily operations (Hall, 2002, p. 23). Outsourcing There are different definitions for the concept outsourcing. In the oxford dictionary, outsourcing is defined as sub-contracting, contracting or externalizing non-core activities within an organization with an aim of freeing up personnel, cash, time and facilities for various activities where the company enjoys a competitive advantage. In the hospitality and tourism industry, Cook (1999, p. 15) argued that outsourcing of other services/activities enables the hotel to increase not only its managerial attention but also resource allocation to some tasks. Lamminmaki (2005, p. 520) adds that outsourcing of other activities contribute to improving the quality of services within the organization. Furthermore, outsourcing in the hospitality and tourism industry contributes to lower breakeven point as well as fix costs. This is because, the need for investment and capital assets in the hotel capacity would remain confined. Lamminmaki (2005, p. 521) points out that most commonly outsourced services in the industry include room cleaning, reception, guest laundry, bars, technical services, kitchen operations, fitness and accounting/auditing. In the past years, the industry has also embraced human resource outsourcing. Human resource outsourcing means a hotel having a third part vendor furnish or service provider on a continuous basis. The advantage of this type of outsourcing is that its drivers are not only gaining HR expertise but are also achieving flexibility, and reduced risks. Some of the mostly outsourced human resource activities in the hospitability and tourism sector include training, payroll and other temporary work. However, some human resources activities are less outsourced and they include career guidance, outplacement, determining job, appraisal and wage classification (Hemmington & King, 2000, p. 258). Hemmington & King, (2000, p. 260) discovered that both group of hoteliers and restaurateurs believe that outsourcing of beverage and food services has become common and most restaurants and hotels across the globe embrace it. Restaurants are mostly specialized in beverage and food production as well as services, therefore they can provide specialized services in international, national and local cuisine whereby some hotels are incapable of providing unless they outsource. The logic behind the outsourcing through co-branding is linking to good brand names to increase their reputation, quality and profile (Weaver, 2004, p. 34). In conclusion, it is evident that one of the key drivers of outsourcing of services and products in the hospitality and tourism industry is consideration of costs and scales aiming to save the organizational overheard. Global competitive pressures has pushed the hospitality and tourism industry to search for efficiency, hence embrace outsourcing. References Baum, T. (2006). Human resource management for tourism, hospitality and leisure: An international perspective. London: Thomson Learning. Cook, M.F. (1999). Outsourcing human resource functions. New York: American Academy Association. Fennell, D. A. (2006). Tourism ethics. Clevedon [Angleterre: Channel View Publications. Hall, S. S. J. (2002). Ethics in hospitality management: A book of readings. East Lansing, Mich: Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Motel Assoc. Hemmington, N., & King, C. (2000). Key dimensions of outsourcing hotel food and beverage services. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(4), 256- 261. Knowles, T., Diamantis, D., & El-Mourhabi, J. B. (2004). The globalization of tourism and hospitality: A strategic perspective. London: Thomson. Lamminmaki, D., (2005). Why do hotels outsource? An investigation using asset specificity. International journal of contemporary hospitality management, 17(6), 519-528. Lynch, R. & Veal, A.J. (2003). Australian leisure. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Longman. Weaver. D. (2004). Ecotourism. Milton: John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd. Read More