The Environments Role in Tourism
Introduction
People always seek for leisure. To the extent that they need to travel from one place to another in order to find the right satisfaction that they want. Traveling has become one of the most anticipated types of recreational activity now a day. Due to the demand of the people to visit different places especially crossing beyond the board lines of their own country, the tourism has improve its way of attracting tourist and it has open its doors to a lot of possible opportunities that might help the growth of their country in terms of its economic progression.
Tourism has become vital for most of the countries. The effects are evident among the social, economic, cultural and political environment of the country. But we cannot remove the fact that beyond the opportunity in growth that it provides, there is also a list of shortcomings that needs a careful analysis and appropriate solution. The tourism is somehow part of the world wide globalization that is prevailing within. It is the largest industry in the world today.
A great competition has arisen among each country. All provides breath-taking sceneries, festive cultures, mouth-watering foods and delicacies, and eye-catching souvenirs aside from one important aspect; it is how they render the service to the people visiting them. Tourism involves a lot of inter action with the people. The warmth hospitality of the host to their guest is the top criteria that tourist considered. The feeling that they are welcome despite the fact that they are just a complete stranger is enough gratitude for them. The feeling of appreciation tends to acknowledge the attention of tourists more. At the end of the day, it’s the people that they have met leaves the most vivid memory in their vacation.
The Environment and Tourism
The social, political, cultural and economical environment of a country has its own impact upon the management of its hospitality and tourism businesses. All these aspects have its own characteristics on how it affects the tourism.
Social Environment
The social environment refers to the manner on how the people live. It includes their behavior, relationships and condition. Poverty is a related issue within the social environment. A poor country finds it hard to provide something for its people. Nonetheless, they will also find it hard to provide for others who will visit them. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was said to be held in South Africa. But critics find this thing idea amusing because how can South Africa provide such accommodations to a thousand of people coming in. The number of registered hotels is quite few but the government is eager that by the year 2010 most of the hotel that is still under construction will be already set for this large event. Aside from this, another factor that seems to create much more problem is that most of the newly constructed hotels are sited much farther within the area of action which simply means that most tourists need to bear with the type of transportation within the area. A negative social environment may not contribute well to the promotion of tourism. South Africa is such a beautiful country, blessed with wonderful glimpse of nature but unfortunately in terms of economic wise, they do not contribute much. The 2010 World Cup gives them new hope to promote the country’s tourism.
Cultural Environment
Culture is the essence of the society. A country is composed of different society within its community. Each society has its own culture which serves as their own identity to differentiate them from others. It is also considered as one of the uncontrollable factor of the economy. Culture may vary depending on what a certain group they may believe in. And normally, it is hard to take some changes within it. It has the following elements such as material culture, language, aesthetics, education, religion, attitudes and values and lastly the social organization. Two opposing cultures may find it hard to adapt and understand each element involve.
Islam is the basic religion for most of the country in the Middle East. Their religion involves a lot of practices. But despite of it, their faith didn’t affect the countries tourism and their economy is still growing. These Moslem countries are still the large producers of petroleum products worldwide.
Tourism acts as the binder of two different cultures. It serves as a bridge which unites the disparity among them. Just like when East meets west, both are largely opposite with each other especially with the values and tradition. However, in the recent years, Europeans learn to adapt and accept the cultures in the east and Asians do as well. With a broad thinking and better understanding of each culture it would definitely create a long-term engagement between them. And with that tourism will help remove the wall separating each culture.
Political Environment
The policy is a deliberate plan of action use to guide decision and achieve rational outcome. Policies are used by the government as an instrument to drive change and enforce certain actions. It also serves as a guide on their decision making and rules implementations. Each country has their own type of government and each government enforce certain rules and regulations that help them manipulate the people within their respective area. It is their responsibility to provide for the welfare of their people. So the government should carefully and critically analyze every inch of the detail of the laws they’re going to impose so that arguments can be avoided. Proper governance is seen by having responsible leaders. Good leaders are also good providers. In the democratic countries, the people are given their own privileges to choose their leaders. They are also given their rights to object if there is something going on within their country that is not quite appropriate anymore.
The political environment of a country is important in tourism. It cannot be denied that the government in each country serves as the brain for its progression. Lack of stability in the government will not render a possible outcome in the field of tourism. Political related problems such as civil wars and terrorism are just a few facts that results to political instability. For instance is the situation in Iraq. Until now, they still comprehend with the fight on the terrorism. They haven’t recovered from the series of bombings and attacks in their place. There are great numbers of casualties and their citizens are the most affected of that event. Due to the continuous war, Iraq is still prohibited as a travel destination. Who would risk their life with such unpleasant situation occurring in that place anyway, if travelers know for a fact that their lives are at great risk? Other examples of political instability that are remains unaccomplished include the ongoing conflict between the Israel and Palestine and the collision of North and South Korea. The following only increases the perception of risk to their country which also serves as a negative publicity. Therefore the foundation of the government itself should be well-structured in order to utilize respective actions regarding the issues they are confronting.
Economical Environment
The economic environment is the totality of economic factors, such as employment, income, inflation, interest rates, productivity, and wealth, that influence the buying behavior of consumers and firms. Just like the three other previous environments, if the economy is not healthy then it will just create a sudden impact to the tourism. There are many factors that affects the economy. The September 11 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City creates a tremendous impact not only with the America’s economy but as well as the whole world. The stock exchange had been close for a week and reported a enormous losses upon reopening. The insurance industries as well as the airline industries also had great financial losses. Not to mention the small businesses that was also destroyed during the attack. Aside from the lost lives, properties and jobs in America, the effect was also felt globally. Most air travel decreases by that time and tourism on the other hand is also affected.
Due to that event, many investors from another country withhold their investment because of the possibility that the attack might be repeated again, especially when America already declared the beginning of their fight against the terrorism. By that time there are no guarantee regarding the economic stability of America. The economic level drops as well as tourism all over the world. The risk is prevalent among any countries. However, the world’s leading country become able to survive this phenomenon. Although the war against terrorism still continues, the tourism of the country however it back to normal despite of severe security measures being implemented.
Most country with wealthy economy tends to attract more foreign investors. Of course these investors seek for stability that these countries can offer them. A great number of investors mean a lot of earnings for the government. But another factor that made these investors caught their trust is because of the hospitality that they have receive. A well established economy is followed by a well established individual. These people whom you’re going to incorporate all your countries assets should be persons that can be trusted with. Its how one country renders his service to another country despite the fact that they are already capable of providing for their own country.
For certain reasons, most countries created their own coalition. This partnership tends to unite them but with an agreement included. America is one of the oldest alliances of the Philippines since World War II. The two countries have been established that unity for more than a decade. It would be the hospitality of both Filipinos and Americans that creates that bond between them. There is no doubt that Filipinos are known for their hospitality despite the fact that they are part of the third world country.
When Hospitality Enters
Tourism is traveling for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes. It is the provision of services to support this leisure travel. It becomes vital to the society now, a reason why there is a lot of competition between travel agencies. Not to mention the emerging industry regarding the e-business wherein the massive use of the internet is also starting to create its way to declination of most travel agencies. As of now, the internet plays an important role in the said industry. With its concept of faster and wider connection, many people refer to the use of internet. The twenty four hour access can make it possible for them to sort all the information that they to gather. However, a lot of travelers still find travel agencies more reliable in terms of the services offered.
The continuous effect of technology regarding the e-business in most travel web site cannot surpass the personal services that the most travel agencies rendered to their clients, as of most responds agreed that they prefer consulting to a travel agent more. The reason for travel also sets the mindset of most travelers especially if they would visit the place for the first time. They need to seek for more experienced people who will guide them through their travel. These travelers use to rely on the recommendations of these travel agents, who sometimes add personal touch and concerns to their clients. In situation like this, the hospitality provides by the travel agents are always considered by their clients. Each agent should have enough patience and accuracy regarding their job. They should gain the trust of their client to make them agree with the dealings that they have in order to make the further transactions a successful one. If the client were satisfied enough with the way the travel agents treated them, then there would come a time that in the next travels or so, they would again refer to their assistance.
Right now, even travel agencies provide websites of their own and hire travel agents with analytical knowledge on computers so they can have a wider access within the globe. They should make further step to adapt the massive technological breakthrough. There is no doubt that the existence of both travel agencies and travel web sites are useful to the growing industry of tourism. As long as they can provide satisfactions to the customers, they are no reason to question their ability to serve the people.
HRM on Tourism
The human resource management aims for a well structured tourism. Because of the rapid growth of the tourism industry, there should be a proper handling of it in order to minimize the arising of such shortcomings and to impose further enhancements. Every human resource management provides strategic approach to the management of the people within the said organization. The people involve are the most important variable in human resource management. In short, it simply means the process of managing the people in order to come up with stunning results. And because tourism involves an inter action between people and rendering service to people, therefore human resource management is needed.
Any organization that is engage in service rendering should be well facilitated and organize. In the first place, it is the people itself that they with. Just like in the case of tourism, wherein the country itself is being marketed globally. Aside from the ambiance and facilities offered, the manner on how the visitors are treated by the host is the number one consideration. Establishments which offer services like hotels, travel agencies, restaurants and resorts should have employees that can sustain the needs of each visitor. They should also be well-trained in terms of their specified job. Lastly, their attitudes and behaviors are also important. In receiving guest, they should practice a proper discipline. With this right character, the tourism will furnish more and they can attract more tourists to visit their country.
Conclusion
The fact that tourism is continuously expanding in all sorts of the world, it can be denied that every country will serve as an opponent in this booming industry. There is a tight competition even among the countries belonging in the third world. Just like every people, each country is also unique in their own respective ways. Each holds a certain characters that may capture the hearts of every tourist that visited them. These characters are ensembles with their different environments such as social, cultural, political and economical. These environments create a sudden impact within the tourism industry. The effects can be either good or bad depending on how much it is related to tourism.
However, aside from these environments that influences tourism. One factor that always considered in this type of industry is the attitude of the people within the community. Hospitality is the key to the continuity of success of the tourism. As stated in the previous discussion of this paper, tourism is an industry that provides services to the people and when speaking of a service it is automatically refers to the practice of being hospitable. Treating each visitors, guest or strangers requires this positive attitude to help utilize the promotion of tourism in a certain country. The pleasant inter action between the host and the guest will definitely create a positive outcome not only with the people itself but as well as the country.
Behavior is the most significant factor in this industry since tourism has become a global leisure activity. It is true that with this industry, it can help provide greater profits without further expenses within the country itself. That’s why a lot of country has been busy promoting the haven that they can provide among the tourist. However, although it is beneficial, there are also hazards regarding tourism that’s why it should be balance carefully. The implementation of the human resource management would be a great help in order to achieve a proper implementation of procedures in handling services among the guest from different parts of the world. This is essential because the services that should be delivered among the guest are of high quality standard. They aim to acknowledge every needs of their guest in the most suitable and preferred manner. This kind of attitude will also gain a lot of positive outcome not only with the people but as well as the country itself. By doing so, even the guest itself will not hesitate to make a comeback again to the same destination. Also, with the great experience that they had among themselves, they will not be eager to promote the country as well to other nation. Therefore the attitudes of the people really come first among anything else.
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