Literature Review
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government views tourism as a sustainable industry and one of the major pillars of Hong Kong’s economy. This is really not surprising considering the fact that the said industry, indeed, brings in to the country lots of money. In 2001, the total tourism receipts amounted HK .3 billion (2005), which contributed to a considerable percentage of Hong Kong’s GDP. As the Government realises that tourism is a vehicle for economic and social development, some proactive policies had been adopted to further strengthen and enhance Hong Kong’s capacity to be a key tourist destination. One of these policies is the inclusion of the Hotel and Tourism Management Program Study in major universities in the nation. Hence, this chapter will provide insightful details about the relaxant literature concerning the perception of secondary students about the Hotel and Tourism Management Program Study in Hong Kong.
Tourism
Tourism has brought impact on every place. It could change an isolated place into a recognised tourist destination in the different parts of the globe. Tourism becomes a major employer, taxpayer, and physical and political presence in many jurisdictions. It has altered the major of social, political, and economic interaction that occurs in these places, agrarians were pushed out by industrialisation. On the economic side of it, tourism has been an advantage as it makes a vital contribution to economic growth of a certain nation. It could be that a certain country in which tourism development is very low would suffer from economic instability. Taking a deeper look of it, tourism, first and foremost provides employment; it gives additional livelihood; it affects the balance of payments. Subsequently, there would be economic boom.
In addition, tourism has remained an integral part of development planning in developing countries. In some cases tourism has been viewed as a saviour to stagnant industries and traditional agriculture, creating new inter-sector linkages and demands. Specifically, the different branches of the tourism industry, such as accommodation, catering, food and beverages, excursions, recreational activities and the entertainment industry, tour operating and transport, souvenir production and sale are considered to open vast prospects for employment and income to diverse population groups. Governments, associated business groups and international financing institutions tended to regard tourism as a ‘clean’ industry compared to manufacturing (1995).
The word tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their natural surroundings for not more than one successive year for vacation, commerce and other purposes not connected to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited (1995).
Furthermore, tourism is typically regarded as travelling for leisure, even though this description has been expanded in current years to include any travel outside of one’s normal operational or living area, from daytrips to out of the country holidays (1995). Finally, tourism has turn out to be a tremendously great international business, on which many national economies are now deeply dependent. In industrial countries (source countries) it is now growing at a rate noticeably quicker than standard yearly growth levels. However, the term tourism is every so often used negatively, implying a superficial interest in the societies and natural wonders that the tourist visits (1995).
Hong Kong Tourism Industry
The development of Hong Kong tourism industry is quite remarkable. When in 1984, Hong Kong was only receiving 3 million tourists in 1984, eleven years after this number was more than tripled eleven years, when the country received 10.2 million visitors in 1995, thus earning for the industry a total of HK billion, making the said industry one of Hong Kong’s economic mainstays (1997). The growth of the tourism industry has not only earned huge amounts of foreign exchange for Hong Kong but also enabled it to become a world-renowned international tourist center. In 1996, tourist arrivals rose by 14.7% to a record of 11.7 million after a 9.3% growth in 1995, and the tourism sector, in general, generated total receipts of US.8 billion in 1996, an increase of 12.8% from a year ago (1997).
The following year saw Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China on July 1997, making the country a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. This transfer of sovereignty is considered a unique event, and because of the political sensitivity of the change, any complications with the political transition of power could accordingly cause severe short-term volatility of tourist arrivals and affect profitability levels of the tourism industries (2000).
Nevertheless, hopes were higher than ever for the continued prosperity of Hong Kong’s tourism industry even after this political hand over: first, as the most popular destination in Asia, Hong Kong’s future as a stopover for leisure travellers and business people looked bright; second, for hospitality owners, the immediate future looked even brighter because the unprecedented demand for Hong Kong office space gave hospitality industries the option of continuing lodging operations or selling out for handsome profits to those developers who would dismantle or convert the hospitality to make way for offices; and on top of all these, in 1996 tourists topped the 12-million mark for the first time, spending US,000 million in Hong Kong (2000). There is also the fact that during the first 2 months of 1997 the number of tourist arrivals increased by 9.2% to 1,871,542 (1997).
Hong Kong government had tried to sustain its competitiveness in the tourism thru many ways. Among the efforts, the construction of Hong Kong Disneyland is regarded as the most important because it is perceived to be a major factor that will lead to an enhanced attractiveness of Hong Kong to tourists. Disneyland is a well-known and attractive theme park in the world. The HKSAR Government decided to co-operate with Walt Disney Company and build up her own Disneyland in Hong Kong. The Disney theme park had opened in 2005 at Penny’s Bay on Lantau, Hong Kong.
Hospitality and Tourism Management Program
Since Hong Kong Government is aware that tourism is a helpful strategy to establish a more stable economy for Hong Kong, they are able to include Hotel and Tourism Management program study as part of the educational courses. And because of the opening of Disneyland, many students are enrolling with these courses in different schools and universities in HK.
Presently, Hong Kong University and University offers degree for the Hotel and Tourism Management. On the other hand, University has started to offer Associate Degree in Leisure Study. In addition, the Hong Kong University works jointly with Strathclyde University, UK to offer a degree course in Hospitality. It becomes a hot topic for students to select this course.
There are reasons why Hospitality and Tourism Management has been in demand, especially for graduating secondary students. According to the popular course evaluation made by the Hong Kong University in 2003, the courses which is related to tourism specifically the Hotel and Tourism Management Program have become the number choices for a larger number of graduating secondary students. This is because of the bright future of tourism industries because of the Hong Kong Disneyland establishment. During the year 2003, it was recorded that the figures provided by seven college institutions except Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, shows that the most competitive programmes includes courses relating to tourism. As stated by (2003), Hotel and Tourism Management along with other tourism related courses has been the number one choice of the students because of the establishment of the Hong Kong Disneyland. In addition, the increasing number of travellers from Mainland China which contributes to the stable and continuous development of the Hong Kong tourism industry is another factor why most of the graduating secondary students in Hong Kong choose Hotel and Tourism Management.
Because of the stability of the tourism industry in Hong Kong, students perceived that taking Hotel and Tourism Management courses or studies will ensure them to have many employment opportunities. Believing that such program studies will help them develop their skills which is needed in tourism industries. In this program study, students are given the privilege to avail the program packages important courses in technology, hotel management, business, operations with vital business skills and concepts like human resource management, marketing and finance and also cultural awareness.
In addition, part of this study is the applied hospitality skills including rooms division. Food and beverages preparation and service and restaurant management which assist in enhancing industry-ready graduates. Such courses focus on managerial skills which enable the students, specifically in Hong Kong to meet the needs, and demands of different tourists. Herein, the personal, technical and conceptual skills may help the students become excellent managers and leaders in the tourism and hospitality industry which is needed by Hong Kong tourism industries.
The growth of tourists and tourism industries had made the graduating secondary students in Hong Kong to realise how Hotel and Tourism Management course will help them to meet the employment needs of the expanding tourism industries. In Hong Kong, Hotel and Tourism Management plays important leadership roles in sponsoring, organising and hosting international conferences which bring together academics, industry professionals, and graduate students to exchange and share ideas and encourage dissemination of research results. Hotel and Tourism Management clearly positioned to lead Hong Kong in Hospitality and tourism education.
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