Hospitality Current - Essay Example

Challenges Facing the Hospitality Industry Introduction In the past centuries, hospitality was not a common field known by many people as an important and critical part of societal life. This fact just changed with the booming international trade and changes in lifestyles for many citizens across the world. The two factors have not existed peaceably but have been posing challenges in the sector of hospitality. Among the challenges faced by the hospitality sector include competition, technological advancement, diversity, lack of professionalism to offer proper services, food safety and sanitation, security issues, and globalization among other problems.

Rigorous technological advancement has posed serious challenges to the hospitality industry the world over. Technological advancement has transformed the way work is done in the hospitality industry (Powers & Barrows, 2008). Almost every activity is automated or computerized and the marketing venues are shifting to the internet. Hospitality industry players have sought to employ the use of websites for marketing their products, increasing operation costs due to high costs of maintaining the websites.

In order to broaden customer base, players in the hospitality industry need to invest on technologies that can enable online booking for services by the customers (Binion, 2006). The initial cost and maintenance of such technologies is exorbitant and in some cases unaffordable by certain operators in the industries Uncertainty occasioned by rising security has triggered unrest among the customers of the hospitality industry such as hotels which record low bookings as visitors shy away. Increased cases of terrorism have raised fear in customers as they always think of their safety when travelling (Powers & Barrows, 2008).

Cases of abduction have also caused security doubts among many, which has negatively affected the hospitality industry as customers fear to travel freely across the world. Many operators in the hospitality industry such as hotels and air travel agencies have been forced to invest in expensive and hi-tech security measures to retain the confidence of consumers as far as their security is concerned. The hospitality industry players have also been compelled to spend much money in insuring their operations against any occurrence of insecurity.

Cases of food poisoning in various hotels have raised concerns of food safety and proper sanitation. Reported death cases occasioned by food poisoning affects customers consumption of good food products in the hospitality industry (Powers & Barrows, 2008). Cultural diversity has also pushed hospitality industry into expensive foodstuffs to meet the demands of their customers The significant challenge that has disrupted the growth of sectors in the hospitality is the recent global economic recession.

The crisis has done a lot to discourage people from travelling due to high cost of travelling and low income earned by many consumers (Rob, 2010). Additionally, the financial crisis has pushed the hospitality industry to increase the costs of accommodation, causing a sharp decline in demand of hotel and hospitality related services. Increase in the level and number of individual acquiring education has resulted to high levels of customer awareness. Customers have tended to demand services whose quality gives good value for their money.