Investigation of Current and Emerging Issues in Hospitality and Tourism - Essay Example

Investigation of current and emerging issues in hospitality and tourism and Investigation of current and emerging issues in hospitality and tourism Introduction The tourism and hospitality industry is growing rapidly due to increasing competition in the industry.The management of the different tourism and hospitality organization are coming up with different strategies to counter the increasing competition in the market (Nestle 32). Each organization is concerned with conserving and protecting the environment from pollutionand destruction as part of its corporate social responsibility. Technology has been essential in the success of the tourism and hospitality organization as it simplifies work in these organizations and enhances the speed of delivering the hospitality and tourism services.There have been a number of current and emerging issues in the hospitality and tourism industry and some of them include de-regulation, internet and customer driven technology and environmental management and sustainability which will be discussed below. De-regulation De-regulation basically means the elimination or reduction of government power in a certain industry, usually enacted to establish or create more competition in the industry. Industries within a country are the major contributors towards the success of the country in its economic development (Cummins, Ben and Frances 37). It is reasonable for the government to be involved in the governance of industry affairs so as to minimize chances of illegal businesses existing. However, it does not have to be much involved in the operations of its industries since too much legislation kills competition in the industries and therefore quality of goods and services produced in the industries will be low. In the tourism and hospitality industry, de-regulation is being experienced so that tourist destinations and hotels can improve the quality of services in the respective organization due to increasing competition in the sector. The tourism and hospitality industry of most countries globally contribute to the economic development of the countries significantly. This industry is given freedom by the government of these countries to conduct all their operations freely as long as they meet international standards and no illegal business takes place in the industry. De-regulation has facilitated emergence of too many hospitality and tourism organizations globally due to minimal restrictions to entry in the hospitality and tourism industry. The increasing number of firms has given consumers in the industry a variety of options to choose from. Due to the diversification of tourism and hospitality services, consumers get opportunities to access services from different organization that satisfy their needs fully. The satisfaction of consumers in the tourism and hospitality industry has increased spending of consumers in the industry hence increasing the amount of revenues being generated in the hospitality and consumer industry.Since de-regulation has improved the performance and growth of the hospitality and tourism industry leading to economic development of various countries such as the Japan and China, the governments of these countries have invested heavily in improving infrastructural development of their countries. This development does not only facilitate growth of the tourism and hospitality industry but growth of all industries within the countries. De-regulation on the other hand is causing damage to the hospitality and tourism industry. The minimal involvement of the government in the industry has resulted to unfair competition in the industry. The top established companiesin the industry are killing competition by making it difficult for new firms to enter the industry.Since competition is being killed in the market, the top established tourism and hospitality companies are exploiting consumers by charging unreasonable prices on their services and this becomes very difficult for the poor in the society to enjoy quality hospitality and tourism services (Mary 32). The chances of illegal business being conducted secretly is high since the government has given the tourism and hospitality industry too much freedom in it becomes difficult for security officials to know what is going on in the industry. In most developing countries, drug lords are posing as tourist in various countries while in the real sense they are conducting their illegal business hence taking advantage of de-regulation in the tourism and hospitality industry. It will be therefore be logical for the government of every country to monitor business operations of tourism and hospitality organizations to minimize chances of illegal trade growing. Internet and customer driven technology Increasing competition in all industries not only the hospitality and tourism industry has forced firms to adopt the modern technology in order to facilitate effectiveness and efficiency of their production processes. Each and every hospitality and tourism organization is using the internet to conduct most of its operations such as research and promoting sale of its services and products. Online trade is continuously growing due to the increased number of online sellers and buyers. This has made the most tourism and hospitality organizations to use the internet to conduct a research on the perfect location to market their product and services. They do use the internet to advertise their services and in the process have been able to establish huge customers bases that enable them generate exceptional revenues that assist in the growth of the organizations. Stakeholders of a business organization contribute significantly towards the success of the organization. Among all stakeholders, the ones who need to be treated the most carefully are the customer soft e organization since their purchases is what generates revenues for the organization (Peter, 23). Due to high competition in the hospitality and tourism industry and the desires to expand business operations by organizations in the industry, most tourism and hospitality organization are using strategies that are focused to satisfy their clients fully. This has forced them to adopt customer driven technology in order to produces services that meet consumer needs fully.The management of most tourism and hospitality organizations has ensured that their respective organization have effective information technology in place. An effective information technology is very instrumental in the smooth flow of operations in these organizations since information is easily exchanged within the organization and messages are conveyed appropriately. Complaints and compliments of customers are easily received in these organizations due to the quality of information systems adopted in the organizations and are well responded to in order to satisfy the needs of consumers in the hospitality and tourism industry. Fromsuggestions received from consumers in the tourism and hospitality industry, organizations in this industry gets ideas and vital information on how to diversify their services and products to meet the unlimited needs of consumers in the industry.Generally, the internet and customer driven technology has enabled tourism and hospitality organizations to focus on satisfying the needs of consumers fully resulting to growth of the industry. Environmental management and sustainability A good reputation is instrumental in the growth of any business organization regardless of the industry it operates in. it enables an organization to attract more and more customers since they have confidence on the quality of the products and services offered by the organization due to the good reputation it holds.The tourism and hospitality organizations are continuously involved in protecting and conserving the environment they operate in since they depend on such environment in the production of their services and in order to build a good reputation that will enable the organizations succeed in the industry.All organizations in the tourism and hospitality industry do not just aim to grow but aim to grow sustainably and this has facilitated proper management of the environment. Each and every business organization has a corporate social responsibility that it needs to execute exceptionally well. In the process of performing their corporate social responsibility, organizations in the hospitality and tourism industry are involving themselves in activities that promote good management of the environment and conservation (Nelly 33). All the activities that are conducted in these organizations are well planned in order to minimizechances of polluting the environment. Most top performing organizations in this industry are continuously educating their employees on the different ways of conserving the environment as they conduct their day to day activities and the importance of managing the environment appropriately. They are actively participating in environmental management and sustainabilitycampaigns to educate the general public on the different ways and importance of conserving theenvironment. Most tourist organizations for example have policies in place to fight destruction of the environment through cutting down of trees unnecessarily and poaching. The organizations are working hand in hand with the government to ensure that these vices are thoroughly dealt with in the countries they operate in especially in the developing countries. Conclusion De-regulation, internet and customer driven technology, and environmental management and sustainability are some of the current and emerging issues in the tourism and hospitality industry.De-regulationhas both positive and negative contribution to the tourism and hospitality industry.Increased competition resulting to production of quality services is one of the advantages of de-regulation to industry.Customers in each and every market go for goods and services that are of good quality and this has facilitated adoption of internet and customer driven technology in tourism and hospitality organizations. These organizations are working hand in hand to promote environmental conversation in order to grow sustainably. Works cited Ackerman, Jennifer. "tourism and hospitality industry" National Geographic Magazine. (2002). Web. 18 March 2011. Cummins, Ronnie, Ben Lilliston and Frances Moore Lappe. Tourism business strategies: A Self-Defense Guide for tourists. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004: 36-38. Print. Nestle, Marion. "Emerging issues in tourism and hospitality." The New England Journal of Tourism (2002). Print. Nelly, Prince. "Issues and trends in tourism and hospitality organizations." The New Welsh Journal of Tourism (2004). Print. Mary, Posey. "Emerging issues in tourism and hospitality." The advanced Journal of Tourism (2007). Print. Peter, Morgan. "leadership and management in tourism and hospitality rganizations." The New England Journal of Tourism (2009). Print. Read More