Hospitality industry during the hosting of events
Every football fan is anticipating the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) world cup, which shall be held in Qatar, 2022. For Qatar, it will also be a big privilege as they will be the first country to host the competitions in the Arab world. The country is working around the clock to s to it that th fans have a fan to the maximum. For instance, since there was a ban on alcoholic drinks inside the sports stadiums, the country has prepared an outdoor fan zone and has reduced bear prices, which goes up to as low as $6. This is aimed at allowing everyone to have maximum fun during the season.
In addition to that, the housing and lodging infrastructure is being developed to accommodate as many fans as possible. Qatari officials have also made efforts to approach and push the organizers of the Glastonbury to consider building desert tents to help increase in the possible accommodation that may be required. Remember, one limiting thing in such a season as FIFA is the accommodation. It may be quite cumbersome for people who came for a vacation to enjoy sports to have to travel over long distances to the different stadiums of choice. Either, they have set up seven new stadiums ahead of the tournaments. Each of these stadiums has a capacity of tens of thousands of people so as to ensure that no one misses out in supporting their teams, or rather countries. This is because, according to Scharfenort (2012), special attention required to accommodate both residents and visitors. For the FIFA world cup, they are expected in large numbers than ever before hence the pressure. For commuting, Qatar has also ensured that the roads connecting these stadiums are in good condition. Lastly, Qatar is also working on designing the best hospitality packages, which will be booked online to enhance tourist satisfaction in that sector.
On the side of the workers and migrant rights, Qatar is also working to abolish the kafala sponsorship system. This is because it has been the main course of the countries bad reputation when it comes to respecting immigrant workers’ rights. This is because the policy only allows the exit of these workers only on the approval of their employees.
For the above mentioned simple reason and some more, the country looks so as to accommodate the expectations of the FIFA World Cup fans
Previous research
– Host / Guest
The host for the previous (2018) FIFA World Cup tournaments was Russia. It showed interest in hosting the tournaments back in 2009 and was by then willing to spend $10 billion dollars for the event. However,
it was not given a chance until 2018, where it gave even more. Being a developed country had a total of 12 stadiums to host matches for the world cup. It cost the country over $14.2 billion making it the most expensive world cup (Muller et al., 2014). In addition to that, it was also the first world cup Video Assistant referee that was used in Russia (Peterson & Ludvigsen, 2019). Either, Russia had 14 cities that were possible host cities of the world cup. This showed the zeal and preparedness of Russia to be the world cup hosts.
– World Cup / Olympic
As usual, the world cup/ Olympic competition comes after every four years. However, the competitions start before then so as to have the countries that qualify to participate.
For the 2018 Russia 2018, the favorites of the people and the men who were to watch were Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo. According to Triumph books (books, 2018), the two stars who were now competing for their countries had garnered enough influence in football, making them “the men to watch” in the competitions. This had made Portugal and Argentina fully included in the “teams to watch” list and, at the same time raising the tension and unpredictability of the games. However, they did not meet their fan’s expectations as they did not win for their countries. One unusual thing that happened a was worth noting was that it was the first world cup without the united states as their men team did not manage. This, to most of the football fans, was a let down by the team.
– Large Multi-national
Many countries featured players who were not citizens by birth. For instance, Morocco had eight of their players born in France, two of them in Spain, and five of them in the Netherlands. However, this is allowed if the players have a history of having lived in the country they play for five and above years or if they have grandparents or parents as citizens. In general, more than 10% of the players in the 2018 world cup were not citizens by birth of the countries they were representing.
– Currently Knowledge Gap
Some of the things that people perhaps don’t dig so much into are like the after match impact of the hosting of any event. What everyone knows is t6hat a country, as a whole, experiences economic boost, infrastructural development, and maybe a rise in a country’s city profiles. What about the potential negative publicity? How about the conduct of the people? Which countries have a record of positive, or other negative conduct? Again, is the world cup good for the economy? Is there a gender balance in the way the world cup is conducted?
– Adding to the Academic body of knowledge
Consumers are the people who enjoy the utils of a service or a good as they satisfy their needs (Ismagilova et al., 2020). The world cup is one of the most thrilling events worldwide, serves to satisfy the needs of many people, and in different ways. This is according to Wang (2020), who also reported that it is especially so for the tourists who travel all the way to the host countries. Looking at it from a consumer perspective, the world cup satisfies a wide range of consumer interests. They derive utils from the event and use them to satisfy their needs for one, there is the emotional satisfaction, which in most cases is not met as most people want the best for their team. However, narrowing down to the hospitality side of it, host countries are so committed to meet the hospitality needs of the visitors. According to Buyoma et al. (2019), “sporting celebration turns out to be a factor that shapes hospitality performance in host countries. hospitality assumes a lot of importance; therefore, when it comes to consumer satisfaction in any field.
– Contextualizing
For the reason that the hospitality industry serves tourists best, world cup host has invested a lot in the same. Ina larger view, everything that a host country does in preparation to host world cup can be viewed as hospitality. According to Boela & Goss(2019), hospitality is a generous reception and entertainment of guests. Everything done here is an attempt to be a good host, welcome visitors well by offering what they need. After all, if the stadiums, or the road, leave alone the hotels, were not developed, how then would visitors feel welcomed?
Methodology:
In order to collect consumer feedback about the world cup, we decided to a one on one interview with football fans. A direct interview is a good source of firsthand information (Chilisa, 2019). Either for the kind of information required, it held as the best so as to understand well. In the interview conducted, interviewees were requested to tell us about how they prefer watching the match, their preferred company, preferred tickets and booking methods, their feeling when attending the match, and the general satisfaction from the services they receive.
The first thing was to identify the people to interview. A total of four people seemed the best number to interview. We enquired of the above-mentioned aspects so as to get to know their opinion in those areas, thoughts, which thy support and the stakeholders. We conducted
semi-structured interviews, which did not exceed 15 minutes so as not to eat so much into the respondents’ time.
Findings:
From the response, it was clear that watching the match live was more interesting. Apart from one of them, the rest attested to that. Either, it was evident that all of them really enjoyed the company of friends in watching matches, both live and on tv. The other immediate company was of family members, as was reported by one of them. Either they all reported that they trust the security as it is well reinforced, and they always have the assurance. However, for different reasons, they did not seem to have a common ticket preference, as well as the preferred booking method. On the side of the food served, the respondents did not seem satisfied. To some extent, they feel like it was done for the sake of it, as others feel like they get exploited as the prices go too high. For this reason, some prefer carrying their own food for use for as long as they can preserve. In addition to that, they also confirmed that some matches become so emotional that they cannot even eat. They have enough energy in store for shouting as they cheer their teams.
In addition to that, they do not like staying so close to the stadiums to avoid high charges. Also, they try avoiding the distractive noises as fans cheer their plyers, or rather teams. Instead, they prefer staying a distance from the stadiums and commuting when they need it. After all, they do not attend all matches, only those that are of their interests. They preferred commuting by road since it is cheaper and relatively faster and convenient for families and friends.
5- Conclusion & Recommendation:
In conclusion, there are a lot of gaps that need to be addressed in the hospitality industry during the hosting of events. This is because most businesses take this as a chance to exploit visitors. As much as they will purchase the services or goods, they may not be as satisfying since they are offered at high prices than usual. If possible, host countries should put regulatory measures to address the inflation of prices by business people. Either, it could put a subsidy on these commodities to try and give the visitors the best experience.
I addition to that, road transport should be enhanced. Most people who attend thee events prefer using this means of transport as it is deemed convenient. This is in terms of cost, customer satisfaction, and flexibility. Either good channels of communication should also be enhanced. For instance, the respondents did not seem to have the best ways of handling emergencies. Perhaps, there should be such provisions, and the members should be made aware of them since they help.
Lastly, the hosts should come up with an efficient means of familiarizing visitors with their place. This serves to help them go for what they can afford, and what is most satisfying for them. Sometimes, as reported, tourists end up purchasing things at very high prices due to a lack of information.
– Recognized / managed / addressed.
Among the issues raised by the respondents, most of them have been addressed in the 2022 coming world cup. Roads and pocket-friendly accommodation facilities are being put up. Hospitality packages are also being designed and will soon be available for booking. Tickets have been designed, and one can easily book.