Hospitality and tourism
There is little doubt that if many more people themselves in touring, the world would be a much safer place. Mark Twain had the following to say about travel; “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” As the world develops and becomes more of a global village, more and more people involve themselves in tourism. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO), there were overv1.4bn international tourists across the globe in the year 2018. This figure represented an impressive 6% percent rise from the previous years. Tourism is regarded as the commercial activities and organization that surrounds visits, travels, and holidays to places that are considered of interest (Wyss, Luthe & Abegg, 2019). The United States remained as the most visited country in the world, recording slightly over 80 million tourists every year. Hospitality and tourism entail the management of attractions, planning of conventions, excellent customer service, planning of events, gaming, food events, sales, travel, and marketing. Thus in sense hospitality enshrines the provision of a sense of value for the money spent by a tourist (Scott, Amelung, Becken, Ceron, Dubois, Gössling, Peeters, & Simpson, 2008). Its primary approach is to ensure that not only do tourists come back, but they also act as advertisement agents for the various institutions that are involved. This can only happen if they feel that the experience was wholesome.
Over the last number of years, there has been a shift in the way tourism is conducted. There have been various efforts to ensure that tourism activities are not only wholesome but are also sustainable. Sustainability is an aspect of the utilization of a given resource (hospitality and aesthetic beauty/value) while ensuring that it provides for both the current and future generations. Often, such a fund is not able to replenish itself fast enough to replace the levels through which it is being used. Hence sustainable tourism is considered those activities that take into account both current and future environmental, economic, social needs (Lenzen, Faturay, Ting, Geschke & Malik, 2018). As such, this type of tourism addresses the fact that the needs of the industry, visitors, host communities, and the environment. None of the values held dear within the context, or the host communities are eroded. In fact, sustainable tourism plays a crucial part in ensuring that they are enhanced and protected. For the environment, sustainable tourism plays an essential role in ensuring that it is not degraded. This means that all the visitors who visit a given attraction do not leave anything behind that would decimate the beauty of the said attraction. Neither does it lead to the erosion of the values that are held dear by the local community. This is often by avoiding the introduction of different values and ideologies that are not complementary to the said culture. More importantly, in today’s world, sustainable tourism should play a pivotal role in ensuring that the local populace benefits either directly or indirectly from their trade. An excellent example of a direct benefit is through the provision of labor for the local community.
Another good example is the provision of social amenities for the local population, for example, roads, health, and education facilities. Lastly, a broader perspective of sustainable tourism is the activities of elected officials and related stakeholders concerning tourism. They should put their efforts towards ensuring that the benefits accruing from tourism are equitably redistributed to provide employment and alleviate poverty. They should also entail the provision of other measures that are related to social protection nets.
Several principles are vital in ensuring that tourism is sustainable. Some of the measures provided by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) include; optimal utilization of all environmental resources, the respect for the host communities concerning their socio-cultural authenticity and the enactment of long-term social and economical operations. The usage of ecological resources must go hand in hand with the maintain ace of crucial environmental processes as well as ensuring that natural biodiversity and heritage is conserved. Secondly, respect for the host community is central to sustainable tourism. There is a great need to ensure that the living and built heritage is respected. Their traditional values should also super cede all other considerations. In another perspective, tolerance and understanding should be at the forefront through the resultant intercultural interactions. Lastly, there should be a viable long-term economic solution in place. All the involved stakeholders should be able to attain accruing socio-economic benefits to provide not only income-earning opportunities but also stable employment. These efforts should also entail other related social services that are geared towards the alleviation of poverty.
Tourism and the environment are interlinked. More often than not, the tourist travels far off to a distant land to indulge in the magnificence that the natural environment has to offer. As a result, there is a need to ensure that as he travels, there is minimum damage inflicted to his background as a result. Some of the critical issues that continue to arise are the effects of the movement of tourists across the globe. In some respects, international travel can be directly linked to the increase in the carbon footprint that an individual has. As the tourist moves from one position to the other, he or she requires transportation, energy, and food. The production of which is increasing, leading to global warming. A number of terms are closely related to sustainable tourism, and they include; responsible tourism, alternative tourism, ecotourism, environmentally responsible tourism, minimum impact tourism, and soft tourism. Responsible tourism is that form of tourism that is partaken in the most efficient of its types (Kaenzig, Rebetez & Serquet, 2016). It entails the least negative economic and environmental impacts. Apart from enhancing the wellbeing of the host communities, it also leads to numerous benefits. Alternative tourism has also been referred to as trendy, different, or other types of tourism. It combines various forms of tourism with particular products.
Although it is sometimes difficult to define it slightly varies because it entails other forms of tourism. For example, it mainly involves a visit to a sugar cane plantation deep in the heart of Brazil. It is different in the way of the human resources, supply, and the organization that is involved. Ecotourism is one of the fastest-growing facets of the travel industry. It consists the visits to pristine, relatively undisturbed, and fragile natural areas. It is often intended to be on a small scale to ensure that it is low impact. At the center of this type of tourism is the fact that the natural environment is protected and the local lives are impacted. As the words suggest, environmental responsible telly tourism involves travel that is not harmful to the environment. Tourists are encouraged to leave the destinations as undisturbed as possible. Lastly, soft tourism is the type of travel that entails minimal experience and risk to the individual who is traveling.
Hospitality refers to all the activities that are related to ensuring that tourists are well taken care of. A vital element of the hospitality industry is ensuring that the clients feel that they have gotten value for the resources that they have used. Secondly, a good experience ensures that the clientele act as marketing agents for the institutions that provide hospitality services. From this ongoing, there are nine fundamental principles that are related to service and hospitality. Defining and distinctive attributes are the hallmarks of remarkable customer service. Such service ensures that customers and guest feel both welcome and comfortable in the respective establishment. In a nutshell, such service will put the comfort of the client at the center of the service. There are some traits that directly linked to the above-mentioned service (Hoogendoorn & Fitchett, 2018). They can be considered as the basic principles of hospitality and service. They include; instills trust, courteous and friendly, efficient, flexible, Instils trust, communicates effectively, and is knowledgeable. A number of changes similar to those witnessed in the tourism sector are expected. They include; organic and healthy food, smart hotels, personalization, sustainability, robots and artificial intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality and “Bleisure” Travel (traveling for business and leisure).
As the world changes, there is a need for tourism that is less hazardous to the environment. Such a form of travel ensures that there is the least amount of interference with the environment and the social fabric of the various societies’ that are involved. Secondly, sustainable tourism entails the utilization of accruing resources to ensure there is a positive impact on the communities that host natural resources. More importantly, responsible truism causes the least disruptive effect on the social and economic fabric of the given societies. In the field of hospitality development, a number of changes have taken place over the last number of years. They are geared towards providing a more holistic approach to the provision of comfort and inclusivity to tourists and travelers. They entail the enhancement of new ways of providing leisure and support for travels. Such activities include but are not limited to organic foods, business combined with relaxation and sustainable hospitality combined with artificial intelligence (Hall, 2016). Eventually, we need to remember that we have, but only one planet and our utilization of the same should be sustainable to ensure that both present and future generations get to enjoy it.