The Travel And Tourism Sector Tourism Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

As with everything else, the travel and tourism business is changing constantly with more people booking trips on the Internet, increasing numbers of adventure travellers and fewer people having disposable income since the financial crash of 2009. To get people to bring their tourist dollars to your destination, your plan must accurately identify whose vacation needs you can best serve and get the word out specifically to them.

PREMIER INN RESORTS:

TASK 1

Know Your Customers

Know who is visiting your tourist destination. Texas, for example, did a marketing survey that showed the state brought in nearly $470 million in 2008 with European visitors, most from the United Kingdom. Washington State noted that it made about two-thirds the amount of income from people staying with friends and families as it did from those staying in hotels, so that was a significant market. Make sure local institutions keeping as close track as possible on where people travel from and their demographics so you know where your marketing is working and can more aggressively target areas where the response could be stronger.

Set Specific Goals

Decide what your specific goals are, such as wanting to double your tourism revenues in the next two years; draw more families to visit your tourism site; increase traffic from a neighboring state to a specified amount; or triple the number of visitors to a specific sightseeing attraction.

Identify Travel Trends

Stay abreast of travel trends, such as increasing interest in adventure travel, growing numbers of girlfriend getaways, changing demographics that mean more seniors traveling and increased use of Internet for bookings. Use this information to shape how your tourist destination will brand itself, what attractions it will invest in and emphasize and what marketing vehicles it will use.

Get Your Message Out

Figure out what vehicles will be most effective for promoting your message to the markets you have chosen, including travel review forums, social marketing avenues, Internet broadcasts, and magazine and news articles in general interest and special-interest publications or television ads. Enlist local businesses in advertising and offering specials and discounts for slow periods. Keep in mind, travellers sharing their positive experience at your destination is going to be your strongest marketing tool.

TASK 2

. Do a Situational Analysis

Target Markets

Even if you are experienced at managing holiday rentals, it pays to do an on paper assessment of your target renters. If you're brand new to renting, you may have to do a little bit of research into your area to determine which groups you should target.

Demographic

Try to determine which demographic groups the majority of your guests belong to, such as: gender, familial status, household income, and education level? It's likely that other belonging who call into the same category as your past guests will also enjoy your home.

Geographic

What geographic area are your guests from? Do they travel from overseas? Do they fly or drive to your destination? If they drive, how far is a typical journey?

Psychographic

What do your guests do in their leisure time? What do they want out of their holiday?

Market Needs & Trends

Look at your local holiday rental market as a whole. Are there any traveller groups that don't seem to be well catered for? Has your local area undergone any major changes in the past year? 5 years? 10 years? Look for trends in the number of visitors, demographics of visitors, new construction in the area, sharp increases or decreases in the value of property, significant increases in property taxes, or new or proposed regulations regarding short-term rentals.

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis

Completing a SWOT analysis will help you determine where the strengths of your holiday rentals business, where you can improve, and what opportunities exist in the market, and what threats loom on the horizon.

Strengths:

What does your holiday home offer that other homes in your area do not?

What makes your home special?

Are your rates competitive?

What do you do as an owner that is better than other owners in your market?

Examine your online adverts.  What does your ad do well?

Weaknesses:

What do other holiday homes in your area offer that you do not?

Are there any areas where your home could be improved (facilities, décor, furnishings, etc.)?

Examine your portal website listings.  What could be improved about your ads (better photos, better written descriptions, etc.)?

Opportunities:

Are there any improvements being made or attractions being added in your market (have the beaches been given a special award, or is there a new activity centre opening)?

Does your property cater to any of the following growing market segments: retirees, business travellers, families with grown children?

Is the area opening up to travellers from a new geographic region?

Threats:

Are there any new property developments coming to your area (i.e. increased competition)?

Has there been a significant increase in property taxes for second homes?

Are there any new regulations being imposed on holiday rentals in your area?

 

Competition

In positioning your holiday home, you should consider who you are competing with for business, what they offer, and how their pricing compares to yours. After you've compiled a list of your biggest competition, take note of where they currently advertise, which marketing tactics they've chosen to implement. Then launch your counter attack, by applying strategies that will more effectively or persuasively reach the target customers you have in common.

Other Holiday Accommodations in Your Holiday Market

This could include other holiday rentals in your area, as well as hotels, bed and breakfasts, all-inclusive resorts, hostels, caravan parks or camp sites.

Other Holiday Destinations

Often you're not just competing against other accommodations in your area. You may also be competing against holiday homes and hotels in surrounding areas, or even other markets altogether.

Holiday Rental Benefits

What does your home have to offer travellers?

Amenities

An amenity is anything included in your home that may be of interest to potential guests. The next time you're at your vacation home, go room-to-room and make a list of the items in each room. Download the Equipment and Facilities Checklist to see if you're missing anything.

Suitability

Who is your home perfectly situated for? Families with small children? People with disabilities? The elderly? Travellers with pets?

2. Determine Your Marketing Strategy

Marketing Objectives

What are your most important goals for marketing your holiday home? To receive enquiries? To book a certain number of weeks? To generate a specific amount of revenue?

Positioning

When setting your marketing strategy, it's important to determine how you plan to market your retnal. That is, who your home is suitable for, and how you plan to ? Many holiday home owners make the mistake of trying to target uncomplimentary groups of travellers. For example, if you have a large property in the Algarve, Portugal, creating a home that is too family friendly (for example turning ample sized bedrooms into children's bedrooms) could alienate groups of adult friends on golfing breaks or girls getaways. However, become too broad in your appeal, and you could seem bland or irrelevant to travellers.

Marketing Mix

Most marketing activities conducted by holiday rental homeowners fall into the categories of online advertising, offline advertising, and word-of-mouth marketing.

Online Advertising

Portal websites like HomeAway.co.uk or OwnersDirect.co.uk

Specialised websites like your local tourist board

Personal websites (your holiday rentals business website)

Offline Advertising

Print media like newspapers and magazines

Radio or TV

Collateral material like business cards, fliers or vouchers

Word-of-Mouth

Customer relationship marketing efforts to past guests, or friends and family discounts

Referrals

Charitable donations

Marketing Research - Get to Know Your Target Customer

Take the time to do some research about your target renter. The best way to do this is by talking to past guests, friends, and family members about what they enjoy about your home, what could be improved, and whether or not it fulfils the requirements they are looking for in a holiday home.

You can also download our Guest Feedback Survey to send to your previous guests

Become an Expert on Your Local Area

Travellers will often look to you for advice about your area. Put on your travel agent hat and learn about the area attractions and restaurants that may interest your target renters.

Stay Current with Events in Your Market

It's important to stay abreast of events in your area. Consider subscribing to the local newspaper in your vacation home market or set up Google News Alerts to come to your email.

Follow Industry Trends

Staying educated on the holiday rental industry will give you a leg up in marketing your home. Keep an eye on our Industry News section, for the latest reports.

3. Get Your Financials in Order (Budgets and Forecasts)

Break-Even Analysiskeys to success

Even if you do not rely heavily on rentals to cover the expenses for your home, it's important to determine how much money you have coming in and how much you have going out each month.

Revenue

How much rental income do you hope to generate from your holiday home this year?

Formula for projected revenue for primarily weekly rental markets: (Number of Peak Weeks x Peak Rate) + (Number of Off-Peak Weeks x Off-Peak Rate) + (Number of Weekends x Weekend Rate)

Formula for projected revenue for primarily nightly rental markets: (Number of Peak Nights x Peak Nightly Rate) + (Number of Off-Peak Nights x Off-Peak Nightly Rate)

Expenses

What do you expect to spend this year to keep your holiday rental running?

Note: This formula does not include capital improvements.

Cash Flow

Calculating your projected cash flow should help keep you aware of where you stand in relation to your rental goals. In addition, consider setting milestones or benchmarks for where you should be when. If you hit a milestone and determine that you're not on course, then it's time to implement a contingency plan.

Sales Forecast

During which months do you get the majority of your income? Be sure to factor in payment schedules, but to simplify the cash flow process, do not include any refundable deposits (otherwise you'll have to also include the refund in your expenses).

Expense Forecast

Determine when you will have money coming out of pocket. Which expenses occur monthly (e.g. mortgage, utilities, etc.)? Quarterly?  Annually? Don't forget about seasonal fixed expenses like such as home or grounds maintenance.

 

Contingency Planning

What potential difficulties do you foresee in renting your holiday home? Brainstorm all of the potential problems you could face in your rentals process, and create a plan and a backup plan to deal with each one if it occurs. By preparing contingency plans, you won't be caught off-guard when a less-than-ideal situation arises.

4. Determine Your Personal Keys to Success in Renting Your Home

After creating a marketing plan for your holiday rental home, you should be able to answer the following questions:

Who is your target market and how is your home best suited for them?

What is your home's theme or position in the market?

Which marketing vehicles should you use to reach your target renters?

How many peak weeks, off-peak weeks, and weekends do you need to rent to break-even on your fixed expenses?

What are the potential risks in renting your holiday home and what can you proactively do to prepare for them?

What you define as success may be different to what other owners in your area would. The key to personal success in renting is to set goals for yourself and your holiday rental. By setting goals before you begin, you always have a number of booked weeks (or nights) to work toward and will more likely stay motivated and fulfilled

(INSKIPP, Carol, 2008)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:

As a tour guide, communication will be your main tool in informing and guiding guests around sights and keeping their interest. Below, we have some suggested reasons why communication is so important in a tour guiding context. After reading through them, why don't you tackle the activities which follow, which are based on some of the main reasons for communicating in tour guiding.

To inform, remind and advise

You will use communication to present your country to tourists. As a tour guide you will have to answer many questions, handle queries and present information to tourists. Among these types of information will be:

• giving directions and commentaries;

• explaining procedures and itineraries;

• providing advice on safety and security; and

• describing tourist attractions.

This information to guests can be: helpful suggestions to prepare themselves for a tour, advice about personal belongings to take, medical advice on preventative medicines, and information about available services at tourist destinations.

To clarify, and to avoid confusion and misunderstandings

Communication helps to clarify facts so that there is no confusion or misunderstandings. Also, sometimes there are unexpected events during a tour which can force the tour guide to change plans, and these changed plans have to be communicated to the tour group as soon as possible, to get consensus on alternative itineraries.

To promote and persuade

Communication is also the tool you'll use to promote the tourism products and services of your country, such as the destinations and events they will visit and enquire about. Remember, tourists visit your country in order to see what attractions the country has to offer and to perceive and experience the country from your perspective. As a tour guide, therefore, it will be your responsibility to motivate and reinforce the tourist's interest in your country. Your commentaries are the « eye » through which tourists will see the country and you are the representative of the people of your country.

To build relationships

How well you communicate with your tour group will determine the success of the tour and how successful you are in your career as a tour guide. Conversations help to develop rapport which will build interpersonal relationships. This is important for sustaining the tourism activities.

To evaluate your services

Communication will enable you to collect relevant feedback from the tourists with a view to gauging the interests and expectations of the tourists. This feedback obtained can be communicated to all concerned. From this you will be able to explore ways of improving subsequent tour activities.

TASK 1

Email

To: XXXX

From Anamika Sinha

CC

Subject Cox& kings share Holdings

Dear XXXXXX

I have recently visited Cox & kings share Holdings and attach my report.

The prospects for devolving HR activities to the line are examined in this article. Evidence drawn from a wider study of HRM in practice suggests that, while line manager involvement is possible, their practices tend to be inconsistent in implementation and uneven in quality. A number of constraints on line management practice were identified. First, there is limited reinforcement of practice through institutional forces. Secondly, the short-term nature of managerial activity means that a greater priority is placed on the achievement of the numbers rather than the achievement of numbers through people. Finally, downsizing and delivering place tremendous pressures on the time which line managers could allow for people matters generally. These findings challenge much of the rhetoric associated with the idea of giving HRM back to the line by arguing that the quality of line management practice may distort the overall impact of HR policies.

TASK 2

Phone Communication

Phone communication remains an important means of business communication because it can link partners, employees and business professionals nationally and globally. Costs of phone communication can be significant, particularly if a business requires a lot of international calls.

Verbal Communication

Verbal communication in groups and between individuals is still a critical and popular method of business communication. Mastering the art of verbal communication can help you articulate ideas and solve problems in ways that everyone will understand.

The Internet and social media Web-based portals, such as Face book and Twitter, have taken the business world by storm. Email and social media represent ways for businesses to communicate important information in a matter of seconds.

Fax

Faxing is a fast way to communicate information and data as well. Faxing can be especially beneficial when information needs to be communicated in hard copy.

Written Communication

Believe it or not, companies still write memos and other reports that communicate information internally throughout a company. Written communication is an important method of communication because it helps establish a paper trail.

TASK 4

· Speed and Costs of Communication

The most significant impact of technology on communication is the spread of the internet and the possibility of sending emails and chatting. In the pre-information technology days, a document often required re-typing on the typewriter before the final version. Sending the letter across to someone else required a visit to the post office and a postage stamp. Faster methods such as telegrams had severe limitations in text, and remained costly.

Computers and the internet have made easy the process of creating and editing documents and applying features such as spell check and grammar check automatically. Email allows sending the document to any part of the globe within seconds, making telegrams, and even ordinary letters mostly obsolete. The internet has thus increased the speed of communications manifold, and reduced the costs drastically.

· Quality of Communication

The huge amount of knowledge accessible by a click of the mouse has helped improve the quality of communication. Translating a text from an unfamiliar language to a familiar language, seeking out the meaning of an unknown word, and getting follow up information on an unfamiliar concept are all possible thanks to the internet.

Technology allows easy storage and retrieval of communication when needed, especially verbal communication, the storage of which was very difficult before. It now becomes easier to rewind and clear misconceptions rather than make assumptions, or contacting the person again to clear doubt.

· Change in Communication Style

The invention of new gadgets such as mobile phones makes communication easier by allowing people to communicate from anywhere. An underestimated impact of mobile gadgets is their impact on the nature of communications. The nature of such impact includes the following:

The possibility of high quality communication from anywhere in the world to anywhere else at low costs has led to a marked decline in face-to-face communications and to an increased reliance on verbal and written communication over electronic mediums.

The small keyboards in mobile phone and other hand held devices that make typing difficult has resulted in a radical shortening of words and increasing use of symbol and shortcuts, with little or no adherence to traditional grammatical rules. Such change now finds increasing acceptance in the business community.

Communication has become concise and short, and the adage "brevity is the soul of wit" finds widespread implementation, though unintentionally.

· Accessibility to Communication

The answer to the question how has technology changed communication is incomplete without a mention of the role of technology in the democratization of communication systems. Technology has brought down the costs of communication significantly and improved people's access to communication.

The proliferation of online forums, live coverage of news, and other such media related initiatives have resulted in world wide access and participation in news and information for almost everyone.

In the realm of business, access to communication or privileged information was hitherto a major source of competitive advantage. Technology helps remove such barriers and ensure a level playing field in this aspect for the most part.

· Nature of Communication

The ease of communication and the spread of interactive communication methods such as instant messengers and video conferencing has increased the volume of communications, but reduced the average length of communications. People now communicate whatever comes up instantly, and tend to break up different topics into different communications.

Finally, technologies such as the internet help spread the net of communication by tracking down old friends, shedding light on new business opportunities, and the like

(JOHN SWARBROOKE, Susan Horner, 2001)

PEOPLE IN THE ORGANISATION:

TASK 1

All these organisations are connected to either the National

Government, which is departments or ministries, or to local

Government. This chart shows the range of commercial and non commercial organisations involved in Travel and Tourism.

The government organisation, the DCMS (The Department for Culture

Media and Sport. This is one of the many civil service departments

which serve the elected government of the day, whatever their

political views. These departments do not have any political bias. Examples:

Treasury - doles out all the money the taxpayer's money to other

departments, e.g. education, defence, DEFRA (Department for the

Farming and Rural Affairs), which is the department for the

environment.

· The DCMS is responsible for and to oversee:

Government policy on the arts,

Sport

The National Lottery,

Tourism,

Libraries,

Museums and galleries,

Broadcasting,

Film,

The music Industry,

Press freedom and regulation licensing,

Gambling

Historic environment.

· The present secretary of the DCMS is Tessa Jowell.

Funding of the DCMS

===================

· Funding comes from the taxpayer (income tax)

· In addition, the Treasury decides what share each government

department will get.

Stakeholders

------------

Stakeholders are anyone who has an interest in an organisation. The

people who are hold an interest in the DCMS range from:

Government of the day. This is because DCMS carries out the

policies. This relates to Tomorrows Tourism Today, which outlines

plans for action and responsibilities for delivery for the DCMS and

its key partners in five areas. These are the four joint priorities

agreed by the DCMS and the tourism industry; marketing and e-tourism,

quality, skills and data, plus a fifth priority for the DCMS -

advocacy for tourism across Whitehall and the EU.

Tomorrow's Tourism Today, which had the working title of the Tourism

Prospectus, is the result of consultation by the DCMS with its key

partnership organisations; Visit Britain, the England Marketing

Advisory Board (EMAB), the Tourism Alliance, the Local Government

Association and the Regional Development Agencies. It also reflects

comments from over 30 organisations and individuals who responded to a final round of general consultation.

The idea for Tomorrow's Tourism Today came from the series of Hartwell

Conferences between the DCMS and the tourism industry. They were part

of the process of tackling the downturn in tourism that followed the

Foot and Mouth outbreak and the September 11th attacks in 2001.

The public as the taxpayers, as the DCMS is spending our money.

Customers of tourism in the UK.

Businesses, which benefit from the work of the DCMS.

Employees of the DCMS civil servants.

NGO`s (Non Governmental Organisations), which are not elected and

have no political bias.

Organization Chart

Non-Governmental Organisations

------------------------------

· These are non-elected organisations, which advise the main

government departments or ministries and through them advise the

elected Minister of the day.

· NGO`s:

Advise the department on policy.

Co-ordinate activities.

Produce strategic plans such as Tomorrows Tourism Today.

Allocate government funds to all organisational and activities

connected with tourism.

· Examples of NGO`s are:

Visit Britain

English Heritage

Countryside Agency

Sport England

TASK 2

REPORT SECTION A:

Communicating effectively can be the difference between the success and failure of any business endeavour. Effective business communication involves time-honoured practices and customs you can easily learn. These business communications best practices remain as relevant now as they were in the past. These best practices also apply to any form of business communication you choose to employ; whether it is a print brochure or an online website.

Be Clear and Concise

The most important business communication practice is to be clear with your message. Too often, business communicators load their messages with jargon and technical terms the intended audience cannot understand. Don't be vague. Use concrete terms and be specific. You should use clear, easily understood words. Avoid industry-specific terms and acronyms unless they are common knowledge to your audience. Err on the side of caution, however; don't assume you know what your audience will understand.

Focus on Audience

Effective business communication practices target a specific audience. Communicators should always ask "Who is my audience?" What is their level of knowledge about what you are presenting? What are their needs and values? Knowing the answers to these questions can help focus your message. Business communication author Ken O'Quinn, writing for the International Association of Business Communicators, says you should frame your appeal in a way that makes it relevant to your audience. Your ideas need to be in their realm of experience, he writes.

Don't Sell Features. Sell Benefits.

Whether you are writing an internal memo or a sales brochure, your business communications should focus on value. A best practice is to sell benefits--how your idea or product will improve the lives of your internal and external customers. Selling benefits will grab attention and sustain interest far more than simply selling the features or physical attributes of a product or service. In an International Association of Business Communicators article, writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant says selling features is dull. Selling benefits generates excitement, she says, and leads to business communication with high impact.

Use Multiple Channels

Peter Lowy of the Business Communications Strategies group, Brookline, Mass., writes that you cannot afford to deliver your message using only one medium. The proliferation of media offers people numerous choices for consuming information. People have their preferences, and they process information at different times, Lowy says. In addition, for your communications practices to be effective, you should optimize your message for each medium. For example, a message delivered through a website will typically be shorter and more to-the-point than the same message in a print newsletter article.

REPORT SECTION B:

There are numerous advantages of teamwork in business. Some of the genuine advantages of teamwork have been discussed below. The following advantages of teamwork are not only applicable for businesses but they can also be noticed in departments that function with the help of united efforts.

United Effort

Teamwork in any business ensures that the task at hand is executed with the help of a united effort. The significance of the united effort is that the business organization that is concerned, functions like a single person, thereby enhancing the quality of the operations. There are, also, some other related factors, such as ensuring equality in profit-sharing and division of work. It also helps the members/owners of the organization to maintain a very good system, that designates appropriate authority and responsibility. A united effort, also, reflects good team building and team spirit.

Division of Work

Teamwork ensures that there is an equal and fair distribution of work within the organization. A fair work distribution ensures that every person or every working unit, executes any task at hand, with the best possible efficiency. The division of work, also, ensure that the work is done on time and deadlines are not extended.

Reduction of Risk

When the task at hand is executed with the maximum possible efficiency, there is a reduction in risk. The best advantage of teamwork in business is that the burden of failure is borne by all the members of the team and it does not fall on the shoulders of just one person.

Specialization in Work

Another very good advantage of teamwork in business is that a person is able to specialize in one specific field. That is, he can optimize the quality of the work that he does, and can also work with the maximum possible efficiency. This ensures a high quality output from all individuals and the whole team.

Subordination of Personal Interest to Organizational Interest

One of the biggest advantages of teamwork is that personal interest is subordinate to organizational interest. This ensures that all the team members put in the maximum possible efforts into their work, thereby ensuring a high quality and timely output.

You must have noticed that the list of advantages points out to two basic facts that work when distributed reduces one person's workload and a reduced amount of work ensures optimization and efficiency. The following points emphasize the importance of teamwork in business, and why it is essential to improve teamwork. Let's go over them.

Timely Completion

Teamwork is one of the best ways to ensure the timely completion of any work, with the maximum possible efficiency. This ensures that the clients of the company are bound to come back to your organization with a new project or contract.

High Quality Output

Teamwork, by default, ensures high quality output that makes the client happy. It also reflects the sincerity of the team members.

Goodwill and Reputation

Teamwork, also, increases the goodwill and reputation of a business. The goodwill, in fact, is a tangible asset of any business that plays a highly instrumental role in bringing in more customers and public trust.

Unification of Merits

The indirect advantage of an effective teamwork, is that there is unification of the merits of the team members, and on the whole, the business organization, as a team, does not depict any demerit.

REPORT SECTION C:

The Olympic Flame arrived in the host city over the weekend and companies have started encouraging their employees to work from home in order to prevent them from travelling to their offices during this busy period.

International participants have already arrived in London for the Olympics Games and the government is taking precautions to ensure zero disruptions to the city's transport network. It is expected that a million extra people will be using the capital transport system, hence the government advising London-based businesses to consider flexible working.

Recent research suggests that one third of businesses will encourage flexible working during the Olympics and are gearing up to ensure continuity in business operations.

"The demand for cloud computing will rise on the back of the Olympics as most businesses will be enabling their executives to work from home," Andrew Gilbert, Managing Director of data centre specialist Node4, said.

"Thus they will demand high speed access and secure technology to ensure business continuity during the games.

"Cloud computing removes the need for executives to physically travel to their offices to meet with each other face-to-face during the Olympics, thus offering a perfect solution to businesses to ensure smooth operations.

"Cloud computing technology allows businesses to provide their staff with practical solutions needed to seamlessly perform in their jobs without being physically present at their desks. Also, remote working offers a better solution for employers as they have observed home workers to be 20 per cent more productive, whilst encouraging reduced absenteeism and improved staff retention."

REPORT SECTION D:

Human resource development (HRD) has served the needs of organizations to provide employees with up-to-date expertise. Advances in HRD models and processes have kept pace with the increasingly sophisticated information and production technologies that continue to diffuse throughout our nation's most vital industries (Swanson and Torraco, 1994). During this period of rapid technological development, the HRD function could be relied upon to support a broad range of business initiatives that required a competent workforce. Critical business issues, from new marketing strategies to innovations in production technology, were based on, among other factors, the performance capabilities of those expected to use these new work systems. As a factor integral to business success, employee expertise itself has been expanded through effective programs of employee development. Expertise is defined as the optimal level at which a person is able and/or expected to perform within a specialized realm of human activity (Swanson, 1994). In short, the development of workplace expertise through HRD has been vital to optimal business performance.

Yet today's business environment requires that HRD not only support the business strategies of organizations, but that it assume a pivotal role in the shaping of business strategy. Business success increasingly hinges on an organization's ability to use employee expertise as a factor in the shaping of business strategy. This article examines the strategic roles of HRD. As a primary means of sustaining an organization's competitive edge, HRD serves a strategic role by assuring the competence of employees to meet the organization's present performance demands. Along with meeting present organizational needs, HRD also serves a vital role in shaping strategy and enabling organizations to take full advantage of emergent business strategies. Both the strategy supporting and strategy shaping roles of HRD have distinctive features that are evident in the business practices of successful companies. This article examines the origins and distinctive features of the strategic roles of HRD, and illustrates these roles with examples from today's most innovative organizations.

HRD to Support Business Objectives

The HRD function has long been relied upon to support a broad range of business objectives that require competent employees. Business objectives themselves are almost as diverse in nature as the wide range of organizations that articulate them. Business objectives can span long- and short-term time frames, and can focus on broad business issues (e.g., diversification in the defense industry in the post-cold war era) and more specific issues (e.g., reduction of employee turnover in company field offices). The rationale for using HRD interventions to support business objectives is quite straightforward: Enhancing employee expertise through HRD increases the likelihood that business objectives will be achieved (Jacobs and Jones, 1995; Swanson, 1994).

There are numerous examples of how HRD is used to support business objectives. Indeed, most HRD programs referred to as somehow having "strategic" value assume roles that are supportive of a given business strategy. The education and training used to support business objectives at Motorola is typical of the challenges and opportunities faced by many organizations in today's business environment. What Motorola discovered earlier than most organizations that began introducing new sophisticated technologies into the workplace was that their employees did not have the skills to make full use of the technologies (Agrawal, 1994). Companies that compete in the fast-paced communications market where customers are particularly innovation-conscious must deliver high-quality, reliable products despite short product development cycles. Motorola sought production advantages through both the integration of new technology and the development of employee expertise. Motorola offers on- and off-site classroom education and training, laboratory training, and structured training in the workplace for employees at all levels of the organization. In addition to supporting Motorola's successful pursuit of its business objectives, many of its education and training initiatives serve as examples of best practices against which other organizations' HRD functions benchmark their performance. Thus, Motorola provides an early and influential example of HRD used to support business objectives.

REPORT SECTION E:

This case study describes the needs assessment, design, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of a comprehensive workplace health promotion program. The company had 110,000 U.S. employees at more than 100 locations engaged in a variety of manufacturing, research, sales, and support occupations in 1980. The PRECEDE framework was used to focus program planning and evaluation on key areas of health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour. The needs assessment included use of company morbidity and mortality data, a survey of medical and human resources staff, and a survey of employees, spouses, and pensioners. An in-house network of lay committees, site medical personnel, and corporate health education, nutrition and fitness specialists was used to staff critical program functions. Interventions included: public health approaches to program kick- off and health risk assessment; group and self-directed lifestyle change activities; recognition and awards; and workplace climate changes such as smoking policies that favour non-smokers. One pilot location experienced a 47.5% decline in hourly employee absenteeism over six years versus a 12.5% decline in the total Du Pont hourly workforce. A number of lessons are discussed on how to improve the planning, implementation, in stitutionalization, and evaluation of health promotion programs in large industrial companies. Four areas where future research and practice should be focused include: reaching spouses, sales personnel, shift workers, and employees at small sites; balancing what is popular with what reduces risks over the long-term; documenting program impacts when research resources are scarce; and integrating health promotion programs with workplace medical, safety, employee assistance and benefits programs.

(DEUSCHL, Dennis E., 2006)

TOURIST DESTINATIONS

When discussion is held on travel geography, a glimpse of destinations visited is fundamental to the debate. The World Tourism Organization reports the following ten countries as the most visited in between 2009 and 2011 by number of international travellers.

Rank

Country

UNWTO Regional Market

International tourist arrivals (2008)[7]

International tourist arrivals (2007)[4][7]

International tourist arrivals (2006)[8]

1

France

Europe

79.3 million

81.9 million

78.9 million

2

United States

North America

58.0 million

56.0 million

51.0 million

3

Spain

Europe

57.3 million

58.7 million

58.2 million

4

China

Asia

53.0 million

54.7 million

49.9 million

5

Italy

Europe

42.7 million

43.7 million

41.1 million

6

United Kingdom

Europe

30.2 million

30.9 million

30.7 million

7

Ukraine

Europe

25.4 million

23.1 million

18.9 million

8

Turkey

Europe

25.0 million

22.2 million

18.9 million

9

Germany

Europe

24.9 million

24.4 million

23.5 million

10

Mexico

North America

22.6 million

21.4 million

21.4 million (JOHN C. CROTTS, W. Fred Van Raaij, 1994)

Finance and Funding in the Travel and Tourism Sector

Funding tourism development

The availability of finance to develop and promote the tourism industry is critically important for the industry's further growth and development. A number of policy guidelines should guide the increased financial commitment to the development of tourism in South Africa. While the exact nature and extent of these should be properly assessed and evaluated, the following measures should be considered:

conduct an urgent review of the government's financial contribution to tourism as well as the process of determining such contribution

consider a large initial capital injection by the government to 'kick start' a major tourism development thrust over the next three years. Such contribution should be in accordance with the programmes and projects identified in the implementation strategy to follow the White Paper

investigate the broadening the tourism funding base in a practical and uncomplicated fashion, by considering a single departure tax

coordinate the collection of tourism levies nationally and revert a percentage back to the provinces

promote partnerships for the provision of funding between and among government, local and international private sectors and donor agencies

facilitating access to RDP and donor funds for the tourism industry - particularly for the purpose of pump-priming small business, community tourism projects as well as demonstration projects

promote active forms of community partnership, especially via joint ventures in which communally owned land forms the basis of equity for community partnerships with the private sector and state conservation agencies

review the current levy system with a view to de-linking the levy from the grading system.

Access to finance

A major problem limiting tourism development is the unavailability of finance on favourable terms over a long period of time to invest in tourism development. While the Industrial Development Corporation has been operating two tourism financing schemes since 1992, namely the Ecotourism Scheme (aimed at large game lodge developments) and the General Tourism Scheme (primarily aimed at the refurbishment and upgrading of accommodation facilities), the conditions have been largely market related, aimed at the larger operator and requiring substantial collateral before loans are approved. The lack of access to funding is even more acute for the previously neglected groups. Specific factors limiting their access to finance include: the requirement of substantial security and collateral; the lack of assets in the form of land or home ownership that would act as security for loans; administrative red tape; request for submissions such as business and marketing plans and little 'technical assistance' or guidance in the preparation of such; lack of localised institutions that provide funding. The government could consider the following policies and actions aimed at improving the access to finance by neglected groups as well as making investment funds more widely available to the tourism sector:

Establish a dedicated tourism development fund to provide funds for tourism enterprises and activities not catered for by existing state financing agencies. Such fund should be managed in a transparent fashion and should be subject to regular auditing and scrutiny

ensure that state funding is accessible to the wider business community, emerging entrepreneurs, micro enterprises, sole traders and the informal sector

consider creating a subsidised financing facility to accommodate the entry of the previously neglected into the tourism industry

ensure that technical assistance is provided to potential entrepreneurs, utilising as far as possible existing institutions, such as the Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency (NEPA)

encourage existing private enterprises to assist in guaranteeing loans of small entrepreneurs through, for example, the advance purchase of their services

Encourage the reform of land holding and property rights to allow previously neglected groups to obtain collateral to facilitate loan acquisition.

Institutionally, three options for increasing the access to finance could be considered:

Option 1

Disburse tourism funds through dedicated tourism windows at existing institutions that could champion lending as well as provide specific tourism technical support to potential entrepreneurs. Such existing institutions include: the Industrial Development Corporation, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Khula, the Independent Development Trust, the Small Business Development Corporation, the Kagiso Trust, the provincial Development Corporations, commercial banks, community-based organisations and others.

Option 2

Explore the feasibility of establishing a dedicated institution for financing tourism projects and facilitating the involvement of the previously neglected.

Option 3

A combination of 1 & 2

Advantages and disadvantages of the three options

The advantage of option 1 is that the institutions already exist, many of which already have distribution channels at the levels of the provinces and local communities. With this option, much more of the funding could be disbursed rather than diverted to the creation of another institution with accompanying high administrative costs. On the other hand, many of these institutions have had a very poor record in funding the tourism industry, particularly the entry of the previously neglected into the tourism industry. Other government departments consulted (Trade and Industry, Finance) have indicated a preference for this option.

The disadvantage of option 2 is that it involves the creation of a new institution which in itself could be costly and consume a lot of the funds that could be used as investment capital. On the other hand, there may be some advantages to the establishment of an institution with the specific responsibility of addressing the financial needs of those previously neglected groups wishing to become involved in the tourism industry. This option will be more costly and may need to be initially subsidised.

In the final analysis, a combination of both might be necessary. However, if a subsidy is involved, it may well be the case that an existing institution may want to consider the provision of this dedicated facility. If the creation of a new institution can be avoided, but the objectives of improving access to finance by the previously neglected can be achieved, this will be optimal. What may be needed is not a new institution, but a subsidised financial mechanism. The possibility of empowering the National Tourism Organisation and/or provincial tourism organisations to supply funds to deserving projects should be considered: provided that in exercising this function, the projects are not only screened on merit, but the entrepreneurs are subjected. (LOYACONO, Laura L., 1999)

CUSTOMER RELATION MANAGEMENT:

TASK 1

The Literature Review presents CRM in general about its benefits, definition and implementation. It is implemented in some parts specifically in Hospitality Industry, Hotel Industry and Tourism. Now, in this dissertation they are studied in detail. Tourism Organization basically defines the tourists or the people who travel and stay in different places for the purpose of business or leisure. It has become a popular leisure activity. According to Chon and Sparrow (2000), Tourism is expanded to a very large extent claiming that it has become a huge provider for jobs. Hospitality Industry is a part of Tourism Industry. The term Hospitality Industry usually makes people think about restaurants and hotels which are some of the places for entertainment of visitors or guests. According to Powers and Barrows (1999), the term hospitality not only includes hotels and restaurants it also refers to the institutes that provide food and shelter to the people. Hotel Industry as a part of Hospitality Industry is a large diverse industry. It covers all the enterprises ranging from small to large firms that give a efficient contribution to national and international economy. Hotel Industry is at times very complex because of several reasons which are listed as follows: Firstly, the industry may be very complex as there are a number of categories in an industry which are very large. According to Jones (2002), these categories can be hotel location like rural side or seaside, hotel quality like luxury, midrange or first class, hotel style like resort hotel or traditional hotel. Secondly, the industry is made complex with the association and structure of management. Thirdly, an industry is made uneven or fragmented because of the independent hotels that are owned and operated. According to Olsen (1996), the level of fragmentation can be decreased by measuring the number of bedrooms rather than measuring the property. (GOPAL, V V, 2005)

TASK 2

Consider the survey data. Shoppers polled over the past 12 months by Walker Information Inc., the Indianapolis-based customer research firm, indicate there's still a yawning gap between the percentage of people who say theyre satisfied with a business and those who consider themselves "loyal" to that business-intent on maintaining the relationship and continuing it into the future. "Many companies have figured out how to deliver satisfaction, but they've not yet figured out how to earn loyalty anywhere near those levels," says Jeff Marr, group vice president for Walker.

This so-called loyalty gap can be particularly pronounced in industries where competition is harshest and growing. For example, while 75 percent of customers in the financial services industry said theyre satisfied with the business they most recently patronized, only 34 percent of those same customers said theyre "truly loyal." In other words, they want to maintain their relationship with the company. Telecom carriers fared even worse: While 75 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied, only 28 percent said they dont want to switch carriers. Retailing is almost as dicey. "Some 43 percent of Americans say they feel trapped-likely to continue doing business with the top retailers, but less than pleased with the relationship they now have with them," Marr says. That means retailers can count on less than half of their customers being loyal.

Where do most companies go wrong?

Frederick F. Reichheld, a vice president at consultants Bain & Co. in Boston and author of The Loyalty Effect, a 1996 analysis of loyalty programs, says most company loyalty programs dont slice data finely enough to distinguish between customers who would recommend a particular business to friends and those who would not. Knowing this, he says, could mean millions of additional dollars in revenue for companies. "The tendency of loyal customers to bring in new customers-at no charge to the company-is particularly beneficial," Reichheld says.

Many companies also tend not to do enough with their loyalty program data to make Joe Six-pack feel special, too, says Woolf of the Retail Strategy Centre. According to Carlson Marketing Group, a Minneapolis-based customer research firm, rewards programs cost companies, on average, between 2 percent and 10 percent of a customer's total spending at a given store. "Once they've identified the top 20 or 30 percent of their customers, many companies tend not to market to the bottom tier because its not economical," Woolf says-and end up leaving a majority of their customers frustrated or unable to accrue enough points to make participation in these programs seem like a real advantage.

But don't underestimate the value of trying. Woolf says food retailers, for example, lose up to 40 percent of their new customers within three months. One of the big benefits of a successful loyalty card program, he says, is that stores can quantify new-customer losses and introduce programs designed to retain or woo back the most profitable. "Without a loyalty card, one has no clue about the size of the inflow and outflow of new customers," Woolf says. What does this mean for the bottom line? According to Marr, learning to play the loyalty card game better can help companies reap big cash rewards. Walkers surveys show that "truly loyal" consumers are 15 times more likely than high-risk customers to increase spending with a particular store.

Reichheld takes it one step further. He says profits rise as a customer's relationship with a company lengthens. "Customer defections have a surprisingly powerful impact on the bottom line," he says. "When defections are cut in half, the average growth rate more than doubles. A 5 percent change in the rate of customer retention swings profit increases from 25 percent all the way to 100 percent."

The clear message, says Marr: "It's not enough to have CRM. You need the hearts and minds of the customers to close the loyalty gap." And CIOs, he says, are in the best position to help companies figure out new ways to do that. "IT needs to take the lead in loyalty programs because its just about the only department that can coordinate between business processes, external data-analytics vendors and the executives who can translate output into action," says Bob Chatham, an analyst at Forrester. Adds Arthur Middleton Hughes, director of database marketing strategy for Double-click Data Management Solutions: "What doesn't work anymore is treating all customers alike."

TASK 3

CASE STUDY OF WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORTS:

Sitting on a curb with their three children one humid afternoon in October inside Magic Kingdom, the oldest of Walt Disney World's four Orlando theme parks, Jeff Pawlowski and his wife were in a sour mood. Long lines demanded waits of as long as two hours at some rides inside the 47-square-mile fantasy extravaganza, and the lines at the food stalls and restaurants weren't much better. "Today has been the worst," Pawlowski complained. His wife agreed: "Our neighbour came home from Disney on Friday and said there were no lines. We came here on Saturday, and it's not what we expected."

The Pawlowskis aren't alone. Throughout the amusement park industry, long lines, fidgety crowds and high ticket prices continue to rank as the top customer turnoffs. Meanwhile, Disney's theme parks have been particularly hard hit by sliding attendance figures and decreasing revenues. Bob Iger, Walt Disney Co.'s president and COO, told securities analysts on Nov. 20 that the Parks & Resorts division took in $6.4 billion in revenues in the year ended Sept.30, 1 percent less than 2002's $6.5 billion, which was already down 8 percent from 2001. Iger blamed the sluggish performance on lower hotel occupancy rates and a further decline in attendance, which had already fallen 14 percent, to 37.7 million, in 2002, from a peak of 43.2 million in 2000. Analysts say international visitors are staying away, thanks to the flat global economy, rising anti-American sentiment and a continued fear of flying since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Ticket prices aren't helping: They've risen 20 percent since 1998, and at $52 per person per day, they're already at the psychological limit of what consumers are willing to spend for the theme park experience, say some analysts. Disney has cut ticket prices by up to 42 percent in some cases this year in an effort to drum up more business. That's stemmed some of the attendance erosion, Disney executives say, but it hasn't done much to the division's operating income, which fell 18 percent in fiscal 2003, to $957 million from $1.2 billion in fiscal 2002.

At the same time, Disney's costs continue to rise: Analysts say insurance premiums have nearly doubled since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and health care and pension costs for the company's 54,000 employees in Orlando alone cost the company nearly $250 million in 2003. Analysts also note that capital expenditures for the parks were down significantly in fiscal 2002. That's exactly the cost-conscious environment that prompted Roy Disney, nephew of founder Walt Disney, to refer, in his Nov. 30 letter of resignation from the company's board of directors, to "the timidity of [the company's] investments in our theme park business."

Clearly, the goal for now is to do more with less. And Walt Disney Co. CIO Roger Berry is at the center of that mandate-but not for all the usual reasons. To help Disney usher in what Disney Chairman Michael Eisner has called the company's "digital decade," Berry has been helping to create a risky but cutting-edge technology strategy designed to help Walt Disney World restore the lustre of its aging brand, increase efficiencies and boost attendance-as well as the bottom line. Berry's mission: to use Walt Disney World as a test bed for one of corporate America's most ambitious tryouts of the business use of IT convergence-the combination of global positioning satellites, smart sensors, wireless technology and mobile devices, including one that looks like Mickey Mouse himself-to reinvent the customer experience, influence visitor behaviour and ease crowding throughout the parks. The goal: to reduce the hassle for visitors to the park by creating a more personalized environment, with IT at the core. "The role of IT is changing," says Berry. "It's not simply an organization that deploys technology, but one that now integrates technology from a lot of different angles to improve the customer experience."

BUSINESS ETHICS:

The substantial growth of tourism activity clearly marks tourism as one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the past century. The number of international arrivals shows an evolution from a mere 25 million international arrivals in 1950 to over 700 million in 2002, corresponding to an average annual growth rate of 6.6% In addition to the numerical growth of tourism, there has been an increasing geographic spread of tourism to encompass almost all the reaches of the globe. Simultaneously, there has been a diversification of the tourism product from the traditional sun, sea and sand offering to a product that can be potentially more intrusive or more beneficial for those living in the tourism destination.Tourism's expansion has meant the industry now represents the leading source of foreign exchange in at least 38% of countries, and ranks in the top five industries for exports in 83% of countries. However, in addition to the cited economic indicators displaying the dominance of the tourism industry, there has been a commensurate and almost equally well-publicized rise and recognition of the potentially negative impacts of the burgeoning tourism industry Researchers have been critical of the pernicious social and environmental impacts the industry can have from reinforcing western domination over developing countries through the 'host/guest' relationship to the visual scars on the landscape caused by ski resorts or golf courses. This has led to calls for the industry to exercise greater responsibility and

''professionalism' in order to protect the ''golden goose'' and mirrors the arguments for greater corporate and social responsibility in other industries.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a specific application of the notion of environmental and social auditing to business practice. The technique is strongly promoted by Fair Trade in Tourism (2002) which suggests that the technique of CSR emerged in the late 1990s out of NGO efforts to create a more equitable international trade system. According to Mowforth and Munt the tourism industry is well behind other industries in terms of CSR, and the absence of ethical leadership in the tourism industry has been 'astounding'5.

However, in the last few decades, responsible tourism has emerged as a significant trend in the western world, as wider consumer market trends towards lifestyle marketing and ethical consumption have spread to tourism

Tourism organizations are beginning to realize that promoting their ethical stance can be good business as it potentially enhances a company's profits, management effectiveness, public image and employee relations .Yet, although more attention is now being paid to ethics in tourism there is a very weak foundation of research into tourism ethics studies to date. The consequence is that the arguments presented for and against CSR in tourism are often simplistic and largely without any practical evidence.

Some Principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism Stakeholders and Professionals

(1) The understanding and promotion of the ethical values common to humanity, with an attitude of tolerance and respect for the diversity of religious, philosophical and moral beliefs, are both the foundation and the consequence of responsible tourism; stakeholders in tourism development and tourists themselves should observe the social and cultural traditions and

practices of all peoples, including those of minorities and indigenous peoples and to recognize their worth;

(2) Tourism activities should be conducted in harmony with the attributes and traditions of the host regions and countries and in respect for their laws, practices and customs;

(3) The host communities, on the one hand, and local professionals, on the other, should acquaint themselves with and respect the tourists who visit them and find out about their lifestyles, tastes and expectations;