Week/1

Figure 1.1 Jafar Jafari’s tourism clock

Week/2 DON’T MEMORISE ONLY UNDERSTAND THE CASE
Applying industry analysis to contemporary tourism
Demand-led understanding of tourism: The World Tourism Organization (WTO)
defines tourism as ‘the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places
outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for
leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity
remunerated from within the place visited’ (World Tourism Organization, 2004).
This approach concentrates on the nature of tourism consumption in a way that is
easy to understand and relatively easy to track over time. The definition
differentiates between tourism and other travel: thus tourism excludes trips
during one’s usual, day-today activities or in one’s home environment. In other
words, tourism travel is non-routine, in non-routine environments.

Supply-led understanding of tourism: Holloway (1998) is one of many authors

who analyses tourism comprehensively from a functional perspective. Given the
diverse nature of supply, businesses are classified as either direct suppliers
(producers of services which interact directly with travellers as part of the
decision/consumption process) or indirect suppliers (e.g. where a business supplies
another organisation which caters for holiday markets, classified as support
services)

DEVELOPMENT MASS MARKET

Increasing levels of affluence that allow individual households/consumers
sufficient discretionary income to consider travel consumption as part of their
leisure expenditure. Discretionary or disposable income is that income which
remains once all normal outgoings such as taxation, housing and other ‘basics’ of
clothing, education, feeding have been paid. In the short term, it may be
supplemented by consumer credit.
• Increasing availability of cheap, reliable and safe transport alternatives
(including private and public transport systems) which has greatly
assisted in changing spatial dimensions of tourism as it changes from a
regional system to one where many travel long distances and
internationally, as a matter of course.

• Social acceptability of recreation and time off work to pursue personal

interests. Minimum periods for holidays are often codified in legislation.
For example, in the UK the Holidays with Pay Act (1938) was passed. As
 previously indicated, attitudes to leisure and travel are a mix of many
factors. Historically, for example, the elites and feudal populations would
not have distinguished greatly between work and play but would have
considered their way of life holistically. In the modern world, societies
have different, culturally rooted work ethics; e.g. industrialized Asian
countries will, on the whole, take shorter annual holidays than European
countries.
• For business travel, the growth of companies across countries and
internationally, with consequential requirements for employee travel to
set up and operate businesses as well as to train and for more general
communication/coordination purposes.

WEEK 3
Competitive Advantage and Competitiveness
• A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by
offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices and
value for money or by providing greater benefits and service that
justifies higher prices.
• Competitiveness is the capacity of a business or a business group to
create, strengthen and increase over time the competitive advantages
that position it favorably in a market.

• The most frequent sources of competitiveness:

• a) cost leadership;
• b) flexible specialization and
• c)differentiation in terms of quality, innovation, technology
and brand image
 •
How to win in the Market?
A more detailed explanation of the 3 strategies is below:
• Cost leadership: minimizing the cost to the organization of delivering products
and services. The cost or price paid by the consumer is a separate issue!
• Flexible specialization: the capacity to adjust very quickly to a fast changing
marketplace and business environment.
• Differentiation: making your products or services different from those of your
competitors and more attractive

WEEK 4 ,DON’T MEMORISE ONLY UNDERSTAND

WHAT KIND OF QUALITY WANT?
Human resource management (HRM) is about managing people and their
interrelationships within organisations. It aims to ensure that organisations benefit
from their employees’ abilities, while ensuring that employees gain concrete and
psychological rewards from their employment. Globally, in any particular
destination, the tourism industry comprises a range of different-sized public,
private and voluntary sector organisations which operate across different elements
of tourism supply (accommodation; attractions; food and drink; intermediaries;
transport), yet regardless of the nature or size of tourism operations, they are all
reliant on the quality of their human resources, i.e. their employees. To achieve
competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace, the success of
an individual organisation or destination is dependent upon employee contribution
and commitment.
Worldwide tourism employment is estimated at 214,697,000 jobs or 8.1% of total
employment (WTTC, 2004). Employees are the most important assets in a tourism
organisation and are key to the success of service-sector companies, because of
their critical role in customer interactions. Baum (1997) asserts that the
management of the customer–employee encounter is one of the most difficult but
crucial tasks for tourism managers with major implications for service quality.
While the industry offers well qualified individuals, e.g. graduates, exciting,
dynamic and rewarding international career opportunities, the industry also needs a
vast number of operational staff. Low entry barriers and high turnover pose
particular HR challenges to tourism managers.
WEEK ,5

Key focus of market research

• Potential demand – Who are the consumers? What do they care about?
Which are their motivations? Which services do they request? What do
they dislike?
• Current supply – What services, activities, routes and tours are currently
offered in the community, surrounding areas and region?
• Competition – What similar, complementary and/or alternative tourist
products are offered by other businesses in the area?

• Quick tips for conducting research

• Use existing knowledge to define what needs to be asked
• Listen carefully … the obvious is not always the most important
• Analyze “between the lines” and establish links between pieces of
information
• Try to find out cause–effect relation
ghhWEEK6&7 ONLY UNDERSTAND
• The Seven Steps of Problem Analysis

• 1,Read the case thoroughly. To understand fully what is happening in a

case, it is necessary to read the case carefully and thoroughly. You may
want to read the case rather quickly the first time to get an overview of the
industry, the company, the people, and the situation. Read the case again
more slowly, making notes as you go.
• 2,Define the central issue. Many cases will involve several issues or
problems. Identify the most important problems and separate them from
the more trivial issues. After identifying what appears to be a major
underlying issue, examine related problems in the functional areas (for
example, marketing, finance, personnel, and so on). Functional area
problems may help you identify deep-rooted problems that are the
responsibility of top management.
• 3. Define the firm’s goals. Inconsistencies between a firm’s goals and its
performance may further highlight the problems discovered in step 2. At
the very least, identifying the firm’s goals will provide a guide for the
remaining analysis.
• 4. Identify the constraints to the problem. The constraints may limit the
solutions available to the firm. Typical constraints include limited finances,
lack of additional production capacity, personnel limitations, strong
competitors, relationships with suppliers and customers, and so on.
Constraints have to be considered when suggesting a solution
• 5. Identify all the relevant alternatives. The list should all the relevant
alternatives that could solve the problem(s) that were identified in step 2.
Use your creativity in coming up with alternative solutions. Even when
solutions are suggested in the case, you may be able to suggest better
solutions.
• 6. Select the best alternative. Evaluate each alternative in light of the
available information If you have carefully taken the proceeding five steps,
a good solution to the case should be apparent. Resist the temptation to
jump to this step early in the case analysis. You will probably miss
important facts, misunderstand the problem, or skip what may be the best
alternative solution. You will also need to explain the logic you used to
choose one alternative and reject the others.
• 7,Develop an implementation plan. The final step in the analysis is to
develop a plan for effective implementation of your decision. Lack of an
implementation plan even for a very good decision can lead to disaster
for a firm and for you. Don’t overlook this step. Your teacher will surely
ask you or someone in the class to explain how to implement the
decision.
WEEK8
What is an organisation
We have seen that human activity can be organised in many ways, of which formal
organisations are only one. So what are the features of organisations – what sets
them apart?
A bureaucratic hierarchy