Introduction to Accommodation Management

1991 Words8 Pages
NAME Ella Prowse STUDENT ID 00053345T1720T SUBJECT HOS101 – Introduction to Accommodation Management LECTURER Lydia Befekadu DUE DATE 25th November, 2012 The emergence of globalisation in recent decades has caused major changes in many business sectors, including tourism and hospitality. As Urry (2001) states, “overall the 1990s have seen remarkable time-space compression as people across the globe have been brought closer.” Before, people preferred to stay close to their families, but now many travel, migrating and taking frequent trips for business or leisure (Xu, 2008), a trend expected to grow exponentially in the next 20 years (Bean, 2008). Because of globalisation and the resulting multiculturalism, the hospitality industry was forced to alter the way it operates and manages business. It became essential for hotels and all accommodation businesses to be more attentive to the needs and expectations of the modern tourists. This report presents the different factors that led to the changes in tourism and the impact these changes had on the hospitality industry. Differences in behaviour and expectations of tourists are explored, and also the ways accommodation managers have responded to new developments in the hospitality industry. Key Developments in Tourism Tourism and hospitality industries have changed dramatically due to globalisation, among other factors. Xu (2008) explains that “the hospitality industry is no longer considered domestic, but rather global or cross-border.” It is now common to see a variety of nationalities in one place, especially travel destinations. The walls that separated “The Orient” from Western countries have been brought down (Urry, 2001), and now the influx of Asian tourists has become the norm in Europe and the United States. Furthermore, big hotel chains are now present in more cities than ever before, and global
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