International tourism management
Instructions: You are required to choose 4 of the six articles included in this exam. Answer the questions at the end of your chosen article(s). Submit through Moodle Article
#1 Destinations around the World Search for Overcrowding Solutions Venice is planning to divert massive cruise liners. Barcelona has cracked down on apartment rentals. Both are at the forefront of efforts to get a grip on overtourism, a phenomenon that is disrupting communities, imperiling cherished buildings and harming the experience of travelers and local residents alike. Tourism-phobia has become increasingly prevalent, particularly in European destinations where visitors crowd the same places at the same time. The backlash has even given rise to slogans such as “Tourists go home” and “Tourists are terrorists.” “This is a wake-up call,” Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization, told tourism ministers and industry executives last week at the World Travel Market in London. The resentment could rise as tourism increases. The UNWTO forecasts 1.8 billion trips by 2030, up from 1.2 billion in 2016.
Add in the 5 billion domestic trips now, and that’s a lot of tourists. Cheap airfare is helping to fuel the growth, along with massive growth in international travel from countries like China. Yet many destinations rely on tourism as a primary source of jobs and prosperity. Tourism accounts for around 10 percent of the world’s annual GDP, bringing hard currency into many countries that desperately need it, like Greece. But tourism can also harm the quality of life for residents, with packed beaches, locals priced out of housing and congested streets in the narrow byways of European cities dating back to medieval times. Longer term problems include environmental damage and the long-term sustainability of cities as viable places to live and work. For all these reasons, managing tourism is a prominent topic of debate in the industry and a central theme at the World Travel Market. Rifai, who leaves the UNWTO at the end of the year, dismissed the idea that growth is “the enemy.” Pulling up the drawbridge, he argued, would be irresponsible when tourism accounts for one in 10 jobs worldwide. What is required, he stressed, is the need to manage tourism in a “sustainable and responsible” way that benefits local communities. Efforts to manage overtourism are becoming more innovative and increasingly tapping new technologies. For example, apps can help tourists visit popular destinations at less busy times. And while critics say Airbnb has priced out locals, its supporters say home rentals can ease pressure on cities by spreading visitors far and wide. Patrick Robinson, Airbnb’s director of public policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa, noted that last year 69 percent of the platform’s users in Amsterdam stayed away from the city center.
In some cases, tourist quotas make sense. In the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador has imposed a 100,000 annual limit on visitors. The Croatian city of Dubrovnik, where visitor numbers surged after the Adriatic Sea resort was used as a setting for the series “Game of Thrones,” has mulled limiting those entering the city’s medieval walls to 4,000 daily. Other strategies include promoting offseason visits, opening up new destinations or tweaking marketing. Prague is pushing local walks off the beaten track, while London promotes neighborhoods such as Greenwich and Richmond. “There is no one solution for all, every destination is different,” said Gloria Guevara, the new president and CEO of the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council. Barcelona, which became a tourist juggernaut after the 1992 Olympics, has outlined measures to balance the needs of locals and visitors. The city has cracked down on unlicensed rentals and established a tourism council that includes residents, business, unions and government.
The hope is that by listening to all the stakeholders, Barcelona can reduce the strains tourism places on the city and ameliorate tensions between residents and visitors. “Businesses do not want to put their customers in places where they are being treated as an unwelcome pest, and I think some of the language that we’ve seen that’s hostile to tourism verges on hate speech,” said Tim Fairhurst, head of strategy and policy at the European Tourism Association. Venice has witnessed a tourism backlash in response to the monumental increase in visitors, many of whom irk locals by going to the same spots at the same time. “The problem at the moment is the intolerable concentration of human numbers in these small spaces which are still thoroughfares in what is still a living city,” said Jonathan Keates, chairman of the Venice In Peril Fund. Last week, a plan was announced to block giant cruise ships from steaming past Venice’s iconic St. Mark’s Square. Few think it’s enough, and there’s talk of higher taxes on tourists, timed tickets to venues or even the introduction of turnstiles. Everyone, though, has a role to play, including the tourists themselves.
Venice recently introduced the “Enjoy Respect Venice” initiative which controls, fines or disciplines travelers who strip and jump into the canals or who eat on church steps. The new measures, according to Keates, clamp down on those “treating the place as a kind of extended marble beach rather than a viable city.” Fairhurst said “simple measures” can make a difference, such as changing opening hours or increasing parking facilities. “There are lots of ways in which we use our cities inefficiently, where with a much more holistic and long-term approach, we could do better,” he said.
Questions:
1. What do you think is the worst possible effect of overcrowding?
2. What is the primary piece of the framework that is being used in this article? Explain.
3. What is the secondary piece of the framework that is being used? Explain.
Article #2 Is it ethical to take a luxury holiday in a ‘developing’ country? Thinking of booking a luxury holiday to a developing country so you can experience the authenticity of a culture untouched by Western influences? And are you hoping to help the underprivileged in the country to “lift them out of poverty” through your tourist spending? It’s worth exploring just how ethical such a trip might be. International tourism numbers have risen year-on-year ever since the 1950s with the consistent increase expected long into the future. In employment terms, more and more people are reliant on the tourism industry.
For example, in 2016, there were 292m people employed in the tourism industry, representing one in ten jobs globally. International governments have long been promoting tourism as a “smoke-free”, “non-polluting” industry with almost unparalleled power to boost national GDP. Both “developed” and “developing” countries fight to win over and attract potential tourists through national tourism campaigns – think Pure New Zealand, Visit Morocco, and “Jamaica: once you go you know”. But is it really all as good as it is made out to be? We know that mass tourism isn’t always a guaranteed bonus for countries and local residents. Take, for example, the Spanish seaside resort of Benidorm, where unrestricted tourism development led to the over-development of the region with little to no gain for the local communities.
In fact, there has been a widespread backlash against mass tourism and its impacts in Spain, with protesters taking to the streets and holidaymakers being attacked. Consequently, niche tourism markets, such as “sustainable”, “ethical” and “luxury” tourism, are a direct response to the often negative impacts of “mass tourism”. After all, as a government or destination manager, why would you want lots of people spending little, when you could have a few people spending lots. Going upmarket Tourists thinking of booking a holiday might see a luxury trip as a way to experience the “crème de la crème” of rest and relaxation, while also paying more for a product that presumably has fewer negative impacts than “cheap-and-dirty” mass tourism. Further, if the luxury holiday is in a “developing” country, you could be excused for thinking that your money will have a positive impact on that country’s ability to “prosper”.
Take, for example, the comprehensive Vision 20-20 document produced by the Moroccan government. It outlines how sustainable tourism is seen as a key part of the country’s future development. But let’s look at the Maldives, a well-established luxury destination. With tourism accounting for approximately 41.5% of national GDP, it seems that the island state is doing well out of the industry. But, as in all societies, such economic benefits are not equally distributed and an over-reliance on tourism receipts results in the demise of traditional industries and an increasing vulnerability to local and global events. Further, a look at those working in the tourism industry in the Maldives reveals that the situation is far from “ethical”. Because the hotels are scattered over numerous islands which have no other facilities, many of those working in the tourism industry in the Maldives have to live away from home for months on end, separated from family and friends. They also often live in conditions far removed from the “luxury” experience of the tourist, work seven-day weeks and often go months without pay. And the Maldives aren’t unique in this – the situation is similar in many developing countries that are engaging with the luxury tourism market.
The environmental cost From an environmental perspective, luxury tourism doesn’t fare particularly well either. Tourism is notoriously problematic for some developing destinations as it diverts often scarce water and energy resources from the host community to the tourist (as they have more money). This process is further accentuated in the luxury tourism sector as luxury tourists generally consume even more than your “average” tourist, intentionally or not. Take the components of your average luxury holiday. There are swimming pools, exclusive islands, private jets, cruises, golf courses and spas – all are energy and water intensive. Plants and green spaces must be kept lush, air conditioning, spas and monsoon showers must be powered. Beaches and other places are made private, with locals prohibited. And in some cases, up to 80% of the economic benefits leave the country. Further, waste is often dispersed within the “poor” local communities. Defining ‘developing’ It’s also worth reflecting on what is meant by “developed” and “developing”. These terms generally are used in relation to economics and GDP. But it might also be useful from an ethical perspective to recognise that those countries branded as “developing” often have more developed relationships with the natural environment, thanks to traditional farming practices and a lack of over consumption.
The same can often be said about community reciprocity and human to human relationships. Consequently, while “ethical tourists” might think that they are helping cultures develop through their tourist expenditure, perhaps we must ask what is the “good life” – and is financial capital really the route to it? Indeed, are we simply engaging in a new form of colonialism by which Western ideologies are being forced upon cultures through the guise of helping them to “develop”. In fact, luxury tourism today is similar to the fashion and fads of previous forms of tourism, such as the Grand Tour of the 18th and 19th centuries, representing little more than a mode of class-based distinction. So while the tourism market is important for many countries, it’s useful to look further into how tourist income might be distributed, whether the destination is managed purely for the benefit of the tourist at the expense of the local, and what the impact of the holiday might be. Ultimately, we must also ask whether on a moral level it is beneficial for people and environments around the world to “develop” to live like those in the West.
Questions:
1. What are the dangers of luxury tourism?
2. What is the primary piece of the framework that is being used in this article? Explain.
3. What is the secondary piece of the framework that is being used? Explain.
Article #3 Travel, Trumped: Some Canadians reconsidering trips to the United States DREW GOUGH Special to The Globe and Mail A call to populate Nova Scotia’s lovely(ish) and empty(ish) Cape Breton Island, a spike in applications to buy $10 lots of land in rural Manitoba, a sudden influx of calls to immigration lawyers in Ottawa fielding questions about the ease of nabbing Canadian citizenship: it’s been a weird week for Canada. But of all of the bizarre signs of American discomfort flowing from Donald Trump’s startling victory in last week’s presidential election, perhaps the starkest was the CBC’s live reporting of a website not working properly for a short time.
As president-elect Trump neared the 270-electoral college threshold required to make him the world’s most powerful human being, the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration website crashed. Bewildered newscasters were left with the tricky task of trying to describe, live on air and to a national audience, how “500 – Internal server error” translated to “more Americans want be Canadians.” Perhaps the starkest sign of the immediate, short-term impact of a Trump presidency came from another website. On Nov. 8, as results were coming in, airfare-compare site Cheapflights.com saw a 133-per-cent increase in people from the U.S. searching for one-way tickets to Canada. Overnight, after the election had been called, one-way searches had increased 1000 per cent, says Emily Fisher, the head of communications for North America from Cheapflights. The message is clear: Americans want out. But do Canadians want in? Has a Trump victory – ushered in as it was on a wave of sexism, racism, and homophobia and a general northward hollering about bad trade deals – already changed the Canadian desire to travel south? Early indications are yes. Fisher says that on Wednesday – the day after the election – searches on Cheapflights for flights from Canada to the U.S. had dropped by 8 per cent. By Thursday, they were down 13 per cent. “There’s a certain cyclical nature to this stuff,” she cautions, adding that it’s very early to make long-term predictions, “but it does seem like there’s a bit of a trend line for Canadian travel to the U.S. softening.” Those findings match a survey conducted late last week by Skift, a travel market research and industry intelligence company based in the United States. Skift’s research director Luke Bujarski told The Globe and Mail that 45 per cent of Canadians said they would now be less likely to visit the United States following Trump’s victory. “The sentiment is unfavourable when it comes to Canadians visiting the U.S. And when we look at it a bit closer, there’s more difference when it comes to gender and age,” Bujarksi explains. Women had a much stronger negative sentiment compared to men, he says. More than half (52 per cent) of Canadian women now said they were less likely to travel to the U.S. now, whereas only 37 per cent of men felt that way. (More than half of the men surveyed said Trump’s victory wouldn’t impact their decision, compared to 42 per cent of women.) Amplified across the entire market, that kind of trend could have significant impact on tourism in the United States. Even with a weakened dollar, Canadians account for the United States’ largest inbound travel market, with 20.7 million visits in 2015 – a 10-per-cent, currency-driven decrease from 2014. When Cheapflights published its report on market trends in May, Canadians were searching for flights to the U.S. more than for flights to all of Europe combined. When ranking searches by affordability, 14 of the top 15 most popular searches from Canada were for U.S. destinations. Bujarksi thinks that might hold true – for now. “For Canadians, the U.S. is a good economic option, but there are alternatives,” he says. “Negative perception could very well impact people’s decision to travel – and that may or may not be a conscious decision, more a sense of underlying negativity.” Henry Harteveldt, who was formerly marketing director for Trump’s airline, Trump Shuttle, and who now runs Atmosphere Research Group and specializes in analyzing U.S. travel trends, sees it as more than underlying negativity. “There’s no question: some of the comments [Trump] made and some of the behaviour that his campaign sustained could create problems for the U.S. from a travel and tourism standpoint,” Harteveldt says. “I’ve heard from a number of people who’ve said that they love America and love their family and friends here, but that they don’t want to come visit America right now. They’re afraid.” Harteveldt notes that the Canadian dollar is likely to have more of an impact on Canadians’ decision to travel in the U.S. in the short term than the campaign slogan of an ugly election, but he worries about the environment the new president’s campaign created and its long-term impact on the U.S. market. Trump’s comments in the lead-up to the election saw the cancellation of contract for new Trump hotels in the Middle East and a falloff in occupancy at Trump hotels, Harteveldt says. He has no difficulty imagining a similar fallout in the travel industry in the United States. “We’ve seen some really unpleasant behaviour in the days since the election – there have been swastikas painted on buildings, and hateful things spray-painted on the buildings or said on college campuses and on the streets,” he explains. “For a foreign visitor who sees this, especially if that person is a member of one of those [targeted] groups, they’re going to say, ‘I’d love to go, but I don’t feel safe now.’ It’s not that they won’t come here because of Trump himself. They won’t come here because there’s an attitude that tolerates that kind of hateful discussion.” Bujarksi and Fisher agree with Harteveldt’s first assessment, that for Canadians cost and ease play a greater role in selecting a leisure travel destination than who’s in charge of the country. “For Canadians, the U.S. is a speedy and affordable place to travel,” says Fisher. “They’re not planning to knock it off their travel list based on the outcome of the election.” She acknowledges that how welcoming the country feels and how some of Trump’s campaign promises play out have the power to sway some travellers, but says that more tangible issues – currency, immigration, border controls – will impact Canadians. “If it becomes more of a hassle and more expensive, then it becomes less of an easy choice to go,” she says.
QUESTIONS:
1. Do you think that the fears that the Americans have are founded (real)? Why or Why not?
2. What is the primary piece of the framework that can be applied here, and how would you apply it?
3. Are there any secondary implications? Explain.
Article #4 Booms as Arctic Melts Gas, oil, and shipping boost economy but add to environmental concerns. Researchers anticipate large increases of Arctic industry and tourism in this century. The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, a report compiled by the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum, says that the number of cruise ships visiting Greenland alone rose from 14 in 2003 to 39 in 2008. “All the vistas, all the sights, all the marine animals, polar bears, polar glaciers — people want to go see that stuff,” says Lawson Brigham, chair of the assessment. “They want to go to the North Pole and say they stood there.” The Arctic is a promising site for business as well as pleasure. A 2008 study by the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that it contains 30% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 13% of its undiscovered oil. Energy companies in Canada, Norway, Russia, and other nations now vie for access. As tourism and industries increase, so might the emissions from ship smokestacks: ozone, carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, and black carbon, among others. The emissions poison animal life, deplete the ozone layer, and taint the snow and ice, reducing their ability to mitigate global warming by reflecting sunlight away from the earth. Arctic animals face additional hazards from human activity, according to Brigham: Fish flee ships’ noise, and marine mammals are wounded by collisions with boat hulls or entanglements in fishing gear. Those animal populations have been a staple food source for the region’s indigenous peoples for millennia. When animals die off, humans will go hungry. Industry can benefit indigenous peoples, however, with bigger supplies of food, more amenities, and new jobs. “The issue is how the indigenous people will share in the wealth of the Arctic,” says Brigham. “There are opportunities, but also challenges.” Visiting tourists and developers face the risks of boating accidents, according to Walt Meier, researcher for the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “If someone gets into trouble, there aren’t any bases there to operate rescue missions from,” he says. “And any kind of oil spill that may need to be cleaned up — there’s no infrastructure there to support that.” The Arctic in general is now threatened by global warming, according to Meier. “If you have a two-degree temperature change, you’ve completely changed the environment from ice to water,” he says. The ice is already melting rapidly: The Arctic had 13.5 million square kilometers of ice in December 1979, but only 12.5 million square kilometers of it in December 2009. By 2050, or even sooner, according to Snow and Ice Center researchers, the Arctic might be ice-free for part of every summer. “The ice is now a lot younger and a lot thinner than it used to be,” says Meier. Brigham concurs and hopes that new treaties and laws in the future will enforce responsible use of the region and its resources.
Questions:
1. Based on what we studied this semester, is this a sustainable approach to tourism?
2. What is the primary piece of the framework that can be applied here, and how would you apply it?
3. Are there any secondary implications? Explain.
Article #5 GLOBAL TOURISM: Bracing up for future challenges World travel and tourism may on the ascendancy presently, churning impressive growth rates in terms of international tourist arrival figures and spends but the future of the sector, which is the world largest employer of labour and fastest growing sector, remains of concern to many. This concern was once again raised at the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit on tourism held in Bangkok, Thailand earlier in the year with players from across the world in attendance. The Bangkok summit focused on the role of travel and tourism in driving sustainable development, asking how the sector can transform the world. With travel and tourism forecast to rise by 4 per cent a year for the foreseeable future, and 1.8 billion international travellers expected by 2030, the sector’s transformative power in terms of economic impact is clear. However, it was noted that the resilience of this growth is dependent on the sector’s ability to recognise and respond to the internal and external challenges it faces. Four external challenges, most critical to the future of the sector were identified. These are: Demographic changes: A Professor of Globalisation and Development at the University of Oxford, Ian Goldin, identified three megatrends which will shape the future of the sector. The first, according to him, is the rapid decline in fertility, which means mean that while the world population will stabilise in terms of numbers, it will be increasingly old. Secondly, the workforce is changing dramatically, driven in large part by immigration. And finally, the growth of emerging markets which continues to be much faster than older, developed, markets. Technology: The challenges and opportunities of technological developments are extensive, but Goldin focused on the moral and ethical impact of some of these advancements. While the Chief Executive Officer of Agoda, Rob Rosenstein, questioned the preparedness of the sector for the massive changes in distribution that technology will bring. Climate Change: This also top the agenda, with Goldin emphasising on the fact that there is yet is no system in place to address the problems of climate change, while the Managing Partner and CEO of The B Team, Keith Tuffley, highlighted that not acting on climate change will cost $44 trillion by 2060. Changing structures of work: Automation, freelance working, and the sharing economy are all impacting how peoap l e work and are employed. April Rinne summed it up with an anecdote from Robin Chase, co-founder of Zipcar, “My father worked in one job all his life, I will work in five, my child will work five at a time”. As a sector which directly employs 292 million people, travel and tourism will be at the coal face when it comes to providing quality jobs, flexible work, and defining new relationships with employees. Besides these challenges, it was also noted that some of the greatest challenges to sector come from its own success and growth. Speakers identified a number of ways the sector could prepare for the ‘1.8 billion.’ These include: Understand the demographics of this growth: The continued growth of the Chinese outbound market continues to represent a challenge when looking towards the future. However, the Managing Director of Shun Tak Holdings Limited, Pansy Ho, suggested that the sector has not yet begun to anticipate the full extent of this. The CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, also shared this view, reminding the audience that only a small percentage of Chinese and Indians have travelled abroad so far, and that as the rest of the population starts doing so it will change the global market. Harness technology for safe and secure travel facilitation: Ensuring secure travel is a key concern of the sector, as it always has been. However, processing an ever increasing number of travellers safely and securely, in a way which does not impinge too heavily on their time or convenience, is also a key challenge for the future. The concept of ‘digital borders’ was discussed, with the Tourism Secretary of Kenya, Said Athman, suggesting that a ‘global visa’ is not beyond the realms of possibility as the data and political will is there. The Regional Specialised Officer with INTERPOL, Hyuk Lee, raised the opportunity of biometrics but suggested that agencies such as his did not know how to share information with the private sector. While the Senior Vice President, Global Merchant Development, Mastercard, Catharina Eklof, highlighted the importance of secure digital identity as a foundation for such a move. Invest in infrastructure: Investment in infrastructure was a key theme, particularly when looking at the ASEAN perspective. The Minister of Tourism from Indonesia, Arief Yahya, highlighted the importance of foreign investment in the region, since government funding can only cover part of the investment that is required. In the case of Indonesia about 30% of the total requirement. This investment is needed across the board, not least in transportation. Talking from an aviation perspective, Regional Director of the Asia & Pacific Office of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Arun Mishra, emphasised specific concerns about infrastructure constraints, which he described as a main stumbling block for development in the region. Many airports are saturated and need a new runway ‘yesterday.’ The problem reaches up into the skies themselves, with air navigation congested and urgent needs for new technology and navigation systems. Address overcrowding in hotspot tourist destinations: One of the greatest challenges facing destinations, as emphasised by the President of Carnival Cruises, Christine Duffy, is that it is in everyone’s interest to address overcrowding as companies will not want to go to places where they will not have a good experience. Global Managing Director for Oceans at The Nature Conservancy, Maria Damanaki, and Deputy Regional Director, International Union for Conservation of Nature, TP Singh, highlighted the importance of impact on biodiversity and the environment, which is also critical to the customer experience. Identifying ‘carrying capacity’ emerged as a potential solution which would allow both policy makers and industry to be on the same page. But as Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, queried, “how is carrying capacity measured and implemented?” Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, Alex Dichter, emphasised that ultimately this is a solvable problem of management, as there is enough space for everyone, it’s a matter of when and where they travel. It is an issue that needs to be addressed, and travel and tourism should be encouraged to take the initiative, considering that, unlike other problems, the sector has enormous power to do something about this one. Despite the myriad of challenges facing the sector, there was optimism that they could be overcome. As Keith Tuffley pointed out – there is no sector better placed to inspire people, and contribute the new thinking and innovation that is required.
Questions:
1. What do you think are the future trends of global tourism?
2. What is the primary piece of the framework that is being used in this article? Explain.
3. What is the secondary piece of the framework that is being used? Explain.
Article #6 Labor shortage challenges Maine ski resorts to be creative as season opens Sunday River ski resort is ready for the season – it has eight trails open and nights that are cold enough to make snow in time for the busy December holidays. The only thing it doesn’t have is a full complement of seasonal employees. It is advertising for more than 160 positions. “We definitely have a huge chunk of team members we have to hire right now,” said Sunday River Human Resources Director Amanda Gallant. Maine’s ski areas, which depend on thousands of seasonal workers every year, are grappling with the most challenging labor market in recent memory and trying creative options to fill empty positions. Every year, Maine’s ski industry more than triples its workforce in only a few months, hiring armies of snowmakers, lift attendants and front office representatives, as well as servers, cooks, housekeepers and retail salespeople.
In the winter, the Sunday River and Sugarloaf ski resorts become the biggest employers in rural Oxford and Franklin counties, respectively. Collectively, Maine’s ski resorts added $300 million to the Maine economy, according to a 2015 Maine Development Foundation tourism report. But as Maine’s labor market has tightened, ski resorts have found it harder to fill positions. Maine’s statewide unemployment rate has hovered around 4 percent for two straight years, the second-longest sustained period in 40 years.
In Franklin and Oxford counties, the center of Maine’s alpine ski industry, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent and 3.8 percent in September, both down several points from the same time last year. “I think just in general, where the economy is, hiring people is more challenging across the board,” said Ethan Austin, Sugarloaf’s director of marketing. Sugarloaf goes from about 300 workers during the summer to more than 1,000 at the height of the season, a steep hiring target.
This year finding enough snowmakers and employees for food and beverage, retail and guest services has been tougher than usual, Austin said. The resort has tried to be creative, by reaching out on social media and actively recruiting, he said. “I would say it is noticeably more challenging this year, but it is nothing we are concerned with from an operational standpoint,” he said. In the first three months of 2017, Maine’s 17 ski facilities employed 2,213 people, with total wages of $10.8 million, more than three times the 722 employed by the industry in summer 2016, according to Maine Department of Labor data. The average weekly wage at a ski facility in the first quarter of 2017 was $377, according to the department.
As one of the state’s most important winter tourist draws, Maine’s ski industry seems to be running into the same labor shortage problems that seaside resorts regularly experience during the summer. “Labor continues to be very tight. I do know that several areas last year never really hit 100 percent employment,” said Greg Sweetser, executive director of Ski Maine, the industry trade association. “There were always job postings at the major ski areas all season long.” Simply setting up a table at a few job fairs to find seasonal workers doesn’t seem to work anymore, Sweetser said. Employers have to get creative in how they hire and convince key employees to come back. “One thing the tight labor market has done is I think employers appreciate their good staff that much more,” Sweetser said. “They are taking steps to make sure they are coming back for the next season.” Sunday River, the third-largest ski resort in New England, is trying new hiring techniques this season to hire the up to 1,500 workers it needs. For the first time, the resort is offering $300 bonuses to employees who successfully refer friends and relatives for jobs as cooks, snowmakers and housekeepers. Other employees can get $100 to refer someone for their department, said Gallant, the human resources director. “The best ambassadors for the resort are our current team members,” she said. Sunday River is currently advertising 100 open lift operator positions, and 60 openings on its snowmaking team and dozens of cooks, wait staff and dishwashers. The resort has not increased its wages, but it offers a free lift pass and retail discounts, Gallant said.
If lift operators work on two-person shifts, they make minimum wage but also get the opportunity to ski or snowboard part of the day, she said. If operators choose to work alone, they get paid $2 more an hour, but don’t get the opportunity to ski during their shift, Gallant said. Sunday River is also trying a cross-referral program with coastal hotels and restaurants. This fall, the company met with a group of businesses in Maine and Massachusetts and asked them to refer employees looking for winter seasonal work, Gallant said. So far, it has confirmed about six employees and leased out about 30 units of housing to accommodate more people if they want to come and work for the winter. If the program succeeds, Sunday River could refer employees back to summer seasonal businesses when the season is over, Gallant said. “Our goal is to get people a reliable job so they want to come back year after year,” she said.
Questions:
1. Is the fact that the jobs are seasonal an issue? Explain
2. What is the primary piece of the framework that is being used in this article? Explain.
3. What is the secondary piece of the framework that is being used? Explain. Please do the assignment with the help of this frame work Framework for HATM 3509 1. Government and Politics What is the role for government?
1. Planning and Facilitating, including provision of financial and other aid, including:
a. Government control over entry
b. Taxation Policy
c. Facilitating Training
d. Understanding their respective roles of levels of government
e. Financial Aid f. Social Tourism
2. Supervision and Control – of the component sectors of the tourism industry
3. Indirect ownership and operation of components of the industry, including:
a. Planning and Control (Licensing, Pricing, Product Research)
b. Marketing (Research, Develop Campaign, Distribute)
c. Financial (indirect role)l
d. Coordinate
4. In the promotion of the nation and its tourist products to home and overseas markets.
5. In supporting key interest in times of crisis. What can government do to facilitate tourism growth?
a. Planning – Taking a strategic role
b. Legislation and Regulation
c. Government as an Entrepreneur
2. Economic Impacts What are the factors that lead to growth in travel?
a) Countries with higher GDP are more likely to travel
b) Developing nations are developing a middle class and are now more likely to travel.
Cheap Price Low Cost per Tourist High Demand High Load Factor International Tourism Industry exists of:
1. Import/Export of Goods
2. Service Export/Import
3. Investment We need economic data to: -Forecast what will happen and will allow government to create appropriate infrastructure to support economic growth and avoid capacity issues.
Terminology: Direct income – The money received by the destination Indirect income – The money spent by suppliers to obtain the goods and services Induced Income – The money spent by those who work in the tourism industry Characteristics of the International Tourism Industry:
1) Vulnerable to external events
2) Location Bound 3) Constrained by Seasonal Demand 4) Product Intangibility 5) Product Perishability
3. Sociocultural – Stress related to Tourism Development:
Stage 1 – Euphoria - Visitors welcome, little formal development
Stage 2 – Apathy – Visitors are taken for granted, contact is not quality
Stage 3 – Irritation – Locals concerned about tourists; efforts are made to improve infrastructure
Stage 4 – Antagonism – Open Hostility Other factors should be considered.
Effects: 1) Criminal Activities 2) Demonstration Effect 3) Changes in Employment 4) Impact on Second Home Ownership 5) Exploiting local culture 6) Health Issues – Skin, Dietary, Disease
Stage 4. Environmental Effects:
1) Transport Pollution – Noise and Air
2) Destination Pollution – Construction, Visual, Noise
3) Congestion, Erosion, damage to flora and fauna
Stage 5. Human Resources Items to consider:
a) It is difficult to define the typical travel, tourism, and hospitality organization.
b) Tourism organizations also vary greatly across national boundaries.
c) Tourism organizations also operate within a highly volatile demand environment Characteristics of Tourism (that effect HR):
1. Most Tourism Services cannot be inventoried
2. Tourism services are intangible
3. Tourism services are time dependant
4. Tourism Services are place dependant
5. Tourism services cannot be quality controlled at the gate
6. Marketing is everyone’s responsibility
7. Humans make interactions uncertain and unpredictable Issues:
1) The human Interaction
2) The Skills Shortage
3) Education and Training
4) Recruitment, Retention and Turnover
5) Quality through Human Resources
6. Ethical Management (You can bring your copy of the Global Code of Ethics to the Exam) http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/docpdf/gcetbrochureglobalcodeen.pdf
7. Crisis Management Steps:
1. Pre-Event Planning a. Development of a crisis management plan(To be reviewed regularly) b. Establish crisis mgmt. team/team leader c. Set Up Communication Channels with appropriate agencies, organizations d. Identification/anticipation of potential crises e. Production/distribution of crisis mgmt. handbook
2. Crisis Detection a. Mobilise protection/evacuation plans (eg – When a hurricane is forecast) b. Issue warnings to tourists/tour companies etc, not to travel to the destination c. Activate crisis mgmt. team
3. Emergency a. Establish a communication Centre b. Activate rescue/evacuation procedures c. Provide emergency accommodation/food, etc. d. Ensure provision of health/medical services
4. Containment a. Damage audit/initial repair b. Communication Strategy i. Accurate/authoritative/regular press statements ii. Objective analysis of situation iii. Transparency/full disclosure iv. Emphasise positive points v. Background information: crisis in a national/regional context vi. Liaise with embassies, etc, to ensure appropriate travel advisories
5. Post Event (recovery) a. Investment in new facilities/infrastructure where relevant b. Rebuild image of and confidence in destination i. Appropriate marketing strategy ii. Investment in targeted promotion iii. Media information to stress safety of destination
8. Trends in Tourism http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfair/15-024-res-webinar-tourism-2020-high-res-opt http://www.slideshare.net/creativelodgingsolutions/2015-travel-trends