Migrant networks, language learning and tourism employment

This paper examines the relationship between migrants’ social networks, the processes of language acquisition and tourism employment. Data collected using netnography and interviews are used to identify the strategies that Polish workers in the UK use to develop their language skills. The paper highlights the roles played by co-workers, co-nationals and customers in migrants’ language learning, both in the physical spaces of work and the virtual spaces of internet forums. It also shows how migrant workers exchange knowledge about the use of English during different stages of their migration careers: prior to leaving their country of origin and getting a job, during their employment and after leaving their job. Implications for academic inquiry and human resource management practice are outlined.     

Humanising migrant women’s work

Female migrants make an important contribution to the global tourism industry yet their employment experiences and histories are poorly understood. This paper draws on a phenomenological position to explore the life-world and ten-year employment trajectory of one highly skilled Polish immigrant to the UK as told through her own voice and artwork. It challenges prevailing de-personalised and gender-blind accounts of tourism migrant workers, and demonstrates the methodological potential of one-voice research to humanise the female migrant experience, document long-term employment trajectories and foreground complex working lives. The paper provides nuanced understanding of intersectional gendered and ethnic marginalisation in the labour market and explores the ways in which employment creates spaces for both oppression and self-determination for precarious workers.     

Dramaturgical performances and work-leisure dynamics in rural-to-urban domestic migrations

Situated against the backdrop of the dramatic socio-economic transformation of the Chinese society that propelled mass rural-to-urban migrations, this study focused on a group of female migrant workers who worked in the city as paid live-in-caregivers. The research explored how their work and leisure lives were related to their self-perceptions, self-expressions and social interactions. A total of 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with female migrant workers who had moved from rural areas of China to the capital city of Beijing and worked as home caregivers were conducted. By adopting Goffman’s front stage and back stage model and bridging the literature in the fields of migration, caregiving, and leisure, the study examined the experiences and personal meanings of being a migrant caregiver and the strategies and practices migrant caregivers used to present and assert themselves in the everyday life of migration.     

THE POTENTIAL OF ARTS-BASED TRANSFORMATIVE RESEARCH

This paper contributes to tourism’s conceptual, methodological and ethical debates by discussing the potential offered by arts-based participatory approaches to enrich tourism knowledge and promote co-transformation at a number of levels. To demonstrate the value of this approach, we discuss how a group of Central and Eastern European (CEE) migrant women engaged with a research project and created artworks to represent their trajectories, mobilities, identities and tourism employment experiences. We outline the benefits and limitations of the methodology and explore how it impacts on: participant involvement and empowerment; voices, self-representation and public engagement; participant, researcher and community (co)transformation; data ownership and anonymity.     

Migrant workers: Challenges and opportunities in addressing tourism labour shortages

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates the number of migrant workers at 105 million worldwide, and their share within the tourism industry, particularly the hotel and restaurant (HoReCa) sector, is growing rapidly. The focus of this paper is migration in OECD member countries, specifically on official government positions with respect to the integration of migrant workers into the host society. Most countries recognise that the structural challenges and seasonal fluctuations in tourism will continue to encourage operators to resort to cheaper migrant workers, particularly for entry level positions, both legally and illegally. Until now, most OECD member countries have largely ignored the challenges and (ab)use within the industry concerning migrant workers, but will not be able to continue to do so for much longer. It is urgent that countries improve their ability to measure migration patterns by country of origin to determine training needs and other assistance required and engage employers appropriately.     

被忽视的真实力量:旅游非正规就业及其拉动效应

文章以我国经济结构调整为背景,指出当GDP增长率降低到8%以下时我国面临着很大的就业压力。通过文献的梳理,文章说明了在此期间,发展旅游业是解决结构性失业最有效的途径之一。但是,目前的大部分研究都只是把注意力放在了旅游正规部门的就业及其拉动效应上,而忽视了旅游非正规部门的就业。文章详细回顾了国内学者对旅游就业乘数的估算以及他们的结果与WTTC(世界旅行和旅游理事会)之间的差别,回答了这些差别产生的原因,指出WTTC低估了2001年之后的旅游就业效应。在上述基础上,文章利用差值法计算了旅游非正规就业的总量及其结构拉动效应。研究发现,从非正规就业的部门结构角度看,旅游就业的拉动效应远远高于WTTC和国内学者此前计算的间接就业效应;在2011年,它吸纳了2040.40万人在该行业工作,乘数效应达到9.98。因此,在结构调整时期,政府部门应该更加重视旅游非正规部门对就业的功能性作用。     

Tourism communities and social ties: the role of online and offline tourist social networks in building social capital and sustainable practice

Mobile connectivity enables the adoption of new ways to connect with social networks which are changing how we might, and could, seek support. In the tourism domain we increasingly blend online and offline presence to engage with social networks in the spatial location, at a distance and across time. This paper explores the forms of community that exist in physical tourism contexts, contexts not previously analysed through a community lens, and explores how mobile technology is creating connections within and beyond existing social networks. It examines how sustainable tourism can be enhanced by mobile connectivity through new space–time practices and using ephemeral interpersonal relationships to harness niche groups to create bottom-up social systems interested in sharing experiences, ideas and resources. Special attention is given to the concept of gelling socialities which proposes a less ridged network structure, and to the need to understand the increasingly liquid social dynamics of mobile social interactions. The paper adds to the theories surrounding community, social ties and tourism's value to society. It draws on data from in-depth interviews undertaken while designing and testing a collaborative travel app. It contributes to growing research into the new technologies increasingly available for sustainable tourism marketing and implementation.     

Racialised boundaries in tourism and travel: a case study of the UK black Caribbean community

Studies of tourism motivation and behaviour have not accounted significantly for the aspirations and experiences of ethnic minority groups living in metropolitan societies. This conceptual paper presents a case study of the UK black Caribbean community and seeks to indicate ways in which members of this community perceive places, spaces and destinations in Europe. Attention is directed to how black people’s perceptions and experiences are influenced and structured by the social conditions of racialism and racism. The discussion considers how the incursive nature of the white gaze, and popular representations and stereotypes of black societies and cultures, contribute to black people’s disengagement from ‘tourism experiences’. Racialised experiences and encounters call into question an individual’s right to adopt a tourist identity. As the discussion partly focuses on ways in which black visitors perceive ‘white others’, the work strongly implies that there is a fundamental need to remove the ‘white gaze’ as the only or dominant way to observe and make sense of the world. Given that this paper contributes to an understanding of how race relations are reproduced within tourism environments, it concludes with suggestions as to how future studies of ethnic minority tourism and travel might be conducted.     

强关系网络移动社交平台旅游分享行为研究——基于微信与QQ用户的资料分析

在移动社交媒体时代,旅游分享已成为当下旅游者的行为偏好,越来越多的旅游者选择微信、QQ这类强关系移动社交平台进行分享。国内学界对移动社交平台旅游分享行为的研究随之日增,但少有文章从理论上系统地揭示旅游分享行为的过程与动因。文章采用扎根理论研究方法,构建反映强关系网络移动社交平台的旅游分享动态过程理论模型。将旅游分享行为动态过程划分为分享前因、分享实现与分享结果3个阶段,总结每个阶段的行为特征、表现方式及阶段之间的演替规律,并探讨这类旅游分享行为的特点与动因。研究发现,在旅游分享动机上,强关系移动社交平台强调情感联结与互动,从而旅游者受到与个体相关动机的影响更为显著;分享内容上,平台的强关系特性与熟人社交促使旅游者尽量避免分享负面信息;分享结果上,强关系移动社交平台的旅游分享能调节旅游者行中、行后的体验水平,并形成兼具网络时空拓展性与熟人圈规模局限性的口碑传播。     

Employment experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector

The research explores the experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector. It reports quantitative and qualitative empirical data on the migrants’ reasons for entering the hospitality workforce and their subsequent employment experiences. The findings reveal the main motive for entering employment in hospitality is for self development as migrants wish to use and learn foreign languages, gain work experience and receive other benefits that the sector provides. These self development opportunities are viewed as a means to improve career prospects in the UK or upon return to Poland. Once in the sector, positive experiences associated with hospitality employment include opportunities to meet people and work in a lively environment. Negative aspects relate to working conditions, low pay, physically demanding jobs, discrimination and management behaviour. The research suggests that certain practices and working conditions in the sector pose an obstacle to the long-term commitment of migrant workers. Suggestions for the management of migrant human resources are outlined.     

Migrant labor in hospitality: The Cyprus experience

The hospitality industry depends to a great extent on migrant employees for its day-to-day operations. Cyprus’ accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004 saw an influx of migrant employees, mainly from ‘New Europe’, a development which posed and continues to pose, numerous organizational challenges. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the study set out to investigate migrants’ employment experiences in Cyprus, via the views of three different groups of employees; managers, local and migrant employees. Findings, can inform both industry stakeholders and academic scholars, while enhancing our collective knowledge regarding migrants’ contributions to the industry, ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors of migrant employment, their intercultural relationships with the host population, and the impacts that migrant employment can have on the service delivery process.     

大型主题公园发展与城市居民就业——对华侨城主题公园就业分配的考察

传统城市旅游就业研究侧重总体效应评估,忽略了具体的就业分配,也缺乏对就业者生活境况的实际考察,这正是旅游就业研究的"断层"。文章通过对华侨城主题公园这一典型城市大型旅游项目的探索性案例研究,围绕城市大型旅游项目开发能否为本地居民创造就业,改善就业者生活境况展开讨论。文章首先指出,中国城市大型主题公园与欧美主题公园在就业分配及就业者生活境况方面存在较大差异,欧美国家的研究结论并不能直接借鉴到中国。案例研究的结果表明:第一,主题公园这类城市大型旅游项目所创造的就业具有结构性(包括正规部门就业和非正规部门就业),不可等同视之;第二,这类具有结构性就业的分配呈现明显的"外向型"特征,主要面向外来务工者。在没有其他干预的情况下,这类旅游项目开发所带来的就业将主要面向外来务工者;第三,就业者的实际生活质量并不乐观,旅游就业在改善就业者生活质量的积极效果不宜夸大。该研究为反思传统城市旅游就业评估提供了新思路和新证据。     

Spanish tourism migrants : The case of Lloret de Mar

This paper details experiences of Spanish tourism migrants in a Costa Brava resort, Lloret de Mar. Employment in these resorts is largely seasonal, “unskilled” with long hours and low pay. Much of the labor force consists of women from rural areas where stable employment is scarce, and for whom migration can bring some improvement in their position in the household and the labor market. Migrants can redefine gender roles and reassess their class position, including attitudes toward unions. However, their immediate employers often operate on low profit margins, and as seasonal workers, tourism migrants are especially vulnerable to down-turns in the industry as well as to pressure from high national unemployment. These influences have hindered union organization. Tourism migration can bring temporary improvement for individual migrants, but has represented no more than a half-way house. It reflects lack of rural development, while providing no solution.     

The extension of the theory of person-organization fit toward hospitality migrant worker

The hospitality and tourism industry is suffering from a labor shortage, and migrant workers are supplying a large portion of labor in the contemporary economic market. This study extends the theory of person-organization fit in the context of hospitality migrant workers. This study also examines the effect of person-organization fit on migrant workers’ turnover intentions via job satisfaction and work adjustment. The results reveal that all three levels of fit, person-supervisor, person-group, and person-job, have a significant influence on work adjustment and job satisfaction, which in turn influence migrant employees’ turnover intentions. Among the three types of fit, person-group fit was the only one to have a direct effect on predicting turnover intentions. The findings imply that HR managers should make good hiring decisions for migrant employees based on the perceived three levels of fit between the applicant and the organization.     

Coaches’ migration: a qualitative analysis of recruitment,motivations and experiences

This study examines sport coaches’ perceptions about their experiences abroad. Coaches are part of a diverse new set of mobilities occurring in the sport labour market. However, few authors explored the individual cases of coaches’ migration. Here, we examine coaches’ recruitment process, motivations to migrate and their experiences abroad. Participants were five migrant coaches chosen through purposive sampling to achieve a pool of deep and rich data regarding the research topic. Data was collected using semi-structured interview questionnaires. For the exploration and analysis of the qualitative data, we used MAXQDA 11 software package. The results showed that all coaches migrated through an informal mechanism of recruitment which relied on their networks. Their discourse suggested they fit three types of migration referred in the literature: ambitionist, cosmopolitan and pioneer. Their experiences abroad were mainly related to their professional career and adaptation. All coaches reported that their experience was positive and they recommend that other coaches migrate as well. These results are important for the understanding of sport migration not least because coaches are at the core of the migration process of various stakeholders.     

My life matters here: Assessing the adjusted identity of domestic migrant workers at intangible cultural heritage tourism businesses in China

In this study, we explore and assess the nature of the double guests and host roles of tourism migrant workers (TMWs), and their effects on the TWSs' adjusted person-place relationships and local identities by employing a systematic modeling approach in the context of the TMWs working in the intangible cultural tourism (ICH) businesses. The research site is fittingly set in Suzhou of east China, a destination whose rich historical and cultural heritages are now co-expressed and co-presented by a migrant workforce that has already outsized the locals. Research findings have shown that the socio-cultural adjustments availed by working in the ICH tourism businesses positively influence the local identities of TMWs, as mediated by their place attachment. This study advances a theoretical understanding of the mechanism of migrant integration in the particular context of cultural tourism development, and shows how tourism can contribute towards healthy, rather than stigmatizing, dialogues pertaining to migrant integration in the society at large.     

Stakeholder stories: Exploring social tourism networks

Social tourism networks are uniquely diverse, as they include beneficiaries who are usually excluded from tourism participation. They often rely on collaborations with social organisations outside of tourism. This paper discusses the ‘Large Scale Listening’ project conducted by the Holiday Participation Centre, the social tourism division of Tourism Flanders (Belgium). In the project, 1004 micro-narratives were collected. After narrators told their stories, they were presented with a list of follow-up questions that allowed them to tag and code their own stories, enabling them to directly influence how their stories were interpreted. The findings of the study highlight a joint commitment to social tourism, but differences in perspectives between different stakeholder groups in terms of the travel participation enablers and inhibitors.     

“Us” and the “others”: Ethnic minorities in greece

Research findings concerning two ethnic minority groups in Greece focus on employment experiences of Albanian migrant workers and the type of tourist who chooses to “go native” in this host society. It is argued that although both these groups are found in low-paid occupations, the Western “tourist-worker” is treated more favorably by the host country than the Albanians. The latter not only experience exploitation and discrimination in employment but are scapegoated in various games played in the political arena. The paper shows Albanians trapped in conditions of inferiority, immobility and ultra-exploitation, as substantiated by ethnographic data collected during fieldwork in two Greek cities.     

Identifying ecological sustainability assessment factors for ecotourism and trophy hunting operations on private rangeland in Namibia

This paper reports on long-term research conducted in Lombok, Indonesia into the social and socio-economic outcomes of tourism development within a heterogeneous community of migrant settlers and native residents. It explores the outcomes of international development agency work in the area. It explains how while most of the case study's tourism attractions are part of the indigenous heritage of the wetu telu Sasak, they derive few economic benefits from that heritage. Local women in particular struggle to access the new development opportunities that tourism offers. Benefits tend to flow to incoming migrant groups and to men. The prevailing conditions of culture, education, ethnicity, gender, politics, history, location, mobility, socio-economy, tourism skills and knowledge constitute key barriers. Further constraints, often overlooked, result from an “institutional culture” within aid projects that promotes business ahead of social development.     

Sustaining Tourism Employment

This paper addresses some of the problems that arise out of the special characteristics history and circumstances have given to employment in the tourism sector. Impetus for the paper was provided by field work conducted in Sri Lanka and the Cook Islands as part of a Tourism Master Planning Consultancy, and my own experiences as a working chef during two periods in London. The findings provide a suitable stage for examining the perceived wisdom surrounding the nature of tourism employment. In particular, we emphasise that while tourism jobs provide value-added for both employer and holidaymaker through so-called ‘people skills’, these important skills seem not to be counted when remunerating employees. The role of expatriates in training is looked at, as is the role of government. We conclude with some concrete ideas about ways in which quality of experience at the workplace can be added for tourism employees. Without this, the long-term sustainability of this ‘people industry’ will be vulnerable.