Tourism and hospitality internships: influences on student career aspirations

Research shows that students will often change their career choices relating to the tourism and hospitality industries following work experiences. This qualitative study investigates how participation in one specific type of work experience, an internship, impacts on student participants' career choices and goals. While most respondents did indeed change their career aspirations following the internship, these changes reflected a shift within the industry rather than a shift against entering the industry. Many participants indicated they had switched their goals away from pursuing a career in hospitality in favour for developing a career in tourism, while the reverse was not apparent.     

A comparative study of hospitality and tourism graduates in Australia and Hong Kong

This paper evaluates the career experiences and perceptions of graduates from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia towards the programmes that they undertook. The two cohorts of graduates exhibited broadly similar career histories and expressed similar attitudes towards the quality, strengths and weaknesses of their respective programmes. In both cases, female students dominate the graduate cohort and about half of the respondents were found to have left the tourism or hospitality field within 3–5 years after graduation. Graduates believe that their general business and general education subjects play a stronger role in acquiring their first and current jobs than specialist tourism, hotel management and food service subjects. The findings highlight the challenge facing the university sector in attempting to balance the desire to provide a broadly grounded liberal education with the student desire for practical training. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Career and collaboration patterns in tourism research

Research collaboration has become an important characteristic of contemporary academia and is of prime importance for the academic career opportunities of young scholars. For the purposes of this study research collaboration is a formal manifestation of intellectual collaboration in scientific research and involves the participation of two or more authors in the production of a joint publication. The paper reports the findings of a quantitative online survey sent to tourism scholars to explore their career and collaboration patterns in co-authored publications in tourism research. The results indicate that there are divergent perspectives on research collaboration and that collaboration characteristics change as scholars progress through their careers. The paper proposes a research career lifecycle to explain the patterns in tourism research collaboration.     

Tourism in Trinidad and Tobago: carving a niche in a petroleum‐based economy

Trinidad and Tobago lies within one of the world's most tourism‐intensive regions, the Caribbean. Yet, unlike its neighbours, it has not relied heavily on income from travel and tourism since its economy is dominated by the energy sector. The energy sector is the mainstay of the economy contributing approximately 34.1% to the country's GDP, 85.5% to merchandise exports and 37.1% to Government revenues in 2004 (Ministry of Energy, 2006). The Government, in its aim for developed nation status by 2020, recognizes that the energy sector is unable to provide the sustainable jobs needed to achieve this. Thus, the Government's policy strategy, Vision 2020, identifies tourism as one of five (5) sectors that should be developed to contribute to the country's economic development. The tourism industry currently represents 13.8% of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Trinidad and Tobago and is expected to increase its share by nearly three percentage points to 16.5% by 2015. It accounts for 16.7% of total employment, and this is forecasted to rise to 19.2% (WTTC, 2005). Several challenges are evident, that continue to limit the industry's full potential for growth in the country. It is against this background that this paper seeks to identify and analyse the strategies that can be adopted to maximize the contribution of the hospitality and tourism industry to economic development in Trinidad and Tobago. The three main strategies proposed are a greater focus on local entrepreneurship; the re‐orientation of the role of the local financial mechanisms in tourism development and; the development of competitive tourism investment incentives for potential investors in the hospitality and tourism industry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unintended trajectories: liberalization and the geographies of private business flight

The global commercial aviation industry has undergone significant regulatory reform during the last 30 years. This paper explores something of the relationship between air transport liberalization and the growth of private business aviation and suggests that the sector’s development is largely an unintended consequence of the increasingly deregulated operating environment in that it has developed to overcome some of liberalization’s negative impacts, including delays, congestion, and perceptions of poor customer service. We argue that liberalization has created innovative market opportunities for private business aviation and illustrate how the sector’s operating models are facilitating new, as yet largely undocumented, forms of aerial mobility. The paper examines: the advantages of private business aviation over scheduled services; business strategies in the sector, especially the idea of fractional jets; the impact of new technologies, particularly the Very Light Jet (VLJ); and, finally, employs Europe as an example of the spatialities of private business aviation.     

The Role of the Tourism Industry in Transforming a Rentier to a Long-Term Viable Economy: The Case of Bahrain

During the past four decades, the tourism industry has emerged as one of the leading industries worldwide. In the Arab countries, however, despite its huge potential, the tourism industry is still in its infancy phase. With the exception of only a few countries, until recently most of the Arab countries almost ignored the economic potential of tourism. Since the 1990s, their traditional attitude of neglect toward the tourism industry has undergone a transformation, a fact that was not lost by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Thus, since the mid-1990s, all of the GCC countries, without exception, have been trying to promote their tourism sector, which soon became a prominent economic sector. The paper concentrates on one tourism development case – that of Bahrain – the least ‘rentier’ within the GCC oil-economies. The main research question addressed by this paper is to what extent Bahrain has introduced a cohesive and economically viable tourism industry that contributes to a more sustainable economy of this country. This exploratory paper examines Bahrain's motivation to promote tourism; its tourism comparative advantage; the major difficulties facing Bahrain's further tourism expansion; and the overall role of the tourism industry in the Bahraini economy.     

Concentration,productivity and profitability in the Italian commercial accommodation sector

This study avails itself of the Aida data bank from which were taken the accounting data for the 2,518 limited companies active in the Italian accommodation sector in the years 2000–2006. The research aims at describing the structural characteristics and the competitive advantages of the Italian accommodation sector. The Italian position as leader would seem to be threatened by the entry into the market place of new‐comer countries. Understanding the sector's industrial organisation would appear to be a particularly important step towards the implementation of an effective policy for the industry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scottish visitor attractions: a collaborative future?

Although interorganisational collaboration is increasingly being accepted as a necessary, even desirable strategy for the tourism industry as a whole, there would appear to be a number of impediments to the implementation of collaborative initiatives among operators of visitor attractions. This paper focuses on the visitor attractions sector in Scotland, where such impediments are considered to be particularly serious. For a number of reasons, however, collaboration may represent a crucial strategy for visitor attractions in Scotland as they enter the new millennium. This paper sets out to assess the potential for intrasectoral, interorganisational collaborative strategies in enhancing the long‐term viability of the Scottish visitor attractions sector. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrated beach resorts,informal tourism commerce and the 2004 tsunami: Laguna Phuket in Thailand

Issues of importance related to informal tourism commerce are explored in this paper with particular reference to the case of Laguna Phuket, an integrated beach resort in Thailand. The extent and nature of informal trade at the destination is analysed before and after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, based upon data collected during fieldwork. The sector is shown to display distinctive qualities, including resilience in the face of a natural disaster, and to have a role in purpose‐built as well as conventional resorts. Its relationship with the formal tourism industry is also discussed and this emerges as close, yet with potential for both conflict and cooperation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wellness Tourism in China: Resources,Development and Marketing

China's natural and cultural resources are the foremost offerings of the country's wellness tourism sector. Although wellness tourism in China is in its infancy, it can offer new opportunities in, and strengthen the overall competitiveness of, China's tourism industry. To achieve this, the assessment and development of wellness tourism resources in China are required. This study examines the potential for wellness tourism development in terms of resources and promotion from the point of view of wellness tourism experts. It surveys professionals working in tourism, health and education in China. The results reveal that environmental assets, including fresh air, clean water and natural features, are considered the most important attributes for the development of wellness tourism in China and that the promotion of wellness tourism can best be achieved through advertising in mass media, governmental support and organizing new regional events. The study implications and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate change adaptation in the Pacific Island tourism sector: analysing the policy environment in Vanuatu

Tourism is a growing economic sector in the South Pacific providing the region with great potential for economic development. Vanuatu and its neighbouring Small Island Developing States and Territories experience a high vulnerability to climate change impacts. The tourism sector in Vanuatu is particularly vulnerable, and it needs to develop and implement effective adaptation strategies to reduce climate change risks. Policies play an important role by providing the platform on which adaptation can occur and resilience be built. This study examines the policy environment in Vanuatu for its conduciveness to climate change adaptation. It identifies the types of adaptation processes (explicit or implicit) and types of adaptation measures (technical, business management, behavioural, policy, and research and education) and critically analyses the current tourism-related policies for their effectiveness in assisting the sector to address climate change. It is found that the majority of policies identified deal with climate change through implicit adaptation processes and mainly through the use of policy and research and education measures. The authors argue that in order to strengthen the resilience of the tourism industry, the Government of Vanuatu needs to develop and implement explicit climate change adaptation policies for the tourism sector.     

Students' travel behaviour: a cross‐cultural comparison of UK and China

This paper compares the travel behaviour and attitudes of two different nationalities of undergraduate students from the United Kingdom and China. The survey did find some similarities between the two. Both groups enjoyed beach holidays, and placed importance on having fun and relaxing after their studies. Both were motivated to discover somewhere new and both preferred to eat the local food of the destination. In other ways, the two groups showed significant differences. The Chinese students thought it more important to see the famous sights and learn about other cultures and history, while the British were more concerned to have fun, to socialise and enjoy the challenges of outdoor adventure. These differences were found to exist in both male and female groups. The paper discusses the extent to which these differences could be explained by cultural factors as opposed to market factors or the students' previous experience in their travel career. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How company and managerial characteristics influence strategic alliance adoption in the travel sector

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of company and executive characteristics in strategic alliance formation in the tourism sector of travel. A survey of Australian travel sector businesses was carried out and the results indicate a high level of interaction through alliances between various sectors of the Australian tourism industry. Top managers' characteristics (experience, ownership and risk‐taking attitude) were found to be influential in taking strategic decisions of whether to form alliances or not. These characteristics do not play an important role in determining the number of alliances an organisation has and their geographical location, as much as company characteristics do. The findings of this paper imply that company characteristics are important in determining alliance formation. Managers should thoroughly consider these characteristics when deciding not only to form alliances, but also the types of alliances that could help their organisations to be more competitive, given limited resources. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The strategic impact of airline group diversification: The cases of Emirates and Lufthansa

The airline industry is a diverse sector, requiring the support of a varied range of ancillary businesses such as maintenance, catering and travel agencies to carry out its activities. Many of these supporting businesses demonstrate the potential to drive wider profit margins despite generating lower revenues than the airlines themselves, making them attractive investment opportunities in a sector prone to volatile and often lacklustre trading. This study investigates two of the largest diversified airline groups, Germany's Lufthansa Group and Dubai's Emirates Group, each adopting a distinct approach towards diversification that may serve as a model for airline groups worldwide. The areas investigated were Cargo, Maintenance, Catering and Travel Services. The research found that whilst diversification may not always present the most attractive option financially, strategic factors can often outweigh such concerns. Business units studied were found to have variable prospects; particularly in the case of Catering, a sector on the rise – versus in-house Maintenance, which for airlines, is likely to see decline. The pursuit of third party revenue streams to offset weak internal trading and growth in competencies were found to be the key drivers of success. Interplay between segments was also apparent, showing that a well-organised diversification strategy can achieve robust cross-functional benefits and deliver significant value to the parent organisation.     

Gender in the cockpit: Challenges faced by female airline pilots

Despite the increasing number of female pilots in recent years, the aviation industry is still considered a male-dominated one. Being underrepresented in an occupation and working in an industry with masculine discourses create several challenges for female pilots. This study aims to identify gender-related career challenges experienced by female pilots based in Turkey. The findings of the study reveal that female commercial airline pilots have been experiencing gender prejudice and discrimination in the workplace. These prejudices and discriminations place considerable psychological burden on them which can significantly affect their behaviour and performance. Considering the findings of the study, several recommendations are given to the airline companies and the society in supporting female pilots’ career advancement.     

Public,private and mixed ownership and the performance of international airlines

Many airlines are neither completely public nor private enterprises but have hybrid or mixed public-private ownership. Theory and evidence regarding the performance of private, public and mixed ownership are addressed in the context of the international airline industry. The study empirically examines the influence of an airline's ownership structure on multiple dimensions of its performance. In general, the results indicate that public sector airlines under-perform relative private sector airlines. In addition, we find that airlines with mixed ownership tend to perform better than public sector airlines, but worse than private sector carriers.     

Istanbul Airport (IGA) and quest of best competitive strategy for air cargo carriers in new competition environment: A fuzzy multi-criteria approach

Our paper determines the best competitive strategy that can be implemented by existing and potential air cargo carriers in the Turkish Air Cargo Industry with the operationalization of Istanbul Airport (IGA) and reveals the competitiveness level of the industry for four bases. We look at the competitiveness levels by analyzing the competitive environment of the industry nationally and internationally both before and post IGA (estimated). We use fuzzy TOPSIS (FTOPSIS) based on the Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) to handle vagueness, which is inherent in the nature of new competition conditions integrating the framework of Porter's five forces analysis. In our study, we use the five forces as our main criteria (with a total of 19 sub-criteria) and the competitive strategies as our alternatives. Our results reveal that the cost-focused strategy is the best competitive strategy that can be implemented by existing and potential carriers in the industry. Another significant result underscores the fact that IGA increases the competitiveness level of the Turkish Air Cargo Industry both nationally and internationally to a fairly high level. Also, the threat of potential competitors is first among the five forces in the industry's new conditions. Our study fills the gap in the literature on the effects of major structural changes in an air cargo industry on the competition among carriers.     

The liner shipping industry and EU competition rules

The literature has always looked at co-operation in the shipping industry with some benevolence. While co-operation benefits the transport industry as it reduces operators, guarantees higher profits and regulates supply, does it also increase the consumers’ surplus, or does it cause lower benefits and eventually inefficiency? In fact, liner shipping is the sole industry that is heavily exempted from antitrust regulations, both in Europe and North America. The paper, moving from the recent decision of the EU regarding the maritime liner sector, and from the EU Commission's Consultation Paper on the review of Regulation 4056/86, aims at investigating in what ways antitrust rules can “monitor and control” the market in a proper way according to the emerging trends of integration in the maritime logistics sector.     

Pro-Poor Tourism: From Leakages to Linkages. A Conceptual Framework for Creating Linkages between the Accommodation Sector and ‘Poor’ Neighbouring Communities

The concept of pro-poor tourism (PPT) has in recent years received attention from academia, key industry and donor organisations. While several ‘How to…?’ manuals have been written, little emphasis has so far been given to situating the PPT debate within the general literature on tourism and development. This paper contributes to the PPT debate by linking macro-economic concepts such as leakages and multipliers to micro-economic action opportunities for the mainstream accommodation sector in developing countries. As such it brings together the well-established tourism literature on economic impacts on the macro level with the more recent PPT literature that focuses on action on the ground. A conceptual framework for analysing and developing linkages between the accommodation sector and ‘poor’ neighbouring communities is suggested. This framework is based deductively on a critical review of the literature, coupled with first-hand experience in PPT action-research. It is suggested that PPT action opportunities encompass both core and non-core activities within the accommodation sector. Bringing together a wide range of past and present research, four types of potential linkages are proposed which are (1) employment; (2) sourcing and procurement; (3) SMME development and outsourcing; and (4) other types of partnerships such as donations.     

Growth and internationalisation strategies in the airline industry

This paper analyses the international growth of the global air transport sector to identify factors that determine the emergence of transnational companies and different forms of international expansion in the airline industry. An analysis of the market structure is conducted to understand why traditional, full service airlines have adopted alliances and code sharing to internationalise their business, while low-cost carriers prefer more direct methods to enter new foreign markets.