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.     

Migrant relationships and tourism employment

This paper examines how tourism employment and workplace experiences influence migrant workers’ adaptation in the host society. It is argued that tourism employment provides access to multiple social networks, which subsequently supports the improvement of foreign workers’ social and cultural competencies. Such networks also help to compensate for the negative aspects of tourism work and migration. In addition, the paper considers how relationships among international workers inform chain migration and influence subsequent recruitment practices and migration experiences. The findings stem from a wider study of the experiences of Polish migrant workers employed in the UK tourism sector using qualitative and quantitative data.     

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.     

The impacts of immigrants and institutions on bilateral tourism flows

In this paper, we use data on recent bilateral tourism flow from 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to 52 middle-to low-income countries for the period 1995–2010 to determine whether immigration, trade and institutional quality play a role in driving OECD nationals to visit immigrant-source countries. Except for the African countries, the results show that immigrants residing in OECD countries have a positive advertising effect for their home country, inducing tourism flows from OECD countries. We also find that the quality of institutions, along with freedom and civil liberty indices, are important in selecting tourism destinations. A massive 8% of the variation in tourism flows can be accounted for by these factors. These results hold for the subsample and the whole sample with two exceptions: European and African destinations. We posit that this feature of the data exists because European (African) countries are so similar to each other, and small differences in the indexes do not matter at the top (bottom) of the distribution. By controlling for gravity and macroeconomic stability variables, we also show that the trade flows between countries, among other factors, play a crucial and stable role on tourism flows. Dynamic panel data estimation is used to account for the influence of repeat visits and support our findings.     

The management of labour recruitment: The hotel chains during the Spanish tourism boom, 1959–1973

This paper explores the labour management of hotel chains during the Spanish tourism boom, a period characterized by high labour shortages. Focusing on the behaviour of three prominent emerging hotel chains in the Balearic Islands, we adopt a micro-comparative approach to examine their payrolls. Our findings suggest that the economic and geographical characteristics of the areas where they operated were crucial to their decisions. Firms located in populated areas developed channels of seasonal labour that supplied migrant workers through chain migration and kinship links. Conversely, firms in areas of intense landscape transformation pursued recruitment at origin in specific towns on mainland Spain or in foreign countries. This strategy played a key role in the development of new international tourism destinations.     

A Shift-Share Analysis Approach to Understanding the Dynamic of the Portuguese Tourism Market

Abstract

The growth in the global tourism market place presents many countries with great opportunities to capitalize on their natural competitive advantages. However, achieving the economic potential of global tourism remains elusive for many countries despite their natural advantages. In this context, Portugal is a case in point. The Portuguese tourism industry is facing some serious challenges that are limiting its potential. This study utilizes the shift-share technique in order to offer Portuguese policy-makers systematic and practical insights into the characteristics of the Portuguese tourism industry in the context of the challenges and opportunities of the global tourism market place. Understanding the dynamics and characteristics of the Portuguese tourism industry in a comparative context is a crucial first step toward formulating a strategy aimed at improving Portuguese competitive standing in the growing tourism market.     

Tourism in Asia and the Pacific

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) represents the world's fastest growing tourist industry. PATA has been influential in making its member governments realize the economic importance of tourism which is now a priority industry in the Asia-Pacific region. PATA also plays a major role in development enabling member countries to develop unrivalled tourism products and services. Internatonal events taking place within the region help to highlight PATA countries as tourist destinations. Protectionism and travel barriers may inhibit future growth but provided these obstacles can be removed, by the year 2000 the Asia-Pacific region should occupy the supreme position in terms of visitor arrivals.     

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.     

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.     

Current trends on Halal tourism: Cases on selected Asian countries

Halal tourism is one of the new phenomenon emerged from the growth of Halal industry. As Halal matters advancing tourism industry, many Muslim and non-Muslim countries are set to capture the Muslim tourists market by providing the tourism products, facilities and infrastructures to cater their needs. While affirming this new phenomenon, there remain a shortage of theoretical publications and research in this area. On top of that, when it comes to the real concept of Halal tourism and its trends, it has nevertheless been found that lack of research has been conducted in providing and determining the so called concept. Thus, due to the scarcity of literature and specific studies in this area this paper aims to explore and illustrate the concept of Halal tourism within the Islamic context with special reference to Quranic verse and Hadith (primary sources in Islam). Meanwhile, to appreciate the existing implementation on this concept, this paper will further provide cases on current trend of Halal tourism in selected countries in Asia. This study adopted qualitative research method and employ library research for data collection technique. The outcomes of this study include the current development of Halal tourism concept and comparison on Halal tourism cases in Asia. On top of that, it would also discover its opportunities and potentials for Muslim and non-Muslim countries to embark on the same journey.     

Applying Interpretive Structural Modeling to the Planning of a Sequence of Marketing Strategies: A Case Study of the Architectural Tourism in Taiwan

Architectural tourism, the popular activity of visiting traditional buildings primarily for seeing and enjoying their architecture, offers opportunities for tourism industry. This study is focused on developing marketing strategies for architectural tourism in Taiwanese context. As a result of rapid development in Taiwan with the increasing population and higher residential density, most of the old houses in Taiwan have been replaced by the modern buildings. Despite this irreversible development, the remaining old styles can generate fresh business opportunities in the new age through adequate planning. Therefore, this study will use literature reviews and Interpretive Structural Modeling in order to determine an effective and scientific decision-making process to help develop marketing strategies for this sector. It will also be used as a reference for future researchers and as a benchmarking object for the other countries facing similar challenges.     

The gap between male and female pay in the Spanish tourism industry

This paper analyzes wage differentials between male and female workers in the Spanish tourism industry, using a large, administratively matched employer–employee data set obtained from a representative sample of companies. This allows us to control for unobserved firm-specific factors likely to affect the magnitude of the gender wage gap. Our findings indicate that male workers earn on average 6.7% higher monthly wages than their socially comparable female counterparts. In particular, the type of contract held, the qualifications required for the job and the specific sub-sector of employment are very important variables in explaining this gender wage difference. We also find that only around 12% of the mean wage difference in the tourism industry cannot be explained by differences in observable characteristics, which is well below the average for the rest of the industries in Spain (87%). Our interpretation is that minimum wage legislation provides a particularly effective protection to women in the tourism industry, which is characterized by a large number of low-wage earners.     

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.     

The effect of tourism investment on tourism development and CO2 emissions: empirical evidence from the EU nations

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of tourism investment on tourism development and CO₂ emissions in a panel of 28 EU countries using annual data from 1990 to 2013. The empirical results from a panel cointegration test confirm the presence of long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The long-run elasticities indicate that tourism investment has a significant positive and negative impact on tourism development and CO₂ emissions, respectively. Finally, the short-run heterogeneous panel non-causality test results show the evidence of bidirectional causality between tourism investment and tourism revenue. These results therefore suggest that tourism investments not only increase tourism revenue but also reduce CO₂ emissions. Given these findings, we suggest the policy makers of the EU nations to initiate more effective policies to increase the tourism investments. The increasing tourism investments will allow the industry to grow further by ensuring sustainable tourism development across the EU member countries.     

Motivation of internationalization and a moderating role of environmental conditions in the hospitality industry

As internationalization has been widely implemented throughout the tourism industry, it is important to understand what motivates a firm to internationalize its business. Thus, this study examines the motivation for internationalization based on the neoinstitutional theory. This study employs a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to test the proposed hypotheses, using the annual firm-level data of the tourism industry, and finds that tourism firms including casinos, hotels, and restaurants are demotivated to diversify their international expansion into different countries as their competitors increase the scope of countries in which they operate. However, if a firm perceives its competitors as speeding up the process of internationalization, that firm will also increase the pace of internationalization. In addition, this relationship between competitors and focal firms' internationalization varies according to environmental conditions (i.e., dynamism, complexity, and munificence). The findings of the study contribute to the internationalization and tourism literature.     

A Review of “Raj Rhapsodies: tourism,heritage and the seduction of history”

Many researchers have used stage-based and life cycle models to describe destination development and local residents’ changing reactions to tourism. Typically, they report that resident attitudes towards tourism, and its perceived outcomes for host populations, worsen with increasing experience and involvement in tourism. However, stage-based models traditionally focus on mature destinations in developed countries. In contrast, scholarship on ecotourism derives largely from developing countries and suggests that increased participation leads to more favourable outcomes and attitudes towards tourism. This paper breaks new ground by exploring attitudes to tourism in an emerging destination in a developing country and linking that exploration to a revised stage-based model. It uses ethnographic data to evaluate responses to recent tourism development in Nicaragua. While findings are complex and do not support a linear relationship between the level of experience in tourism and the attitudes of local residents, they do indicate a relationship between these two theoretical perspectives that can be used to inform one another. Notably, workers in tourism are more critical of the tourism industry than residents are. Important amendments to stage-based models are suggested that will assist tourism planners with the creation of more sustainable, community-centred development.     

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.     

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。     

Environmental Perception and Sense of Responsibility of the Tourism Industry in Mainland China,Taiwan and Japan

This paper attempts to elicit the underlying reasons why and how people within the tourism industry perceive the natural environment and how they regard their own responsibility for environmental management. As East Asian culture is believed to have different attitudes and values towards the natural environment and resources when compared to Western culture, it is hypothesised that there will be a corresponding difference in how they view the relationship between nature and tourism. Although this is not an East–West comparative study, it nevertheless aims to discern if there is any structural variation in perception within East Asian countries. To this end, a questionnaire was conducted in Mainland China, Taiwan and Japan in 1994 and the data were analysed by Multidimensional Scaling (MDS). The analysis shows that authoritarianism and an anthropocentric market approach to the natural environment and resources affect the perception of tourism activities across cultures. Minor cultural differences were found in the perceptual construct of nature and tourist activities.     

Responding to Climate Change: Australian Tourism Industry Perspectives on Current Challenges and Future Directions

Like other destinations in the Asia Pacific region, Australia's tourism industry is vulnerable to the impacts and implications of climate change. The country's reliance on its natural “product”, which is potentially under threat, coupled with the potential for changing consumer demand patterns, particularly in long-haul markets, should be concerning for the tourism industry. Yet, the tourism industry has been criticised for its short-term, profit orientation and lack of action regarding climate change [Hall, C.M., & Higham, J. (Eds.) (2005). Tourism, recreation and climate change. Clevedon: Channel View Publications; Jenkins, K., & Nicholls, S. (2010). The impacts of climate variability and potential climate change on tourism business in Torbay, England and implications for adaptation. Tourism Analysis, 15(1), 17–30; Viner, D. (2006). Tourism and its interactions with climate change. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14(4), 317–415]. However, little empirical research has investigated the tourism industry's perspectives regarding climate change, neither the relative importance of climate change vis-a-vis other challenges facing the sector nor the strategies and actions required by the tourism industry to facilitate adaptation and mitigation strategies. It is against this background that a qualitative study was undertaken with expert representatives from both the public and private sectors of Australia's tourism industry to explore the industry's perspectives on current challenges and future directions with regards to climate change. The findings show that while the industry is aware of the importance of climate change, it is not seen as a pressing issue, particularly in light of the global economic crisis, and there has been little action by the industry in response to climate change. Respondents noted that the tourism industry is largely relying on, and waiting for, government intervention and leadership for the sector with regards to climate change.