FDI spillovers in the Chinese hotel industry: The role of geographic regions,star-rating classifications,ownership types,and foreign capital origins

Although productivity spillovers have long been recognized to be a major benefit of foreign direct investment (FDI), such spillovers have not yet been systematically studied in the context of the hotel industry. This paper investigates hotel-related FDI spillover effects as well as moderating factors (geographic region, star rating classification, ownership type and foreign capital origin) in China. Evidence from province-level panel data reveals the existence and significance of intra-industry spillovers from foreign to domestic hotels in China, although the nature and magnitude vary based on different moderating factors. Domestic hotels in eastern and western China and those with alliance and limited liability ownership structures benefit significantly from productivity spillovers. Foreign-invested three-star hotels transfer a significant amount of positive productivity, whereas domestic three- and five-star hotels benefit the most from productivity spillovers. Moreover, foreign-invested hotels from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan (HMT) and non-HMT countries generate positive spillovers of similar magnitudes.     

Destination characteristics that drive hotel performance: A state-of-the-art global analysis

The increased market saturation and competition in both domestic and international tourism destinations have renewed interest among hotel operators in identifying the key drivers of hotel performance. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of hotel performance and their relative importance across multiple tourist destinations. We employ a two-step estimation method to identify key determinants of hotel performance, using a rich sample of international hotels. Our empirical analyses show that the main drivers of hotel performance are the quality of the educational system, government support, disposable income, and number of international arrivals within a tourism destination. Results indicate that the most important barriers to hotel performance are the competition among accommodation providers, tax rate and fuel price. We argue for the need for hotel providers to develop strategies that take cognisance of the key drivers and barriers to enhancing hotel performance in an ever-changing global tourism sector.     

Drivers of environmental innovation in Majorcan hotels

Using a database of Majorcan hotels, this paper examines several previously untested determinants of environmental innovations in hotels derived from the Porter hypothesis and from the specifics of knowledge transfer in the tourism industry. The empirical analysis is original in that it distinguishes between eight types of environmental innovations. The results show that hotels’ general predisposition to implement innovations, manager remuneration based on environmental performance, staff satisfaction, environmental accounting, and trainings are important determinants of the overall environmental innovation activity of Majorcan hotels. Moreover, the use of environmental management systems is associated with innovations with cost-saving potential, whereas the hotel star category is associated with innovations that contribute to hotel quality, such as wastewater treatment, noise reduction, noise isolation, and visual impact improvements. Furthermore, high levels of staff satisfaction are related to the implementation of water-saving and noise reduction innovations, as such innovations require staff participation, whereas the role of information sources in explaining innovation adoption varies based on the technical complexity of innovations. The paper concludes with policy implications for sustainable tourism development, recommendations for the hoteliers, and directions for future research.     

Climate change adaptation in Cambodia's coastal hotel sector: An analysis of adaptation measures and hotel characteristics

After decades of profound challenges Cambodia has seen twenty years of stability and a flourishing tourism industry, however, it has also been identified as highly vulnerable to climate change thus putting the country's long-desired economic development at risk. Sustainable Development Goal 13 ‘Climate Action’ is critical for the continued economic success of Cambodia's vulnerable coastal tourism sector, but little is known about the hotel sector's adaptation responses and the differences between key hotel characteristics such as star rating, size, ownership and length of operation. This article examines the adaptation actions by 50 Cambodian coastal hotels by distinguishing between five adaptation categories. Subsequently, the analysis is deepened through a comparative analysis of key hotel characteristics. Although adaptation measures varied considerably between hotels they were more comprehensive and numerous than expected. Furthermore, patterns emerged that saw large hotels apply high levels of adaptation while budget and Khmer-owned hotels reported limited adaptation measures.     

基于居民视角的旅游扶贫感知调查研究 ——以怒江州片马镇为例

旅游扶贫的核心焦点是贫困人口,但旅游扶贫带来的效应却是惠及大多数人口的,居民对旅游扶贫的感知和评价是衡量旅游扶贫效益的重要因素。文章在梳理旅游扶贫效应的相关文献基础上,以片马镇全体居民为研究对象,采用问卷调查法和模糊综合评价法对居民旅游扶贫感知进行分析,进而对当地旅游扶贫效应进行较为全面的评价。研究结果显示:片马镇旅游扶贫综合效益良好,但各方面的效应存在一定差异。当地居民对旅游扶贫中政府作为感知的评价最高,其次分别是环境效应感知、社会文化效应感知、经济效应感知、居民参与意愿感知和居民参与能力感知。片马镇应该立足于居民旅游扶贫感知评价结果,以感知差异为依据,对旅游扶贫后续工作进行相应的调整。     

Tourism and poverty alleviation: perceptions and experiences of poor people in Sapa,Vietnam

This paper examines the perceptions and experiences of poor people in Sapa, Vietnam, regarding tourism as a means of poverty alleviation. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with local people and key informants. The paper indicates that local people perceive poverty as a lack of rice and/or income and attribute it to both internal and external causes. The local tourism sector has primarily benefited the non-poor and tour operators, resulting in conflicts of interest among community members. However, more local people consider tourism a contributor to poverty alleviation than those who do not. All interviewees wish to become homestay owners or tourist guides. The most important barrier to the former is the lack of capital, while foreign language proficiency is the main hindrance to the latter. It is concluded that while an appropriate approach is required to involve local people in tourism, alternative livelihoods other than tourism are also needed. The study suggests that poor people's interpretation of poverty may be substantially different from that of academics and policy-makers. It argues that by valuing the perspectives of those experiencing poverty we can establish more meaningful approaches to alleviating poverty through tourism that are more likely to succeed.     

Pricing determinants in the hotel industry: Quantile regression analysis

Due to the skewed distribution of hotel prices, quantile regression provides a more flexible and complete characterization of the determinants of the hotel prices at the higher and lower tail of the distribution. This study applies quantile regression approach to investigate the major determinants of hotel room pricing strategies. The ordinary least square regression is also used for comparative purposes. The data are drawn from 58 international tourist hotels in Taiwan and average room rate (ARR) is used as the proxy of hotel room price. The results of OLS and quantile regression share common characteristics but also have differences in some aspects. The OLS results reveal that number of rooms, hotel age, market conditions and number of housekeeping staff per room are the main attributes of hotel room rate. The quantile regression results further demonstrate that room number and the number of housekeeping staff per guest room do not significantly influence hotel price at the low price quantile. Hotel age and market conditions are only significant determinants in high-price category. Additionally, for the high-priced quantile hotels, the proportion of foreign individual travellers positively and significantly influences room price. The empirical results can help hoteliers in shaping investment and pricing strategies.     

Can Response Management Benefit Hotels? Evidence from Hong Kong Hotels

With the growing influence of online reviews, more hotels are adopting online response management, but whether this works and benefits a hotel has rarely been studied. In this research, we study the impact of response management on hotel online ratings using data retrieved from TripAdvisor with a focus on Hong Kong hotels. We find that (1) high class hotels are more likely to adopt response management; (2) there is no significant difference among different hotel classes in terms of response rate; and (3) targeted response management has a significant positive effect on hotel ratings. In addition, Asian customers tend to give lower ratings than Western customers. We outline specific implications for hotel managers and their online management and offer suggestions for future research based on the empirical findings.     

Strategic groups in the hospitality industry: Intergroup and intragroup performance differences in Alicante, Spain

The hotel sector is currently immersed in a very uncertain, highly competitive environment, due to which it needs information for the correct management of its establishments. This information can be obtained from the classification of hotels in strategic groups. The present empirical research presents strategic groups in the hospitality industry as a useful tool for the planning and implementation of strategies by hotels that helps to determine their competitive strategies and advantages. This research paper additionally shows how the levels of performance between the hotels belonging to each group can be evaluated from strategic groups. In this study, the tool is applied to the hotel sector of the Spanish province of Alicante, a very important geographical area in the context of international tourism. The dimensions resource commitment and tourist activity scope have been used to define the strategic groups.     

The impact of regulation and ownership structure on market orientation in the tourism industry in China

The nature of market orientation and its impact on business performance and other related outcomes have been extensively researched in a range of service contexts including tourism. In contrast, our understanding of the factors that influence market orientation is still limited. This paper reports on a study that contributes to our understanding of the determinants of market orientation within the tourism sector by focusing specifically on the role played by two strategically important variables, namely government regulation and ownership structure. The study analyses two national samples of hotels and travel services in the rapidly growing tourism industry in China. The hotel sector has been open to foreign investment for two decades and has a diversified ownership structure, whereas the travel services sector has been dominated by government owned firms and relatively closed to foreign investment. The results of the survey suggest that of the two new antecedents, only government regulation has a significant role to play in driving market orientation. Internally, access to appropriate managerial and marketing capabilities was identified as a significant predictor of the development of market orientation.     

Environmental proactivity of hotel operations: Antecedents and the moderating effect of ownership type

This study examines the relative importance of three influential factors (stakeholder pressure, economic opportunities, and top managers’ personal environmental concern) in shaping managerial attitudes toward adoption of green programs in the hotel industry. The results, based on a sample of 235 top managers of hotels affiliated with three U.S. state hotel associations, suggest that stakeholder pressure is the most dominant predictor of managerial attitudes toward adoption of green programs followed by economic benefits and top managers’ personal environmental concern. In addition, the relationship between managerial attitudes toward adoption of environmental programs and organizational environmental commitment is found to be moderated by the ownership style. The relationship is stronger for independent hotels than for chain-affiliated hotels, indicating a more significant role of managerial discretion in implementing environmental strategies at the independent hotel setting than the chain hotel setting.     

Determinants of hotels’ environmental performance: Evidence from the hotel industry in Accra,Ghana

This study explores the factors that account for the environmental performance of hotels in the special context of a developing country, Ghana. It also examined the socio-demographic characteristics of managers and organizational characteristics that determine the environmental performance of Ghanaian hotels. A stratified random sampling method was employed to survey 200 hotel managers from different categories of hotels in Accra. Ninety-four per cent were independent, and Ghanaian-owned. Sixty-seven per cent had fewer than 20 rooms; only 45 had more than 100 rooms. Only 11.6% were affiliated to foreign multinational companies in any way. Six key factors that accounted for the environmental performance were extracted from a factor analysis. They included, in order of most practised, the environmental education and training for staff, measures to support for the host community, conservation project support, compliance with environmental regulations, waste management, and voluntary programmes. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that larger size and better class of hotels, as well as those with membership of the national hotel trade association, had better environmental performance as did hotels with better paid managers. Affiliation to foreign multinational chains did not predict better performance. A series of suggestions are made to improve the environmental performance of Ghana's hotels.     

Innovation and the future of Caribbean tourism

Caribbean tourism is plagued with problems such as high winter/summer hotel occupancy variability and the sensitivity of tourism to domestic political conditions. This article argues that the future of Caribbean tourism will increasingly depend upon its innovativeness — its capacity to anticipate and to respond creatively to changes taking place in the international tourism marketplace. The importance of innovation is evident in Jamaica's Super Club hotels. With their ‘all-inclusive’ innovation, Super Club's performance has far outstripped that of traditional multinational corporations-affiliated hotels. The case for innovation is argued using empirical data collected in 1985 for Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.     

The implications of hotel employee attitudes for the development of quality tourism: the case of Cyprus

In an increasingly competitive market, the issue of quality has grown in significance for tourism businesses and destinations alike. This has been influenced by a number of factors, such as the expansion of consumer rights and the alleged emergence ‘new’, quality conscious tourists. In particular, it is the need to retain or increase competitive advantage that has underpinned the drive for quality in tourism—certainly, many destinations, especially those operating in the highly competitive summer-sun market, are now adopting quality tourism development strategies. However, little or no attention has been paid to the role of tourism industry employees, particularly those in hotels, in the success of quality management programmes. The purpose of this paper is to address this omission. Based upon a survey of hotel employees in Cyprus, it identifies a number of factors that may support or limit the drive towards quality service provision, with a variety of implications for the destination as a whole as well as individual hotels. In particular, hotel management should implement strategies based on reward systems, empowerment and reducing staff turnover, whilst there is an important co-ordination and guidance role to be played by the national tourism organisation.     

Impact of hotel information security on system reliability

While information systems are very essential to a hotel's operations, the need for obtaining information security is emerging. Hotels acquire customer information in databases and utilize information systems to support various marketing activities. This study pursues an empirical examination of the impact of information security on the system reliability of Hotel Information Systems (HIS) through perceptions of hotel employees who use and manage HIS. An information security index for the hotel industry was developed based on previous research and practices current in the industry. Data was obtained from 4-star and 5-star hotels. Findings revealed eight information security factors affecting system reliability in hotel operations. Findings also indicate that management types and styles of hotels moderate in the relationship between information security and system reliability. Implications of the findings were discussed in relative to the hotel industry.     

The impacts of tourism on poverty alleviation: an integrated research framework

This paper aims to contribute to the academic research on tourism and poverty alleviation, by providing an integrated research framework on the impacts of tourism on poverty. First, a conceptual discussion is presented in order to understand the potential of tourism to reduce poverty, as well as different approaches to promoting a direct link between tourism and poverty alleviation. Second, empirical studies published between 1999 and July 2014 were critically analysed in order to generate an empirical research framework that embraces the following issues: geographical scope, level of analysis, tourism context, study methods and poverty measure. Moreover, an integrative discussion of the empirical evidence regarding the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction is included. The proposed framework, which is intended to be useful for guiding future empirical research in this field, suggests associations between tourism initiatives, the poverty rate and the economic, socio-cultural and environmental conditions of the poor.     

Lifestyle businesses: Insights into Blackpool's hotel sector

The vast majority of firms in the sector are micro-businesses employing 10 or fewer staff. Indeed many are so small as to employ no permanent staff at all. Those running these businesses are not classical entrepreneurs driven by a need to maximise profits and build a business empire. Many are best described as lifestyle entrepreneurs, their key motives are more associated with improving their quality of life. This paper reports on the owners of a significant sample of Blackpool hotels. The majority have sold a domestic property to buy the hotel. Few have any prior hotel experience, or small business experience, for that matter. The linkage between commercial and domestic provision of meals and accommodation convinced many of these interviewees that they had the skill sets required for hotel ownership and management. The paper also confirms earlier findings that a subtantial minority withdraw from the hotel business in their first year. The lack of training in the business aspects of the hotel operation has serious implications for the quality of hotel operations in places like Blackpool, because a significant segment of hotel stock is being managed by these lifestyle entrepreneurs who are not primarily concerned with commercial objectives which prioritise service quality as a way of generating profits and growth.     

The effectiveness of tryvertising in hotels

Advertising has been a common practice to promote products and services in the tourism and hospitality industry. Although ample research has investigated customers’ perceptions of and reactions to advertising visuals, direct experience advertising strategies, such as tryvertising have been ignored. As an emerging direct experience approach, tryvertising has been increasingly used in tourism and hospitality businesses especially in hotels. This study explores the effectiveness of tryvertising practices on customer purchase behaviors in hotel settings. Two real data sets that combine 6858 records of customers’ hotel stays and guestroom products purchase transactions were obtained from a hotel management company that uses tryvertising strategies in China. The results from a Heckit model analysis determine the potential factors that affect hotel guests’ likelihood to buy and the amount of money spent on products promoted through tryvertising. This study fills this void in the current literature that focuses on traditional mass advertisements and behavioral intentions rather than actual purchase behaviors. It contributes to the literature with empirical evidence of the impact of tryvertising strategies on consumer behaviors in a hotel context. Managerial implications are suggested for practitioners to customize their tryvertising strategies.     

境外酒店环境行为研究述评

文章以国际学术界具有较高权威性和较大影响力的旅游、管理学研究期刊中检索到的1995~2012年间的48篇酒店环境行为学术文献为研究文本,运用文献计量学方法,对文献的数量变化、期刊、研究地域范围以及研究主题、研究方法及研究风格等信息进行统计、分析和比较,提炼和分析了境外学者在酒店环境行为研究中的成果和观点,为酒店企业环境行为的研究和发展提供参考依据。     

A contrast analysis of online hotel web service purchasers and browsers

Ever since the introduction of Internet technology to general business, websites have played an important role in the business and promotional efforts of hotels. However, the existing tourism and hospitality literature contains only a limited number of articles that examine the perceived importance of the different attributes of a hotel website. This paper reports a study that analyzed the different perceptions of specific hotel website attributes between online purchasers and browsers and between Western and Asian users. The empirical findings reveal a set of attributes that are the most important in developing effective hotel websites. The findings also indicate the necessity of designing English- and Chinese-language hotel websites differently, based on the significant differences in the responses obtained from these two groups of online users.