Training practices in the Hong Kong hotel industry: Managerial and executive perspectives

ABSTRACT

Technology is expected to be adopted for the benefits of two types of customers in the hotel industry—external customers for providing better guest experience and internal customers for upgrading skills and knowledge. A survey was used in this study. Training with technology is not the current trend, and on-the-job training is still being adopted frequently and is preferred by executives and managers. It is unpredictable how long it will be before Hong Kong hotels take complete advantage of computer-based training. Minimum yearly training hours and training budgets should be benchmarked and be transparent for a better provision of training.     

Factors Affecting Outbound Tourists' Destination Choice: The Case of Hong Kong

Trip expenditure, length of stay during the trip, size of the travel party, monthly household income, discovering new places and/or things, and getting away from daily routine, role, obligation, stress and troubles have significant influence on Hong Kong residents' destination choice. Hong Kong residents' destination choice is highly associated with trip characteristic in comparison to socio-demographics and travel motivation factors. Destinations close to Hong Kong can focus on packaging their products with shorter trip lengths and making the packages attractive to travel companions in addition to the travelers. Destinations that are relatively far away from Hong Kong should focus on packaging their products to attract the Hong Kong outbound travelers with longer trip lengths and plan activities that cater to individual needs.     

Air Quality in Hong Kong: A Study of the Perception of International Visitors

This paper reports on a study of the views of 1304 international travellers about their perception of air quality in Hong Kong. Findings indicated that the respondents generally did not perceive the air quality in Hong Kong as a concern when they chose to travel; they had a neutral view of this issue. However, after their visit they considered Hong Kong's air quality in both indoor and outdoor environments as worse than in their home countries. Many visitors were willing to pay an additional departure tax to fund improvements. The findings of this study have implications for decision-makers in formulating more sustainable planning policies to deal with this important environmental issue.     

公众参与旅游规划的思考——来自香港大澳的调查启示

本文通过问卷调查方法研究分析了居民、实际消费者、潜在消费者3个公众群体对于香港大澳生态旅游发展规划成果方案的支持意愿、了解程度以及焦点问题等方面的后期评价,进而探讨了其与大澳生态旅游发展规划公众参与工作实施的因果关系,认为合理的参与时限、专业人员的作用、主体多元化、持续动态参与对于提升公众参与规划的实际效果具有现实的作用。     

Lifestyle Segmentation of Spa Users: A Study of Inbound Travelers to Hong Kong

Based on the increasing popularity of the wellness/spa trend and the growing numbers of inbound tourists to Hong Kong, it is crucial for spa industry experts to understand the ever-changing desires of consumers. The study aims to identify the lifestyle dimensions of international spa visitors to Hong Kong and to profile each segment based on their sociodemographic and travel characteristics. The study adopts a quantitative approach to segmenting international spa visitors in Hong Kong by lifestyle. The results of the lifestyle segmentation revealed five clusters of spa visitors. The segments are “health conscious and intellectual”, “average”, “family focused”, “pleasure oriented”, and “carefree”. It is found that the majority of travelers who visit spas in Hong Kong are health conscious and intellectual. In general, visitors prefer day spas, to visit with their partner or friends, and to enjoy body massage treatments.     

Leadership Issues and Challenges in the Tourism Industry: A Hong Kong Perspective

This study examines current leadership issues and challenges in the tourism industry with a particular focus on Hong Kong, a trend-setting locality for the industry. Employing qualitative research, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 highly respected industry leaders, all having long-established careers involving extensive local and global experience. These leaders represent a wide variety of sectors of the tourism industry. Study findings highlighted specific skills (business knowledge, communication, self-reflection), personal characteristics (determination, open-mindedness) and excellent relations with other parties (team support, respect) as key attribute requirements of industry leaders. The industry's universal “people orientation” emerged as the dominant issue that requires particular leadership skills with regard to interpersonal relations and communications. The emergence of new technologies and changes among employees were identified as the two key industry trends that require changing leadership skills. The implications of these findings are discussed and areas for future research highlighted.     

The Effect of Cultural Distance on Tourism: A Study of International Visitors to Hong Kong

This study focuses on the impact of cultural distance on the behavior of international pleasure tourists who visited Hong Kong. It analyzes data drawn from the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Visitor Profile Report, and tests whether cultural distance has a similar impact on behavior as noted in previous studies examining physical distance. The study concludes that cultural distance exerts a modest impact on such attributes as demand, travel party composition, trip profile, behaviors, expenditure and satisfaction.     

User preferences for web site attributes: A study of the Hong Kong Disneyland

The Hong Kong Disneyland will be open in 2005 and the theme park is very likely to have an official web site. In order to determine the nature of a model/ideal official web site that would serve the promotional purpose, this study is conducted with two objectives. First, the study makes an attempt to understand the information types that the target markets, namely local Hong Kong residents, Western visitors and Chinese visitors, would like to have on the future Hong Kong Disney web site. Secondly, this research examines whether e‐ticketing is feasible for the web site. Using a questionnaire and a convenience sampling method, 198 responses were received. Empirical results indicate that the respondents all agreed that the suggested attributes should be listed in the web site. In addition, no significant difference was found among different groups of respondents on homepage information. However, significant differences were found among the interviewees’ views regarding products/services information, and ticketing information. To communicate effectively, the adoption of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is recommended in a value‐chain system for achieving successful e‐commerce.     

高星级酒店业的信息技术“生产率悖论”研究——基于广州案例

信息技术与酒店业的结合给酒店业带来了新的发展机会.国外有大量的学者致力于信息技术投资与企业生产率及业绩之间关系的研究,但并没有一致的结论.文章通过对广州市高星级酒店的相关调查,获取了第一手数据,借助AMOS软件的验证性因子分析及SPSS软件的相关性分析和多元回归分析功能,以检验信息技术的应用对酒店业绩的影响.结果显示,信息技术“生产率悖论”在高星级酒店业内不存在,前厅应用、客人相关界面应用、餐厅及宴会管理系统及后台应用均对酒店业绩有积极的作用.其中,客人相关界面应用对酒店业绩影响最大,因此应着重投资.文章的结论将为高星级酒店业决定是否战略性地投资于信息技术或集中于某些特定领域提供重要的信息.最后,文章还对研究的局限性以及后续可以开展的研究进行了一定的展望.     

The Impact of the Internet on Travel Agencies in Hong Kong

Abstract

In recent years, the travel and tourism industry has begun to develop Internet applications more extensively. Many travel service suppliers, such as hotels and airline companies, already use the Internet as a direct channel for customer reservations. The integration of the Internet into the travel and tourism industry, however, presents a challenge towards the traditional role of travel agencies. The purpose of this study is to find out what impact the Internet has on travel agencies in Hong Kong. Outcomes of this research indicate that travel agents generally have positive attitudes towards Internet applications, and the potential threat-disintermediation-has not yet affected the travel industry. Travel agents believe that they can take advantage of the Internet technology to provide value-added services for their customers. Outcomes of the present study also indicate that there are significant relationships between company size, age and some Internet attributes. Travel agencies should therefore pay more attention to these attributes when adopting Internet technology.     

The effects of SARS on the Hong Kong tourism industry: An empirical evaluation

The objective of this study is to assess the temporal impact of SARS on the tourists' arrival in Hong Kong. An econometric strategy was carefully selected to determine the existence of unit roots in data series containing the number of tourist arrivals from 36 source countries between 1978 and 2001. The existence of unit roots can detect the stationary properties of the series. The analysis finds that data series of 24 countries contain unit roots and hence any form of exogenous shocks, like the SARS epidemic, can have permanent impact on the number of tourist arrivals. Included in this category are Japan, Taiwan, the US and the UK, which are the main source of tourists for Hong Kong. The paper recommends that authorities take source-country-specific measures to manage the negative effect of SARS.     

An Investigation of Gen-Y's Online Hotel Information Search: The Case of Hong Kong

The Internet has made searching for hotel room information and making online reservations common practices among hotel guests. Despite constantly changing consumer behavior and widespread application of online hotel information sources, limited studies have been conducted to examine the online sources used frequently by customers and the related attributes of such sources. As such, drawing from an online questionnaire survey with 205 respondents, findings in this study indicate that there are no socio-demographic effects on future purchase intention of Generation (Gen) Y travelers. Moreover, websites of suppliers (e.g. official websites of hotels), travel intermediaries (e.g. Hotels.com), and social media (e.g. TripAdvisor) are the three major types of websites used by Gen Y hotel guests. Travel intermediary websites are often used to search for hotel information, whereas social media websites are used to make reservations. Based on these findings, implications for hotel managers are discussed.     

Understanding Travel Constraints Among the Elderly in Hong Kong: A Comparative Study of the Elderly Living in Private and in Public Housing

This study aims to test the influence of constraints on travel of the elderly in Hong Kong and to compare perceived travel constraints of Hong Kong seniors in public and in private housing based on the hierarchical leisure constraints model. Face-to-face questionnaire interviews were conducted from December 2013 to April 2014. A total of 415 participants completed the interview successfully. Despite sharing the similar factor structure of the leisure constraints model, the two groups varied significantly in travel behavior, six constraint items, and seven regression paths.     

Medical tourism development in Hong Kong: An assessment of the barriers

The aim of this study is to determine the factors influencing the development of medical tourism in Hong Kong. A qualitative research method was adopted to collect data from representatives of private and public hospitals, government bodies, and medical institutions. The results reveal that policies and regulations, government support, costs, capacity problems, and the healthcare needs of the local community are the main barriers to the development of such tourism. Several strategies for lifting these barriers are suggested, such as new promotional activity policies, government action to encourage investment in the medical tourism market, and cooperative efforts by the hospitality sector and medical institutions to develop medical tourism products.     

Working in Macau Casinos: The Perceptions of Hong Kong Tertiary Students Majoring in Hospitality

This study examines the perceptions of students at a Hong Kong tertiary institution majoring in hospitality as to the importance of various job selection criteria in considering whether to work in the Macau casino industry. A total of 259 valid survey questionnaires were returned and the results showed that the respondents perceived good wages as the most important job selection criterion. Significant differences between respondents in the perceived importance of individual criteria were also found. The implications of these are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.     

The Perceived Destination Image of Hong Kong as Revealed in the Travel Blogs of Mainland Chinese Tourists

This study investigated travel blogs as a manifestation of the travel experience, along with the destination image of Hong Kong from the perspective of tourists from mainland China. Recently published blog entries were selected and analyzed using content analysis. Empirical results indicated that the overall perceived destination image of Hong Kong was positive, with particular strengths in transportation, the harbor, and outlying islands. The major weaknesses of Hong Kong as a travel destination were the price of meals outside hotels, rooms in five-star hotels, and the quality of cosmetics and skincare products. This article has implications for policymakers and practitioners with regard to making use of travel blogs to gather authentic visitor comments on Hong Kong.     

The Effect of Distance on Tourism in Hong Kong: A Comparison of Short Haul and Long Haul Visitors

This study reports on a pilot project examining the effect of distance on the profile and trip characteristics of vacation visitors to Hong Kong. Secondary data are used. The study reveals a clear long haul/short haul dichotomy in visitor profile and resultant behaviors in Hong Kong. Long haul tourists tend to be older, more affluent and view Hong Kong as a stop-over destination, whereas short haul visitors are younger, less affluent and see it as their main and only destination. The resultant socio-demographic and destination role differences translate into substantially different in-destination behavior patterns. The authors argue that these differences are, at least in part, a function of the discriminating effect that distance has on the ability of some people to travel to long haul destinations.     

A simultaneous equations model of the hotel room supply and demand in Hong Kong

The purpose of the study is to identify the important factors that influence the hotel room supply and demand, and their overall impact on the Hong Kong hotel industry. Nineteen years of time series data are used and a simultaneous equations econometric model is employed. The overall goodness-of-fit of both demand and supply models is very high, suggesting high predictive power. Empirical results indicate that “hotel room price” and “tourist arrivals” are significant factors driving the demand for hotel rooms. In addition, “1990–91 recession” and “the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis” had a significant negative impact on the demand for hotel rooms in Hong Kong. At the same time, “hotel room quantity demanded”, “room occupancy rate”, “last period's room price”, “labor cost”, “last period's average price of Grade A private offices”, and “the Asian financial crisis” all have a significant impact on room price in the short run.     

香港迪斯尼乐园对珠江三角洲的影响

在 2 0 0 0年 7月— 11月对深圳、广州、珠海、东莞 4市的旅游行业负责人和旅游部门政府官员的深入访谈基础上 ,评价和预测香港迪斯尼乐园的兴建对近邻珠江三角洲经济、旅游和社会文化等方面的影响。     

Effect of cultural distance on tourism: A study of pleasure visitors in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the effect of cultural distance on pleasure visitors, mainly vacation overnight visitors, in Hong Kong. Secondary data on 10 source markets are extracted from the annual report of visitor profile 2014 published by Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). The data are compared to recognize the influence cultural distance can have on visitor profiles and trip characteristics, including travel patterns, expenditure, and satisfaction levels. Deteriorating effects ascribed to cultural distance are clearly observed in the following three important aspects: repeated visit, length of stay, and expenditure; however, these effects do not extend to all aspects. Therefore, cultural distance may be used to complement physical distance in order to explain the tourist flow, and it should be further studied.