Grievance handling in Egyptian hotels and travel agencies

The literature on grievance handling is a highly developed body of work. Yet, findings on the most effective means of conflict management remain inconclusive. To address this gap, the current study adopts a novel fuzzy-set configuration approach using a sample of 857 employees in Egyptian tourism and hospitality. Consistent with the view that grievance handling is a complex issue that is responsive to “equifinal” solutions, the inherent findings establish the existence of two effective but alternative grievance handling techniques. These two styles were found to differ in terms of education, experience, age, gender and the nature of the organisation. The findings hold important implications for theory and practice.     

Event pitching: The role of design and creativity

The purpose of the research is to contribute towards a better understanding of the role of design and creativity in the pitch phase of an event bid. The paper does not seek to re-document the formal proposal process of preparing and bidding for an event but instead will look at an element within event bidding, the pitch to the client. Winning an event pitch is a crucial part of the events industry and is undertaken by most event management companies (EMC) or agencies. It is highly competitive. The material is based on qualitative research with key individuals working in the events industry and presents selective reflections upon the pitch process, the rationale and criteria for pitching and the extent to which they use creative thinking to win. Design and creativity are essential components that help make events memorable experiences, but as the paper demonstrates they also have a significant role in securing the event contract in the first place. In some cases elaborate and extreme design tactics are used to make a successful pitch.     

Changing tires on a moving car: the role of timing in hospitality and service turnaround processes

Corporate turnaround processes consist of two main strategies: retrenchment and recovery. Whereas retrenchment focuses on efficiency and cost reduction, recovery entails strategic repositioning for long-term growth. Prior research has emphasized the timing of turnaround strategies as critical for the overall turnaround success and proposed a sequential or simultaneous timing of retrenchment and recovery. However, a sequential timing of turnaround strategies may have important disadvantages in the particular context of the service sector, given that it may quickly lead to staff demotivation, declining service quality and loss of customers.This research investigates the timing of retrenchment and recovery activities in service industry turnarounds with a multi-method approach. 35 service industry turnarounds in the German-speaking markets of Western Europe (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) were analyzed. Based on the results of the first study, the research was complemented with a qualitative study of six turnaround cases in the Swiss hospitality industry. The converging evidence from both studies suggests that retrenchment and recovery activities interact in predicting the performance of service turnarounds. This suggests that a simultaneous turnaround process provides a more adequate timing for turnarounds in the specific service environment. The findings have important implications for turnaround theory and for managerial practice in service turnarounds.     

How do hospitality entrepreneurs use their social networks to access resources? Evidence from the lifecycle of small hospitality enterprises

This study investigates entrepreneurs’ use of social networks to access resources during the conception, start-up, and consolidation stages of small enterprises in the hospitality industry in Sergipe State, Brazil. This study analyzes four cases of small hotel ventures, employing cross-case analyses to identify the patterns, similarities, and differences between the cases. The study findings highlight that, in the start-up stage, entrepreneurs access fewer resources, utilizing only family and friends, primarily as moral support. In the consolidation stage, entrepreneurs rely more on their weak links, accessing them with greater frequency. Mobilizing social networks is a dynamic process, and how entrepreneurs use these networks changes throughout the business-creation process. This is one of the first studies on how entrepreneurs use their social networks, especially in a developing economy.     

Characteristics of a Medical Tourism Industry: The Case of South Korea

This study investigates the process involved in developing a medical tourism industry in South Korea as a case country, one of the fastest growing countries with strong potential in the medical tourism industry. It analyzed 252 articles on medical tourism posted on the websites of the Korean Tourism Organization and the Korean International Medical Association. Both sources are highly representative portal websites for medical tourism in the country. The article aims to enhance understanding of medical tourism as a new growth industry while identifying its key developmental characteristics and makes valuable suggestions for the industry that can be reflected to other countries. The study contributes theoretically and practically by examining the unique and updated characteristics and process of positioning of this recently emerging field in the global tourism industry.     

Organic ‘folkloric’ community driven place-making and tourism

The term 'place-making' describes a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public places for improving urban environments and residents' quality of life. Place-making has since become an institutionalized industry often supported by multi-million dollar budgets, but rarely are communities in control. The emphasis on improved welfare outcomes for communities has frequently omitted tourism benefits as an objective, although the tourism industry is often quick to exploit public space developments. Even though there is an emergent literature on place-making and tourism that has started to analyze this phenomenon, there is still little understanding of the role of place-making in tourism when place-making is the result of a community-led organic process. Five cases of place-making through emic, organic, folkloric, community-driven initiatives that differ markedly from the formal 'industry' of place-making that have achieved tourism-related outcomes even where tourism was not a primary motivation, are explored.     

A technology adoption and implementation process in an independent hotel chain

Successful technological initiatives in the hospitality industry are a product of a well-planned and executed innovation adoption process. This qualitative study investigated the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled locking technology in an independent hospitality company as a mechanism for service innovation and improved internal process efficiency. Findings from the research generated themes significantly impacting the knowledge and persuasion stages of the diffusion of innovations (DOI) adoption process. Results produced theoretical implications which suggest the dual nature of adoption process in the service industries, as well as practical recommendations for the implementation of new technologies in the hospitality industry.     

中外酒店业HRM研究进展及比较

酒店业作为以服务为第一产品的产业，人力资源管理（HRM：Human Resource Management）对其发展的重要性是不言而喻的。本文在回顾中外酒店业HRM研究的基础上，将两者进行了对比，从而剖析出两者在研究过程中存在的异同厦酒店业HRM未来的研究发展方向。以期为我国酒店业HRM的深入研究，提供一定的借鉴和帮助。     

Designing Collaboration Process Facilitation in Hotel Management Teams to Improve Collaboration Performance

This study proposes a structured collaboration process providing procedural guidance to facilitate smooth collaboration among hotel management teams. Design science research (DSR) and action research methodologies were followed to develop and evaluate an effective process facilitation based on collaboration engineering (CE) for group-oriented solutions in the hospitality industry. We interviewed members of the hotel management teams who used our process for insights and feedback and conducted a second-round iteration to optimize the designed artifact. According to the research findings, the designed artifact was perceived as easy to follow. Hospitality groups that deployed the proposed process facilitation reported good collaboration performances. Interviewees listed several merits of our collaboration process, including structured collaboration guidance, strict time control, and idea generation encouragement. As one of the first studies to adopt DSR methodology in hotel management teams, this paper puts forth a valuable approach to collaboration engineering in the hospitality industry.     

中国旅游业周期波动分析

周期性波动是存在于任何经济中的一种常态,并体现于经济扩张与收缩、波峰与波谷不断交替的固有运动。旅游业作为一个经济产业,在其发展历程中同样存在着周期波动。本文以分析世界旅游业周期增长为基础,重点研究了中国旅游业周期波动,并通过对比分析,对中国旅游业周期现象与世界旅游业周期现象的关系进行了初步探析。文章预测,中国旅游业已经进入了以微波化为主要特征的第5周期。     

对旅游产业生态过程的研究

本文在传统的旅游划分基础上进行功能和价值的扩展研究，对旅游的主要过程-旅游产业的生态内涵进行阐述，并阐明了生态效应如何构建新的环境行为，区别了旅游产业生态与生态旅游产业二者的概念，运用功用主义和伦理学思想建立与经济产业说相关的关系结构，在此基础上运用社会生态学观点探讨了旅游产业生态过程对社会进程的功用。     

导游实践中的跨文化交流

导游员是旅游业的灵魂,在旅游产品转化为旅游消费的过程起着至关重要的作用。由于游客来源与背景等文化差异,这一转化过程受到不同文化因素的制约,而跨文化交流意识的养成与跨文化交流技巧的运用是使这一转化顺利实现必不可少的一种手段。在导游实践中,合理运用跨文化交流知识与技巧,将有助于实现旅游产业的最优化,促进和谐的导游与游客的关系。     

基于旅游产业化的一种动态教育模式安排

本文通过对近几年来我国旅游教育与旅游产业发展的状态比较 ,在抽样调查和实证数据分析的基础上 ,指出旅游教育与旅游产业发展过程中存在的一种均衡与非均衡状态 ,并提出了一种旅游教育与旅游产业协调发展的动态教育模式。     

Using segmentation to compete in the age of the sharing economy: Testing a core-periphery framework

Airbnb has emerged as a credible competitive threat to the hotel industry. Consequently, hotel brands are having to rethink the experiences they provide to customer in an increasingly competitive environment. Despite these trends in the industry, experience-related research that examines and informs these developments remains under-represented in the hospitality and tourism literature. The present study offers a systematic approach to examine the potential differences in experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. Using a multiple-group analysis approach, it examines the moderating effects of individual characteristics and situational factors on the nature and dynamics of experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. The findings of the study culminate in the core-periphery framework of the hospitality consumption experience that can provide a relevant theoretical lens for future research into the different sectors and types of experiences within the hospitality and tourism industry. The study also outlines important implications for the hotel industry’s strategic experience design initiatives, from the standpoint of product development, the segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) process, and marketing communications.     

基于制度变迁的浙江省民营资本旅游投资行为研究

制度变迁实质上是一种制度创新的过程.浙江省通过制度创新,引导、鼓励民营资本进入旅游业.投资住宿、餐饮等中小型旅游企业、大中型休闲观光农业园区、开发自然或文化旅游资源是浙江省民营资本进入旅游业的主要渠道.目前在浙江省,住宿餐饮业、景区景点、旅行社等旅游环节民营资本均占有重要地位.民营资本的进入促进了浙江省旅游业的发展,对中西部旅游业的发展、旅游业投融资等制度创新有重要的借鉴作用.     

Reservations cancelled: Consumer complaints in the tourist industry

This paper discusses the nature and dimensions of consumer complaints in the tourist industry. Tourist grievances are rooted in four structural features of the industry: the lack of coordination between the four major tiers of the service delivery chain; a “contingent” style of operation necessitated by constant environmental uncertainties; a proliferation of travel firms, many of which are small, independent businesses; and an uneven, seasonal fluctuation of consumer demand. In addition, the gap between tourist expectation and the reality of the holiday destination further creates a context favorable to the generation of tourist complaints. Based on cases handled by Canadian/American newspaper ombudsmen, the content of tourist complaints is identified and recommendations for improved industry/client relations are offered.     

The value chain's use for the service industry

The value chain model (Porter, 1985) has been originally developed for manufacturing. Therefore, applying it to the service industry may cause several problems. This study examines the value chain's use for the service industry with particular reference to the hotel rooms division. Findings from the research show that the value chain technique is also useful for service organizations but its meaning in the strategic process is different from that for the manufacturing industry.     

An institutional assessment of three local government-level tourism destinations at different stages of the transformation process

Transformation theory attempts to understand the long-run process of structural shifts that occur in an industry and economy as a result of institutional change. While transformation theory is being advanced and tools have emerged to measure institutions, these innovations are yet to be applied to consider institutional change across the development spectrum. This is critical for developing institutional theory to underpin the tourism transformation process. Consequently, this paper aims to: 1) assess the institutions of the tourism industry in three regions at different stages of transformation, and 2) compare tourism to other industries within the regions. The results indicate that as the tourism industry matures it becomes smarter, more adaptable, and takes its own trajectory by departing from the institutional norms of non-tourism organizations in the region. The tourism management implications are that learning, research capabilities, adaptability and collaborative marketing plans should be fostered in the early stages of transformation.     

国际旅游科学研究新热点:全球气候变化对旅游业影响研究

伴随着全球气候变化科学研究的兴起,近年来全球气候变化对旅游业的影响逐渐成为国际旅游科学研究的新热点。本文划分了气候变化与旅游业研究阶段,按照响应—适应—缓解的系统流程,从全球气候变化对旅游目的地、旅游流、旅游者心理与行为、旅游产业系统的影响以及旅游活动对气候变化的缓解与适应等5个方面进行了综述。最后,总结归纳了国际气候变化对旅游业影响研究的一些基本特点,以期为我国在此领域的研究提供一些有益的启示。     

Quantitative approaches for economic use of emerging technology in the tourism industry: unmanned aerial vehicle systems

As technological innovations develop, new categories of services are emerging. In the tourism industry, one of the limelight technologies is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for virtual tourism systems, monitoring, and patrol activities for safety and security. However, for the successful application of a UAVs system, it is important to construct the system in an economic and efficient manner. In this study, quantitative approaches for a UAV system are introduced to support the economic establishment and its efficient operation. Two mathematical models are developed to construct and operate UAVs systems for recreation and safety purposes in the tourism industry. The validity of the proposed models is demonstrated via numerical experiments for both cases. To our knowledge, this is the first approach to address the issues of a UAV system design for tourism purposes. This study is expected to be the theoretical basis for future use of UAVs in the tourism industry.