CHAPTER 8

FUTURE WORLD TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY ISSUES

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. Discuss the important safety and security in tourism and hospitality.
2. Explain responsible management of sustainable tourism.
3. Discuss tourism policy and strategic planning
4. Analyze impact of climate changes, natural diseases and health issues in tourism and
hospitality.

This chapter will discuss major tourism and hospitality issues that are important to the success
of tourism and hospitality in the future which includes safety and security in tourism and
hospitality, health issues, climate changes, e-commerce and hospitality education and training.

Future World Tourism and Hospitality Issues

1. Safety and Security in Tourism and Hospitality
Safety and security plays a big role in this century. Everyone is concerned about their safety
and security when they are staying in the hotel during vacation. In the worldwide hotel
industry, the management too concern about safety and security issues pertaining on their
guests and employees.

After the disasters such as terrorist attack at Luxor Egypt in 1992 and 1993, 852 passengers
died on the shipwreck of Estonia in Baltic Sea on 28th September 1994, Iraq war terror
attack of September 11, 2001 in New York, United States, the SARS epidemic in 2003,
Tsunami disaster on 26th December 2004 in Thailand and Bali bombings and the 2019
Pandemic, the need for safety and security around the world is growing and the topic of
safety and security has become a popular discussion among the people in the world.

Terrorism is one of the biggest threats to the Philippine economy and also documented to
have the biggest threat on tourism industry demand worldwide. Terrorist attacks have been
causing a major strain to the Philippine's travel and tourism sector. Whenever there are
threats of or actual terrorist attacks, local tourism players suffer immediate decline in
business as guests cancel trips and hotel bookings.

Crimes against tourists such as robbery, murder and kidnapping are also important concerns
for destination planners. In several places, statistics regarding a victim's status as resident
visitor is not regularly reported or collected by local police agencies. However, when crimes
against tourists are featured in international media reports, the result is often harmful to
the overall image of the destination in spite of the low level of risk and number of actual
offenses.

The following are important items to be included in a destination's security strategy. Dr.
Peter Tarlow, an expert on tourism and security issues, proposed these points:

 Destinations and attractions must ready when security is compromised to keep visitors
safe and secure,
 Destinations that provide sound security coupled with customer service will prosper,
 The lack of a comprehensive approach will create a false sense of security. For example,
only having gas masks available for hotel guests may give false hopes if the hotel's water
supply is poisoned,
 All members of the local tourism and hospitality system should be included when
developing a comprehensive tourism and hospitality strategy,
 Media coverage of a local incident can spread the negative public relations effects to the
entire continent,
 The safety development needs of the components of the visitor experience, including
transportation, infrastructure, accommodations, highway rest areas, and food sources
should be assessed, and
 Establish a place for visitors to turn to, if a terrorist attack were to occur, and openly
communicate the location and purpose of the center in advance in case of any threats.

2. The Impact of the World's Economy on Tourism and Hospitality

The world economy has a major impact on the future of international travel. With a
flourishing economy, more people will travel. If there is a greater distribution of a
country's wealth, more people have the financial means to travel. Research shows that
tourism and hospitality is a useful tool for development that can be used to alleviate
poverty. Developing countries recognize the important contributions of the tourism and
hospitality industry particularly in the establishments of small local industries; many of
which employ women.

3. Managing Sustainable Tourism in a Responsible Manner

Tourism is an ancient phenomenon and already the people during the times of the
Mesopotamian society traveled. However, tourism only startedto expand significantly
post-war. After this development of tourism and hospitality; rapid, uncontrolled and
unsustainable tourism destination were observed. Chaotic mass tourism has led not only
 to irreversible environmental, socio-cultural and economical damages, but also has it
made those destinations undesirable to tourists.

4. Tourism Policy and Strategic Planning

Tourism policy and strategic planning is the fourth major world tourism and hospitality
issue. The sustainable benefits of tourism and hospitality for local communities will
continue to grow in importance. There will be greater efforts toward partnership of
private and public sectors to alleviate poverty develop policies to combat the negative
impacts on tourism and hospitality, and support the economic, sociocultural and
environmental contributions of and hospitality to the world.

Developing new tourism and hospitality projects, maintaining present destinations and
improving travel-related facilities and services require comprehensive policies and
detailed plans that combine local needs, market competitiveness and tourism and
hospitality sustainability. Destinations, sites and countries that formulate policies and
implement detailed strategic plans will be able to sustain their tourism and hospitality
products in the future. When the policies and plans include all aspects of tourism and
hospitality and promote the concept of cooperation and competition, the opportunities
for future success are greatly intensified.

5. Using E-commerce Tools in Tourism and Hospitality

The fifth world tourism and hospitality issue is the use of e-commerce tools in tourism
and hospitality. More than 50% of the travelers in the US use the internet in planning
their travel and vacations. This occurrence is growing globally. If a destination does not
have a good website, it will miss tourism and hospitality traffic.

It is evident that the use of e-commerce tools for tourism and hospitality will continue
to grow in the future. Several e-commerce tools equip tourism and hospitality for a
high-tech future. Since tourism and hospitality is a combination of products and
services, the multimedia qualities of electronic commerce can be applied effectively to
tourism and hospitality in order to increase the attractiveness of a destination.

6. Tourism and Hospitality Education and Training

Tourism and hospitality education supply has faced a rapid growth over the past three
decades. It is a global phenomenon and the reason behind is to guarantee qualified and
well trained employees on the tourism employment market as demands keep on
growing. Both the government and the private sector play an important role in the
provision of tourism education; at secondary and tertiary level.
 Globalization and innovation will be the outstanding feature of tourism and hospitality
education and training in the future.

7. Emerging Tourism and Hospitality Markets

The seventh major tourism and hospitality issue refers to emerging tourism and
hospitality markets. Two countries continuously emerge as successful marketers of
tourism and hospitality in the near future, these are China and India, both of which
account to one-third of the total world's population. The two countries' economy is
developing and greater segment of their people are anxious to travel and not only for
leisure but for other reasons such as business and education. A good example is the
increase of the Indian students in Filipino medicine schools such as in University of
Northern Philippines in Vigan City, Lyceum Northwestern University in Pangasinan and
Lorma Medical Colleges in San Fernando City.

8. Quality Tourism and Hospitality Products and Experiences

The eight major tourism and hospitality issue is quality tourism and hospitality products
and experiences. Tourists request for greater variety, flexibility and quality in their
tourism and hospitality products. Quality in tourism and hospitality experiences is
usually high on the tourist's list. In the future, the number and variety of tourism and
hospitality products will change such as the availability of more adventure travel such as
jungle tours, safaris, trekking, underwater exploration and even space travel.

Tourists look for a clean environment, more nature-based tourism, and cultural tourism.
Tomorrow's travelers will be better informed than today's travelers with regard to
tourism destinations because e-commerce tools are used more effectively in the
planning of travel. Thus, the future of tourism and hospitality will greatly depend on the
introduction of new quality tourism and hospitality products and experiences.
Destinations that offer high quality tourism and hospitality products will receive the
benefits

9. Partnership and Strategic Alliances in Tourism and Hospitality

The ninth major issue is partnerships and strategic alliances in tourism and hospitality.
New partnerships are occurring such as the partnership between the UNWTO and the
Meeting Industry on November 28, 2006 in which the United Nations Tourism Satellite
Account will measure the global economic contribution of the meeting industry. Other
partnerships are introducing coopetition, the use of cooperation and competition in
 which the available opportunities are unlimited.

A recognized form of coopetition is the rewarding of frequent travelers with points

which can be used with car rental companies, hotels, airlines and other components of
the tourism and hospitality industry. Hotels that have strategic alliances with certain
airlines will give the visitors points for room nights spent at hotel which accumulate and
are redeemable for free airline tickets or upgrades of for use in booking future hotel
rooms.

Through strategic alliances in tourism and hospitality, the tourism and hospitality
industry can maximize its use of outsourcing particularly in the areas of cost
effectiveness, cost reduction and brand loyalty.

10. The Impacts of Health Issues on Tourism and Hospitality

The tenth major tourism and hospitality issue is the impact of health issues on tourism
and hospitality. Most travelers avoid the areas that have high health risks. Diseases
spread more rapidly dues to travel, particularly through international aviation. Reports
released by Harvard Researchers showed that the flu virus spread more rapidly due to
the international tourism and hospitality, especially air travel.

Fear of disease reduces travel demand. Other diseases that affect tourism and
hospitality are Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) foot and mouth disease and in 2019, Coronavirus Disease (CoVid-
2019). AIDS was originally brought to the United States and Canada by a flight attendant
who contracted the disease in Africa. SARS spread rapidly throughout Asia and Canada.
The foot and mouth disease spread from the United Kingdom to Continental Europe.
Due to the SARS scare, the hotel occupancy rate in Hong Kong went down from 82% to
5%.

11. Effects of Natural Disasters on Tourism and Hospitality

The eleventh major tourism and hospitality issue is the effects of natural disasters on
tourism and hospitality. Natural disasters have devastating impacts on the tourism and
hospitality industry. People avoid travel to affected areas. Once this occurs, there is
limited opportunity to use tourism and hospitality to restart the economy or to obtain
new revenues to reinvest in the tourism and hospitality industry and in the well-being of
the local residents.
12. Climate Change and Tourism and Hospitality

The twelfth major tourism and hospitality issue is climate change and its impact on
tourism and hospitality. Global warming is a growing concern for travelers. The recently
published research by the World Wildlife Fund documents the ecological footprint of
human activities around the world, many of which are embodied in international travel
and tourism. Results show that the world's ecosystem is being degraded by humans at
an unsustainable rate that cause irreversible damage to the planet as well as triggering
population declined at about 31% in land animals since 1970, freshwater creatures by
38% and marine animals by 27%.

Climate change can cause a ripple effect in tourism and hospitality. Climate change will
affect which certain locations will tourists visit and at what times of the year. This shift in
travel patterns and travel periods can have an impact on travel destinations which, in
turn, affects the environment, which in turn changes when visitors desire to come.
Environmental impacts will emerge- from fossil fuel power and oil generation that
support various forms of transportation- from accompanying greenhouse gas
production.