Overview Of The Hotel Industry Tourism Essay

The hotel industry is any types or forms of business relating to the provision of accommodation in lodging, food and drinks and various types of other services that are interconnected and which are intended for public service, both of which use the lodging facilities or who simply use the services or the production of certain of the hotel.

Hotels offer enormous range of guests’ services such as banqueting, conference and fitness, sport and facilities, beauty spas, bars, sophisticated restaurant, casinos, night clubs and casinos. The Hotel sector consists of more than 15% of all the people who worked in the hospitality sector. Hotels falls into a number of different categories which includes the glamorous five-star resort international luxury chains, trendy boutiques, country house, conference, leisure or guest houses. Many are owner run which offer personalised service to guests. This very dynamic sector offers good quality accommodation, great variety of food and beverage, together with other services for all types of customers.

With offering every kind of accommodation catering for every type of taste, the hotel sector is undeniably constantly growing and evolving, while refining its offering, improving its experience and creating new products to serve and satisfy customer on a local and global level. The hotel sector is always striving to offer excellent customer service throughout its operations.

History of the Hotel Industry

The history of the hospitality industry dates all the way back to the Colonial Period in the late 1700s. The hotel industry has been the subject of important development and growth over the years as it has faced World Wars, The Depression and various social changes. However, the hotel industry as seen today takes form in the early 1950s and 60s, leading the way for growth in to the dynamic industry. This had led to more and more people traveling not only for business but also for leisure reasons, leading to the development which can be seen nowadays.

The idea of renting an accommodation to visitors appeared since ancient times, and the modern concept of a hotel as we know derives from 1794, when the City Hotel opened in New York City; the City Hotel was claimed to be the first building designed exclusively to hotel operations. The City hotel back then possessed 73 rooms and offered different types of service. Similar operations soon appeared in such nearby cities as Baltimore, Boston in 1809 and Philadelphia. 

The industrial revolution, which started in the 1760s, facilitated the construction of hotels everywhere, in mainland Europe, in England and in America.

The advent of new ways of transportations, hotels and resorts outside of major cities were built in the countryside and began promoting their scenery and other attractions. The concept of the vacation was developed and available to more and more of the population. In the 1920’s, hotel building entered a boom phase and many famous hotels were opened,

From there a surge of hotels flooded American and the rest of the world with prominent names such as Radisson, Marriot, Hilton and more others.

Organisations representing hotels worldwide

The growth and expansion of the Tourism industry all over the world have been beyond expectation, whereby this have generated billions for recipient countries, hence making the tourism industry one of the most successful sector in international trade in services, while being for some economies their major exports. However, the hotel industry is a very dynamic sector which often faced economically difficult times reason why there has been the creation of several world organisations to monitor progress, promote and developed sustainable tourism in the hotel industry. The following are some of the world leading organisations representing the tourism and travel, and hotel industry throughout the world:

i) World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)

The (UNWTO) is one of the United Nations agencies, which is accountable for the advancement of responsible and sustainable tourism. Being the Word leading organization in the tourism sector, UNWTO promotes tourism as a mean for economic growth, development and environmental sustainability and offers the monitoring and assistance to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

The UNWTO also encourages the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, to maximize tourism’s socio-economic contribution, and is committed to promoting tourism as a tool in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aims is towards poverty alleviation and encouraging sustainable development. Moreover, the UNWTO plays also major roles in creating market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable tourism policies and instruments, fosters tourism education and training

ii) International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IHRA)

The IHRA is an international trade association representing the interests of the hotel and restaurant industries. IH&RA members are national hotel and restaurant associations throughout the world, and international and national hotel and restaurant chains representing some 50 brands. Officially recognized by the United Nations, IH&RA monitors international agencies on behalf of the industry, estimated to comprise 300,000 hotels and 8 million restaurants, employs 60 million people and contributes 950 billion USD annually to the global economy.

iii) HSMAI – Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International

The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International is the largest international association of travel sales and marketing professionals. The association have over 4,000 members from different travel and tourism organisations including hotels, resorts, airlines, cruise lines, car rental agencies, and others in 31 countries worldwide, with the purpose of improving sales and marketing, education and management skills in the hospitality organisations worldwide.

iv) The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)

The World Travel & Tourism Council is the global authority on the economic and social contribution of Travel & Tourism. It promotes sustainable growth for the industry, working with governments and international institutions to create jobs, to drive exports and to generate prosperity. It is the only body representing the private sector in all parts of the Travel & Tourism industry worldwide. The WTTC activities attempt to settle the Travel & Tourism industry’s private and public sector affairs in order to bring forward sustainable change.

Growth of Hotel Industry Worldwide

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The rise in levels of income and standard of living but also coupled with an increase in leisure time has been especially beneficial to the tourism industry. The advent of technological progress particularly through higher capacity cruise ships and aircrafts, computerized reservation systems, better road transport facilities have played key roles in the global growth of hotel industry. Moreover, enhanced productivity have been favourable to the industry by helping to cut costs and making travel and tourism products more affordable without ignoring the fact that travel and tourism is now more safe and secure despite the terrorist attack which threatens the industry.

As competition in the industry increases worldwide, the customers have reap great benefits in terms of  lower prices coupled from a wider choice as the organizations have to differentiate their products from the crowd to appeal to specific market segments but also strive to enhance the quality of their services.  More and more innovative approaches to marketing and promotion and creation of new products are pulling the demand to the destinations. The governments as a facilitator, fund provider and legislator have also had played its part on the development of the industry.  New consumer needs and attitudes have also fuelled the growth of specific segments for instance ecotourism is booming. One other factor but not the least is the increased level of economic activity which has led to an increase in business travel and also the growing trend of international mobility.

Despite global economic challenges, hotel developments continue to progress, with new rooms injected into global supply by both independent hotels and group.

Statistics

According to the UN World Tourism Organisation, the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide was at only 25 million in 1950 is now set to reach 1 billion in 2012 and 1.8 billion by 2020

In an update of forecasts made at the beginning of the year, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) predicts growth for the Travel & Tourism globally of 2.7%, only slightly downgraded from the 2.8% that was expected for the industry at the beginning of the year.

The main reasons for the adverse trends are that WTTC expects world GDP growth to be 2.3% in 2012; down 0.2% from the beginning of the year.

The trend for Travel & Tourism figures has been positive for the beginning of 2012 and has surpassed expectations from the start of the year. International tourist arrivals have grown 4.9% in the year from January to June, airline passenger traffic is up 6.8%, and hotel occupancy rates are up in many markets.

In 2011 Travel & Tourism accounted for 255 million jobs globally generating 9 per cent of world GDP while generating billions for host economies; explaining why the sector is a key driver for investment and economic growth.

According to statistics from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), in 2008 an estimated 924 million international tourist arrivals, an increase of 1.76% compared to 2007. According to statistics from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), in 2008 international tourist arrivals amounted to 917 million visitors, representing an increase of 1.76% compared to 2007. In 2009, international tourist arrivals fell to 882 million, representing a worldwide decline of 4.4% over 2008.

The worldwide destinations recorded a total of 600 million arrivals, International tourist arrivals in the whole world fell by 7% between January and August 2009, but the rate of decline has eased in recent months. These results and recent economic data, confirms UNWTO’s initial forecast a 5% decrease in international tourist arrivals during the year 2009. Specifically, the global tourism in 2011 grew by 4.4 per cent, reaching $980 million international tourist arrivals. And the forecast for 2012 has just started, UNWTO expects grow that a somewhat lower rate, but allows to reach 1,000 million international tourists.