GLOBAL AND LOCAL TOURISM (VIDEO)

GLOBAL AND LOCAL TOURISM

GLOBAL AND LOCAL TOURISM

To take stock of the status of tourism and hospitality in Mauritius

To understand the global perspective in tourism and hospitality

To consider the nature of international human resource management (IHRM)

Introduction

The continuing growth of world markets, increased availability of management and technological know-how in different countries, advances in telecommunications, and greater regional political and economic integration are increasingly leading to the globalization of tourism and hospitality.

In Mauritius tourist arrivals have been expanding significantly in recent years. About 70% of the tourist arrivals are of European origin, with France supplying nearly half. The nearby Reunion French Territory is the most important short haul source market accounting for about 13% of total tourist arrivals. Asian residents provided 6% of tourist arrivals, almost half of which originated from the Indian Sub-Continent.

The tourism industry does not cease to grow despite the problems that it has encountered in the past years, such as the credit crunch, terrorism, continuous increasing petrol prices and health hazards and economic crisis.

The tourism perspective in Mauritius

Tourism has become one of the most important pillars and the most revenue generating activity in many small island developing states. It has become the source of job creation and revenue for small island economies.

Tourism is the third pillar of the Mauritian economy after the E.P.Z (export processing zone) manufacturing sector and Agriculture. It has contributed significantly to economic growth and has been a key factor in the overall development of Mauritius since the years 1995 onwards.

In the past two decades tourist arrivals increased at an average annual rate of 9 % with a corresponding increase of about 21% in tourism receipts.

Tourism has now become a flourishing industry in Mauritius, where destinations mostly rely on their natural and some manmade resources to make up their tourism industry. It is nowadays a principal element for economic development and growth.

Threats to the tourism industry

Competition

Competition is also highly dependent on the availability of resources, but wants are unlimited and resources are scarce.

Competition should not only be seen as a way of boosting a market but if the competition is not well managed or even if policies with regards to competition are not clear, there may be a proliferation of tourism activities which could be to the detriment of the host community. For example the growth of hotels on the coast lines may prove to be beneficial to a country’s economy in the short term and long term if managed properly. However, if there are no proper guidelines on competition, it can become a nightmare for countries as host communities could feel alienated.

Social problems

Crimes committed to travellers has an impact on many categories of people, because a negative perception of tourists at a destination is often reported in the media or even tourist themselves to friends and families.

Gambling is often viewed as a booster for the economy of a country. However, gambling results in crimes and social disruption and usually creates very bad effects for the country as a whole.

Drug intake and thefts are also becoming “common” nowadays in Mauritius. Such social factors should be tackled in order to prevent the end of tourism in Mauritius.

Natural Disasters

Natural forces will always be with us and tourism is a major sector of the world economy. Mauritius is a tropical island is frequently visited by cyclones but most of the times those create little destruction to Mauritius. Some tourists perceive those cyclones as an experience, but others perceive them as a natural factor preventing them from enjoying their stay. This may lead in guests cancelling their trips to Mauritius during the cyclonic seasons (November to May)

Climatic change

Over the years many island nations have fought hard to be heard in the international conferences about the effects of global warming on them. In terms of economic weaknesses, it was noted that small islands tend to have small economies, small land area and unfortunately do have a limitation of resources, meaning their economy relies on few primary exports like sugar and of course tourism.

Environmental weaknesses which included the threat of sea level rise following global warming, and the location of small islands in relation to phenomena, such as cyclones, hurricanes and seismic activity which can lead to tsunamis and eradicate the tourism industry from a small island within no time.

The global perspective and the emergence of international HRM

The World Travel and Tourism council (WTTC) stated that travel and tourism which was estimated at 9.3 % in 2010 is expected to rise up to 9.7% by 2020. This increase will help to create an additional 66 million jobs worldwide by 2020, in which 50 million jobs should be created in Asia and hence help to decrease world poverty. The WTTC remains confident that the Travel and Tourism industry will remain a dynamic force for wealth and job creation all over the world.

The contemporary tourism and hospitality industry is increasingly global. Thus, countries they face a number of issues in terms of how they approach a range of HRM issues. For example, to what extent will they try to transfer policies and practices that are successful in the home country to host countries? The globalization of business is making it increasingly important to understand how multinational enterprises can operate more effectively. As they cross national boundaries tourism and hospitality enterprises face many challenges related to such issues as language, culture, economic and political systems, legislative frameworks, management styles and conventions. Here, it will be important to consider the emergence of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) and the advent of comparative human resource management.

     International Human Resource Management

Perlmutter is the father of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) His work in 1969 attempts to delineate differing strategic orientations. He outlines three approaches to tourism and hospitality:

•  an ethnocentric approach which is home-country oriented,
• a polycentric approach which is host country oriented and
• a geocentric approach which is world-oriented.

In general, the ethnocentric strategy suggests that companies should maximize their parent company control to integrate subsidiaries at the cost of local responsiveness. The ethnocentrically oriented companies believe in their superiority of the way of doing things in the home country. Therefore, this approach implies centralized authority. Managers of the home country of the parent company are, therefore, recruited, trained and developed for key positions anywhere in the world to ensure that the home country approach is easily transferred and that host-country nationals fully understand the headquarters culture.

The polycentric approach allows for more local responsiveness and is based on the view that the enterprise should respond to prevailing local conditions where practicable. Hence, in this orientation local people know best and organizations. Thus, local staff are employed in core positions in the host country and enjoy high levels of autonomy and local opportunities for further promotion.

Geocentrism takes place there is an integration of all of their foreign subsidiaries and the melding of a corporate culture. Consequently organizations seek ‘the best man, regardless of nationality, to solve the problems anywhere in the world’. The geocentric approach embeds the notion of ‘think globally and act locally’.