Introduction
Tourism is classically regarded as traveling for recreation although this definition has been expanded in recent years to include any travel outside of one's normal working or living area. According to Inskeep, (1988), the tourist originated when large numbers of middle class people began to join aristocratic travelers. As societies became wealthier, and people lived longer, it became not only possible but probable that lower-middle and middle class people steadily employed would retire in good health and with some significant savings.
The tourist is usually interested (among other things) in the destination's climate, culture or its nature. Wealthy people have always traveled to distant parts of the world, not incidentally to some other purpose, but as an end in itself: to see great buildings or other works of art; to learn new languages; or to taste new cuisines. Organized tourism is now a major industry around the world. Many national economies are now heavily reliant on tourism. The term tourism is sometimes used pejoratively, implying a shallow interest in the societies and natural wonders that the tourist visits.
On the other hand, international tourism remains a consistently productive industry in a volatile global economy. Between 1950 and 1999, the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide increased from .025 billion to .664 billion and are expected to reach 1.56 billion by 2020. In 1999, gross receipts from international tourism topped $1 billion in 59 countries and territories. The United Stares led all these with $72.3 billion (World Tourism Organization, 2002).
Apparently, this paper aims to discuss the different issues in international tourism particularly to the issues and contemporary changes related to International Hospitality Marketing Planning, Practice and Theory.
Discussions
In 1998, Williams wrote that tourism is one sector that has performed particularly well and has become one of the most critical forces moving and shaping the world's economy. The identification and promotion of localities as a result of their location, natural attractions and tourist-orientated facilities, has enabled areas, formerly obscure in tourism terms, to enjoy new-found economic prosperity. In that light, the increasing importance of tourism is a noteworthy undertaking for any government and many countries have now come to regard it as a passport to further development.
For that matter, governments and development agencies around the world find tourism promotion a relatively inexpensive strategy that can draw in foreign exchange through exhibiting local culture, environments and periodical events such as sports games. However, tourism can also be regarded as a development panacea. Some evidence showed that tourism development often comes at a price and economic gains must be balanced against social and environmental costs. To that, questions must be asked concerning the costs and impacts of tourism, and whether it truly can be an empowering development strategy for the host community, from which it can derive sustainable long-term benefits. (Mitchella & Reidb, 2001)
In relation to international tourism, hospitality among host countries is very important. Basically, hospitality industry in the United Kingdom is continuously growing in the 21st century. This industry encompasses hotels and other accommodations, restaurants, fast food retail, bars, and catering. It has been characterized in recent decades by the development of an increasing range of highly segmented products and services. Overlapping tourism and leisure services, with a growing business services component, it is a highly competitive global industry (Rowley et al, 2003, 9).
Hospitality is a major force in the UK economy, creating growth and jobs. It employs 1.8 million people in nearly 300,000 establishments and has a total turnover exceeding £64 billion (BHA, 2002). Hospitality and tourism has become one of the world’s most fiercely competitive businesses. The hotel industry is the linchpin of the UK's leisure-related service sector: a big business with enormous growth potential. It also contributes to the country's attractiveness as an international business destination (Lovegrove et al, 1994).
However, a report shows that the future of the UK leisure industry is not as bright as it seems to be. In order to consider the demand and supply equation within the UK hospitality industry, the report commissioned by the Greater London Authority (2003) reviewed the drivers of demand and then provided forecast the likely tourism trends over the next 15 years.
The report had taken an econometric model similar to one used to forecast hotel performance for the British Hospitality Association in 1998. In its discussions with industry experts, the Greater London Authority (2003) noted some pessimism about future prospects for London as a visitor attraction. The pessimism reflected the view that London was expensive relative to other centers, and that there were new and more exciting tourist venues coming on to the market all the time, including very cheap and attractive new venues in Eastern Europe such as Prague.
Furthermore, tourism planning is one of the important things to consider in gaining positive impact to the community. Although resident attitudes toward tourism development are frequently discussed in the context of communities, rarely do researchers discuss the implications of these attitudes for urban planning. At the same time, however, tourism planning continues to evolve from having a design orientation toward having a more inclusive and sustainable community approach. Basically, international tourism increasingly faced criticism for cultural exploitation. Critics demanded that planners respect the traditions and values of residents to avoid possible boycott by the emerging socially conscious traveler. Such travelers expanded tourism s global scope by establishing a demand for authentic destinations "off the beaten track" and were forerunners of today's adventure, heritage, and ecotour travelers.
Apparently, Bacchus and Molina (2001) stated that the increasing demands of customers in availing hotel or airline reservations are being addressed by the tourism industry through the online Internet reservation system. This reservation system enables travelers to find schedules and fares, seat and room availability, car hire tariffs and make reservations directly (Bacchus & Molina, 2001). Today travelers can book a room from almost anywhere in the world as many hotel websites allow online booking with a confirmation being given instantly (Kasavana & Brooks, 2001).
An advantage to Internet usage for the hospitality industry falls in the marketing realm (Watson, et al., 1996). Almost 9% of all Internet users made travel reservations through the Internet in 1998 (Domke-Damonte & Levsen, 2002). By having an interactive Web site online, hotels are offering their services to a global market at an inexpensive rate (Domke-Damonte & Levsen, 2002). Through this, they can empathize their individual services and competencies, a capability not available within a cooperative marketing plan; thus, this could increase competitive moves by offering niche services the industry does not usually provide (Domke-Damonte & Levsen, 2002).
According to Violino (1998), Synapse Group Inc., hired by Hilton Hotels Corporation to design and maintain Hilton websites, indicated that an average of two million dollars worth of room reservations a month came from Hilton hotel websites worldwide. Hilton expects this number to rise significantly as an increasing number of people become comfortable booking hotel rooms through the Internet (Violino, 1998).
As noted by Aksu and Tarcan (2002), websites have now become a popular medium for advertising and reaching a large group of people. Therefore, implementing Internet Reservation System (IRS) is an effective tool for increasing demand. Higley (2003) further states that big chain hotel companies are aiming to improve their websites to increase bookings. At Marriott International hotels, 85% of the online reservations came from Marriott International’s own website (Higley, 2003). From the literature, it can be concluded that usage of IRS is rapidly increasing and that IRS offer great potential for increasing reservations and consequently increasing room sales.
According to Domke-Damonte and Levsen (2002), the Internet has been widely used by hotels and travel agencies to make up for the loss brought about by economic downturn. Domke-Damonte and Levsen (2002) stress that the Internet has had a major impact on society in general and on hotel industry specifically as, but add that, as a result, the implementation of online reservation system greatly increases competition within a service industry.
In response to the increased importance of services, numerous articles on issues related to the effective management of service operations have appeared in both academic and practitioner based publications (for example, Karmarker & Pitbladdo, 1995; Kellogg & Nie, 1995; Lovelock, 1992). Several of these articles present typologies of services and provide directions for improving quality, productivity and operating efficiency, however relatively little has been done to empirically test the proposed ideas.
Conclusion
In order to succeed in the international tourism marketplace and to benefit the national economy, any destination must ensure that its overall attractiveness, and the integrity of the experiences it delivers to visitors, must equal or surpass that of the many alternative destinations open to potential visitors. Additionally, with the pursuit of economic growth through tourism comes the preservation of the environment.
In the end, tourism has it share of good and bad impacts, socially, economically and even environmentally. In addition, it has to be noted that tourism is not one industry but many. It also depends on subjective perceptions of landscape and culture which may not support domestic development objectives.
Therefore, a proactive approach to sustainable tourism, economically and environmentally, should allow the redefinition of tourism away from stereotypical images which are not helpful to equitable development. Market-led demands for all forms of tourism may reinforce such unhelpful images, yet also are considered to be environmental by misinformed governments and tourists. (Silver, 1993).
Hence, the achievement of sustainable tourism or its continual development for the collective benefits of the world, may therefore depend on a change in strategy and planning of the industry in order to identify common ground more easily, and to exploit further returns without sacrificing the one that lays the golden egg, in manner of speaking. All said, future research may have to focus on participatory planning involving business, governments, host communities and campaigners with a greater view to common ground.
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