LESSON 4

CHARACTERISTICS OF TOURISM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

TOPICS
T1: The Characteristics of tourism industry
T2: Significance of tourism
T3: Importance of tourism marketing
T4: Becoming a good hotelier

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Understand the characteristic component of tourism industry.
2. Explain the significance of tourism in our country.

TOPIC 1: THE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

1. Intangibility
Tourism products are services and, as such, they are largely intangible though with
tangible, concrete elements. The importance of the abstract elements is such that we must
make them tangible in order to apply marketing techniques to the services we provide. A
direct consequence of intangibility is that the properties of tourism products cannot be
transmitted, displayed or tested in advance. It is their use what is transmitted. This implies
that the purchased product is unique and, in contrast to tangible products, tourism products
are fundamentally experiences. Besides, intangibility implies that buyers are not sure about
what they buy or about what they will get. This is why those who are planning to contract
the services of a tourism package will look for information about it in advance in order to
reduce uncertainty to the maximum.

2. Limited life-span
Tourism products cannot be stored so, unless consumed when planned, they are waste.
This affects hotel industry in such a way that we must choose between selling at the
market’s pace and selling in advance (through agents). In fact, overbooking is a consequence
of this limited life-span, an inherent feature of tourism services that we must try to
counterbalance.

3. Aggregability
A tourism product can be formed by aggregating various products, and this makes its
commercialization and quality control more difficult. Prices can vary by eliminating or adding
services to the existing pack, creating new, customized, products.

4. Heterogeneity
As mentioned, aggregability implies a difficulty when it is about controlling all phases so that
they are at the same level of excellence. A single mistake in any aspect affects the final
product. Nevertheless, aggregability allows preparing custom-designed products, no matter
how standardized they are initially. In this sense, we can talk about “heterogeneous
standardization”. It is not only the product what is being customized but a given trip will be
different from any other even if they share the same characteristics.

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5. Simultaneity of production and consumption
While other products are created, stored, purchased and then used, tourism products are
purchased first and then produced and consumed simultaneously, at the same place and
time. This implies that services cannot be separated from their providers and, therefore,
consumers have to travel to the location of the product, not vice versa. For this reason, the
human component in the provision of services is extremely important.

TOPIC 2: SIGNIFICANCE OF TOURISM

Tourism has a number of economic characteristics. They are the fundamentals of many
aspects of the economics of tourism: tourism as an industry, tourism products are perishable,
seasonality, interdependence of tourism products, relatively low investment costs but high fixed
cost of operation, tourism as a growth sector, high income elasticity and a predominance of
SMEs.

SIGNIFICANCE OF TOURISM

TOURISM- the activities of person travelling to and staying in places outside their usual
environment for not more than consecutive year for leisure business and other purposes.
Tourism has been a major social phenomenon from times immemorial. Travel for pilgrimage and
learning has been an integral part of tourism and thus several centuries of learning and religious
worship developed all over the country. Tourism plays a major role in economic development of
the country through tourism income, promoting concerned central place for business and
creation of a wide range of jobs. It also help to protect our nature through national parks, wild
life sanctuaries etc.

CATEGORIES
• Accommodation
• Hospitality
• Transport service
• Tourist guide
• Travel agencies and other reservation services
• Cultural services

SIGNIFICANCE OF TOURISM
• It is necessary for overcome the mounting stress and strain of modern life.
• Tourism is a multi- discipline sector and is interlinked with several different industries and
service sectors.

CONTRIBUTIONS
Regional development
Employment
Entertainment activities
Cultural and other hospitality services
Infrastructure
Transportation
Health
Education

SIGNIFICANCE OF TOURISM: SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, CULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL

SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE
In developing countries, the social exchange between the host country and the foreign
tourist occur. It helps them to understand one another, not only in learning their languages but
also their culture. It gives importance to community structure, family relationships, collective
traditional life styles, ceremonies and morality.

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1. Increase community facilities
2. Stimulate new and expanded community facilities and infrastructure initiatives, such as the
improvement of retail, restaurant and entertainment options, transport services, education
and sporting facilities.
3. Increase the quality of life for the community, which may not otherwise warrant the
improvement, based on the residential population alone.

ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE
1. Tourism is the one of the most important aspect for developing countries.
2. Both domestic and international tourism must be considered to evaluate the impact of
tourism on the economy.
3. The level of economic activities of the area shall increase through the sale of products and
services to the tourists.
4. Tourism provides foreign exchange without exporting anything out of the country and it
provides more stable earnings for the country than any other industry.
5. The income in the form of foreign exchange earnings from an invisible exports helps in
offsetting the loss if any.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
1. Culture is about how people interact as observed through social interactions, social relations
and material art fact
2. Cultural impacts of tourism refer to changes in the arts, artifacts, customs, rituals and
architecture of a people.
3. The cultural significance of tourism that, it affects the host communities of direct and
indirect relations with tourists, and of interaction with the tourism industry.
4. Other potential significance of tourism include:
– Tourism as a force for peace
– Strengthening communities
– Facilities developed for tourism can benefit residents
– Revaluation of culture and traditions
– Encourages civic involvement and pride
5. Preservation of cultural heritage. ie, prompts the conservation of cultural heritage, either as
a result of increased awareness and pride, or because it can be justified on economic
grounds as a tourist attraction.
6. Bring about a real sense of pride and identity to communities. By showcasing distinct
characteristics of their ways of life, history and culture, and it also encourage the
preservation of traditions.
7. Tourism provides cultural social and economic knowledge about other countries.
8. It provides wide knowledge about different countries of the world.

ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE
1. Improved environmental management and planning
2. Hotels can increase the benefits to natural areas.
3. This requires careful planning for controlled development, based on analysis of the
environmental resources of the area.
4. Proper planning can reduce expensive mistakes, avoiding the gradual deterioration of
environmental assets.
5. Environmental awareness raising.
6. Tourism has the potential to increase public appreciation of the environment.
7. It spread awareness of environmental problems when it brings people into closer contact
with nature and the environment.
8. This also gives awareness of the value of nature and lead to environmentally conscious
behavior and activities to preserve the environment.
9. Cleaner production techniques can be important tools for planning and operating tourism
facilities in a way that minimizes their environmental impacts
10. Pollution prevention and waste minimization techniques are especially important in the
tourism industry.
11. Sustainable consumption is important for the long run of tourism.

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12. The tourism industry can play a key role in providing environmental information and raising
awareness among tourists about environmental consequences.
13. Protection and preservation Tourism can significantly contribute to environmental
protection, conservation and restoration of biological diversity and sustainable use of
natural resources.
14. Because of their attractiveness, pristine sites and natural areas are identified as valuable and
the need to keep the attraction alive can lead to creation of national parks and wildlife
sanctuary.
15. Alternative employment
16. Tourism can provide an alternative to development scenarios that may have greater
environmental impacts.

Global code of ethics for tourism

• Tourism's contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and
societies.
• Tourism as a vehicle for individual and collective fulfillment.
• Tourism, a factor of sustainable development.
• Tourism, a user of the cultural heritage of mankind and contributor to its
enhancement.
• Tourism, a beneficial activity for host countries and communities.

Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development

• Right of workers and entrepreneur in the tourism industry.
• Implementation of the principles of the global code ethics tourism.

Task/Activity

Homework: True or False. Write T if the statement is true and F if the statement is false.

_____1. Travel for pilgrimage and learning has been an unimportant part of tourism and thus
several centuries of learning and religious worship developed all over the country.
_____2. Tourism is a solo-discipline sector and is interlinked with several different industries and
service sectors.
_____3. In developing countries, the social exchange between the host country and the foreign
tourist does not occur. It helps them to understand one another, not only in learning
their languages but also their culture.
_____4. The income in the form of foreign exchange earnings from invisible exports does not
help in offsetting the loss if any.
_____5. Tourism provides cultural social and economic turmoil about other countries.
_____6. Preservation of cultural heritage, example, prompts the conservation of cultural
heritage, either as a result of decreased awareness and pride, or because it can be
justified on economic grounds as a tourist attraction.
_____7. Pollution prevention and waste minimization techniques are unimportant in the
tourism industry.
_____8. Tourism has the potential to decrease public appreciation of the environment.
_____9. Proper planning can increase expensive mistakes, avoiding the gradual deterioration of
environmental assets.
_____10. Tourism can provide an alternative to development scenarios that may have lesser
environmental impacts.

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 TOPIC 3: IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM MARKETING

Importance of Tourism Marketing

(1) Marketing helps to create new customers by offering to satisfy their needs and aims
primarily at customer satisfaction. His second task is to motivate potential customers to
purchase their services. Their crucial role is in promoting distinct destination prints citing
cultural, social scenically important, historical and entertainment-oriented places. Tourism
marketing begins by a detailed assessment of the actual and potential demand and on this
assessment developing facilities and services.
(2) Customer needs in tourism are more than particular products: What the traveller needs on
his travel is a hygienic and a good place to sleep, safe, clean place to eat moderately priced
good food and a comfortable mode of travel be it by train, bus or plane. Such basic needs
can be effectively given by guests. Hospitality should become a way of life and personal
prejudices as sexist, religious and racist should be effectively controlled.
(3) Merchandising becomes more effective under tourism marketing management because
management view their tasks as that of supplying want satisfaction rather than creating
demand for its products among the customers. The physical product is only a part of the
satisfaction rather than creating demand for its products among the customers. The physical
product is only a part of the satisfactions sought by the buyer because he wants in addition
convenience, service and certain other symbolic values.
(4) The managements are able to create more harmony between their own interests and those
of the society because the market orientation under this concept means that the
management build, their future products from satisfying human needs better. Marketing in
tourism duet to the various factors mentioned above needs a somewhat different approach
unlike the normal consumer product or service.

Implications of Marketing Concept in Tourism

Before we can consider how marketing policy and strategy might be incorporated in a
destination’s overall tourism development approach, we need to consider those basic
characteristics of tourism that have implications for the marketing function.

Fragmentation of supply
The tourist product is a composite one, a combination of attractions, transport,
accommodation, entertainment and other services. In most countries, there are many separate
suppliers of these various components – airlines, hotel companies, tour excursion organizers,
etc. It is an important feature of tourism that, though an individual supplier of tourist services
may serve more than one market, rarely, if ever, does a single supplier provide the entire range
of products/services required by a tourist on a visit to a destination. Whether sold as a package
or assembled by the tourist himself or by a travel agent, the tourist product is in practice a
composite one. It is apparent, then, that given the fragmented nature of supply on one hand,
and the demand for a combined set of products on the other, a fundamental challenge for a
destination is to achieve coordination and integration of all components across all subsectors of
the tourism industry, that is, of supply.

Interdependence and complementarity of tourist services

It follows from the fact that tourism demand is for a composite product that the various
tourist products and services are interdependent and complementary. The supply of one (for
example, international air transport to/from a destination) depends on the supply of another
(such as hotel accommodation) and they complement each other. A destination’s reputation can
be set by the weakest link in the tourist product chain. This leads to the marketing policies and
actions of one enterprise directly influencing other enterprises. A country with a liberal charter
policy and/or an airline with an aggressive pricing policy may result in the attraction of low
budget tourists, something that could damage the high quality image central to the marketing of
a five-star hotel chain in the destination. There is again then the need for coordination and
cooperation in order to enhance the effectiveness of individual marketing and promotional
efforts of the various tourism suppliers.

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Rigidity of supply
Much tourism demand cannot be easily and quickly be adjusted in the short term to
variation in demand. A hotel, for example, cannot add or remove rooms in line with demand.
This relative lack of flexibility has obvious operational and economic implications. When demand
falls below capacity, waste of resources occurs; when it exceeds capacity, the tourism industry
fails to maximize its revenue. This “short term” can extend to years if the rigidity is caused by
lack of airport or hotel capacity, given the extensive leadtime to construct a new airport or
hotel.

Fixed in time and space

The composite tourism product cannot be stored – it is perishable – so a hotel room on
a particular night or a seat on a given flight is available only once, and if not utilized, the sales
opportunity is lost. Similarly, it cannot be transported. The need is to bring the consumer to the
tourist product. The importance of ensuring, through marketing, as high a level of utilisation as
possible is particularly marked because of the high fixed costs of many tourist operations. A
hotel has to meet its fixed costs whether it has 5 guests or 200. The non-transportability of
tourism products means there is no physical distribution in the strict sense in tourism marketing.
Similarly, there are limited opportunities for merchandising activities, in consequence of the fact
that the tourist product, unlike consumer goods, cannot be displayed at points of sale other
than via proxy representations.

Intangible – “expectation – experience – memory”

Tourist products, except items like souvenirs, are services rather than goods. As such
they are intangible. The tourism product is subjectively perceived – each destination or
individual tourist operation is a mental concept for each individual prospective tourist
encompassing both physical characteristics and other abstract attributes. The subjective nature
of perception involves an emotional and also an irrational element. In consequence, the tourist
has to be offered psychological benefits. Clearly, this has important implications for advertising
and promotion in tourism and generally on how a tourist product is presented to consumer
groups.

Price elasticity of demand

Most forms of tourism demand involve the use of what economists call personal
discretionary disposable income and free time. Holidaymakers or vacation travellers need both
money and time to engage in tourism. They have freedom of choice as to how to use their
money and time for tourism purposes, affecting decisions such as how much to spend, how long
to go for, where to go, when to go, etc. As a result, tourists are highly sensitive to price, and
generally their demand for tourist services exhibits a significant degree of price elasticity.

Seasonality
It is a characteristic of most tourism markets that demand fluctuates over the course of
the year. The principal determinant is climatic – either in the destination or the tourist
generating markets. Residents of northern parts of the European and North American
continents tend mostly to take domestic or intraregional holidays in the summer months of
June–September whereas they take long haul, inter-regional holidays more in the winter when
the climate at home is generally cold and wet. As a result, tourist operators have periods when
demand is near capacity and others when the level of utilization can be 30 per cent or even less,
with the remaining months – the shoulder season – falling in between these two extremes. all
the more acute because of the fact that any tourism product cannot be stored – the
perishability factor – and the concern of marketers is to generate as much demand.

Users of Tourism Services

The users of tourism services can be categorized in a number of ways. One such way of
classifying the users is by dividing them into categories such as General, Sex, Region, Education,
etc.
1. General: Domestic, Foreign Kids, Teens, Youths, Seniors, Students, Executives, Artists,
Politicians, Movie stars
2. Sex: Men, Women

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3. Region: Rural, Urban
4. Education: Literate, Illiterate
5. Status: Rich, Poor
6. Profession: Executives, Academics, Sportsmen, Artists
7. Occupation: White collar, Blue collar

Another method of classifying users of tourism services is on the basis of the frequency of usage
of services.
1. Non-users: They lack the willingness, desire and ability (income and leisure time).
2. Potential Users: They have the willingness but the marketing resources have not been used
optimally to influence their impulse.
3. Actual Users: They are already using the services generated by the tourist organizations.
4. Occasional Users: They have not formed the habit of travelling.
5. Habitual Travellers: They have formed a habit and avail of the services regularly.

TOPIC 4: BECOMING A GOOD HOTELIER

The hospitality industry is becoming more and more cut-throat with each passing day. A
great hotelier must manifest out confidence and charisma. Many people believe that being a
hotelier is not only a job but a mentality. Many say that it’s not a profession but a philosophy.

Follow the following to get your footsteps followed one day!

1. Have a reliable goodwill
A mere smile and engaging for a little talk with people is not what the only thing is
required to establish strong goodwill. One should aim, not just to wish their clients to have a
nice day, instead, make their day nicer. This will stabilize your goodwill and credibility.

2. A Jack of All Trades – Strange but True

A hotelier is always responsible for effective and efficient overall operations apart from
having a stable staff. For this very purpose as a good hotelier, they need to have holistic
awareness and always be on top of the game.

3. Follower of Open Door Policy

A good hotelier should be able to hold a strong one on one conversation with all the
staff members. Try learning a new thing about the internet every day. Be open to new ideas
and innovations in the industry.

4. Be Decisive
Having good decision making power so as to validate their decisions, in the long run, is
important. Also, you would need to stay ahead of the race by keeping up with the  top trends
of the hospitality industry.

5. Stay Observant at all times

A good hotelier needs to be observant to get a hand on the surroundings. This helps you
identify the type of guest you are about to cater to and their needs accordingly

How to be A Good Hotelier

 An Hotelier must be a diplomat, a democrat, an autocrat, an acrobat, and a doormat.

 He must have the facility to entertain Prime Ministers, princes of industry, pickpockets,
gamblers, bookmakers, pirates, philanthropists, popsies, and prudes.
 He must be on both sides of the political fence, and be able to jump that fence.
 He should be, or have been, a footballer, golfer, bowler, tennis player, cricketer, darts
player, sailor, pigeon fancier, motor racer and linguist, as well as have good knowledge
of any other sport involving dice, cards, horse racing and billiards.

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  This is most useful, as he has sometimes to settle arguments and squabbles. He must,
therefore, be a qualified boxer, wrestler, weight-lifter, sprinter and peacemaker.
 He must always look immaculate, when drinking with the ladies and gentlemen
mentioned in the second paragraph, as well as bankers, swankers, theatricals,
commercial travellers and company representatives – even though he has just made
peace between any of the two, four, six or more of the aforementioned patrons.
 To be successful, an hotelier must keep the bar full, the house full, the store rooms full,
the wine cellar full, the customers full, and not get full himself.
 He must have staff who are clean, honest, quick workers, quick thinkers, non-drinkers,
mathematicians, technicians, and at all times on the boss’s side, the customer’s side,
and stay on the outside of the bar.

Task/Activity

Homework: Give at least five examples or situations where significance of tourism (social,
economic, cultural, and environmental) was observed, preferably in our country.

For this activity, rubric is provided as a guide to evaluate the quality of student’s constructed
responses. Rubric for essay is available on page 103.

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