Finance in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector

This chapter is set to shed light on how the hospitality and tourism sector is to shape their assets and liquidity to either begin a new venture or expand an existing one. The first part of the chapter will give an elaborate discussion about raising financial capital in the hospitality and tourism sector. This will strengthen the points that are made under capital structure formation. Financial knowledge of budgeting is an area that deserves its place in these sectors; this is the third major highlight of the chapter. The issue of understanding financial statements, especially its use in making predictions through ratio analysis, require a thorough explanation. This is therefore the next point. The limitations and usefulness of ratio analysis will be touched upon. Finally, in this chapter, determining demand in the hospitality and tourism sector is a contemporary issue, and the review of this will give a better viewpoint.

Sustainable Tourism

This chapter compares several academic works in order to analyse if they use innovative approaches for sustainable tourism. It analyses 70 stable documents including theses, scientific papers, and reports. Some goals are assess the themes that most stand out, the contribution of academic research to the subject, and how the issues of sustainability governance and planning relate to tourism. This contributes to approach the relationship between tourism and sustainability for development. The qualitative analysis used could discern the maturity level of research on sustainability indexes. Few works use them, and, if used, most are more descriptive than quantitative. But the ones that use them have acknowledged their importance and resulting enhanced strategies, as they provide the data to decide accurately on environmental and destination matters. A challenge for the Portuguese academy is to have an ongoing role in implementing and monitoring key sustainability indices.

Finance in the Hospitality Industry

By the end of this chapter, it is expected that one will be able to 1) establish various sources of funding that are available to a business in the hospitality industry in the international market, 2) evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these sources of finance, 3) establish the sources that are available or unavailable for the hospitality business as compared to other industries, 4) evaluate an investment in hospitality industry using various capital budgeting techniques, 5) develop financial statement for businesses in hospitality industry, and 6) evaluate the financial performance of companies in hospitality industry using ratio analysis.

Profile, Motivations, and Experiences From Portuguese Solo Female Travelers

The segment of independent travelers has experienced big growth in recent years, not only worldwide but also in Portugal. This phenomenon, which is not recent, has been gaining momentum in recent times, with women playing an important role. This chapter explores the literature on solo female travel, seeking to understand the motivations, as well as the difficulties encountered during the journey. To this end, a qualitative approach was used, with semi-structured interviews being conducted to 24 Portuguese women. The content analysis of the interviews was done with the assistance of the WebQDA software. Results show that most women traveling alone are young, single, and childless, identifying themselves mostly as adventurous, outgoing, and independent. The lack of travel companion, the freedom of choice, the experience and adventure, and the escape from the daily routine are highlighted as motivations to travel alone. The main difficulties identified are loneliness, harassment, fear of walking alone at night or being robbed.

Impact of Crisis on Tourist Destination

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the impact of crisis events in Kashmir on the demand for tourism in order to establish a better understanding of changes and trends in the demand for tourism. The author has no information to assess the impact of the crisis on the brand image of Kashmir as a tourist destination. The study limits itself to what is a first step in this assessment and assumes that periods of low demand for destination Kashmir are linked in some way to the tourism crisis. The article traces the evolution, growth, pattern, and trends of tourism since independence (1947) of Kashmir. The historical trends in tourist arrivals in Kashmir for a period of over six decades illustrates that tourism has been highly susceptible to crises in Kashmir. The study provides a bottom-up perspective, based on observation, measurement and analysis. Also provided is a contextualization of the tourism crisis and its impact on a tourist destination.

The Use of Social Media as a Tool to Capture Customer Value and Interaction

The chapter provides in depth theoretical and conceptual explanation of social media as well as firm-customer interaction through social media, highlighting several advantages and disadvantages of their uses. Furthermore, the chapter is supported using a framework relating to the development of social media channels and their uses for firms followed by inclusion of a service-based case study to further support the analysis on the communication process through social media platforms managed by the firm. Finally, the chapter highlights several challenges relevant to firm social media activities followed by key considerations based on the analysis provided in the different sections of the chapter.

Modelling a Conceptual Framework for the Wine Tourism System

Wine tourism is a synthesis of elements from the wine and tourism industries that come together to form the wine tourism experience. Several elements form a part of a much larger wine tourism system and contribute directly and/or indirectly to creating and developing a wine tourism destination. Maharashtra in India has come to be popularly known as the ‘wine bowl' of India, producing some of the award-winning and internationally acclaimed wines. This chapter aims to examine all those elements that have played a part in and are necessary to develop a competitive and sustainable wine tourism destination in Maharashtra. The singular objective of this research chapter is to propose a conceptual framework of the wine tourism system. The research largely relies on secondary data as well as results of previous empirical researches conducted by the author. The wider contribution of this chapter lies in developing and illustrating a model of wine tourism system. This system model can be instrumental in defining all those components that are most critical to the growth of a wine tourism destination.

Contemporary Management Approaches to the Global Hospitality and Tourism Industry

This chapter describes how the era of brick and mortar, hitherto called the analogue years, has given way to the era of digits where everything functions with the touch of a button. From agriculture to banking, health to education, information search to manufacturing; and the hospitality and tourism sector is not left out. Information and communication technologies (ICT) has changed the way businesses are done in contemporary ways. The business environment and their managers have been challenged to think of how to integrate the opportunities posed by technology into their business models for competitive advantages.

Contemporary Quality Management Approaches and Practices Within the Hospitality Industry

This chapter is planned and designed to enable readers to explore the concept of quality management in the hospitality sector, while improving efficiency and competitiveness in 21st century globalised business environment. In fact, quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations consistently. To achieve this aim, companies should recognise all the service qualities that add to customer value and lead to satisfaction and loyalty. The readers of this chapter will be able to increase understanding of quality management systems and processes within the hospitality industry and how to improve and sustain organisational performance, to gain a competitive edge in this transition period to the green economy. Also, the chapter provides readers with the relevant knowledge needed for quality assessment schemes, national /international benchmarking standards, and regulatory agencies.

Mystery Shopper Programs in the Tourism Sector

In today's world, there is fierce competition in the tourism sector, and therefore, the businesses need to improve their service qualities constantly and enhance their service processes to meet customer expectations swiftly and effectively. In recent years, tourism operators have been focusing on customer-oriented research and programs to avoid negative results that may be caused by unsatisfied customers. The service quality of tourism businesses is directly based on the performance of the employees; therefore, it is very important to evaluate the performances of the employees and improve service processes to avoid potential problems. Mystery shopper programs show the true picture of the services offered to the guests by the tourism businesses. Therefore, mystery shopper programs are widely used in the world for the evaluation of employees, especially in service-provider companies. The mystery shopper programs provide information on service quality, employee performance, and customer satisfaction, which is used by the businesses to improve or develop their service delivery processes.