University Report: Management Issues in Tourism and Hospitality Sector

This report delves into the multifaceted management issues prevalent within the tourism and hospitality sectors. It highlights key operational challenges, including labor availability and cost control, emphasizing the impact of rising labor costs and the struggle to maintain profitability. The report then explores human resource issues, such as skill gaps and the need for increased investment in training and development, which are critical for adapting to technological advancements. Financial aspects are also addressed, focusing on risk management complexities and the challenges of managing working capital in a technology-driven environment. Finally, the report examines product and market-related issues, particularly the intensifying competition fueled by online booking platforms and the importance of brand reputation and customer service in a competitive landscape. The report references key academic sources to support its analysis.

Running head: - ISSUES RELATED TO TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY
MANAGEMENT
ISSUES RELATED TO TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
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1ISSUES RELATED TO TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
Issues in the context of operations
When it comes to hospitality and tourism management, several different operations
goes on within it, which requires proper management to increase the overall profit of the
organisation. Like any other industries, this industry also faces several issues, and the two
major issues related to tourism and hospitality are related to the availability of labour and cost
control. The backbone of any industry is the obtainability of labour. Recently it is seen that
there is a hike in the cost of labour as the labour is demanding for higher wages. Labour all
over the countries is moving to the countries situated in the middle east in search of high
wages which is eventually causing difficulty in the availability of workers in the industry of
tourism and management (Pearlman and Schaffer 2013). The second problem in the context
of operation is the lack of control over the expense made by the company. In the tourism and
management industry, there is very little profit. The current changes in the industries are
forcing the companies to fulfil the consumers’ needs by doing more expenditure and not
gaining much profit (Vasquez 2014). The company is giving its best to satisfy the customer.
However, companies are losing their cost control.
Issues in the context of human resources
Several numbers of issues are also related to human resources in the field of tourism
and hospitality management. The two major issues in the context of human resources are lack
of skills and investment in the field of training and its development. The reason behind the
lack of skills in this sector is because people believe that there is no career in the field of
tourism and management. Most of the people do not allow their children to pursue their
higher education in this sector because they think that this sector lacks the opportunity for a
good career. However, it creates a lack of skilled people in this industry (Weber et al. 2013).
The second problem is investment related to training and development. Several technologies

2ISSUES RELATED TO TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
have been issued in the recent times which requires the fulfilment of certain standards which
requires the companies to invest a huge amount of money for the training purpose and
development of the new employees (Riley 2014). These all requirements are forcing the
companies and companies are not able to cope up with such huge investments for recruitment
and for retaining the skilled professionals in the field of management of tourism and
hospitality.
Issues in the financial context
The industry of tourism and hospitality faces several issues in the context of finance.
It is mandatory for every company in the field of tourism and hospitality management to
follow all the risk management strategies. The management of risk involves several stages;
the stages are both times consuming and requires the investment of lots of money. In recent
times, the increase in the attacks by the terrorists and the threats related to the cybersecurity is
leading to the complexity of the risk management strategies. It’s becoming difficult for
companies nowadays to follow such complex strategies (Baker 2014). Another issue that is
faced is related to the management of the working investment. Working investment can be
stated as the difference between the assets and the liabilities that are present in the current. A
negative impact is created when the liabilities are small compared to the assets. With the
advancement in technologies, the tourism and hospitality related companies are facing a
tough time in handling the working investment because necessary investment is required for
buying the important resources (Neuhofer and Buhalis 2014). The companies are facing lots
of problem in maintaining the working investment.
Issues related to products and markets
For any industry, the products and markets are the main places for the business, same
way issues related to it must be a major concern. One of the major issues is related to the

3ISSUES RELATED TO TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
competition which is increasing with the introduction of different online technologies. With
the invention of the online booking process, it becomes easier for consumers to books and
reserve. Online booking serves as one of the basic requirement for all companies in the field
of tourism and management. This online booking has increased the competition and its
mandatory for every company to have it to maintain the investments (Hudson and Thal
2013). In every industry, there is concern about brand and customer services. Numbers of
multinational companies in the industry of tourism and hospitality are trying their level best
to gain market reputations with more customers. To gain market response, the companies are
trying to give all sorts of offers. For smaller companies it’s not so easy to give such offer to
do so they have to face huge losses. Therefore, it is one of the main reason that many small
companies are closing their business in the field of tourism and hospitality (Legrand, Chen
and Sloan 2013).

4ISSUES RELATED TO TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
References
Baker, D.M.A., 2014. The effects of terrorism on the travel and tourism
industry. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 2(1), p.9.
Hudson, S. and Thal, K., 2013. The impact of social media on the consumer decision process:
Implications for tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2),
pp.156-160.
Legrand, W., Chen, J.S. and Sloan, P., 2013. Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry 2nd
Ed: Principles of Sustainable Operations. Routledge.
Neuhofer, B. and Buhalis, D., 2014. Issues, challenges and trends for technology enhanced
tourism experiences. The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Marketing.
Pearlman, D.M. and Schaffer, J.D., 2013. Labor issues within the hospitality and tourism
industry: A study of Louisiana's attempted solutions. Journal of Human Resources in
Hospitality & Tourism, 12(3), pp.217-242.
Riley, M., 2014. Human resource management in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Routledge.
Vasquez, D., 2014. Employee retention for economic stabilization: A qualitative
phenomenological study in the hospitality sector. International Journal of Management,
Economics and Social Sciences, 3(1), pp.1-17.
Weber, M.R., Crawford, A., Lee, J. and Dennison, D., 2013. An exploratory analysis of soft
skill competencies needed for the hospitality industry. Journal of Human Resources in
Hospitality & Tourism, 12(4), pp.313-332.