Comprehensive Report: Contemporary Hotel and Tourism Industry Issues

This report delves into three significant contemporary issues affecting the tourism and hospitality industry: terrorism, increasing fixed costs coupled with reduced revenue streams, and the impact of technology and social media. It examines how terrorism activities can damage assets, create security concerns, and negatively impact revenue. The report also explores the challenges posed by rising fixed costs, seasonal fluctuations, and the need to maintain profitability while meeting customer demands. Furthermore, it analyzes the role of technology and social media in shaping customer perceptions, influencing purchasing decisions, and the importance of a strong online presence for brand image and exposure. The report uses examples such as the 2015 Paris attacks and the impact of social media reviews to illustrate its points, concluding that addressing these issues through consistent business management, employee training, and digital engagement is essential for the industry's success.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY HOTEL AND TOURISM ISSUES
Contemporary hotel and tourism issues
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CONTEMPORARY HOTEL AND TOURISM ISSUES
Table of Contents
Contemporary hotel and tourism issues.....................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Body...........................................................................................................................................3
Global Tourism Issue No. 1 Terrorism activities...................................................................3
Global Tourism Issue No. 2 Increase in fixed costs and reduced streams of revenue
generation...............................................................................................................................4
Global Tourism Issue No. 3 Technology and social media....................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The tourism and hospitality industry is purely based on the satisfaction of clients,
because of which, the dynamic industry is changing due to several external factors. There are
several contemporary issues that have influenced the tourism and hospitality management
tourism from the global perspective including terrorism activities, increase in fixed costs with
reduced revenue streams and technology and social media.
Body
Global Tourism Issue No. 1 Terrorism activities
One of the major contemporary issues is the terrorism activities that have destroyed
the assets of the hospitality and tourism organisations and can even be the subject of harm to
multiple guests who visit the place. According to Baker (2014), security of assets is essential
and in case of terrorism activities, the organisational assets are destroyed, which affects the
business functioning and has even resulted in long term negative impacts too, i.e., not being
able to stand up again and draw clients, furthermore resulting in loss and decline in business.
The popularity and convenience of a particular location is based on various factors and thus
the terrorism can be a major factor that contributes to the issues in selecting a particular
destination properly (Baker 2014). The purchasing decision of a traveller is based on the
perception of safety and security and the terrorism activities can create negative impacts on
the safety perceptions along with desirability and selection of a particular destination where
the tourists want to visit. The terror attacks are considered as an attack to the Government
revenue and also affected the visitor exports. The visitors’ security concerns emerge and the
organisational assets are destroyed too, which have affected the financial condition of the
organisation and hindered the successful growth and development of the tourism and
hospitality industry (Sharpley and Telfer 2014). This also has created issues while attracting

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the new clients and retaining existing clients too, thus creating difficulty to generate the
expected revenue with ease and efficiency.
One such example could be the horrific terrorist attacks at Batacian theatre and open
air bars and restaurants during the month of November 2015, where 130 were killed, thus
representing the nature of ISIL crimes and enhancing concerns among public about the
tourism and hospitality safety and security. This resulted in decline of bookings for both
domestic and international tourism services. It is the duty of the Government to provide
proper security measures for the visitors to prioritize on their safety and security and ensure
that the industry maintains its consistency in serving clients along with attracting and
retaining the new and existing guests too, furthermore result in boost the hotel industry with
the increased accommodation (Gretzel et al. 2015).
Global Tourism Issue No. 2 Increase in fixed costs and reduced streams of revenue
generation
Another major issue within the tourism and hospitality is the increase in fixed costs
and change in revenue stream along with the reduced revenue generation, which has
contributed to lack of efficiency in dealing with the payment of wages, bills and
implementing new facilities too. The managers within the tourism and hospitality industry
always must monitor the fixed and variable costs to make sure that the budgetary aspects are
managed properly along with management of availability of sufficient funds for allowing the
industry to expand. As stated as Yu, Byun and Lee (2014), the industry often faced
fluctuations in business due to the seasons and thus it is important to maintain business
during the off seasons by providing services at reasonable prices, though without
compromising on paying right wages and benefits to the employees (Yu, Byun and Lee
2014). The larger fixed costs often result in inability to recover the expected volumes of
profit, which further creates difficulty in managing radical changes and has often affected the

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future business operations. This kind of issues resulted in lack of funds and creating difficulty
for the industry to expand furthermore, which would also make the hotel management
increase the costs of accommodation and other facilities to cope up with the high operational
costs. The clients demand hotel services at reasonable prices, while with the increase in
accommodation charges due to increased fixed costs, they might be dissatisfied (Sharpley and
Stone 2014). One such evidence could be a major hotel in Australia, which experienced
increase in fixed costs and thus the cost of hotel services were made higher. This made many
guests find out some alternate options, which they easily got at a reasonable prices and the
hotel faced decline in sales and poor revenue generation too. The increase in fixed costs
further could make the hotels unable to pay the wages properly to employees, which should
de-motivate them and result in lower business performance, thus contributing to poor revenue
generation and inability to gain competitive advantage.
Global Tourism Issue No. 3 Technology and social media
Nowadays, internet has played a huge role in spreading awareness among clients
regarding the tourism and hospitality services provided. With more awareness spread among
the clients, the demands for the tourism and hospitality services have enhanced as well. Based
on Inversini and Masiero (2014), without a proper website managed by the hotel and
involvement of social media platforms, the major players within the tourism and hospitality
industry have failed to attract clients and with lesser publicity, the brand image and identity
have also been affected negatively. Due to lack of involvement of digital and social media
platforms, many of the smaller hotels and hospitality companies have experienced lack of
exposure, which created complexities and issues in drawing enough guests to visit the hotel
(Inversini and Masiero 2014). This has affected the brand image and created negative mind
set among people regarding the hotel’s popularity. The digital platforms have also created
negative publicity sometimes, which has affected the hotel chain globally too. There are

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many guests who find reviews and feedbacks provided by other clients helpful before
purchasing the services of the hotel. Negative reviews were provided based on the poor
quality services at the hotel, which damages the reputation of the hotel and has led to poor
sales revenue too (Law, Buhalis and Cobanoglu 2014). Evidences showed that there are
many small tourism and hospitality companies that experienced lack of sales and revenue
generation due to lack of brand exposure and failing to attract clients properly. A business
success relies much on brand image and reputation, which are essential components for
spreading awareness among the customers and influence their buying decisions. Thus, to
overcome this issue, the hotel management must monitor the traffic website and check for
reviews and provide necessary solutions and also provide roper answers to clarify the queries
provided by clients too. Keeping contacts with the clients and providing them information
about the services on social media platforms and company website should be helpful for
developing trust and loyalty among clients, furthermore ensure that the hotel’s reputation is
not damaged anyhow (Zeng and Gerritsen 2014).
Conclusion
The report was prepared to discuss about the four contemporary issues within the tourism and
hospitality industry, which could affect the business reputation and also affect the revenue
generation. The increase in fixed costs resulted in reduced revenue streams while the poor
management of digital platforms and terrorist attacks further contributed to poor business
functioning. With the maintenance of consistency in managing business during the off
seasons, paying the wages timely to employees, keeping them trained to provide best quality
services and engaging digital platforms have the potential to overcome these issues and
ensure proper business management and increased revenue generation too.

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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.
Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z. and Koo, C., 2015. Smart tourism: foundations and
developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), pp.179-188.
Inversini, A. and Masiero, L., 2014. Selling rooms online: the use of social media and online
travel agents. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(2),
pp.272-292.
Law, R., Buhalis, D. and Cobanoglu, C., 2014. Progress on information and communication
technologies in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 26(5), pp.727-750.
Sharpley, R. and Stone, P. eds., 2014. Contemporary tourist experience: Concepts and
consequences. Routledge.
Sharpley, R. and Telfer, D.J. eds., 2014. Tourism and development: concepts and issues (Vol.
63). Channel View Publications.
Yu, Y., Byun, W.H. and Lee, T.J., 2014. Critical issues of globalisation in the international
hotel industry. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(2), pp.114-118.
Zeng, B. and Gerritsen, R., 2014. What do we know about social media in tourism? A review.
Tourism Management Perspectives, 10, pp.27-36.