in which private commercial tour operators organise pilgrimages to Makkah (hajj and umrah). As a result, the development of these religious tour operators has formed a market, which is described as ...bisnis hajj dan umroh (pilgrimage business). Thus, this study examines social space and context in the commodification of Islam in Indonesia, by analysing the bisnis hajj dan umroh. In conclusion, the study shows that the development of the pilgrimage market in Indonesia has cultivated new social space among stakeholders, and creates social context based on individual piety, connecting economic development with personal spiritual commitment. The quality, popularity, and charisma of the ustaz (pilgrimage leader) in religious tours strongly impacts the level of customer commitment to the market, based on their spiritual preferences and emotions.
Tourism is an activity that allows economic development by generating employment, promoting cultural manifestations, improving infrastructure, integrating local communities, preserving attractions, ...and, ultimately, improving people's quality of life.
In the conditions of the competitive economies, the economic agents also face opportunities and threats especially in the tourism industry, taking into account on the one hand the mainly intangible ...character of the tourist products, and on the other hand the impact of the international climate on the travel options of the potential tourists. Under these conditions, in international tourism, travel agencies should provide modalities and opportunities for planning and conducting stays that would counteract the negative impact of conflict situations in a region with openings to the most secure geographical regions. Starting from these realities, the paper analyzes the evolution of external actions organized by the travel agencies from Romania in the last ten years. The results show that at least so far both the offers and the actions of tour operator agencies and sale activity agencies have been sufficiently attractive so that the interest and implicit demand of tourists has generally kept on an upward trend, reducing the number of actions in a conflict-marked area is counterbalanced by intensifying them in areas of stability and security for tourists.
South Africa has much to offer in terms of tourism attractions and destinations. The tourism industry strives to meet the requirements of various forms of tourism by providing facilities and services ...to meet the unique needs of visitors. One such service is tourist guiding at specific attractions and destinations. Tourist guides in South Africa are required to be qualified and registered with the relevant authorities. To date, only limited research has been done to determine the profile of tourist guides operating in South Africa. The main objective of this study was, therefore, to develop a profile of the South African tourist guide. The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a survey research design. The target population consisted of registered tourist guides in South Africa, and 320 questionnaires were completed and analysed. The main findings of the study revealed that the majority of respondents were citizens of South Africa with English as their home language and may considered to be young, according to their age profile. The findings of this study contribute to the limited academic research on the profile of tourist guides in South Africa and will be beneficial to travel agents, tour operators, protected areas and other tourism operating companies by enabling them to employ the most suitable candidate for the required service.
The authors analyze the features of the existing legal guarantees of the international tour operators, such as financial provision and a compensation fund for urgent tourist support. Legal practice ...shows that these guarantees may not be sufficient in the event of large-scale suspensions of tour operators' activities, and the problems with the return of tourists to their home countries may arise as a result. Because of these facts, the legislator amended the fundamentals of the legislation on tourism to increase responsibility of tourist market participants and to improve legal protection of tourists going abroad from the Russian Federation. The authors analyze the amendments and conclude that the excessive increase of tour operators' responsibility may considerably decrease the number of tour operators in the tourist services market.
•The legal guarantees of international tour operators•The legal basis for amending the legislative initiative on tourism•The excessive increase of tour operators' responsibilities may decrease the number of tour operators
The achievement of higher productivity in various sectors has been influenced by human resources that can provide quality services in order to meet the needs of customers. It is the right moment to ...adapt to some changes in human resources for the tourism sector. Due to the growth of the tourism industry, this study is intended to determine human resources compliance in selected large tour companies in Arusha, Tanzania. The study employs a qualitative research approach. The saturation point was reached using purposive and simple random sampling techniques. The interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) were employed for primary data collection from the 8 key informants, representing 8 large tour companies, and 5 FGDs composed of tour guides and administrative staff from similar companies. In content analysis, the obtained data is then analyzed and thematically interpreted. The results revealed various uncomfortable human resource practices and other areas that need the restructuring of the system in place to benefit both employers and employees. Therefore, to make this successful, the study recommends that the government and potential tourism stakeholders advocate tourism development on human resources and the entire working conditions for improving the operations of tour companies.
This study examines the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the investment preferences of tour operators through a discrete choice experiment conducted among tour operator managers ...worldwide. Stakeholder theory is used as a theoretical platform for explaining the role of CSR within the tour operators’ investment preferences. The findings indicate that, when making investment decisions, tour operators generally tend to balance the interests of the local community, employees and businesses, and to consider the effects of their investments on the local economy and the environment. However, empirical evidence indicates that tour operator’s investment preferences are moderated by three factors, namely: local government pressure, size of the investment, and tour operator profile. In particular, greater attention should be paid to high-scale investments, and to investments made by generalist tour operators if destinations want to preserve their distinctive sociocultural and natural assets and provide well-being to local communities.
The present study aims to understand and assess the tour operators destination brand knowledge of an Indian heritage tourism circuit the ‘Golden Triangle’. The concept has been measured utilizing ...Keller’s conceptual framework of the brand knowledge. The brand nodes in the framework are analysed in detail with reference to the tourist destination mainly the circuit as a tourism product. The viewpoints of tourists has also been considered from the lens of tour operators. Findings are contrasting for foreign tourists and their domestic counterparts. It was found that tour operators had adequate levels of brand knowledge about the tourism circuit that can be utilized in framing competitive strategies for the ‘Golden Triangle’ as a destination brand.
•Tour operators have a direct effect on the conditions under which hotel services are provided (room rates and quotas).•The pressure exerted by tour operators on hotel SMEs is stronger in coastal ...areas than in inland ones.•That pressure from tour operators stimulates the growth of hotel SMEs in coastal areas, but reduces their profitability.•Global tour operators positively influence activities for innovation in hotels in coastal areas, but not in inland areas.
This paper studies the differences in the impact of global tour operators on the management and performance of hotels in coastal and inland areas. The empirical analysis is based on a survey conducted in 2016 on 375 Spanish SMEs operating in the hotel industry. A multi-group comparison analysis was carried out using Partial Least Squares (PLS) structural modelling. This analysis reveals that dependence on global tour operators has a direct effect on the conditions under which hotel services are provided (room rates and quotas) both in coastal and inland areas. Nevertheless, the pressure from tour operators is significantly stronger on hotel SMEs located in coastal areas, where it has a negative effect on profitability, in spite of having a positive influence on firm growth (sales and employment).
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