Essay About Quality Of Tourism Services And Service Expectations

Intro to Tourism Study Guide
1. Economic – One positive effect of how tourism positively affects DC is the economic growth and vitality benefits for the city.  The vast amount of human resources and other resources in general (along with a wide range of price levels, etc. for tourists) ensure the availability and quality of tourism services for travelers meaning more money for the District.  Economic – One negative economic affect tourism could have on DC is how the revenues can be significantly diminished by a variety of crisis events and being in DC, terrorist attacks are always on red alert.   Environmental – One positive impact tourism in DC can have is by helping the government further improve that environmental management and planning.  We can continue to increase the benefits of natural areas as long as we do careful planning with controlled development, etc.  Environmental – One negative impact on how tourism affects DC is through the environmental capacity.  Since it is difficult to limit the number of tourists on our National Mall or in any of our many monuments, museums, etc. Socio-Cultural – One positive socio-cultural impact tourism has on DC is how it brings more diversity to the District.  People come from a variety of place and bring their cultures together to the host community which I think benefits not only DC, but the local residents.  Socio-Cultural – One negative socio-cultural way tourism could affect DC is the demonstration effect.  DC does have a high crime-rate and with all the different tourist with different lifestyles, residents can often see the visitors as uniformly wealthy and in possession of many “valuable items” so this could lead to theft and also just overall resentment and envy from the locals. 2. How service expectations are formed: 1) Word of mouth 2) Personal needs and desires 3) Past experience 4) Marketing communications – Factors that put quality in service: 1)Tangibles (uniforms, appearance) 2. Empathy (manager knows by name as do employees so I feel very welcome and home-like) 3)Reliability- promised service consistently 4)Assurance-well trained, faith in service, knows how to properly poor wine 5)Responsiveness – willingness to help customers, go out of way to make sure there’s no unnecessary delay- How satisfaction is determined: Expected service compared to perceived service (meet same expectations I had going in), Both lead to perceived service quality —Leads to Satisfaction level—actual experience and service met expectations ✖Restaurant- bad weather (in parts of country, kept people home which lead to rising heating bills which contributed to limited consumer discretionary spending which was always an issue)(R- during storm (hurricane) season, buy less product, ask local gov for tax relief), Rise of technology so they need to up social media presence, or rise of fast food (R- pick up pace but keep value- grab and go area) slow economic growth.  Americans have become a lot more pessimistic about the economy because of higher home heating bills and gas prices which has hindered their buying capacity.  The 2008-2009recession, recovery has been slow and the growth in real GDP decreased in the first quarter of 2014- Lodging- environmental concerns (spending too much on electricity, reusing towels, etc so become self sustainable, disposable personal income (promotion pack, work on guest loyalty), PR to beat Hilton they need to thrive on the idea not being a chain, more customer oriented ✖ Pros/cons of raising rates(higher occ. (->loyalty) Vs. higher rates)– ratios and statistics in the hotel sector-Average daily rate-ADRxOcc rate %= rev par (revenue per room) (ADR), cost per key( construct and furnish rooms), break even occ levels/every thousand spent, 1 dollar revenue – 5 P’s product, price, place, promotion, public relation—Intermediaries- dealer who acts as link in the chain of distribution btwn customers and company (travel agents)— b&b, condos, timeshares, conference centers hotels, motels, recreational vehicle, campgrounds/front of the house operations take place in front of the guest(direct interaction)/government direct involvement- absolute necessity, law /regulations, provide infrastructure, security, safe environment, anti-terrorism, stability/indirect- providing support to private sectors, providing incentives, subsidies, encourage heritage cites/ convention centers attract the professional traveler segment/ meetings market composed of conventions and exhibitions (trade shows)/ develop tourism plan- predicting future, setting objectives to obtain future outcomes, and outlining and implementing the actions need to obtain objectives (definitional phase, analytical, operational, implementation//political tugs because of the finite amount of resources (financial resources)// MOLASmap/observe/ask/survey//customer experience- guest survey, survey  mapping/blue print/ social media monitoring/ data analysis/ audits, mystery shopping/focus groups and interviews./push(relating to the needs and wants of the traveler-psychologically or within-person induced (ex. Disney all contained in specific area)//Pull-features, attractions or attributes of the destination itself (ex. Miami beach)//push motivations (escape, self-discovery, relaxation, prestige) pull motivations (sunshine, beaches, night life, friendly) Characteristics of Services- intangibility(car repair), inseparability(restaurant), perishability (airlines), variability (cant sell later//  perception-expectation=satisfaction// MICE- meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions—incentive market to experience rapid growth as meeting planners and travel agent organize incentive travel programs// MEETINGS- clinic- a workshop-type educational experience in which attendees learn by doing, usually involves small groups interacting with each other on an individual basis//forum- an assembly for the discussion of common concerns.  Usually experts in a given field take opposite sides of an issue in a panel discussion, with liberal opportunity for audience participation//seminar- a lecture and a dialogue that allow participants to share experiences in a particular field.  A seminar is guided by an expert discussion leader, and usually 30 or fewer persons participate// symposium- an event at which a particular subject is discussed by experts and opinions are gathered// workshop- a small group led by a facilitator or trainer.  It generally includes exercises to enhance skills or develop knowledge in a specific topic//  SMERF- social, military, educational, religious and fraternal groups- price conscious—not tax deductible and paid by individual