GRADUATES’ PERCEPTION OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY DEGREE PROGRAM RELEVANCE TO CAREER ATTAINMENT: A CASE OF GRADUATES FROM THREE STATE UNIVERSITIES IN ZIMBABWE

The process of making career choices is complex since there are diverse factors affecting students’selection of programs when they enrol in higher and tertiary institutions. Just like in any other discipline,tourism and hospitality management graduates are affected by various factors when deciding theircareers post-graduation. Preliminary studies have shown that a significant percentage of tourism andhospitality graduates divert from tourism to some other, sometimes totally unrelated, industries foremployment. This study seeks to discover tourism and hospitality degree graduates’ perceptions andcareer attainment in Zimbabwe. The following critical questions were asked in order to achieve theobjective of the study; Why do they enrol for the tourism/hospitality program in the first place, that iswhat factors affect the students’ selection process of tertiary education programs? and why do someend up in totally different fields after graduating? Qualitative research approach was adopted in orderto understand the graduates’ perceptions, data was collected by the way of interviews. Data wasanalysed using the thematic approach. Findings revealed that while most of the graduates are employedin the tourism and hospitality industry in Zimbabwe, they are not satisfied with their jobs. Some feel thatthey studied tourism/hospitality as a last resort hence they do not have satisfaction while others areonly in the industry because they do not have an option. Poor working conditions and poor remuneration were also cited as causes of dissatisfaction. There are however a significant number who do not regrettheir career choice.

THE ROLE OF SELECTED HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (HEIS) AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS ON INTEGRATING FOOD HERITAGE RESEARCH INTO POLITICAL PRIORITIES: A PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS OF LUZON ISLAND, PHILIPPINES

The purpose of this study is to show how food heritage, specifically Filipino Pancit, define the culture oftheir citizens, investigate the efforts of Local Government Units (LGUs), and examine the role of a selectedHigher Educational Institution (HEI) as a partner of LGUs in safeguarding food heritage. The researcher used frameworks from international and national cultural agencies and researchers. Observation and in-depth interviews were also used for the documentation process through case study technique, which examined the aspects of statutory control and safeguarding mechanisms to determine the political prioritiesof involved LGUs and the selected HEI’s role in safeguarding food heritage in the islands of Luzon,Philippines. Findings suggest that LGUs’ sheer political will, knowledge, and awareness on issues onheritage conservation, openness, sustainable practices, and multi-stakeholder participation are essential inrobust protection vis-à-vis culture and heritage conservation. This comes with the active participation ofstakeholders, especially academic institutions, which provide expertise and extra leg work on researchbacked by their advocacy rooted on Filipino identity and sustainability to support policies of the government.Ultimately, research-based policymaking is key to open opportunities not just on intangible cultural heritagelike Filipino Pancit but on culture and heritage conservation in general.

MARKET EXPLORATION OF BAKSO CULINARY TOURISTS IN MALANG CITY, INDONESIA

Bakso is one of the top Indonesian local culinary from Malang City. This study tries to reveals types of food-related behaviour and culinary experiences in psychographic segmentation for bakso culinary tourism in Malang City. In addition, identifying the motivational factors of Bakso Malang tourists is useful for the development of culinary tourism. This study involved 210 samples and the results represented an exploration of market segmentation and motivation factors of bakso culinary tourists. That could be an in-depth consideration of the bakso restaurant even for culinary development strategies in Malang City. Bakso Malang's consistent understanding of market management will provide important intangible capital for the development of culinary products in Malang City.

CONSUMER MOTIVATIONS, ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTION TOWARD GREEN HOTEL SELECTION

Most prior studies have investigated the relationship between green purchase attitude and behaviorbased on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). However, TPB is a behavioral theory based on acausal process, and thus ignores consumers’ motivational aspects. The purpose of this study is toexamine consumers’ motivational variables, in which monetary, convenience (location), hedonic andvirtual motivation (social media) influence consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels based ongenerational characteristics. A survey questionnaire was developed where a total of 775 questionnaireswere ultimately collected followed by subsequent empirical testing of the postulated hypotheses usingSPSS and Structural Equation Modelling. The results suggest monetary and virtual motivation positivelyinfluence green purchase attitude (GPA) respectively, while convenience negatively influence GPA.GPA displays a positive influence on green purchase intention (GPI) while hedonic motivation plays norole in this study. In addition, statistically significant differences in monetary, convenience, hedonic,virtual motivation and GPI were observed between generations of consumers towards green hotelselection. The theoretical and practical implications of the results were highlighted, including limitationsof the research. Lastly, this study addressed the relationship between motivational traits and behavioralintention in the hospitality and tourism field, and its results will provide useful information for greenhotels’ stakeholders.

THE LEXICON OF MAJAPAHIT CULINARY AT TROWULAN IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA

This research aims to describe the form of lingual, naming, and the meaning of lexicon and examinesMajapahit Culinary by using a linguistic approach that has similar sounds with global tourism language.The problem studied in the process of naming the Majapahit Culinary that has the same sound asEnglish as the international language. The ethnographic method is used to investigate the languageand culture related to culinary based on the understanding of the local community. This research wasconducted in Trowulan. Data collection uses in-depth interview methods and observations of theparticipation of informants. All data is reviewed using analisis domain, taxonomy, componential andthemes, obtained from written sources including inscriptions and literature from Majapahit and from thetime before and afterwards. The sources of research data are verbal words of the informants asspeakers. Data collection was carried with participant observation techniques and interviews. Dataanalysis was carried out with four activities as collection, reduction, presentation and verification. Theresult of the Majapahit culinary analysis that has naming which can be used as the basis for thereference of the global sound are five Majapahit culinary, they are Letlet, Wok, Kwelon Dodol and Lepet.Those five Majapahit culinary will become a reference in the promotion of Majapahit culinary ininternational tourism.

THE ANTECEDENTS OF ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH RESPONSES IN HOTEL EXPERIENCE EVALUATION

In today’s digital information era, it is common for hotels guests to share their visit experience to their acquaintances or public online especially on popular social media platforms. Hence, reviews and experience sharing have moved from the traditional words of mouth to the electronic word of mouth (eWOM). This paper aims to develop and propose a testable research framework for assessing hotel guests’ experience and their eWOM responses. Methodically, desk research was carried out by conducting an exhaustive review of past literature to establish a theoretical understanding of hotel experience assessments and to determine the variables and their measurements. Meaningful encounters with the hotel’s products and services are summed up as consumption experience in the forms of perceived value and satisfaction. This cumulative experience may entice the guests to upload their responses on digital platforms. Theoretically, the proposed framework reduces the gaps related to the formulation of research constructs for hotel visit experience assessment. Practically, this paper offers hotel operators a testable framework that can guide them in the development of survey materials in order to gain a comprehensive understanding about their guests visit experience assessment and their electronic word-of-mouth response.

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE HOTEL BUSINESS IN ZIMBABWE

It is evident from literature that the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world economiesto its ‘knees’. No industry has gone untouched by the effects of this pandemic. Globally there has beenan adverse impact on travel which is backbone of the hotel industry. This study focuses on exploringthe impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on Zimbabwean hotel sector. The objectives of thestudy focused on investigating the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on hotel occupancy and revenue andproposing strategies that can be implemented for recovery post the pandemic. The study adopted amixed method approach, semi-structured questionnaires were used to gather data from 29 (3-5 star) hotel management across the various major tourism cities in Zimbabwe. Findings reveal that the Covid-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on hotel occupancy and revenue. Occupancy and revenue have dropped. Strategies have been employed by hotel to cope with the adverse impact of reducedoccupancy and revenue, these include working with minimal staff to avoid increases exposure, closingother parts of the hotel to reduce operational cost and operating on take out bases. It can be concludedthat hotels in Zimbabwe are not prepared for pandemics like Covid-19. It is therefore recommendedthat disaster management plans relating to pandemics be developed and implemented by hotels.

THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL (TAM) AND BRAND TRUST TOWARD CONSUMER’S INTENTION TO BUY IN TIKET.COM WITH E-WOM AS A MODERATING VARIABLE

The growing number of online travel agent in Indonesia, pushed tiket.com to compete in increasing its application brand performance and consumer’s perception. This research uses a quantitative method to test the hypothesis regarding Technology Acceptance Model and Brand Trust with E-WOM as a moderating variable. The population of this research is Indonesian consumer that had ever want or made a purchase in tiket.com. The sampling technique used in this research is non-probability sampling method with 110 as its number of respondents. This research used Hierarchical Regression Analysis as its data analysis technique. Based on the test that was done, the results showed that technology acceptance model had a positive and significant effect towards consumer’s intention to buy and brand trust had a positive and significant effect towards consumer’s intention to buy. The result also showed that e-WOM as a moderating variable has a positive but insignificant effect in the relationship between brand trust and consumer’s intention to buy, which means e-WOM as a moderating variable has a strengthening effect although the effect is insignificant in the relationship between brand trust and consumer’s intention to buy in tiket.com.

AN EXPLORATION OF THE IMPACT OF HOTEL FACILITIES ON EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE: AN INDONESIA CASE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of staff facilities on employee motivation and performance by using a case-study of Oberoi Beach Resort – a five-star hotel situated in Lombok, Indonesia. This study begins with a review of the research background, aim, and objectives. The author then addressed issues in the hospitality industry and the importance of maintaining employee morale and productivity. Next, the main topics of this study, i.e. employee productivity & well-being, staff facilities, motivation, and performance were analyzed. Such topics were narrowed and established as the basis for primary research. Mixed-method approach was adopted to verify theories with acquired data. Despite several limitations, this research found that wages, events for staff, and medical-room are effective in motivating them to perform better and to stay with the brand. Additionally, training and development is the best tool for performance enhancement.

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION AND QUANTITATIVE SENSORY ANALYSIS TO IDENTIFY SENSORY PARAMETERS OF NEW FOOD PRODUCT

Focus Group Discussions (FGD) is a renowned method for new food product development. This research used FGD followed by Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) and Affective Test (AT) to identify the sensory parameters of pineapple wine. Based on FGD, five parameters were found to be crucial for panelists while testing the wine, i.e. distinctive pineapple aroma, sweetness, alcoholic flavor, alcoholic taste and appearance. These five parameters were then used in QDA and AT to understand the expectation of panelists on the sample which was served. It was found that FGD, QDA and AT were effective in identifying the sensory parameters of pineapple wine