Ways of Applying Destination Management Concepts to the Development of Internal Tourism in Uzbekistan

This chapter examines the role of the destination approach in the development of internal tourism in Uzbekistan. The trump-card of tourism in Uzbekistan is ancient cities like Tashkent, Samarkand, Shakhrisabz, Bukhara and Khiva. The chapter is focused on substantiation of destination model of tourism management, based on a junction of regional management and marketing theories. In order to reform the one-dimensional “package” system of tourism supply that operates in Uzbekistan to a multi-sided “integration” system it is recommended to run “creating destinations” policy in the tourism industry. That implies the creation process of integrated tourist destination based on organic combination of tourism supply and demand. The chapter describes seven stages of destination creating process: determination of purpose of visit in tourist location; selection of sights from destinations; clarification and analyzing destinations creating factors, explanation principles of creating destination; development criteria of creating destinations; creation of attractive destinations; arrangement of destination management system.

Eco-Cultural Tourism for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development of Remote Ecosystems in the Third World

Most of the remote areas such as mountains and islands are characterized by the features such as remoteness, fragility, endemism, and upland/lowland or island/mainland linkages, besides richer biodiversity and indigenous knowledge, thus attracting a large number of quality conscious tourists. However, conventional “top-down”, reactive and ad-hoc approaches and ill-conceived “development” activities such as infrastructure for mass tourism will destroy the very natural and cultural resource base on which the tourism thrives in these areas. These trends have led to the paradigm shifts towards community-based, participatory, and pro-active management strategies. Appropriate strategies for integrating biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods by regenerating nature and culture for facilitating sustainable development of remote ecosystems in the third world are discussed in this chapter.

An Overview of Training and Development Practices in Food and Beverage Outlets

This chapter aims to identify, investigate and report the importance and usage of training and development practices in food and beverage outlets operating in the region of Chandigarh, India. Based on a survey of 55 food and beverage outlets and their perceptions on training and development practices were assessed by 22 training and development practices and 3 demographic variables. To identify the importance and usage of these practices, descriptive static was incorporated. The study provides a strong indication that there are significant differences on usage and importance of training and development practices in food and beverage outlets in Chandigarh. The study is an attempt to add information to the very little empirical knowledge available referring to the training and development practices in food and beverage industry.

Human Resource Management and Sustainable Tourism Development

Research on human resource management (HRM) practices and sustainable development has increased in the tourism management literature over recent decades. Scholars suggest that commitment-based HRM practices contribute to the sustainability of the firm; however, prior research puts little emphasis on the conceptual relationship between sustainable tourism development and commitment based HRM practices. This chapter opens the black box by examining the role and contribution of HRM in achieving sustainable tourism development in India. The findings of the study suggests that the new HR competencies required for achievement of sustainable tourism development and the applicability of HRM pervades every aspect of doing business and needs to be embedded across an organizational all levels, becoming an ongoing change process. Subsequently, tourism innovation activities enhance destination performance, emphasizing their determinant role to achieve sustainable tourism development in the digital age.

Managing Knowledge at Tourism Destinations

Today, knowledge has become a pivotal tool of implementing strategies and approaches to achieve desired results. During the recent past, researches on knowledge management have grown rapidly in the management literature and tourism is no exception in this context. Moreover, the recent developments in tourism and hospitality marketplace have recognised knowledge as a key competitive tool and a determinant for socio-economic growth at destinations. Thus, it is obvious that if a tourism destination/nation/organisation is to remain competitive in the volatile tourism business environment, the application of knowledge management approach has become fundamental to transform tourism knowledge into capabilities for the survival, sustain and growth of tourism sector. The aim of this chapter is to conceptualize the application of knowledge concept and suggest further research issues in this area to develop a knowledge networks. Overall this chapter demonstrates the considerable utility of managing knowledge for tourism in delivering destination competitiveness.

Human Resource Management and Performance in the Hospitality Industry

The purpose of this chapter is to review methodological issues highlighted in the empirical literature in the field of strategic human resource management that may be applied to the hospitality industry, and to propose possible solutions to overcome methodological problems. The chapter makes use of a general HRM-performance linkage framework that refers to the ‘black box' in strategic human resource management, and is based on the three HRM perspectives (universalistic, contingency, configurational).

Gender Equality Policies in Indian Hotel Industry

An awareness of the under-representation of women in top positions in the corporate world has prompted many corporations to review their policies and practices. If firms are to remain productive and competitive in an increasingly demanding global market place, they must recruit, retain, develop, and promote their most talented people, regardless of their sex. This is increasingly seen not only as the right or ethical thing to do, but also the smart thing to do. And in keeping with this realization, a small number of leading edge organizations are attempting to become more women-friendly. Having women in key positions is argued to be associated with long term company success and competitive advantage adding value through women's distinctive set of skills and creating cultures of inclusion through a diverse workforce. This chapter tries to evaluate the gender equality policies in selected Indian hotels and finds a mixed picture. The analysis suggests that majority of the hotels are not yet adopting pro- active policies to encourage the representation or empowerment of women in hotels. Female employees tend to be concentrated at entry or operational level and their presence is lower at senior positions. Based on the results study suggests the Indian Hotel industry to rework on HR policies to provide equal and equitable opportunities for female employees.

Risk Perceptions of International Female Tourists in India

In tourism industry perceptions are major influencing factors of visiting a destination. Tourism products cannot be pre tested prior to purchase. Therefore tourists rely a lot on perceptions and images of a destination. India is generally known for its myriad of culture, spirituality, climate and diversity. Image of India has suffered a tremendous jolt overseas after a few incidents of rapes and crimes have surfaced against women. Keeping this in mind this paper is an attempt to find out the risk perceptions of foreign women travelers to India and whether they consider India a safe destination for women. They were administered questionnaires taking the parameters that Gunn, 1972 had introduced. A sample of 100 international women tourists was selected randomly and on judgement basis. General perception of women tourists about India on safety and security of women was not positive. It was concluded through the survey that though women travelers had security and safety issues in India yet they found the country worth visiting again.

The Effects of Terrorism on Tourism and the Media's Role

Crimes, terrorism, civil unrest and war have caused serious damage to the tourism industries of afflicted destinations and in some cases totally decimated a whole industry. A turbulent security environment, caused by wars, coups d'etat, civil wars and terrorist attacks, has already demonstrated its negative impact on tourism development in many countries around the world (Taylor & Quayle, 1994). As part of this growing body of tourism literature, this chapter examines the media's role and tourist destination image in general. Moreover, the primary survey carried out to discover the perceptions and attitudes of international visitors while visiting the DMZ and its vicinity and how they perceived safety in the DMZ area. The survey were 151 international tourists to the DMZ area, reveal that respondents had reasonably positive perceptions of the DMZ area.

An Investigation of E-HRM Practices in Indian Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Since the 1980s, there has been a rapid shift towards the application of information technology (IT) for business processes. Information technology is recognised as a critical driver of transition of human resource management role from an administrative to a strategic business partner. This strategic role not only adds a valuable dimension to the HRM function but also changes the competencies demanded for the success of HR professionals. The purpose of this chapter is to identify most significant E-HRM practices adopted by the Indian hospitality industry. Data were collected from the HR managers of hospitality enterprises in India. A survey methodology was chosen because it was deemed to be the most efficient way of reaching a large number of respondents, whereas the data required facilitated the use of a mail-administered questionnaire with close-ended questions. A set of 33 E-HRM practices items was initially generated from a review of management research.