Lesson 3: the tourist business

Reading:

Tourism may be defined as the science, art and business of attracting and transporting

people, accommodating them, and catering to their needs and wants. As an industry, tourism is a dynamic, evolving, consumer-driven force. It is the world's largest industry, with approximately $3.5 trillion in gross output. It is the employer of 183 million people. This represents 10.2 per cent of the global workforce. By employing one out of every ten workers, travel and tourism is the world's largest employer. As an industry, tourism is expected to grow much faster than other sectors, about twice as fast as world GNP, especially international travel. Growing so rapidly, tourism presents both tremendous opportunities and challenges. Although a mature industry, tourism is a young profession. The good news is the variety of exciting career prospects for today's hospitality and tourism graduates.

In addition to their original expenditures, tourists produce secondary impacts on local economy. When a tourist spends money to travel, to stay in a hotel, or to eat in a restaurant, that money is recycled by these businesses to purchase more goods, thereby generating further use of the money. In addition, employees of businesses who serve tourists spend a higher proportion of their money locally on various goods and services. This chain reaction continues until there is a leakage, meaning that money is used to purchase something from outside the area. This phenomenon is usually called the multiplier effect. Most developed economies have a multiplier effect between 1.7 and 2.0. This means that the original money spent is used again in the community between 1.7 and 2.0 times. However, tourism results not only in sociocultural benefits but also in problems. Imagine the feelings of an employee in a developing country who earns perhaps $ 5 per day when he or she sees wealthy tourist flaunting money, jewelry, and a lifestyle not obtainable. Another example might be nude or scanty-clad female tourists sunbathing in a Moslem country. Critics argue that, at best, tourism dilutes the culture of a country by imposing the mass tourism market. Most resorts offer little opportunity for meaningful social interaction between the tourist and the host community. As a rale, only the lower positions are filled by the local people in the luxury hotels built by foreign developers. On the other hand, proponents of the sociocultural benefits of tourism are able to point out that tourism is a clean and green industry, that most of hotels are built with concern for the environment and use local crafts people, designers, and materials. Tourism brings new revenue to the area; it also creates and maintains higher rate of employment than if there were no tourism. It may act as a catalyst for the development of the community because this revenue helps to provide schools, hospitals, and so on.

 

 

Exercises:

1. Find in the text the following topical words and phrases, make sure that you are able to explain in English what they mean, and add them to your working vocabulary:

to accommodate, catering, a multiplier effect, a lifestyle, sunbathing, the mass tourism market, the host community, a developer, tax revenue.

 

2. Write out from the text the sentences or their parts which contain the words and phrases given below and translate them into Russian:

an employer, GNP, the host community, to be recycled, without distinction, to flaunt money, obtainable, a proponent, rate of employment.

 

3. Explain in English the meaning of the following phrases:

a consumer-driven force, both opportunities and challenges, a mature industry, career prospects, a chain reaction, a scanty-clad female tourist, a green industry.

 

4. Answer the following questions:

1. What is meant by tourism? Are there any differences in meaning between the English word "tourist" and its Russian equivalent "турист"?

2. What can you say about economic impact of tourism?

3. What is meant by the multiplier effect?

4. Why are tourists sometimes disliked by the host community?

5. What do the critics say about the negative impact of tourism?

6. What do the advocates of tourism say in defense of this business?

 

 

LESSON 4: REVIEW EXERCISES

1. Discuss the following concepts and notions:

table d'hote, a la carte menu, French service, American service, Russian service, buffet service, an independent tourist, a group inclusive tour, ecotourism, recession, the front of the house, the back of the house, a market segment, the mass market, position­ing, the guest count, the average guest check, fixed and variable expenditures, operating expense, operating profit, net profit, a multiplier effect, a green industry, GNP.

 

2. Give your definitions of the following topical words and phrases:

accommodation, entertainment, a location, a covert, a destination, an escort, a retail store, a fitness center, real estate, a shopping mall, dining out, cuisine, the catchment area, failure rate, to patronize, saturation, viability, deprecation, to fluctuate, payroll, maintenance, the host community, a dual-income couple, a minivacation, gilded youth, a traditionalist.

 

3. Choose a topic for Project Work or an Essay from those given below:

1. How do hotels cater to the needs of business and leisure in reference to the resorts and airport hotels?

2. Is it possible to create a full-service luxury restaurant chain? Why not? Arrange a talk show on this issue.

3. Economic impact of tourism and the organizations that control or further it.

4. The positive and negative impacts that tourism can have on a host country. Arrange a talk show on this issue.

 

UNIT 3.

SERVICE CHARACTERISTICS OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY