Destination marketing organizations’ stakeholders and best practices

As marketing practices continue to advance, the tourism industry is constantly evolving in terms of marketing strategies and in the shifting duties of its stakeholders. Different organizations plan the advancement of their marketing strategies differently, and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are no exception. With so many destination options, travelers may find themselves with too many destinations and too much information to easily make the decision on their own. The main role of the DMOs is to sell the destination using different marketing strategies and various incentives to make their destination more appealing, and by working with all of their stakeholders to be able to provide the best experience to visitors. This study examined the perception of effectiveness of various marketing channels, different social media channels, and different incentives that were being used by the DMOs. Some of the marketing channels that DMOs considered most effective in today’s environment included website management, word-of-mouth, and search engine optimization; in terms of social media marketing channels, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter were ranked as most effective. This study showed that some of the most effective incentives used by the DMOs were unique attractions accessibility, free Wi-Fi, and complimentary rentals. This study also explored the importance of various stakeholders to a DMO, and the results showed that some of the most important stakeholders were the hoteliers, the local government, and the local community

The Relationship among Participative Management Style, Strategy Implementation Success, and Financial Performance in the Foodservice Industry

This study looked at the degree of participative management used by firms in the restaurant industry. Findings indicated higher levels of action plan implementation success and financial success for restaurant firms using a higher level of participation in decision-making and plan execution. Smaller firms (single unit) were more likely to use an approach with greater participation by middle-level managers and lower-level managers than larger firms (multi-unit). While larger firms had higher financial performance in general, implications include the value of higher participatory approaches by managers to enhance financial and implementation execution, particularly, for smaller restaurant firms

Employability skills and students' self-perceived competence for careers in hospitality industry

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 7, 2007)Vita.Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.This descriptive correlational study employs employability skills instrument to assess the self-perceived level of competence at performing some basic skills needed for careers in the hospitality industry. A total of Eighty five (85) HRM students participated in this study. Sixty seven (67) surveys were usable and provided a usable response rate of 78.82%. The result of the study indicated that the respondents (HRM seniors from University of Missouri-Columbia) have developed between moderate and major competence to serve as productive employees in the workplace "equally from program and non-program." In terms of curriculum improvement, the result of this study indicated that the respondents are doing fine with problem solving skills. However, curriculum improvement is needed to include materials that would improve the students' knowledge and understanding of the political implications of their decisions and interpersonal skills or human relation skills.Includes bibliographical reference

Maximizing Hospitality Learning Outcomes: An Integrated Experiential In-Class Approach

This study explored the influence of an experiential, in-class approach to the hospitality curriculum as a means of increasing its efficiency and effectiveness. Specifically, the study provides an example of how hospitality faculty might utilize an experiential, in-class approach to integrate additional hospitality-specific content along with process and content issues for working in teams and team decision-making. The results of this study support the efficient and effective use of an experiential inclass teaching method. The value of this study is twofold: (1) it provides an initial test of this approach’s usefulness and (2) it provides a forum for continued conversations of how experiential approaches can be utilized to enhance and reinforce other hospitality content and managerial skills and to bridge the gap between vocational and liberal education outcomes

Learning by Doing: A Case Study of Hospitality Students’ Learning Experience via Service Learning/Hands-on Experience

This is a case study based on the Hospitality and Restaurant Management program at a comprehensive Midwest university in the United States of America ( = 164). The sample selection for this study was a convenience sample of the students enrolled in a meetings and events management course. The purpose of the study was to investigate how the incorporation of service learning/hands-on experience in a meetings and events management class influences student learning and interest in community service. The results indicated that participants’ involvement in service learning/hands-on experience in a meetings and events management class significantly influences student learning and interest in community service

Perception of Green Hotels in the 21st Century

This study was conducted to examine the perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and thoughts of consumers when it comes to “green” hotels (resorts) in the twenty-first century. People have, in recent years, shifted their focus towards preserving the environment; thus, leading a movement to an expectations of “green” lifestyles. These lifestyles are not only in the home, but wherever the traveler goes leading to “green” hotels being a major interest to consumers. The result of this study indicated that consumers are willing to stay in green hotels. The study also showed that a majority of consumers considered going “green” as an important factor in their hotel choice. However, the question about who should pay for green hotels depends on who you ask. The assessments of consumer perception on water and energy conservation in this study were very encouraging

The Millennial (Generation Y) Students’ Perception of Teaching Effectiveness: A Case of a Tier-One U.S. Midwestern University

The purpose of this study was to identify the selected Rosenshine and Furst (1971) factors that influence Millennial (Generation Y) student learning, and the influence of those factors and other background variables on students’ evaluations of teaching. The result indicates that the ten factors adapted from Rosenshine and Furst (1971) studies were perceived by Generation Y students to positively influence their learning. The result also indicates that great teaching skills favor good evaluation. However, students’ evaluations of teaching are a lot better when instructors combine great teaching skills with great personality, less workload, flexibility and friendliness

Integrating Service-Learning and Classroom Instruction to Enhance Learning: An Innovative Hospitality Education

The purpose of the study was to investigate how the integration of service-learning and classroom instruction in a meetings and events management class influences student learning and interest in community service. The sample selection for this study was a convenience sample of the students enrolled in a Meetings and Events management course at a comprehensive Midwest university in the United States of America. The result of this study indicated that students’ involvement in service-learning enhanced students’ learning perception of event planning competence and interest in community service

The Mediating Effects of Implied Volatility and Exchange Rate on the U.S. Tourism-Growth Nexus

In this paper, we examine the impact of destination risk and currency valuation on the U.S. tourism-growth nexus using the recently developed nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag cointegration technique. Tourism development is proxied by tourist arrivals, while growth is measured by real GDP. Empirical results show evidence of long-run asymmetric bidirectional causality. Positive shocks in tourism development directly impact growth, while negative shocks in GDP have a negative causal effect on tourism. This latter finding, which supports the growth-led tourism hypothesis, suggests that in the long run, tourism tends to improve following periods of economic weakness, perhaps due to the dollar’s weakness at such times. However, we have evidence only of unidirectional causality running from GDP to tourism in the short run. An important implication of these findings is the need to promote inbound tourism, especially when weakness in the U.S. economy is accompanied by a decline in the value of the dollar