Hospitality Industry

 

Hospitality Industry

 

Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and host, where in the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

Five segments of hospitality:

The industry is complex, consisting of five major segments: food, lodging, travel, tourism and recreation. Part of the complexity is the co-mingling of segments, such as a hotel that houses a restaurant, theater and gift shop.

Food and Beverage:

Gastronomic tourism refers to trips made to destinations where the local food and beverages are the main motivating factors for travel. estimate of global market size. Culinary tourism tends to be largely a domestic tourism activity, with consumers travelling to places to eat and drink specific (usually local) produce.

Lodging:

A lodge is an inn where travelers stay overnight. Lodging, meaning to stay temporarily, or to give someone a place to stay. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hotel and lodging industry "includes all types of lodging, from luxurious 5-star hotels to youth hostels and RV parks. While many provide simply a place to spend the night, others cater to longer stays by providing food service, recreational activities, and meeting rooms."

Travel and Tourism:

The sector comprises many different industries and sub-industries, including services such as retail travel, currency exchange, tour operators and tourist boards.

 Travel tourism, also called business travel, refers to professional activities outside the company. They include, among others, participation in meetings, congresses, exhibitions, travel and business hospitality. Travel also refers to the act of moving from one location to another. This refers to long-distance travel, short-distance travel, overseas travel, domestic travel and various other forms. Crucially, travel also includes both round trips and one-way journeys, and it covers a wide variety of different travel purposes. The travel industry, therefore, refers to the numerous aspects of the wider service industry which cater for the needs and desires of those who have travelled from one part of the world to another.

Tourism:

Tourism organizations tend to be organizations that act in the interests of the tourism industry itself, lobbying on its behalf or promoting its interests. Examples would include national tourism information companies, local tourist boards, tourism agencies, tourism charities and inspection agencies.

The industry is a big business in almost every country in the world. Yearly millions people travel on several occasions, spending billions of dollars. Change and evolution is more fast-paced than ever, with shifting demographics and developing technology creating brand new travel trends. Whether the customers are local, national, regional, or international, every business owner should be following the latest tourism trends as part of their marketing effort and economic growth strategy. ‘Travel Trends: Opportunities for the Travel Industry’ is an insightful guide into the key trends that are reshaping the travel and tourism industry.

Recreation:

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun".

It is difficult to separate from the general concept of play, which is usually the term for children's recreational activity. Children may playfully imitate activities that reflect the realities of adult life. It has been proposed that play or recreational activities are outlets of or expression of excess energy, channeling it into socially acceptable activities that fulfill individual as well as societal needs, without need for compulsion, and providing satisfaction and pleasure for the participant. A traditional view holds that work is supported by recreation, recreation being useful to "recharge the battery" so that work performance is improved.

Work, an activity generally performed out of economic necessity and useful for society and organized within the economic framework, however can also be pleasurable and may be self-imposed thus blurring the distinction to recreation. Many activities in entertainment are work for one person and recreation for another. Over time, a recreational activity may become work, and vice versa. Thus, for a musician, playing an instrument may be at one time a profession, and at another a recreation.

As we navigate through this new normal I am confident this industry will bounce back and become a new entity to reconcile with.

George  Richards