Tourism and the Lodging Sector

Dallen Timothy, Victor Teye

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780367825072
• eBook ISBN: 9781136433986
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Tourism and the Lodging Sector is a pioneering book, the first text of its kind to examine the lodging sector from a tourism perspective. The book highlights the importance of the lodging sector in tourism as a major income generator and essential part of the travel experience.

The book offers an international perspective on topics such as sustainability, security, economic development, technology and globalization. The issues, concepts and management concerns facing this industry are examined, highlighting important topics such as:

• the place of accommodations in tourism and vice versa
• the social ecological and economic implications of lodging development
• management and restructuring issues in a globalizing industry
• sustainable tourism and the accommodation sector
• cross-sectoral linkages between lodging, food services, gaming, conferences, and other intermediaries
• the interaction between supply and demand
• safety and security in tourism and lodging.

Tourism and the Lodging Sector critically examines a wide range of lodging establishments from an industry and social science perspective, drawing parallels and distinctions between the various types of accommodation, from campgrounds for the cost-conscious or adventurous outdoor traveler, to luxury, five-star resorts, and more innovative accommodation such as tree-house hotels and ecolodges.

Essential reading for students of tourism, this book is an indispensable guide, unprecedented in the field of tourism management.

Dallen J. Timothy is Professor, School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University, USA
Victor B. Teye is Associate Professor, School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University, USA

Tourism and Tourist Accommodations

DOI: 10.4324/9780080942810-1

Contents

• Tourism, Hospitality and this Book
• Summary and Conclusion
• Reference
• Further Reading

Tourism is an economic powerhouse that has become the service industry of the new millennium. It has experienced a steady and rapid growth since the middle of the twentieth century, but even centuries and millennia ago, it was a force to be reckoned with. Many historians argue that the modern-day concept of travel and tourism originated with medieval Christian pilgrimages to Rome and the Holy Land. Others, however, maintain that Hinduism and Buddhism are the forerunners to modern mass tourism. Hinduism, commonly referred to as the world’s oldest religion, may have originated as long ago as 4000 years BC, although claims range from 4000 to 1500 BC depending on how its origins are defined. What we do know is that already more than 2000 years ago Hindu pilgrims were traveling through South Asia to bathe in holy rivers and participate in sacred rituals associated with temples built to worship diverse deity.

Buddhist pilgrims were said to have traveled in great numbers more than 2000 years ago to be enlightened by visits to the locations in Nepal and India where Lord Buddha was born (between 600 and 400 BC), received enlightenment, preached, and died. Today these locations are connected via a pilgrimage circuit and still function as important destinations for pilgrims and cultural tourists. Following the death of Jesus Christ, Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and later to Rome, was the basis of an important circulation between Europe and the Roman lands of today’s Middle East. Long distance travel waned with the fall of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in the thirteenth century but intra-regional travel flourished in the medieval period with the Grand Tour in Southern Europe. Global explorations characterized the Middle Ages, resulting in the colonization of most of the world’s territory by European superpowers. The Industrial Revolution of the early nineteenth century and the subsequent invention and widespread adoption of steam trains and steam ships, automobiles, and airplanes characterized the early modern era from the 1820s until the Second World War. The end of World War II unleashed the speediest phase of global and extraterrestrial exploration and travel of any period of time before in human history.

Jerusalem was the center of ancient and medieval Christian pilgrimage

Where does the lodging sector fit in with this long history of travel? Each of these historical periods had its own lodging needs. The early rest houses of Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims (dharamshalas—charitable rest houses) are still used today to provide shelter and sustenance to pilgrims in various places in India. The ruins of ancient roadside inns can be found throughout India and Israel/Palestine, and many others that are already several centuries old are still functioning as pilgrim rest houses. During medieval times, inns and roadside watering holes (for horses and their drivers) were developed to refresh weary travelers and meet their sleeping needs. These early pilgrim rest houses and roadside inns are often cited as the original concept behind today’s hospitality sector.

The development of trains and railway networks during the early and mid-1800s saw a rapid spread of travel in Europe, the UK, North America, Australia, and parts of Asia. In fact, railway lines were critical to the settlement of the American west and in the development of popular resorts on the US east coast (e.g. Ocean City, Atlantic City, Cape May), as well as on the coast of Great Britain (e.g. Brighton, Blackpool, Llandudno). Resort communities like Atlantic City and Cape May developed rapidly during the mid-1800s with the train-induced mobilization of crowds from the growing population centers of the northeast (e.g. New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia). Resorts and hotels were built rapidly to accommodate this newfound socio-economic force known as seaside tourism. Many of the original hotels still function as hotels and have been listed on America’s Register of Historic Places.

Ruins of an ancient way station, or roadside inn in Palestine

Trans-continental railway development in Canada created a string of large luxury hotels from the east coast to the west coast. Several have since been demolished or no longer function as hotels, but the remaining properties are still considered luxury lodging options and provide some of the most exclusive accommodations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Several are now operated by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Existing Canadian Pacific Railway Hotels from the Early Years

Year Opened	Hotel	Location
1888	Banff Springs Hotel	Banff, Alberta
1889	The Algonquin	St Andrews, New Brunswick
1890	Chateau Lake Louise	Lake Louise, Alberta
1893	Château Frontenac	Quebec City, Quebec
1908	Empress Hotel	Victoria, British Columbia
1914	Palliser Hotel	Calgary, Alberta
1917	Digby Pines Resort	Digby, Nova Scotia
1927	Lord Nelson Hotel	Halifax, Nova Scotia
1927	Hotel Saskatchewan	Regina, Saskatchewan
1929	Cornwallis Inn	Kentville, Nova Scotia
1929	Royal York Hotel	Toronto, Ontario
1930	Château Montebello	Montebello, Quebec
1930	Lakeside Inn	Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
1939	Hotel Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia

At the end of the nineteenth century with the invention of the combustible engine, automobiles became popular. During the 1920s and 1930s, personal cars became more widespread as more and more families were able to afford them. This fueled the development of coastal resort towns and other inland destinations throughout the world, including the colonial highland resorts in Indonesia and India, to which European colonizers flocked to escape the tropical heat of the lowlands. Cars also enabled people to explore. While few highways existed in the early twentieth century, travelers began to penetrate areas that had before been accessible only by foot or carriage, or through which trains passed without stopping. The popularity of the automobile also fueled the growth of mountain, forest, and coastal destinations and increased demand for lodging and dining services. It was during this period that the notion of motels, or motor hotels, developed.

Air travel took off in the early twentieth century with the first commercial flight in 1914 in Florida, where Tony Jannus flew 21 miles (34 km) from St Petersburg to Tampa in a two-seater machine at an altitude of only 50 feet (15 m). The first trans-Atlantic flight occurred in 1919. Advances in airplane technology came about via the two world wars. The mid-1900s saw the growth of larger and more efficient aircrafts that enabled larger cohorts of society to travel overseas and domestically. This fueled demand for tourism and the need for accommodations even further.

Today in the late modern era we face such rapid technological transformations that it is unsettling to many people. The Internet has become a mechanism that allows people to arrange their own travel, including hotel reservations, bypassing industry intermediaries, which has expanded hotel and resort profit margins and given direct access and control to the customer. The Internet is constantly being refined and applied in ever more diverse contexts and for more uses. Transportation innovations continue to develop, with one of the most recent developments being the largest passenger aircraft ever made—the Airbus A380, which can accommodate 853 people and fly at a maximum cruising speed of 945 kmp/587 mph. Likewise, super cruise ships have developed to carry more than 3000 passengers at one time, and new apartment cruises have become vogue among the world’s wealthy elites. Higher capacity transportation modes have the potential to increase global travel, if there is adequate demand. If history is any predictor of the future, it is very likely that such demand will meet the challenge. As such there is an obvious need for lodging providers to keep pace and to meet the needs of a growing global marketplace, particularly as new destinations open up, demand characteristics change, international relations improve, and cross-border travel and trade are liberalized.

The importance and magnitude of global tourism cannot be overstressed. Nearly a billion international overnight trips were taken in 2007, with expenditures measuring in the trillions of dollars. In the United States, domestic and international travelers spend an average of $2 billion a day, $84.5 million an hour, $1.4 million a minute, and $23 500 per second (American Hotel and Lodging Association, 2008). Because in most instances between 25 and 35% of all tourist spending, varying from case to case, goes to accommodations, the importance of lodging in tourism also cannot be overstressed. This is a substantial portion of travel expenditures and amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars every year. In the United States alone, there were 48 062 lodging properties in 2007 with 4.5 million guest rooms. Direct spending by travelers on overnight stays was just under $140 billion, and the year’s average occupancy rate was 63.1% (American Hotel and Lodging Association, 2008).

Given these magnanimous figures associated with tourism, it is little wonder that tourists and their hotels contribute a great deal to the economic well-being of tourist destinations, especially in terms of regional income, employment, taxes, and the stimulation of entrepreneurialism. By the same token, such masses of people have contributed to the degradation of destination environments and resulted in disillusioned communities whose residents often loathe outsiders, even if their very livelihoods depend on them. In response to these conditions, destination planners and hotel managers realize the need to develop facilities and destinations that are more socially and environmentally sustainable. The green movement and various forms of community-based, or pro-poor, tourism have emerged in the lodging domain to minimize the ecological impacts of hotels, lodges, and resorts on the environment and involve destination residents in tourism decision making and in providing more sustainable an...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List Of Figure And Tables
• Chapter 1 Tourism and Tourist Accommodations
• SECTION I Contemporary Issues in the Lodging Sector
• SECTION II Tourist Lodging Types and Forms
• Index