Introduction
Tourism entails traveling for recreation, leisure, or business with the fundamental aim of having fun and relaxation. Tourism activities involve traveling and undertaking numerous activities outside a person’s accustomed dwelling place. According to Ritchie et al. (2011), tourism refers to a collection of industries, services, and activities that offer unique travel experiences such as eating, exploration, drinking, accommodation, and visiting entertainment zones. It creates harmony among diverse groups through the exchange of ideas and hospitality. It also offers an opportunity for others to learn and experience new cultures. Tourism could also refer to the host relationships and phenomena that occur because of the interactions of business practitioners, tourists, governments, communities, and other agencies bestowed with the duty of attracting both internal and external visitors (Ritchie, et al. 2011). Mass tourism is a phenomenon that is popular in the modern tourism industry. Key tourism areas include eco-tourism, educational tourism, health tourism, and activity or profession-based tourism.
According to Fortune & Schole (2007), it is crucial to be comfortable and live a self-fulfilling life. For real and cost-effective self-fulfillment, proper planning, good management of time, and strategic allocation of resources are essential. From both statistical and conceptual points of view, the philosophy of tourism is focused on the understanding that being extravagant in one’s spending habits and inconsiderate of other peoples’ feelings or ways of life while on a tourism expedition is against the core principles of the philosophy of tourism.
Why Tourism Is Important
Tourism has social, economic, political, and religious significance. Diverse aspects of tourism and their relevance to people are based on several factors, both personal and societal. For tourists, traveling should take place for a purpose that is different from the one that is enhanced by the place of visit. Since the factor of time is arguably a critical aspect of tourism, it is worthwhile to understand that tourism activities should be time-bound, lest they lose their intended meanings.
On the global scene, the most popular tourist destinations include France, Mexico, the United States, Malaysia, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Turkey, among others (Lew, 2008). Paris, Bangkok, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Antalya, New York, and London are some of the most visited cities by tourists in the world (Lew, 2008). Mass tourists, adjectival tourists, and winter tourists all have unique features that help underline the value and significance of the tourism industry. The fact that most tourists have an overwhelming potential to nurture the values of truth, virtue, and beauty is an indicator of the fact that tourism plays a crucial role in enhancing the well-being of members of any given society. Tourists are normally upright and well-informed people with the ability to make proper decisions on issues that relate to their lives and the lives of other people in society. This means that the tourism industry aids in ensuring that people are mentally upright, socially active, and economically productive (Fortune & Schole, 2007).
Tourism helps to manage the problem of boredom due to the ever-increasing leisure time. To some extent, the ever-increasing rate of replacement of human labor with various computerized work systems also makes most people idle. Information revolution and advancement in technology have led to greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness at the workplaces thus leaving many people with a lot of time to spend on leisure. As a result, most people have turned to tourism as a way of spending their free time rather than misusing their free time by committing social and economic evils. It is essential to formulate relevant and sustainable tourism policies that safeguard the common good of people in the society and that effectively manage tourism activities.
As a source of national wellbeing, the philosophical concept of enabling people to navigate rather than just to live is best achieved through tourism. Ecotourism boosts healthy social interactions among people. Tourism is a philosophy of life in which people interact with their environment to boost their economic wellbeing. By interacting with people from different societies and ways of life, one gets to appreciate the discrepancies among people and the need to conserve the fauna and flora. Moreover, tourism has social and educational significance. By enhancing social values and allowing people to experience different cultures, tourism ensures that various customs and cultures are experienced.
The performance of the tourism industry is very difficult to measure and define because it is a fragmented and dynamic economic sector in the world. Travel, change of place, and voyages help to instill vigor in people’s minds and thus enable them to be more effective, reliable, healthy, and economically productive. Besides bringing delight to people, tourism activities generate revenue for major stakeholders in the industry. Most of the exotic tourist centers charge fees for visits, accommodation, food, refreshments, and recreational activities undertaken by tourists. As a noble occupation and an industry of private and public interests, revenue generated from tourism continues to be a key contributor to the economic development of most global economies. Domestic and international tourism boost economic efficiency, socio-cultural equity, environmental conservation, and development. In addition, it leads to the creation of national and international reputation, environmental conservation, safety, and equity in society, and encourages the economic development of complementary industries such as recreation and hospitality.
How I Hope To Influence People in the Tourism Industry
There are many challenges that face the tourism industry. In both the developed and the developing countries, the tension in the local communities, biological diversity, and investors in the tourism industries have been major issues of concern. I intend to ensure that local people are fully involved in the key decision-making processes that shape the manner in which the tourism industry is managed. My efforts will be focused on ensuring that all tourism activities and stakeholders have a courteous attitude to the indigenous people of a given tourist destination and their respective cultural undertakings. I shall ensure that all tourist attraction sites and activities are effectively nurtured and protected and that I influence the formulation of policies that would help achieve this goal. To avoid economic competition between the local communities and investors in tourism, I would endeavor to create an amicable agreement focused on enhancing the equitable distribution of tourism benefits.
Human and natural misfortunes such as increased costs of food, higher transportation costs, traveling costs, earthquakes, drought, floods, nuclear power crisis, and tsunamis continue to pose a lot of uncertainty and challenges in the tourism industry. These continue to make proper planning and projection of the future of the industry more difficult. Political undulations also contribute to the increased lack of proper direction of the industry. Such problems could have long-term effects on the industry. As a professional in the tourism industry, I would focus on enhancing the level of involvement of stakeholders by ensuring that all possible challenges are addressed and contingency measures put in place.
I would approach issues with an open mind by being creative and conversant with the different professions that affect the tourism industry. I would focus on expounding my knowledge of social, political, economic, weather, and climatic changes, religious, security, and technological aspects of tourism in order to effectively plan. This would ensure constancy in the revenue generation levels from tourism activities. I would also engage in dialogue with the government to ensure that the tourism sector is not taxed heavily, as is the case currently.
Research is the pillar of development in tourism. I would undertake research and come up with recommendations to handle and effectively address challenges such as high inflation rate, insecurity, and redundant regulatory issues. The research would also focus on enhancing the well-being of customers and employees and the need for tourism professionals to be trained and made to understand the new market trends, modern competitive strategies, and the seasonal character of the industry. This would also be crucial, as it would help to eliminate the indiscipline cases of tourists and tourism professions (Ritchie et al. 2011).
Role of Professionals in the Tourism Industry
The tourism industry is very broad and dynamic. The major groups in it include travel and tour guide services, the transport and communication sector, the recreation sector, and the food and beverage line of business. Professionals in the tourism industry include tour guides, game rangers, hotel managers, tourism ambassadors, receptionists, drivers, pilots, front desk agents, room attendants, housekeepers, concierges, sales and marketing professionals, accounting officers, chefs and cooks, hosts, and hostess, bar attendants, food and beverage servers, caterers, heritage interpreters, taxi drivers, and travel counselors among others (Fortune & Schole, 2007).
Unlike in the past where the role of tourism industry professionals was restricted to their specific line of duty, the information revolution and challenges that face the industry have compelled professionals in the industry to employ dynamic and very creative operational tactics. As a result, proper and timely planning is a critical role of tourism industry professionals. To enhance the philosophical aspects of tourism and a sense of refreshment and nourishment, professionals in the tourism industry should plan well and be willing to offer the best possible services to their clients.
Constant research, the creation of innovative tourism programs, and the establishment of new trends in the tourism industry is major component of the tourism industry. Ideally, this role should be undertaken by top-level managers in the industry and other independent researchers with the aim of enhancing customer experience through a renewed level of creativity and innovativeness. This role also entails keeping track of analytics and metrics that clearly outline the position of tourism sales agencies, marketing, and management strategies. These professionals have a huge role in portraying a positive image for the industry and boosting a rich customer experience. The professionals have a duty to share information, train customers, offer security, and collect and disseminate information to the clients in a timely, cost-effective, and user-friendly manner (Ritchie et al. 2011).
As a professional in the tourism industry, I would work towards ensuring that I boost domestic tourism. I would work towards ensuring that both in-bound and out-bound tourism activities are focused on ensuring strategic measures are formulated to enhance a greater level of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. I hope to achieve this focus by inducing a paradigm shift and rejecting the common perception of the limited role of tourism (Ritchie et al. 2011).
I hope to achieve a number of objectives as a manager in the tourism industry. To begin with, I intend to revamp the industry and steer it to greater levels of economic development. This would be achieved by focusing on research because of my understanding that research is critical to the growth and development of the tourism industry. Since travel continues to have a negative impact on the environment, I shall work with like-minded professionals in order to discover more eco-friendly means of traveling. As a result, I hope to employ the concept of geo-tourism and space tourism, which would in turn revamp the slow rate of overseas travel. Through the formulation and implementation of modernized tourism policies, I would endeavor to ensure that most tourism processes are computerized. This would ensure that a greater level of efficiency and progress is achieved (Lew, 2008).
To ensure ease of communication, I will integrate all relevant social media platforms into my organization’s communication system to ensure that clients are not restricted to using a specific mode of communication (Ritchie et al. 2011) I would also undertake to enhance a rich sense of customer experience. Because of the likely shift in the tourism landscape, I hope to achieve full integration of various artificial, virtual and manufactured tourist attraction assets. I would also streamline the decision-making processes in the tourism industry by lobbying for a lean management decision-making structure. Rather than undertaking market campaigns, I would encourage my team to support domestic tourism by devising online and roadshow marketing campaign platforms.
Above all, as a professional in tourism and through foresight and constant planning, I would hope to lead by example by ensuring that my team of employees and I live fulfilling lives and prepare ourselves for more challenging management tasks in the future. To achieve this, I would conduct training programs that encourage cross-functional networking, employee exchange programs, and seminars.
Values and Principles
My conviction is that all human beings have the right to freedom and that they should all freely interact and move around the globe. While financial and political constraints may undermine people’s ways of life, it would be crucial to ensure that these external factors do not give other society members an upper hand in deciding how who, and where to spend one’s free time. Financially, I would venture into lobbying for the existence of affordable and easily accessible high-standard tourist attraction centers.
The principle of constant learning would be critical in ensuring that I remain relevant and fully equipped with the necessary skills and expertise in the tourism industry. Additionally, adhering to the cardinal virtues, I would do this by ensuring that I achieve self-awareness before attempting to understand other people. This value is aligned closely to my tourism career as it ensures that only relevant and customer-friendly innovations are implemented and that redundant business processes are rooted out of the system (Fortune & Schole, 2007).
The following four cardinal virtues would be my guiding shield in my profession. Fortitude, temperance, prudence, and justice are virtues that would enable me to remain steadfast and focused on achieving my set goals. In the time of tribulations and turbulences in the tourism market, the four cardinal virtues would be my guiding principles in ensuring that I remain creative, innovative, and sensitive to the needs and demands of all major stakeholders in the tourism industry (Lew, 2008).
Another value and core principle that would guide me in my career is the concept of simplicity. Since tourism focuses mainly on enhancing customer experience, the principle of simplicity would enable me to embrace simple yet very creative tourist attraction strategies as well as be sober when faced with critical, sensitive, and challenging circumstances. This principle would also enable me to think differently but be sensitive to customer needs.
The principle of accountability is the final principle that would guide my future career endeavors. To ensure that I remain informed of the happenings in the industry and effectively respond to the needs of stakeholders, I would ensure that I not only remain accountable to the shareholders but also to customers and other stakeholders. This principle would also enable me to be efficient and effective when undertaking my duties and responsibilities in the tourism industry.
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it is evident that the philosophy of tourism is time-bound because only people that travel out of their normal dwelling places for a period of less than one year could be considered tourists. The philosophy of hard work, engagement in leisure activities, and living fulfilling lives constitute the values of tourism. Tourism is important to societies, governments, individuals, and contributes greatly towards achievements of personal fulfillments if conducted professionally.
References
Fortune, F. & Schole M. (2007). A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education. MERLOT/Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 2(1): 1-7.
Lew, A. (2008). Long Tail Tourism: New Geographies for Marketing Niche Tourism Products. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 25 (3-4): 409-419.
Ritchie, J. R. et al. (2011). Impacts of the World Recession and Economic Crisis on Tourism: North America. Journal of Travel Research, 49 (1): 5-15.