“Culture is not a
characteristic of individuals but a collection of individuals sharing common
concerns that may include values, beliefs, ideas and rituals”
(Clarke and Chen,
2007, p. 28).
This is why I believe culture
determines a person’s behavior in society (Walker, 2004, p.532) and because the
hospitality industry relies on its local human resource it inadvertently changes
the aspect and modus operandi of the
industry. This became very clear to me when I moved to the UK from Romania as
the two countries have quite different cultural backgrounds: while Romania
focuses on the rural side of the industry, the UK promotes its urban areas.
Firstly, due to its rural character
Romania is rich in destinations for those interested in “nature tourism” (FOX News Network, 2012) because essentially any village can be a destination for this type
of tourism. These are some examples of the more popular areas: Maramures,
Apuseni Mountains, Transylvania or the Danube Delta.
This type of tourism offers people an
escape to nature from their day to day lives. Hosts accommodate their guests in
rural homes, guest-houses and pensions instead of hotels; they offer them
traditional food and show them the local customs, practically making them part
of the community. One of the many people who find Romanian hospitality enticing
is Prince Charles of Wales (Squidoo, 2012).
The following video of him holds the
essence of what rural tourism is and how local traditions and customs can
change a person’s experience in Romania (I recommend watching from 00:30 to 1:00):
Pictures of a few Romanian dishes:
And some of the sights to see:
The Danube River
Rural houses
The Danube River
Rural houses
The Happy Cemetery
The highest wooden church in the world
On
the other hand, the UK offers people a completely different experience through
its urban beauty, architecture and history. For example, the top UK destination,
London (Trip Advisor, 2012 ) offers over a 1000 hotels to choose from (Booking,
2012) which creates a wide enough variety to cater to the needs of all market
segments no matter the experience they are looking for (Clarke & Chen,
2007, p.65).
Here
are a few pictures of some of the places tourists seek in London:
Reference list:
Books:
Clarke, A. & Chen, W. (2007), International Hospitality Management:
concepts and cases, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Walker,
J.R. (2004) Introduction to Hospitality
Management, London; Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Booking (2012) Available here (Accessed: 15 October 2012).
FOX News Network (2012) Fox News. Available
here (Accessed: 16 October 2012).
Pan Travel Romania (no date) Map of
Romania [Online]. Available here (Accessed: 16 October 2012).
Squidoo (2012) Available here (Accessed: 16 October 2012).
TripAdvisor (2012) Available here (Accessed: 15 October 2012).
Larrisa
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog and I very much enjoyed reading it. Similar to my blog, you have stated about how where there is tourism, there is hospitality and that the hospitality industry relies on the tourism industry to succeed.
When you stated in your conclusion that "Depending on the culture, the customs and traditions of the region or the country, the industry will have specific characteristics, appealing to one or multiple market segments.", I felt that you had a true understanding of how both the UK and Romania use their culture and customs to attract tourists and therefore customers for hospitality.
Larrisa,
ReplyDeleteWow! What a blog! I must have read it at least 5 times now and i am always learning more! You've used so many references that you've gathered your information from very reliable sources. Excellent Job!
Very well presented blog Larissa, I'm particularly interested in 'Happy cemetary'! It is quite interesting that you feel UK tourism focuses on urban but Romania on rural tourism, becasue many Britons always look at having an escape in country for their holiday - does it mean UK tourism has two faces, urban destinations attracting international market and rural areas domestic markets? Would be interested to look at it.
ReplyDeleteLarissa, this is a wonderful blog!
ReplyDeleteThe way you have incorporated pictures and videos and all your references gives the text great depth and visually supports your argument.
I completely agree with you- local culture is a very important factor of the hospitality industry. It's very interesting to hear about the way guests are accommodated in Romania, I find this an essential characteristic to portray in a country to allow tourists to get a true feeling of the culture and the society that they are visiting.
Well done :) I look forward to your next blogs!
A very detailed and well constructed blog which intoduces and explores the differences between the hospitality culture in two countries. Many of the points you mention provide an insight into the motivation behind British hospitality and where the focus lies in different cultures.
ReplyDelete