Evolution Of Hospitality And Tourism: Report On Altruistic Relationship

Hospitality, travel and accommodation

Discuss about the Report for Altruistic Hospitality Relationship.

Hospitality is an altruistic relationship between a person and his guest. It is the goodwill shown to one group of individuals by another, when both of them chance to encounter each other, and has been existent since humans moved from place to place. As man became more and more civilized, the idea of territory became a home, and the idea of tolerating other humans in his territory became a practice of welcoming others to one’s home. Once the basic needs of men were met and ability to think started expanding, the virtue of making their guests feel good began to emerge through mankind. It then became a regular practice, with hospitality slowly emerging as a tradition unique to every group of individuals. Food is an inseparable component of hospitality (Brotherton, 2013); and apparently, feeding one’s guests would have started as a practice to placate one’s hunger, progressing to man sharing food with fellow companions.

With the advent of travelling, the world was thrown open to man, and trade relations started between various countries. The idea of welcoming guests grew with increasing business relations with one another. As man needed to travel long distances, he would need food to keep up his stamina, so that he could traverse his distance to carry on his business (Flandrin & Montanari, 2013). This might have been the beginning of modern day hospitality, where food and shelter was extended to messengers and traders, so that the trade would go on, and the country would earn a reputation. Today, though hospitality way different from how it was in the past, the concept of making a guest feel at home exists in most parts of the land. It suggests the mutual understanding of both the host’s and the guest’s perception of tradition and culture. In this essay, the concept of hospitality and tourism is discussed, with emphasis on the evolution of hospitality with changing traditions and habits, all over the world.

In the early days, there were no borders that defined countries and cultures; it was only the need for survival and exhibition of power and authority that led man to mark territorial boundaries. With the advent of civilization, and the need for agriculture, man started to cultivate crops that would thrive in his geographic location. This led to the invention and preparation of location-specific cuisines. The idea of “home” is a man’s comfort zone, where he is comfortable in his own practices, customs, and tastes. However, it is the intent curiosity of man on knowing about various places led him to travel, thus making tourism an important agenda in every government. Today, global connectivity being just a click away can be attributed to the increase in travel as a hobby (Cheung, 2011).

The role of culture in hospitality

Usually, it is the “wanderlust” of man, to seek out different places, and the curiosity to try out different food across the globe that influences a man’s decisions to travel. For example, an individual who has led his life predominantly in the West and is curious on trying out different cuisines would love the Eastern part of the world, where rice is the staple crop, as opposed to wheat and maize in his place. Individuals from India or Srilanka would be naturally inclined to travelling to colder regions, as a welcome change from their tropical weather. Thus, a person’s choice of travel might be to explore a place with different living conditions from their home.

In today’s world, it is mandatory that every individual performs a safety and authenticity check on the place of travel and his place of accommodation. This is essential, as a wonderful travel experience would be ruined if one gets robbed in the place of accommodation, in an unknown country. As it is relatively easy to identify a safe and a reputed place of stay, well before one embarks on a trip, the reputation of the place goes down considerably if any tourist has a unpleasant experience (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). Usually, places of accommodation with a high reputation for safety, and good reviews and ratings by previous occupants are the most sought after, as most people would not trade safety for some extra charge. Cultural variations and differences also play an important role in the accommodation choice of an individual. For example, kokoretsi (goat intestines wrapped in meat, and cooked in breads), a specialty of Greece, Batute (cooked stuffed frog), a specialty of Philippines, knipp (a sausage) of Germany, etc being rare dishes that are available only in the places of their origin, might not go well with many people from certain Hindu and Muslim communities, where such dishes made of beef or pork are forbidden (Ahn et al., 2011). This way, there would be a culture shock, which would deter conservative people from touring similar places.

The world’s safest and the most hospitable places to tour would be preferred in most cases. However, an individual with a penchant for adventure and travel would not mind the safety glitches of another location. However, if the place is a tourist hotspot, yet is under tremendous safety issues like terrorism, war, etc, it would heavily impede the potential visitors from travelling to that place (Jamrozy, 2007). Other factors that might impact the tourist’s choice of destination include accessibility to travel, paperwork, infrastructure, racism, cost of living, balance of nature, climatic conditions, places of tourist attraction, etc.

Safety and authenticity considerations for travelers

Travel always provides learning experiences to the tourists all around the world. Many tourists travel to certain locations just to get a certain experience, and this fact is banked upon by the agencies and places providing commercial accommodation. For example, most people of the world throng towards India, seeking a spiritual experience. It could be experiencing the bliss of the Himalayas, or the sacred river at Varanasi, or the architectural marvel of the temples of Southern India, or the grand celebrations of religious festivals all over the country  (Kerrigan et al., 2012). In order to make the tourists achieve the experiences, the hotels and resorts mostly work together with travel guides and agencies, enabling their tourists to avail sight-seeing opportunities, at a cost which they can afford. For example, in a shared economy, group travels are made possible. This enables intermingling and socialization with people from all walks of life, in addition to achieving travel experience. However, if the tourist wishes to experience India alone, tourist guides and travel packages are available for individual travelers as well, for a premium (Weaver et al., 2007).

One of the main goals of travel is to explore new areas of life, along with new people. For this, shared accommodation would be the best bet, as it would help inculcate sharing, mingling and getting to know others, without intruding upon one’s privacy (Middleton et al., 2009). Though this would not go well with some people who have a very high regard for privacy and personal space, it would definitely lead the traveler to a new and meaningful travel experience.

The travel and tourism industry is one of the highly grossing areas in the economic development of a country, and it is the responsibility of all the stakeholders of tourism to equally contribute to its improvement. In this fast moving world, hotels and resorts that provide strictly traditional and outdated methods of accommodation stand to lose if they do not willingly upgrade their services (Badone, 2004). For any service provider, it is important to identify the pulse of the audience, connect with them, and provide them their required services, in order to sustain in the industry. Flexibility and the intent to make one’s guests comfortable must be the resort’s top gals.

In order to accomplish this, traditional accommodation providers might be needed to re-image their products and experiences to compete with new and innovative forms of commercial accommodation (Yamazaki & Kayes, 2004). This can be achieved by upgrading the infrastructure, providing facilities that are unique to them, providing customized facilities according to the tourist, announcing new schemes, enhancing their culinary support, etc. For example, if a Japanese tourist visits Africa, the restaurant in Africa must make the tourist comfortable, by offering him choices in his cuisine, rather than being rigid on serving only the local cuisine, which the tourist might not be accustomed with. After making him comfortable, introducing the special dishes of the local African cuisine on the second day of his stay would make the Japanese tourist feel curious to experiment, thus making his trip satisfactory.

Learning experiences, shared accommodation, and their impact on the travel industry

Conclusion

Hospitality encompasses gastronomy, cultural habits and practices, and travel helps a person to be acquainted with all the customs and practices globally. The choice of one’s travel location and accommodation might be personal and dependent of numerous factors, but the experience and joy of travel is heavily dependent on them.  Rigid prototypes and rules pertaining to the tourist areas of one’s country might seem to preserve culture, but an enforced preservation does not guarantee its sustenance. Inculcation of the positives of a culture into another place, taking care not to disturb the fundamental principles of one’s heritage is essential. The hospitality provided to a guest must end on a positive note, so that his travel experience is enhanced, and he is made to feel comfortable, or in other words “at home”, even on foreign soil. Thus, commercialized hospitality can be truly said to be an extension of hospitality of one’s home, and the world would be a far safe and peaceful place to live in, if the concept of “home” is expanded to encompass the world.

References

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Yamazaki, Y. & Kayes, D.C., 2004. An experiential approach to cross-cultural learning: A review and integration of competencies for successful expatriate adaptation. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(4), pp.362-79.