Discuss about the Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism for Vanuatu.
Across the world and almost in every country, hospitality and tourism is an activity found to play a critical role that contributes to an economy. Both push and pull factors act as tourism systems that support tourist flows (Cooper, 2016). This paper focus on the arrival of a cruise ship at Pacific Island of Vanuatu that depends on tourism. The major areas of focus includes looking at the prime ethical and governing issues, whether P&O cruise acted in the most ethical manner, the person to be responsible to rectify the ethical issues, the manner in which the government could have taken to resolve the ethical issues, and recommendations of the best approaches for overcoming the issues.
Tourism and hospitality continues to experience several ethical dilemmas. Cooper (2016) explains that business ethics refer to the rules that guide operations of a business. In fact, they are not laws in themselves, but rules that guide how parties relates to one another and operations of businesses. Ethics seek to benefit stakeholders (Alonso & Nyanjom, 2016). Ethical tourism involves benefits to the people and environment at various destinations (Lovelock & Lovelock, 2013). Benefits such as economic prosperity, social equity, and protection to culture and environment can only come from ethical behaviors (Net Balance Management Group Pty Ltd, 2014).
The arrival of the P&O International cruise ship with thousands of visitors at Vanuatu local community in the Pacific was to generate wealth for people in the community. However, its arrival led to several prime ethical and governing issues to take place at the island (SBS, 2017). Money matters form the first ethical issue that affects Vanuatu Island (Mitchell, 2011). Many of the residents complained that government officers practiced a high-level of corruption. The P&O cruise ship arrived with thousands of visitors from different international countries including Australia, China, United Stated of America, and other Asian countries. The visitors paid fees amounting to $800,000 aid. The money collected was to help improve the lives of everyone (Stabler, Sinclair & Papatheodorou, 2010). However, the level of corruption, theft, and misappropriation of funds have made it impossible for the community to put the money into proper use. For example, corruption issues involved committee members stealing all the money collected from the tourism activities. Consequently, this has contribute to division among subsistence farmers without experience concerning ways they could handle cash flows. Furthermore, misappropriation of funds comes from the fact that there is no accountability concerning who should control the money. Since 2004 to 2012, there have been changes in committees that have gone without punishment
Endemic nepotism forms the second ethical issue. Leaders started to pursue their own interests, benefits, and those of their close relatives (Tabani, 2008). At Pentecost, Malekula, and Efate-the Port Villa, government and ministers failed to share the belief of benefiting local communities (SBS, 2017). For example, we see that the former government minister of Teserik issued prime land leases to favor family members of his department at a knockdown price. This practice shows that such leaders failed to think about poor villagers that leaved around that site and the benefits they would derive from tourists’ visiting the destination.
There was a construction of social amenities benefiting tourists only. The analysis of the video shows that over a period of ten years, people had failed to benefit from social amenities such as good health, electricity, good toilets, and clean water (Vanuatu, 2013). A majority of the locals have to harvest water when it rains for their use. Furthermore, the only available toilet is that used by tourists. The locals have been denied a chance to use the same amenity.
Jaszay (2002) explains that ethical practice requires adoption of rules that benefits a society and stakeholders. In the case of Vanuatu, for example, the ethical act required that management construct toilets that benefit members of the local community and tourists. In addition, management was to use water for the benefit of the tourists and community members. The fact that tourists contributed money to construct their own toilet; this was not an unethical practice. It was the role of Vanuatu government to have come up with a plan to construct public amenities such as community sanitation for the community. P&O assumed the Vanuatu government would use the money they provided to improve the lives of the islanders? Perhaps they could have followed up on this.
When asked whether the community used the amenities, one member reiterated that the toilet and water were meant for tourists only. This brings out the role of the Vanuatu government in providing social amenities for all (Alonso & Nyanjom, 2016). It was unethical for the government to have failed on planning where to put up the amenities and collection of funds from the tourism activities (Vanuatu, 2013).
Tourism and hospitality are activities that bring interrelationship and partnership between the public and private sectors. The private sector brings together the local community that own businesses, conduct activities, and other resources. The government of Vanuatu has the responsibility for rectifying the above-identified issues. The government through the ministry of culture, sports and tourism should formulate policies and laws to regulate tourism industry (Cooper, 2016). Furthermore, this can also be done through strategic planning (Sofield, 2001).
Similarly, the private sector such as those that own resources and businesses had the responsibility of contributing towards rectification of issues affecting them. For example, the community leaders could identify business opportunities. Furthermore, they had the responsibility of monitoring officials that misuse natural resources such as frequent allocation of land to relatives (Kucinskiene & Macerinskiene, 2012).
Since independence, the leaders started to pursue own interest and the benefits of their family members. The government officials made empty and never fulfilled promises (SBS, 2017). Besides, the majority of the community members have had to wait without any hope. While at the same time, some have to devise own ways of survival.
The Vanuatu government could have resolved the identified issues through involvement. Cooper (2016) outlines a range of reasons that make any government to get involved in tourism and hospitality. Taking authority is one of such reason. Since 2004 to 2012, several committees have stolen the money and nothing has been taken against the corrupt individuals (SBS, 2017). The government could have resolved the issue of corruption by arresting and charging corrupt individuals.
Second, the government plays a role in planning and controlling of resources. According to Cooper (2016), this role helps to ensure that tourism delivers the benefits and outweighs the costs. After analysis, the video, it is apparent that the government failed to design plans ways to provide social amenities to the local community. The failure from the government led to the construction of water that is only used by international tourists (Vaadre, 2009). At the same time, tourists use clean water for cleaning themselves and washing of a toilet that benefits tourists only. The government could have resolved the issue of mismanagement of resources by planning how to use the funds collected from the tourists to construct water reservoirs, provide electricity, and construction of good toilets that could benefit everyone in the community.
Third, the Vanuatu government has a role in regulating and promoting tourism industry. The fact that the majority of the people from the community have remained poor and taken their own business initiatives implies that the Vanuatu government failed to regulate the market and promote the same market to attract an increased number of international tourists. Most importantly, the government could have resolved the issue of poverty among the locals by constructing a market trading area (Cooper, 2016). This place could assist the locals in selling their products to tourists. Furthermore, Vanuatu has not attracted a considerable number of tourists. Therefore, the government could have solved the poverty issue by the formation of advertising and marketing department.
The Australian government also has a role to play in solving the issues. As indicated by the Parliament of Australia, the role should involve offering donations as an investment. For a long time, Vanuatu has continued to rely on Australia for development assistance, educational training, and helping Vanuatu to improve the economic governance and public financial management in tourism sector (Parliament of Australia, (2017).). For instance, this could involve Value-Added Tax collection reforms
Corruption has embedded itself in Vanuatu system. If not controlled, it will continue to be an issue in future. The government need to take strict measure on all corrupt public servants. The measures should cover arresting and imprisonment of anyone found guilty of bribery and corruption cases. The recent case of jailing fourteen Vanuatu MPs, including deputy prime minister, serves the best example of what the government out to do to overcome an issue of corruption (News, 2015). In addition, the government can also adopt strategies recommended by Vaadre (2009). Such measures includes increased political responsibility, increased public participation, and making private sector to become competitive.
The future of Vanuatu tourism would also require tourism policy as a macro-level instrument. For example, the government need to formulate a policy that would regulate the entire future tourism sector at Vanuatu pacific Island. Besides, the formulation of such a policy as a strategy, must show the intention of the government, help in the creation of a competitive destination for tourists, and ensure effective functioning of an entire tourism industry to deliver benefits to the local community (Cooper, 2016). Furthermore, the policy need to interact with other policy areas such as an environment to avoid erosion and development of a long lasting transform infrastructure.
The paper further recommends that implementation of above policy can only take place when the government implements two main policy instruments (Brown, 2011). Management of tourism demand instrument should focus on marketing and promotion, pricing intervention in order to regulate and control competition, security and safety, and access to immigration policy (Sofield, 2001). Second, the government need to implement instruments that manages the supply of tourism. The instrument will help cover taxation, market and research planning, market regulation, education and training of community members, and land-use along the pacific.
The government need to conduct planning of an entire Vanuatu pacific Island. Before the responsible people start planning, they would need to note down a number of questions. Tabani (n.d) outlines that such questions could revolve around;
A response to the above questions will help show the importance of tourism to the government and the local community. Therefore, the government need to use the following stages to achieve better results;
References
Alonso, A. D., & Nyanjom, J. 2016. Tourism, quality of life, and residents of a rural town. Tourism Analysis, 21(6), 617-629.
Brown, A. 2011. The milieu of government reporting in Vanuatu, Pacific Accounting Review, Vol. 23 Issue: 2, pp.165-184,
Cooper, C. 2016. Essentials of tourism. 2nd ed. Pearson (Oxford Brookes University)
Jaszay, C. 2002. Ethical behaviour in the hospitality industry. Hospitality Review, Vol. 20(2), pp. 1-15
Kucinskiene, M., & Macerinskiene, A. 2012. Tourism in Lithuania: the role of public governance. Public Administration (16484541), 3(35), 61-70.
Lovelock, B., & Lovelock, K. 2013. The ethics of tourism: Critical and applied perspective. Routledge
Mitchell, J. 2011. Operation Restore Public Hope: Youth and the Magic of Modernity in Vanuatu. Oceania, 81(1), 36-50
Net Balance Management Group Pty Ltd, 2014. Assessment of the economic impact of cruise ships to Vanuatu. Report, pp. 1-98
News, 2015. Vanuatu court sentences 14 MPs to jail for bribery, corruption. [Online] from https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/pacific-beat/2015-10-22/vanuatu-court-sentences-14-mps-to-jail-for-bribery/6877552. Accessed on October 6, 2017
Parliament of Australia, 2017. Chapter 2: Vanuatu. [Online] from https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/Delegation%20Report/c02. Accessed on October 6, 2017
SBS. 2017. Vanuatu’s broken dreams. [Online] from https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/story/vanuatus-broken-dreams. Accessed October 02, 2017
Sofield, H.B. 2001. Sustainable ethnic tourism in the south Pacific: some principles. The Journal of Tourism studies, Vol. 2(1), pp. 1-17
Stabler, M., Sinclair, M. T., & Papatheodorou, A. 2010. The Economics of Tourism. London: Routledge.
Tabani, M. 2008. A Political History of Nagriamel on Santo, Vanuatu. Oceania, 78(3), 332-357.
Tabani, M. n.d. Chapter 7: Development, tourism and commodification of cultures in Vanuatu. Pp. 225-262
Vaadre, M. 2009. Corruption in small pacific island states: A case study of Vanuatu. [Online] from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:231881/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Accessed on October 6, 2017
Vanuatu’, 2013. Vanuatu Strategic Tourism Action Plan “Doing the Basics Better”: 2014-2018. [Online] from https://tourism.gov.vu/assets/docs/VSTAP_FINAL_Feb_2014.pdf. Accessed on October 6, 2017
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download