Analyzing Current Issues Affecting Tourism - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Analysing Current Issues Affecting Tourism. Answer: Introduction Hospitality is a wide category of different fields that are related to the service business which further includes event planning, theme parks, lodging, cruise line and transportation. This industry is worth multi-million dollars and it is mainly dependent on the leisure time of the people and their disposable income as well. The main aim of the hospitality industry is to take care of the customers and providing them the best of services. The constant expansion of hospitality industry promotes the growth in the multicultural changing environment (de Grosbois 2016). Tourism industry is related to the business of travelling for pleasure and it also includes other activities such as, accommodating, attracting and entertaining the tourists. The business can be global or domestic in nature and the international business of tourism is affected by the payment balance of the countries. Tourism acts as a major income source for numerous countries and this has an immense effect on the economies of both the countries including the source and the host countries (Kim, Vogt and Knutson 2015). Wellness tourism is related to the travel that is undertaken for promoting well-being and health with the help of psychological, physical or spiritual activities. Wellness tourism is mainly linked to medical tourism related to health interests so that the traveller can be motivated. The wellness tourists are mainly proactive while maintaining and improving quality of life and health (Goodall and Ashworth 2013). Wellness tourists are high-yielding in nature and they tend to spend around 130 percent greater than the average tourists. The revenues that are earned from the wellness tourists is much more as compared to the average tourists. Wellness tourism is hence considered to be a booming industry and is gaining popularity all over the world (Legrand, Sloan and Chen 2016). Thailand is a country which is quite well-known in the medical or wellness tourism and they also promote wellness tourism all over the world. Analysis of the significant issues for future growth and development in Hospitality and Tourism Industry Wellness tourism is a rapidly growing niche industry that can hit 680 billion dollars within the next few years. The industry of wellness tourism is expanding much faster as compared to the average tourism industry. The tourism industry in Thailand welcomes those people who mainly travel to pursue activities that tend to enhance their well-being and health. The wellness tourists mainly seek approaches related to prevention and wellness so that they can improve their health (Han et al. 2017). There are many different treatments that are offered by wellness tourism industries in Thailand which are, wellness spas, medical spas, anti-ageing and holistic treatments, cardiology, traditional Thai massage, primary stroke, low back pain, breast cancer, dental treatments, lung cancer and many more (Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan 2015). Figure 1. (Han and Hyun 2015) Positive The wellness tourism industry of Thailand has many positive impacts on the health and the levels of human resources and the caring quality of public systems of health. The industry of wellness tourism has mainly created many new opportunities of training for the local health administrators (Riley 2014). This has further increased access to the services that are considered to be speciality services for the normal local population. The sector of wellness tourism has been able to create much more appealing conditions of working for the health experts (Han and Hyun 2015). This has acted as an encouragement for the local health workers in Thailand to pursue their occupation in the country itself. The local health workers have therefore been able to showcase their abilities in this industry. The tourists and the natives can therefore gain a lot from the capabilities of the health workers. Negative The development related to medical tourism in the private sectors of the country has been drawing the resources from public sector which has further reduced the access to the facilities by the local people (Wang, Tsai and Tsai 2014). The waiting time for the services have also increased in the process and the shortage of health workers have increased as well. Many ethical issues have been faced by the process of Wellness tourism in the country. The increase in the number beauty and enhancement treatments have negatively affected this industry (Jones et al. 2016). The mistakes that occur in this process can further affect the reputation of this industry. Recommendations The major issues that have been identified in the wellness tourism industry in Thailand are the development of private sector and problems occurring in the public sector, the major ethical issues that are raised as a result of the wellness tourism related practices and the increase in beauty treatments. Medical tourism or health tourism is not a new concept in the wellness industry of Thailand. The major problem related to the business in this sector is that the revenues that are earned in this business are not passed to public sector. The services of wellness tourism are promoted by the government, however, the entire revenue goes in the funds of the private hospitals or wellness centres. This has been causing drain of funds and revenues from the government and the health experts are also more attracted towards the private sector. The expertise of the health workers is used for the comfort and pleasure of the foreign tourists and this factor does not go well with the tax payers of the country who are not being able to get the facilities that are provided. The health workers are also not willing to understand the problems and demands of the common people of the country. The disconnection between the medical workers and the common people is the major issue related to wellness tourism in the country. This issue can be solved if the government organizations can provide similar services to the common citizens so that all can have access to the facilities that are provided by the wellness industry. The health workers can also be attracted more towards the public sector so that they can use their expertise to not provide the services to the foreign tourists, also to the common citizens of the country. The second issue that has been identified in the research is the problem related to ethics that are followed in the Thai culture. The major ethics related to the business in Thai culture is mainly the formation of long-term relationships with the clients. The problems that are faced by the tourists in the wellness industry are disclosure of all related facts so that they can make their decisions accordingly. The honesty that needs to be depicted by the health workers and other executives who are related to this industry is the major factor that can attract the tourists. The lack of honesty can thereby cause the loss of the interest of the tourists towards the wellness centres. The issue can be resolved by promoting and advertising the industry by providing all types of relevant information to the tourists. This can help the tourists who wish to enhance their health to take well-informed decisions. The ethics that are followed in the Thai culture can also affect the industry in many w ays. The ethical values that are followed by the corporate organizations affect the ethical culture of the organizations and affect the decision-making process. The importance of the ethics to business organizations have an association with the long-term profits of the business. The third issue is the increase in the treatments related to boob jobs, lip jobs and many other activities to enhancement of the features of the body. The negative impacts that are faced by the patients after the failure of such treatments is a major drawback for the industry. The appointment of expert health professionals in the wellness centres can help in solving this issue. The health experts can provide better services to the tourists so that the tourists do not face any issues related to the different enhancements of body features. This will help in increasing the popularity of the industry and thereby solving the issues as well. References de Grosbois, D., 2016. Corporate social responsibility reporting in the cruise tourism industry: A performance evaluation using a new institutional theory based model.Journal of Sustainable Tourism,24(2), pp.245-269. Goodall, B. and Ashworth, G. eds., 2013.Marketing in the Tourism Industry (RLE Tourism): The Promotion of Destination Regions. Routledge. Han, H. and Hyun, S.S., 2015. Customer retention in the medical tourism industry: Impact of quality, satisfaction, trust, and price reasonableness.Tourism Management,46, pp.20-29 Han, H., Kiatkawsin, K., Jung, H. and Kim, W., 2017. The role of wellness spa tourism performance in building destination loyalty: the case of Thailand.Journal of Travel Tourism Marketing, pp.1-16. Jones, P., Jones, P., Hillier, D., Hillier, D., Comfort, D. and Comfort, D., 2016. 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