Lesson one. STANDARDS
Describe Tourism Industry
Describe Tourism Industry
A 1.1 describe tourism industry
a) provides services and products in hospitable manner to ensure positive experiences for passengers
b) involves participation of entire community
c) is multi-dimensional, comprised of eight different sectors:
accommodation, e.g. hotels, campgrounds, guest homes
adventure tourism and recreation, e.g. guiding, outfitting, ski resorts
attractions, e.g. museums, National Parks, cultural tourism, historic sites
events and conferences, e.g. festivals, special events, trade shows
food and beverage, e.g. restaurants, pubs
tourism services, e.g. information centres - TTB, educators, associations
transportation, e.g. airlines, motor vehicles, ferries, taxis, rental services
travel trade, e.g. wholesalers, tour guides, tour directors, tour operators
A 1.2 identify importance of tourism
a) creates employment
b) generates revenue
c) stimulates local development and preservation, e.g. creates and improves attractions, events, services and facilities that might not otherwise exist
d) encourages cross-cultural understanding and awareness
e) encourages promotion, conservation and appreciation of resources, e.g. heritage, history, environment
f) can be renewable resource if managed appropriately
g) instills pride in community region and country
A 1.3 describe your role as an ambassador
a) you are an ambassador who represents your company/suppliers and city/region
b) you can significantly impact a passengers impressions or quality of experience
A 1.4 outline guidelines for responsible tourism
a) be aware of and respect customs, laws, manners, culture and environmental issues of area
b) protect environment, for example:
do not:
- litter; - feed wildlife, e.g. birds, animals
- remove articles from natural or historic site e.g. Wildflowers, artifacts, fossils
practice:
- low-impact land use, e.g. camp in established campgrounds, walk on existing trails
- conservation methods, e.g. reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse
- the principle 'take only pictures, leave only footprints'
reduce air and noise pollution, e.g. encourage driver to 'shut off engine whenever possible
use environmentally friendly methods of transportation when possible
c) encourage promotion and use of indigenous products, e.g. encourage purchase of locally made products
d) do not buy products made from endangered species
e) respect customs, manners and culture of area
f) respect privacy and property of others, for example:
ask permission before entering private property or taking audio-visual recordings
do not take audio/visual recordings where prohibited, e.g. museums, galleries, sacred or restricted sites
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What Is the Tourism Industry?
What Is the Tourism Industry?
The tourism industry includes all the services and products that are provided to visitors to ensure they enjoy many positive experiences during their stay in a city, community or region.
Accommodation for a business person visiting town for a two-day convention; rest areas and gas stations for a family driving across Tanzania in a recreational vehicle; trail maps for backpackers using a national park; sightseeing coach tours for large groups: these are some examples of the services and products provided to people by the tourism industry every day.
GOOD TO KNOW
Tourism is about people interacting with people: people travelling on holidays or business, and people being hosts.
It is the quality of the interaction between these two groups that determines the quality of most people’s travelling and holiday experiences.
Every time you talk to visitors about your local area or region, you have an opportunity to meet or exceed their expectations.
Community Participation
Unlike most other industries, the tourism industry involves the participation of the entire local community, either directly through the provision of services and products, or indirectly through the preservation of natural or historical attractions and the promotion of community pride.
The industry is an enormous multi-dimensional network of many different but interdependent services and products, most of which can be grouped into eight main categories, or sectors:
accommodation, such as hotels, lodges, campgrounds and guest homes
food and beverage, such as restaurants and pubs
transportation, such as airlines, motor vehicles, ferries, taxis and rental services
attractions, such as museums, parks, cultural tourism and historic sites
adventure tourism and recreation, such as guiding, bird watching and mountain climbing
events and conferences, such as festivals, special events and trade shows – Karibu Trade Fair/.
tourism services, such as information centres, educators and associations
travel trade, such as tour wholesalers, tour guides, tour directors and tour operators.
Interdependence.
All of these sectors work together interdependently.
Take away one or two parts and the others suffer.
Good air and road links into a destination area need the support of good accommodation and food and beverage services.
Good accommodation and food and beverage services need the support of good tours and tour guides to help visitors get the most from their travel experiences.
The following table gives you an idea of the services and products associated with each tourism sector and the jobs supported by each.
GOOD TO KNOW
What distinguishes the travel trade sector from the tourism services sector?
Mainly purpose.
The travel trade - the sector in which local tour guides fall- refers to all the businesses involved in developing tourism products (e.g. artist-led coach tours in Eastern Canada to see the fall colours) and then marketing and selling them ('See the Colour of Nature, Study the Nature of Colour.
Call us today to book your weekend get-away! ').
Tourism services are all the businesses involved specifically in meeting the travel or information needs of visitors once they are at or on their way to their destination (for example, the park information centre where the tour bus stops, the souvenir shop in the village and the gas station with the picnic tables).
Types of Local Tour Guides
There are four main types of local tour guides:
on-site guides,
step-on guides,
driver guides and
meet and greet guides.
You may be interested in trying each kind of guiding, or you may choose to specialize in one or two areas.
The more familiar you are with the responsibilities of the various occupations, the wider the range of work opportunities you are likely to have.
Why Is Tourism Important?
Tourism offers a wide range of economic, social and cultural benefits.
Tourism provides opportunities for creating new jobs and careers. As tourism grows, so does the need for people to work in all the tourism sectors.
This is good news, especially in areas where other types of employment are in decline.
Tourism brings in revenue for businesses in the local area, region, province or territory and the country.
When visitors tour through an area, they make purchases not only in hotels, restaurants and gift shops, but also in service stations, grocery stores, camera shops, pharmacies, dry cleaners, clothing and shoe stores - the list goes on.
It all adds up to a sizable economic benefit for area businesses, even those not catering specifically to the tourism market.
GOOD TO KNOW: Tourism does not only bring money into the community through direct purchases.
Each tourism dollar earned by a business or service does not sit in a cash drawer very long, but instead gets spent many times over.
A restaurant, for instance, uses the tourism-injected dollars to pay for wages, supplies or rent.
In turn, the restaurant employee may use his wages to buy groceries and a new mountain bike.
The grocery store pays property taxes and the bike shop buys parts to fix bikes.
This recycling of money through the economy - called the 'multiplier effect' - benefits the entire community.
Tourism stimulates
the development and preservation of new facilities,
services and attractions locally, such as art centres, marinas and golf courses.
A new beach resort can be enjoyed by local residents as well as visitors.
Improvements made to the road leading to the resort benefits local drivers too.
Tourism offers educational experiences by encouraging visitors to learn about an area and its unique characteristics.
It also broadens people's awareness of other cultures.
Tourism encourages the promotion,
conservation and appreciation of resources, such as historical landmarks, heritage sites and
natural environments.
For example, attractions such as a restored historical village or a wildlife preserve not only enhance the travel experience for many visitors,
they also help protect these resources for future generations.
Tourism can be a renewable resource if managed appropriately.
When an area's attractions are carefully managed so as not to diminish or alter the very reason that visitors come, then the local tourism industry can be sustained indefinitely.
Visitors who have enjoyed their stay in an area often return and stay longer.
Many will rave about a place to their friends, acting as tourism ambassadors of that area.
Tourism instills pride in community, region and country.
When visitors want to go to an area because of its special attractions, it makes the residents feel proud and they want to join others in the community to look after it.
Your Role as a Tourism Ambassador
The tourism industry is highly competitive.
Across Tanzania, East Africa and around the world, countless destinations, attractions, restaurants and hotels are all vying for a share of the lucrative tourism market.
Each provides its own brand of tourism product and experience, and each must deliver what it promises or risk losing customers.
As a local tour guide, you have an important role as a tourism ambassador.
You represent your company/suppliers and your city/region.
Whatever your services as a guide (step-on, meet and greet, on-site or driver guide) how you present and conduct yourself is extremely important in determining the impression you give to tour members about the company and its suppliers (e.g. the bus line, the winery, the gift shop).
Though contact tour members have with you is only one aspect of their whole trip, they could associate the quality of the service you provide with your community or region.
A satisfied visitor is more inclined to return or recommend your community as a vacation or conference destination.
This is critical in keeping the area you represent competitive in the global tourism market.
You significantly affect a visitor's impressions or quality of experience.
If you consider that the people you guide rely on you to help them enjoy the best tourism experience possible (remember, they could have chosen many other destinations and tours),
you can begin to realize the significant responsibility you have and the influential role you play.
In some cases, even though the tour you lead is just two or three hours long, you may be the only contact that tour members have with someone from your community, region or even country.
You can affect a tour member's impressions in many ways:
by the information you provide,
by the effort you put into helping members fulfill or exceed their travel expectations, and
by the knowledge, feelings and pride you share about the local area and its attractions.
One poorly organized and unprofessionally delivered sightseeing tour can result in damaging word-of-mouth publicity.
On the other hand, a tour that has been well thought out and presented can leave a lasting positive impression on visitors, possibly even producing a 'halo effect,' (the single tour enhancing much of the visitor's memories about the community and the travel experience overall).
Guidelines for Responsible Tourism
It is in everybody's best interests to protect the resources on which tourism depends for its success:
the natural features of the landscape; the historic, cultural and aesthetic, attractions;
and the friendliness and goodwill of the local people.
For local tour guides, this means that whether you are doing a bus tour around city parks,
walking tour into a village’
or a boat tour along Rufiji River to view marine life,
you should be diligent about practicing responsible tourism and encouraging your tour members to do the same.
Be aware of
the customs, laws, manners, culture and environmental issues of the, area and be sure to respect them.
Your tour may go into Longido, through Cultural Tourism Program.
Wherever you are, it is important for all concerned that you and your group behave considerately and appropriately.
If you need information about local customs, contact a group such as a benevolent society, cultural association - Tanzania Association of Cultural Tourism Organizers - TACTO.
Keep up to date on local issues
World Cup, Elections, Volcano, etc.
Know about the topics that are dominating local news (e.g. seal hunting, logging or labour disputes).
This enables you to act with sensitivity when you are in the area and to answer your group's questions knowledgeably.
Protect the environment
and advise tour members about how they can do the same.
If you are firm but polite in explaining the importance of following guidelines, you usually get everyone's co-operation.
Here are some of the basics you should know:
- Do not litter. Whether you are taking a group on a one-hour walking tour of downtown or a one-day park/adventure excursion, you should be vigilant about ensuring that nothing is left behind:
no food wrappers, bottles, film containers, tissues, etc.
In addition to being unsightly, litter can have devastating effects on wildlife.
Birds and fish, for example, may become strangled, choked or ensnared by plastic, glass or metal garbage.
- Do not feed wildlife. As tempting as it may be to entice a wild animal to eat from your hand, this should be strongly discouraged.
Not only does feeding a wild animal gradually disrupt its natural behaviour and make it more aggressive, but it also puts people in potential danger.
In most provincial/territorial and national parks in Tanzania, feeding wildlife is strictly prohibited.
Even where no such formal prohibition exists, it is recommended that neither you nor your group members use food as a way to get, closer to nature.
- Do not remove
wildflowers, artifacts or fossils from natural or historic sites.
Even if only a few individuals from every group that visited a site were to pocket a flower, an arrowhead or a shard of pottery, over time the site would be picked clean and there would be little left of the qualities that made it attractive in the first place.
Before you head out on your tour, remind the group not to remove objects on site.
Encourage them instead to take photographs or to visit the local gift shops for souvenirs.
Practice
low-impact land use and conservation methods.
Keep to the existing trails and look for opportunities to reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse.
If you are stopping for cold drinks, for example:
encourage passengers to return their empty bottles to the restaurant or store, or to put them into recycling bins, if provided.
Reduce
air and noise pollution.
For example, ask the tour bus driver to turn off the engine whenever the group leaves the coach for more than a few minutes.
- Use environmentally friendly methods of transportation when possible.
Ask yourself whether there might be a more energy-efficient way to go from point A to point B than by diesel-powered bus.
Donkey?
Horse-drawn carriage?
Encourage
the promotion and use of indigenous products.
Many visitors come to an area eager to sample and purchase local products, many of which they will have already, heard about.
These products have a wide range from foods (such as Nyama Choma, and
crafts made from native, materials, and often reflecting local culture and heritage (such as jade jewellery and carvings of rhodonite, wood or soapstone by Makonde people).
By informing yourself about these products, you will not only be helping meet your tour members' needs, but you will be supporting the local economy and the artists, crafts people and other businesses involved in producing and selling unique products.
Promoting local products also signals to visitors that you have pride in these items and in the skills of the people who produced them.
Do not buy products made from endangered species.
Find out what animals and plants in your tour area are endangered or threatened, and watch for any products available for sale that might have been made from them.
In particular, be informed about what it is actually illegal to buy (such as Leopard Skin).
In this way, you will be practicing responsible tourism and saving yourself or a tour member from possible arrest.
Direct tour members to reputable vendors only.
Respect the privacy and property of others.
Before crossing onto any private land or entering a private building or facility, be sure you have already received permission to do so and understand exactly where it is you are allowed to go with the group.
Once you have permission, be sure not to abuse it by going to areas on the property or rooms in the building that you know are off limits.
Permission should also be sought before any member of the group takes a photograph or makes a recording.
In some museums, art galleries, sacred sites and restricted areas (such as naval bases), taking audio/visual recordings may be prohibited altogether.
Knowing the rules ahead of time ensures that you and your group do not offend or annoy anybody.
GOOD TO KNOW
1. Where do visitors travelling to and within Tanzania come from?
The highest numbers come from the US, the UK, Germany and Japan.
What are the main reasons visitors come to Tanzania?
The answer, according to numerous surveys conducted by government agencies, travel magazines and tour operators, is the Wildlife, Mountains, like Kilimanjaro, scenery, the air cleanliness and safety of the country, and the friendliness of the Tanzanian people.
2. As people’s interests change, the nature of tourism changes, too.
Interest in the environment and conservation has prompted the development of 'ecotourism 'and steady growth in the number of tourism operators offering such excursions as bird watching and wilderness camping.
Increasing numbers of seniors travelling in their retirement also have an effect on the industry.
Keeping up with the trends and changes in tourism can help you anticipate what services and products your tour members may request information about.
Lesson Notes One
STANDARDS
STANDARDS
Describe Tourism Industry
A 1.1 describe tourism industry
A 1.1 describe tourism industry
a) provides services and products in hospitable manner to ensure positive experiences for passengers
b) involves participation of entire community
c) is multi-dimensional, comprised of eight different sectors:
accommodation, e.g. hotels, campgrounds, guest homes
adventure tourism and recreation, e.g. guiding, outfitting, ski resorts
attractions,
e.g. museums, parks, cultural tourism, historic sites
events and conferences, e.g. festivals, special events, trade shows
food and beverage, e.g. restaurants, pubs
tourism services, e.g. information centres, educators, associations
transportation, e.g. airlines, motor vehicles, ferries, taxis, rental services
travel trade, e.g. wholesalers, tour guides, tour directors, tour operators
A 1.2 identify importance of tourism
a) creates employment
b) generates revenue
c) stimulates local development and preservation, e.g. creates and improves attractions, events, services and facilities that might not otherwise exist
d) encourages cross-cultural understanding and awareness
e) encourages promotion, conservation and appreciation of resources, e.g. heritage, history, environment
f) can be renewable resource if managed appropriately
g) instills pride in community region and country
A 1.3 describe your role as an ambassador
a) you are an ambassador who represents your company/suppliers and city/region
b) you can significantly impact a passengers impressions or quality of experience
a) you are an ambassador who represents your company/suppliers and city/region
b) you can significantly impact a passengers impressions or quality of experience
A 1.4 outline guidelines for responsible tourism
a) be aware of and respect customs, laws, manners, culture and environmental issues of area
b) protect environment, for example:
do not:
- litter
- feed wildlife, e.g. birds, animals
- remove articles from natural or historic site e.g. Wildflowers, artifacts, fossils
practice:
- low-impact land use, e.g. camp in established campgrounds, walk on existing trails
- conservation methods, e.g. reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse
- the principle 'take only pictures, leave only footprints'
reduce air and noise pollution, e.g. encourage driver to 'shut off engine whenever possible
use environmentally friendly methods of transportation when possible
c) encourage promotion
and use of indigenous products, e.g. encourage purchase of locally made products
d) do not buy products made from endangered species
e) respect customs, manners and culture of area
f) respect privacy and property of others, for example:
ask permission before entering private property or taking audio-visual recordings
do not take audio/visual recordings where prohibited, e.g. museums, galleries, sacred or restricted sites
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