Tourism is an important sector in the economy contributing around 10 percent to worldwide GDP, projected to rise to nearly 11 percent by 2014. There has been an upmarket trend in the tourism over the last few decades. Tourists have high levels of disposable income, considerable leisure time, are well educated, and have sophisticated tastes. There is now a demand for a better quality products, which has resulted in a fragmenting of the mass market for beach vacations; people want more specialised versions, quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays or niche market-targeted destination hotels.
This book aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the issues and trends in tourism and hospitality sector in this liberalised era. It attempted to cover major societal changes with a focus on future leisure applications ranging from changes in demographics, to changes in available leisure time and the antagonism of slowness and globalisation, to changing lifestyles and their manifestation in tourism products to the implication of information and communication technologies on future tourism behaviours. It is hoped that the contents of the book will be of utmost use to students, researchers and professionals in this rapidly developing field. |
