Cambridge International AS and A Level Travel and Tourism Sample

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Travel and Tourism

for Cambridge International AS & A Level COURSEBOOK

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Susan Stewart, Stephen Rickerby & Fiona Warburton

Third edition

Digital Access

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Unit 2

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Planning and managing a travel and tourism event LEARNING INTENTIONS

In this unit you will learn how to: •

plan, manage and run a real-life travel and tourism event

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work effectively as part of a team

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choose the most appropriate event

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produce a business plan and record your activities

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evaluate all aspects of the event

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TRAVEL AND TOURISM IN CONTEXT

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, China animals, people and unusual buildings. The tallest ice carving in recent years was the Flamenco Ice Tower in 2018. It took two years to design, and when it was finally built, it reached 31 metres in height.

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There are three main festival areas: Ice and Snow World, where the exhibits are ice sculptures; Sun Island, where you can see snow sculptures; and Zhaolin Park, where there are ice lanterns.

Figure 2.1: The Harbin ice and snow festival attracts millions of visitors every year

Discuss: 1

Who might be attracted to the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival? Why?

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What might the difficulties be in planning such an event?

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The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is the largest ice festival in the world. It is held in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. Each year, ice sculptures are created and placed around the city.

Sculptures are created from ice blocks from the nearby Songhua River and usually take two weeks to prepare. The festival includes some of the world’s biggest ice sculptures, including dragons, wild

The festival usually runs from December until late February; however, this depends on the weather conditions. In 2019, the festival attracted over 18 million visitors. Visitors can purchase tickets to visit the festival online, and the organisers recommend between one and two days for each visit in order to enjoy all the exhibits.

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2.0 Introduction

This chapter covers planning and managing a travel and tourism event. Managing your own event gives you a fantastic opportunity to work as part of a team to plan, carry out and evaluate a real project. The travel and tourism event market is huge and diverse. Events and event management companies can be found all over the world. They may specialise in specific events such as weddings or organise anything that a client desires, for example, fashion shows, business functions, music, holiday and sporting events. Their importance and worth within the industry should not be underestimated. Event tourism attracts tourists to a specific event and benefits the destination as a whole, as visitors may eat, drink, and stay, in what is known as the multiplier effect.

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What travel tips would you suggest for a trip to the Ice Festival?

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) assesses the benefits of events to destinations. According to its analysis, one area that is experiencing a significant growth is the Middle East. The WTTC predicts that the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the Middle East’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will rise by 4.2% per annum to US$133.6 billion by 2028. This growth derives from more tourists to the region as a result of mega-events, major sporting and political events, cultural festivals, concerts and MICE events.

KEY WORD mega-events: major international events

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2 Planning and managing a travel and tourism event

In the United Kingdom, the business sector of the event industry is estimated to be worth over £39.1 billion to the economy. The conference and meetings sector is the largest, worth £19.9 billion with exhibitions, trade fairs and corporate hospitality totalling £13.5 billion.

This shows the importance to the British economy of business-related event tourism.

Cricket

Technology is a vital ingredient in the travel and tourism market. Today, social media forms an integral part of our leisure and business lives. Most people now use smartphones, tablets and smart watches.

An emerging, yet already strong, market is that of the virtual event. Market research media show that the global virtual events market was valued at $77.98 billion in 2019. It is expected to grow further after the world 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

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Globally, the events industry size was valued at $1.1 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at a rate of 10.3% to reach $2.3 billion by 2026. The global sports market reached a value of nearly $488.5 billion in 2018. This growth is attributed to emerging markets and rapid urbanisation. The sports industry is overtaking GDP in both the emerging economies of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and those of Europe and North America. Football, the Olympics, swimming and golf remain some of the most popular sports for event planners.

A virtual world

Digitally simulated virtual events, such as sales meetings, job fairs, trade shows, company conferences and business conventions, use video and audio conferencing and live streaming. Web-based conferences are seen to be a better option than flying delegates around the world. They allow face-to-face contact without the time and money required for longdistance travel. There is software to allow both small and large numbers of delegates to enjoy a conference with the option of breakout rooms for smaller seminars and digital recording of the whole event.

Figure 2.3 shows the influence of the electronic age in an area where gaming, social media and all forms of communication link strongly to the growth in technology.

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Motor racing

Popular sporting events

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American football

Football

virtual new software

conferences

applications for all trade shows

media types – mobile phones, tablets and computers

Golf

web conferences

Figure 2.2: Examples of major sporting events

Growth in virtual events

communication

webinars

social networking

growth in 3d applications

Figure 2.3: There is a growing market for virtual events

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online tourism seminar

conference, meeting or exhibition virtual tour of a hotel / visitor attraction / destination

Virtual events

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Physical events

tourism debate

guided tour or similar group activity

trip or other group venture

travel and tourism radio programme

cultural conference

Figure 2.4: Examples of travel and tourism events

Planning and managing your own event

2.1 Working in a team

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organise a team and allocate team roles

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choose an event to plan and manage (To do this you should investigate the feasibility of two events and give good reasons for your final choice.)

team exercises at the start of the day, such as keep fit, yoga or pilates

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regular meetings

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opportunities to discuss and resolve conflicts

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produce a business plan to show formal goals and a proposed plan for the running of the event

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regular breaks

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run the event

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work-shadowing or role-switching with other group members.

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evaluate all elements from your plan and make recommendations for the future.

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In order to plan and manage your own travel and tourism event you will need to:

Working in a team is common practice. From working in a large business organisation to playing a sport, the ability to work in a team matters. The team members’ personalities, attitudes and different skills will all have an impact on how effective a team may be. However, it is also important that a team has a focused goal, an organised structure, and an ambition to achieve.

Modern travel and tourism organisations incorporate a variety of systems to keep teams motivated and prevent unhappiness. These include:

Events set in a travel or tourism context might include:

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Event management requires real-world understanding of tourism. By planning and managing your event you will develop a variety of skills, such as customer services, researching information and organising and maintaining records.

The remainder of this chapter will help you with these tasks.

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2 Planning and managing a travel and tourism event

Overview of team working

The purpose of a team

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As we saw in Chapter 1, travel and tourism is a large service industry and successful service depends on excellent communication and teamwork. These can ensure that customers will return, stay loyal and help to promote your business by positive word-of-mouth recommendations. There are many advantages of good teamwork: it leads to greater efficiency, more creativity, reduced labour costs and happier, more motivated staff. All these things improve business, making it more profitable and successful.

A group of people may work together as a team in order to have a common understanding of a shared goal and work together to achieve it.

Figure 2.5: Team working

A team is a group of people who are jointly focused on a goal or product. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Information Services and Technology’s definition of teamwork is:

This role is chiefly to ensure that tasks are completed.

The person most likely to succeed in this role will be someone who has a personal record of being a consistent worker who has completed a job and is hardworking.

They should be able to make decisions, be fair and evenhanded to all members of the group and be persuasive.

[people] working together in a committed way to achieve a common goal or mission. The work is interdependent and team members share responsibility and hold themselves accountable for attaining the results.

Ideal attributes include: •

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The success of a travel and tourism event depends on the interaction of the team members. A well organised team can overcome problems. Its members can help each other to think of innovative solutions and to work to their individual strengths.

Chair/Coordinator

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Team structure and roles

Team members often have differing skills and abilities; a strong group takes advantage of each individual’s strengths. At the start of your project, you will need to identify team roles and responsibilities. The business plan will dictate the actual roles and functions of each group member. Here are the main roles for guidance:

an ability to stimulate and inspire others

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enthusiasm

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good humour •

an ability to work with all kinds of people

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an ability to help the team use all of its members’ strengths and experience.

Marketing representative This role involves planning the marketing and promotions for the event, including speaking to different groups of people to encourage participation. Physical forms of publicity are also required, such as creating posters, leaflets and tickets; writing and supplying information to many different outlets (such as for the school or local newspaper); creating a website, and starting and updating blogs or social media posts. The marketing representative may also have to personally sell tickets and explain the event theme.

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Ideal attributes include:

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excellent spoken and written communication skills

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attention to detail

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creative thinking

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good organisation and planning skills

an ability to work carefully within the given situation

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an ability to work well as part of a team

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drive, motivation and enthusiasm

an ability to work through information and assess risks

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an ability to work under pressure and to deadlines

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good communication skills

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confidence to ‘sell’ ideas

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confidence

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attention to detail

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a sensible sensitive attitude towards working with others.

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good business sense and budget awareness.

Finance representative

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Ideal attributes include:

This role includes collating and handling money, keeping up-to-date records of payments, banking money, and liaising with school authorities to ensure safe procedures are used, such as keeping money in a safe. The financial representative needs to check details of all financial interactions and research costings of different activities, entrance fees, transportation costings, etc. They should create budget sheets and cash-flow forecasts, and record full details of income and expenditure.

Ideal attributes include:

a strong ability to work with figures

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an ability to accurately calculate information regarding income and expenditure

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an ability to keep accurate records

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attention to detail

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an ability to keep details safe

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honesty and willingness to work hard.

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Health and safety and security representative This role includes considering all the risks involved in running an event. This means liaising with the school authorities and ensuring each aspect of the event is carefully managed to prevent accidents. A pre-visit may be required to assess possible risks and form contingency plans. The health and safety representative should also consider security measures to prevent attendees getting lost, and to avoid the loss of equipment or personal belongings.

Figure 2.6: Student visits require staffing assistance

Catering officer This role covers all aspects of food and beverage provision. It includes organising places to eat and ensuring that different types of food are available for all dietary requirements. The catering officer should assess food costs in line with available budgets available.

They should research appropriate food sources, such as restaurants, cafes cafés or food bought from shops to cater for the event.

Ideal attributes include: •

strength in communication, liaising with customers

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strength in dealing with special requests

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accurate planning

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good time management

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strong organisational skills

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an ability to keep calm under pressure.

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2 Planning and managing a travel and tourism event

Secretary

Qualities of effective teams

This role includes preparing meeting rooms and arranging dates and times for meetings on a regular basis. The secretary should also organise the agenda for each meeting and make sure each group member has a copy. Taking accurate minutes of each meeting is another important part of the role and: each group member should receive copies of typed minutes shortly after the meeting. There may be action points noted on the minutes, and each group member should be made aware of any deadlines for work to be completed.

Understanding how teams work can be supported by the established theories of Belbin or Tuckman.

One of the most respected methods of understanding teams is based on the work of Dr. Meredith Belbin.

In the 1960s, Belbin began studying why a teams were could be a success or a failure. He found that team members behaved in different ways and that the most successful teams were made up of a diverse mix of these behaviours. He showed that successful teams often included nine types of behaviour (although not every team requires nine people). Most teams usually have two or three Belbin team roles, and each role has both strengths and weaknesses attached to its profile.

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KEY WORD

Belbin’s team roles

Agenda: a list of activities and points that will be discussed at a meeting.

The Belbin team roles are shown in the following diagram.

Ideal attributes include: good attention to detail

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an ability to stick to deadlines

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an ability to work well with others

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an ability to keep accurate and clear records

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an honest and hardworking attitude

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good computer skills

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clear handwriting and report-writing skills.

the completer finisher

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These are only guidelines, but as a general rule, the above are the main roles. Depending on the event chosen, there may be extra operating roles to consider,– for example, if an event involves younger children, charities or visits to local government sites. Such events may also require staffing assistance outside of the small group, such as legal representatives, teachers and parents.

ACTIVITY 2.1

List the skills and attributes of each of your team members; – for example, who is good at listening, who has patience, empathy (understanding) or, clear strong writing skills.? Next, try and match your team members to the roles above.

the coordinater

the team worker

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the implementer

the specialist

Belbin’s team roles the monitor/ evaluator

the shaper the resource investigator

the plant

Figure 2.7: Belbin’s team roles

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ACTIVITY 2.2 Complete a Belbin personality test (which you can find online). Find out which team role would suit you.

Check with your team. Do you think the test is accurate for your personality?

Storming: this is the stage where ideas are progressed.

The team begins to look at the tasks in hand and to bring put different ideas and suggestions forward. This is a delicate stage of the proceedings as relationships between team members may become strained; this can create a negative imbalance can be created and teams may become trapped in the Storming phase. Importantly, if a team settles on a consensus, this may lead to a less effective completion of the tasks in hand there may still be team members who are reluctant to accept the final decision, and this may lead to less effective completion of the tasks; in such cases, careful guidance is needed and good leadership may well be the key.

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TIP

Forming: this stage is where the team is gathered together and tasks are allocated. Team efforts involve planning, collecting information and bonding (forming good relationships between group members).

You could try some team-building exercises to encourage collaboration between group members.

This helps to develop strengths and reduce any weaknesses.

Tuckman’s team-building development model

KEY WORD

consensus: a situation wherein which everyone agrees with an idea or decision

Norming: this is the stage where teams become harmonious and they are able to agree on the rules and standards on how they operate. The balance of working together leads to group members trusting each other as they begin to accept each other’s the contributions of each other. The Group involvement and mutual support of each other becomes the norm, and the tasks become manageable as team members take on and complete roles. There may be risks involved with the Norming stage: where the team can become complacent, and the creative and proactive processes initially created in the storming stages are may be lost.

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One of the most well-known theories of team building was developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, and is known as the Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing model (Figure 2.*). .5). Tuckman’s theory of team building development looks at the way in which a team tackles a task from the initial formation of the team right through to the completion of the task.

(F) Transforming

(E) Adjourning

(D) Performing

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(C) Norming

(B) Storming

(A) Forming

Figure 2.8: Tuckman’s model of team building development

KEY WORD harmonious: free from disagreements Performing: this stage is where the team are clearly aware of the task. They have shared visions for the event and are able to work without interference from others.

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2 Planning and managing a travel and tourism event

assume that everyone possesses good communication skills at the start of planning an event. Skills such as listening carefully, speaking clearly and having a positive attitude all help to create a successful team.

KEY WORD

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group dynamics: the ways in which people in a group interact with each other and the effect effects that these have on the team

Figure 2.9: A successful team requires an appropriate leadership style

Tuckman later added a fifth phase known as Adjourning and Transforming.

Adjourning: this stage is seen as the completion of the group’s event or tasks. Hopefully, these are completed successfully and group members are able to move on to new tasks.

Leadership styles

Within the context of a successful team, it may be useful to consider leadership styles. The following are welldocumented leadership styles.

Autocratic leadership is a style when a leader decides what goals are to be achieved, and directs and controls all activities.

An autocratic leader usually likes to:

make as many of the decisions as possible

Transforming: in this stage, the team moves onto other tasks.

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have the most authority and control in the decisionmaking process

Team challenges and team-building exercises are particularly relevant within this framework as teams are able to observe and assess behaviour within a time frame. Events such as the Olympics can involve planning over many months or years, and in such cases it can be difficult to understand or explain experiences in the context of completed tasks.

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retain responsibility rather than delegate

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make decisions alone, with little consultation with team members

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work on the task at hand, without being interested in leadership development.

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Communicating within a team

The group dynamics are very important in all stages of planning an event. Different personalities and unusual particular personal characteristics may conflict and take up valuable time in the planning stages. A successful team should include individuals with diverse personalities. This should make for an interesting and exciting team, and not one where there is constant conflict which causes difficult working conditions.

If there is conflict or disharmony, then it is very likely that the planning stages will be disrupted and the final event will be negatively affected. Therefore, it is important to make team roles explicit so that any misunderstandings or arguments can be resolved in the very early stages of the event planning and do not hinder the working relationships between all parties. Good communication between group members is essential and you cannot

The autocratic leadership style is sometimes seen as a dated form of leadership and is not popular with other team members. It is, however, still used as it often creates instant benefits and comes naturally to many leaders.

Benefits may include: •

a reduction in stress as the leader has responsibility for the project and therefore control of all decision making

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greater productivity from the team as the leader is watching and controlling the amount of work that is produced

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improved operations, where the leader spots any problems in advance and all deadlines are strictly adhered to

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quicker decision making. When one person makes decisions with little consultation, then the decisions can be made without dispute.

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Disadvantages may include:

Benefits may include:

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a positive work environment, – where team members are given the opportunity to have responsibility and to challenge themselves

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successful initiatives: – consultation may lead to better decision making.

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a greater degree of creative thinking: – ideas are allowed to flourish and problems are solved in a positive atmosphere

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a better working relationship within the team, – with fewer conflicts, possibly resulting in lower staff turnover.

lack of development for team members: – they may get little opportunity to expand their experience and lose the chance to gain new skills. This might lead to poorer decision-making and reduce productivity in the long run. an increased workload for the leader, – who may become overstretched and suffer ill health such as stress

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discontent: – team members may dislike being told what to do all of the time. They may become demotivated and less productive.

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too much dependency on the leader: – if team members have little opportunity to make their own decisions, they may lose their confidence and initiative.

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Disadvantages may include: •

lengthy consultations that hinder the decisionmaking process

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lack of trust: – some colleagues team members may feel that they are not really being listened to and that the leader will make their own decisions in the long run.

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Bureaucratic leadership is a style where workers follow rules and procedures accurately and consistently. Leaders expect colleagues team members to have a business-like attitude to their work. Leaders have power over decision making and are ultimately able to exert their authority over colleagues.

Benefits may include: •

increased team members adopt a more professional workplace attitude where rules are enforced

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high quality of work, quality – as rules are carefully followed

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increase in work productivity.

Figure 2.10: Democratic leadership

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Democratic leadership is a style that promotes the sharing of responsibility by giving consideration to the views of all team members.

A democratic leader usually likes to:

Disadvantages may include:

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consult with team members on all major issues

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delegate work tasks giving the team members full control and responsibility

low quality of work: quality – some colleagues team members may produce poor work as they become demotivated and suffer from low self-esteem by always being always told what to do

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listen and respond to feedback from colleagues

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lack of creativity.

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encourage work team members to become part of the leadership decision making and to develop themselves.

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poor communication, as team members colleagues have to go through a formal process to speak to their superiors.

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2 Planning and managing a travel and tourism event

There are the five levels are:

ACTIVITY 2.3 After reading about the leadership styles above, decide which type of leader you would like to be and why.

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How well do you think your team will work together as a team?

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As a group, discuss which leadership style might work best within your team.

Team performance

Pseudo team: this is located at the bottom of the curve and is, therefore, the weakest of the five levels. At this stage, there is no benefit to being within the team, and members do not represent a working team; they are not interested in creating a common purpose or in achieving any final goals. There may be group disharmony and confusion over individual roles. This is perceived to be a dangerous stage of team development as the team members believe that they are a real team but they produce inferior results.

Potential team: this team shows real gains in productivity and performance. Members work together on developing a clear purpose, including goals, and attempt to work towards solving problems and issues. This form of teamwork is common but may lack the discipline for working towards a common approach.

Real team: this consists of people who share a common purpose, goals and approach to work. They hold themselves mutually accountable for their results.

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It is often not straightforward for a group of individuals to come together to try to form a successful team. There may be confrontation; sometimes a person selected as the original leader becomes unpopular, and group dynamics and personality clashes result in a change in of leader. A well-respected study, still used today, is that of Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith (1993). The authors looked at the role of teams and asserted that in order for a group to become a team, they must pass a certain threshold. They devised five levels of teamwork which could be plotted onto a graph to form the ‘team performance curve’. This curve takes on the appearance of a J-shape. Figure 2.* .6 shows the five stages. The Y (vertical) axis is the quality of performance by the team and the X (horizontal) axis is the team effectiveness over time. The five levels of the teams are located along the curve.

Team impact

Working group: the members of the group come together.

They are simply individuals with different skills and abilities. There is no solidity, with the group having no common purpose or goals that require responsibility. At this stage, the group forms roles for each member and divides the tasks.

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High-performance team: the members are strongly committed to each other and are mutually accountable.

Team members form powerful relationships and work well together to exceed and achieve at a very high level.

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high performance team

real team

working group

potential team

pseudo team

Team performance

Figure 2.11: The team performance curve

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