Skills, organisational performance and economic activity in the hospitality industry : a literature review

This monograph aims to understand the pressures which push organisations to adopt particular routes to competitive advantage. The monograph aims to discover if the best practice high skill, high wage and high quality route is used in the hospitality industry. It seeks to determine the influence of companies' product market strategies and their in-company and external structural factors on skills levels, work organisation, job design and people management systems. The monograph looked at the notion of best practice approaches and then moved on to consider the best way to carry forward the future research agenda of reviewing the nature of human resource management (HRM) in the hospitality sector. Conclusions were drawn from a range of interviews and from existing work which has sought to address the issue of HRM in the hospitality sector

Tourist destination image: advantages and limits of transferring face to face qualitative data collection onto the Internet

The research presented investigates the advantages and limits of transferring a qualitative research approach (by interviews) onto the Internet. Internet offers the possibility to reproduce, to some extent, the interactive characteristics of face to face interviewing and these possibilities are tested in the research. A study on 200 consumers of ski resorts shows that while Internet opens up new dimensions to qualitative data collection, it cannot fully replace the presence of an interviewer. Results also indicate that image and word descriptions have different effects upon respondents’ answers and that Internet provides some interesting scope to encourage creative response from consumer

An investigation and reconceptualization of flow in the context of a skiing holiday

The paper looks at the concept of flow in the context of a holiday. Flow is conceptualized as a mental state which develops when an individual, performing an activity, is fully immersed in a feeling of focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in its activity. The paper presents the results of a study conducted in French mountain resorts, and identifies how and in which instances flow occurs. The results have implications for the conceptualization of satisfaction, bring a deeper understanding of what lies at the heart of the holiday experience and provide guidance for managers

A National Park in turmoil : The case study on the Vanoise National park in the Alps

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