Assignment 1:

a) Identify national, regional and international tourism and hospitality

Organisations/boards and explain their roles in the development of the tourism and hospitality
sectors. NB: use current examples in your discussions (25)
According to Macmillan Dictionary a tourist board is an official organization in a country or
area that encourages tourists to visit that country or area. Their roles in executing their duties
varies at national, regional and international level. National boards are active in promoting
domestic tourism as well as improving the destination image. A good example of national
boards in Zimbabwe include Hospitality Association Zimbabwe (HAZ) and Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority (ZTA). Regional Tourist boards covers certain parts of the regions
continent, board members work with the aim to achieving a desired goal in the region
pertaining tourism development. In the Southern Africa board members work in collaboration
with Regional Tourism of Southern Africa (RETOSA) in the development of tourism and
hospitality sector. United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) is an international
board which operates with a sole purpose of developing tourist supply and creating new
tourist merchandise.
National tourist boards aims to work with various stakeholders in planning and implementing
strategies to foster the growth and development of tourism and hospitality sector. Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority aims to develop and enhance the existing tourist commodities along with
preserving the environment, natural and cultural heritage in a sustainable way. Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority has four divisions that perform different functions. Tourism Industry is
highly competitive in nature which means employees must be well equipped with relevant
skills. This enhances employees to deliver quality services to the guests and recruitment of
skilled workforce to maintain work flow balance. The main task of human resource
management team is providing consultancy and advisory services in relation to tourism. In
addition this fosters relationships between key players in the Tourism and Hospitality sector
since there is coordination and cooperation.
To add on, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority markets and communicate tourist products and
destinations. It the role of the public relations team to market the destination and to attract
new tourist clients to visit a particular destination. National tourist boards act as marketing
agencies in promoting a destination. Marketing of tourist products is carried out through
various forms and platforms. Online media marketing is done on social media platforms such
as facebook, twitter and Instagram in form of add-ons. Tourist boards host annual festivals to
promote the destination e.g. Victoria Falls festival which attract many visitors from abroad to
engage in activities such as bunjee jumping, sightseeing and the Vic Falls Marathon which is
sponsored by Econet. Furthermore, the public relations department markets the destination by
hosting radio talk shows and by offering brochures to customers.

In essence, national tourist boards carry out research and development to provide information
on the future market trends for strategic and effective marketing. Information the most
important key element to customers, visitors need to be well acquainted with the destination
before they embark on a journey. Carrying out research in tourism and hospitality industry
enables tourist boards to segment the markets according to visitors/tourist needs. Market
segmentation allows them to tailor their products according to consumer preferences. The
market is segmented based on age, income and taste e.g. clients at the age 16-18 years are
interested in entertainment activities such as music festivals while clients at the age of 18 and
above are interested to engage in physical activities like mountain climbing. Economic
markets are very volatile, tourist boards provide information on the market trends strategic
and effective marketing. To add more, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority promotes indigenization
of domestic tourism through participation of local citizens in the Tourism Industry. Local
people plays an active role in consuming tourism services.

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority plays a major role in regulation of standards in lodging and
restaurants industry. The organisation implement standard procedures to be followed when
operating in the hospitality sector. Strict adherence of these standards need to be followed in
compliance to ensure customer satisfaction. ZTA as government parastatal which falls under
the Ministry of Environment and Tourism act as a government watch dog to enable
maintenance of appropriate standards and services. The board serves to deliver quality
services without harming the customers. It ensures that grading, star rating system procedures
are meet. Hotels and restaurants are graded according to the type of services they provide. A
five star Hotel being the highest which provide exceptional standards in terms of services
attracts more customers.
Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe is another tourist organisation which works with the
objective to improving and developing tourism and hospitality industry. It plays an important
role in maintaining international relations with international visitors. This facilitates diverse
cultural values and ideas which is a cornerstone to foster meaningful relationships among the
members. Understanding of one’s cultural values brings people together to work in peace and
harmony in the development of hospitality industry since people will form long lasting
relationships. International relations will act as a foundation of inbound tourism which
maintains offices and representatives across the globe to promote tourism traffic in
Zimbabwe. Tourism organisations receive funding which enhances planning and operation
in the development of Tourism projects e.g. construction of infrastructure in selected areas
More so, regional tourism Regional tourist board covers specific regions of the continent for
example, (RETOSA). The organization consists of 15 board members in the southern part of
Africa, which offer an opportunity to discover the natural beauty of Southern Africa. It is a
SADC body responsible for the promotion and marketing of tourism in the region.
The major role for Regional Tourism of South Africa is to promote both domestic and
international tourist movement to the region therefore, it allows member countries to
participate towards attain tourism development goals as well as enhancing the co-operation
between the public and private sectors. Cooperation between public and private sectors plays
a fundamental role in support services which generates revenue in the public sector services.
This also fosters long term growth and relationships between various stakeholders in Tourism
and Hospitality sector. Regional tourism boards provides to training services to its employees
so as to keep up with current market trends. They offer training programs to upgrade the
skills of their employees this ensures effective performance in an organisation.
Regional tourism boards engage in poverty-relief projects to promote the development of
local-owned tourism products and the construction of tourism infrastructure, including roads,
recreational facilities and information centres. Poverty relief projects play a fundamental role
in curtailing the rapid expansion of poverty in impoverished environments. Local citizens
might venture in community business development projects e.g. selling local accessories to
tourist. Furthermore, regional tourism organisations increase consumer’s awareness in
Southern Africa, for the benefit of the tourism industry. This aims to encourage inbound and
outbound tourism for visitors to access tourism products and to facilitate the development of
cultural tourism which creates a safe environment for tourists.
Regional Tourism board of Southern Africa aims to cooperate with regional conservation
bodies and eco-tourism operators. Sustainability is a major key factor in ensuring tourism
development. The environment (flora and fauna) need to be preserved with strict compliance
of environmental regulations. RETOSA have worked with conservation and environmental
bodies to minimize the harm of the heritage into the future.
Tourism Organization United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) is an
international board which promotes, engage in sustainable tourism. UNTWO is the leading
international organisation in the field of tourism. It is responsible for promoting tourism as a
vehicle for economic growth and environmental sustainability.
The organisation seeks to implement Global Code of Ethics for Tourism to maximize the
gains of tourism to socio-economic development, while minimizing negative impacts, thus
ensuring sustainable management for the future generation. UNWTO promotes tourism as
tool in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which leads
towards poverty reduction internationally and fostering sustainable development. More so it
generates market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable tourism policies and
fosters tourism education and training.

Tourism is one of world’s leading job creators. The organisation offer specialized training
courses. Themis Foundation is an organization which works in hand with UNWTO in the
field of education and training, improving the quality and efficiency of tourism programmes
worldwide. The organization work in collaboration with stakeholders involved both directly
and indirectly in the sector – governments, the private sector, academia, international
organizations.
Market research and communications in times of crisis UNWTO works to assist its Members
in assessing and mitigating risks where travel and tourism is
In conclusion, Tourism industry is growing at an exponential rate this enables national,
regional and international boards to market tourist destinations. It is an important part of the
tourist destination, in order for that destination to have more visitors and to achieve profit.
The destination marketing organization is focused on strategic planning of the tourist product
and promoting the tourism of the destination for which it needs financial help from the local
self-government

References
Books
Lucius Walker, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Larsen and Keller Education (June 28,
2017)
MacLellan R., Smith R. Tourism in Scotland, International Thomson Business
Press, London, 1998.
Journal articles
Born horst, T., Ritchie, J.R.B. i Sheehan L. “Determinants of tourism success for DMOs &
destinations: An empirical examination of stakeholders' perspectives”, Tourism Management,
Article in Press, July, p.1.-18, 2009.
Smolčić Jurdana, D. “Local Community Involvement in Tourism Development”, HOTEL
2000: Tourism and Hospitality Management
Suzana, A.‘‘The role of tourist Boards in initiating the development of new tourist product's
destinations’ Doctoral dissertation, University of Pula, 2010.
Mariangela, F., Umberto, M.,Pier Luigi, N.,Inverardi, Federica. B. THE ROLE OF
REGIONAL TOURIST BOARDS IN THE DESTINATION MARKETING POLICIES.
THE CASE OF THE DOLOMITES’
Websites
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/tourist-board
Regional Tourism Boards https://glosbe.com/en/en/Regional%20Tourist%20Board
Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa http://www.retosa.co.za
https://www.unwto.org/affiliate-member-organization-old/41927

(b) Examine the challenges encountered by these organisations and explain how
they can overcome them. (25)
Tourism organisations face vast challenges in implementation and planning of destination
management. Various key stakeholders participate in the development of Tourism and Travel
Industry at national level, regional and international level. Major Key players ought to devise
adaptive strategies to mitigate unforeseen challenges so as to circumvent technical glitches in
organisations. A challenge literally means an invitation or a call to action. In Tourism and
Hospitality, organisations currently face numerous challenges emerging from external market
tourism industry which includes social, environmental, and economic developments.
Technological progress, changes in the industry’s markets and structures, economic
slowdown, war and terrorist threats, climate changes and natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes
and tsunamis), as well as problems related to diseases (e.g., Covid19 pandemic) it presented a
negative outlook in the Tourism Industry.
The complexity and scope of these challenges varies from one nation to another nation. In
Zimbabwe this includes taxation, tourism sector is heavily taxed by the government taxes
paid on tourism products e.g. tourist services and airlines tickets greatly affect the behaviour
of customers since the burden is passed on to the tourist. Taxes can influence the price paid
on tourist products which can have a significant impact on the competitiveness of a tourist
destination. The government should balance the equation of taxes levied on tourist products
to maintain tourist flow for a particular destination. The economic impact of taxation on
tourist commodities depends on the elasticity of tourism demand (the responsiveness of
demand to a change in prices) and on the rate of pass-through (the extent to which producers
pass on changes in taxes to consumers as changes in price). Governments ensure that tourists
contribute to economic growth of local economy via purchases, travel retail, and other
tourism expenditures. However, a reduction in taxation will have a significant in ensuring the
supply of tourist in long run thus facilitates development in tourism industry hence, there will
be employment creation, infrastructure development and technology advancement which are
the indictors of economic development. In addition, taxation generates revenue to the
government. The government allocate revenue collected from taxes in different tourism
sectors. These funds are used to finance development projects such as building theme parks,
recreational facilities and air ports.
In less economically developed countries, tourism infrastructure in many locations is
dilapidated and underdeveloped. Governments, tourism boards, and destination marketing
organisations should allocate funds towards improving the current infrastructure with
foresight. These boards must curtail the gap in infrastructure as well as attracting major
investment opportunities in facilities; poor international flight frequency, often limited
internal transport links, and cross border access difficulties. It is an important aspect for the
development of tourist destination in a particular area at a particular time, and that it directly
and indirectly affects the shaping of that area, through various tourism infrastructure
facilities, and the presence of a large number of tourists, and by function, where the
destination, next to the existing functions, gains the tourism function, which can be the
dominant or the only function (Jovičić, 1980). Lack of infrastructure facilities such roads and
buildings deters the success of tourism development. Tourism development depends on the
modernization of infrastructure, and investment in infrastructure, as an important driver of
improving the tourism sector. . Future challenges must also be addressed in this area and
solutions to mitigate these challenges could include faster immigration at airports, better
public transportation, and capacity building projects.
Customer service is an essential part of the hospitality industry. Good customer service
affects the overall performance of tourism industry either it is a hotel, restaurant, travel
agency and flight. Poor customer service negatively influences the image of a restaurant,
airline, hotel and travel agency. If a customer is not pleased with the services he/she will find
another supplier thus affecting the consumer base of an organisation. The supplier will lose
that customer revenue in future. The value chain of a customer experience includes a number
of players that are involved in offering and delivering all tourism-related services. Various
stakeholders work in coordination to enhance the delivery of tourism memorable experiences.
Furthermore, tourist dissatisfactory experiences may hinder the total value of tourism
experiences and the organisation will lose a prospective client which could have been a loyal
customer for a business in the future. As a result of this could affect the overall satisfaction of
tourism experience and tourism organisations might face financial problems to run the
business properly. Therefore, it is crucial for companies to make sure that other companies
involved in the process provide satisfactory experiences.
In light of the challenges that are encountered by tourism boards, civil unrest is a huge issue
in ensuring maximum performance of tourist boards among member countries. This includes
crime and harassing of tourists in some countries. This has tarnished the image that the
organisation is trying to market. Previous academic research have demonstrated that the
issues of crime, violence, terrorism and political instability negatively impact tourist
behaviour, encouraging people to travel to safer destinations and avoid risky locations, or
postpone their holiday plans (Ivanov et al., 2017;Liu and Pratt, 2017; Mansfeld These
incidents affect the flow of tourist due to road closures to the disruption of international
airports. The Libyan Arab Spring from 2010-2011, is a good example which caused a great
political turbulence, which was marked by a decline in the number of international tourist
arrivals. The Libyan civil war in 2011 disrupted tourism activities and impedes the
development of Libya's tourism sector (UNWTO, 2012). Libyan civil unrest resulted in
international airlines and cruise ship companies stopping their operations in Libya. The
number of international tourist arrivals dropped from 271,000 in 2010 to approximately
26,000 in 2011 (Lanquar, 2012). According to Fyall & Garrod (2005), marketing involves the
SWOT analysis, which is a very important concept in determining the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats facing a particular organisation. Tourism organisations should
determine the strengths of their organisations in order to have a competitive advantage
against their rivals. Tourists make important decisions before they travel to a destination, they
develop an image and a range of expectations based on the past experiences, adverts, media
communication, common beliefs and influence from friends and relatives (Bowie & Buttle,
2012, p. 4)
In conclusion, the literature of Destination Management boards is to market regional and
international tourist destinations. These organisations work with various key stakeholders to
proffer the supply of tourism services. Board members ought to lay out relevant information
about a particular destination or attraction. Tourism boards face micro and macro challenges
in their efforts to make a destination more appeal to tourists. Tourism boards should
anticipate risks and adapt to changing economic market trends. Organisations must come up
with adaptive measures to mitigate the risks to ensure sustainability in the tourism industry.
Reference List
Adobayo, K.A., Iweka, C.O.A. (2014) Optimizing the Sustainability of Tourism
Infrastructure in Nigeria through Design for Deconstruction Framework, American Journal of
Tourism Management, 3(1A), pp. 13-19.
Morakabati, Y. (2013). Tourism in the middle east: Conflicts, crises and economic
diversification, some critical issues. International Journal of Tourism Research,
15(4), 375-387. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.1882
Takunda, Samantha,.M. THE IMPACT OF TAXATION ON INVESTMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; A CASE OF ZIMBABWE. Midlands
State University, 2015.
Yusriadi et al 2019 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 340 012045

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