Buea Mountain Hotel and Its Contribution to the Development of Buea Community, Fako Division, South West Region Cameroon
Department: Tourism and Hospitality Management
No of Pages: 80
Project Code: THM4
References: Yes
Cost: 5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ABSTRACT
The
purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of Buea Mountain
Hotel to it local environment in Buea municipality. The study was guided by the
following research questions. To what extend has the Buea Mountain Hotel
contributed to the local environment in the Buea municipality?
At
what level has the Buea Mountain Hotel mostly contributed to the development of
the local environment in Buea municipality? The first research question looked
at the contribution of Buea mountain Hotel to the development of local
environment in Buea municipality.
Most
respondents cited that employment of youth, provisions of information to
researchers, serving as a training centre for students of internship, serving
as accommodation for the local people, serving as touristic site for the local
environment has been the most contribution of Buea Mountain Hotel to the local
environment.
The
second research question looked at what level the Buea Mountain hotel mostly
contributed to the development of the local environment in Buea municipality.
The study found out that most respondents cited that Buea Mountain Hotel has
mostly contributed at the level of economy, socio- cultural and political in
Buea municipality.
The
study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of this study
comprises of all the workers in Buea Mountain Hotel in the Buea municipality.
The sampling frame for this study comprised of a list of all workers that work
in Mountain Hotel, Ministry of Tourism and leisure and Buea municipality council.
The
probability sampling technique was used with the help of the Pearson moment
correlation coefficient in the study to select the respondents from the list of
workers provided by the various units in order to capture the entire
population, thus, the sample size of the study was 100.
Primary
data for the study was collected using a structured, tailor-made questionnaire.
Descriptive analysis was used to determine the proportions and frequency of the
variables. Pearson correlation tests were used to draw inferences about the
population from the sample and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 24 was used to facilitate the data analysis.
The
result shows that Buea Mountain Hotel has contributed to the development of the
local environment socio-economically, politically and culturally. In
recommendation the government should create a training centre for the local
people to be train as to become expert and well train persons.
CHAPTER
ONE
GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND AND
CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
This
chapter brings out the background of study in which the general ideas, Buea
Mountain Hotel and its contribution to the local environment.
It
contains the context (World, Africa, Cameroon and Buea particularly) which is
the study area and the stake (socio-economic, political and cultural)
contribution, the PROBLEMSTATEMENT, the research objective, research
hypothesis, the significance of the study the scope of the study and conclusion
The
hotel industry is any type of business relating to the provision of
accommodation in lodging, food and drinks and various types of other services
that are interconnected and which are intended for public service, both of
which use the lodging facilities or who simply use the services or the
production of certain of the hotel.
Hotels
offer enormous range of guests’ services such as banqueting, conference and
fitness, sport and facilities, beauty spas, bars, sophisticated restaurant,
casinos, night clubs and casinos. The Hotel sector consists of more than 15% of
all the people who worked in the hospitality sector.
Hotels
falls into a number of different categories which includes the glamorous
five-star resort international luxury chains, trendy boutiques, country house,
conference, leisure or guest houses. This very dynamic sector offers good
quality accommodation, great variety of food and beverage, together with other
services for all types of customers.
With
offering every kind of accommodation catering for every type of taste, the
hotel sector is undeniably constantly growing and evolving, while refining its
offering, improving its experience and creating new products to serve and
satisfy customer on a local and global level. The hotel sector is always
striving to offer excellent customer service throughout its operations.
The
history of the hospitality industry dates all the way back to the Colonial
Period in the late 1700s. The hotel industry has been the subject of important
development and growth over the years as it has faced World Wars, The
Depression and various social changes.
However, the hotel industry as seen today takes form in the early 1950s and 60s, leading the way for growth in to the dynamic industry. This had led to more and more people traveling not only for business but also for leisure reasons, leading to the development which can be seen nowadays.
The
idea of renting an accommodation to visitors appeared since ancient times, and
the modern concept of a hotel as we know derives from 1794, when the City Hotel
opened in New York City; the City Hotel was claimed to be the first building
designed exclusively to hotel operations.
The
advent of new ways of transportations, hotels and resorts outside of major
cities were built in the countryside and began promoting their scenery and
other attractions. The concept of the vacation was developed and available to
more and more of the population.
In
the 1920’s, hotel building entered a boom phase and many famous hotels were
opened. From there a surge of hotels flooded American and the rest of the world
with prominent names such as Radisson, Marriot, Hilton and more others.
As
competition in the industry increases worldwide, the customers have reap great
benefits in terms of lower prices
coupled from a wider choice as the organizations have to differentiate their
products from the crowd to appeal to specific market segments but also strive
to enhance the quality of their services.
More
and more innovative approaches to marketing and promotion and creation of new
products are pulling the demand to the destinations. The governments as a
facilitator, fund provider and legislator have also had played its part on the
development of the industry.
New
consumer needs and attitudes have also fuelled the growth of specific segments
for instance ecotourism is booming. One other factor but not the least is the
increased level of economic activity which has led to an increase in business
travel and also the growing trend of international mobility.
Despite
global economic challenges, hotel developments continue to progress, with new
rooms injected into global supply by both independent hotels and group. Arguably,
following James et al. (2017: 108), it must be acknowledged that “the field of
hotel history is in comparative infancy”.
The
key findings of a number of valuable investigations must be noted, however, in
order to provide a context for this exploration of early hotel development in
South Africa.
Historical
tourism research has utilised a wide range of methodologies including
micro-histories, hotel biographies and a supply and demand approach linked to
innovation (Bowie, 2018; McNeill & McNamara, 2009; Yilmaz et al., 2017).
In
Europe and North America scholars draw attention to the origins and different
trajectories of hotel development in these regions (Bowie, 2016, 2018; James et
al., 2017). The importance of inns in the provision of early accommodation
services in Europe and North America was challenged from the late eighteenth
century.
Across
Britain and North America ‘hotels’ superceded inns; in some cases this was the
result of inns simply changing their names but, more importantly, it was the
outcome of the opening of entirely new establishments as hotels (James et al.,
2017). Bowie (2016) alerts us to different pathways for the evolution of hotels
in continental Europe as compared to Britain.
The
major differences are observed, however, in the context of North America where
the small inn was replaced by the growth of large hotel establishments. Bowie
(2016) stresses the large-scale of hospitality provision in the context of new
hotel openings and the ready adoption of new technological advances and management
systems in North American hotels.
It
is emphasized that American hotels pioneered new building technologies and offered new levels of comfort to visitors
through “providing elevators, hot and cold running water, chandeliers lit by
gas, ‘indoor plumbing, steam heat, call bell systems, patent locks’ and complex
equipment to mechanise kitchens and laundry processes” (Bowie, 2016: 161).
In
Britain inn-keeping in the 18th century offered a rudimentary form of
accommodation services which was transformed radically only during the
nineteenth century. It is argued that behind this transformation was “the
accumulation of a wide range of different innovations which combined to
transform the system of hospitality at that time” (Bowie, 2018: 314).
Hotels
were at the cutting edge for the adoption of new technologies (James et al.,
2017). Of critical importance in transforming the character, scale and
structure of the hospitality services was the adoption of several
socio-technological innovations.
These
included the concept of a ‘hotel’ as a superior form of accommodation for
travellers than the inn, the emergence of railway hotels linked to the transport revolution of
the 19th century, the adoption of American building processes applying the
technology of commercial architecture,
and
of management practices, most notably the so-termed American plan which
“comprised fixed daily tariffs for rooms and meals, the requirement for
customers to register and pay for the lodging/food upon arrival and
pre-determined times for dining” (Bowie, 2018: 319).
The
change that occurred as a consequence of these innovations was that the
“amateur inn-keeping regime was replaced by more professional hotel management”
(Bowie, 2018: 322).
In
addition, the new order of accommodation services comprised larger, modern
hotels, with enhanced facilities, incorporating contemporary technologies,
higher quality restaurants and improved levels of professional management
(Bowie, 2018).
Overall,
these major shifts in the character and practice of hotels could be interpreted
as manifestations of broader economic and social processes including “the
growth of cities, the industrialization of production and the growth of complex
business forms” such that “hotels were sites of modernization and modernity”
(James et al., 2017: 93).
The
role of hotels as sites of modernisation was particularly evident in colonial
South-East Asia and in Africa. Among others the works of Peleggi (2005) and Goh
(2010) highlight that the building of grand luxury hotels such as the Hanoi
Metropole, Raffles in Singapore or the Eastern and Oriental in Penang was a
vital component of the expansion of transnational capitalism.
James et al. (2017: 109) stylize them as
“nodes of sociability at the local level and nodes within wider networks of
circulation of people and capital at the imperial level”. The colonial luxury
hotel was a principal locus for technological diffusion as well as for the
reproduction of metropolitan cultural style (Goh, 2010; Peleggi, 2005).
McNeill
and McNamara (2012: 151) argue that such hotels “were often early adopters of
the latest technologies in terms of building systems (lifts, plumbing,
electrical lighting and heating) and communication systems (telegrams and
telephones) and showcased the latest architectural styles”.
In
particular, the colonial hotel assumed a special role for local elites who
required “an address that could host
banquets, society events, trade fairs, and provide suitable accommodation for
travelling business people” (McNeill & McNamara, 2012: 151).
Certain
characteristics of colonial hotels in South-East Asia find parallels in the
record of the early development of hotels in South Africa. Nevertheless, there
were also many highly distinctive features of the initial landscape of hotels as
revealed by the study of Johannesburg.
Global
and local hotel chains have targeted Africa as a growth region, due to both its
relative undersupply of international-quality hotels, and the expectation of
increased demand for rooms. Underpinning this are Africa’s long-term economic
and demographic growth prospects, which have continued to attract hotel groups’
interest despite a slowdown in overall African economic growth in recent years.
Pan-African
GDP growth dropped to 2.1% in 2016, its lowest level in more than two decades,
primarily due to the impact of lower commodity prices on its major
oil-dependent economies. However, growth is estimated by the International
Monetary Fund to have recovered to approximately 3.5% in 2017.
The
large oil-driven economies of Nigeria and Angola are gradually moving out of
recession, while growth rates have remained resilient in less
resource-dependent countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire
and Senegal.
These
countries are forecast to maintain annual GDP growth in the 5-8% range over the
next five years. Africa’s population is growing at a faster rate than that of
any other global region; it is currently home to around 1.2 billion people, but
UN projections suggest that this figure will more than double by 2050 and that
it will pass 4 billion by the end of the century.
Growth
will be increasingly concentrated in the large cities of Sub-Saharan Africa,
with the populations of cities such as Luanda, Lagos, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi
and Addis Ababa forecast to grow by more than 80% during the 2015-2030 periods.
Africa’s
fast-growing, economically developing cities will need increased numbers of
hotel rooms to accommodate both business travelers and rising tourist demand.
Over the long term, the UN World Tourist Organization forecasts that
international tourist numbers in Africa will grow at one of the fastest rates
globally.
Africa
received 57 million international tourist arrivals in 2016, but the UNWTO
projects that this will reach 134 million by 2030. At present, Morocco is the
top destination with over 10 million arrivals, but future growth is forecast to
be strongest in the East, West and Central regions of Africa
In
addition to the well-known international hotel operators, several brands
operating solely in Africa are actively growing their businesses. These include
CityBlue, a chain owned by UAE investor Diar Capital, which has opened hotels
in four East African countries and has signed pipeline deals in a further eight
countries in East and West Africa.
Mangalis
Hotel Group, a subsidiary of Teyliom International, has opened three hotels in
West Africa and has ten pipeline projects in this region. Azalaï Hotels Group
has grown from its homeland of Mali to have projects opened or under
construction in most major West African capital cities.
Other
groups that are growing in prominence in Africa include Germany’s Deutsche
Hospitality, Spain’s Meliá Hotels International and Switzerland’s Mövenpick
Hotels & Resorts. Asian hotel operators with projects under development in
Africa include Thailand’s Dusit International and Minor Hotels Group.
Middle
Eastern groups active in the region include Rotana and Emaar Hospitality, which
has projects in Egypt under its Address brand.Most international hotel groups
have asset-light business models in Africa whereby they usually operate, but do
not own, their branded hotels.
This
creates opportunities for developers and investors to either build or acquire
properties operated by the major chains. Long construction times can be a significant
challenge to brands seeking to grow their African portfolios.
To
circumvent this, some groups are pursuing growth strategies that prioritise the
rebranding of existing hotels, rather than the development of new hotels. As is
the case in the rest of the world, the growth of the Airbnb market has
presented a disruptive challenge to traditional hotel operators in Africa.
While
still a very small part of its global presence, Airbnb says that it now
has100,000 listings in Africa, accommodating 1.2 million guests in the last
year. With the hotel supply in many African cities being limited and slanted
towards the luxury end of the market, Airbnb accommodation provides a cheaper
alternative, particularly for younger travelers.
The
rise of the Airbnb market has yet to have a discernible impact on African hotel
performance, but it has demonstrated that there is demand for new, flexible and
affordable accommodation types across the continent.
The
distribution of Africa’s current supply of branded and chain hotels are
illustrated by the hotel density. The current hotel stock is heavily
concentrated in a small number of markets. South Africa has the largest supply,
with almost 30% of the continent’s chain hotels.
The
largest hotel markets in South Africa are Johannesburg and Cape Town, but chain
hotels are spread widely across the country, due in large part to the extensive
hotel networks of local brands such as Protea Hotels, Tsogo Sun and City Lodge.
Outside
of South Africa, the largest concentration of chain hotels is in the North
African countries of Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
Resort
locations such as Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada and Marrakesh are among the biggest
markets in these countries, but international hotel chains also have a
reasonably large presence in commercial cities such as Cairo and Casablanca,
where demand is driven by business travelers in addition to tourism.
Elsewhere
in Africa, the tourist islands of Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zanzibar all
have a significant presence of branded hotels and resorts. In contrast, some of
Africa’s largest cities, including Kinshasa, Khartoum and Addis Ababa, have
only a handful of international branded hotels.
Across
Africa, more than half of the continent’s capital cities have fewer than five
chain hotels each. The distribution of pipeline projects varies significantly
compared with the existing supply, reflecting the increased focus of
international chains on markets currently perceived as being undersupplied.
Most
strikingly, 35% of projects under development in the continent are in West
Africa, which is home to only 9% of the current supply. The greatest
concentration of these projects is in Nigeria, primarily in Lagos and Abuja,
where multiple hotels are under development for international brands including
Hilton, Sheraton and Marriott.
The
East Africa region also accounts for a significant share of pipeline projects,
with 26% of the projects under development. Hotel development hotspots in East
Africa include the major cities of Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Although it is
a comparatively well-supplied region, North Africa continues to see new
development, accounting for around 29% of pipeline projects.
This
stems from the expansion of major multinational chains, and from Middle Eastern
hotel developers and chains entering North Africa. Across the continent,
development activity is being driven primarily by the expansion plans of the
larger multinational hotel groups.
All
of the major global players have multiple hotels under development across
Africa, and several of them have made eye-catching announcements about their
future African plans. Hilton, for example, launched its US$50 million Africa
Growth Initiative in late 2017, with the aim of adding 100 African properties
to its portfolio over the next five years.
1.2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The
contribution of hotels in the growth of the local environment in Buea
Municipality look impressive, but one would like to know more about their
implications before concluding that this is a positive contribution of the
tourist hotel.
One
would like to know how do these hotels contribute to the growth of local
environment in Buea, who benefit from
these contributions and whether such contribution have anything to do with
tourism industry, as with all modernization efforts to economic gain, there are
costs and benefits implications as well.
This
may be important, as hotels are peculiar for services delivery to their clients
who are coming to enjoy the provided services. Therefore at a time when Buea
mountain hotel is rapidly becoming a major tourist destination, getting ready
for quantum increase towards mass tourism, it seems valuable to examine the
hotels effects to the tourists.
Therefore the study intended to assess the
contribution of hotels to the local environment in Buea city by examining the
carrying capacity of respective tourist hotels, the categories of tourists who
visit or stay in Buea mountain hotel, identifying the challenges facing the
hotel service providers in mountain hotel as well as suggesting solutions to
the challenges facing hotel service providers in Buea mountain hotel.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE
STUDY
1.3.1 Main objective
- To investigate the contribution of Buea Mountain Hotel in the local environment of Buea
1.3.2 Specific objectives
- To examine the level at which Buea Mountain Hotel has mostly contributed to the local environment
- To examine the level of development of the hotel
- To determine the contribution of the local environment to the development of the Buea Mountain Hotel
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