Mahmood Ziaee; Faranak Ranjbar Motalegh
Volume 8, Issue 21 , April 2013, , Pages 88-59
Abstract
Nowadays sustainable tourism development is no more considered as a choice but a necessity. In order to achieve sustainable tourism development, all actors in tourism system should undertake the sustainability commitments such as environmental commitment. The purpose of this paper is determining the ...
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Nowadays sustainable tourism development is no more considered as a choice but a necessity. In order to achieve sustainable tourism development, all actors in tourism system should undertake the sustainability commitments such as environmental commitment. The purpose of this paper is determining the level of environmental commitment in Tehran accommodation facilities, and identifying the factors that affect the propensity of managers of these units to adopt environmental considerations in this sector of tourism industry. Therefore the exploratory- descriptive research method is employed. Senior managers of 1-5 star hotels comprise the statistical population of this study. In addition to the descriptive statistics methods, various nonparametric inferential statistics tests are applied in analyzing the collected data.Findings of the study manifest that environmental management in the studied hotels can be classified into four levels of environmental commitment with most hotels situating at the basic level of environmental commitment (level 1). Also, according to the research findings “ cost saving” is the most important motivation and “heavy cost of establishing and implementing environmental management practices” is the main obstacle to the implementation of environmental practices. An important finding of this study is that public ownership, size of hotels and the type of their clientele affect achieving more advanced levels of environmental commitment. Environmental Commitment, Hotel, Environmental Management, Impact Factors, Tehran
mahmud ziai; ali asghar saeedi; mojhgan torab ahmadi
Volume 7, Issue 17 , March 2012, , Pages 61-86
Abstract
In tourism, like any other service industry, the people offering service are a constituent part of the product, and their expertise, theoretical knowledge, and job skills undeniably affect the quality of services. Hence, Composition and implementation of human resource development strategies is of a ...
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In tourism, like any other service industry, the people offering service are a constituent part of the product, and their expertise, theoretical knowledge, and job skills undeniably affect the quality of services. Hence, Composition and implementation of human resource development strategies is of a great importance and education/training, therein, plays a major part. Higher education, compared to other educational levels, is of greater significance for being in charge of training expert human resources to create knowledge and transfer it to the lower levels. Among the component indices of higher education system, the scientific criteria, including learning factors, teaching factors, and learning conditions and facilities, correlate directly with the quality of academic courses. In order to explore the state of these criteria in tourism academic courses, two models are used: horizontal model (based on the scientific nature of courses) and vertical model (based on the education level and hierarchy). Having investigated the indices of scientific system of tourism education based on these two models, it allows ascertaining the efficiency of education system in terms of form and content. This research focuses on identification of the model and quality of scientific and learning criteria of tourism in Iran’s higher education, utilizing a comparative-longitudinal research method. A comparative study was also performed between Iran and Turkey, using interviews and secondary data analysis. Results indicate that although the number of students and tourism education centers has increased dramatically in Iran, the development model has not conformed to the selected horizontal and vertical models of the research in terms of form and content. In addition, serious shortcomings seem to exist in learning facilities and conditions of all educational courses.
mahmud ziaee; leyla farmani
Abstract
Tour guides are frontline employees in the tourism industry who play an important role in providing informative and new experiences for tourists seeking exotic destinations like Iran. Success of the tourism industry very much depends on the performance of tour guides in each destination. Despite the ...
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Tour guides are frontline employees in the tourism industry who play an important role in providing informative and new experiences for tourists seeking exotic destinations like Iran. Success of the tourism industry very much depends on the performance of tour guides in each destination. Despite the importance of tour guiding in delivering a satisfied tour experience for package tourist, it has not attracted much of scholarly attention in the tourism discipline. Little research has been carried out in order to systematically examine the performance of tour guides throughout the world. This present research is aimed specifically at the assessment of attributes and performance parameters of tour guides in Iran. The evaluation here is based on the application of importance-performance analysis (IPA) factor as related to data assembled from incoming tours from European countries. IPA is a simple and useful technique in prioritizing decision options and resource allocation for an organization based on its product or service attributes. In this research, initially a list of all relevant tour guide attributes was documented based on an intensive literature review. After collating this data with advice obtained from well-informed experts including academics, tour operators, tour guides and officials from Iran’s Tourism Organization, and the Iranian Tour Guides Association, 31 relevant attributes were chosen. The next stage of this research required collection of tourists’ assessments of the relative importance of the tour guides’ attributes as expressed in the questionnaires provided for them, as well as the performance of their Iranian tour guides in these attributes. Data were collected in Tehran, from April to October 2010 at the end of their tours. A total of 270 copies of questionnaire were distributed between European tourists who travel in package tours to Iran. Among the returned
questionnaires, 142 questionnaires were deemed complete and usable. The cronbach's alpha of all performance & importance questions was
.95.The rating of their individual Iranian guides incorporated the use of the 5 point Likert scale and the IPA matrix was used to quantify tour guides’ strengths and weaknesses based on the chosen attributes. The results of the IPA data indicate that for European tourists the
Iranian tour guides performed well in attributes including, politeness, sense of humor, cooperation with other services staff, a good knowledge of the cultural and historical aspects of the tours, the respect paid to the customers, etc. The results also indicated that tour
guides in Iran should aim to improve their proficiency in the guiding language, problem solving, flexibility, interpretation between tourists and the local people they meet, an in depth knowledge of the various destinations visited and of the planned routes, presenting brief information and abilities in good presentation skills. The results of this research illustrate that use of the IPA model can be an effective managerial tool in its application to the evaluation of Iranian guides. Based on the identification of their strengths and weaknesses the results will assist practitioners with the allocation of resources to be effective in the improvement of the Iranian tour guiding service.
mahmud ziaee; moslem shojaee
Volume 5, Issue 13 , November 2010, , Pages 25-46
Abstract
Although the concept of classification has long been used in urban and regional planning and development, and has been widely published about, it is still a new concept in tourism literature both at national and international levels. In order to delineate this concept in tourism literature, its bases, ...
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Although the concept of classification has long been used in urban and regional planning and development, and has been widely published about, it is still a new concept in tourism literature both at national and international levels. In order to delineate this concept in tourism literature, its bases, principles, and significance need to be studied on, and a coherent conceptual framework needs to be set. Therefore, this paper tries to discuss the position of classifying destinations in tourism planning at first, and then it explains some other similar concepts in order to differentiate them and determines each of their applications. Following that, the principles of classifying tourism destinations have been identified in order to systematize this concept. Finally, its significance in spatial planning of tourism has been discussed
mehdi haghighi kafash; mahmud ziaee; ghasem jafari
Volume 4, Issue 11.12 , May 2006, , Pages 23-40
Abstract
Tourism is a economic activity due to its specific nature and characteristics, opportunities to enter international business regardless of their level of development to provide been given. It is important to understand that these
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Tourism is a economic activity due to its specific nature and characteristics, opportunities to enter international business regardless of their level of development to provide been given. It is important to understand that these
mahmud ziai; ruzbeh mirzaee
Volume 3, Issue 10 , November 2005, , Pages 1-34
Abstract
Ever-increasing on protected areas as tourism destinations, and development of tourism activities within those areas may be regarded as an opportunity for local community and preservation of natural resources: yet, there exists concerns for ineffective management in such areas(Hockings and Philips,2003). ...
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Ever-increasing on protected areas as tourism destinations, and development of tourism activities within those areas may be regarded as an opportunity for local community and preservation of natural resources: yet, there exists concerns for ineffective management in such areas(Hockings and Philips,2003). Without a systematic and knowledge-based management, any imprudent change in land use and uncontrolled tourism development can be a serious threat against these areas. Global and national experiences show irreversible changes to the environment and devastation of fragile, yet worthy ecosystems. Southern coast of Caspian Sea in one of the most long- established and important tourism destinations in Iran, and its core product it nature- baded tourism. A considerable portion of ecotourism takes place in protected areas and Northern littoral of Iran are potential ecotourism destinations. Despite the fact that natural resource protection started more than 50 years ago in Iran, the surveys show the management system of these areas is not effective and efficient enough. This paper evaluates the ecotourism porentials of protected areas of Northern waterfront provinces of Iran: and through a comparative study,it compares the management system of these areas with those of other areas across the world. Then, the management model of "Miankale Wildlife Refuge" is evaluated. The results show that the management system of "Miankale Wildlife Refuge" is traditional and classic, in which the area is considered as a museum and the only concern is protecting the environment. In this approach tourism is
mahmud ziai; ali asghar saeedi; mojhgan torab ahmadi
Volume 2, Issue 7 , March 2005, , Pages 61-86
Abstract
In tourism, like any other service industry, the people offering service are a constituent part of the product, and their expertise, theoretical knowledge, and job skills undeniably affect the quality of services. Hence, Composition and implementation of human resource development strategies is of a ...
Read More
In tourism, like any other service industry, the people offering service are a constituent part of the product, and their expertise, theoretical knowledge, and job skills undeniably affect the quality of services. Hence, Composition and implementation of human resource development strategies is of a great importance and education/training, therein, plays a major part. Higher education, compared to other educational levels, is of greater significance for being in charge of training expert human resources to create knowledge and transfer it to the lower levels. Among the component indices of higher education system, the scientific criteria, including learning factors, teaching factors, and learning conditions and facilities, correlate directly with the quality of academic courses. In order to explore the state of these criteria in tourism academic courses, two models are used: horizontal model (based on the scientific nature of courses) and vertical model (based on the education level and hierarchy). Having investigated the indices of scientific system of tourism education based on these two models, it allows ascertaining the efficiency of education system in terms of form and content. This research focuses on identification of the model and quality of scientific and learning criteria of tourism in Iran’s higher education, utilizing a comparative-longitudinal research method. A comparative study was also performed between Iran and Turkey, using interviews and secondary data analysis. Results indicate that although the number of students and tourism education centers has increased dramatically in Iran, the development model has not conformed to the selected horizontal and vertical models of the research in terms of form and content. In addition, serious shortcomings seem to exist in learning facilities and conditions of all educational courses.
mahmood ziaei
Volume 2, Issue 6 , December 2004, , Pages 19-37
