A. Akin Aksu

Perceptions and attitudes of tourism students in Turkey

Purpose – To investigate the main expectations of students from the tourism industry who are studying at the Akdeniz University School of Tourism and Hotel Management in Antalya.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire containing 16 closed questions and a multi‐item attitude scale was used for 689 students ranging from the first class to the fourth class.Findings – The results generally show negative perceptions and attitudes toward the tourism industry, but some positive perceptions and attitudes are also apparent. Positive emotions were usually mentioned by students who had chosen the tourism and hotel management school within their first three rank order in the university entrance exam, who had chosen the school willingly, and who had carried out their practical work experience outside Turkey.Research limitations/implications – It is not possible to generalize the findings to other tourism schools, but the findings can be evaluated as a useful source of information regarding the perceptions and at...

Job satisfaction of managers in tourism

Purpose – To investigate job satisfaction of middle and upper level managers working in 5‐star hotels and first‐class holiday villages and to note interests of tourism professionals regarding the subject of job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire technique was used for the sample of 102 middle‐ and upper‐level managers. For data evaluation SPSS program was used. T‐tests, correlation, Anova and Scheffe tests were carried out.Findings – According to the findings it can be mentioned that there is a general satisfaction among middle‐ and upper‐level managers in the sample. This finding can be evaluated as being hopeful according to Turkeys working conditions. In Turkey, generally personnel have long working hours, poor physical working conditions, lack of support from their colleagues and by international standards, insufficient salaries. Therefore the research findings are surprising.Research limitations/implications – The results are limited within the sampled middle‐ and upper‐level m...

Individual learning and organization culture in learning organizations

Purpose – To investigate nine organizational dimensions that enable individual learning in hotel establishments and to note interests of tourism professionals to the learning of organizations subject.Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire technique was used for the sample of 129 staff working in three different five‐star hotels in Antalya. For data evaluation, SPSS program was used.Findings – According to the findings, the highest pure value and variance explanation rated dimension was that of behavior of superiors. This result shows the importance and role of superiors in hotel establishments. In addition to this, the majority of the sampled staff engaged in teamworking and made dialogue with colleagues, but with some considerable occurrence; sampled staff rarely had training and rewards.Research limitations/implications – The results are limited within the sampled staff working in three different five‐star hotels, so the results cannot be generalized, but the scale in the study can be used in other...

The Internet and five‐star hotels: a case study from the Antalya region in Turkey

Developments in today’s information technologies are dazzling. Using information technologies results in having advantages in competition, decreasing costs, gaining time, and getting and sharing information. Now it is possible to state that there are different types of usage within the information technologies. Internet, intranet, e‐mail connections, electronic trade, central reservation systems, and Web applications are some examples. In a rapidly increasing trend, touristic establishments are benefiting from the new information technologies. Evidence of this trend is clearly seen in the advantages to touristic establishments and their budget shares for technology. For example, travel agencies are using the Internet as a communication tool, and hotels are using it to market their goods and services, to receive reservations, and to evaluate customer complaints/suggestions. In this paper, Web sites and Web applications of five‐star hotels operating in the Antalya region were examined.

Measurement of the destination evaluation supporting factors and their effects on behavioral intention of visitors: Antalya Region of Turkey.

In this study, the authors tried to identify the basic destination attributes that affect visiting tourists most, by ignoring their pre-visit expectations and using a performance-only approach. Considering one years tourism data of the Antalya region, five different structured questionnaires (in English, German, Russian, Dutch, and French) were given to a sample of visiting tourists. In all, 4,493 out of 13,461 questionnaires were returned, representing a 33.37% rate of return. According to the results of exploratory factor analysis, five factors (health and hygiene, shopping, information, local transportation, and accommodation) contributed to the differentation of the destination attributes. In addition to these, in order to understand the interrelationships between destinations evaluation supporting factors and behavioral intentions of the visitors, structural equation modeling technique was used by the authors.

Defining training needs of five‐star hotel personnel: an application in the Antalya Region of Turkey

– To provide an useful way for tourism industry professionals regarding defining training needs of hotel personnel and noting the interests of hotel managers in the training subject., – Questionnaire technique was used both for superiors and staff in a sampled five‐star hotel in Antalya. For statistical evaluation the SPSS program was used., – According to the combination of the scoring table used in questionnaire, the training areas given before and in the sampled hotel, for superiors and staff most suggested are; organizational structure, management and organization, communication, motivation, accounting‐budgeting, foreign languages (German, English and French) and customer relations., – It is not possible to generalize the findings for all five‐star hotels in Antalya, but this study can be evaluated as a starting point in defining training needs of hotel personnel. In addition to this, much more researches must be done may be in other parts of Turkey in order to compare the results of this study., – Useful information in orienting tourism professionals to defining needs. Beside this study benefiting from managerial observations and forming of focus groups can be suggested., – The findings can be seen as a practical implications for tourism professionals and academicians as well.

Audit of manpower research in the hospitality sector: an example from the Antalya region of Turkey

With the increase in competition in the hospitality sector, manpower has become an increasingly important factor. The labour‐intensive aspect of the tourism sector has put pressure on all entrepreneurs to act according to the needs and expectations of internal customers (personnel) and external customers (customers, suppliers). This paper studies personnel policies, recruitment methods and resources, future developments and the reasons for job changes for sample hotels in the Antalya Region in Turkey. A questionnaire was designed for all four‐ and five‐star hotels and first‐class holiday villages which were open during the winter period (January‐March 1999). For the questionnaire evaluation the bio‐medical data process was used. Recruitment methods, popular departments of sample hotels, most‐needed qualifications for personnel, training methods and changes in qualifications and in departments over the next five years, etc. are all discussed in this paper.

Re‐engineering revisited: a simulation approach

In the last 10‐15 years rapid changes in the world along with globalization have had great effects on almost all countries and enterprises. This is especially the case for companies faced with international competition. Also, these enterprises have had to take notice of scarce resources becoming more so. All these developments force companies to make decisions in light of their strategic positions, and these developments directly or indirectly affect hotels. They increasingly find themselves in types of competition previously unknown: their customers are demanding more and more for their money and these demands can also be noted in the sector of information technology. Hotels must increasingly make use of the new technologies, and at this juncture total quality management attempts may spell out the decisive differences between the hotels and their ultimate survival. In this study the role of re‐engineering is taken into consideration within the scope of total quality management. The goal of this study is to propose a new process model for a five‐star hotel.