Mohammed I. Eraqi

Tourism services quality (TourServQual) in Egypt

Purpose – This research paper aims is to evaluate the customers views related to tourism quality in Egypt. It attempts to measure the extent to which tourism business environment is creative and innovative as necessary conditions for internal customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – The objectives of this research have been achieved through reviewing a number of literatures in the fields of services quality management and tourism quality measurements. The papers outcomes have been obtained through two surveys, one to measure the satisfaction of the internal customer (employees) and the second to measure the external customer satisfaction (tourists).Findings – The main conclusions of this research paper are: quality can be considered as a philosophy for guiding tourism organization/destination when taking decisions related to tourism services; tourism business environment in Egypt does not support the internal customer satisfaction because the absence of a suitable system for encouraging peopl...

LOCAL COMMUNITIES' ATTITUDES TOWARDS IMPACTS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN EGYPT

This study examines the attitudes of local citizens toward tourism development of residents in Egypt through studying impacts of tourism development on the local community. It aims to measure the effect of tourism development on the standard of living of the Egyptian people. For achieving the research objectives data were collected through a questionnaire distributed among local people; 462 questionnaire forms were recollected after they were filled in by the chosen random sample of respondents. Descriptive statistic analysis was used to measure the tourism development impacts depending on a Likert scale. Multiple regression/stepwise model was used to decide the relationship between the standard of living in Egypt as a dependent variable and the tourism development indicators as independent variables. The main results are that local people have positive attitudes towards tourism development indicators and there are some negative sociocultural impacts of tourism development on local communities in Egypt.

Attitudes of Undergraduate Students Toward E-Learning in Tourism: The Case of Egypt

E-learning has been suggested as an alternative approach that can provide graduates with a wide range of academic and employability skills. This study is designed to measure the attitudes of student and academic staff toward using e-learning technologies and strategies in tourism education. A questionnaire form was designed and distributed to the students, and semistructured interviews were conducted with academic staff in the faculties of tourism and hotels at Helwan University and Menoufia University. Results revealed that the students as well as the academic staff have a good positive attitude toward applying e-learning in the faculties of tourism and hotels in Egypt.

Ecotourism resources management as a way for sustainable tourism development in Egypt.

As ecotourism becomes more and more popular, sustainability requirements cannot be ignored from the viewpoints of both practitioners and researchers. The purpose of this study is to present an overview of a general picture for ecotourism resources management to understand how sustainability can be applied to different tourism sites and how ecotourism resources can be managed and marketed effectively and efficiently in Egypt. Statistical models, such as Statistical Means, Correlation Coefficients, Chi-Square, and Regression Analysis, are used to test and interpret the research outcomes. The research findings explained that there are positive attitudes of locals towards sustainability requirements and there is a degree of misunderstanding to the concept of ecotourism for many tourism companies and agencies in Egypt. Also, it is important to develop a new marketing strategy for ecotourism in Egypt using suitable tourism marketing strategies and policies.

Egypt as a macro-tourist destination: tourism services quality and positioning

This paper attempts to evaluate the overall views of inbound tourists about Egypt as a tourist destination. Statistical methods such as Mean, t. test, Chi2, factor analysis, KMO and Bartletts Test and Correlation Matrix were used to interpret and test the research results. The main conclusions of the research can be summarised as follows: based on the Likert scale, most of the tourism quality measures/variables were rated Very Good and Good. The most important variable was the friendliness of people, which was rated Excellent. The main weak point is the tourism transport services quality such as airport services quality and the bad behaviour of drivers. To improve the marketing of Egypt as a macro-tourist destination, it is necessary for the tourism policies to concentrate on improving the quality of the tourism infrastructure and the environment institutions.

Quality management systems in tourism companies: the case of travel agencies in Egypt

For best practices, a tourism company needs to establish its own quality management system to help in comparing (benchmarking) the tourism company to its competitors and, if necessary (in most cases), differentiate it from others. Quality Management Systems (QMSs) offer a unique and original experience to the visitor and ensure his satisfaction and loyalty. This paper tries to provide an overview of the importance of QMSs to the tourism business sector and examines the degree to which there is an approach for quality measurement in the Egyptian tourism companies/travel agencies. The data of the research has been collected through questionnaires distributed to tourism managers in the Egyptian tourism companies/travel agencies. Out of the 150 randomly selected tourism companies, 50 fully completed and returned the questionnaire forms yielding a relatively satisfied response rate of 33%. The paper findings explain that Egyptian tourism companies do not have any of Quality Management (QM) approach and they do not have a clear system for quality control and/or quality assurance.

Co-creation and the new marketing mix as an innovative approach for enhancing tourism industry competitiveness in Egypt.

To investigate the extent to which co-creation and 4Cs are extant in the Egyptian tourism industry policies, the paper tries to examine the attitudes of tourism industrys managers towards co-creative and 4Cs network principles and their indicators. Data of the study was collected through questionnaire forms and statistical tests such as t-test and ANOVA were used to validate the research outcomes. The research outcomes indicate that tourism business sector companies in Egypt do not have sufficient policies to be more oriented by market and they still use the traditional market mix policies (4Ps policies) for achieving their marketing objectives.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TOURISM MARKETING: NEW CHALLENGES FOR TOURISM BUSINESS SECTOR IN EGYPT

Marketing Information Systems are an essential means for effective tourism marketing and improving quality of services of tourism organizations. This research provides insights into a successful implementation of a marketing information system in tourism. It discusses the importance of information system applications and information needs in tourism management applied to the tourism business sector in Egypt. The main results of this article are that most of the Egyptian tourism business sector enterprises have yet to develop their online presence. Most tourism organizations that have online presence do not have marketing information applications or tourism marketing services in place to support online marketing and transactions. To improve the situation, tourism business sector companies in Egypt need to develop information technology-based marketing strategies in order to take full advantage of information system applications. The Egyptian government should employ its own control to modify the regulations in order to help tourism business sector enterprises to adopt information system technologies in an effective manner.

Towards a comprehensive human resources module for tourism satellite accounts in Egypt

Purpose – This research paper aims to develop a comprehensive tourism satellite account‐human resource module (TSA‐HRM) which can complement and enhance the analytical capacity provided by the TSA, allowing for a broader insight into tourisms role in the economy, especially that of Egypt.Design/methodology/approach – The objectives have been achieved through reviewing the literature in the fields of tourism satellite account (TSA) and its handling of tourism employment. To answer the research questions, one strategy and one method associated with the qualitative approach are used. The strategy refers to the case study, while the method refers to participant observation. An in‐depth analysis of the TSA project in Egypt was performed using the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) introduced by the International Monetary Fund.Findings – The results indicate that statistics on tourism‐related employment in Egypt are usually fragmented, difficult to compare and often lack quality, credibility and reliabil...

Responsible tourism management as an integrated approach for enhancing the standards of living of local people in Egypt.

Responsible tourism management (RSTM) strategy should be aligned to the tourism business sector strategy to be effective in improving the quality of life for locals. This research aims to investigate how responsible tourism management as an integrated approach can improve the level of sustainability in the Egyptian tourism to enhance the standards of living of local people in Egypt. The viewpoints of experts in tourism from different tourism companies, the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt, Tourism Development Authority (TDA) and Tourism Authority (TA) were surveyed. Statistical tests such as statistical means, SD, Qi2 test, T. test and regression analysis have been used to examine the research findings. The research outcomes reveal that the tourism development policy needs to be more oriented by the principles of responsible tourism management to optimise the overall economic benefits at reasonable social cost for improving the quality of standards of living of Egyptian local people.