HOSPITALITY OVERVIEW
One of the fastest-growing sectors in the world economy today is travel
and tourism. It is the engine that drives the many-faceted hospitality
business.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), people around
the world spent about $2.1 trillion in the year 2003 on their personal
travel. This amounts to almost 10 percent of consumer spending worldwide.
If you add in business travel, the amount of money flowing into the travel
and tourism sector is even higher, by an additional $700 billion.
To care for the needs of these travelers, huge amounts of money are
invested to build hotels and restaurants, resorts, theme parks, conference
centers and the dozens of other types of businesses that look after them.
In the year 2003, about one out of every 10 dollars that went into a
capital investment was directed into the tourism or travel business. The
sector accounts for over 10% of the world's GDP, making it the largest
slice of the world's economic "pie." Projections for the next 10 years
forecast average growth of about 3.7% each year.
In the Hospitality Business category, May International assists with
hotels, motels, golf courses, spas, membership organizations and other
facilities that cater to guests and visitors.
Online Resources:
American Hotel & Lodging Association
www.ahla.com
A dual-membership association of state and city partner lodging
associations throughout the U.S. with some 10,000 property members
nationwide, representing more than 1.4 million guest rooms.
American Resort Development Association
www.arda.org
A trade association representing the vacation ownership and resort
development industries with close to 1000 members including companies with
interests in vacation ownership resorts, community development, fractional
ownership, camp resorts, land development, lot sales, second homes and
resort communities. Members range from small, privately held firms to
publicly traded companies and international corporations.
American Society of Travel Agents
www.astanet.com
The world's largest association of travel professionals. Our 20,000-plus
members include travel agents and the companies whose products they sell
such as tours, cruises, hotels, car rentals, etc. We are the leading
advocate for travel agents, the travel industry and the traveling public.
LookSmart
http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317829/us317864/us77824/us65079/us236036/?pi=us
Links to associations serving professionals in the hospitality industry.
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
www.gcsaa.org
GCSAA is the professional association for the men and women who manage and
maintain the game's most valuable resource -- the golf course.
Greenkeeper Information
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/a_heising2/
Information for green keepers and superintendents.
Golf Guide
http://www.golfguide.com/links.html
Provides links to various golf associations.
The Day Spa Association
www.dayspaassociation.com
An association for spas that are stand-alone facilities, part of a
bustling city hotel, connected to a health club, allied with a one-stop
wellness center or an adjunct to medical facilities such as rehabilitation
centers, dermatology clinics, plastic surgeons, chiropractors or even
complementary medicine practitioners.
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