As the attention of ethnic restaurants grow from consumers, researchers have questioned the proper assessment of identifying ethnic restaurant consumer demand and where ethnic restaurants should locate accordingly. For this reason, past literature has focused on demographic features to answer these questions. However, unlike non-ethnic restaurant demand, ethnic restaurant demand cannot be fully explained by demographics since the demand for ethnic restaurants consist of two major groups, which are non-ethnic and ethnic consumers. The two consumer groups differ in location, which ethnic consumers are clustered while other non-ethnic consumers are spread across the geographical plain. The two consumer groups also differ in acceptance which ethnic consumers have a pre-established notion of the ethnic restaurant theme while non-ethnic consumers require acceptance to consume. This study proposes that since ethnic restaurants have these differences ethnic restaurants show difference in clustering patterns. More specifically this study attempts to identify whether higher acceptance from non-ethnic consumers allow ethnic restaurants to expand to other non-ethnic consumer regions while ethnic restaurants are mostly clustered in ethnic communities. In addition, the study further investigates whether ethnic restaurant clustering patterns differ by its restaurant price segment. The empirical results of this study show that acceptance of ethnic food, general restaurant opinion, and country of origin plays a crucial role in ethnic restaurants to diffuse to non-ethnic consumers while ethnic restaurants agglomerate near ethnic communities. However, higher price restaurants were found cluster stronger than lower price restaurants to reduce search cost for consumers which confirms previous studies. Finally, this study found that acceptance of food and general restaurant opinion from non-ethnic consumers affects ethnic restaurants in the ethnic community to diffuse but acceptance of country of origin showed ethnic restaurants in ethnic communities to cluster which suggest that cultural aspects allow ethnic restaurants to cluster stronger in ethnic communities.

No description available.

Industry practitioners and educators both agree that tourism and hospitality management curricula need to reflect recent and future industry needs and developments, to ensure graduates are equipped with appropriate and industry-relevant skills. Furthermore, the combination of theory with practice is viewed as an essential component of a student’s tourism and hospitality management education. In the past, limited attempts have been made to provide empirical support to claims that a practical internship experience develops management competence in tourism and hospitality management students. In addition, Australian research into the management competencies employers in tourism and hospitality industries expect of recent graduates is minimal. Given the proliferation of tourism and hospitality-related courses over the past decade and the relative importance attributed to internship in developing students’ management competencies, such evaluations are considered important.Thus, this study focused on three main research objectives which were; to identify the management competencies that managers of organisations within tourism and hospitality industries expect of recent tourism and hospitality graduates; to determine whether students’ management competencies are developed during the internship component of Southern Cross University’s Bachelor of Business in Tourism degree; and to determine whether the management competencies of Southern Cross University’s Bachelor of Business in Tourism students meet the expectations of selected managers of organisations in four tourism and hospitality sectors. The study utilised the 24 management competencies and eight roles of Quinn, Thompson, Faerman and McGrath’s (1990) Competing Values Framework (CVF) to test two research hypotheses. The first hypothesis proposed that students’ pre-internship mean scores will be significantly lower than their post-internship mean scores with respect to the 24 management competencies and eight managerial roles associated with Quinn et al.’s (1990) Competing Values Framework. The second hypothesis proposed that students’ post-internship mean scores will not be significantly lower than the selected managers’ mean scores with respect to the 24 management competencies and eight managerial roles associated with Quinn et al.’s (1990) Competing Values Framework. A specific survey instrument, the Self Assessment of Managerial Skills (DiPadova, 1990), was used to survey managers within four sectors of Australian tourism and hospitality industries and Bachelor of Business in Tourism internship students from Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia. Students were surveyed before and after internship.The study found that students’ perceptions of their level of managerial competence had significantly increased after the completion of their internship placement in six of the 24 management competencies and three of the eight managerial roles, thus partially supporting the first research hypothesis. Further, it was found that pre-internship, students perceived these six competencies were their weakest competency areas, with one exception - Presenting Information by Writing Effectively. This suggests that internship has complemented competencies developed during their coursework. The study also found that after completing internship, students’ perceptions of their managerial competence were reasonably congruent with the expectations of this sample of managers, thus supporting the second research hypothesis. In this study students’ post-internship competencies were found to be reasonably aligned with Quinn, Faerman and Dixit’s (1987) research which examined the relationship between management competencies and hierarchical levels in an organisation. Empirical data collected from the students and the managers, identified students’ management profiles preand post-internship and the management profile that managers expect of recent graduates. These profiles resembled Quinn’s (1991) description of a Master Manager. These findings suggest that internship has assisted students in moving closer to the competence required of a Master Manager.The study concludes that the internship component of a student’s tourism and hospitality education can hold real educational benefits in preparing them for future management roles. Also, as entry level graduates, this cohort of students has the ability to demonstrate competence over a range of transferable generic management competencies and should be effectively equipped to undertake a range of managerial opportunities that may be presented to them. The study demonstrates the importance of conducting empirically based evaluation to provide support to the debate on the true educational value of internship and highlights the need for further research in this area. It also demonstrates the application of the eight management roles and 24 management competencies of the CVF (Quinn et al., 1990) to tourism and hospitality industries.With the recent proliferation of tourism and hospitality management programs, tertiary education providers are now being held more accountable for the courses they offer. Curricula must reflect the changing needs of industry. Research in collaboration with tourism and hospitality industries must continue to ensure that courses offered are not only relevant but are also producing graduates with skills and knowledge they will need as future managers.

This is a descriptive study that poses the questions and discussion regarding use of personality tests in prediction of future job performance of the current undergraduate hospitality students. A gap exists between the perception of the skills and competencies of high performers and the perception of hospitality students (Berezina et al., 2011; Malan, Berezina & Cobanoglu, 2012). The purpose of this study is to investigate if personality tests will help in predicting the success of students in their preferred job setting as compared to current high performers (managers). The use of personality tests increased substantially after 1988, when the government banned the use of polygraphs (Employee Polygraph Protection Act, 1988 as cited in Stabile, 2002). Although there is no right or wrong answer to personality test questions, the answers would allow employers to have a better idea if there is a sufficient fit between the applicant and the position sought. To compare the personality types of successful hotel managers and hospitality students to determine if there is a need to customize the hospitality curriculum in order to produce graduates who will fit to the correct type of positions, a convenient sample was drawn from a hotel management company's managers and hospitality students of a university in the Southeast USA. The sample for this study was 175 Managers and 150 Students. With the 144/175 (82% response rate) manager and 76/150 (51% response rate) students the main findings show there is a significantly difference between managers and students. This indicates that current hospitality students and current managers have different perceptions about hospitality industry. Since current students will work on the industry in the future, the difference needs to be eliminated by both curricular and extra-curricular activities. There are also significant differences among managerial positions' (general manager, assistant general manager, and director of sales) LDP scores. This could indicate that it might not be a good fit to promote these individuals from one position to other within the company since each position differs from each other.

The International Hotel School is registered with the South African Department of Higher Education and Training as a Private Higher Education Institution. This registration entails accreditation by the Council on Higher Education and one of the requirements for accreditation is that "The programme has taken steps to enhance the employability of students and to alleviate shortages of expertise in relevant fields, in cases where these are the desired outcomes of the programme." The purpose of this study was to assess, from a graduate perspective, whether or not the Diploma in Hospitality Management programme offered by the school met the requirement of the Council on Higher Education. Skills sought by employers were identified through a review of literature on the topic of 'employability'. These skills were used to compile a research questionnaire sent electronically to the identified sample group. A study was conducted among students who had completed the diploma programme during the years 2008 to 2010. Using a five-point Likert Scale respondents were asked to rate their perception of skills developed through their participation in the diploma programme. In addition to assessing the employability skills, respondents were asked to rate the usefulness to them in their employment of the subjects comprising the diploma programme. Here a four point Rating Scale was used in the questionnaire. Results of the study have identified areas of weakness within the programme's design and recommendations will be made to the school Academic Board as to suggested actions to be taken in addressing these weaknesses. The programme's syllabi should be reviewed and the curricula content adapted to consider the areas of concern highlighted through this study. The study identified that the programme goes some way to meeting the requirements of both the Department of Higher education and Training and employers within the hospitality industry. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

<p>In this information age, the Internet has found a role in various industries such as transportation, advertising, etc. The travel industry, in which communication between travellers and travel service providers is a very important component, has as much potential as any other industry to make full use of this new medium. Already, most travel agencies and travel service providers promote their products and services using web sites. Searching for information online is now seen by many people as a way to save time and cost, especially in their travel activities. In order to fully deploy the Internet within the travel industry, understanding the use of the Internet in tourism is critical. This research sets out initially to examine the role and the impact of the Internet in the whole of the travel industry. But in order to define an achievable scope of work and because of its importance in South Africa at this time, tourism within the travel industry was chosen as the focus of the work.</p>

Industry practitioners and educators both agree that tourism and hospitality management curricula need to reflect recent and future industry needs and developments, to ensure graduates are equipped with appropriate and industry-relevant skills. Furthermore, the combination of theory with practice is viewed as an essential component of a student’s tourism and hospitality management education. In the past, limited attempts have been made to provide empirical support to claims that a practical internship experience develops management competence in tourism and hospitality management students. In addition, Australian research into the management competencies employers in tourism and hospitality industries expect of recent graduates is minimal. Given the proliferation of tourism and hospitality-related courses over the past decade and the relative importance attributed to internship in developing students’ management competencies, such evaluations are considered important.Thus, this study focused on three main research objectives which were; to identify the management competencies that managers of organisations within tourism and hospitality industries expect of recent tourism and hospitality graduates; to determine whether students’ management competencies are developed during the internship component of Southern Cross University’s Bachelor of Business in Tourism degree; and to determine whether the management competencies of Southern Cross University’s Bachelor of Business in Tourism students meet the expectations of selected managers of organisations in four tourism and hospitality sectors. The study utilised the 24 management competencies and eight roles of Quinn, Thompson, Faerman and McGrath’s (1990) Competing Values Framework (CVF) to test two research hypotheses. The first hypothesis proposed that students’ pre-internship mean scores will be significantly lower than their post-internship mean scores with respect to the 24 management competencies and eight managerial roles associated with Quinn et al.’s (1990) Competing Values Framework. The second hypothesis proposed that students’ post-internship mean scores will not be significantly lower than the selected managers’ mean scores with respect to the 24 management competencies and eight managerial roles associated with Quinn et al.’s (1990) Competing Values Framework. A specific survey instrument, the Self Assessment of Managerial Skills (DiPadova, 1990), was used to survey managers within four sectors of Australian tourism and hospitality industries and Bachelor of Business in Tourism internship students from Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia. Students were surveyed before and after internship.The study found that students’ perceptions of their level of managerial competence had significantly increased after the completion of their internship placement in six of the 24 management competencies and three of the eight managerial roles, thus partially supporting the first research hypothesis. Further, it was found that pre-internship, students perceived these six competencies were their weakest competency areas, with one exception - Presenting Information by Writing Effectively. This suggests that internship has complemented competencies developed during their coursework. The study also found that after completing internship, students’ perceptions of their managerial competence were reasonably congruent with the expectations of this sample of managers, thus supporting the second research hypothesis. In this study students’ post-internship competencies were found to be reasonably aligned with Quinn, Faerman and Dixit’s (1987) research which examined the relationship between management competencies and hierarchical levels in an organisation. Empirical data collected from the students and the managers, identified students’ management profiles preand post-internship and the management profile that managers expect of recent graduates. These profiles resembled Quinn’s (1991) description of a Master Manager. These findings suggest that internship has assisted students in moving closer to the competence required of a Master Manager.The study concludes that the internship component of a student’s tourism and hospitality education can hold real educational benefits in preparing them for future management roles. Also, as entry level graduates, this cohort of students has the ability to demonstrate competence over a range of transferable generic management competencies and should be effectively equipped to undertake a range of managerial opportunities that may be presented to them. The study demonstrates the importance of conducting empirically based evaluation to provide support to the debate on the true educational value of internship and highlights the need for further research in this area. It also demonstrates the application of the eight management roles and 24 management competencies of the CVF (Quinn et al., 1990) to tourism and hospitality industries.With the recent proliferation of tourism and hospitality management programs, tertiary education providers are now being held more accountable for the courses they offer. Curricula must reflect the changing needs of industry. Research in collaboration with tourism and hospitality industries must continue to ensure that courses offered are not only relevant but are also producing graduates with skills and knowledge they will need as future managers.

Industry practitioners and educators both agree that tourism and hospitality management curricula need to reflect recent and future industry needs and developments, to ensure graduates are equipped with appropriate and industry-relevant skills. Furthermore, the combination of theory with practice is viewed as an essential component of a student’s tourism and hospitality management education. In the past, limited attempts have been made to provide empirical support to claims that a practical internship experience develops management competence in tourism and hospitality management students. In addition, Australian research into the management competencies employers in tourism and hospitality industries expect of recent graduates is minimal. Given the proliferation of tourism and hospitality-related courses over the past decade and the relative importance attributed to internship in developing students’ management competencies, such evaluations are considered important.Thus, this study focused on three main research objectives which were; to identify the management competencies that managers of organisations within tourism and hospitality industries expect of recent tourism and hospitality graduates; to determine whether students’ management competencies are developed during the internship component of Southern Cross University’s Bachelor of Business in Tourism degree; and to determine whether the management competencies of Southern Cross University’s Bachelor of Business in Tourism students meet the expectations of selected managers of organisations in four tourism and hospitality sectors. The study utilised the 24 management competencies and eight roles of Quinn, Thompson, Faerman and McGrath’s (1990) Competing Values Framework (CVF) to test two research hypotheses. The first hypothesis proposed that students’ pre-internship mean scores will be significantly lower than their post-internship mean scores with respect to the 24 management competencies and eight managerial roles associated with Quinn et al.’s (1990) Competing Values Framework. The second hypothesis proposed that students’ post-internship mean scores will not be significantly lower than the selected managers’ mean scores with respect to the 24 management competencies and eight managerial roles associated with Quinn et al.’s (1990) Competing Values Framework. A specific survey instrument, the Self Assessment of Managerial Skills (DiPadova, 1990), was used to survey managers within four sectors of Australian tourism and hospitality industries and Bachelor of Business in Tourism internship students from Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia. Students were surveyed before and after internship.The study found that students’ perceptions of their level of managerial competence had significantly increased after the completion of their internship placement in six of the 24 management competencies and three of the eight managerial roles, thus partially supporting the first research hypothesis. Further, it was found that pre-internship, students perceived these six competencies were their weakest competency areas, with one exception - Presenting Information by Writing Effectively. This suggests that internship has complemented competencies developed during their coursework. The study also found that after completing internship, students’ perceptions of their managerial competence were reasonably congruent with the expectations of this sample of managers, thus supporting the second research hypothesis. In this study students’ post-internship competencies were found to be reasonably aligned with Quinn, Faerman and Dixit’s (1987) research which examined the relationship between management competencies and hierarchical levels in an organisation. Empirical data collected from the students and the managers, identified students’ management profiles preand post-internship and the management profile that managers expect of recent graduates. These profiles resembled Quinn’s (1991) description of a Master Manager. These findings suggest that internship has assisted students in moving closer to the competence required of a Master Manager.The study concludes that the internship component of a student’s tourism and hospitality education can hold real educational benefits in preparing them for future management roles. Also, as entry level graduates, this cohort of students has the ability to demonstrate competence over a range of transferable generic management competencies and should be effectively equipped to undertake a range of managerial opportunities that may be presented to them. The study demonstrates the importance of conducting empirically based evaluation to provide support to the debate on the true educational value of internship and highlights the need for further research in this area. It also demonstrates the application of the eight management roles and 24 management competencies of the CVF (Quinn et al., 1990) to tourism and hospitality industries.With the recent proliferation of tourism and hospitality management programs, tertiary education providers are now being held more accountable for the courses they offer. Curricula must reflect the changing needs of industry. Research in collaboration with tourism and hospitality industries must continue to ensure that courses offered are not only relevant but are also producing graduates with skills and knowledge they will need as future managers.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2003. / Advisor: David L. Clark. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-342). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - James Cook University, 2004. / Typescript (photocopy) Bibliography : leaves 455-500. Includes appendices.