TOURISM AND SEASONALITY IN HOSPITALITY
Patrícia Nunes1, Eunice R. Lopes2 & Rúben Loureiro3
1Master student, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Quinta do Contador, Estrada da Serra, 2300-313; TECHN&ART-IPT, Tomar, Portugal, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
2Social Sciences Department, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Quinta do Contador, Estrada da Serra, 2300-313; TECHN&ART-IPT Tomar, Portugal; CITUR-IPL; CRIA-FCSH-UNL; GOVCOPP-UA; Portugal, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
3Business Sciences Department, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Quinta do Contador, Estrada da Serra, 2300-313 Tomar, Portugal, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
Seasonality is a factor that affects the tourism and hospitality sector in all regions of the country, however, there are some with a higher seasonality index than others, namely the central region and the interior regions of the country.
Seasonality is understood to mean all situations or phenomena that normally occur at the same time of the year, always with similar characteristics. It is, therefore, possible to foresee it, since it is directly linked to the climate and the seasons.
Seasonality causes the tourism sector to suffer a decrease of around 50% in the low season, which is generally incident in the winter months, except for snow tourism in which the low season occurs in the summer.
It is necessary to develop strategies to combat seasonality and to help activities survive the low season, which in some areas is so strict that hotel establishments close and reopen only when the mid-season begins, making many of the streets of historic centers that live off tourism are abandoned.
In this sense, the present study aims to: 1) understand the concept of seasonality; 2) to verify how seasonality affects hotels in the city of Tomar through a case study and, 3) to identify some ways of mitigating seasonality.
The data collection for this study is based on quantitative research, in the form of a semi-structured interview, conducted with the owner, employees and guests of a hotel in the city of Tomar, located in the Center of Portugal, which will serve as case study.
The present study presents relevant conclusions for the understanding of the impact of seasonality, future lines for the development of tourism, for the achievement of the objectives of the hotels in the region of Tomar.
Key Words: Seasonality, Hospitality, Hotel Strategy, Tourism
1 INTRODUCTION
The tourism and hotel sectors are the sectors that suffer the most fluctuations throughout the year, and it can be divided into three seasons - high, medium, and low. It is these patterns of variation in the number of tourists and the revenue they generate that the concept of seasonality refers to (Jang, 2004; Lee et al., 2008 apud Castro, 2013).
Tourism demand and supply, as well as the impacts generated by the development of tourism, help to understand seasonality and its effects.
Tourism can be defined through demand and through supply, thus obtaining two different definitions: on the demand side, tourism is the activity of people who travel or stay in places that are not their usual place of residence for a period never exceeding one year; on the supply side, tourism consists of all companies and organizations that are designed to serve and meet the needs of tourists.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) adopted the definition of tourism stating that “it is the movement of people out of their usual place of residence for a period greater than 24 hours and less than 60 days, motivated by non-economic reasons (WTO, 1995: 1). Following this definition, it was later changed to a set of “activities carried out by people in the course of their travels and stays in places other than their natural environment, for a consecutive period of time never exceeding one year, with the purpose of leisure, business and other activities not related to the practice of a paid activity from the place of destination” (UNWTO, 2001: 1). Fazenda (2017) defines tourism as an “economic and strategic activity that promotes the economic and social development of the country, contributing to the increase of employment and to the growth of exports” (Fazenda, et al, 2017: 2), it also includes the behaviour of individuals that is affected by motivations, needs and restrictions; the use of existing resources; the interaction between individuals and economic, social, and environmental effects.
In this context, tourism has several characteristics, among which, intangibility, production and consumption cannot be separated, the tourist product is a set of products that are dependent on each other and are perishable, that is, they cannot be separated. put in stock and, it is seasonal (Amorim, 2018).
The Tourism Strategy (2020) defends the affirmation of tourism animation as a central axis for the qualification of the destination and creation of an action plan, within the scope of Portugal 2020, of possibilities for financing projects with a global scale that can serve as anchor and give visibility to an entire national strategy, complemented with other smaller projects. It has as a strategic plan a better adaptation, on the part of Turismo de Portugal, in the low season, in order to show a better promotion and a more efficient use of resources; better structuring of the offer and animation of the tourist entertainment offer already existing in the territory from a communicational point of view, in order to relate the creation of networks and products of scale and the dynamization with private partners with good promotional techniques. Also stimulating demand for specific target segments, especially in accessible tourism; a more efficient use of marketing, so that it reaches the various specific offers of the market and, the use of strong publicity campaigns according to its objectives and target audiences, as well as markets and means to select (Ministério da Economia, 2015). Still following this context, the Tourism Strategy 2027 (ET27), focused on assets aimed at the sustainability and competitiveness of the destination of Portugal, includes issues related to seasonality in some way.
Seasonality is the phenomenon that implies the variation in the number of tourists in a region, consequently threatening regional development. With a greater or lesser impact, seasonality extends across all tourist companies, regardless of industry, location, target audience or quality of service provided. Seasonality can be divided into three differentiating indicators: 1) the seasonality of domestic demand is more significant than that of international demand; 2) the vacation period coincides with the summer period and, as such, this creates a peak in demand, while the remaining vacation periods contrast with the normal seasonal pattern and, 3) seasonality is not as pronounced in the member states richer, such as Germany, for example (McEnnif, 1992).
Depending on several factors, seasonality cannot be seen only from the point of view of the seasons. The various factors that influence seasonality can be natural and institutional, related to the destination of the trip. Natural factors imply physical aspects (climate, hours of sunshine, outside temperature), while institutional factors have to do with individual, religious and social preferences. (Jang, 2004; Lee et al., 2008; Marcussen, 2011 apud Castro, 2013).
The natural seasonality depends mainly on the geographical location and its distance from Ecuador. That is, the greater the latitude of a destination, the more accentuated will be the natural seasonality, mainly in the countries of the Northern hemisphere, such as Portugal. Climatic variations existing in recent years have been decreasing weather predictability at different times of the year (Cannas, 2012 apud Castro, 2013).
Seasonality means that “revenues outside the high season are often reduced while facilities have fixed costs throughout the year, which indicates a lack of capital to cover costs with revenue earned during just one or two seasons.” (Jang, 2004: 821), this causes many companies to close, as they are unable to earn enough revenue in the high season to overcome the low season. Hence, it may be a “tendency of tourist flows to concentrate on short periods of the year” (Allcock, 1994 apud Almeida, 2015).
Like tourism, seasonality can also be classified according to demand and supply in seasonality of demand it is necessary to apply measures to avoid large tourist flows and spread demand throughout the year. These measures may include encouraging workers to take vacations outside the summer period, by offering more attractive prices. The seasonality of the offer, that is to say of natural resources, is more difficult to get around, since it is not possible to change the climate, but it is possible to offer alternatives that do not depend on the climate to be carried out (Oliveira, 2014).
It is then possible to see that tourism and seasonality are directly linked to economic and social factors, thus contributing to a better or worse financial situation in the regions where they exist.
It is extremely important to find ways to mitigate seasonality, so that tourism can contribute beneficially to the regions full-time and not just in various periods.
2 STUDY CONTEXT AND ITS CHARACTERIZATION: THE MUNICIPALITY OF TOMAR AND THE HOUSE OF CRAFTS HOTEL
The municipality of Tomar belongs to the district of Santarém and is located in the Center of Portugal region, being included in the NUT II - Nomenclature of Territorial Units, in the Middle Tejo sub-region, this being called NUT III, being part of the old province of Ribatejo.
With the Nabão River, which is a tributary of the Zêzere River, there is the hydrographic basin of the Tagus, the largest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The municipality of Tomar is subdivided into 11 parishes (Figure 1), this subdivision having occurred after the approval of Law nº 11-A / 2013, of January 28, which implemented the Administrative Reorganization of the Territory of Parishes (RATF). Thus, the following parishes can be found: Asseiceira; Loaders; Ringworms; Paialvo; S. Pedro de Tomar; Sabacheira; Union of Parishes of Além da Ribeira and Pedreira; Union of Parishes of Casais and Alviobeira; Union of the Parishes of Madalena and Beselga; Union of Parishes of Junceira and Serra and Union of Parishes of Tomar. The municipality is limited to the north by the municipality of Ferreira do Zêzere, to the east by Abrantes, to the south by Vila Nova da Barquinha, to the west by Torres Novas and to the northwest by Ourém.
Figure 1- Map of the Parishes of Tomar.
Source: CMT (Tomar City Council).
Tomar is a city diversified in culture and heritage resources, with a whole Templar history, a synagogue and several heritage attractions, among which you can find: sundials, corner windows, fountains, chapels, patterns, pillories and cruises. The city of Tomar has, due to all these heritage resources (cultural and natural), a vast cultural heritage. Due to its location in the northern part of the Ribatejo region, the municipality of Tomar is located in one of the most fertile areas of Portugal, for the production of various crops such as olive oil, figs or vines. In fact, the heritage resources combined with tourism have promoted a strong component of development in the territories, allowing to draw more consistent conducting lines in the economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects, providing experiences to the visitors and the local population that interact in the cultural dynamics of the territories (Lopes, et al, 2020: 11).
In the context of the study under analysis, Casa dos Ofícios Hotel (Figure 2), is a hotel located in the historic area of the city of Tomar. This hotel consists of fourteen accommodation units, of which ten are double rooms, three are superior double rooms and one is a suite.
Figure 2 - Front of Casa dos Ofícios Hotel.
Source: Nunes, P. (2021).
The municipality of Tomar is increasingly referenced as a tourist destination in the Center of Portugal, progressively asserting itself in cultural tourism, namely, through its heritage resources (Lopes, et al, 2020: 11). Currently, the experience of staying in a hotel, as is the case of the Hotel Casa dos Ofícios, should not only pass through a night in a room, but priority should be given to the integration of visitors and tourists in order to integrate them into an unforgettable experience in the unit. hotel they chose. The hotel must bet on providing quality services and satisfying interaction with guests so that they can return to the tourist and cultural destination that welcomed them.
3 METHODOLOGY
This study addresses the seasonality in the Center of Portugal region (city of Tomar), more precisely at the Hotel Casa dos Oficinas and aims to understand what time of year the seasonality is most accentuated.
It is known that seasonality affects the number of customers who want to stay at the hotel during the low season, causing demand to decrease considerably, with a drop of more than 50% in demand compared to the high season.
The resolution of this problem involves the creation of a marketing strategy to encourage tourists to visit the city of Tomar more and to stay at this hotel.
For the realization of the theoretical body of this article, a bibliographic search was carried out in several databases and available articles, followed by a research and documentary analysis.
The surveys were carried out over a week during the month of December 2019, using the following keywords "seasonality", "tourism", "hospitality", "strategies". The use of these key terms led to the identification of articles directed to the theme presented in the present study.
As a methodological option, the quantitative analysis of the results obtained through an interview survey with several stakeholders (hotel owner; hotel staff and hotel guests) was taken as a methodological option.
With the completion of questionnaires, we tried to understand the causes of seasonality (with regard to the decreasing demand in the hotel industry), and what can be done to combat seasonality in the hotel.
The three surveys per interview were conducted at Hotel Casa dos Ofícios: the first questionnaire was given to the hotel owner (E1- Interviewee 1), the second questionnaire was conducted to hotel employees (E2, E3, E4 and E5- Interviewees 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and finally, the third questionnaire was given to hotel guests (E6- Interviewee (s) 6).
All graphs referring to the analysis that follows will be presented in the annexes, for any consultation that needs to be carried out.
The script for the semi-structured interview was defined according to the literature review and the research carried out.
4 CASA DOS OFÍCIOS HOTEL: QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDY
As previously mentioned, the Casa dos Ofícios hotel is located in Tomar in the Centro Portugal region (city of Tomar) and opened on June 15, 2019. It is a 4-star hotel, with fourteen rooms and twenty-seven beds and two cots, open all year.
This hotel is advertised in “Fairs and Events” and on the company's social networks: Web Site, Facebook and Instagram, and the public that most enjoyed the services of this hotel is the national audience and has partnerships with some entities, namely the restaurant “Brasinha” and the company “Sabores do Ribatejo”, as well as Booking, Expedia and Agoda and some tour guide companies in the city, such as Caminhos da História.
The interview questionnaire applied to the hotel's owner, which was subsequently analysed in a qualitative way, reveals that the reason for visiting the city of Tomar throughout the year, according to the owner, is mostly “Culture / Religion”. He is also the owner of the hotel who says that it is the city's monuments that make more tourists look for the hotel, as he is recommended by the tour guides who are there and says that he decided to open a hotel in Tomar because he thinks it is a business with “Some profitability”. He indicates, however, that the hotel will be affected by the seasonality factor for the reason “the city is not appealing in winter”, however, it intends to combat this seasonality with the promotion of promotions. For example: two nights for the price of one or, when purchasing a stay for two nights, offer a dinner, subject to the availability of the restaurant.
The hotel team consists of three elements of the male gender and three elements of the female gender, aged between 19 and 44 years. Four of the employees affirm that they had never worked in a hotel, however, they had already worked in activities related to tourism, the remaining two people, had previously worked in hotels.
The questionnaire applied to the hotel staff highlights that seasonality is a factor that affects hotels in Tomar, including the Casa dos Ofícios Hotel, and all state that the most favourable time of year for this factor is autumn / winter and throughout the low season, that is, from October to February.
Four of the respondents say that seasonality can be minimized with activities, however, the remaining respondents say no, because people are more influenced by climate and personal factors, such as children's work and school than by the hotel and the city itself.
The four respondents who said that seasonality could be combated with activities, suggest that some of the activities that could be carried out are: varied concerts (jazz, rock), theme nights and promotions / offers.
In the questionnaire applied to hotel guests, a total of 30 responses were obtained, 10 of which were male, 19 female, and 1 person answered as another. Regarding ages, they are between 19 and 70 years old.
It can be seen that the people who most answered the questionnaire are of Portuguese nationality with 20 responses, the remaining nationalities are: Spanish, Brazilian, German and English.
In the question “Why did you decide to visit Tomar at this time of year?”, Most of the people who answered said that they came for culture and to visit the smallest cities in the country, but also for personal reasons such as visiting family and friends.
In the question "Why did you choose not to come in the high season?", As can be concluded by the quantitative analysis, most people say they did not come to the high season in Tomar due to the tourist flow with 30% of the answers, 26.7% replied that they did not visit Tomar in the high season due to high prices, the rest gave other reasons for their choice.
In the question “Why did you choose this Hotel?”, Most people stated that it was just out of curiosity, since the hotel is the most recent in the city, and due to its location, since it is located in the heart of the historic center of city of Tomar.
In the question “Do you think that the hotel's occupation (be it too little or too much) has an influence on the quality of your stay?”, 2 people answered “yes”, 17 answered “no” and 11 people answered “maybe”.
In the next question, people who answered yes were asked to say why, and the two people who answered said that although the hotel was full and the staff were always very friendly and accessible, if the hotel had fewer guests, the staff could offer an even more personalized service.
In the question “In your opinion, do you think that hotels can do anything to combat seasonality?”, 2 responses were obtained from people who answered “yes”, 11 answered “no” and 17 people answered “maybe”.
In the following question, guests who answered “yes” were also asked to say why and the answers obtained indicate that the hotel management could try to carry out activities to attract some more tourists and promote some type of event or tourist attraction together with the City Council, with an agreement of who would stay at the hotel, in specific.
It is important to create alternative activities to captivate tourists who stay overnight in the city, so that they intend to return. They can be cultural or nature activities, for example, the creation of routes for the city (Rota das Fontes, Route of the Sundials, Route of the Janelas de Canto, among others) or, the creation of a peddy paper, thus allowing visitors combine the cultural part with the physical part, promoting physical activity while discovering new information about the city of Tomar. So, or more important, that receiving visitors is knowing how to captivate them so that they want to return.
In this sense, the present study presents relevant indicators for understanding the impact of seasonality, future lines for the development of tourism, in particular for the realization of the hotel's objectives in the region of Tomar.
5 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
As previously mentioned, the tourism and hotel sectors are the sectors that suffer the most oscillations throughout the year, which is divided into three periods (low season, mid-season and low season).
high). The present study focused on the low season, more precisely between the months of October and December, in the city of Tomar at Casa dos Oficios Hotel, where it is possible to see a high drop in reserves due to seasonality.
Thus, with the completion of this study it can be concluded that most visitors and tourists who visited the city of Tomar and stayed at the Casa dos Ofícios Hotel did so, at the suggestion of friends and family or just out of curiosity for being the hotel newest in town.
Regarding the height of the year, they chose to come to Tomar, it can be said that it was only because it “happened” at this time, with some of the visitors looking for this destination every year and not always looking for it at the same time. Still other visitors and tourists return to this tourist and cultural destination, just to visit family and friends, for example festive seasons. It is observed that many of the respondents say that being Tomar a tourist city, they chose to come at this time due to a lesser tourist flow in the streets and to obtain a more accessible price.
Thus, it is also possible to conclude that, despite the respondents claiming that Tomar is a city that is affected by seasonality, they say that hotels should perhaps carry out some activity to combat it and suggest the creation of events for this purpose.
In the view of visitors, the hotel units themselves should have the initiative to create private events or partnerships with other companies, to become a reference place for visitors who choose to stay in the city. Many of the suggestions fell on theme nights, such as Fado nights, or guided cultural visits to the city. It means that it is essential to understand what tourists and visitors need, to understand what they want, so that it is possible to provide the best possible tourist service.
6 Conclusions
The present study aimed to analyse the seasonality factor and the way it affects hotels, namely the Casa dos Ofícios Hotel.
After observing and analysing the data collected, it was possible to observe that the hotel in question has a strategic plan drawn up in the long term, however, it is necessary to start planning another one, in the short term.
One factor that has been hampering the implementation of an informal plan in the short term and, in the opinion of the hotel staff, is the lack of time dedicated to the subject, the lack of adequate training for this purpose and the high cost necessary to obtain the avant-garde hotel technology tool for this purpose.
It is necessary to implement a formal plan that works in the short and long term to bring benefits and positive changes to the space in question.
The analysis of the theoretical content presented in this study confirms that a good strategic planning can represent a competitive advantage in relation to other hotel units.
It should also be noted that the survey had some limitations, such as the low occupancy of the hotel in the low season, namely from October to December, and the low availability of guests to answer the questions asked in the interview.
Seasonality must be studied and understood, so that the adaptation process to this factor is easier, thus allowing it to be possible to mitigate its negative effects and, also allowing to take advantage of the positive seasonality that exists throughout the year to create loyalty in the hospitality at various times of the year.
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