Gastronomy in the hospitality industry: Some notes on the foreign dominance in developing economies

Abstract

Hotelry and Tourism can be considered as synonymous especially when looked at in small‐state, developing‐country terms, in that, in these small economies, without tourism, there can be no hotels and without hotels, nos tourism. Of course this is evident in both developing and developed countries that are dependent on tourism for their economic wellbeing, but it is certainly more marked in the former, especially the island state, where, as it were, hotels were and are still constructed dependent on the fact that tourism already exists in the country and the country has the potential for tourism growth. In other words the rationale for hotel development is based on the state of the tourism product in the developing territory, and this is usually dependent on outside marketing forces from the developed nations, as there is little or no domestic tourism in these small countries to merit the growth of the hotel plant. Therefore, the growth and potential of the industry is dictated usually by countries to the north and their influence on the culture and the habits of the developing host nation (usually to their south) is oftentimes enormous.

Citation

O'Reilly, A.M. (1986), "Gastronomy in the hospitality industry: Some notes on the foreign dominance in developing economies", The Tourist Review, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 21-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057959