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THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM BUSINESSES 15

Table 1.4 The world’s top tourism destinations relative to population

Arrivals per 100 International Population

of population tourist arrivals 2002
(millions) (thousands)

World 11 703 6 228 395

1 Andorra 4953 3.4 68

2 Macao 1422 6.6 462
3 British Virgin Islands 1338 0.3 21
4 Aruba 913 0.6 70
5 Turks and Caicos Islands 827 0.2 19
6 Monaco 822 0.3 32
7 Cayman Islands 743 0.3 41
8 Guam 659 1.1 161
9 Northern Mariana Islands 603 0.5 77
10 Bahamas 525 N/A 295

Source: Based on information derived from WTO (www.wto.org)

Quite a different picture emerges, one that will perhaps send you searching in an atlas! The
nations which are most affected by, and dependent on, tourism are the tiny states. For the
first time we see developing nations in the top ten. If the ranking were continued beyond ten,
we would see a list dominated by small island states, especially those in the Caribbean and
the Pacific. Only three bigger countries feature: Austria (ranked 21), Hong Kong (22) and
the United Arab Emirates (23). The only sunlust destination for northern Europeans in the
top twenty-five is Cyprus (ranked 17). For the countries which are the world’s top tourism
destinations by population, the business of tourism is a key industry, and although smaller in
absolute size than in, for example, Spain or Greece, it has a greater relative significance in
the countries’ economies. Tourism flows into the countries may be more diverse than in the
major destination countries, but they are large flows for the countries concerned. It is per-
haps for this reason that much academic research has tended to be focused on small
developing nations rather than on the mass-tourism destinations such as Spain.

The role of management in tourism businesses

The remaining chapters in this first part of the book continue to develop an understand-
ing of the context of tourism business. Chapter 2 considers ‘The structure of the tourism
and travel industry’, how the tourism industry is organised. Chapter 3 explores ‘The
role of the state in tourism’. The author, rather than simply describing the role of a par-
ticular state, takes a broader and more analytical view than is often taken in textbooks.
The second part, on business functions, opens with Chapter 4, which is on
‘Organisational behaviour in tourism businesses’, the study of how people behave indi-
vidually and collectively within organisations, how they communicate, how they are
motivated and how they exercise and react to different forms of leadership. The study of
organisational behaviour is essential in understanding how organisations, whether state
sector, private sector or voluntary sector, function.
A closely related field is that of ‘Human resource management in tourism businesses’,
the subject of Chapter 5. This explores further the notion of motivation and explains
how human resource management is a key factor in the development of a successful
strategy for a tourism business.