TOURISM, CULTURE AND HERITAGE--February Tourism Stats Available

Nova Scotia welcomed seven per cent more visitors and had a five per cent increase in room nights sold in February 2007 compared with February 2006.

"February was a good month with the East Coast Music Awards and we're now ramping up for the busiest part of our season," said Len Goucher, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage. "We're rolling out our 2007 marketing campaign based on the new tourism plan developed through the Tourism Partnership Council. We're looking forward to seeing how the season unfolds."

Room nights sold varied in the regions in February, with a 13 per cent increase in Cape Breton and a 45 per cent decrease on the Eastern Shore.


The number of people traveling to Nova Scotia by road decreased by six per cent, while air visitation was up by 39 per cent over February 2006.

Air travel is increasing as travelers want to spend more time at their vacation destinations and less time getting there. Cities with direct air access to Nova Scotia are being targeted in the 2007 marketing campaign, which will be launched at Stanfield International Airport on Thursday, April 24. The campaign has a heavy emphasis on online tactics to reach the many travelers who research and plan their vacations on the Internet.

Nova Scotia's comprehensive system for reporting tourism statistics includes counting overnight visitors -- excluding Nova Scotia residents
-- at all entry points to the province and gathering the number of room nights sold from licensed accommodation operators.

Detailed tourism statistics can be found on the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage website at www.gov.ns.ca/dtc/pubs/insights .
Statistics for March 2007 are expected to be released in early May.

Bellboy to General manager- How long is the Road?

/>
Where do GM's come from? How do they start? How long is the road from entry-level position to a leather chair of GM's office? We took a look at a number of professionals from around the world to come to a series of interesting observations.

For those just entering the Hotel Industry, the ultimate career goal may be the position of General Manager. For others, it may be CEO of a Hotel Company. Less ambitious ones may settle for a Director of Rooms or Director of Sales title.

We took a look at Hotel General Managers across the world, to determine how long it took them to get to their current position. We sliced and diced the data on 60 people from various countries and backgrounds to answer this question - How long is the road? How much time does it usually take from the moment when a young person walks into the door as a receptionist or a bellboy to the moment they land their first seat in the big leather chair of a GM's office, guarded by a dedicated personal assistant?

Table 1 reflects the length of time it takes a person to get from an entry-level position to a General Manager role in various parts of the world. Interestingly, the shortest time it takes is in North America (only 14.75 years on average), and the longest is in Asia (16.5 years). Europe is in the middle at about 15.8 years.

This could be contributed to the differing values placed on climbing the career ladder in various cultures, or to the average age at which people retire (thus creating opportunities for the younger colleagues to be promoted), or to the size of the industry which translates into the number of opportunities available to upcoming professionals.

We also found that the area of specialization made a difference in how fast the person rose to the top ranks of management. The data on all professionals we studied was split into 4 common categories - Administrative Personnel, Food and Beverage Division, Rooms Division and Management Trainees. Although not an exhaustive list, it covers 97% of all GMs included in the survey.
Some of the examples of entry-level Administrative positions were Accountants and Night Managers. In F&B, young professionals often started as busboys, waiters, stewards, cooks, assistants F&B managers. Typical entry-level Rooms Division positions included: receptionists, PBX operators, bellboys, Assistant Front Office managers.

Unsurprisingly, it took the shortest time - 14.8 years - for people who started as Management Trainees (across all cultures) to get to the General Manager job. These are usually top graduates from Hotel programs, handpicked by hotel companies. They are invited to be nursed through all various departments in order to be seasoned as General Managers in the shortest possible time. People who came up through Rooms Division followed the Management Trainees (at 15.3 years).

For those trying to select the job that leads to the General Manager position not by the fastest, but by the most assured road, Table 3 offers the set of data on the make-up of the General Manager population we studied categorised by where they started.

A clear majority of General Managers around the world (40%) started their careers in F&B in entry-level positions. Interestingly enough, this is very characteristic for Europe, where the number reached 55%! At the same time, in the US it's Rooms Division, and in Asia it is an almost even split between the top 3 most popular areas.

Although jobs in the Hotel industry vary in popularity around the world, the General Manager position is one of respect and financial satisfaction. Taking one's time to climb up the ladder from the entry-level job as a waiter or bellboy has its' hardships as well as rewards. It also doesn't have to be the end goal, but rather just another step on the ladder of one's career success. Many CEOs and COOs are made from former General Managers.

Forward any questions or comments to Tatiana Veller, Managing Director - Russia for HVS Executive Search, at tveller@hvs.com or at phone numbers +7 (495) 660-3653 and +7 (909) 642-0313.

By Tatiana Veller




This article comes from Hotel News Resource
http://www.hotelnewsresource.com

The URL for this story is:
http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article27258.html

Food & Beverage - Great Night For A Buffet - By Joe Dunbar

One sure way to experience a higher food cost percentage is to substitute an all you can eat buffet in lieu of your a la carte menu on your busiest night of the week.
Batch production and preliminary forecast data will set a ceiling on the quantity and cost of production. Service labor is typically lower on buffet service. Most likely, the buffet is priced well above your average dinner entree.

Is this a smart move?

I do not recommend allowing customers to determine portion size. You can help by having manned carving stations. Although you will see a better food cost percentage, you lose some of the service labor savings.

Does the higher buffet price make up for the greater food consumption associated with the buffet service style? I believe the higher prices encourage customers to overload their plates. Your patrons are aware of the menu structure. They will calculate the utility in selecting the buffet and make the decision based on appetite.

Years ago, I was at a training seminar for statistical sampling techniques. In the early evening, a classmate asked "where's a good place to eat around here?" and very few people responded. Finally, a friend suggested an excellent Italian restaurant with a Wednesday night only buffet. He said he heard about it from his cousin who lived in the area. It was a Wednesday. Four of us decided to join him at the buffet.

This restaurant offered both a la carte menu service and the buffet. Our waitress asked if we were ready to order. Everyone encouraged me to start first. I was a definite for the buffet from the moment I stepped inside. My friend stuck with his original plan and also ordered the buffet. The next person was dieting and she chose a chicken breast entree. The ordering dynamics changed and the last two people also selected from the a la carte menu. Both people ordered a pasta entree with a side of Italian sausage.

Our buffet was priced twice as high as the typical entree. We each enjoyed clams on the half shell, shrimp, baked lasagna, prime rib, salad and we picked up dessert for our still hungry mates. Everyone kept looking at our prime rib (a beauty) with envy.

This restaurant employed help to carve the rib and portion the stuffed pasta dishes. The portions were generous and the goal seemed to discourage patrons from going back to the self-serve shellfish selection and salad bar. Desserts were eye popping and our friends begged us to bring them each a slice of a decadent chocolate cake. Our dieter stuck with some fresh fruit.

Our fellow diners decided they would order the buffet if they came again including the dieter.

I am 100% sure the cost of the food we consumed exceeded the target food cost percentage. During the meal, I noticed most tables were filled with serious buffet lovers. Clearly, the wait staff was skeletal. They did pay for extra help to handle portion control at the carving station. Were they right in the decision to go buffet style? I believe they were doing well with the buffet strategy.

Since they used a sumptuous buffet with prime rib and a top notch seafood selection to fill seats on a Wednesday night, I liked the idea. A quick check of the other restaurant parking lots nearby showed the wisdom of the decision. Shift the same meal service to Friday or Saturday night and I'd be against the decision.

Joe Dunbar
Dunbar Associates
P.O. Box 579
Fairfax, VA 22038-0579
800-949-3295
http://www.joedunbar.com
jdunbar401@aol.com

How will Global Climate Change Affect Canadian Tourism

http://canadiantourism.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-will-global-climate-change-affect.html

Last night, I was fortunate to attend a presentation by the three territories (Yukon, NWT and Nunavut) promoting tourism to the north (see Lookupnorth.ca) I have only visited the Yukon in the past, but the presentation reinforced my wish to visit the North (I really want to visit Nunavut) as soon as possible and perhaps launch a Spanish website to promote it to Hispanic markets. It also reminded me about Global Climate Change because while looking at the great images of the north that were presented (vast open spaces, Musk Ox, Caribou, pristine rivers, mountains and lakes, wonderful Inuit faces carving magical figurines) I thought to myself "my God, all of that could be gone in a few decades."

An article on the front page of the Globe and Mail published on Monday April 9, 2007 began with the following:
"By 2050, snowmobiling could be history in Eastern Canada, a quaint winter pastime from the days of yore. It will be just too warm to have reliable snow. People who like skiing in Banff on real snow better get on the slopes now and enjoy it while they can. The ski season could become truncated, perhaps by as much as 14 weeks a year at higher elevations." (Globe and Mail, April 9, p. A1)

Looking at this past ski season in the Rockies (and Whistler for that matter) one could be tempted to say "Naaah," but the people of Intrawest already know very well how unstable, wacky weather can affect their business as it happened last January when Blue Mountain in Ontario had to layoff hundreds of workers due to lack of cold and snow. The Globe's article based the previous statements on the recently released summary report by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the UN sponosored group of more than 1,000 scientists studying climate change. The report is alarming (but not alarmist) to say the least. 2050 is not that far off into the future. Some of us might still be alive then and certainly our children and their children will be (my daughter will be a relatively young woman then). While climate change has been part of the history of the world and certainly Canada's (as Prof H.V. Nelles wrote in A Little History of Canada: "The story of Canada begins with the melting of the ice") it is not change that is most concerning, but the pace and speed with which it's taking place.


The predictions are so dire that one might be tempted not to believe what activists like Al Gore or scientists groups like the IPCC are saying, but that would be a grave mistake. All evidence points to unstable weather at best and unbelievable climate and geographic changes at worst (with the consequent loss of lives).


The purpose of this posting is a call to action to the Canadian Tourism industry to get involved now. From grassroots (how has climate change affected your business so far?) to provincial and national associations, the industry should organize and begin working groups and committees to study how climate change is affecting and will affect Canadian Tourism by 2050 and whether there is something we can do to either prepare for the changes or to ameliorate the impact. You can download the entire summary report by the IPCC by visiting www.ipcc.ch


Comment, get involved, this is a matter that is not just about the future of Canadian Tourism, but also about the future of our children and our children's children.
hasta la vista,

Jaime

Making the Move to General Manager

Published: April 2, 2007
Author: Martha Lagace

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5608.html

People achieve success in the early years of their career by specializing and becoming functional experts—in essence, they succeed by knowing more and more about less and less, says Benjamin C. Esty, chair of the General Management Program at Harvard Business School. "But there comes a time when they have to recreate themselves as generalists. In this new generalist role, they end up knowing less and less about more and more. This is an extremely difficult and potentially very risky transition, and it can easily derail a very successful career. GMP is about smoothing and accelerating this transition into general management."

For new general managers—or just as likely in companies these days, senior functional managers who operate as part of an executive team or who have important cross-functional or cross-organizational responsibilities—their job has changed from driving excellence in a single functional area to integrating consistency, cohesion, and alignment across many moving parts in the business unit.

"When you're responsible for leading, it's not enough to do what you've done in the past. You need to fundamentally rethink what you're doing and where you want to go in the future."

The first big challenge for new general managers, says Esty, is seeing linkages and interconnections across the organization. The second is transitioning from the role of a doer to the role of managing through other people—and that's a big change.

"As a new GM, you will be one step away from the customers or one step away from the shop floor. Your job is much more about people and less about hands-on doing. So really the challenge is about delegation and achieving leverage; and on some level it's about finding, hiring, developing, and retaining top people. With those individuals, you then have to build an effective team.

"A lot of people aren't comfortable letting go; they want to do."

How it works
New skills, while important, are only a small part of what new general managers must possess. GMP's greater goal is to challenge them with new perspectives and ideas around people and organizations to help them forge connections across functional areas, says Esty.

To that end, readings and classroom discussions in GMP are very different from the Harvard MBA program, and from other HBS leadership programs. Where the MBA program develops functional skills, GMP uses business cases that cut across multiple functional areas and highlight the challenges of integration. The cases also focus on general managers from companies around the globe in an effort to mirror the international mix of participants. "We try to have cases that reflect the people in the group. More importantly, we choose cases with protagonists that have exactly these general manager jobs, who are 'the general manager in the middle' who have the incredibly difficult job of managing up, down, and across the organization.

"The cases are designed to get smart people to see different things in the same situation. In essence, the cases end up being Rorschach-like experiences: 'Here are some clouds. What do you see?' It's stunning for the class to realize that very smart people can come to very different conclusions. And so it really expands how they think about problems and gets them to focus on the process of making important decisions." But changing the way people think and improving their business judgment is what GMP is really all about, says Esty.


About the author
Martha Lagace is the senior editor of HBS Working Knowled