Traditional Concepts and Emerging Trends in Hospitality Services

ABSTRACT

The genesis for the paper is the declaration in the Upanishads “Atithi Devo Bhava” meaning, the visitor is God, which has encouraged me to investigate into traditional scriptures. It is found that words and vocabulary related to hospitality are found in extensive quotations in the Vedas and Upanishads. These scriptures defined visitor, guest, tourist and traveller which match international terminology including that of the WTO. They have also stated that the visitor (Atithi) is God and the guest (Abhyagati) is Vishnu himself. This is stressed on by prescribing an extensive variety of services under the heading Shodasopacharas. These services encompass the whole process from welcoming to seeing off the visitor with a caution of ill-effects of non-compliance in attending to these services. Emerging trends in hospitality codified some of the traditional services and stated that the guest has to be served with zero defects since the guest experience cannot be undone. Tradition, which involves psychology and technology for growing the culture of the service, is also studied for the promotion and integration of hospitality concepts. Demography dimension and change in lifestyles as a result of globalization polarised the hospitality industry towards greater safety and security with a difference bearing on traditional approaches.

Key words: Vedas, Upanishads, Shodasopacharas, Psychological Motives, Globalization

INTRODUCTION

“Atithi Devo Bhava” the motto line of the Department of Tourism, Government of India from the Upanishads1 that form a part of the ancient Indian scriptures stimulated the author to go in-depth into the traditional scriptures for the study of available words and vocabulary related to the word ‘hospitality’, and its concept. It is well-known that hospitality means the reception and entertainment of a guest, a visitor or a stranger with liberality and goodwill. The word ‘hospitality’ is derived from the word ‘hospice’, the term for a medieval house of rest for travellers and pilgrims. Hospitality is the performance expressed by the host of people or an organization towards the guest and experienced instantaneously by the guest. Therefore the essential part of hospitality is the service provided to the guest and the prime motivation for it in traditional Indian minds lies in the belief that serving the guest is equivalent to serving God. Hospitality services are in general influenced to a great extent by cultural values and norms of different societies.

Culture is the way of living built or shared by a group of people and passed on from one generation to another (Brady and B. Isaac 1975). The shared ways of life consist of beliefs, knowledge, law, customs, institutions, and artefacts. The essence of a culture is its value system upon which a society’s norms are established and justified (Charles W.L. Hill 1994). Values are the beliefs that a society holds with regard to right or wrong, good or bad, ethical or unethical. Norms are social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behaviour in a particular situation. Larry Yu (1999) observed that values and norms are not static; they may change as the political and economic orientation shifts, or as education improves. As per Indian scriptures based on which Indian culture emanated, hospitality is a sacred and serene activity, always to be undertaken with passion, compassion, sentiment, and concern and is observed as a religious duty towards the visitor/stranger or guest. Hospitality is a way of life for most Indians and is ingrained in their ethos. It is these traditions, beliefs and the unique family structure and values constructed around hospitality, with different elements of services towards satisfying the guest/visitor, which made India incredible.

According to modern texts, service is a personal performance and is an experience for both the guest and the performer of the service (Tom Powers & Clayton 2006). Therefore both the guest and the serving person (performer) are intricately involved in the process of hospitality. Because, once the event of the service has taken place, there is no possibility of undoing the experience of the guest. Hence the performer must be perfect without any defects during service operations towards the guest. Philip Kotler et al (2003) described four characteristic qualities of hospitality namely: intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability. Each of these characteristics is associated with different components of hospitality elements which covers food service, lodging and transportation. A conceptual diagram is designed for presenting these characteristics for ready comparison with the different components of hospitality discussed in ancient scriptures and the same is presented in Figure 1.

Karma et. al. (2000) classified hospitality in modern terms as social, private, public and commercial hospitality. He clarified that social hospitality is to facilitate ancient hazardous travel for trade where as private hospitality is in a private setting between individuals towards individuals. Karma et al further stated that the public hospitality is extended to those who brought news of welfare as also gifts from loved ones, whereas commercial hospitality corresponds to hospitality provided for commercial purposes as in the modern times. Mohinder Chand (2009) dealt with the roots of the hospitality concept from various civilizations.

 He observed that the composition of the word ‘Hospitality’ remained same over the centuries though the meaning and significance varied from continent to continent. Mohinder further stated that the traditional concept of hospitality in almost all world regions was socially defined as the spirit, practice of receiving and

treating the visitors, guests or strangers in a warm, friendly and generous way without any monetary/reward consideration. The emergence of globalization and the integration of world economy brought a sea change in the perception of traditional hospitality services and it is viewed in a new way. There has been a paradigm shift from hospitality being a social obligation to a commercial proposition meant for marketing. The economy started thriving and increased marketing opportunities in India acted as a stimulus for Indian hospitality industry (Planning Commission, 2002). Populations have also been becoming more culturally diverse as improved communications, increasing wealth and mobility encouraged people to explore/understand other cultures. This has enhanced the scope of growth in tourism-related occupations, including hotels and restaurants employing 10.8 per cent of workers globally (Weaver David 2002), compared to only 5.6 per cent in India, providing a large scope for development. The Planning Commission estimates that more than 20 million additional employment opportunities will be generated in tourist related business within a decade by the development of infrastructure such as roads, airports and medium priced hotels combined with modifications in air and hotel pricing and tax policies.

Thus, in India, the traditional services which are of a routine nature and confined, inbuilt and inherent within the family culture as ones own tradition, have transformed to promising professional activity demanding marketing. The basic ethos of ancient age old tradition spread over several thousands of years is found to be a resourceful ingredient to be studied and integrated to meet these demands. It is the scenario of commercial hospitality poised to promote a service “with a difference” that led to detailed investigations into the traditional concepts to provide a competitive edge for the hospitality industry in the 21st century to meet the requirement what it is looking for.