Hospitality is an industry which is very much dependent upon the human resources. Most of the services provided to a guest are, of course provided by it with the human resources. For example, a tourist views/perceives a destination by connecting the service received, local behaviour and the destination attractions. So the positive or negative feedback about a destination depends very much on the people interacting with the tourist. One might argue that a tourist is motivated to visit a place by the presence of a historical or present day architectural splendour, or may be by a natural or man-made attraction. Here we should not forget that the tourists may visit a place for whatever motivates them, but they will partake services at all the steps of their visit. The services start at the time of deciding upon a destination till finally visiting and departing from their destination of choice. The services would be that of a travel or tour operator, probably staff of airlines, railways or roadways, services of the staff of a hotel or any lodging place, help for sight seeing or eating or shopping etc. The attitude and behaviour of the local people also forms part of a tourists’ holiday experience.
We must remember that no tourist or guest can have a successful trip without human element, as for most of the tourists travelling is more about interacting with new people and cultures and not just a monument or a site for fun. Hospitality industry requires human resources like no other industry as it provides services. The services provided cannot be pre-checked or compared like mass produced goods but can only be felt since they have started or have been utilised. It is a sector where the ‘ unpredictability of the human nature always affects both the service provider and the service receiver. For example, a group of tourists visiting Kerala spends an evening watching Kathakali performance. The dancer here is an entertainer providing services as the show is especially for the tourists. The show would be viewed by each of the tourists differently – some might find it interesting, others may not, some may be in awe of the costume and make-up while others might like it so much that they go for another show. While the dancer might not be 100 per cent fit one day and give less of a performance than expected and thus let down a viewer of a previous performance.