6 Part One Welcome to Hospitality
What do you picture when you hear the word
hospitality? Here’s an example. Think of the hos-
pitality extended by a friend’s family. You stayed
with them for a week while your parents were
away on business. They provided you with a
comfortable, friendly place to stay, good meals,
and good company. You felt safe and happy. The
word hospitality comes from the Latin word hospes,
which means host or guest. Hospitality has come
to mean meeting the needs of guests with kindness and
goodwill.
The hospitality industry provides services to
people away from home. These services include
food, lodging, travel, tourism, and recreation.
Hospitality is a “people-serving-people business”
and service is at the heart of the hospitality busi-
ness. Hospitality workers are dedicated to creat-
ing positive experiences for their guests, 1-1. The
goal of the hospitality industry is to make sure
that guests feel safe and happy as a result of using
the products and services offered by its many dif-
ferent businesses.
According to the World Travel and Tourism
Council (WTTC), travel and tourism is the world’s
largest industry and one of the most important.
It has been one of the leading growth industries
since the WTTC fi rst started measuring the eco-
nomic impact of the industry 20 years ago. The
hospitality industry has a major impact on national
economies around the world.
In the United States, about 14 million people
work in the hospitality industry. It is the second
largest employer. (Health care is the largest.)
Worldwide, over 235 million people are employed
in the industry. Jobs in hospitality include serv-
ers, chefs, travel agents, room attendants, hotel
managers, meeting and event planners, restaurant
managers, tour operators, convention and visitor
bureau workers, theme park and national park
employees, and recreation directors.
The hospitality industry is important to the
U.S. economy because it generates more than
$1 trillion each year. Whenever people buy food
away from home to eat right away, they are spend-
ing money on a hospitality product or service.
Whenever people travel, they spend money on
transportation as well as food, lodging, and enter-
tainment. They may even buy gifts for themselves
and others. All these dollars become the wages
of hospitality workers, profi ts of hospitality busi-
nesses, and taxes paid to federal, state, and local
governments. Figure 1-2 shows how the money
that travelers spend fl ows through the economy.
International visitors to the United States in-
sert over $150 billion directly into the U.S. econ-
omy. For example, each international visitor to
the United States spends an average of $4,300 per
visit. This includes expenditures for
• lodging
• foodservice
• entertainment
• retail, such as clothes, gifts, and souvenirs
• local transportation
The hospitality industry impacts the econo-
mies of other countries. For example, Cuba has
relied on its hospitality industry as one way to lift
its poor economy. Tourism has provided a source
of international investment since the early 1990s.
Size and Economic Impact
1-1
Creating positive guest experiences is the
goal of the hospitality staff.
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