Social Sciences Essay Example for Free

Social Sciences Essay 1. Primary data are those which are collected afresh and for the first time, and thus happen to be original in character. They are gathered by the researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the research problem. Secondary data, on the other hand, are those which have already been collected by someone else and have been processed statistically. These are collected for some purpose other than the problem at hand (Polonsky Waller, 2005; Kothari, 2005). Some of the disadvantages of using a newspaper or magazine article as secondary source are doubts in the reliability, credibility and accuracy of data as sources may not be known, and the obsolescence of data as well (Summers Johnson-Morgan, 2005). Primary and secondary data alone are not sufficient. They should be both used in research because secondary data can be lacking something that only primary data can provide (Groucutt, Leadley, Forsyth, 2004). 2. Television broadcasts such as news are not totally valid as there is a tendency, especially in programs aimed at a wide public, to oversimplify data. News normally offers one set of secondary data. It would be a better practice to compare data from different sources (Walliman, 2006). The questionnaire, as a means for collecting primary data, should have minimal errors in its design in order to minimize bias in reporting and to maximize the likelihood of generating information that is reliable and valid (Amedeo, Golledge, Stimson, 2008). A systematic research design is aimed to ensure that appropriate issues are taken into account. It provides the mechanism by which research processes and practices can be assessed. The research design lays the foundation for a sound hypothesis describing the interrelationship of variables and providing the researcher with a baseline from which to work. A good research design eliminates ambiguity in concepts, thus ensuring construct validity. The actual design of the research process ensures that no other variables can affect the study, hence enhancing internal validity. The research design also provides control to unwanted variables that may arise in the conduct of the research in order to uphold its external validity. Statistical tests are used as instruments to verify the validity of the hypothesis. Hence, if statistical information is wrong, the hypothesis will be invalid (Black, 1999). References Amedeo, D. , Golledge, R. G. , Stimson, R. J. (2008). Person-Environment-Behavior Research: Investigating Activities and Experiences in Spaces and Environments. New York: Guilford Press. Black, T. R. (1999). Doing Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences: An Integrated Approach to Research Design, Measurement and Statistics. California: SAGE Publishing. Groucutt, J. , Leadley, P. , Forsyth, P. (2004). Marketing: Essential Principles, New Realities. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Kothari, C. R. (2005). Research Methodology: Methods Techniques. New Delhi: New Age Publishers. Polonsky, M. J. , Waller, D. S. (2005). Designing and Managing a Research Project: A Business Students Guide. California: SAGE Publishing. Summers, J. Johnson-Morgan, M. (2005). Sports Marketing. Ontario: Nelson Thomson Learning. Walliman, N. S. R. (2006). Social Research Methods. California: SAGE Publishing.

How Wars And Terrorism Affect Lebanese Vacation Industry Tourism Essay

How Wars And Terrorism Affect Lebanese Vacation Industry Tourism Essay Introduction The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how the Civil War (1975-1990), the July 2006 war, the assassination of Prime-Minister Rafic Hariri and terrorism acts like September 11, has affected tourism in Lebanon. Lebanon attracts tourists from every place in the world. Its adorable weather, natural sightseeing, rich traditions and culture and engaged financial trade market have created an environment ready to be enjoyed by foreigners visitors. Lebanon, was known as the Switzerland of Middle East before civil war (1960-1965). After that period the country had this image destroyed by that conflict and it has been hit by negative publicity due to a series of circumstances beyond its control, for example the September 11 act as well as foreigner media spreading the bad news and horrific pictures to all over the world (Kamalipour, 1995). The Lebanese Government has invested and worked on big projects in order to accelerate the progress in rebuilding the countrys infrastructure expecting that action would bring the tourism back to its peak. However the impressions of violence and terrorism, lack of security, language, ruins perceptions, and cultural barriers, low standard of accommodations, and inappropriate infrastructure still deters people from visiting Lebanon (Kanso, 2005). The war and terrorism affected not only the Tourism sector, but also the Economic one, leaving a big financial debt to Lebanon since there were no more income from the tourists and from the service-oriented businesses, according to data collected from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (Economy Watch, 2009). One of the possible solutions that will be discussed in this study is the use of several communication tools within marketing advertising since the focus on reliable mass-media is crucial, such as: newspapers, radio, magazines, the Internet and the television. Stressing on the fully recovering of the tourism in Lebanon in order to leave the image that the war created behind, massive good publicity is essential to spread these messages and offering promotional advantages as part of a destination marketing communication campaign as well. This paper will also cover another alternatives in dealing with this challenge such as: promoting Lebanon as a tourist destination, reestablish the Lebanese title of the Switzerland of the Middle East and rise the tourism flow, so consequently improving the countrys economy. The promotion and restoration of Lebanon involves many factors not just physical but also political and in order to achieve the expected goals, a list of specific and several objectives has to be developed. Bringing Lebanon back to its old position as the top first tourism destination in the Middle East was a long run process, although not impossible to achieve. The study will cover the essential role of Tourism in Lebanons economy, development and stability as well the difficulties that the country passed through: from overcoming obstacles, political problems and traces from the war to a 1st tourist destination title achieved in 2009 (The New York Times, 2009). Methodology The methodology used to perform this study was done in 3 phases. 1) First was the collection of secondary data from the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism. 2) Intense workloads on articles, research on publications, books and news about the topic monitored by our supervisor. 3) Finalizing by analyzing, interpreting and writing the findings, outcomes and possible solutions. Tourism Scenario In the Middle East Middle East Tourism has experienced a significant growth in 2009 keeping its bright spot towards the rest of the world (AMEinfo, 2009). Data collected from STR Global (Smith Travel Research) between 1st January and 31st December 2009 proved the statistics: the Middle East hotels had reached the highest occupancy rate, average room rates profit and revPAR revenue per available room globally in 2009, according to Deloitte, the business advisory firm (AMEinfo, 2010). Even though the global economic crisis, followed by the H1N1 had slowdown the number of tourist arrivals in the Middle East, the UNWTO predicts a growth rate more than double to this region by 2020 compared to the other worldwide destinations (Bundhun, 2009). Middle East have been investing a lot of effort in order to attract all kind of tourists from leisure to business travelers. Monumental constructions, huge attractions, fantasy lands, rich culture and peculiar traditions are some of their special characteristics. The air traffic in the Middle East has also increased, and a good example of that is that its duty free spot was the only compared to other nations to show a significant growth in the region (Ligaya, 2009). Taking the example of Lebanon, in 2009 the country showed a considerable growth (2.000.000 arrivals approximately), due to several factors as: peace, stability and the fast development of several locations surrounding Beirut and other cities (Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, 2009). Lebanon Overview of the Country Civil War (1975-1990) There is no agreement between scholars and researchers on what was the real cause of the Lebanese civil war , but all what is sure that the war started in 13 April 1975 after the failed attempt to assassinate the leader of Maronite Pierre Gemayel and the ex-president of Lebanon by Palestinian gunmen which ended by the death of his bodyguard Joseph Abu Assi (Ghazi, 1997). In response to this crime, the massacre or Ain-el-Remmaneh incident happened, when a bus with Palestinian passengers was shoot on its way back from a conference to the refugee camp in Ain-el-Remmaneh which was a Christian part located in the east of Beirut , killing 26 Palestinians (Ghazi, 1997). In addition to the assassination of the ex-president Pierre Gemayel and the Ain-El_Remmaneh incident, the distinctions between the Christians and Muslims raised due to 2 factors: 1) the Maronites power was controlling the country 2) the lack of interest in the development of the Muslims areas. These were convenient reasons to start the civil war in Lebanon. The civil war started in 13 April 1975 after this incident between the Christian and the Palestinians. It lasted for 17 years. One year after, in June 1976 the Syrians joined the civil war in order to support the Christian against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Progressive Socialist Party which was under the Druze command. In January 1989 six-member committee on Lebanon were chosen by the Arab League which was guided by the Kuwaiti foreign minister to find a solution and stop the civil war. After several discussions, the committee organized a conference of Lebanese parliamentarians in Taif, Saudi Arabia, to study the Taif agreement which was approved later by the Lebanese deputies after coming back to Lebanon from the conference (Ghazi, 1997). The goals of the Taif agreement : Stop the Civil War Decide the Arab identity of Lebanon Make sure that Lebanon is an independent, sovereign, free country and final homeland for all the Lebanese. Clear the nations political organization as a parliamentary democracy. Make the socio-economic system a free economy (Krayem, 2003). Significant achievements have been recognized after signing the Taif agreement: The war was finished. Most of the Lebanese citizens got back to their normal daily life. State institutions restored their autonomy. The army was now integrated. The economic decline situation was controlled (Krayem, 2003). The 1975 1990 civil war destroyed Lebanons infrastructure and damaged its economy. And since Lebanons economy and the flourishing of its touristic sector is so correlated to its political stability, the tourism sector was totally ruined 180,000 visitors in 1992 one years after the end of the civil war compared to 2.4 million visitors before the civil war . The Lebanese government has been stressed with the renewal of domestic manufacturing, mainly the tourism sector which make 20 % of the countrys GDP before the civil war (Ladki Sadik, 2004). Tourism before the Civil War Lebanon The Switzerland of MIddle East The Lebanese title Switzerland of Middle East came due to the 30 years of abundance and prosperity, that the country experienced before the civil war (1975-1990). The tourism was one of the most important source of income to the countrys economy, besides the magnificent growth in agriculture. By that time, before the war, the country was worldwide well known for its financial, banking and business polo tourism. And Beirut as a trendy, modern and one of the most open-minded city in the region, was considered to be the Paris of Middle East (Lebanese Global Information Center, 2005). Tourism during the Civil War As we can see from the graph during the civil war Lebanon went through inflation and in the 1990 post-war period the inflation started to decrease. The same with the exchange rate which start to grow after the civil war stopped . Tourism after the Civil War After the end of the war in 1990, the country was ready to start its reconstruction, beginning by the government: electing a president(for the parliament and for the republic), followed by the re-structure of the army. In 1992, after the election of prime minister Rafic Hariri, a real economic plan was designed and proposed, known as Horizon 2000: The plan, known as Horizon 2000, actually consists of securing, over the period 1995-2007, a cumulative volume of public investments of $ 18 billion. These investments are estimated according to a econometric simulation model to generate during the same period in the private sector investments of $ 42 billion. These investments are expected to maintain an average annual GDP growth rate of 8 per cent. This in turn should raise Lebanons income level to the upper limit of the middle-income countries (Norkonmaa, 1995). The Ministry of Tourism started on a large assortment of actions between 1993 and 1994: Reactivating plans and deals with bordering countries to switch over travel tours were used to attract a lot of visitors a year Looking for industrial and financial support from regional and international organizations to accomplish development projects Structure a tourist database to present statistics on the percentage of travelers and visitors of tourist positions and follow up of the business performs in the industry Six tourism bureau in Arab and western centers resumed their activities after they were closed for a period of time Cheering the reinstallation of the local and the international festivals. Instruct employees for all the jobs which is related to the tourism sector like hotels, restaurants and all the attraction places. They opened Jeita grotto now being operated with recent technology Excused broken tourist services from taxes (Kanso, 2005). Between the 1991 and 1996 the development and the reconstruction process achieve significant levels, reaching an average of 6.5 percent growth in the GDP. Most of these construction was from huge sums of private investment, from the Lebanese emigrants and Gulf Arabs who were assigned to rebuild the inhabited and marketable buildings destroyed during the war (Republic of Lebanon, 2010). In 1996, Hezbollah the political and Islamist military organization decided to support the Ministry of Tourism in order to help the reinvigoration of the roman temple of Baalbek in Beka Valley, a major tourist destination in Lebanon. This measure was part of their strategic plan, in order to change their image towards tourist and citizens, and reinvent them not only as political group but as secure and indigenous social and cultural organization. However the United States government continued to intercept their citizens from traveling to Lebanon, whilst Hezbollah is still armed (Theodoulou, 1996). According to Heyer, in the year of 1999, the revenue generated from tourism activities contributed 7.3% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and an average growth of 14 percent between 1995 and 1999 proved Lebanons tourism was back on track (Heyer, 2009). However due to Israelian air strikes, the industry sector was prejudiced again in 2000 (Heyer, 2009). Because of Lebanons problem during several wars and conflicts, several Gulf cities as Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi replaced Beirut as a main playground destination in the Middle East, specially among the wealthy Arab tourists (Middle East, 2000), increasing significantly the tourism in these areas, leaving Lebanon years away far from development. The 15 years war, besides destroying physically the country, almost killed completely its economy. The tourism which was one of the main supports of direct income, was vanished for a long period and the political and government sectors collapsed. Besides the lives lost and those one injured, the damages, financially analyze were about U$ 5 billion (Norkonmaa, 1995). After the war stopped the tourism started developing again, and this time the country started receiving a special kind of tourist called the curious tourist. People who went to Lebanon they wanted to see the post war consequences, how is the life after the war and how the building were looking like (Raschka, 1992). The Russians arent coming, but the French, South Africans, Japanese, Greeks and Colombians are. They are all flocking to see what post war Lebanon looks like (Raschka, 1992). Lebanon lost a lot of tourists due to the war. The main reasons were that they were afraid to go there and also because everything was damage and destroyed. There was nothing to do there as an attraction but destruction. Tourists from the other countries were still few. The US is not encouraging Americans people to go and visit Lebanon because of its bad image created by the civil war. Before the civil war statistics showed that Lebanon had two million visitors in 1974, and after the war in 1992 (the first year after the war) Lebanon had 175,000 visitors, which was a big difference (Raschka, 1999). According to Abdul Hamid Fakhoury, President of Middle Eastern Airlines, his airline alone used to carry 1.2 million passengers, 85 per cent of whom were foreigners compared to 800,000 passengers carried in 1993 less than 25 per cent of whom were foreigners. All the industry in Lebanon such as Hotels, Port, Airport, and Travel agencies were affected by the civil war. According to the Lebanese Hotel owners Association 145 hotels were damage and in Beirut the number of hotel had fallen from 130 to 44 and the contribution of tourism to GNP which was 20 % before the civil war declined to 7.4% in 1977 visitors spend only 469272 nights in Beirut 1979 compared with 2307122 nights in 1974 which is the period of the civil war. The Middle East Airline lost a lot of profit LP14m in the 1975 and PL69.1m because of the civil war and in 1982 they were obliged to close for 115 days and five aircraft were destroyed. According to the Yearbook of tourism Statistics the number of visitors to Lebanon from 1998 to 2000: (World Tourism organization, Yearbook of tourism Statistics, 2004) The war not just disallowed Lebanon from following a violent tourism rules that assemble the ever-changing wants of the international tourist but from the other side formed a lot of problems like: All the tourism which was going to Lebanon transfer to Cyprus, Turkey and Egypt. A lot of European countries presented their nation a choice of incentives to promote national and local tourism. Tourist imitation of overcome towns, cities and war crimes have continued sturdy. All of these problems lead the tourist to think thousands of times before traveling to Lebanon and make the trip to Lebanon undesirable. Terrorism 9/11 Attack in the U.S.A. The terrible terrorism attack against the twin towers in New York City had a huge impact in political, social, cultural and economical sectors around the whole world, specially in the Arab Countries. After the incident, Middle East region was completely marginalized and stereotyped as a place full of terrorists, war and bomb-men willing to kill. (Kifner, 2004). The easy in-flow tourism between the USA and these countries was banned for a while and severe restrictions and security matters were adopted in order to avoid new attacks. (Kifner, 2004). Consequently, Europeans and Americans were not coming anymore to the Middle East after the attacks and the arabs were not going abroad to Europe and USA because of constant suspicion, airport prejudice and streets attacks. (Kifner, 2004). Due to this invisible barrier imposed by the American government, the wealthy Saudis and gulf arabs had to look for another place to spend their vacation time, once that even in their home country was not safe anymore because of security situation and compounds attacks (Kifner, 2004). So Lebanon was the choice of the majority of them, receiving huge real state development and international consulting companies. The country started experiencing a real tourism booming, and billions of dollars were passing through Lebanon. The Gulf Arabs chose Lebanon not only for vacation, but also for construction, building their multi-millionaire holiday-mansions everywhere in the country such as in the mountains, by the beach and in downtown Beirut (Kifner, 2004). In addition to that, big luxury hotel chains started occupying those empty areas where before were just ruins from the war and begin to build their resorts, hotels and Villas, increasing the value of the area by attracting new tourists (Kifner, 2004). In the airline industry, the increase was also significant. Middle East Airlines, the Lebanese airline company, had its first profit since its foundation. Surprisingly the attacks in the USA helped Lebanon a lot in its tourism reconstruction. The Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinians raised hopes for a new era of tourism and prosperity in the area, with travelers making a circuit of historic and religious sites in the previously hostile countries (Kifner, 2004). Since the period where Beirut was known as Paris of the Middle East, before the civil war in 1990, the country didnt host this amount of investment and development. Prime Minister Rafic Hariris assassination Rafic Hariri, was a well-known lebanese entrepreneur, business-man and philanthropist. He was elected the Prime Minister of Lebanon in 1992, right after the civil war, being the one responsible for the physical and economic reconstruction of the country in the following years, until his resignation in 2004. His considerable accomplishments while Prime Minister made him a politician icon all over the world, specially among the Lebanese citizens (Rafic Hariri The Official Website). No single individual has played a bigger role in rebuilding the credibility of Lebanons economy around the world (Hennock, 2005). Being the most wealthy man in the country U$4 billion fortune -, helped Rafic Hariri to start Lebanons reconstruction with significant sponsors. He used his influences and business networking contacts to attract powerful friends from France, the Guld and Saudi Arabia and potential investors to Beirut, accelerating the economy again (Hennock, 2005). For Mr. Hariri, there was no queue of importance for the countrys needs during the post-war era. He initialized a massive reconstruction process effort, declaring everything as priority for the rebuilding process, such as: hospitals, schools, infrastructure (water, phones, electricity) and the economy. During May of 1994, The Prime Minister had a belief that if the downtown of Beirut was rebuilt, the life would be back to Lebanon. So he started a project to revitalize the Central District of Beirut (BCD), in order to achieve this goal. And after 16 years of the beginning of this project, the downtown in Beirut is still the core place of tourism in Lebanon, being the the meeting point for all foreigners, Arabs and Lebanese people. In addition to that it is the financial district and the countrys institutions polo location (Rafic Hariri The Official Website). Since the tourism of Lebanon is directly linked to the economy of the country, the Prime Ministers actions was crucial for the number of visitors to increase. The development of the tourism industry (as well as that of other sectors) was held back over the past few years because of the political stand-off between Mr Hariri and the president, Emile Lahoud, which was a reflection of the deeper struggle over Syrian domination of Lebanon (Business Middle East, 2005). Mr. Rafic Hariri was assassinated on February 14 of 2005. An explosion was detonated against the Prime Minister convoy next to Beiruts marina, right after he had left the Parliament. Besides him, another 20 people died during the attack, which since today has no authorship proofed (Rafic Hariri The Official Website). After his tragic death, the government decided to rename Beiruts International Airport with his name, since its upgrade was a project of the Prime Minister. The re-emerging tourism industry in Lebanon suffered a significant setback recently with the massive explosion that killed Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri and damaged a handful of Beirut hotels (Middle East, 2005). Even though Lebanon was down 10% in the tourism sector in 2005, more than 1.2 million tourists visited Lebanon (Martin Frost, 2006). Terrorism acts in Lebanon .. Why terrorism attacks Tourism? There are several motives to explain the fact that terrorists are attracted by the tourism. The first reason is that the tourism is the main source of income of many countries all over the world, so by damaging it, the core function of the economic basis of the nation stop working. Second, the tourism attractions are the best way for the terrorists to get their message delivered through out media coverage, getting the attention that they need. And third, this industry hasnt focus too much dealing with security matters because they believe that a simple security presence will push away the tourists (Tarlow, 2003). On the other hand, the implementation of security measures is not a cheap action, rising then the need to build a relationship between private and public sectors in the tourism industry. In addition to that the hospitality first obligation is the guest protection. Security must be developed in all segments, as technological investments, education and staff training. Security plus service and value for money will become the basis for 21st century success (Tarlow, 2003). Finally and perhaps the most important point, is the adoption of a risk management control. Avoiding unforeseen circumstances are less costly to the business. Well prepared companies face better the risks then others without any sort of management plan (Tarlow, 2003). July 2006 War This war is known as 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. It started on 12 July 2006 and ended in 8 September 2006. The clash started when Hezbollah traversed into Israel and attacked an Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They killed three of the armed and kidnapped the other two and they went back with the prisoners to the south of Lebanon. After that the leader of Hezbollah Hassa Nasrallah announced that the prisoner were taken for the purpose of exchange hostages with Israel. From the other side the Israels Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that the response would be an act of war on Lebanon and assure that will be a sturdy war. Tourism Before July 2006 War After all the damages that were caused by the civil war, Lebanon rebuilt and developed its tourism from 1992 until 2005. Lebanon was again backing to the world tourism map. The country was ready again to receive over 830,000 visitors in 2001, a growth of 13% over 2000. Everything started again, occupancy in the hotels was very high, and tourists from all over the world were in the streets visiting the new Beirut. The government rebuilt everything. The restaurants started opening again every year; festivals were taking place in different areas like in Baalbek or Beit el Dine. During summer all the private beaches received a lot of clients from all over the world to enjoy the pleasant climate and a suntan. Most of the tourists were from the gulf countries. They usually come to Lebanon to spend their holidays and to enjoy the food, weather and of course the hospitable people. Some of them bought apartments and villas in Lebanon, so they can come whenever they want. All the restaurants in the downtown were crowded, and all the sightseeings and attractions were fully booked. Anyone who might want a special place, booking in advance is mandatory. The traffic in the city was significantly big. Cars were taking hours to move from one place to another. Consequently, taxi drivers were getting advantage of this situation because they started having an increase on their income with the tourists. So tourism in Lebanon prospered again after 17 years of war and damages. Unfortunately 1991 was not the last war in Lebanon. In July 2006 Lebanon had a conflict with Israel. Tourism During July 2006 War During the 2006 war everything change and all the hope disappeared. Reservations in the hotels were canceled, everything started to close and the tourists who already had their trip planned to visit Lebanon changed their flights and went back home or some of them changed their plan by going to The streets were completely empty, with no activities in the restaurants, nightclubs and pubs. Tourism After July 2006 War The 2006 war caused a lot of impact on Lebanons economical, environmental and of course on the tourism industry. The infrastructure was damaged specially in the South where the conflict was. The unemployment rate increased since most of the industries closed their doors and fired their employees. Lebanon got again the marginalized image of war and insecurity. Tourists got scared from coming to this country again. Lebanons tourism went back to zero point again. One of the most important impacts that this war left was in the environment. Israeli jet bomb the fuel tanks at the Jiyeh power station situated thirty kilometers south of Beirut leading to drip 10,000 to 15,000 tons of fuel into the Mediterranean sea reaching twenty- two areas over an extend of 150 kilometers out of Lebanon, in Syria seashore and Turkish and Cypriot water. It took almost two months for the Lebanese government to start the cleaning procedure. In the mean time most of the oil sank down and destroyed all the sea life killing the fishes that were the source of livelihood of a lot of Lebanese families. From he other side it affected the beach resorts occupancy, where most of the tourists Lebanese used to spend their summer time. Before the war started in July 2006 the hotels were almost fully booked, there were no available places or empty flights to come to Beirut. The prices started increasing due to the high demand. The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism was expecting more than 1.6 million tourists. The industry employed over 150000 people. During the war the priority of the government was in how to create a better image for the country and construct better infrastructure by improving the public transportation system, bringing more investment to the country. This would help to reduce the external debt. Unfortunately the priority of the government after the war had to change from improving to rebuilding the suburbs of Beirut, because Israel missed had destroyed them all. The small enterprises were highly affected by this war. Their owners who had taken loans from the bank to build their businesses were now accumulating debts due to the lack of economic activity in the city. Present days The huge investment of several luxury hotel chains into the region has bring Lebanon back on the destination scenario. The investors are now willing to inject capital in the country as they are optimist concerning the development of the economy. Beirut is now experiencing a boom in the tourism sector and Lebanons image nowadays has been all over the world again, but not because of its conflicts, destruction, kidnappings or wars, but because of its beauty, diversity, rich culture, cuisine and trendy characteristics. Beiruts sizzling nightlife, from gritty to glam, helped drive a record tourism year in 2009. Overcoming a reputation as a Middle East trouble spot, Lebanon welcomed nearly 2 million visitors last year, a 39% increase over 2008. It was the No. 1 destination for tourism growth in the world, according to the World Tourism Organization. (USA Today, 2010) The tourism in Lebanon in the year of 2009 experienced a significant growth. And according to the Ministry of Tourism, this happened because the war has cease bringing back stability to the country. Core companies from the hospitality sector are supporting and investing hard and closely to keep Lebanons image an position as first class destination and business polo in the Middle East. Besides that, there are several facilities that the country offer to the tourists, such as: -Direct air links to worldwide destinations. -Easy access to the country. -Ideal strategic location. -Archaeological and historical sites. -Beautiful and amazing natural sceneries. -Modern International Airport. -First class hospitality infrastructure. -Excellent services quality. -Cutting edge telecommunications and utilities. -Buzzing business, shopping and leisure environments. -Friendly, open minded and genuinely welcoming people (Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, 2010). In addition, another awards were received by the country, rising its image positively towards the world as a must-go tourist destination. In 2006 Travel and Leisure magazine ranked Beirut as the 9th city to visit in the world on its annual report. The Clemenceau Medical Center was ranked one of the 10 best hospitals for medical tourism in 2010 by the Medical Travel Quality Alliance. Jeita Grotto was selected to proceed in the competition of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. In 2009, the NY Times ranked Lebanon as the #1st on its 44 places to go list. From a non-existing tourism activity after war, to one of the 1st spots in the world, the country starts from scratch to rebuild his reputation, economy and tourism. Increase of 38.91% in comparison with January last year 2008 when the total number of visitors reached 1,332,551 visitors. Also an increase of 43% in the number of visitors from Arab countries that reached 785,985 visitors during the Year 2009, compared with 549,463 visitors for the last year 2008 (Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, 2010). Conclusion Although the conflicts and war has ended around 4 years ago, the image that Lebanon is a hazard country still persists. Tourists usually tend to point out the lack of security, inst

The Corner Stone Of Blue Ocean Strategy Marketing Essay

The Corner Stone Of Blue Ocean Strategy Marketing Essay To sustain in the market and show high performance formula is not competition in overcrowded industries. The mantra is to create blue oceans of untapped market space. There are two distinct kinds of space, red and blue oceans, in a business environment. Red ocean represents all the industries that exist and perform by the way of competing with the rivalries. Here the industry boundaries are already defined and followed, the competing rules of the game are known. Companies try to surpass their rivals to clutch a larger share of product or service demand. As the market space gets packed, scenario for economic profits and productivity growth are reduced. Products become commodities  or  niche, and the cutthroat competition turns the ocean red as blood. Blue oceans denote a new concept, not the ones that exist today it is the unknown market space, untainted by competition. Here, demand is created rather than grabbing the existing one. There is ample opportunity for growth, both in terms of profit and the speed at which the profit is obtained; competition is immaterial because the rules of the game are not yet framed. Blue Ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored.   The logic behind blue ocean strategy contrasts with the traditional model that focuses on competing in an already existing market space. The management is not able to differentiate between red and blue ocean strategy because of the difficulty they face in breaking themselves from the competition. Companies have got huge capacities to develop new industries and re-design the existing ones, a fact that is exhibited in the deep changes that are necessary in the way industries are classified. Blue ocean strategy has been the pioneer in the standardisation, continuity and replacement of the segmentation of the industries. To win in the future, companies mustnt challenge with each other. The only way to overcome the competition is to stop trying to be in the competition. The business atmosphere in which most business strategy and management has been based on is changing, evolving or disappearing. Some of this change is due to technology. Other reasons might be culture, globalization, speed of new information, or the role of demographics in the workplace. There are 3 characteristics that contribute to a Good Strategy. 1) It is focused; it is not diffused across all potential aspects of the market. 2) The shape of the value curve diverges from any potential competitors. 3) It has a compelling tagline. STRATEGIES INVOLVED VALUE INNOVATION The corner-stone of Blue Ocean Strategy is Value Innovation. Instead of focussing on thrashing the competition, the spotlight should be on making it erroneous by creating a bound in the value for buyers and creating uncontested market space. A blue ocean is created when a company achieves value innovation that creates value simultaneously for both the buyer and the company. The  innovation  (in product, service, or delivery) must raise and create value for the market, while simultaneously reducing or eliminating features or services that are less valued by the current or future market. Value can be identified in the conventional  market segmentation  and offering value  and  lower cost. Value innovation only occurs when organizations have aligned innovation with utility, price and costs. The market must be ready to accept the product, meaning that timing is a major check. The focus is on both differentiation and low cost to provide value to both customers and the organization. Value innovation can be created in a way that the companys actions are favorable for both the company, through reduced cost structure and to its customers through value proposition. Cost savings are made by disseminating and bringing down the factors an industry competes on. In case of buyers value, it is increased by rising and creating elements the existing industries has not offered in the past. Additive costs are reduced further, as scale of economies kick in due to the increase in volumes of sale. THE STRATEGY CANVAS The strategy canvas acts as an indicative and an action framework for structuring a blue ocean strategy. Strategy Canvas seizes the current state in the market by detailing the factors players compete on in product, service and delivery. This enables the company to gain insight into the areas where the competitors are currently investing, the factors on which the industry is presently contending on its deliverables, and the end products the customers receive from the existing offerings from the competitors market. The four actions framework offers a technique that smashes the trade-off between differentiating the products and reduction in cost, thus creating a new value curve. It attends to the four key queries of the issues that an industry takes for granted and issues that need to be eliminated; factors that needs to be reduced below industry standards; factors that needs to be raised above industry standards; and what to offer that the industry has not offered before. The eliminate-reduce-raise-create grid encourages the companies to act on all four areas to form a new value curve. By motivating the companies to fill the grid with eliminating, reducing, raising, and creating actions the grid provides four immediate benefits: it urges them to concurrently adopt differentiation in the products and adopting reduction of costs; identifies companies who are only creating thereby raising costs; makes it easier for the management to understand and comply; and that drives the companies to scrutinize every factor the industry competes on. This is against the Michael Porters Five Force Strategy which implies that an organization should dominate the market in all sectors to attain competitive advantage and gain excellence. Blue Ocean Strategy embeds the concept of slowing down profit attrition with an efficient cut throat strategy for an already existing market, and through the profit made out of it they can increase the financial resources available for new innovative investments and thus their chances of finding an unexploited market with plenty of potential consumers. Figure 1: Four Actions Framework REDUCE Which factors should be reduced well below industry standards? ELIMINATE Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated? CREATE Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered? A NEW VALUE CURVE RAISE Which factors should be raised well above the industrys standard? SEQUENCE OF BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY The essential concept of blue ocean strategy is to get the strategic sequence right. This sequence washes out and authenticates blue ocean ideas. This reduces the business model risk. In this model, prospective blue ocean ideas must pass through a chain of buyers utility, price, cost, and adoption. At each step there are only two options: a yes, in which case the idea may move on to the next step, or no where the company can either park the idea or rethink it until a yes. Figure 2 : Sequence of Blue Ocean Strategy BUYER UTILITY Is there exceptional buyer utility in your business idea? A Commercially Viable Blue Ocean Idea ADOPTION What are the adoption hurdles in actualizing your business idea? Are you addressing them up front? COST Can you attain your target to profit at your strategic price? PRICE Is your price easily accessible to the mass of buyers? LG ELECTRONICS A CASE STUDY LG ELECTRONICS, wanted to implement Blue Ocean Management to make competition irrelevant. Their strategy was to redefine industry boundaries by focusing more on high end products and entering new segments of emerging markets like China, India and Middle East and Africa and thus create uncontested market space. They shifted their focus from increase in volume to increase in value through high-end product innovation in all of its four product divisions: Mobile Communications, Digital Appliance, Digital Display and Digital Media. Each domain of the company planned to establish high end value added products. In the mobile phone division, LG Chocolate and the Black Label series are LGs Blue Ocean operational strategy in action, which are expected to generate around 30 per cent of sales and 50 per cent of profits by 2010. LGs Chocolate became best selling product through intensifying research capabilities and high-end design which was in the midterm strategies for the company. The Digital Display Company was the leading producer of digital TVs in LCD and Plasma modules. In the increasingly competitive digital TV market, LG Electronics had cutting-edge products through innovative products. Digital Display division was formed in joint venture with Philips to produce LCD TV and plasma TV in 2001. The digital display division had earned $ 2.77 billion which constituted 28% of their global sales in the year 2005. Their business goal being becoming the dominant leader in digital TV and plasma TV, the division had undergone breakthrough innovations and products under the blue ocean strategy. The Digital Appliance, another SBU of LG Electronics, was a leader and pioneer in home appliance products, like air conditioner, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, microwave oven, and other home appliances. They had developed the worlds inbuilt TV, refrigerator, ARTCOOL air conditioners, steam washing machines and many more core technologies for home appliance parts and products. Building on successful home appliance operations, the company was also expanding their business scope to have a greater emphasis on new product sectors such as commercial air conditioners, built-in kitchen appliances and home networks. The digital media segment, with their global sales of $5.7 billion generated synergy with its audio and video (home theatre, DVD recorder), digital storage (super multi DVD rewriter) and personal computer (desktop and notebook PC) divisions65. Through continued technology innovation, the company had developed the worlds first Satellite DMB notebook66 in 2005. In particular, the company was actively penetrating multimedia product markets with mobile technologies, such as PDAs and MP3 players, and with composite products, such as super-multi drives and super-multi DVD recorders. They were also focusing on its Car Infotainment business.

Death, Decay and Disease in Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Death, Decay and Disease in Hamlet Within ‘Hamlet’, Shakespeare makes a number of references to Denmark's degraded state due to the deceit that lies within. These references are made by Hamlet, Horatio as well as the apparition, thus enforcing the strong theme of death, decay and disease. As aforementioned Hamlets makes a number of references to Denmark. Preceding the death of his father and the marriage of his mother, his mental state begins to fall into demise . Although he appears to not have much courage at first, his focus remains on avenging his father whose murder is described as being "most foul." As noted in one of Hamlet's first soliloquies, his downward spiral has already began and already he is contemplating suicide; "O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew (I, II, 130)" and "seems to me all the uses of this world... Things rank and gross in nature posses it merely (I, II, 136)." To be degrading to be thinking of imagery including flesh melting shows that Hamlet is not in the state that he ought to be in. Furthermore Shakespeare encourages us to empathize with these emotions by using such rich descriptions. It could be perhaps argued that Hamlet's state of mind which has become debased, but this is until Horatio claims, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (I, IV, 90)." The notion of festering carrion being a metaphor for King Hamlets death epitomizes this notion. The ghost furthers this idea by stating at the moment of his death, his skin became "Most lazar-like with vile and loathsome crust all my smooth body (I, V, 72)." This attempts the elucidate on the feeling of death almost like becoming like a leper before death finally takes its toll. Decay also becomes a strong theme weighing heavily on Hamlet's mind. Whilst talking to Polonius he says, "For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion (II, II, 182)." Although Polonius' appears not to notice this, we can see the constant references to death being made by Shakespeare’s tools, i.e. the characters. Moreover associated with Shakespeare's use of decay and disease imagery is his use of horror, "Roasted in wrath and fire thus o'ersized with coagulate gore (II, II, 431)," is a perfect example of this.

KaleidoscopeArt Behind Closed Doors :: Free Essays Online

KaleidoscopeArt Behind Closed Doors Before you begin reading this paper, look through the appendix. Are you shocked? Disgusted? Intrigued? Viewers of such controversial artwork often experience a wide spectrum of reactions ranging from the petrified to the pleased. Questions may arise within the viewer regarding the artistic merit and legitimacy of this unorthodox artwork. However, art's primary purpose, according to Maya Angelou, â€Å"is to serve humanity. Art that does not increase our understanding of this particular journey or our ability to withstand this particular journey, which is life, is an exercise in futile indulgence† (Buchwalter 27). To expand on Angelou's analogy, because everyone experiences a different life journey, art is different to everyone. In other words, art is subjective to the viewer. The viewer creates his own definition of what is art and what is not art. Some may recognize the artistic value of a piece of artwork, while others may find it obscene. Some may pr aise the artwork, while others will protest it. Censorship is derived from these differing perspectives on artwork. Through censorship, communities seek to establish boundaries and criteria that limit an artist's ability to produce â€Å"proper† artwork. However, some artists choose to ignore these boundaries in order to expand the scope of art and, in their view, better serve humanity. At first glance, Western society appears to have changed significantly since the nineteenth-century. Today, industrialized nations enjoy more efficient transportation, communication, medical care, and manufacturing than they did in the nineteenth-century. But have our core values changed? While the Western world has changed considerably, people's opinions of the core values and morality is well-preserved since the nineteenth-century. This assertion becomes apparent when one compares the standards by which Western society judges what is considered artwork. While today's definition and criteria of censorship in a Western art museum is unchanged since the nineteenth-century, the act of censorship has changed with museums and their role in society. Societies often struggle to define censorship. Interestingly, the nineteenth-century did not explicitly define the word â€Å"censorship† as Westerners understand it today. The nineteenth-century's definition of censorship is â€Å"the office of a censor† and the definition of censor is â€Å"an officer of Rome who had the power of correcting manners† (Johnson 112).

Philosophy of Health Care for Women

Philosophy of Health Care for Women The enhancement of my philosophy of health care for women, through a re- examination of my original three specific concepts emotional, social and spiritual which I would blend with my knowledge that I have gained In this course. Also, how it Is related to the actual clinical care of women. At the end of this quarter, my philosophy of health care for women as expanded. The health of the women In any society Is the most essential piece of the health care system In countries around the world.I still believe that the health and well-being of women will determine the future empowerment and economic strength of women-owned businesses In the communities. This Is also the belief of Wall-Mart's (2011) global women's economic empowerment Initiative to Improve elite of women and children. It often Involves the empowered developing confidence In their own capacities, In caring for themselves and their families in order to feel empowered. According to Kali (200 8) empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social and economic strength of individuals in the communities.The important part of this empowerment process is helping women understand how their bodies work. Self-Knowledge on a physical and emotional level helps women feel in control of the things that can be controlled. During my clinical care of women this quarter my preceptor and myself encounter a lot of women want to and do make their own decisions. For an example one of our patients took the decisions upon herself that she does not want Pesaro in for support uterine prolapsed.She is 31 years old, GIG 3, PIP. Her religion would not allow her to use any preventive contraceptive. Instead of doing surgery or putting foreign thing in her body she stated that, she still believe that her God will heal her by doing exercise and come back for follow-up in six weeks. In this situation it took gentle, yet firm, teaching of practical skills, informing all of the options of care, and much encouragement to dealt with the care of the woman.I see my role as a women's health nurse practitioner, as an assistant to the autonomous decision making process of Informed consent; to lay out the options of care for women, answer their questions, give my opinion upon asking, and support heir decision, is the most Important, empowering step In actualization women's autonomy. As I mentioned before In my first paper that, we look at our bodies, minds, emotions and spirit as If each part Is fully separate from the other rather than totally Intertwined.Western society rewards specialization, the examination of a piece of the whole, Gurus (2001 Every society In the world has felt the need to thoroughly socialize Its citizens Into conformity with Its norms, and colleens derive many benefits technology reflects and perpetuates the value and belief system that underlies it. Pregnancy and chill tidbit is a crucial time in a woman's elite tort near to explore empowerment.For a n example, one of the books that I read this quarter in the Conceptual Frameworks for Women's Health course by Robbie Davis-Floyd (2004), has written a brilliant feminist analysis of childbirth rites of passage in American culture. These rites, she argues take away women's power over their bodies, naturally designed to bring life into the world and for no physiological reason give it to the medical system. She believes that society, intimidated by women's ability to give earth, has designed obstetrical rituals that are far more complex than natural childbirth itself in order to deliver what is from nature into culture.Finally, my philosophy of health care for women at the end of this course is that, women deserve the best that is available in modern medicine; the technocratic, humanistic, and holistic models of medicine also, combined with clear communication and education through the best evidence-based research from health care providers

Catharsis Analysis Essay

As stated by Sophocles in Antigone, â€Å"Numberless are the world’s wonders, but none More wonderful than man† (Ode 1 1-2). Landscapes like the grand canyon, the wide expanse of oceans, weather, tall mountains are all magnificent features, but none as great as Man. Man is the only thing in this world, that has free will to think about anything or do anything whenever they want to. If one wants to dance, he or she is free to do so, if one wants to sing he or she can do so. Man can also feel emotions such as happiness, sadness, or even confusion. The purging of emotions in reaction to something especially tragedies or music is known as a catharsis. In Antigone by Sophocles, the audience experiences a catharsis for a variety of characters. Although their actions may seem overly dramatic due to the trivial matters that they stress about, Antigone, Creon, and Haemon provide for a catharsis through their tone during the situations they undergo. Antigone’s pitiful situation of standing alone against a strong king causes the audience to feel pity for her. As she faces her consequences for performing the â€Å"crime† of burying her brother, Antigone to all who are able to hear her, â€Å"Be witnesses for me, denied all pity, Unjustly judged!† (IV 29-30). Due to everyone’s fear of Creon, Antigone must stand alone with no one to help her and constantly face harassment for performing the traditions of her culture. The exclamation point reveals that her tone is one of anger and frustration as she knows that she is right, but her opinions are outnumbered by the fearful subjects of Creon. Antigone’s death is more than imminent. The audience sides with Antigone in compassion for Antigone is in a situation where hope is nonexistant. Antigone’s lack of help leads to the stark punishment of rotting in a tomb until her own death. In a situation where the life has no meaning, Antigone takes her own life and is later discovered by the messenger who reports the news to the Choragus. The messenger states that â€Å"We saw her lying: She had made a noose of her fine linen viel† (Exodus 58-60) proving the stress that Antigone had to go through while facing Creon alone. The bare situation that Antigone is in calls for a purge of emotions from the audience. Her suicide states that she did not want to deal with her life anymore to such an extent that it would  be better if she killed herself rather than take her chances. The tone of the moment when the messenger described the scene was one of melancholy and grief for everyone knew exactly what she went through and why. The helplessness of Antigone calls for sympathy from the readers. Haemon is another character who calls for a release of emotions by the audience. As Haemon learns of Antigone’s rising conflict with Creon over the burial of Polyneicies, Haemon confronts Creon by stating â€Å"I am your son, Father. You are my guide. You make things clear for me, and I obey you. No marriage means more to me than your continuing wisdom† (III 8-10). Haemon is engaged to Antigone, but now knowing that Creon craves for her death of, Haemon chooses to submit to his father’s desires. Haemon gives up his marriage due to his father revealing the love and loyalty Haemon has for his father. The audience lays compassion on Haemon in such a situation where his loyalty to his father costs him the love of his life. Later on in the story, the messenger comes with grave news to the Choragus which is revealed to be that â€Å"Haemon is dead; and the hand that killed him Is his own hand† (Exodus 19-20). Haemon’s enormous love for Antigone convinced him that without her he cannot leave providing a cheese movie romance that people crave. The desire for people of our day to have a love like this influences the audience to feel compassion for Haemon who died a loving man. Much like Romeo and Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers eventually meet their end due to the love for each other. The audience can only feel sorry for two lovers like this. In the end, Haemon’s situations and tone cause a purge of emotions to arise in the audience. Although Creon is seen as a villain throughout most of the story, Creon’s experiences influence the audience to experience emotions of compassion towards him. After the death of Haemon, Creon’s son, Creon states that his â€Å"own blind heart has brought me From darkness to final darkness. Here you see The father murdering, the murdered son–† (Exodus 87-90). Creon causes the death of his own son due to his role in causing the suicide of Antigone. Instead of acting as a father, Creon treated Haemon as any other subject who must obey his command and pays the consequences for doing so. Also, the diction Creon uses such as â€Å"blind† and â€Å"darkness† suggest a dark tone where  hope or happiness are unable to exist. The dark tone full of grief causes a catharsis due to the fact that Creon is going through extreme sadness. Shortly after the death of his own son, Creon learns of the death of his wife leaving him with nothing, but the crown he proudly held. In reaction, Creon exclaims â€Å"Let it come; Let death come quickly and be kind to me. I would not ever see the sun again† revealing the loss of hope in himself(Exodus 127-129). Creon, like Antigone, no longer wishes to go through the pain he experiences and wishes to be dead. Adding on, Creon’s tone is one of melancholy as evident by his use of â€Å"death† coming quickly to him. As a king, Creon can do nothing but live through this pain. To leave his kingdom would equally harm the people just as the deaths of his family harmed him. Despite starting as a villain, Creon was able to learn his lesson, but at a certain price and the audience pities him for losing so much. Creon’s losses provide a catharsis for the audience. The complexity of man stands as a wonder to many. The emotions that one may feel are massive in variety. Antigone, Creon, and Haemon cause a catharsis to arise within the audience’s thoughts. Some people can even relate to the situations allowing for a better connection and catharsis. The helpless situations that these characters experience and the tones that they portray push the audience to feel bad for these characters. The complexion found in man is yet to be fully understood and man’s potential measured. The question why we care for others in a world where survival of the fittest started as the first theory or the question of emotions and how they work are shrouded with mystery.