The Purpose of the Research
The demand of conventions including meetings, incentive tours, conferences and exhibitions has been widely recognized as one of the major business sources in the hotel industry.
And as conventions generate considerable sa...
The Purpose of the Research
The demand of conventions including meetings, incentive tours, conferences and exhibitions has been widely recognized as one of the major business sources in the hotel industry.
And as conventions generate considerable sales amounts for meeting facilities in the hotel business as well as host cities, studies on the salient attributes influencing convention site selection are very critical. Despite of the importance of site selection attributes, this issue has remained relatively unexplored, especially for the study on the local cities outsides of Seoul metropolitan. Therefore the suppliers of the convention service like hotel companies are generally operating with a lack of deep understanding of the characteristics and concerns of the convention and convention planners.
This study focused on the key attributes of the site selection for the hotel convention, which takes place in the hotel facilities or is supported by the accomodations and F&B catering service of the hotel.
And the purpose of this study was to identify the site selection attributes and to examine the levels of importance and performance when the convention planners selected a certain convention site with their most recent experience which took place in Seoul or major cities outside of Seoul, such as Daejeon, Kyongju, Busan and Jeju-do, and also to find out the differences among the characteristics and among the convention destinations, and to verify the linkage between the group of selection attributes.
The Research Method
The theoretical survey and primary data review were performed for the hotel convention, convention site selection attributes, and convention planner to verify concepts of the subject.
The experimental studies were performed for the characteristics of the site selection attributes, and the analysis of variance among the convention characteristics and the convention destinations based on the survey for 339 samples of convention planner.
And canonical correlation analysis for the site selection attributes were proceeded to analyze the linkage or pattern of interdependency between the group of selection attributes. Also importance-performance analysis per the destination was applied to get differential marketing strategic implications for the hotel convention.
Major Findings and Implications
There were some findings and implications from the study for subject.
First, on the importance level for the selection attributes to the convention destination(or area), 'Convention Capabilities', 'Image & Cost- attractiveness' and 'Accessibility to the Destination' showed higher levels, while 'Tourism & Leisure Activities' and 'Shopping & Entertainment' revealed lower ones. The performance level to the convention destination selection attributes indicated as similar to the case of the importance.
This finding implied that the investment of the local government should be planned focusing on more important factors such as convention facilities, transportation infra-structure, area attractions, and cost-saving packages for the convention and sightseeing to make the destination more competitive to the convention planner.
Second, on the importance level for the selection attributes to the convention hotel, 'Convention Facilities and Service', and 'Room, F&B Facilities and Service' showed higher levels, and 'Convenience Facilities and Hotel Grade' and 'Subsidiary Facilities Service' got average ones, while 'Entertainment Service' got lower ones. The performance level to the hotel selection attributes indicated as similar to the case of the importance.
This implied that the hotel management should give a keen attention to make investment plan for more important factors such as convention facilities, room, and food & beverage service.
Third, there were statistically significant differences on the importance and also on the performance levels among the characteristics of convention such as organization types, convention styles, size of attendees, and period of conventions.
This implied that the differentiation strategy per the characteristics on the destination and the hotel company should be applied to each destination.
Forth, the canonical correlation analysis for the site selection attributes revealed two linkages or patterns of interdependency between the set of the attributes.
The one was the linkage between the set of 'Convention Capabilities of the Destination', 'Accessibility to the Destination', and 'Convenience Facilities & Hotel Grade', 'Convention Facilities and Service of the Hotel'. The other was the linkage between the set of 'Shopping & Entertainment Activities', 'Tourism & Leisure Activities in the Destination', and 'Entertainment Facilities & Service of the Hotel', 'Subsidiary Facilities & Service of the Hotel'.
It implied that these linkages should be applied to the strategy of the destination and also of the hotel company.
Fifth, there were statistically significant differences on the importance and also on the performance levels among destinations surveyed. Applying the importance-performance analysis or IP Analysis, this study assessed the IP action grids for the selection attributes for the convention destination and for the convention hotel respectively.
To compare differences of the attributes among destinations easily and clearly, comparative importance-performance analysis or CIP Analysis were successfully proceeded.
This implied that the differentiation strategy per the destination should be needed to apply to the destination marketing for the convention industry and also to convention marketing for the convention hotel.
A few applicable examples of the strategy on the development of the area attractions, economical convention packages, and strategic alliance between the hotel companies to reinforce the convention capacities for the Daejeon city were suggested according to the CIP Analysis.
Limitations and Further Research
While the outcome of the