ABSTRACT
The previous chapters have highlighted the very fragmented nature of the business
that many refer to as tourism, being a complex amalgam of businesses that cooperate
and work together to supply services and products to tourists as consumers. Each of
these businesses and bodies are known as organizations, which are formal entities such
as businesses or corporations that exist to interact, trade and exchange goods, services
and knowledge to create wealth or other outputs through the use of their staff,
capabilities and know-how within a tourism context. Profit is the main driver of many
businesses operating in the private sector, but there are also organizations within the
public sector (see Chapter 11) and voluntary sector that interact in tourism in a
regulatory or voluntary sense or as interest groups (e.g. a professional organization
such as ABTA), and seek to influence and affect change and represent specific interests
or viewpoints. All of these organizations impact upon tourism and its direction,
nature and operation – a feature that will be discussed more fully in Chapter 11. For
businesses to exist and operate effectively, some form of management and
organization is needed. This chapter examines and develops the theme of manage-
ment with a focus on the manager as the conduit for such action.
