AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CHALLENGES OF EVENT MANAGEMENT AS A NEW TREND IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

1.1 Introduction

Event management is an exciting and growing industry, as well as a unique career opportunity for everyone with a passion for the planning and organizing of events, such as concerts, conventions, parties, weddings, and other gatherings. The process of planning and coordinating the event is usually referred to as event planning and can include budgeting, scheduling, site selection, acquiring necessary permits, coordinating transportation and parking, arranging for speakers or entertainers, arranging decor, event security, catering and emergency plans. The events industry now includes events of all sizes from the Olympics down to business breakfast meetings. Many industries, charitable organizations, and interest groups hold events in order to market themselves, build business relationships, raise money or celebrate achievement.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The hospitality industry is changing at a rapid rate due to technological advancements that will require future professionals to be skilled in technology while conserving natural resources to sustain our environment. Leisure professionals will need to exceed guest expectations from a growing clientele and accommodate their ever-changing needs to stay relevant. Future leaders must be able to analyze and identify current trends to understand future consumer behavior by conducting research while maintaining ethical behavior to uphold integrity within the industry

In the past several years, Nigerian have experienced unthinkable disasters resulting from terrorist activity. The September 11 attacks at Abuja on a peaceful, sunny morning with no warning. War with Boko Haram has made our country and our people more vulnerable to terrorist activity and, even with the war at an end, the Department of Homeland Security warns that terrorism remains a very real threat for the foreseeable future. The bombing of the federal building in Bauchi and Abuja City was a shocking demonstration of domestic terror. Natural disasters have taken their toll as well. A massive natural gas explosion in Bayalsa reduced a strip mall to a huge crater. Businesses and threatened the tourism industries in those areas.

In this climate, any organization that runs events should be prepared for anything that could happen – to protect its exhibitors, speakers, attendees, employees, and, to the greatest degree possible, the continuity of its events. Inherent in this is the impact on the organization's reputation. It's entirely possible that one ruined or badly handled event might mean years of rebuilding reputation and attendance.

The likelihood is that the event planner or manager is the person most likely to have to deal with any disruption to an event. This paper is aimed at helping those individuals prepare themselves to deal with the threats and hazards that might befall a conference or exposition and to prevent or, at the very least, minimize the impact of a disaster.

According to Ramsborg et al., (2008), Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of large scale events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. It involves studying the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event.

According to Burns, J. (2010) Event management is considered one of the strategic marketing and communication tools by companies of all sizes. From product launches to press conferences, companies create promotional events to help them communicate with clients and potential clients. A number of elements such as music, live entertainment or even the particular venue may be used to influence the tone and atmosphere of an event.

Chen, J., Sloan, P., and Legrand, W. (2009) said Event managers may also use news media to target their audience, hoping to generate media coverage which will reach thousands or millions of people. They can also invite their audience to their events and reach them at the actual event.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to assess the Challenges of Event Management as a New Trend in Hospitality Management.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the challenges and trends of event management in hospitality industry. Top issues that will influence the global hospitality industry in the year ahead include sustainable development calls for green hospitality, labor cost, multicultural issues and higher education. Challenges that facing hospitality include will include operating issues, marketing issues, technological issues and economic issues.

The risks on which an individual want to concentrate are those in which both the likelihood of occurrence and the potential consequences are in the medium to high range. Keep this in mind as you go through the emergency management process. Most of all, keep things in perspective. Any consequence that involves potential critical injury or loss of life must take precedence over less critical outcomes. It's important, therefore, to prioritize the risks as well as identifying the ones to focus on.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to assess the Challenges of Event Management as a New Trend in Hospitality Management. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To highlight all the possible means by which the challenges faced in event management can be overcome or reduce;
2. To investigate on how this challenges affect the hospitality industry and its growth within the economy;
3. To ascertain the challenges faced by event management in Nigeria hospitality industries; and
4. To address the issues of security and terrorism as it is one of the challenges of event management in our country Nigeria to the hospitality industries.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Do you think that the challenges faced by the industry affect the hospitality industry and its growth within the economy?
• Are there security threat and terrorism challenges within your place of management and event centers?
• What are the challenges faced by event management in Nigeria hospitality industries?
• What is you recommendation on how this challenges faced in event management can be overcome or reduce?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant relationship between the challenges of event management and the growth and success of events management in the hospitality industry.
• H1: There is a significant relationship between the challenges of event management and the growth and success of events management in the hospitality industry.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study will be significant in various ways to various sector, as will be seen below;

1. It will present in a precise manner, the importance of event management as regard to human security and terrorist and how to manage events in a safe guide manner and atmosphere.
2. To event managers and potential managers, the findings of the research, suggestion and recommendations based on the findings will be a good guide for future management of resources, allocation, security threats and challenges facing the industry.
3. The research report will also serve as a reference material to students of hospitality industry and tourism management, especially those with a bias in event management.
4. The research will also be beneficial to the researcher. This is because the study will expose the researcher to so many related areas in the course of carrying out his research. This will enhance the researcher’s experience, knowledge and understanding of event management.
5. Finally, this study is intended to unveil those factors that are responsible for the challenges within the industry in event management and planning while also highlighting the control mechanisms required for a successful event management.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Assessment of the Challenges of Event Management as a New Trend in Hospitality Management using Warri-South Local Government Area, Delta State as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Hotel: An establishment held out by the proprietor to offer food and drinks, and if so required sleeping accommodation to anybody who is in a fit state to receive the services.

Hospitality Products and Services: They are things produced by the hospitality industry to meet the need of customers in return of their money. They include foods, drinks, accommodation, entertainment and other services like cyber café, car hire and so on.