The paper aims to study hotel owners’ perception of tourism in the five creative cities of India during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to study hotel owners’ perception of tourism in the five creative cities of India during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured, in-depth interviews (N = 30) and participant observation were the methods used for collecting qualitative data. Data was analysed using content analysis.
Findings
The findings reveal the effect of tourism on the psyche of small and medium enterprise hotel owners. Factors contributing to this anxiety are unpreparedness for the crisis, cash flow problems, failure to be flexible in this crisis, inability to leverage hotel’s location and lack of hygiene habits.
Research limitations/implications
The research illustrated a systemic lack of knowledge and training in the unorganized hotel sector in India which if addressed, could assist the hotel owners and staff in building trust toward tourists and a positive attitude toward the crisis.
Originality/value
As the study analyses the unorganized hotel sector in the Indian context, it provides useful insights for the Indian Government and hospitality industry to foster trust and positivity in this sector during the COVID-19 pandemic which could significantly contribute to its revival and psychological recovery of its stakeholders.
Details
Keywords
Shradha Kabra, Sumanjit Dass and Sapna Popli
Reality television is a dynamic, profit-making platform that occupies prime-time slots on the television almost all over the world. Despite its immense popularity and influence…
Abstract
Purpose
Reality television is a dynamic, profit-making platform that occupies prime-time slots on the television almost all over the world. Despite its immense popularity and influence, it has received little attention in the extant literature and almost none in terms of its impact on celebrity repositioning. This study aims at examining the relationship between the film stars as brands and the impact of the platform of reality television in repositioning these celebrities in the Indian context.
Design/methodology/approach
Through extensive literature review and qualitative interviews, the paper expounds that reality television provides an opportunity to celebrities to successfully reposition themselves at crucial junctures in their career. The framework to study this repositioning has been adopted from the work of Chris Simms and Paul Trott (2007) who created it to study the brand repositioning of various consumer goods.
Findings
The literature establishes celebrities as brands. This study provides evidence that brand repositioning through reality television is possible for these celebrity brands. The symbolic and functional repositioning of these celebrities is presented through thematic content analysis.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides a useful framework to understand celebrity brand repositioning through reality TV. It can also be replicated to understand the repositioning of a wide variety of celebrities other than film-stars such as sportspersons, social media influencers and politicians.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the need of expanding the corpus of Indian reality television and explains how Indian celebrities reposition themselves through reality television.