Journal of Intercultural Management
Vol. 6, No. 4, December 2014, pp. 133–145
DOI 10.2478/joim-2014-0040
Ana María Larrañaga Núñez*
University of the West in Sinaloa, Mexico
José Octavio Molina Germán*
University of the West in Sinaloa, Mexico
Anel Yadira Pérez Melo*
University of the West in Sinaloa, Mexico
Perception of human capital competences for the
provision of tourist services: an overview of visitors to
the destination Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico
Abstract: The consolidated tourist destinations are facing a stagnation situation,
preamble to decline, stay, or rejuvenate (Butler, 1980). This perspective raises the need
to develop strategies at national, local and organizational levels to maintain or increase
the influx, spending and tourist permanence that generates greater benefits to the
destination, which implies, necessarily, having human capital possessing ability, as well
as the technical and behavioral competencies sufficient to cater to these visitors.
The purpose of the study is to analyze the perception of tourists regarding the
competences of the human capital in lodging, food and transportation organizations in
the city of Mazatlan Sinaloa. The research was conducted using a mixed methodology,
being a descriptive, cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was used to develop the field
work.
The human capital in the tourism sector that operates in the services of accommodation,
meals and transportation in the destination of Mazatlan, has enough power from the
perception of the visitors. The contribution of this research is considered relevant due
to regularly surveyed tourists to learn about the satisfaction of service or from the
perception of our human resources, which inferred the search for references about the
state of the issue being addressed.
Key words: Perception visitors, human capital, competence, Mazatlan tourist destination
*anamaln@yahoo.com.mx; octavio.molina@udo.mx; anel.perez@udo.mx
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Introduction
The consolidated tourist destinations face a stagnation situation, the preamble
to decline, remain in, or rejuvenate (Butler, 1980). In this perspective, there is a
need to develop strategies at national, local and organizational levels to maintain
or increase the flow, tourist spending and generate higher profits at the destination,
which implies, to have human capital possessing the capacity and sufficient technical and behavioral competencies to meet these visitors.
Acosta, and Mollón Fernández (2002) indicate that in the tourism sector, in
particular, hotels, a weakness is manifested in the proper training of employees who
sometimes assume the activities under the precepts of improvisation, so that it does
not meet the expectations of increasingly demanding tourists.
By contextualizing tourism in Mexico based on the economic theories of labor
markets, Mendez Rodriguez Osorio and Salgado (2013) allude to changes on the
labor market, noting that while in the past, employment in tourism was cataloged
as flexible and precarious, currently the globalizing neoliberal stage take it to the
extreme in a model that requires greater technical staff, with medium and high
training skills.
Offering services with high quality standards represents an ongoing challenge
for those within the tourism industry. Achieving the above is a complex task that
has many edges. Hence the importance of analyzing the skills that shows employees
in the lodging, food and transportation organizations in the destination of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
This city is the second largest in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. Its main economic
activity is tourism, with 69,450 jobs in the hospitality, commercial, restaurateur, and
transportation sector as well as cultural and recreational services (City of Mazatlan, 2011). The statistical compendium of tourism in Mexico 2013, the Ministry of
Tourism, says that tourist arrivals was 1,743,575, corresponding to 81.1% nationally,
mainly from Distrito Federal, Coahuila and Chihuahua and 18.9% internationally,
especially from the United States and Canada. The average stay is 2.73 tourists per
night.
Human Capital and competence in tourism
Becker (1983) and Bardarova et al, mentioned that human capital is a set of
production skills, talent and knowledge of people, acquired by education, scientific
research, job training and experience. Davenport (1999) refers to the human capital
as the capacity, behavior, effort and time employees spend at work. The ability,
knowledge and talent; behavioral values such as ethics, beliefs and reactions to the
world are expressed in the capacity or expertise of the activity. The effort is a conscious application of mental and physical resources for a particular purpose; while
time is a chronological human capital investment.
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In the evolution of the concept of human capital, Morales (2005) following
Schultz (1959) mentions that human resources have quantitative and qualitative
dimensions: the first one has the number of people, the percentage of the active
population, and the number of hours worked. In the latter is considered for operational skills, knowledge and similar attributes that affect an individual’s ability to
perform productive work.
Generically, competence is defined as a set of abilities, skills, knowledge and
attitudes that are specified assertively in problem solving or in a relevant response
to a new or specific situation according to the National System of Competence
in Mexico (Consejo de Normalización y Certificación de Competencia Laboral,,
CONOCER, 2014).
The International Labour Organization, ILO (2000), in relation to education
and training in tourism indicates that the complexity of the workplace requires
training, with an evolution of operational to personal skills towards professional
and social skills. The new competences should allow workers to reach the necessary
autonomy at work: the ability to learn and develop activities to assimilate all the elements of a complex process, and real communication skills, including negotiation
in case of conflict.
Therefore, competences of the human capital in tourism are understood as the
knowledge, skills and values that are found in operative employees, managers and
executives to provide an efficient service that meets the expectations of the visitors
in a destination.
At CONOCER, in relation to tourism, there are standards of the following
skills: 1. Attention to diners, 2. Coordination of food and beverage services, 3.
Coordination of housekeeping services and areas of stay for temporary housing, 4.
Hygienic food handling, 5. Cleaning industrial kitchens, 6. Operation of pools, 7.
Food preparation, 8. Preparation of rooms for temporary housing, 9. Preparation
and beverage service, 10. Providing reception and guest service for temporary accommodation, 11. Provision of customer service, and 12. Monitoring the conditions of registration and guest’s stay.
The competence of human capital in this research is studied from the perception of tourists, who temporarily move from one place to another to satisfy their
need for entertainment, which for a time; they stay outside their usual place of
residence (Ascanio, 2012).
Therefore, the purpose of the study is to analyze the perception of tourists about
the competences of human capital in lodging, food and transportation organizations in the city of Mazatlan, Sinaloa. The hypothesis is that human capital that
provides lodging, food and transportation in the touristic destination of Mazatlan,
has sufficient competences from the perception of the tourist.
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Methodology
The research methodology applied is a mixed approach, with a descriptive,
cross-sectional study. To develop fieldwork a questionnaire, subjected to expert
validation, was applied. The sample used was of 117 respondents.
The questionnaire contains two sections. The first refers to the socio-demographic data, the visitor was asked: place of origin, sex, age, frequency of visiting
Mazatlan, level of education and transportation used.
The second section contains the set of items that identifies the visitors’ perception concerning the skills of employees that offer services related to accommodation, food and transportation. The questionnaire statements emphasize the
knowledge, attitudes and values shown in the technical standards and / or standardization of labor competence of the CONOCER, in questions 1 to 14 and 17-18.
Questions 15 and 16 refer to competences of provision of customer service, but
employees (drivers, local transportation and foreign tourism support) do not appear
defined in the above mentioned standards.
Criteria apply to people aged 16 and older which had stayed in accommodation
establishments, who were surveyed in site, in areas such as the boardwalk, beaches
and squares, considered the major areas of tourists in Mazatlan.
Empirical results
The information resulting from this study is presented in two sections: the first
results of the socio-demographic data of visitors and in the second, the perception
of the competence of employees in each analyzed dimension.
Socio-demographic data of the informants:
Table 1 Sex, age, occupation and transporting visitors
Sex
Female
Number
69
Percentage
59.0
Occupation
Student
Number
32
Percentage
27.4
Male
48
41.0
Businessman
Housewife
17
12
14.5
10.3
Age
16-29
Number
58
Percentage
49.6
Employee
37
31.6
Other
19
16.2
30-44
45-64
43
12
36.8
10.3
65 or more
4
3.4
Transport
Air
Bus
Number
14
60
Percentage
12.0
51.3
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Private car
Total
43
117
36.8
100.0
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
The highest percentages in the number of respondents, Table 1 correspond to
females with 59.0%, the segment of ages 16 to 29 years with 49.6%; in employment
to employees with 31.6%. The shuttle bus arrival corresponds to 51.3%. While the
lowest percentage corresponding to age 65 years, 3.4% in love occupancy houses,
10.3% and air transport with 12.0%.
Figure 1 Origin of visitors
The origin of the visitors according to Figure 1 shows that, from 15 destinations
inside Mexico and one country other than Mexico, the United States. Visitors are
about 30% from Sinaloa (other municipalities), 11% from Distrito Federal, 10%
from Coahuila and 9% from Durango; in smaller percentages you have Aguascalientes, Guanajuato and the United States.
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Table 2 Frequency of visits to Mazatlan tourist destination
Concept frequency
Frequency
Absolutes
Percentage
First time
28
23.9
Every month
10
8.5
Every three months
12
10.3
Every six months
20
17.1
Every year or more
47
40.2
Total
117
100.0
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
40.2% of informants indicated that they visit Mazatlan every year and 23.9% for
the first time, to a lesser extent you have every month visitors to an 8.5% as shown
in Table 2.
Visitor perception regarding competence in basic services (accommodation,
food and transportation)
The average perceived competence of human capital is valued as good with a
52.7% in the three basic services that are studied, while there is a tiny negative or
bad rating of 0.2%. It is observed that only transportation is rated very good with
50.2% and the rest appears below 40.0%, Table 3.
Table 3 Perceived competence of human capital in accommodation, food and
transportation
Perception of
competence
Accommodation
Food
Very bad
0.2
0.4
0.3
Bad
2.1
1.4
0.6
Fair
Good
Very good
5.8
52.2
39.7
100.
.0
Transportation Responsible
human capital
Average
0.2
1.0
2.3
2.5
4.7
46.6
59.0
52.7
36.9
50.2
38.5
41.4
100.0
100.0
100.00
100.00
8.3
53.0
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
Notes: In the different transportations, the total was considered without missing values
It includes separate Responsible Human capital, as it was questions covering all three
services.
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Figure 2 Cleanliness of the room
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
In the standardization of competence, coordination of housekeeping services
and areas of stay for temporary housing and preparing rooms for temporary housing, the human resources of the clean room presentation (Maids, rooms division
manager, etc.) are incorporated. In figure 2, 52.9% of the visitors consider good the
competence of maids while 8.5% considered it between fair and bad.
Figure 3 Communication from the receptionist
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
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The standard of competence providing reception and guest services for temporary accommodation, provision of customer care and supervision of the conditions
of registration and residence of the host, is referred to human resources (receptionist, reception and accommodation managers). The perception of tourists regarding
to information and communication of the receptionist had the highest percentage
of good with 57.0%, while the percentage of bad and fair approach 7%. This variable is divided by sex, being woman answering good in a 67.0%, and 65.0% fair.
51.2% men said very good and 35.3% good, figure 3.
Moreover, the standard of competence providing of customer care and supervision of the conditions of registration and guest stay where they are managers accommodation, hotel administrator, hotel managers and front desk receptionist and
telephone operators , they are related to the concept of problem in the hotel. 75.21%
of the visitors said to have no problem at the hotel and 24.79% said yes. While the
answers to solve problems, 72.0% mentioned having good experiences and10.0%
said bad experiences, figure 4.
Figure 4 Solving problems in the hotel
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
Regarding the competence standard of room preparation for temporary housing, services for customers and, service reception and guest services for temporary accommodation, incorporate a friendly attitude. The visitors replied that hotel
staff demonstrate very good friendliness by 55.56% and 0.85% indicated a very bad
kindness.
The perception of the friendliness of the hotel employee, according to the occupation of the visitor, Table 4, realizes that employee informants reported the highest
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percentage with 24.6% of a very good kindness and good with 41.7%; while 66.7%
students perceived it as fair kindness, as well as perceiving a very bad kindness in
tiny proportions.
Table 4 Perceptions friendly hotel employee according to the occupation of the
visitor
Perception of kindness
Occupation visitor
Student
No.
%
Businessman
No.
%
Housewife
No.
%
Employee
No.
%
Other
No.
%
No.
%
Very bad
Fair
1
2
Good
15
100.0
66.7
0
Total
Very good
14
32
31.3
21.5
27.4
0
5
12
17
0.0
0.0
10.4
18.5
14.5
0
0
4
8
12
0.0
0,0
8,3
12.3
10.3
0
1
20
16
37
0.0
33.3
41.7
24.6
31.6
0
0
4
15
19
0.0
0.0
8.3
23.1
16.2
1
3
48
65
117
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
In relation to the standard of care competencies diners, food preparation, food
hygiene management, coordination of food and beverage services, including cooks,
food service assistants and beverages, bakers, majority of kitchen helper cook, bartender, restaurant captain, engineers in food processing, specialized technical food
and beverages, etc., the question relates to food presentation according to the expectations of the visitors. 48.0% said good, Figure 5, while 43% said very good and
9% fair to very bad.
The standard of competence coordination of food and beverage service, attention to diners, is where waiters and technicians specialized in food and beverages
are included to the questions of problems in the restaurant. 85.47% said not having
problems, while 14.53 % did have. The direct relationship of this question to the
solution of problems in the restaurant, Figure 6, is said 58% responded good, 36%
had a fair solution, 5% in a bad solution.
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Figure 5 Presentation of food in accordance with expectations
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
Figure 6 Solving problems restaurant
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
Attitude-value of responsibility appears not to provide reception and guest services for temporary accommodation, preparation and serving of beverages and operation pools in 75% of the standards of competence. The ask visitor was conducted
on a general assessment of the three services: accommodation, food and transporta-
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Perception of human capital competences for the provision…
tion and answers, figure 7, realize that 59.0% perceived good, 38.5% very good and
2 5% fair.
Figure 7 Responsibility for employees
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
In the standard of competence for the development of tourism activities, was
found to transport personnel. It was decided to ask the question for perception in
the attention of local transportation personnel as part of the basic service offered
to visitors. Responses of visitors, figure 8, realize that 55.0% reported that accountability is good and 45.0% very good, 4% said poor to very bad.
Figure 8 Attention local transport staff
Source: Own elaboration, 2014
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With regard to the question of what aspects would recommend for training
employees responses were in absolute numbers were: customer service is 50; All is
well, 41 and in communication, 5. fewer were: problem solving, planning influx,
personality, knowledge of tourism, health, first aid.
In regard to the questions of attitudes, I would advise employees to improve
their performance based in the replies received, in absolute numbers: 21 in kindness; 11 in dynamism and 7 adequate expressions. With a lower number availability,
initiative, spirit of service, cleanliness, empathy.
Conclusion
Human capital in the tourism sector operates in the accommodation, food and
transportation services in the destination of Mazatlan, has sufficient competence
in the perception of visitors, considering the average value of 52.7% as good which
added to very good 41.4%, totaling 94.1% which is interpreted as a positive perception.
Regarding the variable frequency of visit to Mazatlan, opportunities are inferred
as 23.9% of respondents mentioned that for the first time and 40.2% each year.
This means that with an improvement in education and training strategies of human capital competence, it would help in maintaining, and eventually increase the
number visitors.
The areas of opportunity to improve human capital competence in food and
accommodation service focus on problem solving, which proves that there is a demand for a consumer with evolving behaviors and values (ILO, 2000).
The strength is the attitude responsibility of employees in the three areas addressed in the questionnaire averaged 59.0 good and 38.0 very good from the perception of the visitor, so its use is recommended in the sector.
Finally, the contribution of this research is considered relevant because tourists
are surveyed regularly to learn about service satisfaction or from the perception of
human resource itself, which was inferred from the reference search on the state
the issue addressed.
References
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