Understanding Hospitality: Results of a Literature Analysis and Empirical Studies

The concept of hospitality has a long history and the term has been used for both the act of being hospitable as well as for services offered by the hotel and tourism industry. Many researchers have developed definitions and models of hospitality. However, there is still a lack of agreement of what hospitality per se really is. In the context of the 200-year anniversary of tourism in Central Switzerland and a corresponding research project, the current state of literature has been analysed and is presented in this paper. The paper suggests a conceptual framework of hospitality in tourism as a general basis for empirical research in this field. The framework reflects the fact that hospitality requires a broad discussion and takes place in multiple social contexts. Employees of the tourism industry as well as the host community both influence the hospitality experience of guests. To gain deeper insights into the topic of hospitality, qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted. The main results of these studies are presented in this paper.