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190 enclave tourism
relative bargaining power of trade unions versus
the government.
Employment laws usually contain provisions
regulating relationships between employers and
employees, both individually and collectively. Some
of the major concerns in employment laws are the
employee's job security versus rules of hiring and
firing, the scope and limits of employer's entitlement
to retain the employee if he/she quits before
the term ends, and employment agreements and
structure with express and implied terms. On these
issues and others, countries differ in their employment
laws particularly insofar as parties, reciprocal
rights and obligations. The freedom of contract in
some of these details is sometimes limited by public
directives in a given country. Moreover, trade
unions, powers of negotiation and exerting pressure
on governments and employers is usually
influenced by the prevailing political and economic
climate as well as by the long-established traditions
in this context. In some democratic and free
economy countries like the United States, trade
unions are quite strong, while in some socialist
countries such as Cuba or North Korea, they are
mere tools in the hands of the governing socialist
party.
Sometimes it is unclear whether a restrictive
provision in a labour agreement is intended simply
to increase employee welfare or to create monopoly
in the employers' product markets. Moreover,
any minimum wage law reinforces the effect of
unionisation on the wage rate by limiting the
competition of non-union labour. With the dominance
of private enterprise in business, employer±
employee relationships become more sophisticated
and intensified. More detailed provision appears in
employment agreements in terms of issues such as
compensation and reimbursement of expenses,
duration of the agreement, non-competition
clauses, medical expenses entitlements, death and
disability clauses, and also including employer's
rights to employees work products, restrictive and
proprietary covenants, trade secrets protection,
compensation of employees for invention, insurance
programmes, and more.
Because tourism is a labour-intensive industry in
almost all destinations, all the preceding concepts
and rules prevail in a clearcut fashion. The same
legal provisions governing employment in various
productive and service sectors define employer±
employee relationships in tourism. However, racial,
sex, age and cognate forms of discrimination in
employment which are a part of a larger issue �the
causes of discrimination, and the consequences of
anti-discrimination policies) could largely apply in
tourism because of its intractable, sensitive and
sometimes seasonal nature �see seasonality).
In the hospitality industry, which is the largest
and most labour-intensive tourism sector, permanent,
limited duration and temporary employment
exist. In areas where seasonality of tourist traffic
prevails, hotels and catering or restaurant
establishments suffer from high employee turnover,
particularly in developing countries. Moreover, in
countries with noticeable tourism growth trends,
unless there is an abundant supply of trained
personnel, new hotels and other accommodation
establishments will attract employees from
other well-established lodging and catering facilities
through increased salaries and higher incentives.
This would lead to a general deterioration in
the service quality if regulatory measures are not
laid down. These measures should be primarily
based on enhanced applied in-plant and institutional
training to guarantee a constant flow of welltrained
personnel.
As the tourism industry heavily relies on new
technology for its efficient operation, employees are
required to adapt to new techniques within their
contractual terms. New challenges and opportunities
in this industry as it enters the twenty-first
century will require special attention to employment
laws at national and international levels of
operation, with multinational agencies playing an
increasing role.
enclave tourism
SALAH E.A. WAHAB, EGYPT
Enclave tourism is a form of self-contained resort
development which is geographically isolated or
insulated from the surrounding indigenous
population. Such enclaves typically are coastal,
offer amenities such as tennis, golf, scuba diving
and horseback riding, and often contain landing
strips for jets or smaller airplanes. Tourists who stay