Does westernization influence the business culture of a touristic city?

Abstract

The inflow of tourists determines development, growth and sustainability of tourism business worldwide. The main dilemma of tourism entrepreneurs remains in whether to follow westernization or to preserve the local sociocultural identity. This research tries to explore the entrepreneurs' perception about Western influence in business culture of the touristic city-Pokhara, Nepal. Cross-sectional descriptive study design is used to understand entrepreneurs' perception, and three dummybased indices are used to measure the tourism business environment. The ordered logit regression model is adopted to check the determinant factors. It reveals that English language for communication (76.84%), Hospitality service (72.01%), Art and Decoration (68.19%) and Festivals and Cultural Performances (55.47%) have Western influences on tourism entrepreneurship in Pokhara. The results of the ordered logit model show that the overall odds of business registration, government initiation, westernization and population growth are 1.09, 1.26, 2.14 and 2.27 times respectively which signifies to potentially better business prospects provided Western culture influences are minimized while local identities are preserved under government initiatives. This research was conducted only in a dense area of Pokhara called Lakeside. We have reasons to believe that if the research could have covered the whole area and all the entrepreneurs were included, it would produce much greater picture of the westernization influences in business culture of Pokhara.

Rethinking Westernization in Destination: Tourists’ Perception of a Touristic City

“…Tourism is the result of the movement of millions of people, which promotes a sense of highly diverse activities, prospects, and approaches related to this industry (Ghanem, 2017;Devkota et al, 2020b). It has indeed developed into a modern socioeconomic force around the globe today (Ranasinghe, 2014).…”

“…The flood of Chinese tourists even reached Nepalese destinations for religious and other purposes. Furthermore, other nationals from different countries of Western and Non-Western origin are visiting different destinations of Nepal since she was opened to foreigners after 1950s (Devkota et al, 2020b). Now, the important issue is that whether the tourists' perspective who visits Nepal supports the claim of preferring westernization or not is the study of the research (Devkota et al, 2021).…”

Measuring Cultural Diversity Impact in Hospitality Industry Leadership: Managerial Communication Perspective from Five Star Hotels in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

“…Tourism and hospitality sector are one of the major backbones of Nepalese economy. Nepal government has consistently made eff orts to upscale Nepal's tourism capabilities and its contribution towards Nepalese economy (Devkota et al, 2020a(Devkota et al, , 2020b(Devkota et al, , 2021. However, the study in cultural diversity in hospitality sector of Nepal is still lacking.…”

Financial Hurdles in Small Business Enterprises in Kathmandu Valley

“…They have diversified the country's monetary base and provided it with the occasion of responding to a diversity of market conditions. The contribution of SMEs (Small and Medium scale industries) has created jobs and hence reduced the rate of unemployment (Agbenyo, 2015;Devkota et al, 2020b). Private ventures are considered as one of the mainstays of the financial structure, especially in the creating nations.…”