Projecting the Hospitality Needs of International Visitors to the Knoxville Area During the 1982 World's Fair

The 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee (May 1st to October 31st), thereafter designated as Fair, is projected to host more than half a million international visitors. International visitors will come from every part of the world. They have different cultures, habits, attitudes and needs. The hospitality industry in Knoxville might face guests who do not speak English, have no American dollars, and have never eaten American food. The research was aimed to project the hospitality needs of the international visitors to the Fair who would be staying in hotels and motels in Knoxville, Gatlinburg, Alcoa, Pigeon Forge, Maryville, and Sevierville, Tennessee.

Two hundred thirty questionnaires were sent to all hotel and motel managers in Knoxville and the surrounding cities. Names and addresses of lodging establishments were provided by the Marketing Department of Knoxville International Energy Exposition (KIEE). The questionnaire consisted of twenty-one questions designed to find what, hotel and motel managers perceived as international visitors' needs in terms of hospitality services. Approximately 12 percent responses were received. Frequency distribution was used to analyze the responses. The study revealed that most hotel and motel managers in Knoxville, Tennessee and surrounding cities perceived the needs for currency exchange, menus printed in foreign languages, and increased the number of ethnic food items on their menus, but most of them were not willing to provide such services to international guests.

The initiation of the study started during the Fall of 1980 and the data were accumulated one year later. It is hoped that participation in this study will increase the effort of hotel and motel managers to provide extra services desired or needed by international guests in order for them to go back to their countries with pleasant memories of the United States of America and some stimulation of international understanding.