The task of this paper is to reflect on the information from the Miniature Earth power point and share what I believe this information means to the future of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. This paper will use at least 3 secondary academic references to support my discussion. The power point presentation Miniature Earth covers the idea of converting the world’s population keeping the same proportions we have today into a community of only 100 people. It makes us easily understand the differences in the world by breaking down demographics such as religion, wealth, gender, education, basic necessities, origin, disabilities and some other societal facts. This information is very useful and important when reflecting it on the future of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. From the information shared in the Miniature Earth power point a trend that I believe (your name is on the title page so it becomes redundant to include this here) will emerge in leading edge hospitality is the market segment in religious tourism.
The information shared on the Miniature Earth power point stated that in a population of 100 people, 33 are Christians, 18 are Muslims, 14 are Hindu, 6 are Buddhists, 13 practice other religions and only 16 are non-religious. This means that an overwhelming amount (84%) of the population have religious beliefs. Weidenfeld (2008) states that “religion influences the choice of destination, tourist product preferences, and the offering of religion related opportunities and facilities to tourists. Similar to other tourism subgroups, religious tourism should be seen more in the context of the current competitive environment, in which the tourism and hospitality industries are constantly searching for new customer segments” (p.356).
Currently the world consists of 7 billion people (7billionactions,2011,Current World Population), at 84% (?) that means 5.9 billion people have religious beliefs creating a large audience that