Cross-Cultural Competence in Tourism and Hospitality: A Case Study of Quintana Roo, Mexico

Abstract

Economic growth, especially in emerging economies, has altered the composition of international tourism. It is therefore essential to possess the skills necessary to understand the influence of culture on human behaviour, thereby enabling an appropriate response to the traveller. This research aims to develop a tool for identifying openness, flexibility, awareness, and intercultural preparedness. It focuses on the metacognitive and cognitive aspects of cultural intelligence that shape the development of empathy in customer service staff in hotels in Quintana Roo. The variables were validated and incorporated into a quantitative study using multivariate analysis and inferential statistics. A sample of 77 questionnaires was analysed using simple random sampling under a proportional design. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was employed as a discriminatory technique to identify the most significant independent variables. These were subsequently entered as regressors into ordinal logistic regression (OLR), along with age and work experience, in order to estimate the probabilities associated with each level of the dependent variable. The results indicated that age had minimal influence on the metacognitive and cognitive variables, whereas years of experience among tourism staff exerted a significant effect.