Business communications in environmental tourism

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Introduction

The labor market imposes high requirements on the content of competencies that a highly qualified specialist must have. At the same time, communicative competence is the most significant criterion for the level of professionalism representative of the so-called communicative professions, to which employees of the service sector belong. It is in the field of services, including environmental tourism, that all the moral discomfort of Ukrainian reality is most vividly felt; speech models of behavior collide here in which there is a conflict between the communication participants (communicants). Currently, the environmental tourism industry is one of the fastest developing industries in the world economy. This applies fully to Ukrainian environmental tourism, which is actively developing, begins to be included in the competition in the world environmental tourism market. At the same time, there are several factors that negatively affect the activity of Ukrainian tourism organizations. And the main one among them is the poor training of a large part of the staff, manifested in their lack of competence, low performance, and inability to carry out effective professional and business communication. Professional and communication training is now one of the most "bottlenecks" in the overall staff training system. At the same time, despite the increasing number of teaching and methodological literature that has recently appeared on communication problems, in Ukraine there is not a single textbook dedicated to professional and business communication, which would reflect the specifics of the environmental tourism industry.

A feature of the environmental tourism sector is that it still does not have a unity of opinion on many problems of the conceptual apparatus and research tools. Despite this, there are a significant number of issues that remain relevant and are part of the circle of "traditional" topics of business and professional communication.

Methods

Methods of research of business communications in environmental tourism are techniques and methods of knowledge and research of business communications, their types, and features. Due to the complexity and multidimensional nature of the subject of research, various methods of research are used that allow comprehensive examination of content and structure communication in professional and entrepreneurial activities.

Information sources

The obtained information is processed using methods of descriptions, comparisons, and generalizations.

The description in business communication in environmental tourism is done as usual by both language and special means that make up the language of science (symbols, matrices, graphs). The most important requirements for scientific description are precision, logical rigor and simplicity.

Comparison-is focused on comparing of objects to identify characteristics, similarities, or signs of difference between these objects. Comparison should be carried out according to the most significant characteristics.

Inductive generalizations-transitions from single or partial knowledge to the general-are always are probabilistic.

Results

Currently, there are a significant number of issues that are constantly relevant and are part of the "traditional" topics of professional and business communication in the field of environmental tourism. Such issues include ones related to environmental tourism issues in general, as well as issues related to the life of a particular travel company including the history of its development; system characteristics; corporate culture; development strategies; social and psychological phenomena, arising in the organization; staff training to respond effectively to the challenges they face; formation and management of the workforce; organizational communications and professional communication of employees; innovation of employees; control system; psychological portrait of the whole team and each employee separately; results of work.

The rapid development of environmental tourism during recent decades is due to growth of social wealth and incomes of population; reduction of working time and increase of free time; successes in the development of air and road transport, communications, and information technology; urbanization; changing priorities in the system of spiritual values of society (Andereck et al., 2007; Moisescu, 2015).

In modern conditions, the tour operator market is characterized by the following trends: constant increase in the number of tour operators; entering the market of foreign competitors; greater selectivity of the tourism services, both in terms of quality and price; increased competition in the organized environmental tourism market; active introduction of airlines to the environmental tourism market as tour operators.

In recent competition methods, two major trends can be observed: the transition from aggressive pricing policies to competition in the field of quality and optimal value for money; convergence of functions of tour operator and travel agent. The result is an improvement in the quality of the tourist product. One of the important points in the development of modern environmental tourism is the presence of new features in the marketing strategy of tour operators.

The structure of professional and business communication in organizations in the field of environmental tourism includes: the need for communication; the purpose of communication; the form of communication (message); the subject (content) of the message; the code or language of the message (Mett and Majken, 2006; Bilgihan and Nejad, 2015). When analyzing professional and business communication, we should remember that its need and purpose are systemically important. It is them that underlie the activity of senders and recipients of messages with their individual psychological characteristics and aspirations. If the need acts as a state of the individual resulting from the employee's experienced need for information necessary for the performance of professional functions and generating activity, then the goal is a conscious image of the anticipated result, the achievement of which the employee's action is aimed. This image has an incentive force as it is associated with meeting this need. It guides the action and determines how it can be implemented. The communication flows in the organizational communications of the environmental tourism sector can move in a horizontal or vertical direction. The vertical direction, in turn, is divided into descending and ascending. The top-down direction is used by managers to set tasks, inform subordinates, and offer to organize feedback on the results of work. Bottom-up information is used to inform managers about work results, current problems, and communicate the opinion of employees to managers. The horizontal direction of communication flow occurs when communication is carried out between workers of the same level (Moisescu, 2015; Hren et al., 2021).

In addition, information connections in intragroup communication can be centralized and non-centralized, incomplete, and complete. The degree of centrality is determined by the presence of a central position in the communication network, the number of channels connecting one position to another. The completeness is determined by the number of connections of each member of the organization (group) with other employees. Communication processes between people differ from purely information processes in technical devices in that information in communication is not simply transmitted from source to recipient or back, namely exchanges. Moreover, people not only exchange known, given information, but can modify it and create a new one. The forms and means of communication are quite diverse. At the same time, speech is the main tool of human communication. Due to speech, the individual consciousness of the employee, not limited to personal experience and his/her own observations, is enriched by the results of social experience (Bilgihan and Nejad, 2015; Szromek and Naramski, 2019). Speech is a form of the existence of consciousness (thoughts, feelings, experiences) of one person for another, serving as a means of communication between them, a form of the existence of thinking.

At the same time, special attention should be paid to negotiations in the field of environmental tourism. Negotiation as the most complex form of business conversation in which an important decision/agreement is made for business parties, initially they carry some tension. As a result, it is necessary to demonstrate sincerity prior to the commencement of the main negotiation process, openness, capacity for constructive dialogue, cooperation through opening positions, informal relations with partners, secular conversation. There are various ways of psychological influence during communication in environmental tourism: persuasion, inspiration, self-promotion (self-presentation), request, coercion, criticism (constructive and destructive), disregard, manipulation. The main ones are persuasion and inspiration (Egresi, 2018; Shwedun, 2019). Persuasion is a conscious reasoned influence on another person or group of people aimed at changing their worldview positions and decisions. Inspiration is a conscious, unregimented effect on a person or group, based on their uncritical perception of the transmitted information, trust, and authority in the suggestor (transmitting information). The means of influence during inspiration are the personal authority of the suggestor, his/her confident behavior, clear speech, the use of conditions that increase the environmental impact (muffled lighting, rhythmic sounds, ritual touches). Self-nomination (self-presentation) is an open presentation of evidence of competence and qualifications in order to be appreciated. Request-a controversial type of influence, sometimes considered destructive for whoever asks. Represents an appeal to the addressee to satisfy the wishes of the initiator of the action. Coercion-a requirement to comply with the order of the initiator, supported by open or implied threats. Constructive criticism-one of the main communication skills of the leader, allowing one to criticize his/her colleagues and subordinates without making enemies, forming a favorable psychological atmosphere in the team (Hren, 2021; Shvedun, 2021). Destructive criticism is the statement of dismissive or insulting judgments about the personality of a person (group) in the form of ridicule and "reproach" of his/her deeds and misdeeds. The devastation of such criticism is that it does not allow a person to "save face." This method refers to unconstructive types of influence, as it contradicts a person's need for awareness of their significance and strength.

Ignoring is willful neglect-Most often it is perceived as a sign of neglect and disrespect. However, sometimes it can act as a tactful form of forgiveness of awkwardness or insensitivity of a partner. Nonverbal communication is carried out using nonverbal actions (facial expressions, poses, gestures, views, intonations, territorial location). Nonverbal communications express an attitude towards a partner by communication, but not always are unequivocally and correctly interpreted by the interlocutor. Only 7% of messages are determined by verbal content, 93% are nonverbal. In particular, 37% of them represent voice modulation and 55% facial expression. Nonverbal communication is most often used for establishing emotional contact with the interlocutor and maintaining him/her in the process of conversation, to record how well a person owns itself, as well as to obtain information about what people really think about others. Nonspeech means of communication are called emotional language, because most often they "tell" us exactly about the feelings of the interlocutor (Moisescu, 2015; Szromek and Naramski, 2019). What can nonverbal means of communication tell us? First, they point the interlocutor to particularly important points of the communication. Second, they complement the content of the statement. Third, nonverbal means of communication testify to the attitude towards the interlocutor, since they express the feelings of the speaker. Fourth, they give information about the man himself, his condition at the moment, and his psychological qualities.

Formal communications make it possible to streamline and limit information flows and strictly regulate them, reflecting hierarchical management structure. Formal communications are determined by the social roles of the partners. In this case, people communicate not just as individuals but primarily as media of certain functions. However, in a similar situation, the role of communication is not free of personal factors. For example, one manager can be dry or even harsh in communicating with a subordinate, and the other, on the contrary, is friendly. Informal communications are social contacts between humans, reflecting the human need for communication (Bilgihan and Nejad, 2015; Shvedun, 2021). Informal communication is characterized by the fact that the main role in it plays moments related to personal meanings, states, experiences, when each of the partners perceives each other as a unique personality, when communication itself acts as a value. It is in such communication that the spiritual and mental potential of the person, its need for attention and self-assertion, and the strength of its psychological impact on the partner are most fully realized. Business communication is a special form of interaction between people in the process of working activities in the field of environmental tourism, which promotes the establishment of normal moral and psychological atmosphere of work and partnership among leaders and subordinates, between colleagues, create conditions for productive people's cooperation in achieving meaningful goals, ensuring success of a common cause (Andereck et al., 2007; Hren, 2021).

The content of business communication is socially significant and join activities of people in the field of environmental tourism, involving coherence, understanding, and adoption each and every participant of the goals, objectives and specifics of this activity, its own role and ability to implement. The purpose of business communication in the field of environmental tourism is the organization and optimization of joint substantive activities. Except a common goal of communication, we can distinguish personal goals that realize participants in communication: personal security in the process of social activities; improving their living standards; the desire for power, that is, the desire to expand the terms of reference, to move up service ladder; increase of prestige, thereby strengthening the prestige of the position held and the organization itself. Let us list the peculiarities of business communication in environmental tourism.

1) A partner in business communication always acts as a person, significant for the subject.

2) Communicating people is always distinguished by good mutual understanding in matters of business.

3) The main task of business communication is effective cooperation (Mett and Majken, 2006; Shwedun, 2019).

The role of professional and business communication is increasing in modern conditions is increasing. This is due to the following factors:

• Increasing specialization requiring appropriate cooperation;

• Increasing the amount of information that needs to be disseminated;

• Increasing the complexity of production tasks and related increase in the proportion of time spent on communication between employees in environmental tourism (Bilgihan and Nejad, 2015; Peterson and Martin, 2015).

Intercultural communication in the field of environmental tourism is a separate aspect. Intercultural communication not only unites participants in the communication process, it indirectly introduces them to the features of various public institutions of excellent microcultures (including microbusiness of cultures), to which communicators belong. Components of the external environment that affect communication are social and cultural interactions between individuals, that is, interweaving and interpenetration of social Intercultural communication in the field of environmental tourism is a separate aspect. Intercultural communication not only unites participants in the communication process, it indirectly introduces them to the features of various public institutions of excellent microcultures (including microbusiness of cultures), to which communicators belong. Components of the external environment that affect communication are social and cultural interactions between individuals, that is, interweaving and interpenetration of social

On the basis of his/her own interpretation, a person determines for himself/herself the significance of expressions and definitions. In addition, cooperation among cultures in the 21st century should be based on a policy of cooperation. It implies the voluntary mastery of representatives of one culture (or microculture, micro-business culture) with useful skills, terminology, traditions of relations, corporate culture, and ethics of another, thereby enriching interacting microsocieties. There is adaptation and assimilation of language, terms, concepts, and features of professional and colloquial slang. When adapting a person to another business culture, you do not need to reject the values of your own culture. Moreover, there are situations where it is not possible to do this (Peterson and Martin, 2015; Hren et al., 2021). Knowing all these features will help the sales agent or agent of the booking department explain to the final consumer - the traveler - how to behave in a particular situation. Misunderstanding of the host country or the impact of a different culture can affect the health of the tourist more than climate change or the lack of habitual food. Environmental tourism should be seen as a system in which intercultural communication is paramount. Tourism activities are impossible without preserving the uniqueness of individual culture and its carriers. At the same time, any intercultural communication is a kind of contrast to ethnocultural identities, including their mutual penetration.

The more "cosmopolitan" functional and interpersonal interactions in a tourism organization, the more successful it will be in the market. After all, this organization will have cultural mobility-to unite the values of different cultures, to focus on the needs of different societies, and so on.

Conclusion

Thus, communication in the sphere of environmental tourism should be guided by the basic rules and principles of business communication. Communication is the process of establishing and developing contacts between people caused by their needs for joint activities or the achievement of mutually beneficial agreements. A feature of the communication process is that it is carried out on two levels at once-verbal and nonverbal. The main communication barriers in the sphere of environmental tourism are most often the following: A lack of understanding of the importance of communication, improper setting of consciousness, poor message construction, poor memory, and unsuccessful feedback formation. To overcome these barriers, we are working with service personnel to learn and master the skills of generally accepted and professional etiquette.

A specialist in the field of environmental tourism and should have skills to evaluate and analyze the communicative situation, status-role characteristics, intents (intentions) of participants in communication, to select language means, adequate specific communicative situation, which most accurately and clearly express the speaker's intention, determine strategies and tactics of speech behavior, and thus build highly qualified professional speech. In other words, to create and perceive oral and written institutional business discourse. Knowledge of the basics of speech communication is the key to the successful professional activity of any specialist, especially for specialists working directly in the contact area, and just such an area is environmental tourism. The most important and common means of business communication between the tourism manager and the client is a business conversation.

Effective professional and business communication within the framework of the above topics helps travel organizations to develop successfully develop in complex competitive environment. Analyzing communication as a complex multilateral process in general, we have shown that forms of communication in specific situations can be very diverse. To understand how personality is included in these processes and what it brings to them, one needs to be considered as specifically reveals of the processes of communication in various activities and in different groups.

References

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