HOSPITALITY AND

CULTURE
Individual and Society
■Society consists of an accumulation
of relationships between individuals
who share a particular history,
culture, and a set of norms.
Hospitality and Culture
■The origin of the word culture comes from
Latin «colere».
■Culture is the accumulation of values that
society has acquired throughout the
historical process (wars, famines,
neighbours).
■It occurs with elements such as language,
belief system, science, art, architecture,
education, traditions, and history.
Hospitality and Culture
■Hospitality cannot be isolated from
the perception, attitude and
behavior of the host and the guest.
■The most important determinant of
individual and social perception,
attitudes and behaviors is culture.
■It is influential on many things.
Hospitality and Culture
■Dynamic
■Not hereditary
■Not individual
■Addresses needs
■Integrative
Hospitality in Different Cultures
■Different cultures have different values and
approaches in terms of hospitality.
■The understanding of hospitality may be
shaped by cultural norms.
 Hospitality in Turkish Culture
■Turkish people introduce themselves as
hospitable.
■Hosting guests, making them feel at home,
arranging festivities and feasts in weddings,
coming together and sharing the grief in
funerals are some examples.
■Old Turkish traditions include arranging feasts
and participation of people from all economic
levels.
Hospitality in Turkish Culture
■Guests are regarded as God’s gift and they
are served various dishes.
■The host tries to keep the guest
comfortable and serves what s/he consumes
himself/herself.
Hospitality in Ancient Greek
■Because Zeus, the father of the gods in
Greek mythology, was thought to protect
visitors, hospitality was considered a form
of worshiping the gods in Ancient Greece.
■In other words, this understanding of
hospitality, which was established in their
culture in order not to anger the gods they
believed in, especially Zeus, and not to be
punished for this reason, was done partly
out of fear of God > God in disguise.
Hospitality in Ancient Greek
■The Temple of Asclepius was built in
the name of Asclepius, who was the
god of medicine and health, so that
those who came for health purposes
could be treated.
■This temple stands out as the world's
first health center, where people who
come from various parts of the world
to seek healing are hosted and treated.
Hospitality in Ancient Greek
■One of the most basic examples of
hospitality in Ancient Greece was the
«Olympic Games» (776 BC), and many
travelers went to the region where the
games were held and were hosted in the
region to watch these games.
Hospitality in Ancient Rome
■Increase in trade>travel between different
geographical regions began to become more
frequent.
■The Romans built inns and food and beverage
venues on all trade routes, at an average
distance of 40 km from each other, and used
the best materials of the period.
■> special permit for opening and operating.
■Landowners also started operating such
businesses in their lands.
Hospitality in Ancient Rome
■There were many places for commercial
hospitality, and one of the most important of
these was in the city of Pompeii.
■Pompeii was one of the most important
entertainment and trade centers of the
period>commercial hospitality.
■There were 158 businesses in the city of
Pompeii and food and beverage services were
provided in these businesses.
 Hospitality in Ancient Rome
Modern
Latin Services Provided
Version
Larger establishments that offer rooms for rent
Hospitium and often cater to lodging guests; are often built Hotel
specifically for business travelers.
They are buildings with open courtyards
surrounded by a kitchen, a latrine and bedrooms
with stables at the back. These are buildings that
Stabula Inn
offer food, beverage and accommodation
services, usually located just outside the city,
near the city gates.
They are places that sell a variety of simple food
Taberna Bar
and drinks.
These are places where meals are served to
Popina or tables. The term was often used to describe
Restaurant
Caupona public dining establishments and in some cases,
also included establishments with rooms.
Entertainment
Lumpanar
Venue
 Hospitality in Mesopotamia
■Located between Tigris and Euphrates.
■The oldest texts referring to hospitality are Ancient
Near Eastern, and these texts are related to Eastern
Mediterranean traditions in Mesopotamia, Asia
Minor, Syria-Palestine and Egypt.
■In the societies that lived in Mesopotamia, making
the guest comfortable and fed was considered
important.
■The city of Ugarit, located on the northern coast of
Syria today, played a key role in connecting the trade
routes between Egypt in the south, Crete and other
islands in the west, and Mesopotamia in the east,
and became prosperous as it hosted merchants.
Hospitality in Mesopotamia
■Sumerians>one of the first societies to live in the
region.
■The society that demonstrated the first examples
of accommodation in history, around 4500 BC.
■First hunter-gatherers>settled life>started to
plant and grow crops.
■Started to engage in trade.
■Free time used for writing, pottery, making tools,
producing beer.
■They served beer in places>socializing,
relaxation, entertainment.
Hospitality in Mesopotamia
■Laws regarding commercial hospitality and
accommodation.
■Inns and hostels in Mesopotamia met the
accommodation needs of foreigners and their
beverage needs by offering drinks such as
palm wine and barley beer.
Hospitality in Middle East
■The origins of Middle Eastern and Arab
hospitality date back to the third century.
■At that time, hospitality services were
provided only to elite people.
■Since Arab societies lived in tribes during
these periods, the leaders of each tribe were
given roles in hosting feasts for pilgrims.
Also society had such a role.
■One of the well-known tribes, Quraysh,
showed hospitality as they though it as a
good deed and to have a respected position
Hospitality in Different Religions
■Different monotheistic religions offer
various advice on welcoming and hosting
strangers.
Hospitality in Judaism and
Christianity
■ In Old Testament, there is a lot of information about
hosting the guest.
■ «Do not mistreat a foreigner living with you in your
country. You will treat him as if he were one of you and
love him as much as you do. For you too were strangers
in Egypt.»
■ Judaism emphasizes the importance of guests and
recommends making them feel good.
■ Genesis> It is mentioned that Abraham saw three
strangers in front of him and ran towards them to show
his hospitality, greeted them with respect, invited them
to his tent and prepared a feast for them, told them to
continue on their way after eating, and that he stood
under a tree while they were eating.
Hospitality in Judaism and Christianity
■According to the Old Testament, God, the
great host, invites his guests to the world
(home) he created so that they can enjoy his
wealth, blessings and generosity.
Hospitality in Judaism and
Christianity
■The idea of hospitality in the Bible was given
significant place in order to spread Christianity.
■With the declaration of Christianity as the official
religion in Rome in 380 AD and the spread of
Christianity, visits for religious purposes increased,
and various businesses began to be opened and
operated in areas close to places of worship in
order to meet the accommodation and food and
beverage needs of travelers for this purpose.
■In Christianity, as in Judaism, welcoming guests
well and making them feel welcome is seen as an
important value.
Hospitality in Islam
■ Hospitality is shown for God’s sake.
■ Hospitality and generosity towards guests are
regarded as among the main principles of Islam.
■ Guests are welcomed and served without expecting a
return/personal gain.
■ «Whoever believes in Allah should host his guest well.
The appropriate duration for this is one day and one
night. The (right) to be a guest is for three days».
■ «He is not a believer whose stomach is full while the
neighbor to his side is starving»
■ Host should have a favourable attitude.
■ Hosting guests and sharing food in holy days.
Positive Impacts of Hospitality
■Improves feelings of helpfulness,
– Hospitality brings people closer to each other and
enables them to interact.
■It contributes to the development of feelings of
interaction and learning between different cultures.
– Guests coming from regions with different cultures
can also travel to learn the culture of the region
they visit.
■It improves the quality of life in the region with
economic contributions.
– In the commercial dimension of hospitality, the main
purpose is to host the guests and to make the guest
spend money in return for this hospitality service.
Positive Impacts of Hospitality
■ It improves the social services, infrastructure and
superstructure in the destination.
– The intensity of commercial hospitality activities also
contributes to the development of infrastructure services
such as internet, electricity, water and telephone in that
destination.
■ It ensures the revival of culture and the preservation of
cultural heritage.
– Hospitality, whether commercial, social or private, is an
activity that ensures the survival and sustainability of the
culture in a region.
■ It creates new job opportunities.
– The increase in the number of visitors in a destination
brings about the development of hospitality activities and
the increase in the number of hospitality businesses in
that region.
Positive Impacts of Hospitality
■ Improves the regional image.
– The local people, who attach importance to hospitality
activities, play an active role in providing their visitors
with a positive image of the region by showing their
hospitality.
■ Offers more events and entertainment opportunities for
local people.
– Within the scope of hospitality, some events are
organized so that visitors to the region can spend their
free time.
■ Diversifies food and beverage products.
– Tasting the flavors specific to a region can be one of the
travel motivations.
■ It improves tolerance.
Negative Impacts of Hospitality
■It may increase crime rates.
– The demand for this destination and the increase
in the number of businesses cause the region to
become crowded and more people to settle in this
region.
■May lead to overcrowding.
– The increasing number of businesses due to the
increase in demand may also cause the population
in the relevant destination to increase, more
people to live in that region and the region to
become overcrowded.
■Negative changes may be seen in the local people's
eating and entertainment culture, clothing styles
and religious values.
Negative Impacts of Hospitality
■Commercialization
– Historical and cultural values in the region
may begin to be exploited.
■It may increase xenophobia/hostility towards
foreigners.
– Visitors may occasionally intervene in the
living spaces of local people.