Abstract
In today's highly competitive business environment, budget orientated planning is insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. Indeed, rapid-paced changes in trade, technology and investment patterns are elements that are impacting each business in one way or another. That is why, to ensure the permanence of their business, each firm must embark on an efficient strategic planning process. A strategic plan is a "road map" which leads an organization from where it is now to where it would like to be in five or ten years. In other words, "strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce decisions and actions that guide and shape what the organization is, what it does, and why it does it" (Bryson, 1995). Moreover, hospitality and leisure industries are increasingly recognised as important to the competitiveness of the worldwide economy that is why, "strategic Planning is essential to survival in food service and hospitality today" (Feltenstein, 1992). The following report is going to critically analyse the view that managing the strategic planning process in the hospitality industry is no different to any other industry. "It is rarely clear whether hospitality should be conceived as a product, a process, an experience, or all three!" (Brotherton, 1999, p. 165) As it is seen in the literature, many definitions are related to the hospitality concept. Thus, Cassee and Reuland (1983, p. 144) proffered a definition of hospitality as "a harmonious mixture of food, beverage, and/or shelter, a physical environment, and the behaviour and attitude of people".
