Political stability is a basic requirement to success regardless of the industry. In hotel industry in particular, political factors can influence the number visitors, both, tourists and business travelers’ visits to a country in direct and indirect ways. For example, an ongoing delicate political situation Northern Ireland may discourage potential visitors to the region due to safety concerns.
Moreover, following acts of terrorism in London on July 7, 2005, UK was temporarily branded as a place that accommodated a set of extremist religious organizations. Risks or threats of acts of terrorism are most likely to reduce the numbers of visitors to London and UK with negative impacts on Hilton performance in this particular market.
Hilton actively engages in lobbying in order to be able to influence certain political factors upon the business to a certain extent. As it is illustrated in the figure below, the company has been spending more than USD 1.5 million during the past four years for lobbying purposes.
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