Category: Tourism

Several factors are put into consideration before any business enterprise or entity is established. Among them is the physical location. Hotel industry, like any other business activity has to put this factor ahead of all other factors if indeed any tangible gains are to be realized out of the business. The place where a hotel is located will determine several other things including sales volume, customers, profitability and long-term survival in the industry.

It is evident that a convenient place to up a hotel should consider factors such as commercial areas, recreational grounds, airports among others .These factors can maintain good customer base as well as attracting more new customers. There has been always a controiversy on whether it’s more beneficial to put up a hotel where there are other similar hotels or away from such businesses.

One theory argues that by creating a business venture close to the competitors geographically, an entrepreneur can obtain posive externality from economic and institutional environments. In contrast, it is disputed that by locating business venture far away from its competitors, the firm will avoid localized competition and earns itself competitive advantage. Because the two theories seem to be o great importance, it’s good to consider the two in some aspects while putting up a hotel business.

In most cases, it’s rare to establish a business without competitors, in other words almost all business entities operate under perfect competition characterized by product homogeneity, many sellers and buyers and above all buyers and sellers are price takers. Therefore it is important that while opening a new hotel location, one should bear in mind that there are other existing similar businesses and one should not make decisions that to some extend will affect the operations of other investors.

One aspect which can clearly indicate he interruptions of other firms operations is the product priced in other competitors which include pricing of various goods and services including market’ local room rates offerd by the hoteliers. Therefore, one should come up with sound decisions which will not negatively influence the existing market’s room rates (Magnini & Honeycutt, 2003).

The world has become a global village and the survival for the fittest is the ultimate goal for every investor. Because of the competitive nature of the hotel industry, every one involved in the business strives very hard to get his/her own share in the market place.

For this reason, it’s very easy for one to resort into unfair practices such as making the prices of your products lower than those of your competitors. The prices of commodities should directly proportional to the Quantity and the quality of goods and services offered, therefore, once a new hotel is established it to avoid unfair competition, it should offer almost similar services at the same prices with the other competitors.

Alternatively an entrepreneur might opt to provide better and superior services than the existing competitor at the existing market rate. As a manager of a hotel, one should be able to determine critically the value and price of a hotel location in setting room rates (Bull, 1994).

As pointed out later, the pricing of rooms in a hotel is dependent on several factors. For instance several studies have found out that hotels located in the3 cities or near some facilities like airports tend to be expensive than those located away from such prices. An entrepreneur might be operating two hotel facilities offering similar services under different geographical regions but the pricing of the rooms is not the same. This is due to prevailing conditions and environments under which these two entities operate.

It is therefore important to conform to the existing practices oaf the other hotel operators so as to avoid rivalry in the business. However in the process of ensuring that one does not influence the market’s local room rate, profit maximization goal should be fulfilled through ensuring that a firm does not underpriced its products otherwise losses would be incurred and even the firm will be kicked out of the business at its initial stages of operations(Cho, 2003).

Most important is that quality rather than quantity is more valued in hotel industry, so when pricing the rooms they should be priced according to their quality and this will help maintain harmonious working environment among other different players in the industry.

Any customer in need of a certain good or service would want to get it more conveniently and at a very convenient place. The two most important goals to fulfill while running up a business are profit maximization and customer satisfaction.

However, the former is dependent on the latter since no income generation without first satisfying the customers. So the most important issue to consider while putting up a new hotel is where the customers would find it more appropriate to enjoy their services. While putting up high-rise hotels in city areas, it is imperative to bear in mind the problems which come across with this decision to the local population and the tourist such as huge traffic congestion and escalating pollution.

In most cases, the burden for improving and dealing with these problems is left in the hands of tax-payers. While pursuing the principle of self interest I business ventures, public interest should be taken care of so as not to make profits at the expense of harming the general public(Shoval & Cohen-Hattab,2001).

The other important feature to consider while selecting location for a hotel is the demographic characteristics of the target population. Different groups of people have different needs. For instance, there is no logic to open up a Chinese restaurant in a place where the people available don’t consume Chinese foods.

Besides, there are some people with their own taboos and customs which prohibit them from consuming certain foods like in the case of Muslims who don’t consume pork, therefore you should not locate a hotel in a Muslim invaded community if at all you know your hotel businesses offer pork related products (Bull, 1994).

Another important issue to put in consideration while selecting a new location for hotel development is the social and economic class of the surrounding population (Chou, Hsu & Chen, 2008). A five-star hotel cannot be situated in a rural set up consisting of primitive dwellers or small towns with low income earners and whose integrity and ability to spend in such hotels a re questionable. The services and facilities offered should match the social class of the people being targeted (Yoon, Chen & Gursoy, 1999).

Security is another critical issue that cannot be ignored while setting up a hotel. Public order issues including the possibility of fire outbreak, theft and robbery can influence the customer base in a given physical location. Hotels are not only national but international facilities which attract customers across the entire globe.

It should be noted that provision of hotel services is one component of tourism for a given country and tourism income constitute a significant percentage of country’s Gross Domestic Product. All the major international hotel facilities should be located in safe and secure places so as to attract foreign tourists and customers.

This area should be terror-free zones and that explains the reasons why the tourism industry in peaceful countries keeps on growing at a very high rate. The reasons attributed to this are two, one so many investors are willing to venture their businesses in these nations and two too many foreigners are attracted to these nations (Cox & Vieth, 2003).

Running a successful hotel industry is a big challenge. That is why brilliant managers with high thinking and reasoning capacity coupled with critical thinking are recommended to run these businesses. And this is where the strategic management comes in. as a manager I my local area if I were to run a hotel, the first thing is to do through marketing research to establish very well the nature of the groups of people around the area(Liu & Var,1986).

But before going into that, looking at glance, majority of the people are local community groups majority being low-income earners and afe medium income earners. There are no complex needs required to be formulated to satisfy these people therefore few things would only require to be implemented. In such an area like this, a huge percentage of the people do perform odd jobs, others are jobless and few have got formal jobs (Urtasun, 2006; Lindberg & Johnson, 1997).

As a result establishing expensive hotel facilities will be wastage of funds and misuse of resources. These people are mostly taxi drivers, traders, constructors etc. these people despite their low incomes are heavy consumers only that their expenditure is mainly on inferior and cheaper goods and services. Therefore providing better services than the ones being offered by the existing market players will be an important decision (Huang & Stewart, 1996).

The other characteristic feature of the people in the area is that it is inhabited by many drunkards and immoral groups of people. Carelessness and irresponsibility is the dominant feature of the people in the area. The results associated with these can easily be observed. After too much drinking, threes people need accommodation during the evenings and night.

Besides these drunkards, there are so many commercial workers therefore making the demand for lodgings very high (Culligan, 1990). Therefore, setting up a hotel facility with so many lodgings to cater for these people will be more profitable. In addition a better pricing methodology will need to be adopted so as to make the accommodation more affordable.

The nature of services provided will be very much determined by the kind of staffing and human resources available. Local people can be well pleased when served by the people they know better, therefore employing local people will retain huge customer base to some extend. In such situations there is no need for complex staffing as some customers might need to be approached using local language they can easily understand.

An important thing to note about these groups people is that they are of different ethnic groups and you cannot identify a particular community of group to be your customer. Therefore the services should vary accordingly so as t accommodate each and everyone in the given area. This will vary in form of foods, drinks offered as well as the entertainment (Johnson & Vanetti, 2005; Chen, 2001).

Management of a hotel in an isolated area requires a different approach from managing a hotel in a place where other hotels are located. This is because such a facility will not enjoy the benefits of positive externalities enjoyed by the one located in the city or central business district of a given nation.

High quality service delivery should be given the first priority since there are no other similar surrounding facilities (Brougham & Butler, 1981). There has always been a principle of differentiation which emphasizes on the concept of cluster concept which is as a result of behavior of consumers asking for quotations. In the process of minimizing the transportation costs incurred when the consumers are seeking market information, several hotels will always engage in cluster concept (Bachleitner & Zins, 1999).

A newly established hotel in an isolated area cannot enjoy all these benefits and therefore as a manager Ione should formulate and implement decisions on how to access the consumers and provide them with relevant information. The first strategies should be geared towards making the customers aware of the products available and win their confidence.

This might involve massive expensive advertising which need to be an international one since the hotel is interested in both domestic and international customers. In the event that the hotel in isolation is in a place with limited support facilities such as banks supermarkets, a manager can make steps to liase with the concerned managers or directors of these facilities to initiate the bringing up of the same. This is because they play a very crucial role as far as attracting the customers is concerned (Andriotis, 2005).

The efficient running, smooth control and coordination of operations in an hotel as well as maintaining experienced staff and human resource management team is a very crucial requirement to ensure the existence and also deal with challenges associated with increasing competition.

The manager should apply the principle of professionalism and all the departments should be headed by the experienced professionals (Teye, Sonmez & Sirakaya, 2002). The emergence of a new hotel into the market may lead to several outcomes such as new guests moving into the newly established property and leaving other properties and decline in rates offered by the other competitors as a result of new entrance into the market(Egan, Knowles, & Bey,2000).

Launching of training programmers for the employees both existing ones and the already existing work in hotel industry has been widely used in order to improve service delivery and help the new hotel compete fairly in the global market. This helps in bringing up competent staff hence ensuring superior services.

Delegation of duties, right a correct channels of communications are some of the other principles that should be observed while managing the resources of an organization. Management decisions will determine the firm’s future and in the event that such decisions are not well made the firm might very easily be eliminated from the market. Also as a manager you should be able to predict what the proportion of foreign customers might be (Weaver & Lawton, 2001).

References

Andriotis, K. (2005). Community groups’ perceptions of and preferences for tourism development: Evidence from Crete. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 29(2).67-90.

Bachleitner, R., & Zins, A. H. (1999). Cultural tourism in rural communities: The residents’ perspective. Journal of Business Research, 44(3), 199-209.

Brougham, J. E., & Butler, R.W. (1981). A segmentation analysis of resident attitudes to social impact of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 8(4), 569-590.

Bull, A. (1994). Pricing a motel’s location. International journal of contemporary hospitality management, 6(6), 10-15.

Chen, J. S. (2001). Assessing and visualizing tourism impacts from urban residents’ perspectives. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 25(3), 235-250.

Cho, M. (2003). Factors contributing to middle market hotel franchising in

Korea: the franchisee perspective. Journal of Tourism Management, 25, 547-557.

Chou, T., Hsu, C. & Chen, M. (2008). A fuzzy multi-criteria decision model for international tourist hotels location selection. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 27,293-301.

Cox, L. & Vieth, G. (2003). Hotel investment in open area. Annals of Tourism Research, 30(2), 342-352.

Culligan, P.E. (1990).Looking up: Lodging supply and demand. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 31(2), 32-35.

Egan, D., Knowles, T. & Bey, J. (2000).The location of licensed premises in the UK. International Journal of Wine Marketing, 12(1), 5-15.

Huang, Y., & Stewart, W. P. (1996). Rural tourism development: Shifting basis of community solidarity. Journal of Travel Research, 34(4), 26-31.

Johnson, C. & Vanetti, M. (2005). Locational strategies of International hotel chains Annals of Tourism Research, 32(4), 1077-1099.

Lindberg, K., & Johnson, R. L. (1997). Modelling resident attitudes toward tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(2), 402-424.

Liu, J., & Var, T. (1986). Resident attitudes toward tourism impacts in Hawaii. Annals of Tourism Research, 13(2), 193-214.

Magnini, V. P. & Honeycutt, E. (2003). Learning orientation and the hotel expatriate manager experience. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 22,267-280.

Shoval, N. & Cohen-Hattab, K. (2001). Urban hotel development patterns in the face of political shifts. Annals of Tourism Research, 28(4), 908-925.

Urtasun, A. (2006). Hotel location in tourism cities Madrid 1936-1998. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(2), 382-402.

Teye, V., Sonmez, S. F., & Sirakaya, E. (2002). Residents’ attitudes toward tourism development. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(3), 668-688.

Weaver, B. D., & Lawton, L .J. (2001). Resident perceptions in the urban-rural fringe. Annals of Tourism Research, 28(2), 439-458.

Yoon, Y., Chen, J. S., & Gursoy, D. (1999). An investigation of the relationship between tourism impacts and host communities’ characteristics. Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 10(1), 29-44.

Market Segmentation Strategy of the InterContinental Hotels

The InterContinental Hotels Group is following market differentiation and niche marketing by creating a series of products that target different markets and unique to each targeted market. With many customers looking for good value for their money, quality and affordability of the hotel service packages have remained the main basis upon which customers make their final decision to purchase products in the dynamic and stratified Canadian hotel market. The Intercontinental Hotels Group has put measures in place to ensure it attracts more customers and therefore expand their market share through the creation of different products that target different markets.

In order to penetrate and competitive position its interests in the dynamic Canadian hotel market, the InterContinental Hotels Group has different products that target specific customer segments. Through focused and differentiated business strategies, the InterContinental Hotels Group has created hotel brands such as the Crown Plaza to serve the luxury customer segment, Holiday Inn to serve the mid-price segment, Holiday Inn Express to serve the economy segment, and the Holiday Inn Select to serve the business travel segment. This section discusses the market differentiation strategy that the InterContinental Hotels Group has adopted for each of their brands within the Canadian market.

Crown Plaza: Luxury Segment

At present, the luxury market of the InterContinental Hotels Group is served by the Crown Plaza Hotel. The products offered are premium, excellent, quality in meeting the needs of customers within the luxury market. Among the products within the luxury segment include fitness, dining, conference, and complimentary business services. In the process of market differentiation, the company has also adopted a focused positioning strategy to remain competitive in the Canadian market. The Crown Plaza focuses its market to high-end customers by creating expensive and classy services to super-rich clients (Kotler and Keller 263).

The products meant for the luxury segment are customized to appeal to each potential client. This has ensured that the Crown Plaza Hotel is known for its unique targeting, segmenting, and positioning of the high-end products, which has helped it to maintain its position as a market leader. Besides, it has made the Crown Plaza Hotel take credit for making customized hotel services a popular hotel statement for the high-end market segment.

The Crown Plaza Hotel brand has specialized in niche marketing by focusing on the utmost premium brand quality that customers demand. The strong market position has positioned the Crown Plaza Hotel to meet customer demand since it has a resounding knowledge of global consumer trends. The high-end focus has enabled the Crown Plaza Hotel to target customers within the 5% super-rich global population who live or visit Canada and want high-end hotel services (Kotler and Keller 264).

As a result, the Crown Plaza Hotel has no need to spend a lot on advertisement and promotion since its customers are known and make purchases based on the trend. In addition, the Crown Plaza Hotel has been proactive in sponsoring Canadian events such as luxury hotel accommodation shows to tap into the 5% target population. Through this strategy, the Crown Plaza Hotel has been able to maintain visibility and regional leadership position through widening the number of customers who can afford its products since clients associate them with a class statement.

The Crown Plaza Hotel has introduced a special loyalty card and private membership of the hotel services, especially for the loyal and frequenting customers as part of the niche marketing strategy. This strategy has ensured that using the Crown Plaza Hotel products gives customers the opportunity to belong to the high-end private club that only admits the super-rich customers (Lee and Emile 84). The company has taken advantage of the high-end brand association to further penetrate the market.

Holiday Inn: Mid-Price Segment

The positioning strategy for the Holiday Inn is to increase customer awareness of the products since this brand targets mid-price segment across the globe on holiday in Canada through market segmentation. The primary objective is to create complete and explicit customer awareness and attract the mid-price customers market. The objective aims at packaging the Holiday Inn products as a favorite of the mid-price customers. Properly modified Holiday Inn product advertising has reassured the customers on the quality of the products (Bowden 66). Through proper advertisement presentation, the Holiday Inn has benefited from an increased traffic compliments and recorded high rates of customer loyalty as most customers are influenced by reactions from other clients.

The selling point of the Holiday Inn products is presented as being is unique, comfortable, and highly affordable in the niche marketing strategy. Through a timely appeal to emotions and self prejudice, the Holiday Inn products are packaged to engage the ‘perceived goodness’ and need to identify with ‘the ideal’ in the functionality and comfort (Lee and Emile 84). Customers are given the power to make a better and rational judgment on the basis of personal preferences from different categories of the Holiday Inn products since the targeted clients are holiday goers who want products that mid-priced but high-end.

Holiday Inn Express: Economy Segment

Currently, the Holiday Inn Express target customers within the economy segment by offering relatively affordable services, especially for value-oriented customers as part of the market differentiation strategy. The hotel has carried out strategic market differentiation as a positioning strategy. The differentiation strategy is implemented in the Holiday Inn Express through the creation of diverse-low-cost products and services for customers in the middle class and high-class market segments who do not want luxury but are driven by the value against the cost of each service (Bowden 69).

The Holiday Inn Express has created unique brands that can remain rivaled in most parts of Canada to target the corporate traveler segment. At present, Holiday Inn Express has a competitive brand name, which has inspired the business to improve its products and services as the investment capital keeps increasing. Strengths that place the firm at the top include an established brand name because Holiday Inn Express provides relatively affordable high-end hotel products for the economy segment.

Unlike its competitors that target the rich and sophisticated customers with interest in high-end services, Holiday Inn Express targets the middle class in the new corporate strategy of the year 2016-2017 to ensure that it maximizes gains through increased customers. This has enabled the Holiday Inn Express to diversify its products as part of the portfolio balance strategy and gain in the long-term through economies of scale within the differentiated market.

The Holiday Inn Express has taken an initiative to customize the hotel services to consumer needs, depending on the type of traveler. For instance, the Holiday Inn Express has introduced the corporate packages for companies interested in conference services that come with an affordable price tag. The most obvious objective of this proposal is to support the corporate-Holiday Inn Express partnership business as a product differentiation strategy (Malhotra and Agarwal 345).

Proactive engagement with the corporate segment is extremely important, especially with an increase in the cases of organized vacation cum training services for corporate firms across Canada. Fortunately, the creation of the strategic Holiday Inn Express-corporate partnership memorandum has differentiated its market selection approach as being value-driven and offering customers the opportunity to enjoy high-end hotel services without having to spend a fortune.

Although it is possible for a company to produce differentiated goods or services yet fail to achieve much success, the market differentiation in the case of the Holiday Inn Express has been effective to the extent that it gives the hotel a great success in its marketing. One of the major reasons why this differentiation has been successful is corporate involvement through pre-negotiated packages. The Holiday Inn Express has been involved in campaigns that advocate for corporate packages to appeal to small and medium companies that might need affordable conferencing services for their employees (Malhotra and Agarwal 345).

Another factor that has strengthened this market differentiation position is the many outlets that the Holiday Inn Express has opened across Canada. This has helped the Holiday Inn Express to expand its consumer base, increase sales, and generate more profits. As suggested by the Ocean Blue strategy, the Holiday Inn Express has increased its competitive advantage through entering the uncontested pre-negotiated corporate package market within Canada to tap into the value-driven customers who are in need of high-quality services.

The Holiday Inn Express has utilized this strategy to create high-end and middle-end products to appeal to different corporate customer segments that are not served by other competitors (Malhotra and Agarwal 345). In fact, the Holiday Inn Express has an opportunity to revolutionize the economy segment market through implementation of the corporate packages that does not necessarily result in high pricing tag.

Holiday Inn Select: Business Traveler Segment

The Holiday Inn Select have products that are developed for the business traveler and are located near airports and business centers. The current services offered by the Holiday Inn Select are conferencing facilities, 24-hours business services, and comfortable business-class accommodation. In order to improve the visibility of the Holiday Inn Select among the targeted business travel market segment, there hotel has adopted the cost-leadership strategy to benefit from firm specific advantage, location specific advantage, and internalization advantage due to very low cost of production, thus low cost of final products to target the travel market segment.

The Holiday Inn Select has penetrated the business traveler segment in Canada through its high quality and very affordable customized services to the business travelers market (Malhotra and Agarwal 345).

At present, the Holiday Inn Select controls more than 10% of the Canadian high-end business traveler accommodation services since its products are classified as luxurious pocket friendly hotel products for a typical traveler. The low cost price tag proposed on its products can be associated with developing the lowest cost of production since the Holiday Inn Select has initiated efficiencies in each product unit as a business strategy.

The Holiday Inn Select has adopted the cost leadership strategy to improve its efficiency through streamlining operations. As a result, this venture has developed a cumulative experience, optimal performance, quality assurance, and is in full control of their operational chains. In order to cut down cost of service delivery for the targeted business traveler segment, the Holiday Inn Select has fully embraced the modern technology in its service delivery, logistics, and customer care through conducting a third party to do this on its behalf. The Holiday Inn Select has also entered into a partnership with ticketing, travel and tours agent, and taxi agents rather than engaging its resources in obtaining and selling to its customers (Malhotra and Agarwal 345).

As a result, the general over head cost of operation has been reduced substantially. Besides, the Holiday Inn Select is successful in engaging in foreign direct investment in different regions across Canada and other markets. The initial motive for establishing the Holiday Inn Select brand within Canada was informed the existence of cheap labor and wide market for the business travel hotel segment. Therefore, the Holiday Inn Select has introduced a series of efficiency monitoring systems such as performance valuation, target management, and franchise business approach, which has greatly reduced cost of product, thus cheap business traveler hotel services.

These strategies aim at enabling the Holiday Inn Select to optimize profits through efficiency in sales, benefits from economies of scale, and use of company resources at the least possible cost while maintaining quality (Rhim and Lee 169). The cost leadership strategy for the Holiday Inn Select has fused cost-effectiveness and high value for business travelers who want ideal accommodation and hotel services within Canada and beyond.

InterContinental’s Portfolio of Brands an Advantage or Disadvantage

InterContinental’s portfolio of brands within the Canadian market has its advantages and disadvantages, since the corporation targets different markets. The pros and cons of portfolio of brands are discussed below.

Advantages

Since the Intercontinental Hotels Group products have existing market distribution channel in Canada, the existence of many brand has enables the InterContinental Hotels Group to effectively use the costing strategy to reduce the prices to a certain minimum in order to attract customers from the targeted market segments and achieve the aim of the quantity maximization by increasing number of services sold. This has ensured that the InterContinental Hotels Group brand is more visible and sustainable within the Canadian market. Since the target markets are specific, the success variables for the Canadian market share expansion strategy for the InterContinental Hotels Group brands can be measured through an increase in sales from different brands.

Currently, the main challengers of the InterContinental Hotels Group are the Choice Hotels Canada, Best Western International, Westmount Hospitality Group, and Travelodge Canada Corp within the Canada hotel market. However, these competitors concentrate on a single or very few brands to the advantage of the globally competitive InterContinental Hotels Group brand, which has a series of brands for different markets.

For instance, through market differentiation, the penetration strategies have been realistic since marketing resources (distribution patterns) are fully operational to facilitate a market exercise on target and segmenting position for the InterContinental Hotels Group brands (Bowden 69). Besides, increasing products is within reach since the projected market share growth can support and sustain expanded product lines for different brands.

Through balancing different brands, the InterContinental Hotels Group is in a position to further penetrate the luxury, business travel, economy, and mid-range clients and succeed in creating an environment of own competition. The InterContinental Hotels Group is also in a position to develop strategies that can emphasize on creating trends by ensuring that the InterContinental Hotels Group brands become a symbol of status and culture across the Canadian hotel market (Rhim and Lee 169).

This will guarantee increased product preference to the advantage of the InterContinental Hotels Group over its competitors such as Choice Hotels Canada, Best Western International, Westmount Hospitality Group, and Travelodge Canada Corp within the Canada hotel market. For instance, having many brands has enabled the InterContinental Hotels Group to attract customers from different market segments and achieve the aim of the quantity maximization by increasing number of products sold within the Canadian hotel market.

Disadvantages

The existence of many brands comes with demerits such as inability to balance different marketing and production performance indicators, since each market is unique. For instance, the InterContinental Hotels Group might become a victim of strategy and product duplication in a bid to satisfy the demand for each product brand. Besides, since the different brands are differentiated by their cost, the InterContinental Hotels Group might become a victim of generalization or confusion of product brands.

For instance, a client might refer a customer to test a specific brand. The referred customer might find the brand non- appealing and might generalize that all the InterContinental Hotels Group are non-appealing. This negative perception after an experience with one brand might actually affect the performance of other brands.

Proposed Positioning Strategy: Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express within the Canadian Hotel Market

The objective of the revised marketing strategy is to encourage business and recreational travels to prefer the two hotels whenever they are in Canada. The marketing communication plan proposed for the two hotels will encompass promotion of positive brand image through pricing, product, and quality mixes as discussed below.

Revised Positioning Strategy: Holiday Inn

In order to encourage the recreational travelers to prefer the Holiday Inn, there is need to adopt price optimization to introduce the aspect of value for money. For instance, in order to optimize prices, the Holiday Inn should manage its pricing mechanism through adaptation of multiple-pricing strategy for different products to target clients with different need brackets. The pricing mechanism should be applied in hotel reservation, capacity utilization, and categories of customers to create a permanent perception of value since customers who make early booking might be given a percentage discount. This strategy is likely to increase the performance of the hotel.

Beside, the Holiday Inn should be more proactive in improving its supplementary services. For instance, the Holiday Inn might offers free laundry, pick and drop to group customers, free guide, and free information on various services that a customer staying in the hotel may be interested in (Malhotra and Agarwal 345). As a result of the improved supplementary services, the Holiday Inn will be able to expand its operations and build a brand of meeting customer expectations.

The price optimization strategy proposed is based on a customized model which rates the elasticity of prices, occupancy, and annual calendar. For instance, the festive period should attract higher fees that the non festive season. The concept can applied at the Holiday Inn where charges are based on the number of customers, frequency of travel, and the period of travel (Bowden 71). The strategy can be effective in creating positive brand image among the targeted holiday goers since they will perceive the Holiday Inn as an ideal hotel with affordable price tag and quality services.

As a strategy for proactive customer engagement, the Holiday Inn should initiate several support services to customers and communities surrounding its branches. These initiatives can enable the Holiday Inn to expand rapidly due to improved customer loyalty. Moreover, the Holiday Inn will be able to penetrate the traditional markets because the hotel’s model of running the customer assurance strategies will allow for the customer preference tracking process and live feedbacks. For instance, adoption of the hybrid system of management by the Holiday Inn might ensure direct contact with customers within the shortest time possible.

The hybrid system is very successful in contact management and positive attitude reassurance. In order to present the above strategy, the Holiday Inn should consider utilizing the local media, social media, and travel agencies in order to spread the message within Canada and across the globe (Malhotra and Agarwal 349). The message to be advertise is: come you magnificent customer, who longs for comfort and the best holiday accommodation and services at no sweat!

Revised Positioning Strategy: Holiday Inn Express

As part of the market segmentation strategy, the Holiday Inn Express should utilize its innovative and expertise capabilities in product development by offering multiple brands of the current products to appeal to different classes of business travelers with different needs. For instance, the Holiday Inn Express should deal in exclusive brands that might appeal to a business traveler such as the pick-and-drop service, executive conferencing services, and a unique accommodating plan for frequent business traveler (Tynan and McKechnie 513).

As a result, the group was able to create an environment of own competition since customers will be offered a variety products with different price tags. Another key aspect positioning strategy envisions creation of a simultaneous but independently functioning cost balancing matrix that keep the hotel in the competitive edge. However, before implementing this recommendation, market research should expand into the territory of acquiring knowledge on prevailing market needs, especially when dealing with a product that is already in the market.

In order to penetrate the highly segmented business travel hotel market in Canada, the Holiday Inn Express should negotiate for discounts, competitive pricing, and flexible distribution network to ensure that the targeted customers are able to get value for their money. Through this strategy, the Holiday Inn Express will be able to implement the high-quality low-prices strategy to outperform any form of competition in the Canadian hotel market (Rhim and Lee 169). Since the target market is dynamic, the Holiday Inn Express should use the business to business and business to customer contact management strategies in order to reach the business travels within and without Canada.

The Holiday Inn Express should have strategic and effective customer relationship management approaches to guarantee customer loyalty. For instance, the Holiday Inn Express should have a series of annual promotion activities such as discounts for frequent business travelers in the form of private membership and redeemable service credit card. Through the laggard activism strategy, the Holiday Inn Express will be able to guarantee customer loyalty in the short-term by offering premium customer experience and compact customer care support. In the long-term, the Holiday Inn Express many establish a contact management system that integrates the standard operating procedures that promote consistency in customer service (Bowden 71). These strategies are aimed at ensuring continuous expansion and customer satisfaction.

The Holiday Inn Express can use series of promotion strategies to enter and penetrate the Canadian market. The promotion strategies should involve personal selling, advertising, and sales promotion to ensure that the targeted clients are brought on board. The promotion messages can further be customized to incorporate the aspect of Canadian business travel culture in product marketing and branding (Tynan and McKechnie 513).

The Holiday Inn Express can use social media, traditional media, and travel agents to spread this message since these sources can reach the expansive market. The message for this proposed marketing objective is: Are you the busy businessman who wants a caring hotel to take care of your need? Just make reservation and we will do the rest from airport transfer, accommodation, tour guide, and ideal conferencing services with quality in mind and friendly price tag!

Perceptual Map: Crown Plaza Luxury Brand

Marketing involves building friendly partnership and working relationship with a market segment without necessarily having physical contact with it. In fact, the main source of exchanging information and advertising products is through written words in a social media such as television. Reflectively, success of marketing is deeply entrenched in the principle of keeping reliable and professional reputation in exchanging ideas and convincing customers in buying or being part of a product.

Unlike the main competitors, the Crown Plaza Luxury Brand has customized services with a very effective customer care. Besides, the products and services of the Crown Plaza Luxury Brand are designed for only the high-end customers who want quality and opulence. The focused approach on the high-end customers makes the Crown Plaza Luxury Brand to be more appealing to the super rich clients because they are assured of only meeting and interacting with similar people whenever they go to the Crown Plaza Hotel. The perception map is summarized in the table below.

Works Cited

Bowden, John. “The Process of Customer Engagement: A Conceptual Framework.” Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 17.1 (2009): 63-74. Print.

Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. Marketing management, New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.

Lee, Kim and Turban Emile. “A Trust Model for Consumer Internet Shopping.” International Journal of Electronic Commerce 6.1 (2011): 75-91. Print.

Malhotra, Kim, and John Agarwal. “Internet Users’ Information Privacy Concerns (IUIPC): The Construct, the Scale, and a Causal Model.” Information Systems Research 15.4(2007): 336-355. Print.

Rhim, Hosus, and Chan Lee. “Assessing potential threats to incumbent brands: new product positioning under price competition in a multi segmented markets.” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 22.1 (2010): 159-182. Print.

Tynan, Caroline and Sandra McKechnie. “Experience Marketing: A Review and Reassessment.” Journal of Marketing Management 25.6 (2008): 501-527. Print.

Tourism

Tourism involves movement of people for leisure, business or recreational facilities within or outside their country but away from the areas they usually reside. Tourism is a recognized leisure activity in the whole world. It is important as it boosts the economy of a country (Alison 2005, p.9). Visitors pay for goods and services provided to them during their stay.

International tourism earns a country foreign income as tourists travel inside the country from other countries. Tourism creates job opportunities for people who work in tourist industries. For instance, there are people who work in service industries such as cruise ships and airlines in provision of transportation services.

Others work in hotels where they provide tourists with food and accommodation. Finally, people working in casinos, music venues and theatres provide entertainment and recreational facilities to tourists. The tourism sector is very important in the growth and development of a country (Elliot 1997, p. 20).

Tourism in Japan

According to Berger (2010, p. 3), tourism plays a major role in the economy of Japan as a country and the society in general. Japan benefits from both domestic and international tourists.

For instance, schoolchildren like paying visits to Tokyo tower while those in high schools like visiting Hokkaido or Okinawa. Japan has modified flights that carry passengers within the country in order to be efficient and faster in covering short distances. In addition to domestic tourism, Japan attracts tourists from all over the world (Guichard-Anguis 2009, p.103).

Tourist attractions in Japan

Many things attract tourists in Japan. The attractions range from cultural and historical treasures, beautiful mountains, forests, and the seacoast. Japans’ famous castles, shrines, temples and hot springs are tourist attraction centers. Visitors get comfortable accommodation in Japan.

The unique style of Japanese accommodation in addition to their hotels and mansions designed in the western style attract visitors. An example is Ryokan used to refer to Japan’s restaurants and Minshuku, which refers to bed and breakfast (Nishiyama 1996, p.52).

According to Hunsman and Jackson (2003, p. 430), the transportation system in Japan is well developed with the Japanese bullet train (Shinkansen) joining the major cities. Air transport provides a means of travelling to and from the country. The means of transport within the country are planes, trains and buses.

Crossing from one island to another is through the use of water transport modes such as ferries. Rental cars and taxis are available for visitors to travel from one place to another. Finally, one of the greatest attractions in Japan is their cuisine. Japan has a variety of dishes. They also offer foodstuffs from all over the world. These and other factors attract tourists to Japan.

Tsunami

Tsunami is a Japanese term that means “harbor wave”. A tsunami is caused by earthquakes occurring in water bodies, sub-marine rockslides, volcanic eruptions or even meteorites and asteroids falling into water bodies from the atmosphere. The main cause of a tsunami is underwater earthquake.

However, not all earthquakes are strong enough to cause a tsunami. In order to cause a tsunami, the earthquake should have a magnitude above 6.75. Most tsunamis take place in the Pacific Ocean. Tsunamis occur after displacement of large volumes of water. According to Bryant (2008, p.15), when earthquakes occur in water bodies, the floor of the sea moves up quickly.

Displaced water has to find its way out, which results in long waves that run across the sea in all directions. The water can flow over long distances causing floods in such areas. Tsunamis cause great damage to properties as well as loss of human life. It is advisable to run towards high ground levels or inland places whenever people see signs or suspect that a tsunami is about to occur (Pinedo 2004, p.27).

Tsunami in Japan

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan on 11 March 2011. The tsunami covered a distance of about 23 feet from the coast of the country in the northern part of the country causing thousands of deaths and destruction of properties. Large waves destroyed buildings in large cities, washed away homes, vehicles and people while causing huge damages.

This was the largest earthquake in the history of Japan covering around 230 miles on the north side of Tokyo, Japan’s capital city. Other countries like Australia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and other areas were given a warning by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre to be careful (Nanto 2011, p. 11).

Johnson (2011, p.10) argues that statistics showed that the 2011 tsunami left 15,839 people dead, 5893 injured while 3,647 people went missing. Extensive and severe structural damages occurred as a result of the tsunami. Roads and railways were destroyed, dams collapsed and many places were burned. Naoto Kan, the current prime minister in Japan reported that the incident was the toughest and most challenging in the country after the Second World War, which took place sixty five years ago.

The areas on the north eastern side suffered from shortage of water and electricity after the tsunami. It is estimated that the effects of the earthquake alone resulted in a total loss of over $30 billion. According to the World Bank, the tsunami was the most expensive natural disaster ever in the world whose estimated economic cost was $235 billion.

How Tsunami affected Tourism demand in Japan

The tsunami greatly affected the tourism industry in Japan and other countries in the world. The number of people travelling in and outside the country went down. The economy of Japan went down because its main source of income is from the tourism sector. The incidence affected tourism, trade and other financial activities in Japan.

Many people who were to travel from their own countries to Japan canceled their plans to visit the country. For instance, the U.S. government warned its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan unless it was unavoidable. The issue of cancelling and changing destinations reduced the number of tourists who would have traveled to the country. This in turn means that Japan is going to lose a lot of foreign exchange earnings and therefore the economy is pulled down (Prothero 2011, p.60).

According to Prothero (2011, p.62), the number of Japanese travelling outside their country also went down. This is because the effects of the tsunami were felt by the whole nation, an aspect that created a sense of responsibility towards their country. For practical and cultural reasons, most of them chose to remain within their country for some time.

This reduced tourism around the world temporarily. For instance, most of the tourists in the United States of America come from Japan. About 20% of the total number of tourists visiting Hawaii comes from Japan. Based on the fact that the tsunami greatly reduced the number of Japanese visiting Hawaii, it is estimated that Hawaii will lose in average two billion dollars in the year 2011. Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau (HVCB) argue that the number of Japanese visitors has increased at a high rate since 2010.

Being a developed country, Japan has many engineering and automobile industries. Many Indians travelled into the country for business purposes. Just before the incident, Japan had introduced multiple entry visas for those Indians who had visas from the United States of America.

These and other tourism promotions were mainly designed by Japan in order to gain from business activities with Indians who came in to buy goods in large quantities. Many Indians now feared visiting the country and business operations went down. New Zealand and other trading partners suffered from the tsunami (Hudman & Jackson 2003, p.29).

New Zealand’s Fourth largest trading partner is Japan. Transporting these products became a problem because the ports were damaged. The Japanese could not get those products while New Zealand lacked a market for their products (Prothero 2011, p. 64).

After the tsunami, people from other countries lost confidence in Japan and feared visiting the country. Bearing in mind that some of the victims of the incident were tourists in the country touring beaches and other recreational centers within the coast, others feared that the same would happen to them once they pay a visit to Japan.

Being a difficult task to predict when a tsunami is going to occur, many visitors could not risk visiting the country. Instead, many would choose to remain in their home areas rather than risk their life. Visitors were not secure anymore to visit Japan (Travis, 2001, p.76).

Travis (2001, p.78) argues that the damage that the tsunami left in Japan affected tourist industry. It became difficult to access some of the places because the roads were damaged.Crossing from one island to another was difficult because ports were also damaged and needed to be constructed again.

Tourists feared visiting the country because of transportation difficulties. In addition to the poor means of transportation, some of the tourist attraction centers were located in areas where the effects of the tsunami were felt most. The country therefore lost some of the things that attracted tourists. Many tourists enjoy touring the coasts because of the favorable climate around the sea. The feeling of insecurity around the seacoast discouraged many visitors.

The population of Japan reduced greatly because of the large numbers of people who died in the incident. The country lost people who worked in tourist industries and as tour guides. Because of this, they lacked enough manpower to run these industries. Japanese citizens also feared working in some tourist industries because they mainly operate within the coast. The above factors caused by the tsunami led to decline in the tourism industry in the country (Travis, 2001, p. 79).

Conclusion

A tsunami is a natural disaster which leads to the deaths of many people and destruction of properties. Since it is a natural disaster, it cannot be controlled. However, people should escape whenever its signs show by running away from the coast. A tsunami affects tourist industry because it creates fear among visitors. Trade between countries is also affected. The famous 2011 tsunami in Japan was a global issue, which affected trade and tourism in the whole world.

List of References

Alison, P 2005, Tourism and intercultural exchange: why tourism matters, Channel View Publications, New York.

Berger, A 2010, Tourism in Japan: an ethno-semiotic analysis, Channel View Publications, London.

Bryant, E 2008, Tsunami: the underrated hazard, Springer, New Jersey.

Elliot, J 1997, Tourism: politics and public sector management, Routledge, New York.

Guichard-Anguis, S 2009, Japanese tourism and travel culture, Taylor & Francis, New York.

Hudman, L & Jackson, R 2003, Geography of travel and tourism, Cengage Learning, London.

Johnson, R 2011, Japan’s 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami: Food and agriculture implications, DIANE Publishing, Washington.

Nanto, D 2011, Japanżs 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami: Economic effects and implications for the United States, DIANE Publishing, Washington.

Nishiyama, K 1996, Welcoming the Japanese visitor: insights, tips, tactics, University of Hawaii Press, New York.

Pinedo, V 2004, Tsunami: Building organizations capable of prospering in tidal waves, iUniverse, New York.

Prothero, D 2011, Catastrophes! Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and other earth-shattering disasters, JHU Press, New York.

Travis, A 2001, Planning for tourism, leisure and sustainability: International case studies, CABI, New York.

Introduction

Over the years many people have taken to vacationing as a way of enriching their lives as opposed to before where people opted to spend their money largely on material enrichment. This is because vacationing paves way for new experiences and allows people to satisfy their curiosity as to what exists in other places (Berger xii). The financial beneficiaries are the destination towns, cities, or countries which has led many countries to make great returns from the tourism sector. According to Burkardt, tourism has been termed as the largest industry across the globe, having surpassed others like the oil industry (3).

Taking a vacation requires a lot of planning in advance to ensure that everything works well from the time one leaves for the vacationing destination to the time he or she returns from the vacation. Time, finances, destination, accommodation, transportation, and climatic conditions are just some of the factors to take into consideration. The reason why one is taking a vacation also forms a major basis for decision making. When faced with a choice between different destinations, one compares the different factors in relation to each other and picks the destination site that fits most with the reasons for vacationing. In this paper, I will compare two vacation destinations, which are Thailand and Paris, and based on my findings determine the more viable destination.

Thailand

According to Berger (3), Thailand is an independent Kingdom located in South East Asia and is governed under a constitutional monarchy with a king as the Head of State and leader of the Armed Forces wh9o is charged with the duty of upholding the Buddhist Religion which is the official religion in the country as well as other religions in the Kingdom. Its capital city is Bangkok which is the hub of the Kingdom’s cultural, industrial, political, commercial activities. The majority of the population is Thai while the Chinese, Malay and other minority tribes making up the rest of the population and Thai is the official Kingdom language. Due to the industrialization that took place in the country in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Kingdom has become recognized as a major tourist destination site with tourism returns making major contributions to the Kingdom’s economy.

Thailand has manifested itself as a major tourism and vacation destination because of its exotic Islands and other scenery, its customary hospitality and peoples’ friendliness even to strangers, its historical and traditional culture which has, by and large, stood the test of time as well as the availability of a large range of exotic cuisines.

Paris

Paris is the capital city of France and is located in the Northern part of the country. Over the years it has established a name in the tourism industry as one of the world’s major tourist destinations due to the presence and influences of sectors such as media, education, fashion, entertainment, business as well its cultural diversity, major landmarks, popular parks, and other scenic sites. These different aspects have contributed to the progress that the city has achieved therefore making it a major contributor to the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Comparison between Paris and Thailand as Vacationing Destinations

Thailand and Paris have proven their worth as major vacation destinations but in order to come up with the preferred destination of choice, my comparison will be based on the following aspects:

Financial Aspect: When choosing a vacation location, it is important to consider one financial position as well as the amount of money one is willing to spend while on the vacation. Paris is known to be one of the most expensive cities in the world meaning that as a vacation location it would also prove to be expensive. This is in terms of the transportation cost, the accommodation cost, and the cost of other expenses such as food, shopping, and tour operators among others. Compared to Paris, Thailand is less expensive in terms of all the areas that have been mentioned above. Therefore for someone seeking to spend less on vacation and at the same time get a full vacation experience, the Kingdom of Thailand would prove to be a more feasible choice.

Scenery: In as much as vacationing is all about relaxing and taking a break from an everyday hectic life, it also provides a chance for people to explore new places that they would otherwise not be able to explore in their day-to-day life. The scenery may either be man-made or natural. Paris is known to be a very artistic city with monumental structures such as the Eiffel Tower which has been in existence since 1889 being the most recognizable. The Louvre Museum, the Basilique du Sacre Couer, and Notre Dame de Paris cathedrals and Disneyland are also major tourist attraction sites and would definitely make Paris a good vacation location (Jaegel para. 3-5). For a person who prefers art, Musee du Louvre would prove beneficial as it holds some of the world’s most famous works of art such as the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. Thailand on the other hand offers largely natural geographical scenery. The Northern Part of the Kingdom is characterized by a mountainous topography with Doi Inthanon being the highest of the Kingdoms mountains, the central part of the Kingdom is mostly flat with the Khorat plateau being a major feature and the region while the Southern part of the Kingdom’s main feature is the Kra Isthmus which links the Malay Peninsula with Asia’s mainland. The Mekong River and the Chao Phraya also provide a scenic destination and someone considering to vacation in Thailand would enjoy the view. Based on the information provided the choice of whether to visit Thailand or Paris would be based on whether a person prefers a more natural geographic scenery or more manmade artistic features the two destinations offer respectively.

Climate: In order to pick the best vacationing location, one has to consider the destination’s climate and weather conditions to determine the best time of the year to visit. Extreme weather conditions are in most cases not good for people planning to take vacations as they are likely not to enjoy different outdoor activities. Thailand is a tropical Kingdom and therefore enjoys a tropical climate which means that it is mostly hot throughout the year but this does not mean that there are no seasonal variations from region to region. These variations lead to three different climatic seasons; Between December and February it is cool but dry, between March and June it is normally very hot which is followed by the rainy season between June and November (Hoare 12). Paris is characterized by an oceanic kind of climate and therefore does not experience extreme temperature, whether high or low. Paris experiences four climatic seasons, which are summer, winter, spring and autumn (Gelber 46). The climatic and weather conditions in both destinations are favorable and one just has to choose the time of the year which best suits him to go on vacation but be careful to avoid those times which experience conditions which are on either extreme of the chart.

Culture and Religion: One should always consider the culture of the preferred vacation location because there are regions or countries which have strict cultures and conformity to such is necessary as long as one is there. Only pick a location where you will be most comfortable. Thailand has maintained a large part of its traditional customs and customs but this is not to say that the people of the Kingdom have not been influenced by the Western culture. Thais are mostly known for their hospitality meaning they are very accommodating even to foreigners. Such a country would prove beneficial and the experiences are also likely to be good for someone on vacation. Even though the country mostly conforms to the Buddhist religion, other religions are accommodated meaning one is not likely to face opposition on the basis of their religion. Paris is a large cosmopolitan city and the people are also welcoming to outsiders. The culture here is not as defined as in Thailand and one of the most shared cultures among the people is the love for theater. Food which forms part of a place’s culture is as diverse as the people living in the city. Fashion and entertainment though not largely specific play a major role in shaping people’s behavior in the city and makes a good vacation location for people interested in these fields. The cuisine of the Thais is mainly composed of five distinctive tastes which are made of spicy, salty, bitter, sweet, and sour tastes and the Kingdom’s staple food is rice and it forms part of every meal. In order to have a full cultural experience, it would be advisable to visit Thailand during festive seasons and holidays. If one is looking for a cultural experience and want to learn more about other people’s culture during vacation, Thailand would be the place to visit. If one is looking for a different city experience then Paris should be the destination of choice.

Stability and Security: A countries general stability matters a lot when picking a vacationing location as one would not want to visit an unstable destination in terms of political stability. France is a largely politically stable country and in effect, Paris is also politically stable. This means that one is assured of safety from political uproars and also the level of security in the city is high.

Thailand has a long history of political instability since 1932 where the Kingdom underwent a transition from being a complete monarchy to a constitutional monarchy to the military coup in 2006. In 2008, the political uncertainty was brought to an end when the court dissolved the then Prime Minister’s rule paving way for a new one who is currently serving the Kingdom. Such political uproars do little in building people’s confidence about the country as a vacation location or tourist destination site and in effect harms the Kingdom’s economy and largely growing tourism sector (Kipgen para. 1-3). Vacations normally call for peace of mind and as such the assurance of safety and security is a major factor to consider before picking a country as a vacation destination. On this note, Paris would prove to be a more viable vacation destination as compared to Thailand.

Conclusion

Vacations have become a significant part of peoples’ lives and more and more are striving to visit other parts of the world during their free time in search of new and different experiences. The decision as to which destination is most likely to fulfill one’s desires is normally based on various factors as mentioned above. The weight attached to these factors varies from person to person and in the end, the destination of choice is an individual decision.

From the information gathered above Paris has proven to be a more viable vacation location as far as the whole vacation in the city feel is concerned. This does not however mean that Thailand does not have a lot to offer. For a more cultural and natural feel to a vacation, it proves to be the best destination of choice compared to Paris. It is also less expensive meaning that for a completely new experience and the need to see how other people live away from city life, it would be a better choice. The Thailand Kingdom should therefore seek to maintain political stability as this would draw more people to tour it and create more economic benefits for the people and the Kingdom as a whole.

Works Cited

Berger, Asa., Thailand Tourism. New York: Haworth Press Inc, 2007. Print.

Burkardt, Nicole., Critical Assessment of the Theory and Practice of Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure: Analyzed on the Basis of Disneyland Paris. Germany: Auflage Publishers, 2005. Print.

Gelber, Ethan., Cycling France. 2^nd Edition. California: Lonely Planet Publishers, 2009. Print.

Hoare, Timothy., Thailand: A Global Studies Handbook. California: ABC-CLIO, 2004. Print.

Jaegel, Wolf., “Paris Is an Incredible Destination to Spend a Wonderful Vacation”. Article Base. 2007. Web.

Kipgen, Nehginpao., Instability in Thailand. The Korea Times. 2009. Web.

Introduction

Sustainably developed tourism has become one of the primary concerns of each country as more people are willing to go to places with better ecology, infrastructure and attractions. Generally, the tourism industry demands that all the spheres of human activities interact in order to attract new visitors to the area. One of such destinations is Sri Lanka, which is a beautiful tropical island in the Indian Ocean and has been quite a popular destination for tourists from all over the world due to its breath-taking location and uniqueness. It has an enormous amount of culture and heritage-based resources. Moreover, the state is enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The country is rich in natural and cultural resources. It took Sri Lanka 18 years to recognise a need for developing tourism as a driver of its economy. However, recent statistics show that more people prefer other countries for recreation. The purpose of this group project is to investigate the economic factors that can influence the development of Sri Lanka as a tourist attraction site.

Key Stages of Development

The direction of sustainable tourism has become the goal of each tourism-oriented country. The following are the features of tourism sustainability:

1. Optimal usage of environmental resources, biodiversity is preserved and ecosystems function together.
2. Socio-cultural authenticity is respected, cultural heritage is conserved and well treated and cross-cultural borders are honoured.
3. Economic benefits are equally distributed between all the stakeholders, the level of employment is stable, and opportunities for income growth are available.
4. Poverty and social alienation are eliminated from society (Rasoolimanesh and Jaafar, 2016).

To plan the stages of tourism development, it would be logical to stick to Gantt’s chart, which will help to establish the objectives and deadlines.

1. Any project has as a first step setting objectives, both short and long-term. The main aim of this program is to promote sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka. Achieving these objectives demands understanding the context of the country, that is, its location, economic, ecological and social factors influencing the state (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018). Sri Lanka can focus on preserving heritage sites to develop new and sustain existing tourism. One of the UNESCO heritage sites in Sri Lanka is the Sacred City of Kandy, which maintains a tooth of a Buddha. This site must be highly protected to preserve its sacredness to be visited by tourists.
2. The next step is to identify the stakeholders and develop working relations with them. Among the stakeholders can be indigenous people, visitors, different communities, cultural heritage agencies and other groups. Developing partnerships with trustworthy agents can have a positive impact on travellers who came to the island. Sri Lanka is inhabited by the indigenous tribe Vedda who is the earliest citizen of the island. This tribe may have a vested interest in developing tourism sustainability as they may contribute their uniqueness to it. Moreover, heritage agencies will assist Sri Lanka to establish itself as a centre of ancient but well-preserved sights.
3. The appraisal of tourist demand and supply is another stage. Any tourism starts with attractions and people choose countries to travel to due to the popularity of sights it has. An attraction represents an object, person, or place, that attracts people geographically or through remote electronic means so that they can experience it. Therefore, it will be necessary to single out the most popular attractions and create potentially successful and unique ones that will shape Sri Lanka’s image. This step would take several years as erecting new sites is time and finance-consuming.
4. At the stage of assessing, it is crucial to identify issues and perspectives that might affect the future of tourism. For example, the indigenous group of stakeholders might demand more time to train as tourist guides (Amerta, Sara and Bagiada, 2018). Moreover, they may ask for more investment in community maintenance. This step also includes financial planning, which will assess the gains and losses from cooperation with stakeholders.
5. The stage of analysis will measure the SWOT indicators. The study will assess whether Sri Lanka has popular tourist destinations, consider the opportunities available for their promotion, evaluate the factors affecting the difficulty of tourist management, and identify threats to the heritage values. Furthermore, the stage implies measuring the level of urgency and the importance of things to be done.
6. Further steps of development will include creating a logical plan of action, considering factors that may influence achieving goals. The last stage is to approve a program, principles, guidelines to complete the set objectives and make sure all the key points are in the plan. The entire plan will take several years as every element should be measured carefully.

Gantt Chart

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a tool which can be effective in measuring internal and external factors that affect and support the decision-making process.

Strengths

1. Country’s climate and weather;
2. Rich natural resources;
3. Tourism economic potential;
4. External investment attraction;
5. Tourism can bring vitality to the region’s economy.

Weaknesses

1. Insufficient tourism management;
2. Slow economy;
3. Lack of amenities for tourists;
4. Surrounding countries with better touristic potential;
5. Lack of advertisements.

Opportunities

1. Developing tourism facilities as a part of sustainable development;
2. Creating jobs for locals;
3. Cultural exchange;
4. Preserving heritage sites and natural resources as a strategy for developing ecotourism.

Threats

1. Damaging naturals resources due to the emergence of new infrastructure;
2. Tourism customer fatigue;
3. Little foreign investment;
4. Building new tourism system may impact social structure of the locals.

PEST Analysis

Political Factors

The political environment may affect tourism in many ways: terrorism, wars, or armed conflicts. Sri Lankan government actively participates in building new constructions such as roads, bridges. Moreover, Sri Lanka should establish relationships with some foreign countries that can influence the tourism industry.

Economic Factors

Sri Lankan economy does not work effectively now as it suffers from unemployment, high taxes and high level of interest rates. These factors affect the sector of tourism.

Socio-Cultural Factors

Tourists love to visit Sri Lanka because of its authentic values, food, traditions. The strategy of offering traditional food at the hotels and restaurants may significantly attract tourists to the area. Sri Lankan art is another attraction that depicts the religious beliefs of the locals.

Technological Factors

These factors are crucial in popularizing tourists in any country. Globalization highly influences all spheres of life. Therefore, in order to improve the sector of tourism, Sri Lanka must install technologies that will allow reaching the customer without using foreign media.

An Innovative Tourism and Hospitality Project

To develop the touristic sector, Sri Lanka should initiate a hospitality program that will presuppose offering hospitality services. These services may include offering local lodging, recreation activities, promoting countries’ arts and culture. As it was mentioned, Shi Lanka owns valuable lands preserved in UNESCO. Therefore, as a part of environmental development, the island needs to maintain as many wild animals, plants, parks and wilderness in general as to establish sustainable tourism (Amerta, Sara and Bagiada, 2018). Typically, people who explore hot countries tend to choose remote areas to relax to enclose with nature and its resources. Therefore, Sri Lanka’s goal is to focus on maintaining its heritage sites and wildlife to attract tourists.

For instance, Sri Lanka owns 22 national parks, most of which are the most impressive in Asia. Thus, the state’s goal is to ensure these national parks are preserved and nurtured to provide picturesque adventures for tourists. Moreover, these parks must be ecologically maintained, which means that the government must ensure there is no negative impact on the environment, such as smoking, littering and other activities that may harm (Rasoolimanesh and Jaafar, 2016). Another crucial point concerning the ecological side of sustainable tourism is to ensure Sri Lanka’s resources are limited to the customer’s use. It meant that there should be ecological limits that everyone should be aware of to preserve the island’s nature. Natural resources promote visitor experiences that include close contact with wildlife and an undeveloped natural environment. As a result, keeping wild Sri Lanka’s nature will attract many tourists as they will be curious to explore such sites.

Socio-cultural development can be established as well. The socio-cultural factors affected by tourist activities are the most complicated ones to measure and quantify. This factor differs from environmental and economic due to its subjectivity. However, tourism can potentially promote social development by creating working places, income redistribution and poverty elimination. Travelling is also an educational activity as it brings visitors and locals together. Hosts and travelers exchange cultures, traditions, languages and other values. Moreover, cultural understanding is a cornerstone of sustainable tourism. In addition to this, the socio-cultural components also include conservation and transmission of cultural and historical peculiarities of a country. Therefore, Sri Lanka needs to promote its traditions, especially the cultures of the indigenous peoples such as Veddas or Sinhalese. Such promotion will result in the propagation of local heritage, arts, music and other values.

One of the ways to make Sri Lanka the world’s leading attraction is to initiate innovations in tourism. Innovative tourism has become a trendy direction which develops countries so that they are visited year after year. One of the most significant improvements that may put Sri Lanka to the list of the most visited places concerns the technical part (Mihalic, 2016). Among the most successful innovations is the creation of online rental platforms where people can rent apartments, hotels, or condos that would suit their wants. Furthermore, such apps would help to develop more or less stable price orientation and it would be easy to read and receive feedback. Interactivity on such platforms is a key to tourism development as it allows both sides to participate in discussions concerning recreational activities (Boley, McGehee and Hammet, 2017) Therefore, there will be an opportunity of having everything at your fingertips without thinking about time, space and more payment alternatives. Moreover, the projects aimed to develop hospitality can be created to sustain Shi Lanka’s tourism.

Furthermore, the Sri Lankan websites can be optimized for mobile use. Mobile phones are the necessities now, so each tourist is likely to find or book a place where they want to stay or eat out; thus, the tourists will navigate around the hotel or restaurant websites faster (Budeanu et al., 2016). In general, Sri Lanka must promote itself through social media so that the people will be fascinated by the views and experiences.

In conclusion, it is relevant to state that achieving sustainable development of tourism aims to meet people’s needs while preserving nature. By creating a sustainable system of tourism, Sri Lanka will benefit, as people would want to visit its heritage site due to its uniqueness. For the most part, tourism will develop in an ecological direction and will attract people from all over the world. Moreover, by strengthening the economic and socio-cultural components, local people will be employed and their cultural values will be shared.

References

1. Amerta, I. M., Sara, I. M. and Bagiada, K. (2018) ‘Sustainable tourism development’, International Research Journal of Management, IT and Social Sciences, 5(2), pp. 248-254.
2. Boley, B., McGehee, N. and Hammet, A. (2017) ‘Importance-performance analysis (IPA) of sustainable tourism initiatives: the resident perspective’, Time Management, 58, pp. 66-77.
3. Budeanu, A., et al. (2016) ‘Sustainable tourism, progress, challenges and opportunities: an introduction’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 111, pp. 285–294.
4. Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2018). ‘Sustainable tourism: sustaining tourism or something more?’, Tourism Management Perspectives, 25, pp. 157–160.
5. Mihalic, T. (2016) ‘Sustainable-responsible tourism discourse – Towards ‘responsustable’ tourism’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 111, pp. 451-470.
6. Rasoolimanesh, S. M. and Jaafar, M. (2016) ‘Sustainable tourism development and residents’ perceptions in World Heritage Site destinations’, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 22(1), pp. 34–48.

Introduction

Adventure tourism or eco-tourism is a type of tourism which involves exploration and recreation activities. The destination of travel is usually exotic and remote with extremely hostile environment. The tourist has the opportunity to engage with nature through physical activities such as mountaineering, bungee jumping, rafting and rock climbing among others.

Adventure tourism is common in Nepal, and the main activities are mountain climbing, trekking and river-running. The tourist can also have an opportunity to meet with the people of that community, therefore, cultural exchange (Buckley, 2006).

The activities of adventure tourism have both positive and negative effects on the environment and social life of the habitat. The impact on the environment and community directly affect the development of tourism globally.

Therefore, for sustainable development of tourism, it is essential to know the impacts of adventure tourism to the environment and community. This will help in planning and management of tourism, to be able to reach targeted development goals.

Advantages of adventure tourism

The impact of adventure tourism is mainly caused by the development projects and the tourists who visit the area.

Easy to develop

The cost of starting up a recreational centre for adventure tourism is relatively low as compared to the other types of tourism. Therefore, it is easy for one to set up in any economic region and can be set up by a local or foreign investor.

Job Opportunities

The rise of the tourism industry in any area creates job opportunities for locals and foreigners. The jobs are created as a result of the development projects which may need both experts and casual laborers. They also employ local guides, use of local transport and local supplies among others.

Environmental Awareness

Adventure tourism is has become common in protected areas and, therefore, the entrepreneurs should encourage the tourists to practice responsible tourism. The providers of adventure tourism take part in raising awareness on ways of protecting the environment.

Improved education and health facilities

As a result of availability of jobs and economic development, community is able to create education and health facilities. At the same time, the tourists get knowledge about the beauty and natural phenomena. This can make them ambassadors who will fight for the protection and supporters for the conservation activities in the visited regions.

Better Land Management

In a community where adventure tourism is practiced there is a possibility of good land usage because people have knowledge on the benefits of land.

Giving Back to Communities

The tourism industry participates in activities of the community through funding the cultural and social events. The customers also give back to the community by buying souvenirs after their visit.

Economic development

The constant arrival of tourists in a community helps improve the economy of that community. For example, in the arctic the tourists help to boost the economy and reduce the over reliance on natural resources (Snyder, 2007).

Disadvantages of adventure tourism

Besides the positive impacts of adventure tourism it also has negative impacts on both the community and the environment. The development through tourism causes impacts which may be particularly harmful to the region and its environment, for example, pollution from the hotel industry, construction activities and tourist activities.

1. Economic impact: the cost of responding to environmental effects is usually high for the community. For example, oil spill and lack of equipment to deal with emergencies such as fire.
2. Social impact: During the peak season of tourism, the community’s social norms are affected. The dominant presence of tourists during this season alters the roles and functions of the local institutions such as education and religious. This causes a disruption in the community.
3. Cultural impacts: The natural environment and traditional lifestyle are affected by the effects of tourism, therefore, fewer tourists hence economies of scale. The loss of artifacts which are later sold to international markets cause loss of cultural heritage.
4. Environmental effect: The tourists, for example, in Nepal may litter the environment with plastic bottles and tissues, which is supposed, to be protected and the pollution of water from the waste from hotels. For example, in Nepal firewood is used as a source of fuel for cooking. The effect of cutting trees causes soil erosion and extreme floods (Boniface & Cooper, 2009).

Analysis of the Impacts of Adventure Tourism

Adventure tourism affects the resistance and resilience of the environment. The environment can either resist the effects of tourism or be able to return to normal after being disturbed. For example in Nepal, the culture of the community has not changed because of the tourism activity, whereas, in Thailand the culture has changed causing radical changes in the core of the family.

The most popular cruising location is the Mediterranean followed by the Caribbean. The ocean surfing and diving activities damage the coral reefs in the ocean (Hudson, 2003). The activity of viewing wildlife by tourists causes disturbances on the species.

Some get used to the disturbance by tourists and habituate while others move to more tolerant areas. For example, some nesting birds tolerate only the first few times but later leave their nests for new ones (Pedersen 2002).

Adventure tourism causes soil compaction because of the recreation activities. The activities reduce pore spaces hence lack of air and water infiltration. The end results of soil compaction are loss of vegetation and soil erosion. On the other hand, tourism causes water turbidity through infrastructure and recreation activities. The soil erosion reduces the quality of water, and this affects flora and fauna.

Some animals like the deer have been able to tolerate the presence of humans, whereas the wolves cannot withstand the presence of humans. An example is the rhino in Nepal; the rhinos are not able to feed because they spend a lot of time staying alert when tourists are viewing them. The fact that rhinos move from an area of plenty to an area of less food has affected the reproduction of the rhino.

The impacts of adventure tourism are caused by the various activities of tourist such as rock climbing disturbs birds, diving damages coral reefs, and hiking causes soil disturbance. The deforestation and disruption of the environment causes environmental depletion.

Tour drivers are always in search of rare species; however, the vehicles they drive disrupt the grass cover hence affecting the animals and plants that depend on the grass. The motorboat propellers also kill the manatees in the water and cause pollution of the water.

The economic benefits of adventure tourism have not been adequately distributed in the local communities. In some areas where tourism has had high returns, only a few of the locals benefited, for example, in Thailand the national park collects revenue, but very little of it benefits the surrounding community.

In Nepal, the benefits of tourism development are not spread evenly in the community but is only concentrated in a few areas (Pedersen, 2002).

The impacts of adventure tourism have changed the habitat of several habitats and destroyed the fragile ones. Entrepreneurs have changed the means of transport in these areas; motorized vehicles are no longer used in sand dunes and desert.

To conserve marine life well-trained divers who are less likely to damage the coral reef are responsible for training tourists in diving. The mountaineers have also found ways of camping in areas where they cause less damage than in areas where they disturb the habitats.

When watching whales tourists are advised to keep a distance so as not to disturb and stress them. Tourists and tour guides need to be trained on how to behave when around animals and vegetation so as not to affect them (Brandon, 1996).

Solutions

To reduce the impact of adventure tourism on the environment by maximizing economic and environmental benefits and at the same time minimizes damage to the environment and disrupting the local communities.

1. Adventure tourism should keep the number of tourist visiting protected areas at minimal level to maintain the reliability and liveliness of the area. The tourist should use tools and materials that will not damage the area. At the same time the providers of accommodation in this area should use renewable energy and construct on the outskirts of the protected areas to reduce the amount of pollution and damage.
2. Involving the local residents in community based projects and training them in basic skills to reduce the level of exploitation. The government should also ensure that the revenue collected is retained in the area, and encourage members of the community to participate in activities in the area. The government and adventure tourism operators may work together with conservationist in training and funding conservation projects (Nash, 2001).

Conclusion

Despite the effects of adventure tourism and lack of benefits to the surrounding community, the people still support tourism development. Some local communities accept adventure tourism if only they shall benefit directly, whereas, others believe that the positive impacts are more than the negative impacts.

For example, in Austrian Alps the cost of basic commodities is high and high taxes but the community has a positive attitude towards tourism.

The impacts of adventure tourism cause a community to embrace tourism while another rejects the tourism industry. The benefits and conservation of tourism can only exist if the local community will benefit economically.

References

Boniface, G, B. & Cooper, C. (2009). Worldwide Destination & companion book of cases set. Massachusetts: Elsvier Linacre House.

Brandon, K. (1996). Ecotourism and Conservation: A review of Key Issues. New York: World Bank

Buckley, R. (2006). Adventure Tourism. Massachusetts: CAB International.

Hudson, S. (2003). Sport and Adventure Tourism. New York: Haworth Hospitality Press.

Nash, J. (2001). Eco-Tourism: Encouraging Conservation or Adding to Exploitation? New York: Population Reference Bureau.

Pedersen, A. (2002). Managing Tourism at World heritage Sites: A practical Manual for World Heritage Site Managers. Paris: UNESCO world Heritage Centre

Snyder, J. (2007). Tourism in the Polar Regions; the sustainability challenge. New York: UN Environmental Program.

Executive Summary

The relationship between religion and tourism is complex. Therefore, this relationship can only be explained by revisiting religious tourism. This essay provides an insight into the various dimensions of religious tourism. For that reason, it provides a better understanding of religion and tourism relations through religious tourism practices.

This essay acknowledges that religious tourism is a multi-purpose trip. Therefore, the relationship between religion and tourism has resulted into the sharing of sacred and secular spaces. This explains why religious tourism is one of the largest contributors of tourist flows. Additionally, it is one of the growing niches in the tourism market. Consequently, the relationship between religion and tourism has created a multi- billion industry.

Religious tourism is worth around $18 billion. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) also estimates that 300-330 million people visit major religious sites every year. In addition, this essay provides examples of good practices in religious tourism. For instance, there are sections explaining how governments, religious authorities and tour operators can manage events and religious sites. Additional, there are explanations on how these practices can be implemented in a way that promotes sustainable tourism.

For instance, it emphasizes on the use of modern information and communication technologies to market new products. The changing trend in religious tourism has also been explored in the essay. There is evident that most countries are taking religious tourism as a serious industry. Consequently, proliferation of modern infrastructures such as five stars hotels in pilgrimage sites is common place. Additionally, the purpose of religious tourism is slowly shifting away from spiritual enrichment to leisure.

This essay also provides an insight into the problems facing religious tourism. For instance, restrictions in international travel that hamper growth of religious tourism have been highlighted. In addition, terrorism has been indentified as one of the major impediments to religious tourism.

Lastly, this essay has provided recommendations on future developments in the religious tourism industry. For instance, there is special emphasis on the need to promote the prosperity of the local population. Consequently, locals will have the reason to preserve monuments and other heritages.

Introduction

Citing Hitrec (1990), Vukonic argues that the word ‘tourist’ is derived from the Latin name ‘tornus’. Tornus refers to an obligation to visit religious shrines in Rome. For that reason, all forms of modern tourism are thought to have originated from religious tourism. However, there is little scholarly evidence to support this claim (Vukonic).

Additionally, people visit places with religious attractions every year. Some scholars argue that journeys made for religious purposes should not be termed as tourism. However, just like an ordinary tourist, a religious tourist consumes good and services on his way or at his destination. He, therefore, generates economic benefits that are similar to any other tourist.

Consequently, religious pilgrimages are undoubtedly a form of tourism. To best understand the relationship between religion and tourism the spatial approach is used (Shinde). In this regard, tourists and adherents of certain religions occupy the same place. For that reason, they both have a role in maintaining the identity of that place as a sacred site. Additionally, religious tourism has a spiritual and a recreational component.

Therefore, religious tourism enables people to appreciate commonalities among people in spite of their religious beliefs (Abelow). For that reason, religious tourism can result into a spiritual awakening for any person. Religious attractions fill a person with a feeling of sacredness. Consequently, a relationship between a tourist and the attraction is created. Accordingly, a tourist gets the urge to repeat the experience.

Nonetheless, these travels are closely or remotely connected to holidays. In addition, the world has become more open and festive. Likewise, globalization has opened religious tourist sites to the outside world. Therefore, leisure and holiday activities are slowly supplementing religious satisfaction in this form of tourism.

Apart from providing spiritual nourishment and leisure, religious tourism has other benefits. For instance, religious tourism can be used to increase awareness and protect the heritage of an attraction site. The relationship between religion and tourism relation is also an important tool in peace building. For that reason, the inter-cultural and inter-religious interaction experienced during pilgrimages can be used to foster unity and peaceful co-existence. For that reason, religious tourism is a multi-purpose trip.

Globalization has also commercialized religious tourism (UNWTO). For that reason, globalization has made this form of tourism a marketable product. The trend in religious tourism is, therefore, slowly changing. For instance, pilgrim sites have began to appreciate modern infrastructures such as five stars hotels. In addition, information and communication technologies are now extensively used in promotion and advertisement of these sites.

Moreover, most countries have embraced freedom of movement as an important factor in enhancing religious tourism. Some countries have also embarked on the measurement and management of the flow of people and traffics in major religious events. Additionally, some countries have reverted to maintenance and rehabilitation of neglected religious and cultural monuments. This initiative has occurred after these countries realized that these sites have an economic value.

Nonetheless, some international travel laws hamper internationalization of religious tourism (UNWTO). For instance, the fight against tourism has been used as an excuse to reduce the freedom of movement. Moreover, countries are tightening their immigration law. In addition, there are also tougher visa requirements which are applied in a selective manner. Although these measures do not target tourism, they have a negative effect on its development.

This essay provides an insight into the dimensions, destinations, inter-cultural and inter-faith aspects of religious tourism. For that reason, it provides a better understanding of religion and tourism relations through discussing religious tourism.

Overview of the Religious Tourism Industry

According to Abelow, religious tourism is a multi-billion industry. The World Religious Travel states that this industry is worth around $18 billion (Abelow). Therefore, economic impact of religious tourism should not be underestimated. Additionally, more than 300 million tourists traverse across the world for religious purposes.

Abelow estimates that these tourists make over 600 million trips worldwide. Furthermore, tourism growth has followed a trend similar to that of the growth of religion (Scott and Jafari). In the last five decades, the Middle East has received a higher number of tourists than any other part of the world.

Accordingly, the flow of tourists is increasing at the rate of 10% in the Middle East (Scott and Jafari). It is worth noting that religious tourism is the main form of tourism in the Middle East. For that reason, it is clear that religious tourism is the fastest growing form of tourism. With the popularity of religious tourism increasing, new markets for budget and luxury travel are being opened. Consequently, sacred and secular spaces are being shared on the global stage.

Major Development in Religious Tourism

Globalization is one of the factors that have enabled the commercialization of religious tourism (UNWTO). For that reason, globalization has made this form of tourism a marketable product. A few years ago, paying to enter a house of God was something strange. Furthermore, pilgrims were exempted from taxes and, therefore, countries gained nothing from them. However, this is changing and most countries are transforming religious tourism into a serious industry.

Previously, religious pilgrimages were thought to be holy. Therefore, they were a preserve of a particular religious group. Nowadays, pilgrimages and other religious travels have been secularized (UNWTO). Additionally, most countries are ignoring religious consideration and teachings to enjoy gains from religious tourism (Vukonic). In the last decade, many countries have experienced growth in their economy.

For that reason, the middle and upper class have accumulated sufficient disposable income for travel (UNWTO). Religious tourism, on the other hand, provides great opportunities for those seeking leisure and spiritual nourishment. Religious tourism, therefore, provides an opportunity to all people regardless of their faith, religion and philosophy.

Religious tourism refers to travels made to pilgrimage sites (Shinde). Therefore, religious tourism is a form of tourism where the motivating factor is religious. Additionally, the destination for a religious tourist is a sacred, pilgrimage or a religious heritage site (Shinde). However, these travels are closely or remotely connected to holidays nowadays. For that reason, although religious tourists are motivated by religious satisfaction, leisure and holiday activities are supplementary opportunities (UNWTO).

Consequently, the client base of religious tourism is slowly changing. Initially, people visiting religious sites were mainly locals or members of a particular religious group. Today, these areas are receiving an increasing number of foreigners. These foreigners are also not particularly from a religious group associated with these sites. Moreover, pilgrimages are also accompanied by services such as tour operations and a package of leisure related activities (Shinde).

For that reason, there is a realization that the worlds is more open, festive and free (UNWTO). Most countries have also developed overlapping markets for this industry. These markets include spiritual, physical and leisure (UNWTO). Although this is a late realization, it has an enormous room for growth. However, this growth will be effectively realized if inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogues are fostered (UNWTO). Moreover, travel sites must respond to the new expectations from the people.

In order to accrue maximum benefits from religious tourism, some countries have invested on the necessary infrastructure (Vukonic). These infrastructures include good accommodation, shops, entertainment facilities and other facilities that meet the needs and interests of tourists.

For instance, Saudi Arabia has spent US $100 million on the extension mosques in Mecca (Vukonic). Roads and airports have also been built to connect Mecca with other parts of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has also embarked on innovative ways of monitoring traffic and people when an enormous mass of people visit Mecca and other pilgrimage areas.

For instance, a closed circuit television network is being used to regulate the flow of people and traffic (Vukonic). Deterring the maximum number of visitors at a place of pilgrimage or a religious gathering is important as overcrowding has in the past led to stampedes. Accordingly, these happenings have dissuaded people from visiting these interesting places.

Accommodations meant for pilgrims and other visitors have also been improved. For instance, luxury hotels have replaced the simple accommodation associated with these visits (UNWTO). These hotels are also offering foods and services that meet the needs of all visitors. Therefore, an economic way of thinking is slowly finding inroads in religious pilgrimages. For that reason, the future of religious tourism looks bright.

Types of Attractions in Religious Tourism

Travels made as a means of fulfilling a religious purpose have been part man’s history. However, religious tourism remains among the least explored activities in the tourism industry (Vukonic). Nonetheless, religious tourism is gaining roots in developed and developing countries.

There are three main types of religious tourism (UNWTO). These types are classified according to their dimensions and the places where they are in practice. They include pilgrimages whose activity has become touristic, religious gatherings and religious routes that lead to pilgrimage sites, monuments and sanctuaries (UNWTO).

Additionally, in a bid to market and enable access by lower classes, religious tourism is gaining prominence. Furthermore, religious tourism is being internationalized (UNWTO). Through these changes pilgrimages are regaining the status they once enjoyed (UNWTO). Consequently, religious gathering and attraction sites are attracting millions of people all over the world. For that reason, pilgrimage and religious routes are once again acting as links among people of different nationalities.

Pilgrimages are the most common types of religious tourism. Interestingly, pilgrimages are thought to be the predecessors of modern tourism (Vukonic). A pilgrimage confirms the fundamental characteristic of tourism as a change of residence due to some reasons (Vukonic). Additionally, most religions incorporate pilgrimages in their doctrines. Therefore, this is a common practice among Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. Most of the pilgrimages are made in centralized areas.

Historically, visitors have always streamed in these areas for religious purposes. Religious gatherings, on the other hand, are held to mark a religious event. Some of these events include a visit by a prominent religious leader, marking an anniversary or a jubilee. These gatherings have the capability to attract millions of people. Pilgrimage routes such as the Way of St. James are also a major attraction (UNWTO).

To make then more attractive, the routes are enriched with cultural events. However, lifestyles have changed, and many religious travels are not inclined to religious purposes only. Today, the motives for these pilgrimages are more secular than religious. Therefore, most people are visiting this attraction for education and leisure. For that reason, there are minimal or no differences between other types of tourism and religious tourism.

Role of Religious Tourism in Solving Major Problems in the World

Religious tourism is characterized by the ethics that shape the behaviour of pilgrims and tourists (UNWTO). This ethical behaviour transforms religious tourists into agents of dialogue among cultures and civilizations. For that reason, pilgrimages are a way of weaving together peaceful coexistence between different people. In addition, pilgrimages and religious gathering encourage solidarity in fighting major problems facing the world such as poverty.

Religious tourism is, therefore, one of the most effective methods of dialogue among religions and cultures. Furthermore, religious tourism presents a clear understanding of the economic, ecological and cultural dealings of a particular group of people (UNWTO). For that reason, it is an effective way of communicating the various problems affecting a particular people.

Additionally, ecumenism is also a good way of promoting mutual acceptance and cooperation worldwide (UNWTO). Although it is a Christian doctrine, ecumenism can be successfully applied to solve inter-religious conflicts. For that reason, promoters of religious tourism should incorporate this principle in their plans as it brings harmony to the society.

Moreover, tourism destinations with a combination of attractions from different faiths favour inter-faith dialogue. Such encounters are facilitated by continuous meeting at major religious tourist sites. When these kinds of encounters are encouraged, the world will truly become a global village. In addition, tourism will be promoted to greater heights since people will feel welcomed in all parts of the world despite their religious and cultural inclinations.

Impediment to the Development of Religious Tourism

Various obstacles stand in the way of developing religious tourism sustainably. Some of the main impediments include lack of respect to human rights and limitations in the freedom of movements. For instance, there is discrimination in the issuance of visas.

In this regard, some countries do not allow people from certain parts of the world to enter their countries when religious tourism is on the peak for security reasons. Terrorism is also another impediment to the development of religious tourism. For instance, in countries such as Mali, particular groups of people do not uphold the right to heritage.

They seem not to understand that this heritage enriches their cultural diversity. The destruction of religious monuments in northern Mali is, therefore, an insult to religious tourism. Coincidentally, terrorism is a major problem in countries where tourism totally relies on religious practices. A typical example of these countries is Iraq. In Iraq, there are numerous pilgrimages sites for the Muslim faith. For other faiths, these sites and other attractions are also a joy to watch.

Nonetheless, Iraq lacks a stable government and experiences frequent terrorist attacks. Consequently, Iraq does not reap full benefits from religious tourism despite housing major attractions. Lack of insufficient information is another setback to the development of religious tourism (UNWTO). For instance, information on the volume and dynamics of religious tourism is either absent or unreliable. Consequently, it is very difficult to develop a religious tourism strategy.

Recommendation for Future Developments in Religious Tourism

The hospitality industry is one of the rapidly growing industries globally (Kana). Therefore, it is one of the industries that are creating jobs and building new careers at the moment. Commercially, religious tourism is developing at an alarming rate.

For that reason, this industry must overcome a number of operational problems in order to sustainably manage facilities, sites and the heritage of these sites (UNWTO). Products within this industry must, hence, be developed carefully and marketed in a way that meets the changing needs of clients. Accordingly, religious tourism should seek to totally satisfy guest by offering quality services.

Most of the sites visited by domestic tourists are yet to be fully exploited (Kana). Moreover, they are not managed in a way that offers comfort to the visiting tourists. For that reason, the quality of services offered in these destinations must be upgraded. Some sites, especially those in troubled regions, lack good roads and comfortable accommodation. For instance, there is a shortage of hotels in most parts of Iraq (Kana).

Shockingly, the few hotels available are not being exploited in a manner that derives full benefits from the visiting tourists. However, there are many hotels and accommodations in the provinces of Najaf and Karbala. These provinces host major religious attractions in Iran. However, very few hotels are first class. Majority are from second to fourth class. Therefore, they lack the luxury of five stars hotels (Kana).

Therefore, good accommodation should be offered and major roads leading to these sites upgraded (Kana). Hotels are an important element in tourism and, therefore, must be of the required standards. In addition, the human resource within these hotels must be competent. Moreover, marketing of these sites as major tourist destination must be intensified (Kana). Promoters should embrace latest communication and information technologies to advertise these sites to other parts of the world.

For religious tourism to be characterized as sustainable, it must foster local development (UNWTO). Furthermore, it must provide economic, environment and cultural benefits to the local people. The UNWTO has recommended objectives that must be fulfilled before any form of religious tourism is termed sustainable. Some of these objectives include economic feasibility, local growth and provision of employment.

Other objectives include visitor satisfaction, environmental conservation and enhancing cultural richness. It is believed that communities will only support tourism if the industry generates income to sustain their members. According to Shinde, indigenous religious entrepreneurs play a big role in developing relations in religious tourism. Religious tourism is a modern form of traditional pilgrimage economy.

For that reason, indigenous entrepreneurship with knowledge on socio-cultural activities, ritual exchanges and religious protocols must be tolerated in areas receiving high numbers of religious tourists (Shinde). Consequently, these local entrepreneurs will be able to develop innovative products that suit the demands of their visitors. This is what is happening at Vrindavan in India (Shinde). This act also encourages campaigns aimed at education people on the need to maintain and preserve major attractions.

Conclusion

Religious tourism impacts on the local community positively. The host quality of life, therefore, is transformed. For instance, some social-economic changes take place within the community. For that reason, religious tourism is an agent of development. Ensuring long-term conservation of religious sites is a means of ensuring sustainability in religious tourism. According to UNWTO, there is a need to develop a dynamic relationship between religious and cultural heritage values.

Consequently, the interests of the host community, tourists and the religious community are served. Most importantly, communities should acknowledge that religious tourism is now a multi-purpose trip. For that reason, services offered at attraction sites must meet the needs of both the religious and secular population. Additionally, it is important to deal with the major problems affecting the religious tourism industry.

For instance, law on immigration and visa application must be relaxed to facilitate free movements across borders. Most importantly, there is need to disseminate information on major religious tourist attraction using modern information and communication technologies. Finally, the world has changed and nearly everything has been commercialized. Consequently, countries with religious attractions must follow suit.

Works Cited

Abelow, Lorraine. 2009. Religious Tourism is Rapidly On the Rise. Web.

Kana, Alaa Gado. “Religious Tourism in Iraq, 1996-1998: An Assessment”. International Journal of Business and Social Science 2.4 (2012). Print.

Scott, Noel, and Jafari Jafar. Tourism in the Muslim World. 2010 Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2010. Print.

Shinde, Kiran. Entrepreneurship and Indigenous Entrepreneurs in Religious Tourism in India International Journal of Tourism Research 12 (2010) 523–535. Print.

Vukonic, Boris “Religion Tourism: Economic Value or an Empty Box”. Zagreb International Review of Economics & Business. 1.1 (1998): 83-94. Web.

World Tourism Organization 2007, Tourism and Religions: A Contribution to the Dialogue among Religions, Cultures and Civilization. Web.

Potential Future of Tourism Industry in Goa

Development of Tourism in Goa

The identification of Goa as a world tourism destination is started in the 1960s. In Goa tourism, the arrival of hippies in 1960s is treated as a turning point. They provide much popularity to the Goan beaches worldwide. Tourism in the region is highly developed in the 1980s with the government regulations relating to the accessibility of Goan skies for chartered flights because chartered flights are mainly used by tourists for reaching Goa. Goan beaches are India’s premier beach resorts attracting thousands of foreign and domestic tourists every year (History and Culture of Goa).

Goa is known as the Rome of the East. Tourism provides a major part of the total economy of Goa. The natural beauty and blended regional culture make it a favorable tourist location. The local government of Goa, declared tourism as an industry with effect from April first, 2000. Beach and alcohol tourism is highly developed in the state. “Every year, Goa receives a large number of domestic and foreign tourists, who come for around 5- 9 days, stay in Goa. India received a total of 3915324 tourists in 2005, while during the same time Goa was visited by 336803 tourists.” (Abreu 2008).

Cultural tourism in Goa is mainly concentrated on domestic tourists. The unique Goan culture and lifestyles attract domestic tourists. International tourists are mainly attracted by the coastal beauty of the Goa beaches.

Evaluation of Butlers Talc with respect to the Goa destination

According to the concept of Butler, each destination in the tourism industry has a lifecycle. Thus there are different stages involved in the lifecycle of the destination. Butler framed a model of destination lifecycle and he named it as TALC (Tourism Area Life Cycle) model. The first stage of the lifecycle of the destination is known as the Exploration stage. At this stage the place is relatively unknown and the number of visitors to the destination is very small. The reason for this may be the lack of facilities for easy access to the location. The second stage in the lifecycle of the destination is known as the Developmental stage. In this stage, the destination gets popular among tourists. With the increasing popularity of the destination, the infrastructural facilities in the region will also be developing in the developmental stage. The number of visitors to the destination is also increased. Improvement in infrastructure and other faculties will provide improvement in the social life of the local community. They get more income and employment opportunities in the development stage. The final stage in the lifecycle of the destination is called as stagnation stage. In this stage, limits with regard to social and environmental resource utilization have been reached and thus further development is not favorable for the local community. The length of each stage of the lifecycle of the destinations is based on the features of the particular location. In most cases, the period from exploration stage to stagnation stage is very rapid (The Destination Life Cycle. 2008).

From the analysis of the destination of Goa, it derived that Goa reaches the stagnation stage of its lifecycle. The popularity of the region reaches its maximum. The limits on the social and environmental resources are also reached in the Goa tourism industry.

Concept of sustainable tourism in the context of Goa destination

Sustainable tourism in Goa

“Sustainability is a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely. Thus it is a process that takes care of “tomorrow” as well as “today”, conserving resources where necessary to ensure continuity.” (Abreu 2008, p.126).

The concept of sustainable tourism gets wider importance in the new century. Intensive tourism will be harmful to the cultural as well as environmental habitat. Sustainable tourism insists on the principle of maintaining the cultural and environmental features of the destination while adopting tourism development policies. Conservation of local ecosystem together with the development of tourism is a crucial area of decision. Intense tourism in a region results in an overflow of people and it will affect the local ecological habitat negatively. For example; intense beach tourism in Goa affects the reproduction of Olive Ridley turtles in the coastal region badly. Their safe nesting habitat is destroyed through intense tourism (Abreu, 2008).

Increased growth of tourism imposes much pressure on the local resources and the society. Protecting and sustaining the local heritage is highly demanded to maintain the destination as a tourist location for the long term. Environmental degradation and excess utilization of local resources have to be reduced. For this carrying capacity of the state in terms of resources has to identify. The migration of labor has increased in the region and it causes social issues. Sustainable tourism is highly important in all tourism destinations. Goa is a small place but attracting the large number of people. The tourism development must be based on the identification of the carrying capacity of the destination. For ensuring long-term stability in tourism development it has to ensure the participation of the local community in tourism development activities.

The role of the government in the development of Tourism in Goa

The government is highly concentrated on the tourism industry for improving the revenues from tourism. Due to the development in the tourism industry, foreign exchange earnings of the state are highly improved. Employment opportunities, created from tourism is also improved social life. Extensive infrastructural facilities, required for meeting the needs of tourists are built up by the government. Goa’s tourism department provides accommodation facilities at a reduced rate to the tourists through the GTDC Hotels. (Sawker et al 1998).

Services of safeguards are arranged by the government in the coastal region. Roads and infrastructure facilities are developed. For marketing tourism, a corpus fund is created by the government. Subsidies and other financial support to the tourism sectors are provided for developing cost-effective tourism. The heritage house scheme of the government with private participation is also helpful for tourism development. For healthy inbound traffic, a bullet train is arranged (Looking Beyond The Beaches, 2002).

The economic contribution of Goa tourism industry

The tourism industry is the major economic source of the state. It contributes to the economic development of the region through foreign exchange earnings and the creation of employment opportunities for the local community. Tourism plays an important role in the development of the local economy of Goa. “13.7 % of the state’s net domestic product, 7% of employment, 7% of state tax revenue.” is contributed by tourism. (Sawker et al 1998).

Tourism is a prominent industrial sector in Goa. It provides economic contribution from the foreign as well as domestic tourists. “During 2004, more than 2 million tourists flocked to Goa. Being a tourist paradise, Goa attracts domestic traffic too in thousands.” (Business and economy of Goa)

Local government is financially benefited from taxes payments of tourists and their spending for shopping.. “On average, earnings in foreign exchange for the last three years were US$43-57 million. It is estimated that tourism contributes to around, 13.7 percent of Net State Domestic Product; 7 percent of employment and 7 percent to state tax revenues.” (Sawker 1998).

SWOT analysis for identifying the future potential of Goa as a tourism destination

Strengths

Portuguese language, culture, values, and ideals have a strong influence on Goan culture. The natural beauty of Goan beaches provides it the name “land of golden beaches”. Gothic Churches, colonial forts and buildings, and villages provide a picture of the colorful and unhurried Goan lifestyle. Along with its cultural heritage, the golden beaches of Goa make the region an attractive destination on the world tourism map. Six main rivers in Goa provide a chain of inland waterways. Goa festivals are also attractive for tourists (Goa Tourism India, 2008).

“The magnetic scenic beauty is complementary to the historical edifices and its dual cultural traditions, the Latin fusing with the Indian resulting in the unique Goan culture” (Goa Tourism).

Goa provides opportunities in adventure tourism. Facilities for water sports such as sailing, parasailing, windsurfing are arranged in Goan Rivers. Goan museums, worship places, and wildlife sanctuaries make it as an attractive place for tourists of all kinds in the world (Goa Tourism).

Weaknesses

Unplanned over development is the major limitation faced by the Goa tourism industry.

Participation of the local community in tourism is not ensured by the tourism authority. This also affects health tourism in the destination. Goa’s regional development shows the imbalance between different regions. Most of the infrastructural development is located in the tourist destinations. Significant disparity between the coastal and the hinterland regions in socio-economic development affects the development. (Sawker et al 1998).

Opportunities

Adventure tourism

It can be effectively employed in Goa tourism.

Wildlife tourism

Beautiful and exotic species of wildlife in the region are protected by forming 4 wildlife sanctuaries. Flora and fauna in the region is highly attractive. Migratory birds visited Goa in large numbers. Thus wildlife tourism can be adopted as a part of diversified tourism policy.

Medical tourism

It is a recent phenomenon in Goan tourism. World-class medical facilities are arranged in the Hospitals at a comparatively lower costs. Goa has a potential future in medical tourism.

Pilgrimage tourism

Famous religious destination in Goa provides a potential opportunity for pilgrimage tourism in the region. The world heritage site at Old Goa consists of world-famous religious monuments and it provides a great opportunity for heritage tourism.

Architectural tourism

Chapora fort, Teracol fort, and Aloma fort in Goa are attracting tourists.

Yoga Tourism

Peace and tranquility in the region are suitable for mediation and Yoga tourism.

Backwater tourism

Plenty of rivers in the state provide opportunities for backwater tourism.

Threats

Tourism imposes threats to the natural environment of the destination. Dumping use of natural resources and increasing pollution resulted from the overflow of people will negatively affect the long-term sustaining of the destination as a tourist location. Rapid and uncontrolled beach tourism in Goa leads to the loss of biodiversity of the coastal region. (Sawker et al, 1998).

In peak season, tourism earnings lead to economic inflation and this affects the local community badly by increasing prices for commodities and services. (Goa Study Says Tourism’s Adverse Impact Deserves “Urgent Attention”, 2004).

Conclusion

From the SWOT analysis, it derived that Goa has plenty of opportunities in diversified tourism sectors. Its beach tourism is in the stagnation stage and thus sustainable tourism development has to be adopted by the authority in this sector. Unexploited tourism possibilities in the region provide a bright future for Goa tourism. By promoting tourism in the exploration stage sectors, Goa can ensure a long-term existence as a world tourism destination in diversified sectors.

Bibliography

1. ABREU, Nirmala De. (2008). Sustainable Tourism in Goa: Number of Tourists Visiting Goa. [online]. Conference on Tourism in India.
2. ABREU, Nirmala De. (2008). Sustainable Tourism in Goa: Sustainable Tourism. Conference on Tourism in India. 126.
3. Business and Economy of Goa. [online]. INDFY.com.
4. Goa Study Says Tourism’s Adverse Impact Deserves “Urgent Attention”. (2004). [online]. India Mike.com: The India Travel Forum. Web.
5. Goa Tourism India: Goa Tours. (2008). [online].
6. Goa Tourism. [online]. Goa Hub.
7. Goa Tourism. [online]. Goa Hub.
8. History and Culture of Goa. [online]. India Travel Agents. Web.
9. Looking Beyond The Beaches. (2002). [online]. Express Travel And Tourism:India’s Travel Business Magazine.
10. SAWKER, Kalidas., et al. (1998). Tourism and the Environment: Case Studies on Goa, India, and the Maldives. The Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. Web.
11. SAWKER, Kalidas., et al. (1998). Tourism and The Environment: Economic Aspects. The Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. Web.
12. The Destination Life Cycle. (2008). [online]. Destination Recovery Services.

Executive Summary

Tourism is a phenomenon which was extensively developed during the 20^th century when people became able to afford a vacation once a year. This paper thoroughly examines all the positive and negative consequences of the development of tourism.

First off, it concludes that tourism can improve the economy. Tourism, in the first, place creates jobs, and reduces unemployment. It also generates huge amounts of revenue that the government can collect through taxes.

In addition, all the other branches of the economy can be developed as consequences of a growing tourist industry. Environment and culture can also benefit from this industry because it provides a solid economic reason for preservation of customs and landscapes.

As far as costs of tourism are concerned, it can be said that they are numerous, and that in every domain where it can be useful, tourism can also be devastating if it is not conducted properly.

Therefore, in the economy, it can cause a country to become dependent on the capital generated in the industry. Furthermore, jobs in tourism are often insecure and poorly paid, and the money earned is often taken away from the country in which it is generated.

Costs are also felt in the domain of environment and culture. Huge amounts of waste generated by hotels, restaurants and entertainment complexes destroy the environment. Finally, culture is being viewed as one big show rather than an integral component of the local people’s lifestyle.

In the end, accomplishments and challenges of the newly emerging field of sustainable tourism are discussed. It is concluded that comprehensive theoretical models are lacking in this field, and that it demands long and expensive projects to be carried out before observable changes could take place.

Despite the unsolved issues, it seems that sustainable tourism is the only way to go if we are to prevent the industry from destroying itself.

Introduction

One distinguished scholar in the field of tourism, Allen Beaver, defined tourism in the following terms: “Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destination outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during the stay at each destination.

It includes movements for all purposes (Beaver 313). This phenomenon has a long history since rich people have always wanted to see different places and experience different cultures.

Since the industrial revolution, the number of people who are able to afford such a luxury has been increasing constantly to the point where spending a vacation at some tourist center is no longer considered a luxury (Singh 189).

This increase in popularity of tourism has had a huge impact on the world economy, and tourism plays one of the most significant roles in some of the strongest economies in the world.

It is easy to conclude that tourism can have incredibly positive impact on human society; however, significant changes that the 21^st century has brought are starting to reveal many problems related to tourism.

It is, therefore, essential to reevaluate the role of tourism in the 21^st century, and reshape in the light of the ideas of sustainability.

Benefits of tourism

Economic benefits of tourism

It is widely accepted that countries can benefits tremendously from tourism in economic terms. This is because it is an industry that does not demand huge investments, like for example metallurgy, but can pay off just the same.

In modern market economies, tourism is for the most part run in the private sector, and governments earn large amounts of revenue through taxation.

Furthermore, large tourist complexes employ thousands of people whose existence is dependent upon tourism. Owners, on the other hand, can accumulate large amounts of capital which is then invested in other sectors of the economy.

Taxation of tourism

Even though in politics, it is a constantly debated question as to how much of the income generated through tourism belongs to the government, one thing is certain – the state can earn a lot of revenue from it.

In a recent study by Gooroochurn (2004), it has been confirmed that taxation in tourism is much more effective than taxation in any other domain of the economy.

The author studied the case of Mauritius, an otherwise underdeveloped state, and concluded that in poor countries that have such potentials, it is a good idea to attract investments in tourism, and earn revenue through taxation (Gooroochurn 2004).

Among the countries that earn a huge portion of their revenue from tourism are: Greece, Portugal, Spain, Egypt, Tunisia, etc.

Employment in tourism

Providing goods and services for thousands of tourists every day demands a huge labor force. Ever since the beginning of tourism, people saw the employment potential that it has. According to the national statistical data, 16.5 % of all the labor force or around 700 000 people in Greece are employed in tourism.

Furthermore, many people who do not have large amounts of capital, but live near tourist centers have great opportunities for self-employment. Most of those people run small cafes, trinket or souvenir shops or simply sell local food and drinks to the visitors.

International Labor Organization predicts that in the following decade the number of jobs in tourism is to increase significantly, and claims that it is one sector in which the greatest potential is seen after the crisis (Employment in Tourism Industry).

Secondary economic benefits

Since all parts of the economic structure are interconnected, an economic boom in one of the component parts automatically overflows into all other parts. The income generated by the entrepreneurs is injected into other parts of the economy according to their ideas for further investment since every entrepreneur knows that money has to be invested further.

It has been noticed that one of the most common domains where money earned from tourism is invested is infrastructure. Investors are aware that improving the infrastructure, roads, water and electricity supply, railways, etc. can increase the number of visitors to their tourist complexes.

Furthermore, the government also recognizes the potential in tourism, and is often willing to subsidize the improvement of infrastructure (Karim 2011).

Apart from the infrastructure, other domains of the economy which are often developed as a result of a country’ success in tourism industry are food and drink industry, agriculture, etc.

Noneconomic benefits of tourism

One can argue that in a capitalist society all the positive phenomena can be described in terms of the economy. That might very well be the case; however, all the positive changes that occur in a country as a result of the development of tourism, and which are not directly related to the economy can be discussed under the label non-economic benefits.

Cultural benefits

Since the industrial revolution, together with the development of tourism, there has been an increase in the number of educated people. Their fascination with the historical heritage and cultural diversity of the world made way for the development of the so called cultural tourism.

On the other hand, under the pressure of economic forces, local people are adopting the new ways of life, and because of the lack of time and resources, they are slowly losing their cultural heritage. The fact that there is little to be gained financially from being involved in the traditional customs causes many people to lose interest in them.

For that reason, Weiner (2010) argues that cultural tourism is, in fact, the force that helps to preserve local customs and traditions. The interest of foreigners in local culture, according to Weiner, is what gives the economic value to the culture.

He uses the example of Turkish baths in which he enjoyed while on vacation and concludes that the custom would have been extinct if it had not been for the tourists who were willing to pay to experience it. However, anthropologists argue that this way of preserving culture is deflationary and imperialistic (Menkedick 2010).

Environmental benefits

As in the case of culture, tourism has huge impact on the environment. There are both positive and negative environmental consequences of tourism; however, in this section only the positive ones are discussed.

When a country is industrially underdeveloped, it usually possesses locations with well-preserved environment. In the course of the development of a country, it can be decided that those locations should be used for industrial development, and then polluters like mines and factories are built.

Obviously, this has tremendous environmental consequences. Of course, it can be decided that the location be preserved in the original state which entails opportunity costs, but this seldom happens. Finally, it seems that the best solution is to build tourist complexes, and develop that branch of the economy.

This course of action provides economic motivation for maintaining parks, funding research in resource management, improving environmental education and introducing strong legal framework for environment preservation (Sawkar et al. 8).

Other benefits of tourism

It is certain that benefits of tourism cannot just be reduced to economic, cultural and environmental ones. Surely, there are many other positive phenomena that occur as consequences of the development of tourism. First off, tourism helps in cherishing positive attitudes towards different cultures and customs.

Secondly, it is a very good way of destroying negative attitudes towards foreigners, and rejecting xenophobia, stereotypes and prejudices about others. Thirdly, it affords immense psychological satisfaction which stems from the interaction with others (Ritchie & Goeldner 373-383).

Tourism can also benefit individuals who have some health problems, and various resorts offer extensive treatment programs employing leading experts in therapeutic procedures.

Costs of tourism

Many people are inclined to think that tourism is a socio-economic phenomenon with only positive consequences; however, in reality the global economic system and the nature of tourism as a branch of the economy lead to some difficult economic problems.

Furthermore, huge seasonal changes in the population which are caused by travel and tourism pose serious cultural and social challenges for the local communities.

Finally, despite the fact that tourism can have positive effects on the environment and culture, if conducted improperly, it can have a devastating environmental and cultural impact.

Economic costs of tourism

Seasonal jobs

As we saw, the development of tourism has the potential to create a large number of jobs. However, the downside of this fact is that in most centers, these jobs are seasonal and not very well paid. This has some obvious negative consequences.

First off, many people who work in the industry are dependent upon it for their existence. For that reason they are virtually employed for only 5-6 months per year due to the seasonal nature of their employment. This causes them to face severe financial problems during the period of the year in which they have no employment and income.

Secondly, well-developed tourist destinations are very often located in very poor countries such as Maldives, Jamaica, Dominican Republic etc. In these places, unemployment is incredibly high and the average income is very low.

Consequently, employers are in a position to give very low wages, and avoid hiring employees to work in their complexes on a regular basis. For that reason, the turnover of the labor force is immense, and it is very difficult to protect labor rights in that context.

Economic dependence

The fact that profits in the tourism industry can be so high can cause the entire economy of a country or a region to steer towards that industry. This can be very dangerous for several reasons. It is well-known that tourism is not a firm basis for an economy because it is not a productive industry, and it is located in the domain of services.

This has some very important consequences. First off, in case of a crisis, people usually sacrifice the expenses that they regard as luxuries, and their annual vacation is very often one of the first items on the list. Such events as crises can push a country into a severe depression if it is extremely dependent on tourism.

For example, the recent financial crisis of 2008 significantly damaged the economy of Hawaii, which is extremely dependent on tourism because more than one third of the country’s revenue comes from tourism.

Because of the financial crisis that hit the Western world, the tax revenue of Hawaii was reduced by more than 10 per cent, and the country lost 4.9 billion dollars in foreign spending (Woo).

Furthermore, an economy which is extremely dependent on tourism runs not only the risk of economic crises, but also natural disasters. Many of the world’s most famous tourist centers are located in the areas which have the highest risk of natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, tornados, tsunamis, etc.

Such events can not only destroy tourist seasons, but also devastate the infrastructure and buildings of great importance, thereby deleting the region from the world’s tourist map. One recent example is the earthquake in Haiti.

Just as Haiti was recovering from a long history of social and economic problems by developing tourist centers, an earthquake of 7.0 Mw destroyed most of the hotels and buildings leaving the country in ruins (Curley 8).

Other Economic Issues

The economy consists of such a complex set of relations between humans that one should not be surprised to discover that the effects of one phenomenon can have so many economic consequences, both positive and negative ones.

One additional economic cost of tourism is the fact that the structure of the capital within the industry can be such that very small percentage of the total revenue remains in the country where all the tourist complexes are located.

Globalized economy, such as the one we have at the beginning of the 21^st century, allows the rich people and corporations from the Western world to build huge tourist complexes in Kenya or Nigeria, for example.

If that happens, they usually attract Western tourists who are interested in buying Western food such as McDonald’s or clothes, such as Nike. All of that creates a seasonal Western market in Africa.

An unfortunate fact for the local population is that all of those companies, at the end of the season, take their revenue back to the Western countries, and they are left with very little money that they could earn competing with those Western giants (Sunyer 2010).

Environmental costs

It is quite a paradox that while thousands of people visit a location with intact nature and beautiful landscapes, by doing so they are slowly destroying that very same landscape. To make things even worse the more interesting and beautiful the landscape is, the more people it attracts, and the quicker it is destroyed.

From building hotels, restaurants and entertainment centers to the basic elements of infrastructure like heating, water supply and roads, tourism causes significant reshaping of the original landscape, and the environment suffers a lot.

Moreover, supporting thousands of people during the season demands immense amounts of food, fresh water and fuel. All of that creates large quantities of waste. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully plan and construct landfills and sewage systems.

Both of these basic constituents of an urbanized location have to cause some amount of pollution; however, it is essential that this pollution be kept at the minimum.

It has been confirmed that leaving all of these concerns to the market will not do the job because meeting all the necessary requirements costs a lot, and in unregulated circumstances those who are careful to meet them simply cannot remain competitive.

In this way locations which were originally attractive to tourists, within few years, become more polluted than some industrial centers.

Therefore, it is absolutely essential to construct environmentally sound regulations to prevent the self-destruction of tourism in a country (Buckley 401).

Cultural costs

The final danger which comes with the development of tourism is that it can have devastating consequences for the local culture.

By now it is noticeable that economy, environment and culture are the three domains that can benefit the most from the development of tourism, but at the same time it in these three domains that tourism can have the most devastating consequences.

Moreover, it seems that culture is the one domain in which there is no way to establish control and make tourism fully sustainable. This is, for the most part, because of the fact that culture is constantly changing, and it is very difficult to control the direction of that change.

While cultural heritage like, for example, the summer festivals of Scotland is preserved precisely because tourists come from all over the world to experience it, it is absolutely certain that it is not the same in all cases.

From the anthropological point of view, it is questionable whether this way of preserving culture deserves praise at all. Some scholars, like Anthony Smith, would claim that it is not:

“Tourism places the whole of the visited culture on sale, distorting its imagery and symbolism, turning its emotions loose, transforming a way of life into an industry…A culture…is turned from subject to object, from independent to dependent, from audience-in-its-own-right to spectacle” (quoted in Sunyer 2010)

The argument is that culture is not really culture if it is not lived. The anthropologists would claim that this way of viewing the culture robs it of its essence.

For them, the claim that reducing the culture to a mere spectacle helps in preserving it is similar to the claim that we have the culture of the 18^th century France alive and existing when we are watching a play about Napoleon.

Sadly, it is difficult to see any way in which sustainable tourism can account for this problem. After all, reducing the local culture to a mere spectacle is an integral part of cultural tourism, and there is nothing that can be done in that aspect, legally or otherwise.

Sustainable tourism

As it has been explained so far, it is very difficult to imagine tourism disappearing as a social category at this point in history. In fact, given all the beneficial aspect that it has, mirrored mostly in economics, very few people would want it to disappear.

Nonetheless, it is obvious that tourism implies some very difficult problems, in particular, its devastating impact on the environment and its imperialistic view of culture.

Scientists and scholars have recognized this as a problem, and have been trying to find a solution for several decades now in the field called sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism is based on the assumption that it is possible to have all the beneficial effects of tourism, while at the same time making as little detrimental impact on the local environment and culture.

It is an interdisciplinary approach to constructing policies that will account for all the relevant factors in order to maximize the positive economic aspects, and minimize the negative cultural and environmental ones.

Sustainable tourism should also be viewed as a global movement that tries to educate people on the benefits of what they call Responsible tourism. Responsible tourism is something very similar to a tourist’s ethical codex.

Its principles oblige tourists to be sensitive towards local cultures, and perform their environmental duties while on vacation. Some of these duties are: producing as little waste as possible, recycling, etc.

However, this whole notion of responsible tourism implies that the visitors are informed about the harms they can potentially make, and the ways in which they can prevent those harm from taking place. Moreover, sustainable tourism is not a strictly defined set of strategies applicable to all contexts.

It demands an analysis of all the relevant factors, and constant awareness of one’s actions from every visitor. As we can see sustainable tourism is a long term mission, which demands a lot of state intervention, education and responsibility. The real question at this point is whether there is time for such a long project.

Some of the results of this global effort are quite obvious. For example, there are more and more customers coming to tourist agencies, and asking for locations that promote sustainable tourism.

On the other hand, what is very disappointing is that there is very little consensus among the experts as to which indicators should be used in order to evaluate whether a resort is practicing sustainable tourism.

Moreover, some of the experts are not even sure where to draw the line between sustainable and unsustainable tourism (Miller 10).

Conclusion

In conclusion, tourism is a widespread and very popular social phenomenon, and people enjoy it for multiple reasons such as: health, education, sport, recreation, religion, or even pure hedonism.

Furthermore, there is a strong economic motivation for the existence of tourism: jobs are created, states and entrepreneurs collect huge amounts of revenue and infrastructure is developed.

Preservation of environment and culture also gets its economic basis in tourism. However, tourism causes some very deep social, cultural and economic issues. History has taught us that many countries, after a certain period, tend to become economically dependent on it, which has its consequences in very deep recessions, seasonal unemployment, etc.

Environment and culture also suffer because of the unplanned and irresponsible practice of tourism. Huge amounts of waste are being generated and culture is being viewed as one big show.

Such practices have been referred to as unsustainable tourism because after a certain period such locations lose their attractiveness to visitors because the hotels are no longer solvent or environment and culture are no longer authentic and intact.

Therefore, the only solution is the introduction of sustainable tourism which is a field in which many experts are trying to define ways to make tourism viable for future generations. It is certain that there are many reasons which make tourism worth struggling for.

Works Cited

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Gooroochurn, Nishaal. “Tourism and Taxation: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation.” Input-Output and General Equilibrium: Data, Modeling and Policy Analysis. ECOMOD. Input-Output and General Equilibrium: Data, Modeling and Policy Analysis, Brussels. 2004. Lecture.

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Introduction

Leisure is an important aspect in everybody’s life. During leisure people express themselves and become more relaxed. Tourism is physical and metaphorical. Travel is a fascinating metaphor because it refers not to the fixed but to a journey, a crossing from the familiar centre to the exotic periphery.

Tourism is also a metaphor for the imposition of the western gaze. There is enjoyment by the rich of the exotic difference of the other and exploitation too. Travelling has also become an increasingly popular way of discovering one’s identity. It is based on theories such as socialization theory, ideology, and disciplines and technologies of the self. There is no such thing as homogenous identity; all are multiple of postmodern and globalised world of fragmentation and disorientation.

Clearly, the concept of identity is linked closely to issues of interpretation and representation, which are pivotal to discussion about heritage and arts tourism. For instance, the exploration of existential authenticity which can be sought through travel can be an important part of identity construction. This paper looks at the definition of leisure, the definition of tourism and their theoretical concepts. It also looks at the relationship between tourism, leisure lifestyle, and affluence, and theory of consumption in regard to self-identity.

Leisure

Leisure is associated with different behaviours and activities from the ones expressed on a work day. Research related to leisure has been focusing on the psychological attributes that are linked to leisure as researchers try to define what is meant by the term leisure (Jenkins 2003). Theoretically, it has been found that leisure is associated with gender, that is, men and women exhibit different characteristics when it comes to leisure.

This depends on how they were brought up and the roles allocated to them by the society (Robinson (1977). The society has different perceptions when it comes to gender and it expects men and women to portray some differences in their activities. However, we can not fully understand the effects of gender in leisure without first understanding what is leisure or what activities are considered to be leisure (Beere 1990).

Tourism

Tourism can be defined as a type of travel done for recreational purposes or for leisure. It can also be travel to accomplish business purposes. According to the World Tourism Organization (2010), a tourist is a person who travels to an area that is out of his normal environment and stays there for more than one day but not more than one year.

Reasons for such a travel would be for leisure or business. Tourism is an international activity that has become popular in many countries (Cooper & Hall 2005). There are three types of tourism: domestic tourism, inbound tourism, and outbound tourism. Domestic tourism involves residents travelling in their own country; inbound tourism involves residents of another country travelling to a given country while outbound tourism involves residents travelling outside their own country (Ellis 2010).

Tourism and Leisure Lifestyle, and Affluence

The concept of searching for self, a form of identity work, is frequently cited among the lifestyle travellers as a motivating factor for their engagement in lifestyle travel. Many people view tourism as a self-discovery which is fruitfully undertaken when one is physically away from his home environments as travel often allows for the experience of new and different situations (Kelly 1983).

However, while some of the lifestyle travellers consciously undertake a search for a more secure sense of self through travel; others instead recognize their identity work retrospectively (World Tourism Organization, 2010). Individuals are able to express their identity by having special interest in tourism. Specialised tourism involves a group or individuals tours by people with a specific subject. Generally, the people concerned exercise the same profession or have a common hobby (Unger & Kernan 1983).

Individuals can be able to form or express their identity by having a special interest in tourism. This is known as leisure where participants are able to find personal fulfilment, enhance their identity, and express themselves (Neulinger 1994). In this kind of tourism, tourists tend to seek durable benefits such as self-enrichment, recreation or renewal of self, self-expression, and a sense of belonging.

These tourists have developed a unique ethos based on norms, beliefs and principles associated with particular chosen activity. Special interest tourism can include cultural heritage tourism and eco-tourism that places an emphasis on interaction with the natural environment.

In examining the characteristics of tourists researchers have become increasingly aware that not all tourists are homogenous. This fact becomes even more important considering the more recent development of special interest tourism and niche markets within tourism (Crounch, 1999). The motivations for travel and tourism usually arise due to some need to escape from the home environment or from the burdens of daily life.

Motivations for pleasure travel are associated with a desire for natural attractions, climate, relaxation, and many more. According to Jacoby et al (1976), the basic trait in human nature which causes individuals to want to leave things with which they are familiar and to go and see at first hand different exciting cultures and places is a key motivation for tourists. An interest in cultural and the customs of a destination could be considered cultural motivations.

Subsequently, social motivations such as the pursuit of hobbies, continuation of education and learning could be viewed as educational motives for travel. Tourism can provide an outlet not only for escaping or avoiding something, but also for seeking something which provides intrinsic rewards as self-fulfilment, and learning (Henderson 1991).

Cultural tourism

Cultural tourism can be used to foster integration as well as for national, regional and local identity construction. It can be used to revive traditions, renew cultural pride, and strengthen identity reconstruction. Ethnic groups use cultural tourism to express their culture and identity. There is a complex interrelationship between tourism and arts, where tourism can sometimes serve to compromise artistic integrity or quality, or impact upon the authenticity of performance.

It can also be helpful in revitalizing artistic traditions and lead to new and exciting forms of creative self-expression. People express their identities through tourism and leisure activities in different ways. Some use it to identify themselves with their cultures, customs, and others with their societal values.

Identity in this case can be defined in different perspectives. For instance, a person can be identified with his/her profession (such as a lawyer, an accountant) or can be identified by ethnic, culture or race. Identity is a term used to describe a person or his individuality. For instance many people would prefer to travel to aboriginal tourist sites to identify themselves with their culture or religion (Winter, 2007).

Tourism and affluence

The other aspect that influences tourism is affluence. This refers to the availability of good standards of living to a big population. With technological development, the society has been changed from a rural to urban and the standards of living have greatly improved. The level of income has increased and people can now access better standards of living (Wilkerson 2003).

The increase in the level of income per household has resulted in an increase in travel. People now have more disposable income which they can use to enjoy their free time (Samdahl 1991). However, this does not apply to all populations because there is a significant part of the population that lives below the poverty line and can neither afford the time nor the money for travelling.

Also some people are yet to discover the importance of travelling and they prefer to invest their money in productive investment rather than “waste” it on travelling. There is a group of people who travel to tourist sites simply because of business purposes and not necessary because they derive satisfaction from it (Falk, 2009). We can not therefore say that, affluence is positively related to tourism because some people do not value tourism.

Standards of living dictates the kind of lifestyle one can involve him/herself in. they are families which struggle to provide the basic things and have very little money to spend on leisure or tourism. As we know, tourism (especially international tourism) is quite expensive and not many people can afford it (Conway, 2010). A person can use tourism to identify himself with his financial stability. There are some leisure activities that are associated with the rich, for instance playing of golf identifies one with high class.

Theory of Consumption

The consumption of tourism is defined in relation to the decisions, behaviours, and feelings held by a tourist before he starts his travel, during the trip, and after the trip.

Different people have different behaviours and opinions when it comes to travelling. There are some tourism places that have a high rate of consumption simply because people have positive feelings towards them. For instance, many people would make a decision to travel to a country that is believed to have the most beautiful sceneries in order to satisfy their curiosity (World Tourism Organization, 2008).

Certainly, tourism consumption is assumed to be socially predisposed and culturally structured (Sharpley 1999). There are four basic emotions associated with a tourist’s psychological state. These emotions are reflected in the ways tourists consume the product of tourism.

According to Rojek (1997), tourists wish to take a trip to tourism sites in order to feel a sense of societal belonging and also associate with their culture. Rojek found out that tourism consumption is associated with socio-cultural, psychological, and emotions concerns of the tourists.

Tourism and leisure can not be relied always for self-identity

Most tourist visits tourist attraction sites to identity themselves with the socio-cultural beliefs and practices that were practiced by their forefathers. Others travel to satisfy their curiosity while there is a group of people who travel to satisfy themselves emotionally. However, not all people are able to express their identity by using tourism (Beaver 2000). Tourism and leisure do not always help in self-identity; at times, they can influence the day-to-day life through linkage with leisure activity.

It can also lead to self-change. Tourism can generate the ‘fateful moment’ in the self-identity and personality of the tourist person. The tourist can deliberately and self-consciously remove normal day-to-day identity and be exposed to new circumstances and experiences- and so construct a new identity or at least challenge the existing identity. Some researchers have found that, self-change might certainly embrace other tourists, for instance, the growing numbers in search of some form of authenticity.

Moreover, authenticity is a socially constructed concept; it is perceived and built by tourist themselves. the simple assumption that individuals seek to escape from the monotony of their daily lives to authentic experiences of other places, artefacts and cultures has been challenged by post-structuralist approaches in terms of both the possibility of escape and the grounds of authenticity (Jaworski & Pritchard 2005).

Tourism and leisure can not always be relied upon by individuals to form or express their identity. There are times when people visit historical sites not because they want to identify themselves with their culture or customs, but just for enjoyment. Also it does not mean that, wealthy people can only identity themselves with the leisure lifestyle that is known for the rich. A rich person can choose to spend his leisure time alone, beside a river but this does not mean that he is expressing his identity.

Actually there are people who adopt a certain lifestyle not because they like it or are trying to express their identity, but because their friends are in it. Some people choice the kind of leisure lifestyle that is convenient for them individually but not necessary to express their identity. Some societies dictate the kind of leisure lifestyle to be adopted by individual. Most people find themselves adopting these lifestyles not because they want to express their identity, but because that is what is available and not to be left out by others.

Conclusion

Traditionally, leisure has been defined as free-time. This is the time when one is out of the normal work activities for self recreation. It is also defined as time spent on activities that are termed as free time activities, this includes sports, swimming, visiting the gym among others.

On the other hand, tourism is defined as travel for business purposes, leisure or just for pleasure. Tourism is determined by the purpose of travel. Some people travel for work purpose, for instance, they use airlines, roads, or train to get to their work places, students also travel to and from school and this cannot be considered as tourism. The purpose of travel that determines tourism includes visiting friends, business trips, recreation, entertainment, and the list is endless.

Tourism and leisure can be used to identify a person with his culture, religion, social class, marital status. A person travels to an aboriginal site to identify himself with his culture while another person will go to the gym or play golf as a way of identifying himself with his social class. However, this is not always the case. Some people are not able to identity themselves in tourism but instead, end up adopting social changes in their life which can impact them negatively.

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