Category: Tourism

Introduction

Tourism is one of the most popular leisure activities globally. According to international tourism statistics, there were over 940 million global tourist arrivals in 2010. This recorded a 6.6% growth as compared to the year 2009. According to World Tourism Organization’s definition, tourism is the act of travelling for leisure, recreational and business purposes.

In the U.S, tourism contributes to about US$ 2 trillion annually hence; it is highly profitable and important to economic growth of states. Pro-poor tourism in connection to the global tourism helps in reducing poverty in local communities that reside in low-income countries (UNTWO, 2011).

Discussion

Pro-poor tourism is therefore, aimed at helping to improve lives of the poor. It is neither an identified product nor a shallow market recess. Instead, it is an approach to the development and management of tourism. It helps improve connection between businesses that operates in line with tourism and the poor in the society.

For this reason, tourism’s capacity to promote poverty reduction continues to increase, giving the poor in society a chance to contribute constructively in productivity and development.

Businesses that operate in line with tourisms may include landowners, community neighbors, product suppliers, artisans, public transport businesses, food producers among others. Pro-poor tourism in third world countries can also refer to it as a strategy installed to boost local economy for the poor in local community.

Pro-poor tourism strategies vary in many ways. They range from consultation building approaches to enhancing local tourism employment companies. Some of these companies may include tourism lodging companies, urban tourism hotels that can train local dwellers for future opportunities, and tourism travel companies among others.

All these strategies play a vital role in the overall benefit of tourism to poor people. These local tourism strategies brings profit back to the poor local people who gets employments, lease local lands and operate local businesses as a result of pro-poor tourism (Ashley 1).

Due to a rise in the need to ensure success of pro-poor tourism, tourism development centers are set up globally in many countries and states. These centers provide a diverse range of management and development assistance in the sector of pro-poor tourism initiative.

They employ professionals with experienced qualifications in pro-poor tourism management and development to operate these centers. These professional staffs deliver pro-poor tourism services to local community in the following fields:

Pro-poor tourism projects feasibility study

This field may include services such as assisting the local people in making precise decisions at the early phases of pro-poor tourism activities. It ensures that local communities employ important decisions in the entire development stages (Lotti 1).

Pro-poor tourism Development

This ensures the success of t pro- poor tourism by supporting sustainable growth. To achieve this growth, a lasting productive foundation must be established to promote local community and tourism service providers to benefit from the improving living standards. The pro-poor tourism development staffs assist local communities in different areas to identify and find tourism capacity of their surroundings.

This approach promotes process of integrated tourism, which is usually directed towards support of natural environment (ecotourism) within the local, regional, and global community (African Pro-poor Tourism Development Centre 1).

Pro-poor tourism marketing

This field plays a key role in marketing pro-poor tourism ventures and organizations. It assists participants who are committed in the line of pro-poor tourism to boost sales, tourist arrivals, or organize for tourism marketing plans. It also equips communities with the knowledge to analyze profitable tourism ventures within their surroundings (Shah 1).

Conclusion

Pro- poor tourism sector is on rapid growth globally. It therefore, requires a responsive development to yield diverse job creation opportunities and deployments for the growing population. For many years, tourism has been of great benefit and economic gain to urban people when local communities remain in the dark to pay for its cost. This is majorly experienced in rural set up and some developing regions across the world (UNTWO 1).

Works Cited

African Pro-poor Tourism Development Centre. “What is pro-poor tourism (PPT)?” propoortourism-kenya.org. 2006. Web.

Ashley, Caroline. “Facilitating Pro-Poor Tourism with the Private Sector: Lessons learned from PPT Pilots in Southern Africa”. propoortourism.org.uk. 2006. Web.

Lotti, Marialivia. “What is pro-poor tourism?” propoortourism.org.uk. 2011. Web.

Shah, Kishore. “Tourism, the poor and other stakeholders: Asian experience”. ODI Fair-Trade in Tourism Paper. London: ODI, 2000.

UNTWO. “World Tourism Organization”. mkt.unwto.org. 2011. Web.

The process of hotel management is a multifaceted unit that should be approached in the right way regarding the circumstances while the goals may vary in terms of the short- or long-term perspectives and expected outcomes. In this respect, the manager should predict the effect of the goals and the interrelation of short-term and medium-term goals.

As suggested in the study by Ingold, Yeoman, and McMahon-Beattie (2002), “knowledge of the effect of price changes” is an important element of yield management. “The short-term demands include day-to-day operational issues of quality service and controlling costs and revenue” (Pizam, 2005, p. 405).

In this respect, short-term goals may be aimed at fitting the budget while medium-term goals may require more expenses such as staff training that conflict with the budget.

Demand with regard to short-term and medium-term objectives (Sheela, 2007, p. 81), changes in the market (Moutinho, 2000, p. 260), prices and product (Kumar, 2010), timing and pricing strategies (Adams, 2006, pp. 131-132) may be considered the most important areas where the difference between short- and medium-term objectives can become a reason f the conflict as they are outlined for different periods and require different approaches while a manger should strive for the highest quality of services and highest revenue.

Though some uncertainty is evident in medium-term planning, it is an integral part of the hotel management (Evans, Campbell & Stonehouse, 2003, pp. 13-14); besides, the main difference between the short- and medium-term objectives is the level of certainty/uncertainty due to the possibility to predict some changes in the market, demand, the overall economic and financial situation in the country and the world.

As suggested in the study by Clarke and Chen (2007), the short-term and long-term effects are reached due to effective management whereas the goals set should be attained with regard to the conflict that may occur between short- and medium-term objectives.

At the same time, Mullins (2001) claims that unit mangers are the people responsible for short- and medium-term goals unlike the long-term goals. Wood and Brotherton (2008) report that the technology implementation cannot be considered one of the short-term-goals while each step in implementing advanced techniques can be considered a short-term objective.

In this respect, the conflict may occur due to resource management issues when the same staff member should obtain information necessary for future progress and do day-to-day job which can be impossible because of time limits.

The hotel management is based on a number of very important factors that may influence its rating, profitability, and the overall success compared to competitors. The actions of the manager should be aimed at making the hotel more profitable via providing services of the most appropriate quality to the people that can afford to pay for such services.

In this respect, staff training becomes one of the key factors in this issue because incompetent staff members may impact the perception of services and the work of the hotel and its management by customers. As such, we should find evidence of how the staff training interactions may potentially influence the revenue of a hotel.

“The goal of the four staff departments… is to provide specialized support for operating departments…” (Hales, 2005, p. 158). The staff departments, in this case, are meant under the departments that include human staff whereas the operating departments constitute for the services provided to customers in the form of rooms, clean towels, golf courses, food, and other aspects that may influence the customers’ perception of the hotel.

However, the key word in this statement is the ‘specialized’ because the staff should know how to do their job and why they have to do it perfectly implying the influence of one little word said to the customer changing the rating given by this customer to hotel.

As suggested in the study by Ransley and Ingram (2004), “the amount of money necessary in a new hotel development will be determined inter alia by the scarcity of skilled labour within the local environment” (p. 242). In this respect, the skilled staff is an integral part of the effective hotel management that influences positively on a hotel’s profitability.

The issue of eco-tourism is discussed in the study by Jayawardena (2002) who suggests the idea of staff training for particular areas of tourism such as eco-tourism as the staff members should be aware of the basic principles and follow the elementary rules and conservation values.

At the same time, Bardi (2010) raises the question of computer literacy of hotel staff and insists on all staff members that are to work with computer programmes should know how to deal with those on a regular basis; besides, the training sessions may be official or informal and be held at the workplace as consulting or guidance (pp. 114-115).

The study case offered by Tum, Norton, and Wright (2006) presents the Prestbury House Hotel and the history of its success when new owners managed to improve the quality of the facilities and bring it into a brand-new level with the help of a “management training centre” (p. 169); the annual turnover is demonstrated as evidence of interrelation between the staff and rating and profitability.

References

Adams, D. (2006). Management accounting for the hospitality, tourism and leisure industries: A strategic approach (2^nd ed.). Padstow, Cornwall: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Bardi, J. A. (2010). Hotel front office management (5^th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Clarke, A., & Chen, W. (2007). International hospitality management: Concepts and cases. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Evans, N., Campbell, D., & Stonehouse, G. (2003). Strategic management for travel and tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Hales, J. (2005). Accounting and financial analysis in the hospitality industry. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Ingold, A., Yeoman, I., & McMahon-Beattie, U. (Eds.) (2002). Yield management (2^nd ed.). Padstow, Cornwall: Cengage Learning EMEA

Jayawardena, C. (2002). Tourism and hospitality education and training in the Caribbean. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.

Kumar, P. (2010). Marketing of hospitality and tourism services. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Moutinho, L. (2000). Strategic management in tourism. Wallingford, Oxon: CABI.

Mullins, L. J. (2001). Hospitality management and organisational behaviour (4^th ed.). Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education.

Pizam, A. (2005). International encyclopedia of hospitality management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Ransley, J., Ingram, H. (2004). Developing hospitality properties and facilities (2^nd ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Sheela, A. M. (2007). Economics of hotel management. New Delhi: New Age International.

Tum, J., Norton, P., & Wright, J. N. (2006). Management of event operations. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Wood, R. C., & Brotherton, B. (2008). The Sage handbook of hospitality management. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

The Changes in Regional Tourism Organizations

Both developed and developing organizations have a wide range of activities. However, details regarding the development of the tourism sector are not very outspoken especially in the tourism literature. Information on tourism organizations is often centered about organizational roles, structures and roles of tourism organizations.

Nonetheless, very little has been done regarding aspects such as the motivation behind power distribution and institutional structures. In Australia, various levels in government are influenced by tourism operations. Local governments are using tourism to create job opportunities and thus boosting the local economy. The government too, has a lot of interest in tourism.

This is because of the benefits that the sector has to the national political aspect as a whole. Such benefits include regional development, employment growth, multiplier effects and generation of income (Jenkins, 2000, p. 1-2).

The federal partitioning of roles has contributed to difficulties in the coordination of policies. This has affected many areas such as the urban affairs, transport and resource marketing. The tourism sector has not been left out either. Tourism has not been clearly captured in the Australian constitution.

The absence of specific governmental mandate to handle tourism has led to the duplication of the duties of the government, leading to lack of agreement between the States and the Commonwealth. The constitution of Australia does not really recognize the local government.

The local governments exist at the level of States and the local government Acts within the constitution empower them to handle development matters and particularly tourism. This is apart from being able to rate structures and control the health standards, in accordance to the frameworks of the state government. There is lack of clarity, poor coordination in the responsibilities that the local government should play in tourism.

There is some clash between the roles of local authorities and those of the State in tourism. This emanates from the nature of development and marketing in the tourism sector (Jenkins, 2000, p. 178-179). Recently, tourism featured in a Commonwealth policy in the economic development at the regional level.

When the working nation was introduced, two programs were introduced: Regional Development Organizations and Regional Development Strategy. As a ligament of these programs, the department of tourism in Commonwealth funded a tourism development program at the regional level.

Since the inception of the coalition government in 1996, there have been some changes, both economically and developmentally. Since then, the government has continued participating in tourism development programs, at the regional level.

Planning, policy making and development in tourism have been shaped by changes within the western political philosophy. The public sector has been involved in the promotion and marketing of tourism. This has been characterized by making tourism agencies and boards, both corporate and private.

On the other hand, governments have demonstrated their lack of support to the tourism industry in a couple of ways: doing away with all departments and corporations in the tourism sector and by either lowering or terminating their financial support.

What both the private and public operators are aware of is the fact that the marketing and development approaches in the tourism sector cannot be properly handled by the private operators unless there is intervention.

The local state has faced a lot of challenges emanating from the recent economic recession, dynamic global economy and the reduced financial support from the central government (Jenkins, 2000, p. 182-182). As a result, the local state has found it difficult to employ more people, draw investors and industries that can aid in income generation.

Latest issues in Tourism

Being able to implement and formulate strategic plans has been challenging in New South Wales especially with regard to the where the tourism industry is inherently diverse both physically and structurally. The case may even be more challenging due to the influx of tourism development in some areas.

Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable tourism and ecotourism are some of the terminologies that have not been easy to operationalize. Researchers have not been able to come to a consensus on the exact definition of sustainable tourism (Bottrill and Pearce, 1995). Nevertheless, the increasing curiosity in the area of sustainability has heightened the discussion in the integration of tourism into planning.

One of the key reasons why it has been difficult to attain sustainable tourism both locally and regionally is lack of the national vision on tourism (Page and Thorn, 1997, p. 59). Research has shown that there is need for more study to be done in tourism and also for increased investment in the sector.

New Zealand integrated sustainability into its planning program about ten years ago. It will therefore be appropriate to revisit this and check on the latest developments within this industry and evaluate the possibility of implementing sustainable tourism at the regional and local levels.

Management of tourism at the local level is the duty of both regional and local councils. However, the support from the national level that can enhance this management is not evident enough. This is happening at a time when there is an increased overflow of tourist in New Zealand and an awareness of the possibility of degradation of New Zealand’s environment.

At a period when the conservation of New Zealand’s environment is critical, it is ironical that the department in charge of conservation was invited a few months after initiation of the task. There are rising concerns from lack of communication especially between the tourism marketing department and tourism management. These concerns ought to be dealt with urgently.

Scholars have made comments of the effects of tourism growth and the possibility of severe environmental effects within diverse areas (PCE, 1997). Study also reveals that local authorities understand their duties with respect to tourism at the local level. There have been conflicts with respect to both other users and urban growth. These conflicts have attracted a lot of concerns from several councils.

Research reveals that those districts in which tourism activities were environmentally – based are the ones that identified tourism similar (Page and Thorn, 2002, p. 233; Dymond, 1997). Districts that did not encounter any tourism – based impact were either those that were rural based or those that were basically provincial regions within the urban setting.

New Zealand is marketed by the government, mainly through National Tourism Organization. This makes the country to continue receiving more tourists. On the other hand, after the arrival of the visitors, it is the local council that assesses their needs (Page and Thorn, 2002, p. 233).

Tourism and governance

For a long time, scholars have been interested in the role played by the government in tourism. However, recently, the shift tends towards the relationship between tourism and governance rather than the government (Beaumont and Dredge, 2010; Greenwood, 1993; Hall, 1999). “Government is the act of governing” (Hall, 2011, p. 439).

It has become very significant as researchers attempt to find out what the state can do in addressing political, economic, social and environmental aspects of tourism. Focus on the role of governance in tourism – related matters is a reflection of the increasing development and growth in the field of policy sciences.

There is increasing study with regard to the role played by supranational organizations within the governance of tourism. Examples of such organizations include the International Monetary Fund, The World Bank and the United Nations Environmental Programme, among others (Hall, 2011, p. 439).

It is important to understand the institutional structures in governance. This sheds light on how the state participates in the tourism policy thus pointing towards the parameters that can be utilized in attaining policy goals.

Most discussions with regard to the policy tools in tourism center mainly around the effects instead of the governance that led to the selection of such tools. There is limited information with respect to the association between diverse tourism policy processes and why specific instruments are selected.

Typologies are important in that they help in placing the policies into categories such that there is a clear understanding in the connection between the substance and the process. There is an influential paper by Lowi that shows the interrelationship between policies and politics. Different frames of governance can be understood using a number of elements.

These are: over arching concept, the matrix, and column and row variables. Besides, some frameworks can be utilized for concept formation in political science. These include semantic field, data containers and the hierarchical structure in concepts (Hall, 2011, p. 440 – 450).

References

Beaumont, N., & Dredge, D. (2010). Local tourism governance: A comparison of three Network approaches. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 18, 7–28.

Bottrill, C.G. and Pearce, D.G. (1995). Ecotourism: Towards a key elements approach to operationalize the concept. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 3 (1), 45–54.

Dymond, S. (1997) Indicators of sustainable tourism in New Zealand: At local government perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 5 (4), 279–93.

Greenwood, J. (1993). Business interest groups in tourism governance. Tourism Management, 14,335–348.

Hall, C.M. (1999). Rethinking collaboration and partnership: A public policy perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 7, 274–289.

Hall, C.M. (2011). Journal of sustainable tourism: A typology of governance and its implications for tourism policy analysis. London: Routledge.

Jenkins, J., (2000). The dynamics of regional tourism organizations in New South Wales, Australia: History, Structures and operations.

Page, S.J. and Thorn, K. (1997). Towards sustainable tourism planning in New Zealand: Public sector planning responses. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 5 (1), 59–77.

Page, S.J. and Thorn, K. (2002). Towards Sustainable Tourism Development and Planning in New Zealand: The Public Sector Response Revisited.

Parliamentary Commission for the Environment (1997). Management of the environmental effects associated with the tourism sector. Web.

Introduction

The MLL hotels are located in many parts of the world. Mallorca is one of the popular destinations of many travelers, and the MLL hotel chain has several hotels on the island. There are 2-, 3- and 4-star hotels (Welcome to MLL hotels in Majorca, 2015). It is possible to implement a SWOT analysis to identify competitiveness of the company. The following hotels will be analyzed: Sahara, Nubia, Gobi (2 stars), Palma Bay Resort (3 stars), Caribbean Bay (3 stars), Blue Bay (3 stars) and Mediterranean Bay (4 stars).

MLL and Its Competitors

A Brief Competitors Analysis

The MLL Hotels Company in Mallorca has a number of competitors. The direct competitors of Carribean Bay Hotel are Hotel Blue Sea Arenal Tower and Amazonas Hotel. The direct competitors of the Palma Bay Club Resort Hotel are Encant Hotel, Dunas Blancas, Fergus Gemini, Hotel Riutort and Hotel Alejandria. The direct competitors of Mediterranean Bay are Torre Azul. It is noteworthy that Sahara-Nubia-Gobi Bay and Blue Bay do not have direct competitors.

It is possible to analyze competitors’ objectives, assumptions, strategy, and capabilities. Their strategy includes the focus on sustainability. It is noteworthy that hotels seem to focus on the development and diversification. They provide the visitors with a variety of services including conference and meeting rooms.

It has been acknowledged that this area is one of the most promising as more and more clients need an appropriate place for holding meetings in different locations (Buswell, 2011). At the same time, some hotels concentrate on availability. For instance, Roc Hotels chain aims to provide high-quality services at best prices.

Competitors’ Capabilities: SWOT Analysis

To understand the prospects of the MLL hotel chain and the way it should develop, it is possible to implement a SWOT analysis.

Strengths

• Direct Competitors: Sahara-Nubia-Gobi Bay and Blue Bay Hotel do not have direct competitors, which is a significant competitive advantage.
• Diversification: One of the strengths of the hotel chain in question is its considerable diversification. Thus, the company includes 2-, 3- and 4-star hotels. Therefore, it has minimized risks associated with customers’ needs and opportunities. Notably, the contemporary financial constraints in many countries including the EU and the USA, as well as many other states, may soon result in the decrease in visitors in hotels of all ratings.
• Location: The MLL hotels are located near the beach, which is very important for Mallorca. This destination is mostly associated with S&S vacation. Thus, visitors want to have an easy access to the beach. When it comes to the hotel chain’s competitors, 4- star hotels are also located near the beach or on the beach. However, when it comes to the 3-star hotels, they are often situated quite far from the beach. Clearly, this makes the facilities less attractive. Clearly, MLL hotels have a significant competitive advantage as regards their location. At that, Palma Bay Club Resort Hotel has the worst location among other facilities of the chain.
• Facilities and services: MLL hotels provide services that correspond to their rating. At that, Sahara-Nubia-Gobi Bay (2 stars) has several pools and bars, which is not typical of a 2-star hotel. It also provides services that can be valuable for the visitors such as children’s entertainment.
• Prices: The prices at MLL hotels are quite low, which is another competitive advantage. The competitors have higher prices and, in many cases, fewer services provided. Hence, travelers may choose MLL hotels for their prices, quality and services provided. The company pays specific attention to the quality of services, and it tries to ensure maximum value for the visitor money.

Weaknesses

Nonetheless, the MLL hotels are also characterized by a number of weaknesses.

• Location: The Palma Bay Club Resort Hotel is situated rather far from the beach while its direct competitors have a more favorable location.
• No Facilities for Conferences: One of the major weaknesses is the lack of space for conferences and meetings. As has been mentioned above, this area is seen as one of the most popular segments (Buswell, 2011). Only Blue Bay (a 3-star hotel) has a conference room. However, even a 4-star hotel does not provide such a space for its visitors. There are no conference or meeting rooms. Therefore, the company loses potential clients. These are companies that want to have a meeting or conference and provide certain kind of encouragement to their employees. Clearly, provision of services to such clients is beneficial as more visitors stay in the hotel.
• No Free Access to Wi-Fi: The majority of the hotels of the chain (except for the 4-star Mediterranean Bay) do not provide free access to Wi-Fi, which is rather unclear. This service does not require considerable investment. At the same time, the modern travelers are accustomed to being online 24/7.
• No free entertainment: The vast majority of the MLL hotels in Mallorca do not provide free entertainment to its visitors. This can be seen as a disadvantage especially when it comes to children’s entertainment. Families come to the island, and they want to have an unforgettable experience, which they can fail to have if they simply stay on the beach. It is noteworthy that many competitors also lack entertainment. Therefore, the development of some entertainment can become one of the important competitive advantages of the MLL.

Opportunities

It is necessary to note that the company has a number of opportunities to develop and enhance its competitive advantage.

• Wi-Fi: The MLL hotels may provide a wider range of services. For example, Wi-Fi should be available and free of charge in all the hotels of the chain in Mallorca. Visitors should be able to use their devices to the fullest when they are staying at MLL hotels irrespective of the number of stars. It is important to remember that young adults and adults are heavy users of technology, and they should have an opportunity to remain connected when they are on their vacation.
• Meeting Rooms: The company should consider providing meeting rooms in the vast majority of facilities. These can be spaces of different dimensions and styles. The area for meetings and conferences can be different as all companies have their own vision of an effective meeting. This will require additional funds. However, this may attract more visitors. At that, it is necessary to remember that the company should consider the most appropriate locations as there is no need to provide such areas in all 2-star hotels. Location and costs can be key elements to take into account.
• Increased Number of Travelers: it is necessary to note that the major trend characterizing the contemporary globalized world is people’s desire to travel and explore. Modern travelers like S&S vacations while many people love to explore and find beautiful natural spots (Buswell, 2011). Mallorca is associated with these two wants and desires. Therefore, people will continue visiting the island, and will potentially stay at MLL hotels. It is possible to offer services associated with exploring the island. For example, tours to the most picturesque parts of Mallorca can be developed. This can be held as a transfer to some spots with or without further guiding.
• Airlines: Importantly, the highly competitive market of airlines creates new opportunities for the hospitality industry. Airlines try to attract new customers through lowering down prices and flying to new destinations. More affordable tickets are beneficial for the hospitality industry, especially on islands (including Mallorca).
• Technology: The development of technology (and especially the digital space) provides a variety of opportunities for marketing. The MLL hotel chain can use social networks as an advertising platform. Information about hotels and services provided can be easily spread online and reach millions of potential visitors and loyal customers.

Threats

Finally, there are certain threats that can undermine the development of MLL hotels and the entire industry.

• Competition General: The threat of the new entry is quite serious. Buswell (2011) notes that family-owned small hotels and rural hotels are acquiring considerable popularity among modern travelers. These facilities provide high-quality services, special atmosphere, and low prices. It can be difficult for hotel chains to remain competitive. The Sahara-Nubia-Gobi Bay and Blue Bay can lose their competitive advantage or look for new ways to win visitors if other hotels are established in the area.
• Terroristic Threat: Another significant threat is the recent situation in some of the popular resorts where Europeans tend to spend their vacations. Clearly, Spain is a country that does not participate in various military activities. However, there are still chances that terrorists will try to attack in such a popular touristic destination. It is necessary to add that the terroristic attacks in Egypt and Mali can be a threat as well as the opportunity for Mallorca touristic facilities. Thus, travelers will consider going to a safer Mallorca rather than Mali or Egypt. However, the government and officials should ensure the safety of the travelers.
• Competition (price): The Caribbean Bay Hotel has higher costs compared to its direct competitors.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is possible to note that the MLL hotels can remain competitive as they have many strengths, and there are various opportunities. The hotel chain in question is diversified and has 2-, 3- and 4-star hotels on the island. The MLL hotels provide high-quality services at quite low prices.

However, the hotels are also associated with some weaknesses, and there are a number of threats. For instance, there should be more diverse services. Recent terroristic attacks have shown that all countries should enhance safety measures to be able to protect citizens and travelers. At that, the MLL hotels in Mallorca have high chances to develop and remain competitive.

Reference List

Buswell, R.J. (2011). Mallorca and tourism: History, Economy and Environment. Buffalo, NY: Channel View Publications.

Welcome to MLL hotels in Majorca. (2015). Web.

Introduction

More and more Australians are taking cruise holidays. For instance, it is reported that in the year 2010, the number approached an all time high of about 500,000 basing on the estimates that were given in 2011 (Moffet, 2011).

Beginning from the year 2002, the number of the Australian people that have been cruising has gone up from 116, 308 to 466,692 passengers, which is a 306% increase, realizing a growth rate of nineteen percent per year (Moffet, 2011).

It is also reported that the annual growth in the number of the Australian cruise passengers in the year 2010 was among the highest for the global cruise sector, with just New Zealand recording a higher increase of 35% and other main source markets registered growth with “North America increasing 6 percent in 2010, the U.K 6 percent, France 12 percent and Italy 11 percent” (Moffet, 2011, p.1).

This paper is going to look at the growth of cruising in Australia. The description of how cruising has grown over time is going to be given and the analysis of the cruise sector is going to be carried out in order to justify whether the growth of this sector is sustainable. The conclusion is going to give a summary of the important points in the discussion.

Cruising in Australia

The Australians go cruising for various reasons. Some of them go abroad for the on the ship party environment with an intention for going to dine, drink and nightclub. There are also those who go out to look for quiet hideaways in order for them to engage in reading or to play board games and also to relax from hectic onshore occupations (Australians addicted to Cruising, 2008).

The cruising sector in Australia has gone through a period of growth in the course of the last several years, although from a low base, having a 24 percent in annual passenger days at the port beginning from the year 2005 (Access Economics, 2009).

In the course of that period, there has been an increase in the number of passenger days at the ports in Australia from approximately four hundred thousand per year up to about 1.1 million each year. It is reported that, as on one hand there has been fair growth in the Australian tourism sector in general, on the other hand, there has been a considerable growth in cruise tourism (McLennan, 2011).

It is also reported that “growth in Australian cruise passengers travelling on Australian based ships has been faster than in comparable international markets” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.9). The estimates that have been presented by the “International Cruise-Council Australia” give an indication that the domestic passengers on the ships that are based in Australia have witnessed a 27 percent growth.

However, there has been slower growth in Australians cruising in the German based ships and both North America and U.K based ships whose growth stands at 19 and 6 percent respectively (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

Passenger and crew days at the port

In course of the period 2010 – 2011, there has been strong growth in passenger days in NSW that has stood at 34 percent. However, it is also reported that a decrease in the activity in a larger number of states has brought about an overall decrease of “0.9 percent in passenger days at port Australia-wide” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.10).

This gives a reflection of an increasing number of passengers that leave Brisbane and Sidney and cruising globally, “to the South Pacific and Asia, rather than to other Australian destinations” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.10).

An increase in the passenger days in the two main ports has contributed towards having an increased number of ships which are based away from these markets.

At the present for instance, Sidney has “two P&O Australia ships, one Princess and two seasonal Royal Caribbean ships while Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Spirit will be the first year round deployment of a ship that is unable to navigate the Sidney Harbor Bridge” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.10).

On the other hand, at the present, Brisbane has a single Australia ship and also a single Princess ship which are based there with the existing cruise terminal infrastructure as well as location turning out to be an obstacle to more deployments, and particularly the greater capacity of the ship currently having deployment in Australia.

Then again, Melbourne is facing some challenges in regard to driving growth in the period to follow. It only comes after Sidney as a destination that is preferred by the international passengers that come to Australia and thus the transit calls growth is expected to go on.

The challenge comes about in regard to the “home based ships” growth as a consequence of it deprived location in line with the main cruise destinations of the South Pacific as well as New Zealand.

The predicted strong growth in the two major markets implies that there is need to make sure that policy decisions that have an effect on infrastructure are designed in a better way and its implementation is carried out in a manner that will give room for realization of the predicted growth.

Passenger and crew forecasts

Sidney

In this location, the leading source of the growth in the number of passengers is projected to come from Sidney-based cruise ships (Carnival Australia, 2011). It is expected that this will especially be the base in case there will be limiting of the cruise numbers by inadequate berthing opportunities that are in the east of Sidney Harbor to hold ships that have “air draft restrictions” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.11).

In Sidney, an issue is brought in by the air draft restrictions in that the vessels which are larger in size are not able to “fit under Sydney Harbor Bridge to access the berths on its western side” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.11).

It is projected that by the year 2015 and the year 2020, 33 and 56 percent respectively of the cruise ships coming to Sidney will not be able to go through the Sidney Harbor Bridge because of how high they are, “necessitating berthing infrastructure on the eastern side of the Bridge” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.11).

In the near future, in Sidney, the cruise passengers’ composition will be greatly base intensive. Putting into consideration a higher absolute number of passengers as well, and also the large section base passengers, making sure that the requirements of infrastructure are sufficient to facilitate realization of the predicted growth is an issue of great significance in Sidney.

Out of all the Australian ports, Sidney is the one that has the largest proportion of base passengers (Cruising, 2012). By the year 2019 – 2010, it is predicted that nearly all the base passengers will be base passengers, represented by 93 percent (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

Brisbane

It is predicted that, by 2019 – 2020, about 20 percent of the forecast passengers in this area are going to come from the transit cruises. This encompasses not just the Australian people coming to Brisbane but the international cruise tourists as well.

It is reported that in the period 2010 – 2011, the number of passengers in this region was about one hundred and sixty five thousand and this number is predicted to increase to about three hundred and thirty two thousand passengers by the 2019 – 2020 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

Considering the recent prediction of strong growth in Brisbane, the infrastructure that is there offers a possible obstacle for the cruise sector in this region. The present position of the Portside facility in this city along the Brisbane River implies that the ships that are larger in size can not access the port.

Hence, it is imperative that the policy decisions that are to be made in regard to the future and there implementation be carried out in a manner that makes sure that there is realization of future growth in Brisbane.

Fremantle

Contrary to the two examples given above, the percentage of the forecast passengers to this region is expected to be approximately the same for base and transit ships. In the period 2010 -2011, the number of passengers received was thirty four thousand and it is projected that in the period 2019-2020, this number will increase to one hundred and nineteen passengers (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

Melbourne

Here, the main growth in passenger visits is possibly to originate from the transit international ships instead of the ships based in Melbourne. In 2010 -2011, the number of passengers from transit ships was thirty three thousand and two hundred passengers and this number is expected to increase to one hundred and eighty five passengers in 2019 -2020 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

Melbourne has one of the well-organized cruise passenger facilities (Access Economics, 2009). However, there may still be need to have more investment in order for it to meet the expected demand.

As on one hand challenges of setting up a base ship market exist, but on the other hand, the sustained growth in the short cruise sector and setting up additional capacity in the Australian market indeed offers Melbourne with growth prospect.

Crew

The projected crew arrivals in the main ports are as well significant for the regional economies because they make a contribution towards the flow-on gains to the rest of the tourism industries that is land-based in the course of their time in port including accommodation, food among other servcies.

It is expected that Sidney will be the main crew destination, having expectation of overall crew arrivals numbers to increase to about three hundred and twenty nine thousand by 2019-2020.

On the other hand, there is expectation that by the year 2020, Brisbane will be the second most frequently visited port having over one hundred and thirty one thousand crew visitors coming here.

There is also expectation that the number of crew visitors to Melbourne will increase to eighty eight thousand by 2020 from the lower figure of twenty six thousand that was recorded in 2011. There is expectation of having growth in Fremantle to forty eight thousand by the year 2020 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

Cruise activity by Australians

There has been achieving a double-digit growth in Australia beginning from the year 2005 up to twenty seven percent that was realized in 2010, giving an indication of sustained increases in this sector in spite of a weak global tourism industry. The South Pacific still goes on to be the most common Australian cruise passengers’ destination.

It is reported that, in the year 2010, out of the four hundred and sixty seven thousand passengers who travelled, thirty seven percent of them travelled to the South pacific, nineteen percent travelled to Australian destinations and ten percent of them travelled to New Zealand (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

In more than the last seven years, the number of passengers who were travelling to the Australian destinations has almost grown by two times, rising to nineteen percent in 2010 from twelve percent in the year 2006. This rise has facilitated a decline in cruise tourism in Australia to Asia, “which fell from accounting for 15% of passengers in 2006 to 8% in 2010” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012, p.16).

Penetration in the Australian market is the proportion of the whole of the population of the Australian people participating in cruising. Of great importance, for Australia, in spite of the strong growth rates that were realized in the recent times, it is reported that in the year 2010, the cruise market penetration was low in relative terms standing at 2.1 percent of the total population.

This figure was below what was realized in the U.K as well as North America that stood at 2.6 and 3.1 percent respectfully (International Cruise Council Australia, 2010).

In Australia, there has been a steady growth in the cruise sector market penetration rate beginning from the early 2000s and there is a likelihood that the growth will continue on this course, since other developed nations have realized the penetration rates that are greater (AAP, 2009).

It is reported that the rate of market penetration is projected to increase at the start, and the growth will go on in the course of the forecast period, although at the rate that is lower (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012).

This is possibly due to such factors as the increasing activity that is related to tourism, the increasing popularity for cruising by the people of Australia and the demographic changes that are being realized in the Australian population.

The Future of the Australian Cruising Sector

In Australia, the growth in the domestic sector is expected to stay strong in the course of the medium term. It is reported that, in the period between 2010 and 2013, there is expectation of the average annual passenger growth to stand at thirty percent (Deloitte Access Economics, 2012). The expected strong growth is on the basis of the observation that has been made on the data about Australian port bookings.

In the long run, in the periods 2013 – 2013 and 2019 – 2020 annual passenger increase is forecast to stand at a figure that is much more conservative of seven percent. But on the other hand, the cruising industry has the capacity to realize further growth in case a variety of challenges being encountered by the industry are dealt with in a suitable as well as timely way.

The original projection of a strong growth is made on the basis of remarkable increase in capacity within this industry contributing to strong demand among passengers. This in turn is succeeded by a period in which there is lower growth in the industry, although it is still high growth. There is projection of the portside activity to rise at a rate that is similar to that of the forecast number of passengers.

Moreover, there is projection of the corporate activity to grow at 50 percent of the passenger numbers rate. In the course of the period, the expenditure is expected to rise from below one billion dollars in the 2010 -2011 up to about 2.6 billion dollars in 2019 -2020 (Raggatt, 2012).

It is also projected that the operator share of the whole expenditure to be constant at around 50 percent of the expenditure within the expenditure making a contribution of about 1.3 billion dollars in terms of expenditure by the year 2020 (Tourism Research Australia).

It is also projected that by 2020, the cruise sector will make a contribution of about 2.3 billion dollars to the economy of Australia in terms of value added. An approximation of the total value added to the economy of Australia by the cruise sector by the year 2020 is put at 2.28 billion dollars (Raggatt, 2012).

The GDP is projected to stand at one thousand eight hundred and sixty nine billion dollars. It is also projected that the cruise sector will make a contribution of about 0.12 percent to the whole economy of Australia by the year 2020 (Tourism Research Australia, 2011).

Conclusion

The available figures indicate that more and more Australians are cruising and there has been a steady growth in this sector for the past years. However, this growth may be hindered by some challenges in the near future and there is need to take some measures in order to realize sustainable growth.

The Australian cruise sector has the potential and ability to grow even more if various challenges being encountered by the industry are dealt with in a proper and well-timed manner. There is still need to invest more in this sector so that the increasing demand can be met.

As on one hand challenges of setting up a base ship market exist, but on the other hand, the sustained growth in the short cruise sector and setting up additional capacity in the Australian market definitely offers such a port as Melbourne growth potential. In general, there is need to upgrade ports.

For instance, taking the case of Brisbane, the current infrastructure that is there offers a potential barrier for the future growth in the cruise sector in the port. The present position of the Portside facility in this city along the Brisbane River gives an implication that the ships that are larger in size can not access the port.

Therefore, it is quite important for the policy makers to come up with strategies that will make it possible that such obstacles are overcome so that the forecast strong growth can be realized at this port. The same case applies to the rest of ports in the region.

References

AAP, (2009). Australian cruise industry needs port upgrades to grow. Web.

Access Economics, (2009). The Australian cruise sector. Web.

Access Economics Pty Ltd. Australians addicted to Cruising, stats show, (2008). Web.

Carnival Australia 2011, Carnival Australia Submission to the Independent Review of Enhanced Cruise Ship Access to Garden Island. Web.

Cruising, (2012). Web.

Deloitte Access Economics, (2012). The economic contribution of the cruise sector to Australia. Sidney, Australia: Deloitte Access Economics Pty Ltd.

International Cruise Council Australia, (2010). Cruise Industry Report Australia 2010. Web.

McLennan, L. (2011). The Australian cruise passengers hit record high. Web.

Moffet, L. (2011). Australian cruise numbers hit new high. Web.

Raggatt, T. (2012). Cruise ship study. Web.

Tourism Research Australia, (2011). Tourism Forecasting Committee. Forecasts 2011 1(2), 1 -10.

Introduction

The Asian tourism and hospitality industry has continued to grow tremendously. Currently, the sector contributes significantly to the region’s GDP. Despite global threats such as terrorism and economic depression, the sector has continued to bolster impressive results.

However, with the growing competition from other countries such as South Africa, USA, and China, many factors need to be considered to gain a competitive edge. Traditionally, the region’s economy has been, for years, propelled by proceeds from oil and petroleum resources. However, investment in the tourism industry has diversified the region’s economic pillars.

This paper explores hospitality service trends in the region, analyses their impacts, and establishes the factors that influence the industry especially in Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore.

Hospitality Service Trends

Many sectors of the economy have been struggling to find their footage and to get back to profitability after the 2008/2009 economic crisis. However, the Asian tourism industry was hardly affected. In fact, the industry’s profitability has continued to increase annually.

The industry’s core services such as restaurants, luxury transports, cruise ships, lodgings, theme parks, and event planning have continued to attract more tourists; both local and international. Currently, many factors affect Asian tourism industry both positively and negatively.

The factors include technological advancements, globalization, rule of law, changing lifestyles, and socio-demographic factors. Whereas these factors have significant effects on small towns, there effects on large cities such as Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore have been minimal.

According to Hotel Management Asia (2012), “Lodging markets in the Asia Pacific region will continue performing well through 2012 driven by strong performance in key cities.” Singapore, for instance, is expected to record a growth of 9.6%. This growth is attributed to its well-developed gaming services.

Gaming is a critical aspect of the hotel industry especially in the current century where most workers, families, and businesspersons who want a break from their daily tight schedules, use hotels as a way of relaxation. Gaming has also played a role towards healthy social lives (Ferguson, 2012). Due to increasingly declining household sizes, families have had a better part of their income as discretion income.

This extra income is often diverted to recreation facilities and leisure, thereby breaking the home setting monotony. Ecotourists enormously benefit from the incorporation of gaming in the industry. They get the opportunity to enjoy different cultures and site seeing.

Asia also boasts great food services that have attracted and retained many international tourists. According to Choo (1997), Hong Kong has some of the best dishes in the world. Food is a basic need in any setting where accommodation is provided. The hotel industry is not any different. Hotels entertain different categories of customers.

This means different types of food ranging from drinks, for those in need of refreshments, complete meals for those staying at the hotels and guest reception meals, for those holding functions at the hotel. The quality of the food served at any given hotel is enough marketing.

This is because customers demand high quality food in terms of cleanliness, taste, level of cooking, cleanliness of those who serve it, and reliability of the hotel, that is, you get any type of food you want, whenever you want it.

Thailand, in its attempts to remain the most preferred tourist destination in Asia, has diversified its services, and enhanced its accommodation services greatly. Currently, it offers the highest number of hotel services. These have been very vital to hotel customers, to carry on their activities with ease.

Accommodation, catering, tourism services, restaurants, meetings and events planning, massage, and gymnastic are among the services offered. Accommodation service has greatly benefited customers who are traveling in new places away from their homes.

These include families on recreation trips away from their residential places, workers on official missions far from their normal working locations, and international tourists in a foreign country. While these customers reside in the hotel, they are offered great meals by the hotel’s catering service. This saves them the trouble of looking for food in a foreign environment.

Thailand’s hotels have their own facilities for taking tourists around on their daily business for the entire time agreed. With the modern advancements, most events and meetings are held in the hotels, making the industry step up in its service delivery to the extent of planning for their customers such activities. Thailand’s improved communication network and transportation services have also promoted tourism (Kontogeorgopoulos, 2008).

In Macau, the situation is different and quite complex. Since the liberalization of its hospitality industry in 2004, many investors have moved in to invest in the industry.

However, the increased demand for personnel to help run the newly established facilities cannot be satisfied. This is due to strict measures put in place by the government that hinder cross border labor transfer (Lei, 2011). The country’s hospitality services are also affected by underdeveloped infrastructural facilities.

In conclusion, the growth of Asian Tigers’ hospitality is not in doubt. Slowly, but surely, the sector has become key to the region’s economic prosperity.

As shown in the discussion, the growth of this sector has been fueled by various factors such as diversification of services, service excellence, infrastructure development, and relatively low cost of life as compared to other destinations. Without any major shortfalls, Hong Kong, Thailand, Macau, and Singapore could dominate Asian hospitality market for a long time.

References

Choo, K. (1997). Uncertain Outlook. ABA Journal, 83(1), 101-109.

Ferguson, B. (2012). Games for Wellness—Impacting the Lives of Employees and the Profits of Employers. Games for health journal, 1(3), 177-179.

Hotel Management Asia. (2012, February 1). 2012 hospitality trends – an overview | Hotel Management Asia. Asia’s definitive resource for hospitality professionals | Hotel Management Asia. Web.

Kontogeorgopoulos, N. (2008). Tourism in Thailand: Patterns, trends and limitations. Cognizant Communication Corporation, 2(1), 225-238.

Lei, L. (2011). The challenges of the labor shortage in Macau’s hotel industry. Las Vegas: University of Nevada.

Introduction

Background to the study

Tourism is one of the key pillars of the Austrian economy. It ranks as a major export product in the country. The sector contributes approximately 15% of the total Gross Domestic Product [GDP] and 18% of the total export receipts. The sector has shown remarkable growth over the past 15 years.

A report released by the Austrian Economic Chamber in 2013 shows that 33% of the tourists’ total expenditures is spent on accommodation. Moreover, the sector accounts for over 7.3% of the total employment (Hotel News Now 2013). This realisation shows that Austria’s tourism industry will experience a significant growth in the future.

Austria is among the most popular tourist destinations. The country has four main seasons, which include city tourism, health tourism, winter tourism, and summer tourism. However, the summer and winter tourism seasons are the most popular. The city tourism season mainly attracts tourists who travel for business, cultural, convention, and congress reasons.

Other aspects that make Austria attractive include the hiking, skiing, and mountaineering resorts. Austria’s tourism officials intend to stimulate industry growth by marketing its services to emerging markets in Eastern and Central European countries such as Czech, China, Russia, Brazil, Middle East, India, Poland, and Hungary (Hotel News Now 2013).

However, effective policy formulation and planning are critical elements in the success of the tourism industry. One of the policy aspects that the Austrian government has taken into consideration relates to the environment. Subsequently, the government has integrated environmental sustainability as one of the core components.

Aim and scope

This report intends to conduct a critique of the tourism policy and planning in Austria. The report specifically focuses on Austria’s tourism sector.

Analysis

Despite the growth of the Austrian tourism industry over the past years, in terms of its contribution to the country’s GDP, its global market share has dwindled remarkably. Since the occurrence of the recession in 2009, the sector’s total revenue has declined significantly as compared to other 15 European Union countries as illustrated by figure 1 below.

However, the real revenue grew with a margin of 1.2% year-on-year. By the end of 2012, the total real revenue had increased to 5.91% from a low of 5.87% in 2011. The chart below shows the trend in Austria’s market share in comparison to 15 EU states.

A study conducted by the Federal Ministry of Economics shows that the growth of Austria’s tourism sector revenues has nearly stagnated as compared to the GDP. Tourism revenues have grown by an annual rate of 0.3% over the past 10 years, which is lower as compared to the 1.6% growth in real GDP (Hotel News Now 2013).

Source: (Hotel News Now 2013)

Currently, the industry can be regarded to have reached its maturity and hence the stagnation in its growth. The low rate of growth has adverse effects on the sector’s financial capacity. Lack of adequate investment in the sector by both the government and private investors reduces the sector’s competitiveness, hence the decline in its market share.

Tourism planning and policy

Goeldner and Ritchie (2009, p. 232) argue that tourism planning ‘seeks to provide a detailed on the ground outline on how each of the factors affecting the success of a tourism destination should be developed’. Planning does not only focus on how a country can maximise the revenue generated from tourism.

However, it goes beyond such schemes and takes into account the social and economic benefits that society can derive. Subsequently, it is critical for policy developers to take into account how tourism planning can lead to improvement in the society’s welfare and happiness (Dredge & Jenkins 2011).

In a bid to achieve this goal, tourism planning should incorporate various issues such as quality architectural, planning for an effective transportation system, environmental design, and landscape and energy conservation.

Other issues that should be taken into account relate to implementation of effective interpretation systems, land-use management, and creation of information. Goeldner and Ritchie (2009) further contend that tourism planning and policy are strongly correlated. Subsequently, the two aspects are concerned with how a particular economy can improve the attractiveness of its tourism destinations.

Issues faced by the Austrian tourism industry

The Austrian tourism industry is not shielded from challenges originating from the macro environment. Currently, the industry is facing a number of problems, which might hinder its long-term growth and success. Some of the main issues relate to climate and demographic changes.

Climate change

Winter tourism is one of the key components of the Austrian tourism industry. Skiing is one of most important aspects that enhance winter tourism in the country. Steiger (2012, p, 867) contends that the ‘future development of skiing tourism is essential for Austria’s rural and peripheral areas and their social-cultural, economic well being, and the overall performance of the entire economy’.

The performance of winter tourism amongst countries in the Alp region is greatly dependent on the prevailing weather and climatic conditions. The prevailing climate is a key component in winter tourism planning process.

Climate change is considered as one of the long-term challenges, which might affect the competitiveness of various tourist destinations adversely. Recent scientific propositions show that Austria may experience a 6.4^o increment in its average temperature by 2099. This change will emanate from the high rate of climate change. Furthermore, the volume of precipitation is expected to change remarkably.

These changes will not only affect winter tourism, but also city tourism. For example, the change in the prevailing climatic conditions may lead to decline in water quality due to increased algae growth (United Nations Environment Programme 2011).

The rise in temperature levels might also affect summer tourism. First, the summer period will be relatively longer. The occurrence of heat waves might complicate the season.

For example, the high temperatures might lead to loss of Austria’s distinctive landscape through various processes such as extinction of biodiversity such as edelweiss, which is a key tourism component, thawing of permafrost soils, and glacier retreat.

It is estimated that biodiversity attracted over 79% of the total number of summer tourists. Subsequently, there is a high probability of Austria losing its touristic attraction during the summer.

Climate change may also lead to instabilities in some of the country’s infrastructures such as road transport due to melting of permafrost. The changing snore conditions in the alpine mountain will force low-lying ski resorts to move up the mountains in order to reach the steady snow blanket.

There are 609 Alpine ski resorts in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria under the current climatic conditions. These areas are naturally snow-reliable. However, the high rate of global warming will significantly diminish their reliability.

Demographic changes

The Austrian tourism industry is also facing a major issue emanating from the high rate of demographic changes. A report by the European Travel Commission [ETC] outlines a number of the major demographic issues that are facing the tourism industry today.

One of the issues identified relates to increment in the world’s population. Approximately, the total world population will increase from 6.9 billion in 2009 to 8.3 billion in 2030. However, the growth will not be uniform. Some regions will experience growth while others will expereince a decline.

It is expected that Austria will experience a population increment in some of its cities such as Innsbruck and other suburban areas. This change will emanate from the high rate of interregional migration. The population increment in the urban areas will put pressure on the available land for building tourist resorts. The increment in population will also force the Austrian to improve transport infrastructure.

The high rate of demographic change is also a perfect opportunity for Austria to target new groups. One of the tourism groups that the Tourism Ministry should focus on includes the 50+ generation. The rate of mobility amongst this group has increased remarkably as compared to 15 years ago. Furthermore, they have a higher disposable income as compared to the average population (Breibbia & Pineda 2006).

Analysis of Austria’s tourism policy and planning

Environmental sustinability

Austria has recognised the role of environment in enhancing the growth of its tourism sector. Subsequently, the government via the ministry of Agriculture has integrated the concept of environmental sustainability in its tourism planning and policy formulation process through the Federal Ministry of Environment, Water Management, and Forestry (Steiger & Stotter 2013).

One of the aspects that the policy focuses on entails reduction of the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. In the course of implementing this policy, the Austrian government has proposed a number of aspects some of which include enforcing the utilisation of biofuels as a source of energy coupled with integrating more efficient and environmental friendly mobility technologies.

Moreover, the Austrian government is also promoting Alpine Awareness, which mainly entails using public means of transport and travelling by bicycles (United Nations Environment Programme 2011).

Health and wellness tourism

Tourism has undergone a significant change in the recent past. One of the changes relates to the view that tourists are shifting from traditional forms of tourism to new forms. Currently, travellers increasingly prefer to travel to destinations that can aid in improving their health. Furthermore, travellers are opting to travel with the aim of enhancing their personal well-being.

In an effort to exploit the prevailing demographic changes, the Austrian government has incorporated health and wellness tourism in an effort to attract the older generation of travellers. Austria has experienced a remarkable growth in the volume of inbound international wellness tourism over the past few years.

Travel

An effective travel policy is critical in stimulating the growth of tourism. One of the avenues through which a government can stimulate its tourism growth entails minimising formalities that are involved in the process of applying for travel documents such as passports and visas.

Previously, travelling to Austria was hindered by currency exchange limitations, visa formalities, and stiff custom regulations. However, the country has made remarkable growth with regard to travel (Travel & Tourism 2014).

One of the changes that have been implemented relates to the adoption of the multilateral agreement commonly referred to as the Schengen Agreement, which was established in 1985. The agreement provides individuals of the signatory states to travel freely within the member states. The Schengen cooperation was integrated in the EU in 1997 in an effort to promote tourism within the region.

Despite this move, not all EU member states are signatories to the Schengen Agreement. Some of the factors that explain the lack of entry into the agreement relate to view that they desire to have control over their borders or they have not fulfilled all the required conditions (Europa 2014).

Austria’s membership to the Schengen Agreement has played a critical role in promoting the growth of the tourism industry by allowing free movement of people within the member state. Despite this aspect, not all EU member states are members of the Schengen area and this scenario hinders the flow of international tourists from such EU member states.

Most travellers perceive visas as a formality that imposes cost. In a bid to attract tourists from such EU members, it is imperative for the Austrian government to consider how it can adjust its plan and implement an attractive travel policy (Europa 2014).

Marketing

Creating sufficient awareness regarding a particular country’s travel destination is critical in the success of a country’s tourism industry. However, Austria has not been effective in improving the level of market awareness. First, the country has relied on traditional modes of creating awareness for a long time. For example, most shopping destinations advertised are street markets.

However, the information does not reach all the intended visitors. Moreover, most individuals perceive Austria as a cold country, which is characterised by snow and cold weather. This perception has arisen from the view that most marketing advertising campaigns include pictures of snow.

Therefore, other tourist attraction sites such as the green sceneries and other sites, which can attract summer tourists, are omitted. This aspect shows that the Austrian Tourism Ministry is not effective in planning and implementing its marketing advertising policy.

Conclusion

This report shows that tourism forms an important component in Austria’s economic growth and development. First, it is a major source of export revenue in addition to being a source of employment to a significant proportion of Austria’s labour force. Subsequently, it makes a fundamental contribution to the country’s GDP. Over the past few years, the industry has experienced a dwindling performance.

However, the potential for growth is relatively high. The poor performance is associated with a number of challenges. One of the major challenges relate to the high rate of climate change, which presents a threat to the survival of the city, summer, winter, and health tourism.

Another major change relates to the changing demographic structure. In a bid to deal with these challenges, it is imperative for the Austrian government to be effective in its tourism planning and policy formulation. The planning and policy formulation process should focus on changes emerging from the market. This move will improve Austria’s competitiveness in the global tourism industry, and hence its market share.

Recommendations

In its pursuit to promote the growth of tourism, it is imperative for the Austrian government to take into account the following.

Marketing – the Austrian government should consider improving its marketing capability. The Tourism Ministry should incorporate the Integrated Marketing Communication concept. This aspect will entail combining both traditional and emerging marketing communication methods and mediums.

Moreover, the marketing communication strategy should focus on other tourist attraction sites in the country rather than focusing on the Alps.

Subsequently, the travellers’ impression of the country being a cold travel destination will change, hence improving the volume of other categories of tourists such as city and summer tourists. In the process of designing the marketing campaigns, Austria should consider targeting customers of diverse demographic characteristics such as the elderly.

Trade agreements – In a bid to increase the volume of tourism traffic from non-signatories of the Schengen Agreement, it is important for the Austria’s tourism ministry to consider entering into regional trade agreements with such countries. Some of the issues that Austria should focus on include eliminating travel barriers, for example, by minimising the travel document requirements.

Infrastructure- Austria should improve its transport network into the tourist attraction sites and resorts by improving its tourism transport management. This move will play a critical role in enhancing mobility amongst the elderly.

Diversification of tourism products – considering the change in tastes and preference amongst tourists, it is essential for Austria to consider diversifying its tourism package. One of the ways through which this goal can be achieved is by targeting emerging trends such as health and wellness, which has undergone remarkable growth over the past decade.

Environmental sustainability – the Austrian government should improve its environmental protection policy. This move will play an essential role in ensuring that the tourism attraction sites and destinations are adequately protected from the high rate of climate change.

Reference List

Austria: Tourism Austria, 2014. Web.

Breibbia, C. & Pineda, F., 2006, Sustainable tourism, WIT Press, Boston.

Dredge, D. & Jenkins, J., 2011, Stories of practice: tourism and planning, Ashgate Publishers, Burlington.

Europa: The Schengen area and cooperation, 2014. Web.

Goeldner, C. & Ritchie, J., 2009, Tourism: principles, practices, philosophies, John Wile, Hoboken.

Hotel News Now: Yearlong tourism drives Austria’s growth, 2013. Web.

Steiger, R., 2012, ‘Scenarios for skiing tourism in Austria: integrating demographics with an analysis of climate change’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 20 no. 6, pp. 867-882.

Steiger, R. & Stotter, J., 2013, ‘Climate change impact assessment of ski tourism in Tyrol’, Tourism Geographies, vol. 15 no. 4, pp. 577-600.

Travel & Tourism: Austria’s tourism sector is improving its competitiveness, 2014. Web.

United Nations Environment Programme: Climate change and tourism policy in OECD countries 2011, OECD, Paris.

Introduction

Tourism in the Gulf States has increased significantly over the last five years. Specifically, the Internet has played a critical role in influencing consumer behavior in travel and tourism industry. The internet has turned the world into a global village. Anyone can be able to access the web using their smartphones and tablets.

Foreman (2013) allude that the internet is being used by travel agencies as a reliable source of information that enables marketers to market their products online (p.13). The hospitality industry is dynamic in the sense that it includes restaurants, hotels, theme park, cruise line and transportation services. Tourism is more about travel, and thus the role of transportation in tourism cannot be ignored.

This paper critically analysis al deyafa which is a hotel, tour and travel agency in the United Arab Emirates. The decision to establish this venture is based on the role played by hotels and transportation in the tourism industry. Moreover, the paper carries out situational analysis, marketing mix and strategy implementation of the venture.

Situational Analysis

Tourism in the Gulf States in quite impressive. In UAE, tourism relies extensively on the Internet via smartphones and other online platform in all stages of travel experience. For instance, according to a report by Euromonitor International, online travel and hotel booking is expected to increase from 18 percent to 22 percent in 2016 (Wyma, 2015, p. 94).

This represents a significant market penetration in mobile booking which is expected to hit 30 percent by 2018. The tour and travel industry in UAE is not fully tapped which presents a lucrative business opportunity for Al deyafa. Thompson (2013) argues that tourism sector in the Middle East is expected to increase by 67 percent by the end of 2016 to $7.5 billion (p.15).

If Al deyafa can be able to position itself in the market as the leader by offering exceptional customer service, the company can reap the benefit of tourism not only in the short-run but, also in the long-run. Online sales have increased significantly over the last five years in the Middle East having reached $3 billion which represent 17 percent of the total sales in tourism. Analysts believe that total sales in the hotel, tour and travel industry will increase by 18 percent over the next three years.

Marketing mix

Marketing is dynamic in the sense that it focuses on the needs of customers even before services are offered and after sales.

Product

Al deyafa will provide a range of services such as traditional Arabic meals, marketing local handcraft and souvenirs and culture tour to historic sites. All this products and services target tourist who visits the United Arab Emirates every year.

Price

They are many factors that influence prices of products and services including competitors, buying behavior and economic condition. Market research about the price charged by competitors is of immense importance since it will enable Al deyafa to fix reasonable prices on its products and services.

Place

Place is one of the most vital pillars of product mix which has it main variable as transportation and distribution channels. Al deyafa will offer the tourist with an intermediate link between its hotels and tourist destination.

Promotion

Before choosing the best mode of promotion, it is imperative to consider your target customers and their geographical location. Most of the advertisement in tourism are created by the national government. However, to increase sales Al deyafa shall use magazines, TVs, printed displays and online ads to create awareness.

People

People refer to all persons that tourism will interact with as they visit different destinations (Ryan & Stewart, 2009, p. 294). The behavior of the local people plays a vital role in determining how tourist perceives that country. The United Arab Emirates has a well know culture that welcome and respect tourist from any part of the world. Consequently, tourist destination sites in the United Arab Emirates have become popular due to government marketing effort and its amazing people.

Process

Cohen et al., (2015) argues that process in tourism means implementation of strategies that make life easier for tourist to reach their destination (p.1448). Al deyafa has the tourism process made easier by developing a website that is easy to navigate with all holiday destinations were they can choose their tour package that suits their need. The process is made easier because information is provided regarding their product and services.

Physical evidence

Bains (2015) noted that in tourism, physical evidence can only be experienced after a customer visits the destination (p.35). Usually, tourism offers intangible services people cannot touch or see before they visit the tourist destination. Al deyafa’s website creates an image on the mind of the tourist what they expect to see when they visit those sites.

Moreover, the company plans to establish a tour guide booklet with photos of every destination. The booklet shall be availed to tourists who visit our offices and in our tour vehicles so that they can have a picture of what to expect when they reach their destination.

Segmentation

Al deyafa has segmented it market based on nationality, age and religion. In the United Arab Emirates, each religion is interested in visiting their religious sites. For instance, Muslim tourism prefers Ramsa course and traditional Arabic meals. An international tourist from UK and US especially the young families prefer to visit UAE to get familiar with the culture and it heritage. Al deyafa has selected this segment because young tourists are more likely to spend more (Dudley, 2013, p.27).

Targeting

Targeting involves choosing one or more segment that is attractive and profitable in the long run. In this regard, Al deyafa will concentrate its target market on historic sites, beaches, forest and jungles, traditional Arabic meals, local handcrafts and Ramsa courses.

Positioning

Beqiri (2015) posit that market positioning refers to where a product or service occupies in a tourist mind (p.95). Al deyafa promotes diverse tourism product and services that are attractive and have high demand. This product and services have won a good position in the mind of tourist ranging from US, Saudi Arabia, UK, Australia, Bangladesh and Singapore. They include historic sites, beaches, Ramsa courses, traditional Arabic meals and archaeological sites.

Implementation and assessment

The venture shall be implemented after carrying out a thorough market research. The project shall be assessed based on hotel booking online and sales. The venture will be considered successful when sales increase by 8 percent after every three months.

Recommendation and conclusion

The United Arab Emirates has lots of tourist product, but not all products are fully tapped to attract local and foreign tourist. To attract more customers both local and international, Al deyafa must promote its tourist destination to create awareness.

Secondly, Al deyafa should develop a website that is easy to use and navigate to allow tourist to book and pay online. The payment system must be safe to secure client information and money. Finally, Al deyafa should establish clear communication channels with all tourist destination and tour vehicles to ensure safety and secure communication.

References

Bains, E 2015, ‘Growth slows in Dubai tourism market’, MEED: Middle East Economic Digest, vol. 59, no. 16, pp. 34-35.

Beqiri, G 2015, ‘Marketers and social media marketing’, Proceedings of the Multidisciplinary Academic Conference, pp. 91-98.

Cohen, DA, Collins, R, Hunter, G, Ghosh-Dastidar, B, & Dubowitz, T 2015, ‘Store Impulse Marketing Strategies and Body Mass Index’, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 105, no. 7, pp. 1446-1452.

Dudley, D 2013, ‘Dubai leads growth in hotels sector’, MEED: Middle East Economic Digest, vol. 57, no. 44, pp. 26-27.

Foreman, C 2013, ‘Contractors approached for Dubai theme park work’, MEED: Middle East Economic Digest, vol. 57, no. 20, p. 13.

Ryan, C, & Stewart, M 2009, ‘Eco-tourism and luxury – the case of Al Maha, Dubai’, Journal Of Sustainable Tourism, vol.17, no. 3, pp. 287-301.

Thompson, R 2013, ‘Dubai mulls plan to double airport capacity’, MEED: Middle East Economic Digest, vol. 57, no. 13, p. 15.

Wyma, C 2015, ‘Escape from parametric island’, Architectural Review, vol. 237, no. 1415, pp. 23-25.

Executive Summary

This field study is about tourism in Victoria. It focuses on the experiences, challenges and issues that require improving to enhance the visitors’ satisfaction. A qualitative research was carried out on three focus groups that included tourism agencies, Chinese immigrants and students. The researcher used interviews to collect data.

The study revealed that language barrier is the primary cause of the problems that the Chinese visitors encounter in Victoria. The main limitation was that the participants were unable to respond to the questionnaire because of the language barrier. The study recommends that tourism agencies create websites that translate English to Chinese for easy understanding.

Introduction

China is the most populous nation in the world. Therefore, it is the nation with the majority immigrants in Canada. Cultural and language differences between the two countries are the primary cause of the problems that Chinese tourists experience in Victoria. The problems render the majority of Chinese tourists being less satisfied as compared with other tourists in the region. Hence, this research aims to find out the possible solutions that can enhance satisfaction of the Chinese visitors who tour Victoria on a regular basis (Poy and Cao 56).

Tourism is one of the sources of economic revenue for most economies in the contemporary world. Hence, there is a reason for states that rely on tourism to uphold cultural differences that exist among people from different ethnic backgrounds. Promoting cultural differences attract potential tourists. Because China is the most populated nation in the world and has the fastest growing middle-income population, every nation that values tourism sector should have policies that can attract Chinese tourists.

The policies should be modified to mitigate challenges that often face visitors due to cultural and language differences. Every person wishes to feel loved and valued. Thus, there is a need to address the challenges that the Chinese visitors encounter and look for permanent solutions.

Background

Chinese tourists have been experiencing numerous challenges whenever they visit Canada, and in particular Victoria. The large number of Chinese immigrants in Canada attracts many tourists from China every year. Hence, Canada has the benefit of getting visitors from China compared to other countries in the world except the United States. The United States has the majority of Chinese immigrants in the world. However, there are major cultural and language differences between the two countries.

Cultural and language differences contribute to the problems that Chinese tourists encounter during their expeditions. Canada is a multicultural economy. Thus, there are no definite cultural heritages and norms. The majority of the Canadians have mixed cultural backgrounds. Indeed, the Canadians have adopted a non-cultural lifestyle where they have less or no attachment to cultural norms (Scott and Laws 98).

On the other hand, Chinese are firmly attached to their cultural heritage. Consequently, they have difficulties in adapting a non-cultural lifestyle. Some basic norms such as greetings and recognition of age differences have an immense effect to a Chinese. Such norms have less or no impact to a Canadian. However, there is nothing that can be done to rectify that problem.

As a result, the Chinese tourists should be prepared to encounter issues that contravene their cultural norms in Canada and view them as inoffensive. Language barrier is a major concern for both the Chinese and Canadians. A few Canadians know the Chinese language. Conversely, a few Chinese understand English.

Since the two countries rely heavily on each other for tourism, efforts should be made to mitigate the language barrier as a way to enhance tourists’ satisfaction. In Shanghai, tourists who understand English encounter a few problems since directions, signs, and billboards are written in both Chinese and English languages (Conrady and Buck 93).

It would be difficult to write billboards and signs in both Chinese and English in Canada. Canada has a multi-cultural population with different native languages. Nonetheless, it is imperative to use both English and Chinese in Victoria where the majority of Chinese tourists often visit. Alternatively, a study should be conducted to establish areas where most Chinese tourists prefer visiting. Moreover, effort should be made to ensure that servers who understand the Chinese language serve the visitors.

Also, there is a need to address the social issues that contribute to tourists’ dissatisfaction. They include transport and hospitality issues. In Canada, the principal mode of public transport is the bus.

The Chinese use trains and cabs. Hence, it would be imperative to have signs on the buses that guide tourists on how the buses operate. The signs should be written in Chinese to ensure that the tourists manoeuvre without difficulties. On the other hand, hotels should have staff members that are fluent in Chinese and capable of offering hospitality services to foreign visitors.

Process/Methodology

The purpose of this study is to improve the experience of Chinese tourists in Victoria. As aforementioned, the methodology for this study was designed in such a way that it would enable the researcher to get information from three focus groups. The first group comprised the travel agencies that are located in Victoria and Vancouver.

The researcher issued questionnaires to ten travel companies in Victoria and three in Vancouver. The three travel agencies that operate in Vancouver are managed by the Chinese. Consequently, they served as suitable sources of information about the Chinese tourists.

The questionnaires were structured in a manner that would help the researcher to get information about who visit Victoria, the objective of the visit, and the activities the tourists engage in when in the region. Also, information about the activities of each agency was collected to enable the researcher to understand how travel companies attract clients as well as the number of visitors that they serve. The interview also focused on client experience, common complaints, and the approach that the travel agencies use to handle the complaints.

The busy schedule hampered efforts to get Chinese tourists participate in interviews. As a result, the researcher had to choose international students and immigrants as the participants. The intention was to get information about their first experience in Canada and how it has changed over time with respect to language barrier and foreign travel policies.

The researcher found it important to include literature review in the methodology. Nevertheless, it was exigent because there were no study materials on the research problem. The researcher contacted students from Royal Roads who were pursuing a course in Tourism Management and requested for research works, which could be relevant and useful for literature review purposes.

The literature review had credible theories about challenges that the Chinese tourists face in Victoria. Hence, it formed the theoretical backbone for the study. After analysing the results, it was established that Chinese tourists encounter ethnic problems in Victoria. The problems are attributed to historical experiences.

Victoria serves as the capital of British Columbia and has strong connection to China since it was the harbour for international trade during and after the colonial period. For this reason, Chinese tourists view it as an extension of international relations.

However, the nature of the business that created strong connection between China and Victoria has significantly changed. The residents of Victoria do not consider themselves obligated to accord special hospitality to Chinese tourists. Therefore, the tourists exaggerate the problem upon seeing the locals as unwelcoming, which is not the case in the real terms.

Consequently, the researcher’s spotlight switched from exploring challenges that affect the Chinese tourists in particular to a more generalised case. The researcher opted to concentrate on the challenges that affect tourists from other cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Above all, visitors encounter similar problems even though ethnic relations are given less attention.

Results

According to the research, the results show that the Chinese tourists face numerous challenges in Victoria. The majority of the interviewees indicated that they were attracted to Victoria because of fascinating views. However, they said that they sought information about sightseeing before deciding to come to Victoria. The information was derived from the answers given for the first two questions in the questionnaire. The information was necessary in arriving at the conclusion.

All the tourists agreed that Victoria has beautiful sceneries for tourism. Therefore, the primary reason the Chinese tourists choose Victoria over other destinations is due to its scenic beauty. Chinese tourists consider the sightseeing data as the most critical information that one should have before visiting Victoria. Hence, they end up encountering numerous challenges such as those that arise from cultural shock, transport inconveniences, entertainment, and residence dissatisfactions.

As aforesaid, Victoria has a large number of Chinese immigrants who play a significant role in promoting tourism in Canada. They do so by inviting their families and friends for tourism expeditions in Canada. Indeed, the majority of the interviewees said that they got information about Victoria from either their family members or friends residing in Victoria. Hence, the reason for the absence of Chinese travels agencies in Victoria despite the region having a vast population of Chinese immigrants.

From the above information, it emerged that the travel agencies lack websites that can translate English to Chinese because most tourists do not bother to seek the assistance. The absence of the websites is not a scheme to ignore the visitors as it has been the assumption. From the questionnaire, it was discovered that the majority of the interviewees said that they preferred the Chinese restaurants. A few participants said that they preferred restaurants that served Western delicacies.

Those who preferred the Chinese restaurants said that they encountered problems associated with language barrier since there were no Chinese-speaking servers (Bowerman 24).

Hence, one can come up with the assumption that majority of Chinese tourists are conservative. As a result, they do not want to experience other cultural delicacies. However, the restaurants that offer Chinese foods do not have policies that enable them to hire servers who are fluent in Chinese language to enhance the quality of services they offer to tourists (Martin and Nakayama 128).

Besides lacking Chinese-speaking servers, there are no Chinese posters or signs that guide the tourists. Hence, it becomes tough for the tourists to communicate with the residents as well as understand what they should do in the course of their tourism expedition. The majority of interviewees choose buses as the convenient means of transport.

The interviewees confided that they could not hire cars because of difficulties in reading road signs and traffic rules. Worst still, the coaches lacked Chinese signs to help them understand what they should do for the driver to stop the bus whenever they need to disembark.

The study concluded that language and cultural barriers are the leading causes of dissatisfaction to the Chinese tourists in Victoria (Nyíri 98). The visitors do not take the time to learn a language that can help them to communicate with the locals. Instead, they want the locals to know the Chinese language. Also, there is little that has been done to make Victoria a hospitable environment for Chinese tourists because of the language barrier.

Future Focus/Limitations

As stated earlier, the efforts to get Chinese tourists to participate in the interview were hampered by their busy schedule. Hence, it was not possible to get information from the tourists themselves. Also, it was challenging to make the interviewees understand the questions because of the language barrier. As a result, the researcher had to seek the help of another individual who was fluent in Chinese.

The biggest challenge that the researcher encountered in the course of the study was a task to remain impartial to the participants. However, it was difficult to stay neutral after learning that Chinese tourists experience a lot of problems in Victoria because they expect the Victorians to understand their language.

The researcher discovered that the Chinese do not bother learning English, which is the official language in Canada. Hence, the conclusion was that Chinese tourists experience problems in Victoria because of self-inflicted problems. The future study should focus on how to encourage the Chinese visitors to enrol for English lessons to ensure that they communicate effectively with the local Canadians.

Recommendations

The research found language barrier as the cause of the problems that the Chinese tourists face. Hence, the more confined a tourist is to the language barrier the more s/he is confined to cultural barriers. It underlines the reason most visitors choose Chinese restaurants. Therefore, the research recommends that the Chinese tourists take the time to study a foreign language to have basic communication skills when they get to foreign nations.

Also, the study recommends that there be measures to enhance the satisfaction of Chinese tourists in Victoria by ensuring that restaurants that offer Chinese delicacies have servers who are fluent in Chinese language. The bus should have Chinese labels to enhance transport services in Victoria.

It would be significant to note that Victoria is the leading destination for Chinese tourists in Canada. Therefore, there should be measures to mitigate the language barrier that tourists encounter. These measures should address issues such as the installation of Chinese signs in places where tourists are fond of visiting to help them understand basic things. It would also be important for the travel agencies to install language interpreter programs in their websites to enable Chinese tourists to understand the information from the website.

Works Cited

Bowerman, Gary. The New Chinese Traveler: Business Opportunities from the Chinese Travel Revolution, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Print.

Conrady, Roland, and M. Buck. Trends and Issues in Global Tourism 2011, New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2011. Print.

Martin, Judith, and T. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts, San Francisco: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2012. Print.

Nyíri, Pál. Scenic Spots: Chinese Tourism, the State, and Cultural Authority, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011. Print.

Poy, Vivienne, and H. Cao. The China Challenge: Sino-Canadian Relations in the 21st Century, Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2011. Print.

Scott, Noel, and E. Laws. Knowledge Sharing and Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism, Montreal: Routledge, 2013. Print.

Introduction

According to Williams (2008, p. 10), a seaside resort, also referred to as a beach resort, is a hotel located along a coastline. Such geographical locations are major tourist attractions around the world. There are many seaside resorts around the world. Examples of such resorts are those found in the United Kingdom. They include, among others, Cromer, Skegness, and Weymouth.

The resorts in the United Kingdom have remained some of the most popular around the world, especially in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. However, the tourist industry in this region has declined sharply over the years. The decline is the major focus of this paper. In the paper, the author analyses the various factors behind the decline and, at the same time, provides recommendations on the same.

According to the Wales Tourist Board (2011, pp. 38-50), the number of resorts has declined by approximately 28%. The number of visitors, on the other hand, has dropped by almost 40 million. There are many reasons behind the decline of the industry from the 19^th century to date.

Specific Causes of the Decline

Williams (2008, p.19) opines that competition from other resorts around the world is the major cause of this decline in the number and performance of United Kingdom’s resorts. He contends that ‘counterpart’ resorts in other countries offer a wide range of services that attract a large number of tourists.

The services offered involve reduced holiday packages. In addition, the operations of the other resorts are adequately organised with an aggressive promotion campaign. There are readily accessible booking venues across the world.

The growing economy of the United Kingdom has led to the emergence of alternative and more interesting sites like holiday villages and theme parks. Williams (2008, p. 21) contends that the rapid growth of such sites has offered people an alternative venture besides the seaside resorts.

Visitors are fetched from far-flung stations due to adequate rail and road network connecting urban areas. The development, especially during the industrial revolution, enabled the lower class to travel far and visit interesting places like seaside resorts (Agarwal 2010, p. 39).

The evolution of inexpensive automobile engines in the 20^th century enhanced accessibility of the United Kingdom’s seaside resorts, resulting into a boom in the tourist industry. However, with the change in demographics, modernism has greatly influenced the seaside resort industry. The industry has recorded a decline in growth due to changes in consumer preferences (Agarwal 2010, p. 41).

In the recent past, deterioration in the quality of services, as well as the facilities in the resorts, has contributed to the decline. Most of the facilities are outdated, dating back into the 1880s. The originality of the features the tourists are exposed to has depreciated, which is another cause of the decline (Giddens 2010, p. 76).

Apart from the specific factors highlighted above, there are other direct or indirect factors that have caused the decline. They include, among others, cultural changes, modernism, and post-modernism. Some are discussed in detail in subsequent sections of this paper.

Other Causes

Cultural Change in the Twentieth Century

Williams (2008, p. 87) argues that culture varies from one society to the other. A high culture tends to uphold unique and distinct practices. As such, people tend to associate themselves with such a culture, raising the status of the tourist destination therein.

Such cultural factors have significantly influenced the growth of the seaside resort industry in the United Kingdom, especially in the early 19^th century. The decline in culture has proportionately led to a decrease in the number of tourists in the region, especially from the early 20^th century.

Barker (2012, p. 383) simplifies the term ‘culture’, explaining it as the transformation of the ordinary instead of the elite members of the society. In this case, there is distinct spread and exchange of ideas. Such practices attract tourists to the resorts. Lack or inadequacy of such practices has reduced the number of tourists visiting the seaside resorts.

Culture and Economy

There is a complex relationship between culture and economy. Culture is seen as a way of presenting economic processes in the society. According to Goodall (2009, p. 53), culture is a symbol that is mostly associated with class and profits.

For instance, some countries are well known as tea or coffee consumers, while others are known as producers of the same. Generally, this is a culture associated with them and such trends promote the economy from a cultural perspective.

Cooper (2011, p. 59) argues that the decline in the UK seaside resort industry is partly attributed to cultural transformations associated with the oil crisis experienced in 1973-74. The crisis led to restructuring of cultures as adaptive mechanisms. Cooper insists that the phenomenon led to what is referred to as modernity and post modernity.

Modernism and Postmodernism

Modernism

Post-modernity, as well as modernity, are used to describe the periods within which culture has transformed. According to Shaw & Williams (2007, p. 91), modernism, as an agent of transformation, is based on four traits. They include industrialism, surveillance, capitalism, and military power.

Industrialism is referred to by Shaw & Williams (2007, p. 97) as a change from natural consumption to man-made, or what Barker (2012, p. 134) refers to as artificial. The seaside resorts in Britain have experienced the same process. The change from natural to man-made processes has influenced the state of the resorts, leading to a decline.

Surveillance is another aspect causing a decline in the UK seaside resort industry. Information is controlled based on reservations. People tend to have their own preferences as far as information is concerned. As such, information regarding the seaside resorts is minimal compared to what is known about other resorts. Hence, tourists tend to visit places that are known than places they have little information about (Goodall 2009, p. 20).

Capitalism and military power played a role in shaping the seaside resort destination in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Capitalism initiated production, where people became private owners of properties.

Military power, on the other hand, resulted into the formation of a defined state. All these factors affected the seaside resorts in Britain. When people became private owners of property, the resort industry, as a whole, was ignored, leading to a decline (Cooke 2011, p. 109).

Post-Modernism

According to Pimlott (2011, p. 81), postmodernism was taken for granted during its inaction period. It has resulted into what Pimlott describes as culture of writing and substance.

The postmodernism process has shifted the mind of customers from writing and substance culture (Pimlott 2011, p. 81) to image and surface meaning. The mentality has sharply decreased the popularity of British seaside resorts as a tourist destination.

Another important aspect that contributed to the decline of the seaside resort industry in Britain is what Lash (1990, p. 71) refers to as post-fordist. The shift in the mode of employment, for instance, from manufacturing to service industry, led to the development of negative attitudes towards the resort industry. The attitudes led to a massive decline in the growth of the industry.

It is now clear that the decline in the UK’s resort industry is due to a number of factors discussed in this paper. At this juncture, the author provides several recommendations touching on measures that will attract more tourists to the seaside resorts.

Recommendations

Having discussed the factors leading to the decline of the UK seaside resort industry, the author now provides recommendations aimed at improving the performance of this sector in the future. The author adopts the Butler’s Model used in analysing the tourism cycle.

According to Giddens (2010, p. 102), the model proposes six stages in the cycle. The six are:

1. Exploration.
2. Involvement.
3. Development.
4. Consolidation.
5. Stagnation.
6. Decline or rejuvenation.

The British resort industry is actually on the sixth stage. It is at this stage that the industry is supposed to either remain ‘declined’ or rejuvenate. The author of this paper has detected stagnation in the grown of the resorts due to competition and emergence of other resorts.

There are other compelling factors that have led to the decline. Operators of the British resorts need to analyse the issues that led to stagnation. Such issues include loss of the original features that make up a famous resort (Lash 1990, p. 83).

What operators of British seaside resorts need to do is to focus more on the rejuvenation process. The decline varies from one resort to the other as far as the pace is concerned. There are a number of factors involved in the rejuvenation process. Some of them are discussed in subsequent sections of this paper.

The private and the public sectors need to inject cash into the resort industry to improve the facilities and enhance their popularity. In this case, the government can implement strategies that will enable the industry to recover from the decline stage.

Promoting local tourism is a strategy that the government and the private sector can employ. Local tourists will enhance the growth in the number of international tourists. The operators should also engage in massive promotions around the world (Butler 2008, p. 82).

The geographical location of many resorts in Britain makes them accessible by air. As such, it is important to enhance air transport network using travel agents and tour operators. The enhancement will reduce travel expenses in these areas and, in the long run, boost the industry.

An important fact to note is that cooperation and coordination is a requirement in improving the resort industry. It entails tourism agencies, either private or governmental, carrying out tourist operations, as such improving the sector. Intermediaries like advisors and tourist agencies are important in promoting the resort industry (Butler 2008, p.99).

Finally, the cultural trends studied in this paper needs to be understood further to create a clear picture on the needs and preferences of tourists (Barrett 2008). Cultural transformation has resulted into a situation where different people have different preferences. The variation should be regarded as an opportunity to improve the UK’s seaside resort industry.

Conclusion

The writer of this paper analysed possible causes of the decline in the UK seaside resort industry. Recommendations were made on the same. The writer noted that emerging ideologies and changing world economies have seen some resort sites being ignored and, eventually, losing their glory.

It is from this perspective that the writer conclusively analyzed the causes of the decline. It was made clear to the reader that the aforementioned issues need to be tackled to revive the industry.

References

Agarwal, S 2010, The public sector: planning for renewal in the rise and fall of British coastal resorts, Routledge, London.

Barker, C 2012, Cultural studies: theory and practice, Sage, London.

Barrett, J 2008, The seaside resort towns of England and Wales, University of London Press, London.

Butler, R 2008, Introduction to change in tourism: people, places, processes, Routledge, London.

Cooke, P 2011, The changing urban and regional systems in the UK, Sage, London.

Cooper, C 2011, ‘The environmental consequences of declining destinations’, Environment, vol. 18 no. 1, pp. 10-200.

Giddens, A 2010, The consequences of modernity, Policy Press, Cambridge.

Goodall, B 2009, Coastal resorts: development and redevelopment, Built Harvester, New York.

Lash, S 1990, Sociology of postmodernism, Routledge, London.

Pimlott, J 2011, The Englishman’s holiday: a social history, Hassocks, London.

Shaw, G & Williams, A 2007, The rise and fall of British coastal resorts, Sage, London.

Wales Tourist Board 2011, Tourism 2000: prospects for coastal resorts, Cardiff Wales Tourist Board, London.

Williams, S 2008, Tourism geography, Routledge, London.