A Visitor Management Plan For Central London Tourism Essay
There is no doubt about the fact that London is kind of home for many tourist. Though London as a whole has attracted many tourists internationally, yet the importance of Central London in this matter is very specific. Museums and parks and entertainment horizons of Central London had always been the centre of Attraction for many European and International tourists. The civilisations attached to London and the popular cultures being a part of it make it the most conformable place and an obvious choice to visit, for many tourists. The underlying principle for this project is to derive a Visitor Management Plan for the Central London. The approach is to look into all those perspectives and the arrangements of all kinds of assistance in order to offer the visitors with right kinds of exposure to the areas of Central London. The paper has been designed to grasp and to offer appropriate guidelines and necessary tips for managing with a pleasurable and a very relaxing way of dealing with the tourism sector of this place. This is an initiation led from the perspective of local tourism management organisations in order to understand the developmental and the systematic strategic plans for offering the area of Central London with the best possible tourism options and to attract visitors here for the betterment of tourism sector in London as a whole.
Outline and Analysis of Central London Tourism
The British Museum and the British Library in the Central London holds many aspects of literary exposures. These are the places that are most visited by the tourist to see and explore the original manuscripts of classics like the notebook of Jane Austen, Alice in Wonderland, Charlotte Bronte’s manuscript of Jane Eyre added by the proof all those places that are being explored, dominated and eventually conquered by the British Empire. The British Museum and the British Library are the most renowned and very authentic place that most of the international visitors tries to visit, in order to see things that made history. Central London is very popular for other museums like Victoria and Albert Museum in the area of Kensington. This is the world’s largest museum that holds decorative design and arts, with an abundant collection of 4.5 million objects. The speciality of these museums are integral to the collection of things that are very much close to the cultures of North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia. The best parts of these valuable sites are that they are all free of cost and visitors can make an entry very obviously. This is definitely is a very right kind of approach and as such more and more people are attracted towards it. Keeping the options free to tourists for these cultural and historical assets is a very strong approach and as such can be declared as a strong strategic plan in attaining worldwide popularity. However, minimal charges for these areas can be considered and that should be so minimal that people from any country can afford it. This is a plan that will keep a track of the number of visitor??s to these places added by some chance to earn a minimal amount for the maintenance of these places. The historical and cultural part of Central London is also comprised of places like Buckingham Palace. It has been estimated that an average of 15 million tourists come to Central London to see this Royal palace every year. In summer season, the visitors are even allowed to see some rooms of this palace and that is a real treat to them. Visits to Tower of London holding Crown Jewels of England is also very popular and visitors throng here to have the eternal glance of it. Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, London Eye, Covent Garden, Natural History Museum, London Zoo, Globe Theatre, Madame Tussauds and Charles Dickens Museum are some additional must visits for the tourists to Central London. Apart from all these locations, most of the people prefer to visit Central London for its wonderful parks and to wander along. Most of these parks are counted with Regent’s Park, Holland Park and Coram’s Fields. The preferences are all about having grass for walk, ball games and picnicking. Though some of the Royal parks are closed at nights and are very much guided by the police, yet the preferences for these places are very obvious and incredible among the tourists. Provisions for skating are made possible in Kensington Gardens along with Serpentine Road in Hyde Park. This is a very important provisions that have attracted many tourists and the same applications should be made possible in most of the other parks too. It is necessary to consider that people definitely come to Central London for relaxation, fun and to enjoy their holidays, and thus it s becomes the responsibility of the tourism industry in London to offer people with adequate amount of almost everything.
Visitors?? Bases and Statistics
According to Hard, R. (2010) there is a clear declaration about the visitor??s bases and the statistics to Central London. As per this declaration the total Central London visitors in the year 2007 has been estimated as 25.2 million added by 6.2 million of business visitors. The total leisure and other visitors to Central London has been declared as 11.55 million and 1,353 Central London Hotels were been occupied. The average room occupancy has been calculated as 82.2%. as for the declarations made by the Press Association (2007) over the developmental structure of tourism in Central London, they are pretty sure of its expansion by the year 2012. The most visited places as of now are the museums, theatres and the parks. Yet the expansion as declared by Press association will be inclusive of the Olympic game propaganda that will overcrowd the place for all possible reasons.
The following diagram forwarded by Office of National Statistics (2010), will illustrate the occupancy of visitors to Central London more clearly-
Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1. Visits to and from UK
Source: Office of National Statistics 2010
As shown in the figure from 2008 onwards there is an extremely rise in the amount of visitors to UK, specifically to Central London then people going out from UK or the Central London in particular. As per the three-month trends that have been seasonally adjusted, the assessments are very clear and practically strong in favour of tourism in UK and Central London in particular. In the month of August, 2010 to the month of October, 2010, the estimations led by Office of National Statistics (2010), the number of visitors who visited Central London from overseas was up to 7.5 million. This was an estimation that actually attained a fall of ??4.2 billion. The rise of people going out of UK has deteriorated from the total amount of people that are getting into the state as tourists. As this assessment gets wider perspective of 12 months during the total number of visits by overseas residents to various places of UK making Central London as the core place attained a rate of 29.6 million which is again considered as unsatisfactory. The estimation of visits to the UK by people from various countries has been declared as following- Residents from Europe covered a space of 22.0 million Residents from North America got reduced from 3.5 million to 3.3 million, and Residents from other parts of the world offered an increase of 2 per cent and that attained a rise of 4.3 million It can be well attached that visits to UK, especially Central London has definitely got enormous increase, yet this is an increase that is exclusive of European and North Americans. The rise has been much supported by other countries of the world. Stakeholder Analysis
The basic stakeholders who are very important in the process of developing the tourism sector in Central London are identified as National Governing Bodies, Coaching Development and Newham Water Sports Group. These are the associations that are concentrating in adding activities and thematic persuasion to the tourism sector of Central London. The core concerns are predominated by adding entertainment and adequate amount of sports and adventures to all those tourists who wants to be a part of it. The persuasions are also handled to organise diversified tourists?? interests in different ways. The activities and the sight seeing activities are made better and very much supported by technological and other electronic modes, so that visitors get al kinds of conform and luxury during their travel. As declared by Mayor of Central London in London Gov. UK. (2005), there is the need to improve the IT and the sectors of sophistications in Central London so that it can offer the tourists with all the information that hey want and that too within no time. The demands were led over the application of Sub Regional Development Framework (SRDF) for Central London. The chief objective of this framework has been declared by the Mayor of Central London as-
“Central London is one of the world’s great places. Londoners and visitors identify with the unique mix of business, culture, entertainment and heritage found at the heart of London. It is a place that contains areas of considerable wealth alongside concentrations of deprivation. This SRDF strikes a balance between the needs of central London??s residents, workers and visitors as well as reflecting its status as a centre of global business and culture.”
The approaches are very practical and it is noteworthy that the contributions of the stakeholders, especially that of National Governing Bodies, Coaching Development and Newham Water Sports Group are very predominating. The concentrations are led over the persuasion of regulatory functions. Various examples in this context can be identified in terms of disciplinary action for rule infractions and over the matters of deciding rule changes in various sports that they govern. Governing bodies are structured and restructured in different scopes. The coverage is inclusive of international level, as for instance International Olympic Committee or the national level sports like Rugby Football League. The entire formulations are to promote various sports activities so that the area of Central London can acquire more attentions from the tourists. As these sports get conducted they turn up to be the sources for generating and encouraging more and more tourists to Central London. Pestle and SWOT
Application of Pestle and SWOT analysis in this aspect clarifies all those domains that need special attention and cooperation for the overall development of Central London Tourism in the upcoming years. As the concept of tourism in Central London gets analysed under PESTLE, the basic field of analysis are – Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. From political point of view, there is much support led by the governance in developing Central London tourism. The support from local and central governments are very strong in this matter. Economic growth of Central London can be well marked by the increase in the hotel tariffs in last few years. Radical growth in the eurozone economy has been marked. An estimation of ??15billion each year is definitely is a great hype and this has been much supported by the tourism sector (Rodr??guez-Pose and Kr??ijer, 2009). The social dominance too has been much affected by the increase of tourists in Central London. The aspects are very much related to mixing of diversified cultures on the same trend and the sellers too get involved in offering customer-oriented products. As a result there is a kind of intermingleness among various social set ups of Central London that are getting different from the original trends, yet are much acclaimed internationally. Additions of upgrade technological supports in promoting in getting visitors from all over the world are very well generated through Online marketing provisions. It is through online deals that most of the tourists are welcomed and are offered best of the services. The support led by customer care and other scopes are all dominated by upgrade communicative support led by technologies. Against all these facilities the legal peripheries in the activities of Central London are getting stricter. Administration and legislatures are all involved in offering the state with more safe and peaceful legal support. The purpose is to prevent Central London getting affected by risky outsiders and offering the tourists with the sense of security and safeguards n enjoying their holidays. However, when it comes to the issue of Environment, there is of course a tassel regarding the understanding of pollution and concerns related to the maintenance of good environmental condition n Central London. As declared in the News of European Space Agency (2010) YourAir service has made a prediction about the levels of pollutants that are actually increasing due to the excessive exposure of nitrogen dioxide, added by ozone and airborne particles. It has been further declared that necessary control to this is important as it might lead to diseases like, asthma, heart and lung problems. The role of tourism in creating these pollutants is definitely considered as a major factor. As there is an increase in the tourism sector more and more people gets into the town and as such the environmental balance gets distracted. As per the SWOT that is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
The most predominated strength of the Central London tourism is its systematic and strategic persuasion of tourism structure. It is a very experience market in tourism and thus has attained enough success internationally on obvious terms The weakness of Central London tourism lies in the massive expansion of all kinds of business in a small demographical area. There is a huge demand for resources and manpower that is yet to meet by Central London tourism sector
Opportunities Threats
When it comes to opportunities, the tourism sector of Central London attains enough support from almost all kinds of segments. As it is a highly sophisticated region, it can afford all kinds of developmental and the best of the provisions for the tourist on worldwide basis. As the entire tourism sector of UK is evolving from Central London its responsibility increases and there is a regular demand of competitiveness and excellence led on it. The other areas too are creating enough competition to the Central London tourism and the threats of competitions are getting higher every year.
Development of Objectives
The developmental objectives of Central London tourism needs to be focussed on short, medium and longer term basis. It is important to note that the functionalities of Central London tourism must follow enough scope of development and economic growth for the country and needs to generate equal emphasis over the resources and the concerns of dealing with natural and human resources. The entire Central London tourism sector need more appropriate synchronisation to make its string enough against the increasing levels of competitions. Every promotional programme can be introduced as per the interests of the tourists and the same can be extended from a smaller zone to larger perspectives. To meet short, medium and longer terms of development, it is necessary for Central London tourism needs to get focus on higher density of building environment added by higher land values, excessive elevation in the daytime population and above all severe concentration over issues like regional and religious sentiments. Increasing levels of competitions authorised nationally and internationally should be well handled with a perception to meet the competitive gap with appropriate dominance. The specific developmental objectives can be noted as-
Increasing scopes for employment Maintenance of environmental insecurities Implementing situation oriented strategies to the tourism sector Meeting demands of the upcoming markets Offering support to the preservation of resources Dealing with issues that can create political, social or legal chaos Financial planning against the increased value in every aspect
Apart from all these, Central London tourism must have right kinds of audit and inspections for offering the entire region with adequate amount of security and systematic developmental proceedings for the maintenance of a good tourism oriented business. Financial support from the stakeholders and the support for exclusive management planning are very important to offer small, medium and longer sustainability to the Central London tourism industry. The demand for apt plan to meet international competition is the core demand in the current hors.
Detailed Strategies and Tactics
The strategic planning for offering Central London tourism industry with long terms sustainability and short and medium term profitability, there is the need for dealing with the current market trends and demands of the customers. There are some rigid categories that need to be well planned in order to attain proficiency levels in the Central London tourism sector.
Application of 4Ps
It is through the adoption of marketing mix that the Central London tourism can attain adequate amount of international tourism structure. This is a kind of structure that has been designed with an amalgamated formulation of 4Ps and 4Cs in the process of managing international tourism and the levels of competitiveness created by it. To attain effective results under 4Ps it is necessary for Central London tourism to use all the products and resources as per the detected demands of the market and the related cultural and social backgrounds. By means of 4Ps emphasis need to be led over the determination of Product, Price, Place and Promotion of the tourism perspectives in Central London (Banting and Ross, 1973). In a way everything that is considered as product for the tourist must be customised as per the specific customer. This also needs to be evaluated as per the affordability and the cost of preparation of the product. The design is very strict in terms of the specific places where it will be made available followed by right kind of promotional tools. In terms of promotions the instruments like banners, media to internet needs to be used exclusively so that every individual attains its brand and create the trust to try it. The formulation of 4Ps under marketing mix further needs to get extended by specific importance over People and Process. In this respect the Central London tourism need to laid emphasis over the tourists who are coming from developing countries (McCarthy, 1975). As declared above there is a radical rise in the tourists from developing countries, thus the extended implication of strategic planning must consider the extended People and Process concerns. In most cases it has been found that the tourism sector of Central London hardly offers importance to people from third world. There is a kind of block that sustain in them and that needs to get overcome. Giving importance to the tourists, irrespective of their origin needs to be inclusive in the developmental structure of Central London tourism.
Application of 4Cs
Implication of Commodity, Cost, Channel and Communication is considered as the root for sustainable success, especially for tourism these tools become mandatory (Koichi 2003 and 2009). Commodity in this case is all about the entire tourism industry of Central London that needs to specify its places like museums and parks as per the preferences or conveniences of the market, here tourists. According to Schullz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn, (1993) the expenditure and the tour packages are what the Central London tourism sector need to consider as per the rate of currencies of all those countries that are joining in its tourism market. In this case special emphasis needs to be offered over the determination and the specification of monetary standards that prevails in the developing countries. Specialised and customised packages should be made to suit the customers from Asian and the African countries. As these people are participating more in visiting Central London, their conveniences should be considered as per their budget and currency values. The channels that need to be considered are the media that will expose the Central London tourism to the world. In many first world countries internet definitely is the strongest media. However, in the developing countries the demands of the traditional modes of publicity; like television, radio and print media are still very effective. Keeping these conditions under considerations, the Central London tourism needs to explore these domains to reach to the people in the most positive manner. The discriminatory attitudes or the laid back considerations are actually never suggested for a sustainable growth. Restricting the publication and scopes of media by Central London tourism can limit its expansion and thus is very much suggested to consider all kinds of channels to reach the target customers. The ways of communication in the developing and the developed countries are very common. This is the most convenient mode of communication and has been established by the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. As against the traditional modes of communication the international communicative exchanges are more comfortably adopted through internet and Central London tourism need to apply the same for the tourists from both developed and developing countries. Determination of content will differ though; the basic approach needs to remain the same. Promotions through social networking sites and emails will also gain adequate response in the developing countries, built at the same time for wider publicity; it is important and necessary to add the traditional media too.
Recruitment and Professional Training
The entire Central London tourism needs to get reformed and restructured as per the demands of the customers. There is the need for applying absolute customer-oriented business modules so that the business of tourism can grow in all directions. Central London tourism need to employ more and more professional people and added to these recruitment proceedings there is the need for appropriate kind of marketing training to them so that they can deal with different demographical populations and cultures. The process of recruitment should be very strong and apt training in accordance to the target customer should be arranged. As for instance, communications with the customer for taking visits to Central London tourism can either be outsourced or can be initiated by local marketing agents to get right kinds of responses and persuasions. As more and more people will be approached in their language and as per their communication cultures, the response too will get positive and Central London tourism will expand in its marketing venture in getting more and more tourists.
Conclusions
Eventually, it can be considered that the tourism sector of London is definitely in good shape, yet is equally much threatened by the lack of resources and the increasing competitions on international front. As this plan gets approach there are many things that needs same specialised attentions and these need to get generated to offer support for long term sustainability of the entire sector. Hopes are very much positive with the persuasion of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Yet the systematic planning and making space for all kinds of visitors is a great challenge to Central London tourism. There is no denial to the fact that the Central London tourism has been recognised as the best tourism sector that is traditionally, socially and economically has been much acclaimed. From financial point of view, there is definitely no chance of running out of budget, yet possibilities of getting overspent with extreme misuse of financial assts can definitely take place. The entire Central London tourism is in severe need of expert financial consultants and people who can really mange Central London tourism n reference to diversified kinds of people who are getting into the market.
The limitations that can be noted in the implication of the advised plan can be pointed out as following—- Lack of adequate manpower Increasing risks of environmental pollution Deficiency in making arrangements for huge mass of people Need to compromise demographical expansion Unable to offer adequate international exposure in the developing countries. Against all these limitations, it becomes very mandatory for the Central London tourism to offer specialists in the financial and the management sectors so that regulations and related implications get enough support for each other. There is the severe demand to balance between the amounts earned and to regenerate in long term basis. Negligence in this aspect can result in successive failures and the entire Central London tourism can get trapped by the pressure of international competitiveness.
