Author: Andre Coleman

This paper seeks to discuss the concept of product life cycle apply to the cruise product selling in Wing On Travel Agent (Hong Kong). First, the relationship between tourist product and cruise product is defined. Then the concept of product life cycle is introduced. Finally, a case study of Wing On Travel Agent (Hong Kong) is presented to illustrate the life cycle of selling the cruise product.

Transportation by carrier; accommodations; rental of motor vehicles; or any other service related to travel. Depending on the jurisdiction this may or may not include time shares. Travel services includes transportation by air, sea, or land, or the provision of other goods or services related to recreational, cultural or educational travel, including but not limited to lodging, food, guided tours, or instruction.

The cruise industry is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry – since 1980 the industry has had an average annual passenger growth rate of 8.1%. Almost 45 million people have cruised at least once; of these, nearly 23 million have cruised in the past 3 years. (By: Miller, Richard K.; Washington, Kelli. Travel & Tourism Market Research Handbook, 2009, p88-91, 4p, 5 Charts;)

Between 1999 and 2005, passenger levels for conventional cruises have expanded from about 8.5 million to 13.9 million. During the same period, the Asia Pacific region accounted for between 5 % and 8.6 % of the worldwide market. Between 1999 and 2005, Hong Kong’s typical rate1 of capture of the Asia Pacific conventional cruise market ranged from 16% to 30%. The total cruise passenger throughput in Hong Kong including local residents and international passengers traveling on conventional cruises and cruises-to-nowhere has increased from 1.38 million in 1999 to 2.15 million in 2005. The number of cruise vessel calls has increased from 409 to 1 051 over the same period.

The growth of tourism even exceeded the growth of GDP worldwide by approximately 1.3 times in the last 25 years of the 20th century (WTO, 2003).

The cruise industry is a niche market in the tourism industry. The market share of cruises in the tourism market is small and account for only 0.6% of the hotel beds offered worldwide (WTO, 2003). This number seems small, but the cruise market has shown incredible growth figures and is seen as a market with high potential. The cruise industry has grown with an average annual percentage of 7.4 since 1980. An estimated 15 million travelers cruised in 2008. The North American cruise market dominates the industry and it makes a significant contribution to the American economy. The cruise industry generated $38 billion in the total U.S. economic output in 2007(CLIA, 2009). The cruise industry becomes however more and more globalized with a growing number of destinations and calls in Europe and other regions (Cruise Europe, 2009).

Between 1990 and 2004, passenger levels expanded from 4.4 to 13.2 million worldwide (Bermello-Ajamil & Partners, In 2005c). Accorrdint to B&A, passenger carrying levels could expand from the present 13.2 million to between 19.3 and 30.1 million by 2020 (see Figure ES-1).

Target Market

Hong Kong as a Port-of-Call

Hong Kong as a Homeport

China

F

S

Far East

F/S

F/S

Southeast Asia

F

F

Trans-Pacific / Repositioning

F

F

World Cruises

S

S

Australia/Asia/N.Z.

W

W

Cruise to Nowhere

N/A

S

Key: Strong (S), Fair (F), Weak (W)
Fit of Hong Kong within Identified Target Markets

Source: B&A and GP Wild, 2004

Hong Kong’s cruise season is characterized by both year-round regional operations by Star Cruises and seasonal (October to May) operations by international cruise operators.

Cruise ships are not, like ferries, just seen as a mode of transport. These ships are often a destination on itself, and can be typified as floating hotels, or even floating resorts (Dowling, 2006).

The Product Life Cycle

The product life cycle theory says that the development of sales and profits of new developed products shows a clear pattern. The product life cycle theory states that a product goes, after its introduction, through different phases. From the introduction, the product will know a phase of growth, maturity and finally decline or revitalization (Dekker et al, 1995). Butler developed, based on the product life cycle, the life cycle of tourist locations. Instead of the quantity of products sold, the life cycle of tourism development uses the number of visitors as the indicator of the level of destination development (Butler, 1980 from van der Borg et al, 1996). The development process of any tourist destination may, just as the development process of products, be represented cyclically (van der Borg et al, 1996). Figure 1 shows the destination life cycle curve with the phases of introduction, growth, maturity and decline/revitalization.

With reference to the cruise industry the introduction of a cruise destination begins of course with the necessary infrastructure. Initial costs are high since the cruise port should ‘often’ be made accessible for cruise ships and should have the required facilities to accommodate these cruise ships. During the phase of introduction a limited number of cruise ships visit the cruise port. In this phase costs are relatively high in relation to the benefits. During the phase of growth the number of cruise ships and cruise passengers visiting the city increase and facilities need to be improved. Since the available capacity is used more efficiently, costs will drop in relation to the revenues. The expenses made by cruise passengers in the city will increase and the cruise sector will contribute significantly to the economical development of the destination. During the phase of maturity the cruise sector can be considered a major contributor to the local community. The cruise port is visited by a large number of the largest cruise ships and facilities are state of the art. The cruise port city has achieved an international reputation. The destination life cycle shows however that there is a possibility of decline. Cruise destination could lose their position and reputation which would result in a decline of the number of cruise ships visiting the destination. A decline can be caused by, for example, negative environmental impact or nuisance due to the large number of cruise passengers visiting the destination (Gibson, 2006).

The life cycle differs of course for each and every product or tourism destination. Marketing strategies that should be adopted in the different stages of development differ as well. In the phase of product development it is necessary to meet the customer needs. The needs of cruise lines and cruise passengers should be satisfied in order to develop into thriving cruise destination. The destination should build upon its brand based on the needs of its customers. During the introduction phase it is important to create awareness among cruise lines and cruise passengers. In this way the cruise destination will secure its place in the market. With an increase in passenger volumes, costs will decline and profits will rise. In this stage promotion shifts to creating loyalty in order to remain and improve the obtained position (Plog, 2001).

Application

Cruise ships are not, like ferries, just seen as a mode of transport. These ships are often a destination on itself, and can be typified as floating hotels, or even floating resorts (Dowling, 2006). This has not always been the case. The main purpose of the big Ocean liners of the past, like the Normandy (1932) and the Queen Mary (1934), was primarily to transport passengers and cargo between Europe and America [1] . Transoceanic liners sailed on fixed schedules and routes and the different classes in the society were separated with first class cabins and public spaces in the front, second class in the middle and steerage class in the back of the ship (Maxton-Graham, 1985 from Chin, 2008). The speed of these ocean liners was not only important economically, but also for prestige [2] . The Ocean liners lost however market share due to the rising popularity of the airplane and finally lost their function as transport mode. Many ships were taken out of business or were used only to make pleasure trips. The cruise industry as we know it emerged in this period. Nowadays, airplanes do no longer compete with the passenger ships operating in the cruise sector and actually have become an important extension of the cruise product. The cruise product is not, as the ocean liners, based on the transportation of passengers but on the experience they are able to give to their passengers.

6.3 Market analysis
6.3.1 Introduction

The cruise sector is an exclusive part of the leisure industry and has developed rapidly in the last four decades. The sector is still expanding, not only in number of passengers, but it becomes also more and more globalized. In the market analysis we will look more closely to the major cruise regions, the growth of passengers in these regions, the characteristics of cruise passengers, the properties of the cruise product and cruise line economics.

6.3.2 Cruise regions

The major cruise regions in the world are based in North America and Europe. Figure 2 gives an overview of the total overnights per region in 2008. The Caribbean is the major cruise region, followed by the Mediterranean and Central America. The Caribbean and Central America are not negatively affected by seasonal weather patterns, apart from the hurricane season, and cruise ships are deployed in these regions throughout the year (Gibson, 2006). Between April and September, a large part of the cruise fleet is however relocated to Europe and Alaska. These regions show a clear seasonal pattern with no cruises in the winter period and a peak in the summer months (Dowling, 2006). Climate can be considered as a determining factor in the deployment of cruise ships.

Figure 2: Market share 2008 per region, based on the total overnights.

Source: CLIA

6.3.3 Passenger growth

Cruise tourism has, together with the whole leisure industry, shown a phenomenal growth. The cruise sector developed from a small market with cruise lines operating with only a single ship, to a globalized industry with a fleet of numerous unique vessels (cruiseweb.nl). Table 1 shows that especially the European market and transatlantic voyages have shown significant growth figures between 2000 and 2008 of respectively 238% and 279%. The market of North and Central America showed a passenger growth of 141%. The spectacular growth in number of cruise passengers can also been seen based on the number of cruise ships ordered by the different cruise lines. The CLIA Five-Year Capacity Report and Passenger Carrying Report of 2008 shows that 34 new ships were contracted or planned to be added to the fleet from 2008 to the end of 2012 (CLIA, 2008).

Table 1: Total bed days per region 2000-2008

Source: CLIA

6.3.4 Characteristics cruise passengers

The general profile of the cruise vacationer is upscale and well educated, with a median household income of $93,000 and 69 percent having a college degree in 2008. The median age of cruisers is now 46 years old, down from 49 in 2006 (CLIA, 2009). This shows that that the cruise sector continues to attract younger travelers. The cruise market is dominated by American cruise passengers, followed on distance by passengers from Great Britain. Other passengers come mainly from other European countries like Germany, Italy, Spain and France (Gibbons, 2009).

The tourist industry experience the trend that people do no longer take one big holiday per year, but make several shorter trips instead (Bargeman et al, 2002). This trend can also been seen in the cruise industry. The length of the cruises has declined over the years. Especially short cruises with a length between 2 and 5 days have become more popular in comparison with 25 years ago. Figure 3 shows the length of cruises in 1980 and 2006.

Figure 3: Length of cruises

Source: B&A, 2008

6.3.5 Cruise product

The cruise industry is characterized by substantial heterogeneity similarly to other tourism products (Papatheodorou, 2001). Each cruise is different in terms of ports of call, or vessel. Besides that, the experience people have, does differ among every individual. Cruise lines have the opportunity to differentiate in terms of quality and in terms of variety and offerings. Differentiation is used as a strategy by some cruise lines in the cruise industry. Cruise lines developed products that meet the preferences of different types of passengers by offering for example thematic cruises and cruises to different regions. An example is Disney Cruise, which offers cruise passengers a unique experience by focusing on the theme of Disney [3] .

The cruise product, offered by cruise lines, has changed from an ‘all-inclusive’ package to a more customized product. This means that ‘amenities’ and ‘experiences’ can be booked together with the cruise itself. Onboard sales have become a significant proportion of the turnover of a cruise ship and the profits derived from on shore excursions are significant. A typical Royal Caribbean cruise ship can, for example, generate close to a half million dollar tour income with a single call to St. Petersburg, Russia (Peisley, 2003). According to Royal Caribbean’s Vice President for Commercial Development, John Tercek, US$100 million of the profit of Royal Caribbean’s US$ 351 million profit in 2002/3 was derived solely from shore excursions (Klein, 2006 in Ross, 2006 pp. 262). Most people who take a cruise do not live in the area of the port of departure. Therefore, fly-cruise packages are very popular and play, next to the offering of excursions and other services, an important role (Papatheodorou, 2006).

6.3.6 Cruise line economics

Economies of scale are important for cruise lines. The average cost per passenger drop as the scale of operation increases. Two main categories of cost savings can be identified, namely: economies of density and economies of fleet size (Papatheodorou, 2006). Economies of density means that cruise lines are able to operate more efficiently with larger cruise vessels since fixed costs are spread over a large number of passengers. Economies of fleet size are derived by spreading fixed costs over a large number of cruise ships. Besides this, a large fleet makes it for cruise lines easier to expand in many different regions and thus establish a network of operations (Papatheodorou, 2006). Cruise lines are able to operate more efficiently with an increase in the number of ships and capacity, since the variable costs rise by a rate which is less than proportional with the increase of passenger capacity (Blauwens et al, 2007). Ships have therefore become bigger and bigger and are in some cases even considered as the main destination, instead of the ports of call (Chin, 2008). Royal Caribbean has recently ordered a new vessel, the ‘Ocean of the Seas’ with a capacity of 5400 passengers, which will come in operating in the end of 2009 (www.royalcaribbean.com). In comparison, in the 1970s and early 1980s, the typical cruise ship accommodated between 500 and 800 passengers (Klein, 2006).

Due to the importance of economies of scale the cruise industry is consolidated among three major players. The passenger capacity of the Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Star/NCL Cruises cover 80% of the total worldwide cruise capacity. The allocation of the passenger capacity among the major cruise corporations is shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Cruise capacity by Cruise Corporation in 2008

Source: B&A, 2008

Under the three main cruise corporations, several cruise brands operate with a great degree of independency. Each brand looks after their own itinerary planning, marketing, on shore excursions and other operations. Each of the brands has specific core consumer markets that are based on demographics and nationality. Table 2 shows the three corporations, with the number of ships in operation and the brands operation under each corporation.

Table 2: Major Cruise Corporations

Parent group

Number of ships

Brands

Carnival Corporation

99

Carnival Cruise Lines

Holland America Line

Princess Cruises

Seabourn Cruise Line in North America

P&O Cruises UK

Cunard Line

Ocean Village

AIDA

Costa Crociere

P&O Cruises Australia

Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.

42

Royal Caribbean International

Celebrity Cruises

Pullmantur

Azamara Cruises

Celebrity Xpeditions

Star/NCL Cruises

18

Star Cruises

Norwegian Cruise Line

NCL America

Orient Lines

Other

Disney Cruise Lines

Crystal Cruises

MSC Cruises

Regent Seas Cruises

Oceania

Silversea Cruise Lines

Sources: B&A, 2008; Dowling, 2006

Cruise lines have very high occupancy rates, compared with the hotel industry. The average room occupancy in the cruise industry lies above 95%, compared to 59% for the hotel industry (Toh, 2005). The seasonal movement is a key factor of the financial success of the cruise industry. Cruise lines are, unlike hotels, flexible in the positioning of their capacity.

5.3 Conclusion and hypothesis

The development of tourism destinations shows, just as the development of products, a cyclical pattern. The concept of the destination life cycle says that a tourism destination goes through different phases of development. Instead of the quantity of products sold, the concept uses the number of visitors as the indicator of development. A cruise destination will, based on this concept, know a phase of product development, in which the necessary infrastructure is constructed, a phase of introduction, growth, maturity and a phase of possible decline or revitalization. Each phase asks for a different marketing approach. After all, a precondition for the development of a competitive tourism destination concerns the effectiveness of tourism development efforts. During the initial phase it is important to develop a desired image brand which creates awareness among cruise lines and cruise passengers. During later phases it is important for a cruise destination to create loyalty in order to secure its place in the market.

CONCLUSIONS

The Regent Hotel Case Study
1. Pricing Strategy Review – Key Issues

There are several key issues which must be considered when determining the pricing strategy for a hotel. The main variables that affect hotel room pricing in general will include transient demand at the location, for example during festivals, conferences or major tourist occasions, and also whether it is currently high, low, or ‘shoulder’ season. Weekly arrival or departure patterns can also affect occupancy: there may, for example be many spare rooms on a Thursday night, or even worse, excessive demand on one night of the week, due to overlap from arriving and departing guests, which means that rooms may end up being empty on the surrounding days. For example, if guests staying from Monday to Friday choose to also stay Friday night, it may make the rooms unsuitable for people who want to stay over the weekend, thus leaving a shortage of rooms on Saturdays.

Equally, the ratio of guest rooms to meeting, or conference, rooms can dictate pricing strategy, as if the hotel has plenty of guest rooms, but little conference space, it may have to offer excessive discounts to attract conference guests, but in the opposing scenario, it may be able to charge a premium. In a similar vein, a hotel with a successful history of holding meetings or conferences, and thus a good reputation in corporate circles can also command a premium for business functions. The potential for incremental revenue from the restaurant and bar areas should also impact on pricing, both for the rooms and the facilities themselves. Should a hotel have a high proportion of guests using its additional facilities, then it can use these revenues to subsidise the cost of the rooms, thus enabling it to lower prices and thus attract more guests, who will ideally also use the facilities. However, should the facilities be of poor quality, or too expensive, then the price of the rooms may have to be raised to compensate for the shortfall. A final factor to consider is the potential for risk to the hotel, such as the likelihood of cancellations or damages, which can be mitigated to some extent by including cancellation and attrition clauses in the terms and conditions, provided these are made clear to guests at the time of booking.

Pricing strategies at major brand hotels also tend to fluctuate more with the market, because of their size and power. Serlen (2004) reported that many of the major brands lowered rates dramatically during the recent period of difficulty for the industry, but these rates were unprofitable, and thus the hotels couldn’t maintain those rates and be profitable. As such, most hotels chose to keep rates more stable, sacrificing some revenue during that period, but meaning that they won’t be the same pressure of profitability once demand has returned. However, a Datamonitor Company Profile (2005) of the market in which the Hyatt and other premium hotels, such as the Regent, operate; has shown that pricing power within the market is currently heavily influenced by the hotels’ capacities, and also the pricing decisions of competitors. The downturn in the travel industry has led to a competitive environment where supply currently outstrips demand. Therefore the market as whole, ranging from low costs leisure up to the premium end in which the Regent operates, is currently dictated by the pricing strategies of competitors. Competitors’ actions generally within the current climate could cause supply growth to outstrip demand growth, which could be disastrous for the Regent, and thus attention should be paid to these considerations.

Specifically for the Regent, the refurbishing of the conference rooms has enabled it to offer high quality corporate facilities, which should enable it to charge a premium for conferences, over and above what other hotels in the region can charge. However, the opening of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre could lead to problems for the hotel, as it appears of offer far superior facilities to that which the Regent, or indeed any hotel, could possibly offer. Therefore whilst the Regent can still hope to gain significant conference revenue, especially during high season when the EICC will be in great demand, it may not be able to rely on conference revenue as a key stream. However, given that delegates who use the EICC still need to be accommodated, the Regent could potentially attempt to negotiate with the Edinburgh Convention Bureau to become the hotel of choice for conferences using the Centre, and this would enable it to charge the desired premium.

With regards to the additional facilities, such as the bar and restaurant, given that there is currently not a high proportion of guests using these facilities, it is difficult to justify using them in the pricing strategies of the rooms, as reducing the price of rooms to attract more guests will not necessarily greatly affect the revenue generated by the facilities. However, it is important to review the pricing strategy of the bar and restaurant, to ensure that these are not priced so high as to drive away guests, and possibly including some meals in the price of the room could be a good way to increase demand for the rooms and the additional facilities, whilst potentially also slightly increasing the price.

Finally, it is important to determine whether the customer dissatisfaction is being caused by pricing at all, and also whether other hotels in the city are pursuing aggressive pricing strategies which are taking demand away from the Regent. If this is the case, then it may be necessary to accept some short term losses in order to fight back and prevent the Regent Hotel losing so much business that it has a stigma attached to it, and is unable to attract any guests back, however this is likely to be a drawn out and costly process.

2. Front Office Operation – Key Issues

There are several other key issues concerning the hotel that it is vital to assess if the brand is going to be developed and revitalised in the eyes of the public. Using the SWOT analysis (Appendix One) Firstly, it is important to determine which of the first three identified weaknesses are causing the decline in customer satisfaction, and ensure that remedying this is given highest priority in the coming refurbishment. However, regardless of which of the identified weaknesses are most responsible for the sharp decline in customer satisfaction, it is vital that all weaknesses are addressed as part of the refurbishment and handover process in general.

Firstly, the outdated financial and reporting systems need to be replaced with an integrated solution, which connects all the different departments, and facilitates the transfer of information between the various heads of the departments. This system should enable food and beverage staff to input orders directly into the cash registers in the bars and restaurants, and these orders should then be transferred directly onto the relevant customer’s bill, perhaps using the customer’s signature, or their room key, as proof of their identity and room number. A similar system should also be put in place for the mini bars, enabling housekeeping to update the charges on the mini bar bills as they replenish the bars every day.

An improvement to the reporting system would also enable staff to check the usual and predicted levels of occupancy when taking group bookings, thus enabling them to charge the relevant amounts for each period. This would help avoid the potential for offering groups too great a discount during busy periods, and would also help let staff know to when offer larger discounts, such as during quiet periods. Equally, sales and financial data and targets for Front Office, Sales and Food and Beverage could be shared across the three departments, so that each department knows what other departments are doing, and also what all three departments are aiming for. This would enable each department to maximise its own contribution to the hotel’s revenue, without adversely affecting the performance of the other relevant departments, for example Sales would know not to offer a cheaper meal option to large groups if the Restaurant is likely to be very busy for that period.

The question of modernising and replacing the linen appears to be the main reason for the refurbishment, and Andrew Brennan should have this well in hand. However, no mention has been made of plans to refit or expand the laundry facilities, which is a key consideration, as not only does it appear to be affecting guest satisfaction, but it is also resulting in insurance claims, which drive up costs, and thus put a drain on the hotel’s profits. The whole laundry operation should be reviewed, and its capacity should be increased so that, not only can it handle the demands placed on it by the normal running of the hotel, but also to ensure that it has sufficient spare capacity to complete all laundry requests to a high standard and on time.

The threats arising from the slow tourist industry, and the loss of bookings from Milton Hotels could be problematic, however provided the customer satisfaction issues can be resolved, word of mouth, together with a successful refurbishment and re-launch of the hotel should be sufficient to attract customers back, and the number of bookings appear to be picking up, as can be seen from the trendline on the room occupancy graph in Appendix Two. However, the final main issue to be addressed is that of revenue maximisation. As can be seen from the financial analysis (Appendix Two), only in the highest season does the hotel come close to completely using all its rooms, and occupancy often drops below the 60% mark. Equally, even in the busy months of June, July and August, total revenue realised is less that half that if all the rooms were charged at their full rate. As such, it is vital to reassess the marketing and advertising used to attract people during high season, as not only should rooms be as fully occupied as possible, but they should also attract as high a price per room as possible, and currently this is not the case.

References
Serlen, B. (2004) Hotel Programs Grow. Business Travel News; Vol. 21, Issue 15, p. 1.
Datamonitor Company Profiles (2005) Global Hyatt Corporation – SWOT Analysis.
Appendix One: SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Beautiful Victorian architecture
Excellent location with fine views.
Modern food and beverage areas
Prestigious banqueting and conference areas.

Weaknesses

Outdated financial and reporting systems.
High need for modernisation of rooms and replacement of linen.
Inadequate laundry facilities.
Lack of revenue maximisation across all departments.

Opportunities

Potential to house EICC guests.
Growing importance of Edinburgh.
Chance to completely refurbish and re-launch hotel.

Threats

Declining customer satisfaction.
Slow tourist industry.
Loss of bookings from Milton Hotels.
Lack of customers using dining facilities.

Appendix Two: Financial Analysis

2003

Room

Rooms

% Occ

Revenue

Max Rev

% Rev

nights

Sold

Jan

5890

2709

46%

?168,364.35

?1,050,125.00

16%

Feb

5320

2554

48%

?156,585.74

?948,500.00

17%

March

5890

3711

63%

?247,004.16

?1,050,125.00

24%

April

5700

3249

57%

?201,567.96

?1,016,250.00

20%

May

5890

4300

73%

?303,967.78

?1,050,125.00

29%

June

5700

4617

81%

?342,622.57

?1,016,250.00

34%

July

5890

4476

76%

?319,944.48

?1,050,125.00

30%

Aug

5890

4889

83%

?392,635.59

?1,050,125.00

37%

Sep

5700

4446

78%

?361,148.58

?1,016,250.00

36%

Oct

5890

4418

75%

?301,749.40

?1,050,125.00

29%

Nov

5700

3648

64%

?230,334.72

?1,016,250.00

23%

Dec

5890

2297

39%

?136,855.26

?1,050,125.00

13%

2004

Jan

5890

2827

48%

?185,111.96

?1,050,125.00

18%

Feb

5510

2755

50%

?182,281.00

?982,375.00

19%

March

5890

3829

65%

?262,516.24

?1,050,125.00

25%

April

5700

3477

61%

?262,665.63

?1,016,250.00

26%

May

5890

4653

79%

?339,296.76

?1,050,125.00

32%

June

5700

5016

88%

?407,349.36

?1,016,250.00

40%

July

5890

4830

82%

?357,903.00

?1,050,125.00

34%

Aug

5890

5007

85%

?420,688.14

?1,050,125.00

40%

Sep

5700

4731

83%

?398,870.61

?1,016,250.00

39%

Oct

5890

4653

79%

?330,502.59

?1,050,125.00

31%

Nov

5700

3933

69%

?256,077.63

?1,016,250.00

25%

Dec

5890

2768

47%

?169,124.80

?1,050,125.00

16%

2005

Jan

5890

3122

53%

?206,707.62

?1,050,125.00

20%

Feb

5320

2979

56%

?200,665.44

?948,500.00

21%

March

5890

4123

70%

?288,445.08

?1,050,125.00

27%

April

5700

4104

72%

?271,315.44

?1,016,250.00

27%

Hong Kong tourism is one of the four pillars in its economy. With its image as a cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong has attracted millions of tourists each year. However there are tourism issues that should not be overlooked by the government and the Hong Kong Tourism Commission (HKTC) in order to develop strategies to maintain the long term sustainability of Hong Kong tourism. In this paper, a situation assessment is presented and key tourism issues are identified together with the problems associated and relevant strategies to overcome these problems identified.

After the handover of Hong Kong back to the hands of China in 1997, Hong Kong developed its strong links with China. Tourism is with no exception. In 2010, Hong Kong recorded 36 million visitors with more than 60% of visitors coming from Mainland China (HKTB, 2011). This was the result of the extension of Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) and the relaxation of visa arrangement that stimulate the demand. In the coming future, demand from Chinese tourists is still in a grow.

Despite the stable demand from Chinese tourists, Hong Kong faces huge challenges from nearby destinations. Hong Kong is used to have being a shopping paradise and being a MICE destination as its competitive edges, however these edges seem to be narrowing down. Hainan province in China has launched a shopping tax refund program to attract non-residents to spend in shopping (People’s Daily, 2011). Singapore and Macau have developed casino resorts together with MICE facilities to attract business tourism.

Despite all these, Hong Kong still has its advantage on its geographic location to be a gateway to China which attracts millions of people in and out of Hong Kong as a hub. Besides, Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city and an “Asia’s world city” which contains characteristics of the West and the East, tradition and contemporary which is appealing to overseas tourists. Its financial position in Hong Kong has attracted many business travelers to come to Hong Kong for business purpose and its image of being a Shopping and Food Paradise has also attracted many leisure tourists.

Though Hong Kong still has these advantages, these competitions should not be overlooked in order to strategically maintain its long term sustainability.

Tourism Issue 1 – Reliance on Chinese tourists

In the light of the huge share of Chinese tourists in the mix of Hong Kong tourist arrivals, it is an issue of whether Hong Kong tourism should rely that much on the Chinese market.

Some supporters would say the huge supply and spending of Chinese tourists has stabilized Hong Kong tourism demand. From the statistics obtained by HKTB (2011), while the numbers of short haul tourists from Taiwan and Japan and that of long haul tourists from Europe and USA declined in the past 10 years, the visitor number from Mainland China grew rapidly. It can be said that Chinese tourists have sustained Hong Kong tourism.

Moreover, according to another statistics from HKTB (2011), Chinese tourists were big spenders that have accounted for 69% of the total visitors spending in 2010. All these reasons have led Hong Kong to develop tourism policy especially for this group of tourists.

However, over reliance on the Chinese market would create problems as well. In case of external forces or simply the change of taste of Chinese tourist would pose difficulties for Hong Kong to maintain its visitors’ number.

The 12th National 5-Year Plan released by the Chinese government is one of the external forces mentioned. It was the first time that Hong Kong tourism was not highlighted in the plan, instead the Chinese government intended to develop Macau as a world-class tourism and leisure center (Hong Kong’s Information Services Department, 2011). With this aim, the Chinese government might be policies that favor that development of Macau tourism. In that case, more Chinese tourists would be encouraged to go to Macau instead of Hong Kong.

Back to Hong Kong, cases like Ah Zhen incident that happened recently would discourage Chinese tourists to travel to Hong Kong. Ah Zhen has been accused to have damaged Hong Kong’s reputation as Shopping Paradise by blaming Chinese tourists for not purchasing souvenirs from designated shops. Similar incidents have also happened after this (Wall Street Journal, 2010). These incidents would hinder more Chinese tourists to travel to Hong Kong for shopping. In the long run, this would pose challenges to Hong Kong tourism.

China is a huge market that would supply sufficient demand for Hong Kong tourism, Hong Kong government should continue retaining this group of guests to come to Hong Kong. In order to achieve this, there are several recommendations to protect the interests of these guests.

Firstly, the government could expand its “Quality and Honest Hong Kong Tours’ Programme” to continue strengthening Hong Kong’s image as a quality and value for money destination. At the moment, the programme has been carried out in 27 Mainland cities and also in the virtual world on the Internet. Participating travel agents in the scheme have to commit that their itineraries should not contain designated shopping stops and forced shopping and forced self-paid activities. In the new expansion of the programme, the government can promote these tours together with its benefits in more cities in China. Besides, the government can also promote them more extensively via different communication channels, e.g. TV advertisement, social media, etc.

Moreover, secret shopper campaign should be continued and done more extensively to spot out illegal or unethical behaviors of travel guides to maintain a satisfactory level of services. This campaign can be used to facilitate the implementation of the “Quality and Honest Hong Kong Tours’ Programme” as well to make sure the travel agencies in China and in Hong Kong if they are following the guidelines offered by Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) and the Hong Kong Tourism Commission (HKTC). It is hoped that by this campaign, travel agencies would self regulate themselves in service delivery and provision.

Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) should develop a more regulatory system to warn and punish travel agencies or tourist guides once illegal or unethical behaviors have been spotted out. In the case of Ah Zhen, originally she was suspended from being a tour guide after the case discovered, however, after her appeal to TIC, she is now suspended for only half year. This indicates the ineffectiveness of the existing system which could allow similar incidents to happen in the future. TIC should be more careful in designing its regulatory system in order to exercise more regulatory power and punishment on Hong Kong tour operators and tour guides who have offended the rules and gives more confidence to Chinese tourists, thus remedy the bad reputation built.

However, for the long term benefit of Hong Kong tourism, over focusing on one market segment could be dangerous, Hong Kong government should also find ways to attract other markets.

Issue 2 – Sustainability of cultural and heritage attractions

In view of this and the keen competition from neighboring destinations, Hong Kong has tried its best to develop new tourism products to overcome these challenges. Cultural attractions are popular among these new attractions in recent years to improve Hong Kong’s cultural image. Tsim Sha Tsui piazza and the West Kowloon Cultural District are two of the big projects that the government has under taken as new tourism attractions. Besides, the government has also emphasized in developing heritages to showcase Hong Kong’s mixed culture. Examples are the former Marine Police Headquarter in Tsim Sha Tsui which has renovated to become a square “1881 Heritage” and a boutique hotel named “Hullett House”. Another example would be the Central market which will be developed into Central Oasis and the project of revitalizing the Former Police Station is Central. One key issue that can be identified among all these projects is whether they could enhance sustainability.

According to the Chief Executive in 1999 (Hong Kong Sustainable Department, 2008), the Hong Kong government would ensure a sustainable development to bring about full integration of economic and social development with conservation of environment. In order to achieve this, local participation is very important in leading to sustainable development which gives win-win situation to all parties of the society.

However, one common key critics faced by the government in these big projects is lack of transparency. For example, in the case of Tsim Sha Tsui Piazza, a workshop that aims to gather opinions from different parties was subjected to question as these parties were mostly come from the government or government-related organizations (Tourism Commission, 2007). Another example is from another big project, the West Kowloon Cultural District. The management authority of the project is questioned as all of the 15 members from the authority were appointed by the government. Therefore, it is commonly believed that due to lack of transparency, the interest of the government might have affected the management. For heritage sites development, given that the Heritage Tourism Task Force was set up in 1998, it was blamed to be lack of leadership and lack of influence in the government bureaucracy (Chu and Uebegang, 2002).

The essence of sustainable tourism development is how to balance different views from different parties which is actually a huge challenge that the government has to face in planning and developing tourist attractions. In order to fully implement sustainable tourism development, a bottom-up approach has to be adopted to collect more objective views from all sectors in Hong Kong so that specific needs could be satisfied and win-win situation for tourists and locals could be achieved. Cooperation with and involvement of locals or significant cultural group should be guaranteed and local community should be involved at the beginning stage of planning and operation to avoid these heritages to lose its original value, especially to the locals who have grown up with these heritage sites. It is hoped that by this approach, the integrity and authenticity of the heritage could be maintained while new elements like environmental friendly designs could be also involved in the new design.

Another problem raised from sustainability is whether these new attractions could showcase the local elements. Perhaps due to the image of Hong Kong as being an international city, projecting an image of East-meet-West, attractions are often blamed to be lack of local characteristics. For example, in the case of West Kowloon Cultural District, even one of the advisory committees of the project criticized that the design is lack of local elements (HKheadline, 2011). This problem has to be dealt properly, or else every new attraction in Hong Kong would deliver similar image to tourists, especially for revitalized heritage attractions which are supposed to deliver a unique image and background knowledge of Hong Kong so that visitors could appreciate and understand more about Hong Kong. One of the solutions is to keep up with public consultations and gather opinions of the public about the kind of local culture to be included in the design of new attractions. By that, local culture could be incorporated into the design and would not be missed out.

Conclusion

With its strong link to China, Hong Kong relies on the supply of Chinese tourists to sustain tourism. Though the huge number of Chinese tourists remains a consistent supply, there are risks associated with it and as a government body, HKTC should develop measures to also attract other markets and diversify the profile of Hong Kong visitors. On the other hand, sustainable tourism development is often questioned due to lack of transparency and overlook of Hong Kong local elements in development new attractions. HKTC and the government should involve a more transparent public consultation and public engagement so as to guarantee a more sustainable tourism planning and development.

Redang Island

Redang Island – Superb destination for all…and divers too!

What would you expect a PERFECT island holiday going to be like? Crystal clear seawater? Checked. Accommodation for people of all age? Checked. Beach and sea activities for all? Checked. How about well equipped diving resorts with good dive spots to explore around? Checked! So where is this place that have all these checked? Redang island!

Thanks to the ‘Summer Holiday’ movie starred by Richie Ren and Sammi Cheng, Redang island had since then becomes one of the most popular holiday destinations in Malaysia. The beach resorts gradually upgraded their facilities from just snorkeling to more varieties of activities to meet the needs from all sort of visitors. If you are looking for banana boat riding, sea kayaking, beach volleyball, beach soccer, or even beach-front clubbing session, they are easily available and offered by many resorts. And what if you are a diving enthusiast or want to try out diving? Ask the resorts and most likely they are also the dive centre you are looking for!

The dive resorts would provide activities for beginners and certified divers alike, with discover day diving, diving courses, shore dives and boat dive trips as the usual offers. Best if you could check around the diving packages offered by the resorts before getting to the island, as they would usually have better ‘value-for-money’ factor if compared to ‘per dive’ rates offered over the counter in the dive resort. And some dive packages might even throw in unlimited shore dives, where you can dive as many times as you (and your body limit) would like to!

Dive sites in Redang are filled with wide varieties of corals and sea creatures, and not to mention large pelagic fishes such as barracudas, jacks, trevallies, and sharks. You would have fairly high chances of being able to spot green turtles and hawksbill turtles due to turtle conservation efforts going on within the marine park. But if you are really lucky enough, whale shark could just grace by during your dive! While it is recommended to dive in the spots distanced away from snorkelers for best diving experience, the shore dive would able to offer you the chance to spot fishes such as titan triggerfish, grouper and even moral eel or sharks!

And now you know there is this destination that can enjoy your time in exploring the beauties deep down below while your family are occupied with all the beach activities, it would just all depends on how well you could talk to your loved ones and make Redang as your next vacation spot!

Picture reference:

Redang Tanjung Tokong – Green Turtle : http://www.asiadivesite.com/malaysia-dive-sites/redang/tanjung-tokong.php

Redang Pulau Kerengga – Humphead Parrotfish: http://www.asiadivesite.com/malaysia-dive-sites/redang/pulau-kerengga.php

Redang Mak Cantik – Anemone: http://www.asiadivesite.com/malaysia-dive-sites/redang/mak-cantik.php

Redang Pulau Ekor Tebu – Titan Triggerfish: http://www.asiadivesite.com/malaysia-dive-sites/redang/pulau-ekor-tebu.php

The beginning of the 21st century was referred as the most difficult phase in the history of tourism industry. This sector was affected negatively because of terrorism, war and global health problems The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005. However, it was in 2005 that the sector started to open out and in 2004 international arrivals increased at a rate of 8.6% compared to 2003 (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005). Economist Intelligence Unit (2005) states that there are many reasons for this kind of relief. The relative stable geopolitical conditions, development of key sectors, such as China, the supply- driven expansion of carriers at low cost, which are currently building inroads in Asia and the Middle East, at long with the conventional markets of North America and Europe, constant pressure on the prices of many of the industries, pent – up demand of former years, covering the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Even though the climate of the UK is not favourable, the country still attracts many visitors thanks to its natural beauties like lakes, rivers, rugged mountains, coastline and other factors that cover high standard of services, natural attractions and transport services (Youell, 2001).

Recently the world is witnessing the significant change in the economy. Indeed, Stavrou-Costea (2005) stated that national economies are changing and “as we move progressively away from a world in which national economies were relatively isolated from one another into an interdependent global economic system, we are witnessing the rapid appreciation for and development of all aspects associated with and affected by human resource management”. In fact, Stavrou-Costea (2005) also stated that “while the emerging international economy creates opportunities it also presents challenges and threats with which yesterday’s business managers did not have to deal”. In this perspective regardless of industry and the size of the companies (Ulrich, 1997) managing human resources has become vitally important for the companies in achieving the goals of the organisation (Stavrou-Costea, 2005). Similarly, Dessler (2000) stated that human resources need to be collaborator in developing a company’s strategy in order to be successful in organisational goals. “Human resource management can help the company reach organizational effectiveness and thereby have a determining effect on whether or not the company is good enough, fast enough, and competitive enough not only to survive but also to thrive” (Schuler and Jackson, 2000; Stavrou-Costea, 2005). Schuler and Jackson (2000) and Stavrou-Costea (2005) commonly stated the difficulty of achieving and sustaining organisational effectiveness without the efficient practises of human resources management.

Tourism and hotel industry are supposed to be parts of hospitality industry. Hospitality industry has becoming a very large of source of employment. The rate of employees in hospitality industry is increasing and employees are undergoing certain problems. Some factors contribute to selection and recruitment of staff in hotel industry and HRM is facing to solve selection and recruitment problem in hospitality industry like retraining performance ,high-labour turnover, low morale ,retraining performers .In an analysis of 5000 jobs advertisements across a number of different occupations and sector in the UK,Jackson et al.(2005) found that the skills stated as necessary by employers are ‘social skills’ and ‘personal characteristic’ only 26 per cent of organizations mentioned the need for educational recruitments. Personal services this rate is less than 10 per cent.

As a highly labour-intensive industry, tourism and hospitality organisations are often hard to talk of how their people are “their greatest asset”. However even cursory understanding of the nature of work’ employment and people management in tourism and hospitality points to many paradoxes and contradictions that are apparent in studying human resource management (HRM) in the sector.

Many academics, industrialists and policy-makers have attempted to define the nature of the tourism industry-and the place of the hospitality sub-sector within this border conceptualization-yet there is still no commonly accepted definition. Hence, there are inherent problems seeking define what is large and diverse sector which means many of the activities may overlap and could be described as encompassing tourism and hospitality. For example Lucas(2004)in her recent work on employment relations in hospitality and tourism industries chose to talk in broad terms about the Hotel, Catering and Tourism sector.

In some geographical areas and sub-sector areas, tourism provides an attractive ,high-status working environment with competitive pay and conditions, which is in high demand in the labour force and benefits from low staff turnover. On the other hand, it brings low pay, problems in recruiting skills in number of key areas, a high level of labour drawn socially disadvantaged groups, poor status and virtual absence of professionalism.

More is known about employment in certain sub-sectors than other .For example, the commercial hospitality industry encompassing hotels, restaurants and pubs, bars and nightclubs is the largest sub-sector with around 70 per cent of employees in the UK(people 1st,2006).Unsurprisingly, then, the commercial hospitality industry is well served with extensive research on the nature of employment and HRM strategies(D’Annunzio-Green et all.,2002:Lucas,2004).

In terms is the predominance of small-and medium sized enterprises is a further issue to consider is the manner. People 1st(2006) note that within the UK hospitality, leisure travel and tourism sector & per cent of establishments employ fewer than 10 people and 50 per cent fewer than five. Heterogeneity is also seen in relation to the way that organisations adopt differing routes to competitive advantage. For instance, full service carriers in the airline industry are likely to have very different approaches to HRM compared to low-cost airlines(Eaton,2001:Spiess and Warning,2005)The same is true for the hospitality sector, which may range from first class and luxury hotels providing extravagant, full 24-hour service to the more homely comforts of a bed and breakfast establishment; from fast food restaurants to Michelin starred restaurants .In turn, the jobs provided by these various organizations demand a variety of skills and attributes from those employees interacting with customers, which again will impact on HR strategies such as recruitment, selection and training.

Commonly selecting and recruiting and people to fill new or existing positions are a crucial element of human resource activity in all tourism and hospitality organisations, irrespective of size, activity and structure. It has been noted how the importance of service quality has increased the pressure on organisations for select right selection.(jameson,2000) pointed this may be especially true in smaller organisations that may not have well developed HRM functions or recruitment and selection systems and may recruit irregularly with heavy reliance on informal system and methods. Certainly, within the context of the hospitality sector, Price(1994) set up that 241 hotels sampled in her research a third never used job descriptions or person specifications. Lockyer and Sholarious (2005) surveyed over 80 hotels and again found a general lack of systematic procedures for recruitment and selection.

Research Objective

The ultimate objective of this study is to explore: What recruitment strategies applied in the UK’s 5 star hotel industry? An exploratory study in London Hotels. .The research objectives can be listed as follows

.To review HRM and hotel industry theories

.To explore what recruitment strategies in the U.K hotel industry

.To evaluate importance of HRM department in the U.K hotel industry

.To identify what is the recruitment and selection problems in the U.K 5 star hotel industry

.To identify if there are any weaknesses of recruitment strategies applied by the UK’s 5 star hotel industry

Therefore research questions for this study are;

What is recruitment?

What are recruitment processes?

What is the importance of recruitment in achieving strategic HRM?

In what way the recruitment is important for the service sector players?

What is the role of recruitment in the 5 star hotel industries overall business strategy?

What recruitment strategies are followed by the 5 star hotel industries?

Are there any weaknesses of recruitment strategies applied by the 5 star hotel industries?

Design of the Study

In order to fulfil the objective of the study, paper is organised as follows:

Chapter Two consist of a review of the literature on the subject. In chapter two; HRM theories and diffusion of recruitment and selection strategies, service encounter tasks, definition of 5 star hotel industries are given.

Chapter Three includes methodology of this research and consists of research design, sampling methods, data collection methods, data analysis, ethical issues involved in research process and limitations of this study.

In Chapter Four, data analysis provided. This chapter divided into two parts; secondary data analysis and primary data analysis. In the secondary data analysis; U.K tourism industry, recruitment and selection strategies in tourism industry are analysed. In the primary data analysis, interviews that are conducted with the management of the UK hotels are analysed.

Chapter Five is the conclusion part of the study and includes some directions for the future researches.

Part 1: Tourism Development

Before going deep into assignment there are some terms which we have to take into consideration. Terms are explained below-

Tourism –

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who “travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.”

Tourist-

Tourist is person who travels from his residential place to non-residential place for pleasure, business or personal reasons, the duration of the stay is not more than six month at non residential place of the traveler.

What is rational development?

Rational development usually relates to the circumstances that causes development to any destination or place. (Badjatia, 2008)

Chosen destination?

As per the expectation of the assignment India has been chosen as a destination for the same.

Rational for tourism development in India

Socio-economic development of areas

Tourism conferred considerable socio-economic benefits to the: Community thereby uplifting the quality of life. It can further foster development even in areas where other economic activities would be difficult to sustain.

Increasing employment opportunities

Tourism industry generates employment directly and indirectly, for almost 13-14 million people. Employment opportunities should be at least double of the present level before the turn of the century.

Developing domestic tourism especially for the budget category

Domestic tourists form the bulk of world tourist traffic. In India also, facilities for domestic tourists will be improved and expanded particularly the budget category so as to ensure an affordable holiday for them effects of tourism on culture and the environment in India.

Development of international tourism and optimization of foreign exchange earnings.

International tourism contributes substantially to foreign exchange earnings and keeping in view the country’s requirements, tourism wail be so developed that foreign exchange earnings increase from Rs. 2440 crores to Rs. 10,000 crores by the end of the century (US $813 to 3,333 million @ Rs.30 per US S).

Diversification of the tourism product

While retaining the traditional image of cultural tourism that India enjoys, diversification of the tourism product would continue, particularly the field of leisure, adventure, convention and incentive tourism, thereby responding to the changing consumer needs.

Increase in India’s share in world tourism

Presently the foreign tourist arrivals in India constitute only about 0.4 per cent of the total foreign tourists movement all over the world. One of the objectives of the action plan would be to increase India’s share to 1 per cent within the next five years (unesdoc.unesco.org)

Preservation of national heritage and environment

Tourism would be developed in a manner that our cultural expression and heritage are presented in all its manifestations including support to arts and crafts. Preservation and enrichment of environment should also form an integral part of tourism development.

Stakeholders

Person, group, or organization that has direct or indirect stake in an organization because it can affect or be affected by the organization’s actions, objectives, and policies. Key stakeholders in a business organization include creditors, customers, directors, employees, government (and its agencies), owners (shareholders), suppliers, unions, and the community from which the business draws its resources.( www.businessdictionary.com)

Stakeholders in India

Creditors

Tourists

Tourism organizations

Government organizations

Foreign currency

Investors

Stakeholders benefiting from tourism in India

Getting capital to invest in development of tourist destination.

Foreign currency In the country increases resulting into direct development.

Generation of employment

Better life style of the people in the home country.

UNWTO technical manual: Collection of Tourism Expenditure Statistics” (PDF). World Tourism Organization. 1995. p. 14.

Badjatia, K. (2008). The Rational Development (2 ed.). Indore: A.K. Publishers.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001216/121600eo.pdf

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/stakeholder.html

Rameswaram town in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is famous as Rameshwaram throughout the world.The holy island of Rameswaram called as ?Benaras of the South? is the only place worshipped by both Saivites and Vaishnavites as it is India?s most venerated and most visited Shiva shrines and is also associated with the life of Lord Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayana. It is located on an island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel. Kashi and Rameshwaram together are one of the holiest places in India to Hindus and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages.The Rameshwaram island is spread over 61.8 square kilometers and has shape of a conch. Rameswaram is one of the 12 Jyothirlingas of India and considered one among four most sacred pilgrim centers of India namely Rameswaram in the South, Badrinath in the North, Puri in the East and Dwaraka in the West. Among these, Rameswaram is dedicated to Shiva, while the other three are dedicated to lord Vishnu.The Ramanatha Swamy Temple is the main temple of Rameshwaram and is very beautifully constructed.It can be considered as the masterpiece of Dravidian architecture.The temple has twenty-two wells and surprisingly the taste of the water of each well is different and wells are believed to possess medicinal properties.Dr. Abdul Kalam,Ex-president of India,belongs to a small village,Dhanushkodi situated on the island.Legends says Lord Rama built a bridge Ram Setu across the sea at this place to reach Lanka to rescue godess Sita and also worshipped Lord Shiva after killing Ravana, who was the greatest worshipper of Lord Shiva and also blessed by lord shiva.According to the Puranas lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshmana installed and worshipped the Sivalinga here to avoid sins of killing Ravana,a brahmin.Sethu Karai is 22 km before the island of Rameswaram where lord Rama is believed to have built a Floating Stone Bridge Ramasethu till Rameswaram that further continued from Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram till Talaimannar in Sri Lanka.Rameswaram is an acclaimed Parihara Sthala, where it is believed all sins get absolved. Devotees take holy dips at Sethu Theertha, Agni Theertha and other sacred waters, offer pujas to get progeny, perform Shraadha for their ancestors.

Places to visit-
Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple-

This temple is directly related to lord Rama and believed to be the must visit place for hindus if one wants to attain nirvana from the cycle of birth and death.There are seven such places in India where one would like to offer prayers for achieving salvation in life and Rameshwaram temple is one of those.The temple has the longest corridor in whole of India.

This place has great significance as it is believed that Whole Ramayan was conceived in this place.

Gandhamadhana Parvatham-

Gandhamadhana is most renowned and worshiped in the southern India having Lord rama’s feet imprinted on the chakra placed in the temple.Gandhamadhana is the deity of several communities in southern India. It is a holy place thronged by devotees from all parts of India.It has Rama tirtham constructed on the Gandamadhana Parvata hence th it is called Gandamadana.It is near Dhanushkodi,where Rama met Vibhishana and has its own historical importance.

Agnitheertham-

It is one of the 12 jyotirlings of India and is one of the holiest place to visit.It has a large lake whose water is considered holy and people believes that taking bath in the place washes away their sins and one attains salvation.It has 22 wells having waters of different taste. It is one visit place.

Badrakaliamman Temple-

It is the largest temple of Ma Kali in southern India who is the holy mother for devottes in southern India.The statue of Maa kali is of pure gold and temple has different master pieces of different ages.

Annai Indira Gandhi Road Bridge-

It is the longest bridge in southern India connecting Rameswaram Island to the main land.It is also called the Pambam Bridge as it is located beside Pamban, the sacred place where Rama could quench the thirst of Sita by throwing an arrow in the place where they could actually retrieve cool water.It is 7kms long.

Other temples-

There are numerous other temple having religious as well as historical significance. Villondi tirtham is one of those temples located on a place where lord Rama buried his bow as villondi means a buried bow.It is about 7 kms from main Rameshwar temple and is considered to be a sacred place by most of the followers.It has a spot where drinking water is available in the midst of salty sea. Dhanushkodi Temple is other main temple on the southern tip of India located near the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean on the other side. The seas are in the shape of bow and arrow when viewed from the top.Lord Rama has his pious feet even in this temple and whole story of Ramayana revolves here as well. Five faceted Hanuman temple is other famous temple.The statues of lord Rama, Laxman, Sita and Hanuman are placed in the temple.The temple has a floating stone which was believed to be used to bulid the bridge on the sea.Nambu Nayagiamman Temple is other worth visiting temple

How to reach-
By Air-

Nearest airport is Madurai,163 km from Rameshwaram and has good road connection to it.

By Train-

The railway connects Rameshwaram to places like Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Trichy and Thanjavur and 2 km long Indira Gandhi Bridge connects the island of Rameshwaram with the mainland of Mandapam.

By Road-

Rameshwaram is well connected by roads to all the major cities nearby, Kanyakumari, Trichy, Pondicherry, Tanjore and Chennai.

The promotion of Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination

1. Introduction

In order to accomplish the aims and objectives, this piece of work focused on the promotion of Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination in the world. The vital idea behind the selection of this topic is to discuss the importance of heritage tourism.

Tourism plays an important role in the socio-economic development of any country. It is also one of the major sources to earn foreign exchange, and generating employment for urban as well as rural public. This chapter have 6 parts. Background of the study

Background to the study:

Tourism industry in India is on a great boom at the moment. India has a great potential to be a major tourist destination in the world. It’s the second highest foreign exchange earning industry and government gave travel and tourism industry an export status. Indian tour and travel industry is one of the most profitable industries in the country. During the year 2006, four million tourists visited India and spent US$8.9 billion (Economy watch, 2006).

The buoyancy in the Indian tourism industry can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, the tremendous growth in the Indian economy, because of that the disposable income of the middle-class increased to expend on their recreation. Secondly, the IT sector in the country by which India famous as an IT hub in the world. Which attract people globally for business trips. Thirdly, the aggressive advertising campaign “Incredible India” by the tourism ministry of India also changes the image of India worldwide. Tourism industry also provides employment to millions of people directly and indirectly in the country. Which help the society and solve the big issues of unemployment in the country. Estimates of 20 million people are directly employed by this sector in the country currently. According to the above lines Rajasthan the north-west state of India is very popular among the national and international visitors. The royally palaces and forts, endless golden desert, hardworking and colourful people make the state more exciting to visit.

Besides all this, Probably India is the only country which offers various categories of tourism. These include history tourism, adventure tourism, medical (Ayurvade and other) tourism, eco tourism, culture tourism, rural tourism, religious/pilgrimage tourism, spiritual tourism and beach tourism etc (I love India, 2007)

Justification of the study:

Heritage tourism is now big business. In economic and entrepreneurial terms, it is one of the major success stories of recent years. At a time of declining Industrial activity and rising unemployment in any society, heritage tourism has provided an alternative form of enterprise, creating jobs and generating wealth for local economies (Herbert, 1995).

Tourism in India has the potential to do wonder in this upcoming industry of profit as well as fun. Rajasthan the largest state, and one of the most eminent tourist destinations, which is famous for its pictureqous natural beauty and wonderful construction. Rajasthan are usual attractions for first time visitors (Mintel, 2008).

The outlook for travel industry in India looks extremely bright. “Conde Nast” rank India 6th amongst the top 10 tourist destination in the annual “Reader’s Award” in 2004, which was 9th a year before. The magazine ranked Raj Vilas, in Jaipur (Rajasthan) as 3rd in the overseas leisure hotel category for Asia (Business Standard, 2004). The JBIC (Japan Bank of International Cooperation) rank her 5th most attractive investment destination.

The report “Indian Tourism Industry Analysis” provides an insight into the Indian tourism market. According to the report, India is one of the most potential tourism markets in the world. India expected to see 10million international tourist by 2010, which was 5million in 2007. Andhra Pradesh, Utter Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan are the leading tourist destinations in the country (Bharat Book Bureau, 2004)

Aims and Objectives:

To critically assess the opportunities to promote Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination

Objectives

Evaluate the potential of Rajasthan’s heritage to develop as tourist destination.

Critically evaluate the present tourism promotion system and the government policies on Rajasthan tourism.

The development of recommendations for the promotion of Rajasthan as a heritage tourism destination.

State profile:

The colourful and exotic state of Rajasthan lies in the north-western part of India. It is the largest state (132,150 sq mi) and also knows as the land of kings, the home of Rajputs (Indianhills). Rajasthan is bordered on the west by Pakistan. In the west of state is the Thar Desert and the upland region of Deccan in the eastern part. The Aravalli hills cross the state from north-east to the south-west. The state was formed in 1948 from several former principalities states of Rajputana. Rajasthan is one of the strongholds of the conservative Hindu (75% of the population) then Muslims, Jains and native people (Encyclopaedia).

The largest state with 33 districts and a population of 56.47million (2001 census) with a literacy rate of 61.03%, Jaipur is the state’s capital as well as the cultural, financial and trade capital of the state. Rajasthani, Sindhi and Punjabi are the regional languages of the state. Hindi and English also commonly used by people (Answer.com).

Heritage is not only the monument or historic buildings, but everything which relate us to the rich past of that particular culture or tradition is heritage. The folk dance and music, souvenir (cloths and jewels), craft work (handicraft like paintings, iron or wood work) and festivals, fairs food and lifestyle are also the part of the rich cultural heritage of any destination.

Rajasthan is a state with entirely different visage, the most scenic state of India. The culturally rich state of Rajasthan is popular for its festivals & fairs, luxury trains, folk dances/music, arts/crafts and royal legacy in the form of palaces, forts and gardens. It medieval forts and palaces, the very distinctive nomadic desert lifestyle is unique all over the world.

A world of colour, splendour and spectacle awaits visitors to India’s largest and the most romantic state. With its wild desert scenery, ancient sandcastle forts, pastel colour cities, dust speckled light and its swathes of scarlet, and marigold textiles (The Independent Asia), which creates Rajasthan one of the most popular tourist destinations in west India. It can be said as; it is the cultural capital of India. There are various popular destinations in Rajasthan but the main tourists attracting cities are Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Udaipur. All these cities were the former Princely states, as the result tourist can witness the imperial legacy everywhere in these cities. Here we have the brief panorama of the famous cities and their heritage.

1.5.1 Panorama of the Heritage Cities of Rajasthan:

Ajmer Founded in the 7th century by ruler Ajaypal Chauhan. Have a famous fort called “Ajaimeru” or Invincible hill, lakes gardens and many other visiting places. Ajmer is about 130km south-west from Jaipur is the major religious centre for Muslims. This city is famous for the tomb of Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti, a medieval Sufi Saint, where pilgrims gather from over the world (India hills.com). 16km from Ajmer, Pushkar a very small town named after the holy lake “Pushkar”. 400 temples and 52 Ghats around the lake make it a very popular religious centre of Hindu community. The one and only lord Brahma temple is here. Otherwise sleepy town turn into a hub in the annual Pushkar festival in October or November every year (Travel 2 Rajasthan.com)

Mount Abu, Rajasthan’s only hill station is home to Dilwara Jain temples known’s for their amazing marble carving. The oldest of the five temples dates to AD 1031. Nikki Lake, sunset point, Achal Garh fort and Guru Shikar the highest point of Rajasthan are the other famous visiting spot in Mount Abu.

Chittaurgarh located 70 miles northeast of the City of Udaipur is the home of Chittaur fort India’s largest fort and the ultimate symbol of Rajputs chivalry and pride. The nine-story Vijay Sthambha or Tower of Victory is the most highlighting feature of the fort (Ref J). http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=5&sid=af82485a-215e-4122-a4ff-0942348b33c5%40sessionmgr11

Located on the foothills of a sandstone hillock, the city of Jodhpur seems like an oasis in the vast desert was founded by Rao Jodha Ji (Rathore clan) in 1459. It named after him only. Jodhpur is the second largest city of Rajasthan, divided into two parts the old city (which is inside the 10km wall) and new city. Jodhpur is a very popular tourist destination. The city landscape is very pleasing and attractive. The city has lots of attractions in the form of forts, palaces, gardens, temples and lakes. The city is known as “Sun City” because of its bright and sunny weather throughout the year (Jodhpur India), and also the building were painted in light blue hue. Located at the edge of the endless golden Thar Desert, Jodhpur is a fascinating medieval city known for its amazing architectural splendour, lively culture, brilliant craftsmen, gourmet cuisines and lots of shopping. The city has various attractions in the form of Maharangarh fort, Umaid Bhawan Palace, Mandore garden, Mahamandir temples and Jaswant Thada the royal cenotaphs. This attracts the domestic and international visitors equally (Palace on wheels).

The ‘City of Lakes’ (often referred to as the ‘Venice of the East’) Udaipur is the home to lakes Pichola and Fateh sagar, both are amazingly beautiful for cruise and sunset. The city is also famous for City places and Lake palace (hotel), Sahelion Ki Bari or “Garden of the Maids of honour”, museum and temples are the other visitors attractions. Marwar festival fall in the spring is also very famous in national and international visitors.

The Golden city of Jaisalmer is famous for its fort, havelies, national park and Sam (sand dunes). Nothing else in India is remotely similar to Jaisalmar, with its fort that straight out of an Arabian Night fable.

The capital city and the natural gateway to the exotic state Rajasthan, Jaipur popularly known as ‘Pink City’ in the world is the main visitors delight. Founded in 17th century and named after is founder Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. Jaipur is the cultural, trade and financial capital of Rajasthan. With Delhi and Agra, jaipur is the third important vertex of the ‘Golden Triangle’.

Stunning backdrop of ancient forts: Nahargarh, Amer, Jaigarh and Moti Doongari fort. Hawa Mahal, City Palace, and Jal Mahal are some well-known landmark palaces in the city with famous Albert hall museum.

Significance of tourism to the Indian economy:
2. Literature Review

Literature pays a major role in any research or case study. Virtually no research can be done without the benefit of references, whatever the scale or nature of the project will be (Brunt, 1998). Fink (1998:3) believes that literature review is a “systematic method for identifying, evaluating and interpreting the work produced by researchers, scholars and practitioners”

Yin (2003) also suggest that evidences for good literature may also come from six sources suck as documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant-observation and physical artefacts. Yin (2003) further suggested that literature review provided all sort of information like data, statistic, graphs and scholar view about the topic. A useful overview of the six major sources considers their comparative strength and weaknesses. You should immediately note that no signal source is highly complementary, and a good case study will therefore desire to use as many sources as possible.

A good literature review is not just a description of previous work; it also appraises, compares and contrasts it with other relevant work, and with the authors own work (Brown, 2006). Literature review is the section which will provide reference, if followed up, will widen your knowledge and stimulate independent thought (Altinay el at, 2008:25).

Hart (1998) explained the importance of literature review by suggesting that “without it you will not acquire an understanding of your topic, of what has already been done on it, how it has been researched, and what they key issues are” (Hart, 1998:1).

At this point of report the critical review of the available literature is important in order to achieve above mention aims and objectives. In order to get main aim which to promote Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination, number of academic Books related on heritage tourism and development will help to critically evaluate the prosperous cultural heritage of Rajasthan, which is the first objective of this report. Through this literature the value and significance of the heritage can identified, and it will also help to check the scale of the heritage in Rajasthan.

As the new trend of getting information by electronic media like: Television, internet will be a great help, particularly the official tourism websites of Rajasthan or India tourism will provide the latest information on this sector. And also provide information about the recent tourism development promotion, policies and issues. Internet is the best ever, faster and the more efficient information provider these days, and also the information on the sites are more authentic and quick.

Daily news papers contain articles, interviews and editorial will give the current updates about tourism industry and its achievement. Editorial column will provide critical analysis of government’s tourism policies and tourism forecast. Leading national and local dailies (Rajasthan Patrika and Danik Bashkar and The Times of India) will show case current events and news on Rajasthan tourism.

The official statistics compiled by the government department and public sector agencies provide a valuable source of information (Burnt, 1998). This can provide by the official website, news dailies and journals based on Rajasthan.

2.1 What is Heritage and Heritage Tourism?

In 1983 National Heritage Conference defined heritage as: ‘that which a past generation has preserved and handed on to the present and which a significant group of population wishes to hand on to the future’ (Hewison, 1989). Hardy (1988) said most researchers accept that heritage is linked to the past that it represents some sort of inheritance to be passed down to current and future generations, both in terms of cultural traditions and physical artefacts (Dallen et al. 2003:2). These definitions indicate culture choice; its focus on preservation and the fact that some people will adopt a conservationist view of heritage. (Herbert, 1997:8). Heritage is like a gift which is passed by one generation to another in the form of culture, nature, customs which is different and unique from others.

Prentice (1993) said heritage can be classified as tangible immovable resources (buildings, natural areas) and tangible movable resources (objects in museums, documents in archives); or intangibles such as values, customers, ceremonies, lifestyles, and including experiences such as festivals, arts and cultural events. Heritage can also classified according to type of attraction (Dallen et al. 2003:3).

Oxford English dictionary define heritage (1983) as which has been or may be inherited. That’s mean anything which pass from previous (old) generation to another (new) in the form of physical, cultural, natural and financial or other can be heritage.

Tourism is not just an aggregate of merely commercial activities; it is also an ideological framing of history, nature and tradition; a framing that has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs said by MacCannell in 1992, (Herbert, 1997:1)

The origins of tourism are ancient. Urry (1990) suggested that tourism was known in Imperial Rome with the use of seaside ‘resort’; certainly in medieval times pilgrimages to the Holy Land involved pleasure and sightseeing as well as religious duty. As a concept and a reality, the Grand Tour was established by the late seventeenth century as a component of polite society’s social round (Herbert, 1997:6). Heritage is not just the historic monument or cenotaphs buildings, but all which relate people with the rich past of that particular culture or tradition is heritage.

These above lines explain that tourism is nothing recent, by which we can say that it’s a very new concept in the society. Tourism is very old and was present in the different form like seaside or pilgrims.

But in 21st century it become more immense and fascination by the media. And tourism is different from leisure because in tourism people go out from there home overnight and stay there and enjoy the place by any reason. It can be religious, medical or just leisure. To show case the historic monuments to handicrafts or artefacts, and allow for community to view and be taught about there great past is heritage tourism.

2.2 Modelling of heritage and heritage tourism

This debate reveals that heritage and heritage tourism is complex. To simplify and to make it more clearly the following model is proposed; model of heritage and heritage tourism. Figure 1

This model is approach the behavioural perspective within behavioural geography. It suggests that heritage exists within the two types of environment; ‘phenomenal (unique) and ‘behavioural’ (human behaviour).

The previous is an expansion of the normal concept of environment that include natural phenomena and cultural and built environment that have been either altered or created by human activity on the other hand, the behavioural environment is where the social and cultural facts existing within the phenomenal environment are passed through a filter of human values (Dallen et al. 2003:7)

According to Kirk (1963), these environments forms on the basis on which decision are made which may, or may not, be acted upon to be translated into action within the phenomenal environment.

Heritage tourism experience is in the core of this model, and the key outcome is good experience out of every trips. As the expanded inner section of the model illustrate, the heritage tourism experience is formed within what is labelled here as the “experimental heritage environment”. The core heritage tourism experience is influence and shaped by mixed elements like supply and demand (of the destination), politics (government policies), authenticity, conservation (of heritage) with in any destination region. How all those element influence each other and by their role they play in heritage tourism experience.

The model of heritage tourism clearly gives answer, that heritage and the heritage tourism is very complex and they overlap each other in different environments. And they both (phenomenal and behavioural) affect the destination with other components in the core; economic filter and cultural/societal filter.

It is important now to return to the question of a heritage spectrum (range) as advocated earlier by Richards (1996). This concept is very important as it helps to clarify the existence of many types of heritage experiences and heritage landscapes. It purely means that when we talk about tourism experience it has all types of tourism with its landscapes types and heritage attractions.

The heritage spectrum model suggest that the heritage landscapes pass through a multiplicity of setting ranging from the natural and immaculate to then built urban and artificial heritage landscapes. The model also shows that heritage tourism has common characteristics of ecotourism (nature based) on the left side and urban tourism (theme perks) and cultural tourism (viewing cultural heritage, architecture) in the right side and middle respectively.

The following model also demonstrates that the tourism types (eco-tourism, cultural-tourism and urban-tourism) should not be viewed as mutually exclusive as overlaps most certainly exist. Because of this reality the model refers to heritage tourism as an overlapping concept.

Types of tourism in heritage tourism overlap each other but also give types of landscapes and type of heritage attractions separately. In which ecotourism give natural and rural types of landscape if visiting national parks in the type of heritage attraction.

2.3 Value and significance of heritage

The focus of value shifts to the significance people place on heritage. Hall and McArthur (1993) identified four interrelated areas of significance in heritage: economic, social, political and scientific significance.

Economic significance: Heritage is not cheap! Restoring a property maintaining it, installing necessary facilities (i.e. toilets and drinking water) and establishing and running an interpretive programme can easily cost twice as much (Dallen, 2003:143).

Zeppel and Hall (1992) believe heritage is preserved because of the value it offers in terms of expenditures, of visitors to site (Dallen, 2003:13). Tourism is big business and really in demand. People have started paying these days for outdoor fun, and if the destinations have potential they will not think twice to visit there. Rajasthan heritage have the potential to attract the tourist all over and generate foreign exchange.

Social significance: this refers to the private and collective identity that people and society have with ‘their’ heritage. That’s what local person and community think about their heritage, and how they value to it. The people of Rajasthan feel pride on is rich and colourful cultural heritage. A social ethics will often be the driving force to consider preservation in the first instance (Dallen, 2003:13).

Political significance: As Hall and McArthur note, heritage by definition is political, in terms of reinforcing what is conserved, how heritage is told, and placing the wishes of private owners of heritage into conflict with government or public interests.

In the words of Johnson (1999:187), ‘heritage tourism is not just a set of commercial transactions, but the ideological framing of history and identity’. Politics is in its very essence about power, and heritage by its very nature is apolitical phenomenon, since history is always told from the perspective of winners of wars and people in positions of power (Hall 1994, 97, 2000), (Dallen, 2003:257).

The history of Rajasthan is all about war and warriors. Politic is all over the place in Rajasthan. Even though in literature, arts and crafts there are a pinch of politic.

Scientific significance: many national parks and protected forest areas may contain genetic material and ecosystems (flora and fauna) that will be useful to medicine and research work. They also provide habitats for rare and endangered species. There is also an educative part to heritage-providing visitors with information about the living history, culture, and people of areas (Dallen, 2003:13).

Not only the national parks, protected forest and wildlife’s had their scientific significance in the heritage of Rajasthan, but the agrological site as well. The site of Indus valley civilisation in Indian sub-continent is very important for the study of river valley human history. The Harappa civilisation considers one of the oldest civilisations on earth.

2.4 Scales of Heritage

Heritage is not homogeneous (uniform); it exists in different level and scales, namely world, national, local and personal (Graham et al. 2000; Swarbrooke 1994; Timothy 1997). Given model illustrates these scales of heritage tourism experience, suggesting that they are all linked by the notion of ‘shared heritage’ (Dallen, 2003:14).

Heritage is very heterogeneous (varied); it can be different in one destination. And if the destination is in India the probability is much because India is a very diverse country with the birth place of many cultures and civilisation. Rajasthan which is the largest and the most colourful state is also not an exception in is cultural heritage.

World: Timothy (1997) noted that world scale heritage attraction draw large masses of tourists from many countries. How ever, for most foreign tourist, these sites themselves are likely to be only a small part of more extensive itinerary. For example visiting a historic agrological site of Harappa visitor can witness the life and culture of that era.

Visiting an international heritage attraction is a way of appreciating universal civilisation and achieving some degree of human unity (Moulin 1991). The idea to conserve our heritage came first in the early 1970s by UN’s environment programme and UNESCO’s Man Biosphere Programme.

National: ‘Through time, certain heritage features came to symbolise a society’s shared recollection (Lowenthal 1975:12). Foe example the Holy town of Pushkar is a symbol (pilgrim) of Hindu community and Ajmer is for Muslims in Rajasthan. On this level, historical monuments often represent durable national ideals, and national pride can be an important stimulus of preserving the built environment in western societies (Lowenthal 1975; Timothy 1997) these type of historic site can be pride of any society like Taj Mahal is a pride for each and every Indian.

Local: Lowenthal (1979:554) noted that the local level, communities need familiar land marks so that they can remain in touch with their own collective pasts in a rapidly changing world. There are many sites which are not very popular but they still have their local importance like, The nine-story Vijay Sthambha or Tower of Victory is the most highlighting feature of Chitturghar fort is the memorial of their local hero’s, women and children who sacrifice their lives for the motherland. For visitors it just a memorial tower but the significance for the local were very different, it very important for them.

‘Memorials erected in memory of a community‘s earliest pioneer efforts, or a local historical museum can provide an important experience for local to which outsiders may not be able to relate’ (Timothy 1997:752).

Personal: Lowenthal (1979) asserted that modern-day destination of historic relics has deepened people’s sense of nostalgia for the past. A search for root and historical identity and an increased appreciation for one culture and family legacy are evidence of this phenomenon. Timothy said (1997) of the four type of scale of heritage here personal heritage has received the least attention in the literature and hence is least understood.

Personal scale of heritage is very private. For example family reunions travel to historic or religious place, cultural and vocational interest is another form of personal scale of heritage. The attachments with family houses or souvenirs are perfect example of personal scale of heritage.

2.5 What is Marketing and Destination Marketing

‘Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirement profitably’ define by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, CIM UK. And the other hand the American Marketing Association ‘Marketing (management) is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives’ (Seaton et al.1999:6).

As per Adcock remark ‘The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price’. The most influential and dominant word of 21th century is marketing or if said like this, that everything is saleable if the packaging is good i.e. the right product marketed at the right place at the right time (season) with a right price (in compression to competitors) is marketing by Adcock. It means that marketing is not only selling or advertising, but also to promote the brand value and quality to the customers. And also build a connection between the producer and customers. The aim of marketing for an organisation is to achieve profit or other objective. Marketing is not only important for the manufacturing or production industries, but equally necessary for the promotion of hospitality and tourism industry to achieve desire goal. A social and managerial process by which individual and groups obtain what they need and what through creating and exchanging products and value with others is called marketing (Kilter, P 2003).

Destination marketing:

Seaton (1999:351) said that the destination marketing is the spirit land of tourism marketing. The destination has the internal connection to all the other industries (stakeholders) in the tourism sector like transport, hotels and attractions. Destination management is not just managing the physical product (i.e. the venue, hotels, transport system, visitor attractions) but also very much to do with building companies reputation and teamwork across the destination, its also has an important component to play in creating understanding and recognition across the community for the economic importance of the conference, trade and events sector (Davidson et al. 2006:35).

Marketing is the process of planning and execute and the promotion of the product of achieve the desire goal and objective in terms of profit and brand success. Like the same theory functioning behind the destination management or tourism marketing management. Destination marketing management show case the destination as product and highlights to get profit out of it heritage and culture.

Benefits of destination management
Marketing Mix:

‘Kotler (1984:68) define it as ‘The mixture of controllable marketing variables that the firm uses to pursue the sought level of sale in the target market’.

The marketing mix is the most primary concepts of marketing (Seaton, 1999; Holloway, 1992; Middleton, 2001), it show how important all the four variable (4Ps) that comprise the marketing mix for any business prospect or destination. Marketing mix is the most controllable element of any marketing plan (Davidson et al. 2006:84). These marketing mixes are categories in 4Ps- product, price, place and promotion (Hollway et al., 1992:28). But Booms and Bitner (1982) added three more ‘service Ps’ to service (hospitality and tourism industry) marketing namely, People, Process and Physical Evidence. So altogether there are 7Ps for the hospitality and tourism industry. What are they and how they help the marketing managers to get their targets, are examine below:

Product: Median (1984) suggested that in tourism, Attraction of the destination, facilities and accessbility are three main compnents of product marketinh mix.

Meidan, A. (1984) The Marketing of Tourism, The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 4, No.3, pp: 166 – 186

Example-The Yahoo Finance, (2009) Information about the KFC outlets [online] [24th April 2009]

The Linked In, (2009) what is YUM Brands [online] [24th April 2009]

http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/Rajasthan/Naturopathy.aspx

Rajasthan Tours,http://www.tour2rajasthan.com/rajasthan-tourism.html abt raj cul, stste, history

http://www.iloveindia.com/economy-of-india/tourism-industry.html visit 4th July 2009

http://www.economywatch.com/business-and-economy/tourism-industry.html visit 4 July 2009

http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Indian-Tourism-Industry-An

Discuss the importance of delivering quality services in the hospitality industry and identify differences if any between service delivery in the hospitality industry and service delivery in other business. (500 words)

Community-based tourism has, for over three decades been promoted as a means of development whereby the social, environmental and economic needs of local communities are met through the offering of a tourism product. However, whilst many projects have been funded in developing countries, their success (or otherwise) has not been widely monitored and, therefore, the actual benefits to local communities remain largely not quantified.

Identify the pros and cons of community based tourism and discuss the implications on the country as a whole. (750 Words)

What are the main factors that attract tourists to the Caribbean? (500 words).

Introduction

Tourism is a fast growing business that helps to diversify and stabilize the Jamaican economy. Jamaica is equipped with the necessary factors to attract global visitors. The country possesses a pool of dedicated, innovative, creative and know-how hospitality service deliverers. The thought of a visitor always triggers the reaction of delivering quality services to ensure that local and international consumers are satisfied. The businesses set up here in Jamaica aim at retaining all the guests that set their feet on the ground of any hospitality business and by extension other firms. Business in Jamaica scopes ranges from community-based to national-based tourism.

It is therefore the author’s intention to present in printed format this report. The report aims at enlightening its readers about the importance of delivering quality service and how service delivery differs among industries. Additionally, it focuses on the pros and cons of community-based tourism and the implications it has (if any) on Jamaica. It further broadens the knowledge of it readers about the main factors attracting tourists to the Caribbean region.

The importance of delivering quality services in the hospitality industry and the differences between service delivery in the hospitality industry and that of other businesses

Delivering quality service is the key to a successful business. Quality services will secure customer’s trust and loyalty thus producing a satisfied customer. Customer satisfaction will ensure long term business-customer relationship that will help to grow and expand the business. Offering Quality service provides you with the competitive advantage over competitors, which helps you to compete for potential customers. By making guess feel like a priority and providing them value for their money also helps in promoting of you business, while receiving feedback is also important to see the progress of you business whether its growing and what can be done to improve your product.

Undoubtedly, hospitality business conveys prompt, sincere and genuine services. Such services should never be given on the grounds of under-promise or over-delivery as the ultimate aim is to gain customers trust and loyalty. For instance, preparing an order based on customer’s taste and delivering at the time promised. Should there be an over-delivery it should be in terms of quality. This will increase customer’s trust so they will be loyalty and keep supporting your business. This provided will form a magnetic reaction that keeps attracting and recruiting other customers. Example, if dining at (La Rose Restaurant) makes me happy as a customer then, no one can convince me that customer satisfaction is not guaranteed there. I will continue to encourage my family and friends to dine at La Rose instead of other restaurants. I will therefore keep promoting this business by encouraging others to give up their choice of restaurant for dinning, and to come to mine where I’m sure it offers good service. It is the quality service I received that allows me to place my trust in their product hence, I will be loyal enough to stay in touch with them and bring along others to do the same. The result is customer satisfaction which is very important to any business especially the hospitality industry.

Conversely, where quality service is not guaranteed the business will lose customers. Businesses that fail to retain customers will not make profits and eventually become bankrupted. Customers, who are dissatisfied, will associate the business brand negatively and the monopoly effect of spreading their experience with friends and family will further negatively affect the companies branding.

According to Hemmington 2007 “customers do not buy service delivery, they buy experiences; they do not buy service quality, they buy memories; they do not buy food and drink, they buy meal experiences”. The writer went on to state that “the notion of hosts and guests is fundamentally different to that of managers and customers and is much more socially and culturally defined”. In all business service delivery surrounds customer satisfaction but the delivery techniques differ in accordance with the type of business. Hospitality and professional industry deliver services on an individual and personalized basis whereby there are interactions with customers that leaves them with memorable experiences. Other businesses such the manufacturing industry service delivery is on a mass/batch approach based on sales.

Hospitality service delivery has a social and cultural host-guest approach while other business service delivery techniques are on a manager-customer approach. Hospitality business generates and renders service at the guest’s request while other businesses service delivery entails processes and systems that can be automatically generated by assigning resources and systems. Example, water Company that provides water and online/paymaster services.

The pros and cons of community based tourism and its implication on Jamaica.

According to Goodwin and Santilli, “community-based tourism is a means of development whereby the social environmental and economical means of local communities are met through the offering of a tourism product”. It carries advantages and disadvantages for the community and therefore has an overall impact on Jamaica.

In light of the advantages, it supports positive attitudes toward self development and allows awareness of the commercial and social value placed on community’s natural and cultural heritage. Hence, it empowers the community people to become aware of the value of their community assets in terms of their culture, heritage, cuisine and lifestyle. It also gives tourists and community people the chance to exchange culture and broaden their understanding and respect for different cultures. As a people-oriented tourism it contributes to the sustainability of Jamaica’s tourism industry and fosters community based conservation of natural resources. It enables people mobilization that converts community assets into income generating projects.

Furthermore, it is capable of boosting economic growth and jobs. Income can be generated privately as individuals in poor and rural areas can receive income for the use of their properties. For example, Mayfield Falls in Glenbrook, Hanover. Additionally, it creates employment for community people as tourist visits restaurants, take tours, souvenir shopping etc. Although community income is small in relation to Jamaica’s total wage package, it is significant because it can be distributed more widely amongst community members including the least employable, or used for joint community investments. Clearly then, it allows economic and educational growth as income generated can be used at the community and national level to improve education, infrastructure, fund conservation efforts and promote responsible tourism.

Consequently, one tourism activity may lead to skill development in which other local people will develop their own idea for tourism-related enterprises. Although the community gains no control or right over the business they gain responsibility and control of the revenue share which may be empowering. Clearly then, ownership and control remains in the hand of the entrepreneur and the revenue generated contributes to equity and poverty-alleviation. Finally, it can strengthen institutions and in the long-term lead to other community initiatives in tourism.

Conversely, the disadvantages include environmental and cultural degradation. Moreover, any influx of tourists in the community can increase population and over consumption of community resources hence, creating water shortages, frequent electricity outage, pollution etc. Additionally, heavy traffic can occur due to additional tourist vehicles on the road, damaging roads not designed to withstand heavy traffic, the community will then have to bear the repair costs. It is difficult to encourage conservation which has low impact on the community as benefits and understanding of the source of revenue are not widely dispersed and there is no institutional development for resource management. This is possibly a negative impact from resentment and alienation of resources.

Additionally, community people can be deprived of resource control hence costs faced by communities could include loss of access to land and its resources such as grazing, timber, privacy etc. Furthermore, social standards can be undermined as tourists demonstrate a lack of respect for local culture. For example, tourists walking around in shopping facilities or community market in swim suits. This can cause tension between locals and tourists. After all, infection and disease can be easily transported to the community especially those not medically advanced to detect and treat certain type of infection or disease.

No one can deny that the pros of community-based tourism far exceed its cons but they have implications for Jamaica. Certainly, there is potential infrastructural development but there are also potential significant resource costs to local people. Additionally, the national economic benefit is greater than the community economic benefit as a dollar (though devalued in comparison to the US dollar). The community gains has a higher value from Jamaica’s economic perspective than a dollar in the entrepreneur’s bank account as it contributes more to the reduction of poverty and inequality. Furthermore, all community revenue can increase the total expenditure per tourist and generate benefits, such as enterprises and human or natural resource development which all have economic value. For example, if the dollar earned from Mayfield falls business by the community employees were to be doubled along with the community fund put with the value of educating the community people employed in that tourism business at the annual cost of primary education per pupil then the economic value and rate of return of Mayfield business would increase. After all community-based tourism is an asset to Jamaica.

The main factors attracting tourists to the Caribbean

One of the main economic activities in the Caribbean is tourism which is also the driver of economic growth in the region. The Caribbean destination choice is influenced by many factors that include location, costs, accommodation, climate and entertainment.

Figure 1- CaribbeanThe Caribbean which is made up of over 7,000 islands, coves and reefs, consists of approximately thirty-five countries with an area of approximately 2,754,000 km2. Its location (figure 1) makes a difference in comparison to other countries in the world such as Africa, Asia or Europe. Its tropical nature enables tourists to use it as a getaway destination for leisure or business. For example, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Island are located near to Florida one of the states in America. These islands are often chosen as vacation destination because of nearness to homeland. File:Antillas (orthographic projection).svg

Undoubtedly, one can vacation anywhere in the world but the cost of reaching that destination is often a problem. It may take some persons a very long time to save for a vacation trip outside their country but a short time for others. At the end of the day, the overall costs are left up to affordability instead of availability. For example, a resident of the United States who needs a vacation will have to consider destinations such as the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia. The choice will depend on affordable ticket, quick trip and spending money for food, entertainment and accommodation. At the end of the day the Caribbean will be the choice due to nearness, destination arrival cost and the costs of enjoying one self.

No one can deny that the Caribbean region caters for tourists. Its location not only allows it to gain competitive edge as vacation destination but for other reasons such as business, sports etc. It attracts tourists with its low, medium and high-end luxury resorts and hotels along with its hospitality services ranging from breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunches, reception, parties etc. In a ‘nut shell’, tourists from ‘all walks of life’ come to the Caribbean mainly because of its affordable and varied accommodation (figure 2).

Figure 2 http://www.destination360.com/contents/pictures/hotels/rio-hotel-in-jamaica.jpg

Generally speaking, Caribbean tropical climate attracts tourists who often view the Caribbean as the prime honeymoon spot. Although the weather patterns on different islands vary, temperatures are almost always moderate with very little seasonal changes. Throughout the year the trade winds blows steadily across the ocean and this enables the heat of the sun to be at a bearable temperature. During the hurricane season (June to November) the region usually experience moderate rainfall. See table 1 in appendix.

http://test8-img.ehowcdn.com/article-new-intro-modal/ehow/images/a06/b9/r3/differences-tourism-non-caribbean-tourism-800?800.jpg

Figure 3Unquestionably, those who set their feet on Caribbean soil are always upbeat about ocean view, beaches, cultural activities etc. No doubt, the hotels and resorts are usually located along the coastline with long white sandy beaches (figure 3). Assuredly, the hospitality services always include cultural entertainments. Caribbean countries therefore guarantee tourists a spot close to the ocean, an array of fabulous music, warm water, picturesque landscapes, multi-coloured coral reefs etc. Tourist’s security undoubtedly, is not a problem.

Conclusion

In final analysis, any business whether it relates to the hospitality, manufacturing, professional industries or otherwise, delivering quality service is what enables all entrepreneurs to stay in business. It is therefore important for employers and their employees to be fully committed to delivering service that is of very high standards to ensure that customer satisfaction and retention is guaranteed. Although there are differences in service delivery throughout the different industries depending of the product they offer, at the end of the day the aim will always remain ‘customer first, operators last’.

Pursuing this further, the hospitality industry is assisted by community-based tourism which has its advantages and disadvantages both at the community and national level. The advantages however, outweigh the disadvantages although it has implications on the Jamaican economy. Undoubtedly, tourism is the main contributor to the economy as it brings in the majority foreign exchange. Obviously, there are factors that attract tourists to the Caribbean region and these include location, lower costs, tropical climate and variety of accommodations and entertainment facilities. Putting together Jamaica’s delivery of quality services, varied community-based products, location in the Caribbean region among other things the hospitality industry will continue to be the number one contributor for all economies.

Reference/Bibliography

Akbar, M. A., & Parvez, P. (2009). Impact of service quality, trust and customer satisfaction on customers loyalty. ABAC Journal Vol. 29 No. 1 (January – April 2009). Retrieved 2/10/2012 from http://www.journal.au.edu/abac_journal/2009/jan09/article02_JanApr2009.pdf

Ashley, C. & Garland, E. (1994). Promoting community-based tourism development: Why, What and How? Research discussion paper Number 4. Retrieved 6/10/2012 from http://www.the-eis.com/data/RDPs/RDP04.pdf

Goodwin, H. & Santilli, R. (2009). Community-Based Tourism: a success? ICRT Occasional Paper 11. Retrieved 6/10/2012 from http://www.andamandiscoveries.com/press/press-harold-goodwin.pdf

Hemmington, N. (2007). From service to experience; understanding and defining the hospitality business. The service industry Journal. (September 2009 Vol. 27 No. 6). Retrieved 3/10/2012 from http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/836/1/Hemmington_Output_4.pdf

Kate, W. (2002). Service-delivery strategies: Three approaches to consulting for hospitality (Industry Overview). Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly. Retrieved 5/10/2012 from http://business.highbeam.com

Voss, L.C. (2006). The importance of customer satisfaction and cultural influences in the European hospitality industry. A case study of four star hotel in Germany and England. Retrieved 6/10/2012 from http://www.du.se/PageFiles/5053/VossLawrence.pdf

The purpose of this study is to emphasize on how having a Quality Management System (QMS) can assist restaurants to enhance their services. This involves creating a QMS for local restaurants based on standards and criteria, that respond to customers requirements, derived from the ISO 9001 standards.

This implies that management will go thru training to learn how to work with the system, how to implement and how to evaluate the system. Management should then be the ones giving training and advice on how to treat customers. Employees will also go thru trainings and procedures that a restaurant should comply with, in order to be considered a quality restaurant.

Implementing a QMS is expensive. You will have to invest in your employees. On the other hand by implementing a QMS can save you money, you have less cost and you can be more productive and efficient.

This can make not only restaurants, but also the Island gain a competitive advantage on others and get economic return.

The intention is to make restaurants aware of this and so help them improve their service, satisfy needs, be more productive and have more motivated employees. Curacao Restaurants Association (CRA) can be the institute who controls that the restaurants comply with criteria’s and standards.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

According to Swiss Tourism Board, from a guest’s point of view, tourism services are always the product of a whole package of individual services. Like a chain, these services are all linked: advance information from a Tourist Centre, the journey to the destination, stay in vacation hotel, eating in a restaurant, and lastly the trip home. Each individual service leaves its mark on and influences the holiday experience.

Also at the level of the individual restaurant, a guest experiences some of this

Service: welcome, seating, providing information, taking order, eating in the restaurant. These service chains which are specific to customers provide an aid for systematic checking of a restaurant’s services and processes, showing where practical quality improvements can be made and promoting the introduction of appropriate measures.

Providing services and direct contact with customers are exacting tasks because each customer has his specific expectations, needs and opinions.

On Curacao we have CRS. “The Curacao Restaurant Association’s (CRA) (http://www.curacaorestaurants.org/cra/index.php) mission is to represent, promote and educate their members and their employees for the improvement of the restaurant and foodservice industry of Curacao, a rapidly growing industry that is becoming the nation’s second largest employer. We leverage those numbers to get the best pricing and discounts for our members. Helping members succeed and remain profitable is on the forefront of the Curacao Restaurant Association’s agenda.

As they strive to work together with the governmental departments on health, safety, service and education, members of their association get inspections and a team consisting of these departments, together with members of the board; will on a regular basis, do an assessment of their members so they will remain accepted as a member. This will guarantee customer visit to these restaurants.”

An analysis of the situation will be done. An overview and definition of Quality Management System will be given, also why quality is important and what are the characteristics of the system.

The service chains will be analyze and used as a tool for tracking down potential critical incidents and deriving “good service” from them in the shape of in-house quality standards.

Furthermore the needs of the customers, employees and employer will be address. To see what will be required to satisfy their need and incorporate this in the system and what each customer’s specific expectations, needs and opinions are.

Strategies and requirements will be presented. The program may include among other topic:

The business culture

QMS in detail

Employees motivation

Product

Customer Service

Curacao Hospitality Training Foundation will be approached to see if some of the training needed can by integrated in their program.

Results of the research and interviews carried out will be detailed.

In the forth chapter the “Restaurants Quality System” program will be discussed. Practical tools will be developed to help restaurants managers to tackle quality management and taking targeted action to optimize service.

The QMS will detailed the service chains and provide an aid for systematic checking of a restaurant’s services and processes, showing where practical quality improvements can be made and promoting the introduction of appropriate measures. Advice and conclusion will be given.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

In which way can a Quality Management System (QMS) enhance customer service in restaurants?

1.3 SUB PROBLEM STATEMENTS

To answer the problem statement, the following sub-questions will be addressed during this study:

1) How can QMS be defined?

2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of QMS?

3) What are the aspects for the development process of a quality

management system for restaurants?

4) Will the needs of customers, employer and employees be satisfy?

5) How should QMS and the restaurant quality management system be

implemented?

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.4.1 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this study is to assist restaurants on Curacao to enhance their service. In this study several methods, like interviews, questionnaire, observation and literature will be use to answer the sub problems.

1.4.2 SUB PROBLEMS

Sub problem 1. “How can QMS be defined?” and 2. “What are the advantages and disadvantages of QMS?” will be dealt with theoretically. For these sub problems website http://www.praxiom.com/iso-definition.htm, research paper and articles concerning ISO 9001 and QMS will be applied. The methods that will give an explanation of these subjects are

Crosby, P.B, (1984) Quality without tears: The art of hassle-free management, McGraw-Hill, Inc

Hoyle, D, (2006), ISO 9000 quality systems handbook, Butterworth-Heinemann

www.praxiom.com/iso-definition.htm

www.dti.gov.uk/quality/qms

Sub problem 3. “What are the aspects for the development process of a quality certification program for restaurants?” a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis will be conducted. The SWOT analysis examines the internal and external environment giving a view of the implementation of a QMS for restaurants regarding.

Also at least six restaurants will be observed and judge on the service they are giving. Curacao Quality Foundation and the president Mr. Marugg or Mr. Neuman, the Event Coordinator of Curacao Restaurants Association (CRA) will be approach for information. Some of the questions that will be asked are:

What is the support CRA offers their members?

How those CRA control the quality service their members offer?

How does CRA get its members?

Why the membership is so low compared to the number of establishment on the Island?

The readings that will be used are:

Hair, J.F, (2003), Essentials of Business Research Methods, Leyh Publishing, LLC

Brink, A, Berndt, A, (2009), Relationship Marketing and Customer Relationship Management, Juta & Co LTD

Honebein, P.C., Cammarano, R.F., (2005), Creating do-it-yourself customers:

how great customer experiences build great companies, South-Western Educational Pub

Schieffer, R., (2005), Ten Key Customer Insights: Unlocking the Mind of the Market, South-Western Educational Pub

www.cbs.an/establishments/establishments_i5.asp

Sub problem 4. “Will the needs of customers, employer and employees be satisfy?”

To answer this question surveys among consumer will be conducted regarding the quality service they receive at a restaurant. Also interviews to sales managers and supervisors of restaurants will be conducted. Employees of restaurants will be interviewed to see what their needs are.

Books on among others on customer service, motivation and quality service will be used. Among others:

Jagdish N. Shainesh, S., (2001) Customer relationship management: emerging concepts, tools, and applications, McGraw-Hill Professional

Jones, P., Merricks, P., (1994), The management of foodservice operations, Cengage Learning Business Press

Parsa, H.G., Kwansa, F., (2002), Quick Service Restaurants, Franchising, and Multi-Unit Chain Management, Routledge

Shankar, R., (2009), Process improvement using Six Sigma: a DMAIC guide, ASQ Quality Pres

Question can be asked a.o. is:

What are the company’s strengths and weaknesses compared to its competition?

Are you happy with the service you are providing

Do you care about reaction of comments of your customers?

Are you happy with your employees?

If not what are you doing to improve it?

Is the restaurant plan to come with new services?

Sub problem 5. How should QMS and the restaurant quality management system be implemented?”

In order to answer this sub problem, books on standardization and quality management systems, employee training manuals will be used.

Suggestions and guidelines for training for Management and employees will be address. Design of the quality management system will be presented. Reading used is:

Beecroft, D.G., Duffy, G.L., Moran, J.W., (2001), The Executive Guide to Improvement and Change, ASQ Quality Press

Jackson, Susan E., Schuler, Randall S, Werner, Steve, (2008), Managing Human Resources, South Western, a part of Cengage Learning

Lohman, C., et al. (2004) Designing a performance measurement system: A case study. European Journal of Operational Research,

Martinich, J.S., (2009), Production and Operations Management: An Applied Modern Approach, Wiley India Pvt. Ltd.

Maskell, B. H. (1991) Performance measurement for world class

manufacturing: a model for American companies, Cambridge, Mass.,

Productivity Press.

1.5 DELIMITATIONS
The study will be conducted among consumers, restaurants from all sector, restaurants managers/supervisors, restaurants employees and establishment associated to tourism sectors on the Island of Curacao.
1.6 THESIS OUTLINE

The structure of this study will be as follow:

1. Introduction

Background Information

Problem Statement and Sub Problems

Research Methodology

Content Thesis

Quality Management System (QMS)

Introduction

Elements of QMS

Introduction to quality and service

Importance of quality

Measuring service quality

Characteristics of QMS

Conclusion

Customers, employee and employer’s needs

Introduction

Customer and their needs

Consumer decision process

Employee and employer’s needs

Defining and measuring service satisfaction

Conclusion

Restaurants Quality Management System

Introduction

Aspect of the Quality system

Key Indicators of the Quality system

Process development of the Quality management system

Restaurant Quality System

Implementation, Control and Evaluation

Conclusion

Conclusion and Recommendations

Bibliography

Appendixes

List of tables