Author: Andre Coleman

Pulau Pinang or Penang is one of the unique and attractive places in Malaysia with its many cultures which make Penang one of tourist’s favorite places and tourists attractions. Basically, Penang is famous for their food, religions, cultures and tourism site. According to the UNESCO Worlds Heritage Site of Georgetown says that there are many religions, cultures and foods in Penang, therefore they can blend it well together to make Penang one of the well known states in Malaysia [1].

There is press statement by YB Danny Law Heng Kiang the Penang State Exco for Tourism Development and Culture said that Penang is ranked in the third place under Kuala Lumpur, and Genting Highland (Pahang) for their tourism destination in Malaysia [1]. At first, Malacca is on top of Penang as tourism destination because they receive approximately 8.9 million tourist arrival in the year 2009. Unfortunately, that statement by Datuk Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen may be a mistake because as we can see from the table 2, Penang has more tourists’ arrival compare to Malacca [1].

According Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, Penang is an island with an area of 108 sq mi/280 sq km and it is known as one of the busiest ports in the past and it is located in the straits of Malacca, on the North-West Coast of Malaysia. Penang is very famous for their beautiful beaches and islands, foods, cultural, religions and many more [2].

During 16th century, Portuguese merchants Penang was travel from Goa (India) to Far East search for spices, fresh water so they stopped in Penang. In 1786, Penang was very popular among the pirates because they steal ships that cross along Straits of Malacca. At one point, Penang became popular in 18th century and at the same time, Captain Francis Light enter to Penang and start to have good relationship with the locals and also the Sultan of Kedah in 1771. Unfortunately, at that moment itself Sultan of Kedah handed Penang to Captain Francis Light in order to get protection against the threats of Burmese and Siamese. After that, they called Penang as “Prince of Wales Island” and after the settlement; Sultan Abdullah found out that he is being cheated by the British by not willing to offer protection thus he gathered his army to retake Penang. Lastly, after extensive years of struggling between the locals and the British, Malaysia achieves independence in 31st August 1957 and Penang is one of the 13 states. Penang now is known as Pulau Pinang [3].

What is the Culture in Penang?

The cultures in Penang are very unique and most of the tourists interested to know more about Penang’s culture. In 2008, the population is Penang approximately 2 million on the island and 1 million is in Seberai Prai which consists of 42% Chinese, 41% Malay, 10% for Indian and also 5% for the Peranakan or Baba Nyonya. Baba Nyonya’s culture in Penang is different from Malacca. Baba Nyonya’s in Malacca can speak fluent Malay whereby in Penang, the Baba Nyonya’s speaks mixture of Hokkien, Malay and English and most of the Baba Nyonya’s in Penang still practice their Chinese religion and ancestral worshipping [4].

Basically, language that being spoken in Penang is Malay language whereby English and the Chinese (Hokkien) also being spoken widely in Penang. And lastly the Tamil language is being spoken by the tamils among their community. Next is the religion in Penang which most of the people believes such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian, and many more. Basically, Buddhism is one of the main religions in Penang whereby Islam still the official religion of the state. As you can see that Penang’s culture is a mixture of Malay, Chinese Indian and it is very interesting for tourist’s attractions [4].

Furthermore, Penang is famous for their food and this is one of the Penang’s cultures. The food in Penang can easily get almost everywhere and anytime in Penang. According the time magazine in 2004, Penang has been the best street food in Asia. Penang is the only place to find such a wonderful, tasty and nice food and also it is so cheap compared to Kuala Lumpur and sometimes people called Penang is the food heaven to eat. The food in Penang is an assortment of Chinese, Nyonya, Malay, India, Thai cuisine. There in Penang also famous for the hawkers’ food which they sell and served by the road side [4].

Besides that, one of the reason why Penang famous is because they have various of events and festivals that they celebrates such as Penang International Dragon Boat Festival, Chin-gay, Pesta Pulau Pinang, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Thaipusam, Chinese New Year, Hungry Ghost Festival and many more. These festivals would attract many tourists from all over the world to come and experience throughout the festivals. Moreover, it would be nice if tourists from Malaysia or outside Malaysia to give support and celebrates together in these interesting events. The international dragon boat festival usually held around June and July during the school holidays. Chingay is one of the famous cultural events in penang because it is being celebrated because of the birthday of Kuan Yin or the Goodness of Mercy. Normally, this event is being celebrated every year and attracts tourists as far from United States, Japan, South Africa and also Netherlands. Chingay festival is a parade which teams of people will show their skills at balancing 40 foot bamboo flagpoles on their body such as heads, shoulder, hands, and knees. And lastly, Pesta Pulau Pinang is one of the cultural events that being celebrated by all races in Penang. Pesta Pulau Pinang is a carnival that being celebrated in December and it always be lively, happening and colorful carnival every year. There would have a lots of activity includes open air concerts, variety shows, food bazaars, fun fairs, pet shows, exhibitions, games and many more [5].

What is an event?

Basically events is about to have a particular function or to inform our guest that when some exciting things is going to happen and going to celebrate. For example, book launches weddings, concerts, carnivals and many more. It is more like a preparations for that particular functions to make it runs smoothly and beautifully. It starts from the PA systems, music, VIP rooms, foods, red carpet, guests and many more [6].

Cultural events that being celebrated by in Penang

Penang is famous for their cultures, ethnicities, foods and festivals. Penang’s has so many events and festivals that being celebrated throughout the year. Hence, the entire tourist from every parts of the world celebrates together with colorful happenings events in Penang. There are few festivals that being celebrated by all races in Penang such As Chinese New Year, International Dragon Boat Festival, Penang Beach Carnival, Penang Cultural Festival, Malaysia Festival and Pesta Pulau Festivals. The purpose all these festivals are held because is to gather everyone and celebrates the harmonious and unique multi culture in Penang. Many activities are held on the festival’s example fashion parades, inter-hotel competition, performance, sell handicrafts, and many more [7].

1.2 The Problem Statement

The purpose of me choosing this topic is because as we can see Penang is developing to one of the leading tourism states. Cultural and events tourism is a product which is difficult to be tested first before use, so by having the cultural events in Penang can also gives Penang recognition as a world heritage site and will be portraying the cultural diversity of Penang. On top of that, by having cultural events and festivals in Penang can analyze the number of tourists inbounds to Penang. Besides that, tourists can come over and try to experience and spread the news to everyone out there about the cultural events that being celebrated by all races in Penang. There are few popular cultural events that being celebrated such as Thaipusam, Chap Goh Meh, St. Anne’s festival, hungry ghost festival and many more. Basically, Penang is famous for their cultural diversity where they preserve their own traditions and performing arts. On top of that, Penang has own tradition of street culture, celebrations, festivals, and ethnic groups and it will be the most unforgettable moments for the tourists who come and experience the festivals. Lastly, the “Visit Calendar 2010” has their plans to make Penang as the active tourism sector.

Research Objectives/ Aims

The objective of this proposal is:

To analyze the number of tourists inbounds to Penang during the cultural events celebration.
To unite all people together to celebrate cultural events in Penang to support the slogan “Satu Malaysia”.
To investigate the number of tourists that visit Penang according their nationalities.
To determine the most favorable cultural events to the least popular and why?
To study the revenue or loses generated by tourists as to the cost incurred by the state government to these events.

By accumulating these results, we can determine whether to sustain, preserve or to promote cultural events or festivals for the coming years.

Research Questions
What are the number of tourists inbound to Penang in the 2009?
Should Ministry of Tourism Malaysia encourage more cultural events celebrations in order to give Penang recognition as a world heritage site?
Should we preserve, promote and sustain our cultural events in Penang in order to pull more tourists from all over the world?
What the pull factors are for tourists to visits Penang every year?
Hypothesis Statement

Hypothesis statement for this topic would be that Penang’s culture has a unique attribute that brings people together by having cultural events and festivals throughout the year. To boast those cultural events and festivals requires financial capital, intellectual capital, cultural capital and also social capital to run the events [8]. The existence of cultural events makes people understand other people’s culture better so that they can understand one and another as well as supporting our Malaysia’s motto which is “Satu Malaysia”. According to Datuk Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang says that they have to give 100% commitment to protect, preserve, sustain and promote the cultural events in Penang so that it can bring the people together and unite the culture and celebrate it collectively. These would reflect the multiracial people and well preserve culture and heritage which is being listed in UNESCO World Cultural and Heritage Site lately [9].

In the past 6 years, there were twelve countries affected by Tsunami disaster on 26th September 2004 and one of the countries is Malaysia. There were two states in Malaysia was affected by Tsunami which is Penang and Kedah. Both these areas lost everything during the tsunami disasters. At that time, most of the people or tourists are in fear for travelling to other countries. Most of the fisherman’s village in Kedah is destroyed by the tsunami. On top of that, Penang’s tourism slightly decline due to this unwanted disaster. The Government, Corporate, NGO’s, and also individuals contribute millions of dollars to help the victim’s accommodation, medical and many more [9]. Furthermore, there was a change in politics, economy and society due to the tsunami disaster. Penang’s economy slightly decline because lacking of tourists from outside and inside the country. Tourists afraid to come and visits Penang thus not much activity or celebrations can we held during that particular period of timer [9].

As we know that the mass media plays important roles in promoting any advertisement doesn’t matter in the website or in the daily newspaper. By promoting and advertise something in the website or newspaper, radio, television and so forth may increase the number of tourists who come to Penang. This is one of the strategies to pull tourists to come to Penang after the Tsunami’s tragedy. There are some advertisements that may push tourists out of their state or country to come to Penang by having Cheap Air Flight to Penang inclusive Hotel Rooms. For example, in figure 1.0 and figure 1.1 show that Air Asia offer or promotes cheap flight tickets inclusive a room for the tourists as below as Rm1.00 [10]. Tourists can choose to fly either Penang, Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, and Johor Bahru. The travelling period for the tourists is at any time in July 1st 2011 to November 10th 2011. This is because we want more tourists to come to Penang for vacation and also at the same time we can promote different cultural events and festivals that are being celebrating every month [10].

Furthermore, Penang State Tourism is promoting their state as by the campaign goes “Visit Penang 2010-1012”. So there are many kinds of activities and events is held for example Esplanade in Action- an Evening of Cultural Performance, Penang Sakura Blossom, Chinese New Year cruise-Lili Marleen and many more. Besides that, the food is one of the attractions besides cultural events in Penang for example, Thai Food Fiesta 2010, Penang Durian and Fruits Festivals, Pesta Pulau Pinang and many more.

According to Natalie Lee, one of the students from University New South Wales stated that Facebook is one of the top growing social networking in the world nowadays which has more than 140 million users in the whole world. It allows us to find and communicate with our friends and share photos, promoting tourism sites and many more. Penang promotes their tourism sites through Facebook, websites, blogs and many more to pull tourists from every parts of the world. They can share photos, promote hotel rooms, flight tickets to Penang, and update latest events in penang and promote it to all their family members, friends and many more. It is one of the best ways to promote Penang to outsiders [11]. .

Theoretical/ Conceptual Framework

Theoretical framework

As what I have showed the conceptual framework below shows that the research is focus more on the cultural events that being celebrated by all races in Penang. It will be scoped into structural support and cultural infrastructure/ spaces for the cultural events. Next under structural support diagram it will be divided into few points such as handling promotions, ticketing, licensing, printing and distribution of flyers. Besides that, for the cultural infrastructure / spaces will be divided into two main points which is cultural hub and also communities.

At the top part of the framework shows that some of the events and festivals that is being celebrated by all races in Penang. Cultural festivals that being celebrated in Penang is Pesta Pulau Pinang, Hungry Ghost Festival, Chingay, Bon Odori and many more. The purpose of celebrating these festivals is because to sustain and promote the cultural events in Penang thus promote it to tourists from every parts of the world.

For the second phase of the framework, is the cultural infrastructure and spaces which can be divided into two parts which is cultural hub and communities. According to S.B.Tan, Professor School Of Art, University Sains Malaysia says that the cultural hub, is basically where the performances or festivals is going to carried out, for example museums, restaurants, and many more. Whereby, for the communities are basically about where the festivals or events should should be placed in areas where most of the people live,for example city in Georgetown or Balik Pulau. It would be much easier for the people in Penang to travel to those particular places to celebrate the events [12].

Moving on, on the third phase is the structural support for example handling promotion, ticketing, licensing, distribution flyers and printing.

Conceptual framework

Cultural Events Tourism For Penang

Events and festivals
Pesta Pulau Pinang
Bon Odori
Chingay
Hungry Ghost Festival
Cultural infrastructure/ spaces
Communities

It should be placed in areas where the people lives

Eg: city of Georgetown or Balik Pulau.

Cultural Hub

where the performances/ festivals, events is going to carried out

eg: museums, restaurants, and many more

Scope and Limitations

The scope for this study is mainly based on the Tourism Industry in Penang that is rapidly growing in this 21st century. The importance of this sector to the Malaysia’s economy is to pull more tourists to come and visits Penang through the 3 years campaign of the state government by promoting their “VisitPenang 2010- 2012” [13]. According to hotel statistics, in 2008 [14], Penang received 6.3 million tourist inbounds excluding the excursionist who arrive on cruise or live with their family and friends. The figure is higher than previous year which is 5.1 million. Penang State Government’s has a mission to target 10 million tourists in 2014 which is 4 years from now. Penang’s most profitable income earner comes from tourism sector after manufacturing. According to Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia, the number of local and international tourists arrivals in Penang in 2005 is 48% international tourists whereby for the locals is 52% which comes up 4, 351,909 tourists overall. Every year, the number slightly increased doesn’t matter it is international tourists nor local people. Regrettably, in 2009 the number of tourists declined sharply which is from 6,307,468 in 2008 but unfortunately in 2009, the number has dropped to 1,347,356 overall totals. Penang this is because Penang focuses more on developing medical tourism and eco-tourism in this few years [13]. This study will look at the statistics rate or the number of tourists come and visits Penang to celebrates and experience the cultural events and festivals thus food as well. There were limitation sources to find for this topic. To find for data and information’s, researcher using Google Scholar with journals, articles, Pdftop.com, Kdu Library and online book. Some of the journals and articles need to be purchased or log in as a member in order to read the articles and journals.

1.8 Significance of the study

Significance of studying this topic is to analyze the number of tourists inbounds in Penang during the cultural events celebrations whether it gives impacts towards Penang’s economy or local environment. Besides that, it is important for us to know what is Penang’s mission and target for the tourism sector. Currently, Penang is being ranked at no.4 in foreign and domestic tourists arrivals in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur, Pahang and Sabah. YB Danny Law Heng Kiang, Chairman for the State Tourism Development Culture, Arts, and Heritage says that he really hopes one day Penang would be No.1 or No.2 in foreign and domestics tourist’s arrivals in Malaysia. According to statistics, the number of hotel guests is increasing rapidly from 68.8 million in 2008 compared to 61.6 in 2007 especially during the cultural events and festivals that being celebrated every month. It shows that the graph for tourism sector will increase every year [15].

Chapter 2
2.1 Literature Review
Definition of cultural events

Events are something that happens at a given place. An event is one of the top growing tourism industries and also most thrilling and yet it is connected to leisure. One of the reason why so many countries keeps on promoting their events so that they can pull more tourists from every parts of the world to come and visits their country. Basically, an event is more to persuade tourists to come or participate during their events and also can makes them stay longer in that particular area. According to Getz, events are one of the important roles in tourism industry because it can attract more tourists thus to fill up their free during their visits to that particular country (1991). Most of the tourists expects for festivals, events or attractions in a tourism destination. Events or festivals also can intensify tourists experience and perhaps can make tourists stay longer thus persuade them to extend their holidays in particular tourism destinations (Getz, 1991). Cultural events basically are for religious, public events such as arts, performances, crafts demonstrations, and many more (Richards, 1996).All the small towns are actively has cultural events for profit, or to boost the tourism industry (Goldblatt, 2002). Most of the tourists are attracted to unique cultural events and somehow they will participate when the event is held. Organizers would make the cultural events livelier to ensure that the tourists meet their satisfaction during the festivals thus to make sure that they gets more profit from the tourists. Why is it so because to increase the tourism industry and to promote our country to worldwide.

2.2 Statistics Rate Tourists Come to Penang

Statistics plays important role in counting the number of tourist’s inbounds in Penang 2005 – 2009. How many tourists have been visiting Penang? To calculate and determine the actual statistics requires big costs of money to collect data, to analyze and to present it to the state government. The number of tourists visiting Penang announced by the Tourism Ministry is based on immigration cards filled with their profiles at the by visitors and have to show it at the port of entry. Tourists are freely to move everywhere within the country unless visitors did bad mistakes.

According to Penang State Government, Penang has their own statistics rate number of international and local tourist’s arrivals in Penang in 2005 to march 2009. Within these 5 years, overall total number of tourists either locals or international is about 21, 881,848 people arrived in Penang .In 2005 the local tourists arrival is about 2,267532 people whereby the international tourists approximately about 2,084,377 people. Furthermore, the overall total number of tourists in 2006 is about 4,688,504 people which are in percentages 54% of local tourists and 46% of international visitors. Moving on, the overall total number of tourist’s arrivals in Penang in 2007 has increasing compared to year before which is 2006 which is 5,186,611 tourists. Among the 5 years between 2005- 2009, the highest amount of tourists arrival is in 2008 which is 6,307,468 visitors in percentages it would be 55% for the locals and 45% for the international tourists inbounds in Penang. Finally, in 2009 the total number of tourists inbounds in Penang was sharply dropped from 6,307,468 tourists in previous year whereby in 2009 the overall total number of tourists is 1,347,356 visitors’ arrivals in Penang (2010).

As stated by the Tourism Minister, Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen, tourist’s arrivals in 2009 has dropped from 6,307,468 to 1,347,356 tourists due to the Influenza a (H1N1) scare. On the other hand, international tourists from Europe and United Kingdom remained the same. She stated that the tourists are safe as health authorities helps to prevent the spread of the disease towards the tourists. On top of that, Datuk Ng.Yen Yen had a discussion with the directors of 44 Tourism Malaysia regarding promotional plans to persuade tourists to visits Malaysia because Malaysia is one of the countries safe from Influenza H1N1 (Bernama).

As mentioned earlier, Malacca overtakes Penang as tourist’s destination in 2009. Statistics shows that tourist’s arrival in Penang dropped from 6.3 million in 2008 to 1.3 million in 2009. Compared Penang to Malacca, Penang has a lot and good accessibility and products for example foods, beaches, cultures, and many more. Datuk Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen strictly wants the state government to do something in order to increase more tourists in 2010. She suggested that Penang has a potential to become one of the country’s leading tourists destination because Penang has 191 flights from 12 international airlines flying in Penang. Besides that, she recommend that state government should put more initiative in hiring well-trained tourists guides which experts in the field of Penang history and heritage. These tour guides, service counters, and restaurant employees should know very well and are able to share the history and stories behind heritage buildings. In this way, we can give the visitors special services and make them satisfy during their visits to Penang (Y.Y.Ng, Nov, 2010).

2.3 The Economic and Social cultural Impacts on Cultural Events in Penang

According to Gawler Visitor Information Centre, cultural events is one of the most exciting festival celebrations that can pulls many tourists from every parts of the world to make revenues in the economy of tourism industry . On top of that, behind the significant of cultural events, it has its economic and also socio cultural impacts on cultural events in Penang. There are few factors will indicate the economic and socio cultural impacts on cultural events in Penang.

Economic impacts on cultural events in Penang

As stated above, there are few factors that show the economic impacts on cultural events in Penang and it can be divided into negative and positive. Negative economic impacts on cultural events in Penang are the revenue or loses generated by tourists as to the cost incurred by the state government to these events. According to Priscilla, Penang tourism sector requires approximately RM 50 million for tourism in Penang. Based on 2008 statistics, there were 6.3 million tourists arrivals in Penang and as what the Chief Minister said that RM 500,000 is not enough for the tourism to conduct an activities and events especially which is connected to the infrastructure, promotions, and also improving the facilities (2010). The RM 50 million are required in order to have events, festivals, upgrading the quality of beaches and many more as now Penang is the third highest contribution state in tourism sector. According to Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, in 2009, the tourists arrivals in Penang has dropped to 1.3 million due to the influenza H1N1 thus there were loses generated by tourists as to the high amount of cost incurred by the state government to these tourism sector (2010). The money that they use to upgrading the facilities, promotions, events and festivals is not balance with how much money the tourists spend during their visits to Penang thus it would be a lose for Penang. The positive economy impacts on cultural impacts in Penang are can increase the tourism economy and society development in Penang (Jafari, 2000). Positive impacts on cultural events in Penang would be the job opportunities in Penang. In 2008, hotels in Penang received approximately 6.3 million tourists which are locals and also international compared to 2007 about 5.1 million tourists’ arrivals in Penang. The statistics shows that there was slightly increase of 1.2 million visitor’s arrivals which would indicate that there are so many job opportunities out there for the people who really need to work (Administrator III, 2009). This is say that they need more labors to work in such places like hotels, restaurants, tour guides, and many more. Moving on, in 2010, Penang Tourism Minister target 10 million tourists’ arrivals in 2014. Indirectly says that they need more employment to work in this industry (Administrator III, 2010).

Socio Cultural Impacts on Cultural Events in Penang

In this part of literature review, one of the socio cultural impacts on cultural events in Penang is diplomatic relations. According to The Star Online, Penang Government and Russian Embassy are thinking to organize a Russian cultural event every year in order to remembrance of the Russian battleship (Zhemchug) close by Penang coast during the World War. Vorobyeva Lyudmila Georgievna the new Russian ambassador said that their sailors we’ve been buried in Western Cemetery on Jalan Utama in Penang Island and Pulau Jerejak. Besides that, she also expresses her gratitude to Penang State because the help to clean and uphold those 12 sailors that have been buried in Western Cemetery. Furthermore, she spoke to Datuk Seri Lim Guan Eng and said that it would be much better to organize a Russian cultural event in Penang every year. She suggests that the Russian cultural event would have interesting Russian folk performances, classical, Russian music, and also Russian food as well. Thus, Malaysia can have bond relationships Russian and with the Russian cultural event it would help to encourage more Russian tourists to come to Penang in the future (2010).

Conclusion

In conclusion, cultural events are one of the pull factors to bring in tourists from every parts of the world regardless the international or the local tourists. To have such cultural events or festivals can increase our economy in tourism sector thus Penang can be one of the states to be recognize internationally with the uniqueness and amazing beaches, nice foods, great heritage and many more. The existence of cultural events can also promote and bond relationships between the locals and visitors by having lots of activities and know how to appreciate different cultures, religion and race.

Chapter 3
Research design and methodology
3.1 Overview

In Chapter 3, there will be 5 main points to highlight in this sample proposal. In the first part of this topic is the general idea on the research design and methodology. Next, it is the elaboration about the introduction of the research proposal. Basically, it talks about the purpose of doing this topic and explanation about the cultural events that s being celebrated by all races in Penang. Moving on, there will be a research design in this chapter 3 such as investigating the population and the sampling techniques that is going to apply. After that, it will be explanation regarding the procedures of data collection and data analysis which will be divided into 2 sections which is primary data and secondary data. And lastly, there will be a short explanation about the questionnaires design.

References

Administrator III (2009) “boost in Penang tourists arrivals”

http://www.visitpenang.gov.my/portal3/penang-tourism-news/539-boost-in-penang-tourist-arrivals.html

Administrator III (2010) “Speech by The Rt Hon Mr Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang- Launch of the Penang Investment Tourism Office (PITO), Singapore”

http://www.visitpenang.gov.my/portal3/penang-tourism-news/1187-speech-by-the-rt-hon-mr-lim-guan-eng-chief-minister-of-penang-launch-of-the-penang-investment-tourism-office-pito-singapore.html

PRISCILLA DIELENBERG (2010) “CM: Penang needs RM50mil for tourism”

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2010/4/18/nation/20100418170830

Ministry of tourism Malaysia (2010)”NUMBER OF TOURIST ARRIVALS FROM TEN LEADING COUNTRIES TRANSITING THROUGH PENANG AIRPORT 2004 – 2008?

http://www.penang.gov.my/index.php?ch=16&pg=44&lang=eng

Jafari, J. (2000). APEC international tourism symposium: the scientification of tourism.

65 Korea Tourism Policy, summer, Vol.2, No.3, 56-59. Seoul: Korea tourism Research Institute (KTRI).

http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2002/2002kwonh.pdf

Tourism facts sheet “gawler visitor tourism centre”

http://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/5_Gawler_Impacts_Tourism.PDF

The star online (2010) “Annual Russian fest proposed”

http://thestar.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/11/6/north/7320843&sec=north

Responsible tourism is – is that creates better places to live in, and better places to visit. For communities living in popular tourist destinations, such as the Pacific, tourism can offer much needed opportunities for social and economic growth. There are, however, a growing number of concerns about the possible and actual negative impact on local people and environment from tourism. Responsible tourism is that : minimises negative economic, environmental and social impacts generates economic benefits for local people and enhances the well being of host communities improves working conditions and access to the industry involves local people in decisions that affect their lives and life chances makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage embracing diversity provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues provides access for physically challenged people is culturally sensitive, encourages respect between tourists and hosts, and builds local pride and confidence.

Responsible tourism is fast becoming a global trend. Operators, destinations and industry organisations in South Africa, the United Kingdom, United States, the Gambia, India, Sri Lanka, are already practicing Responsible Tourism, and this list is growing. Recognising the global significance of Responsible Tourism World Travel Market, one of the world’s largest travel exhibitions, has created World Responsible Tourism Day, to be celebrated annually during November. World Responsible Tourism Day is endorsed by the World Tourism Organisation and World Travel and Tourism.

THINGS THAT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE TOURISM:

Responsible Tourism is not another form of “niche tourism” – Responsible Tourism is about the legacy and the consequences of tourism – for the environment, local people and local economies.

Responsible Tourism does not only take place in protected natural environments – Any tourism business, whether located in a thriving metropolis, a desert, rural village, sub-tropical island, medieval town – can be a Responsible Tourism operation.

A significant, and growing, number of tourists are looking for a better experience, a better product. They are looking for experiences which makes them able to get closer to the “real” living culture of countries and to experience natural and cultural heritage. This is a global trend in the established markets as consumer expectations of their holidays change, people are taking more, shorter trips, and they expect to get more from them. In commercial market resea rch UK holidaymakers were asked whether or not they would be more likely to book a holiday with a company if they had a written code to guarantee good working conditions, protect the environment and support charities in the tourist destination. In 1999 45% said yes, when the question was asked again in 2001 52% said yes. That means the percent of people is growing.

Now responsible tourism is a market trend that any tourism business can’t ignore. Responsible tourism makes business sense because the proportion of people who looks for better product is growing.This trend implies that Responsible Tourism will have a powerful competitive advantage over other tourism products.

WHAT IS ECOTOURISM?

To simply describe what is ecotourism, we can say that everywhere we go, it`s “green” and :green” that. But according to the Center of Ecotourism, Hector Ceballos-Lascurain created the term ecotourism in 1983. However original term means nature-based travel to relatively undisturbed areas with an emphasis on education”, where E goes for- Environment, C goes for-Culture and O goes for-Orientated travel.

In general ecotourism means an insightful, mindful and participatory travel experience to natural and cultural and environments for future generations. Also ecotourism makes viable more economic opportunities for the host areas.

From the beginning,ecotourism was nature based, without impact tourism had on the villages and local culture.However,it became apparent to try create a new kind of tourism,wich should be focused only on wildlife and the environment.

Moreover we can find some ecotourism attractions in Malaysia,such as Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands and Mangrove Forest.

For example : Mangrove Forest.

Matang mangrove is located in the Larut Matang District in Perak, Malaysia.

A large expanse of mangrove forest located in huge bay stated from Matang Mangrove forest in the north to Pengkalan Baharu in the south. The reserve includes 34,769 hectares of productive forest 5,942 hectares of unproductive forest. The water is salty and brackish in color and at the low tide is less than 6m deep. There are some small patches of forested dry ground inside the mangroves. Five fishing villages within the forest makes the mangrove become less uninhabited.

Economical dependencies of the community on this site

The economical of Matang Mangrove Forest depence on the fishing activities and the charcoal industries. The area is a major supplier of sea-foods to the local and international markets. It provides employment in forestry, fishery and linked industries for a workforce.

The current management objective of the Forest Reserve is to produce maximum sustained yield of raw materials that is mainly conjugaza and mucronata for fuel, mainly for charcoal and poles. Management consists of a 30 year crop rotation and harvested by clear felling with retention of standards for natural regeneration.Total annual yield of around 990 hectares and 890-900 hectares for charcoal and around 100 hectares for firewood. Management objectives are:

To produce a sustained yield of quality greenwood for charcoal processing to meet local demand as well for export.

To produce quality poles for local consumption and export.

To conserve and protect the coastal zones from erosion by the strong waves and wind.

To produce and preserve the breeding and nursery grounds for high protein sea foods.

The area is of great economic importance, providing an annual revenue of 6-9US$ million from forestry products and at least 30US$ million are from fisheries and the area is a major supplier of sea foods to local and international markets. It provides employment in forestry and fishery and linked to industries for a workforce of about 12,500 people.

Matang Mangrove forest and its adjacent coastline are of major importance as a staging

Are for migratory shorebirds and the major remaining area of suitable habitat in

Malaysia for the Milky Stork Mycetia cineria and lesser Adjutant Leptoptilos

javanicus. The most species are Tringa tetanus, Limosa limosa and calidris

ferruginea. The other common species includes Charadrius, Monglus, Numenius

phaeopus, Tringa stagnatilis and Xerus cinereus. The special floral values are the

largest intact of mangrove forest in Peninsular Malaysia and one of the last

areas. Malaysian population endangered the ecosystems and decreased about 100

birds. Almost 1400 herons and egrets has 12 species that are Egretta garzetta,

Egretta intermedia, and Egretta alba, Butorides striatus are very common. Another

bird that is called Mycteria cineria that is classified in the family Ciconiidae and in

the order of Ciconiiformers. In Matang Mangrove Forest tourists can find red leaf monkeys who are living there. There is very common to see monkeys climbing on the tree. Although they can look extremely cute on the other hand they can be quite aggressive. Tourists should take care approaching these animals.

DIP International Hotel & Tourism Management

School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts

Tourism Industry Assignment

Done by Resul Nazarov(55773) Submited to Mr. Foo

Date : 08.11.2009

Travel agency is a confidential seller/ public service that present tourism related services to the public on behalf of dealers like hotel, package tour, railways, rentals car, airlines, sea ways, and airlines. addition to trading with regular tourists the majority agencies have a separate department committed to making travel arrangements for commercial travelers and a number of travel agencies focus in commercial travel only. There are also travel agencies that provide as general sales agents for overseas businesses, allowing them to have branches in regions and nations other than where their head offices are placed.

Operation

Agency’s major role is to perform as a representative. Promoting travel goods and services on behalf of a dealer. Therefore, similar to other retail industries, they don’t have a stock in stores. A holiday pack or a ticket is not obtained from a dealer till a consumer desires that purchase. The holiday or ticket is providing to them at money off offer. The revenue is consequently the variation among the marketing cost which the consumer pays and the discounted cost at which it is offered to the agent. This is known as the commission. In countless countries, all persons or companies that trade tickets are necessary to be licensed as a travel agent.

Many British and American agencies license are based on these associations:-

(IATA) international transport association- for who issue air tickets

(ATOL) air travel organizer’s licensing- for who order tickets

(ABTA) associations of British travel agent or the (ASTA) the American society of travel agent, for who trade package holidays on behalf of a tour company.

Ticketing

Reserve and distributing tickets is a most important function of the travel agency. It is necessary for travel agency workers to have familiarity or knowledge about Air travel in the worldwide as well as national segment. This knowledge undertakes a range of other features such as booking methods, class of travel, prohibited matter, special customers, passports, visas, travel directories, hotel guide. Supervisor or an worker have to know the variety of procedures linked to these

Management tasks

Similar to any other business if you have it in mind to set up and run a travel agency company efficiently you have to apply the management concepts and functions not only in scheduling but also in processing. The organization tasks in a travel agency are linked to the character of business process and the services provided. The key responsibility of travel agency is to supply the purchase of travel to the client at a suitable place. It is at these places that the travel agencies act as reservation representative for road or water transport, railways, hotels, package tours, airlines. They also offer convinced additional services such as, traveler cheque, procuring of visas, foreign exchange, travel insurance, airport transport, customer clearances, permits, etc. A travel agency also behaves like a travel advisor suggesting consultancy on ideas like:

How to travel?

When to travel and where?

Where to stay or do shopping, etc.?

Information about rules, policy, safety, etc.

Such suggestions are possible only after identifying the client’s requirements and attitudes. This part has to be completed neutrally by the travel agency in order to provide the best to the client.

Travel agencies are divided in a range of ways. The differences can be based on their memberships such as International Air Transport Association (IATA), Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA), American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), World Association of Travel Agents (WATA), Universal Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTA) or Travel Agents Association of srilanka (TAASL). These recognitions can also be identified by the kind of trade or services they are providing.

Acquiring Product familiarity or Knowledge

If not a director acquires product knowledge or familiarity with products, it is hard to be successful in travel agency industry. This is exactly true because the majority of the travel agencies are small family businesses with proprietor performing as managers and use little workforce. The managers themselves must have a best product familiarity or knowledge in order to lead and direct their workforce. This is related for mutually, outbound as well as domestic travel. A travel agency workforce should have full familiarity or knowledge of-

Destinations:

Whether conditions,

Political environment,

Special events and community holidays,

Customs, culture and cuisine of destination,

Main attractions,

Physical condition and other hazards,

Money exchange rates,

Travel policy regulations and documents,

Lodging facilities,

Airlines:

Reservation system,

Travel Route operations,

Flight agenda,

Charges,

Types of airplanes,

Services offered on board,

Connecting flights,

Airports:

Timings,

Amenities,

Travel Agencies

Product knowledge can be obtained

From a variety of sources. It is equally

Custom and safety regulations,

Distances from city,

Transportations:

Connections or contacts

Car rentals,

A reservation method and procedures.

Other Aspects:

Package tours,

Excursions,

Principal Suppliers:

Image and financial standing,

Services offered,

Quality of service,

Commissions offered,

Forming or setting up a travel agency

To form a travel agency business has to make sure about following aspects:

Monetary and Infrastructural requirement,

Approval from concerned parties,

Recognitions from major suppliers or dealers,

Infrastructural and Financial or monetary Requirements

Forming a new business in this subject the big capital requirements are less. Most require investment are for the following:

Purchase of Suitable office space,

Office furniture,

Communication system and tools such as, computer, telecommunications

Wages for the employees,

Office equipment such as, document, files, tag, letterheads

Before formulate the travel agency business a significant point to be think is the situated place of the agency or the position of agency. The majority of the travel agents have their offices in busy cities. Travel agents vie for business in the place where they are positioned. At the same time selecting on the position of your office, you should make sure that it is in the marketplace with close access to profitable business.

Approvals from Concerned parties

Travel agencies want some approvals for start and function the business such approvals are:

Recognitions From the (IATA) International Air Transport Association is the global association of Scheduled Airlines. To apply for International Air Transport Association approval an application has to be presented by completing out the essential details, Forms, and sent to Sedentary, Agency Investigation, according to agency investigation below aspects will tartan-

Capability to find and procure air traveler transportation

Professional standing

Financial or economy position

Business building, location, etc

Workforce experience

A final inspection is held and the approval is provided by International Air Transport Association. Mainly it is important state here that all International Air Transport Association approved Agents obtain 9% commission on global air tickets and 6% on domestic air line tickets.

Recognition and Licenses

Travel agencies have to look for recognition or licensed from –

Department of Tourism,

Travel agency association of srilanka(TAASL)

Recognition from the major suppliers such as, the airlines, Banks and recognition by the dealing hotels.

Civil aviation license registration (according to Srilanka)

Manager prefer the status of that company

Manager and two staffs with qualified diploma certificate authorized institute. (Have to face an interview to recognizes and get the permission)

Original business registration certificate (BRC)

True copy from share holders and shares details. If that company based on one person they will need company details and future achievement

Section 51 form that ,the main one share holders original details including share percentage

MEMBERSHIP PROCEDURE

Membership Entrance Fee Rs. 20,000/-

Membership Subscription for the ensuring year Rs. 10,000/-

Total Rs. 30,000/-

Needed Document’s

Registration Certificate issued by the Ceylon Tourist Board

License Certificate to carry on Business as a Travel Agent issued by the Ceylon Tourist Board for the current financial year

License Certificate to carry on Business issued by the Aviation Authority for the current year

Certificate of Company Registration

A letter confirming the authorized and paid up capital form the Auditors

TRAVEL AGENTS ASSOCIATION OF SRI LANK
APPLICATION FORM FOR MEMBERSHIP

The Secretary

Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka

COLOMBO

Name of Company: …………………………..……………………………………..

Address: …………………………..……………………………………..

Business: State Nature of Tourist Activities:

…………………………..……………………………………..
…………………………..……………………………………..

Name / Designation of Contact Person: …………………………..……………………………………..

Tel No: …………………………..……………………………………..

Fax No: …………………………..……………………………………..

Email Address: …………………………..……………………………………..

Signature of Applicant: ………………………………………

Date: ………………………………………

I / We wish to apply for election as a member of the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka and I/We hereby agree to be bound by the Rules of the Association from time to time in force and by the decision of the General Committee.

Signature of Applicant: ………………………………………

Date: ………………………………………

Services offered

Tour packages(family travel, group travel, adventure travel, incentive travel )

Domestic and international tour packages

hotel and resort lodging to air transportation

car rental needs

travel insurance security

visa procedures

Immunization procedures and other foreign travel requirements.

Urgency toll-free phone numbers

ticketing

airline seating preference

Smoking and non-smoking designation

It all based on personal interests and budget concerns.

License to carry on business as a travel agent

C:UsersSingheDocumentsSri-Lanka-Tourism-Development-Authority-Licence-to-Carry-on-Business-as-Travel-Agent-2010.jpg

One of the definition of event is that an organized occasion such as a meeting, convention, exhibition, special event, gala dinner, etc. An event is often composed of several different yet related functions. Getz (2005, p.16) Another definition is that an organized occasion such as a social function or sports competition. (Encarta, 2007) Each event must have a theme or purpose and each event has a beginning and an end. So there are different kinds of events such as festival, celebrity appearance, and sporting events. (Watt, 1998) For example, the World Cup is sporting event which is a worldwide event. In China, one of the most important events in Chinese culture is Spring Festival. While in some companies, events are held by managements, they will organize daily work and tasks of the event such as hold meetings and set up a launch. In a conclusion, events are playing a big part of society as a whole in nowadays.

According to the diagram above, there are 4 aspects special events may impact which are known as social and cultural impact, physical & environmental impact, economic impact and political impact.

There are many advantages of social & culture impact, for example, shared building community pride, and shared experience. Events play an important part in encouraging social interaction and the celebrations of happy occasions and its probably more important in society. (Shone & Parry, 2004) For example, the Live 8 concerts which took place in 9 countries coincided with the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005, the shows planned to pressure world leaders to drop the debt of the world’s poorest nations, increase and improve aid, and negotiate fair trade rules in the interest of poorer countries. (Wikipedia, 2007)

2. Physical & environmental impact

Some events crate a great deal of advantages to the physical & environment, such as showcase the environment, infrastructure legacy and increased environmental awareness. Infrastructure legacy means thing left behind after the event. For example, the Beijing 2008 Olympics is a good example. The sport venues (Birds Nest) can be used in the future and the new 3 metro lines will improve the transportation. On the other hand, there will be also some negatives including environment traffic congestion, environment damage, pollution and traffic congestion.

3. Economic impact

There are many positive economic impacts, for example, the destination promotion by events will increase tourist visits to the place, many job will created by the events, tourism revenue generated by the event, and increasing tax revenue. For instance, the London Notting Hill Carnival (2002) brought around 93 million pounds into London and supported in the region 3,000 fulltime equivalent jobs, whereas the infrastructure costs are the money spent on infrastructure can reduce spending on other areas such as education and health. Its known as the opportunity costs.

4. Political impact

In fact, governments have played an important part in bidding for hosting and staging major events because of the opportunity for social regeneration, international prestige and job creation. Events have the ability to engender social cohesion, confidence and pride. (Wood, 2002) For example, Beijing Olympics make the society more cohesive than before. Whereas the negatives are the risk of event failure, lack of accountability and propaganda purpose.

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THE EVENT

There are 4 main areas of planning and staging events: initial planning, detailed planning, implementing the event and post event evaluation.First of all, there are 2 parts of initial planning: creating the event concept and evaluating the event concept. Creating the event concept focuses on the 5 Ws which means Why, Who, When, Where and What. (Goldblatt, 2005). Evaluating the event concept means a feasibility study or a screening process will be undertaken to choose the best concept. (Shone & Parry, 2004)

The Planning of The Event

For any kind of event which is small or big detailed planning and organising is very essential for its success, sometimes there is a lot of time taken to decide everything which should never be underestimated , because it may require some special advice , or may be the permission , the availability of artists and sale of tickets and many other issues. So generally for any event it is advised to begin planning at least three months in advance to get the desired results.

The Event : The True Spirit of Unity In Malaysia with a cultural Diversity in Association With Lexus

Date :

The Venue : Pavilion Kuala Lumpur – Centre Court Level 3

The Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur is the most happening spots in Malaysia , one of the most famous malls , everyday where there are thousands of people gathering around for various reasons such as shopping , entertainment , hangouts , coffee , get together ,and so on.

The centre court is the perfect place for conducting this multicultural event and the reason for the selection of this venue is that it is in the heart of the city and there are numerous people from various parts of the city and from various cultures and even many tourists gather here for various purposes which were mentioned earlier. So the reach of the event will be comparatively more than the any other venue and the other good thing is that the target audiencce you have all the age groups visiting the mall right from youngesters to the old age people and is fully packed with great shops for shopping , cinema halls and restaurants .Apart fromt his since there are great number of shops it becomes easy to get the sponsors as well for conducting big events as they can also help in a way to promote the events. More over it is in the heart of the city so travelling is much easier and even in the past the number of events conducted here have been a success.. To be precise and short the main reason behind the selection of this venue are listed below

Great Reach – Value for Money

To Attract Sponsors

Targeting Audience

Transport

International Exposure

Site Suitability, Layout and Design

There has been a lot of consideration given behind selecting this venue because the number of people the event should reach is a mass and The pavilion Kuala Lumpur is the apt venue for such an event but when there are a lot of people involved many things have to be considered the space availability which is a lot in the Pavilion the ground Layout is it grass or rough , inside pavilion it is fully made of Marble with a fine design of Water fountain at the exterior. Apart form this there will be a number of fun filled activities and the all the aspects about the lighting has to be considered since this event will be in the evening , Apart from this the safety aspects have to be considered the Fire Exit , The entrance and the management of People with in the building with out any Mishap.

The design and layout of pavilion is absolutely convenient for this event which is fully filled with fun filled activities and the launch of the car , so the exhibition of the car and the events space where the activities will go on and the viewing gallery which is a view in pavilion and hardly any other mall in Malaysia can have such a great viewing gallery because this mall ha s four more levels up which are circular and almost people can view the event from all the levels which is a very good aspect.

Site Plan

Pavilion is planned and designed absolutely well and the even manager has to decide what he needs where because the site is absolutely perfect with the entrance from one end which is the main entrance and leads to the centre court at level three where all the events are staged. The mall is well equipped with perfect fire exits at many points , and toilets for the convince of the audience and the traffic .

Crowd/Traffic Management/Parking

It is very important that the management of the crowd has to be done very efficiently and to ensure that this does not end up in any kind of a conflict and to ensure the smooth running of the event. So everything has to be considered such as the crowd profile and so on.In choosing your site consider how easy it will be for people to gain access and what car parking facilities are available. Unplanned and uncontrolled access and egress to a site could result in a serious accident. Will you need to have stewards to direct people to and from car parks? Consider both traffic flows and pedestrian routes. How will you segregate the two? Do you need to provide barriers/ signs or ask for a road closure to help with safe access? (If road closures are required, signs on the highway, traffic diversions and/or the placement of cones are required, an application must be made for a traffic regulation order and/or approval from the highway authority.) How will contractors get their vehicles onto site? How will emergency vehicles get on and off site and how will you ensure that emergency routes are kept clear? Adequate signs and directions should be provided in prominent positions on the approaches to the entrances. Local rail and bus companies should be advised of larger events to establish if existing services are adequate. You will also need to liaise with them if road closures or diversions are intended. A traffic management plan with site maps may help to make the arrangements clear for all people working at your event.

The Concept Of The Event

The Concept is very important behind the success of any event. This event is a cultural Event with a mix of some corporate style which is unique in its own because many events are corporate or either cultural but the concept behind this event is all about the ethnic diversity of people living in Malaysia. Where we speak about the 1 Malaysia and the hospitality given to various tribes of people. This cultural event will focus on making the relations of various countries and the people even more stronger and bringing the feeling of oneness in the human kind. The events include a range of cultural events from various countries especially from India , China and the Middle east , which is sponsored by Lexus who are launching their new model of car of the year which is small segment of car which many people can afford to buy with amazing features.

A Brief About the Company and the Need For a Sponsor

Lexus is one of the world famous companies in the automobile industry with its wide range of Cars and is world Famous and is available for a class of audience , and is running successfully all over the world and has many competitors as well.

Every event needs a sponsor for the smooth running of the event because capital and funds are very essential for any event and more over having sponsors can make the event more interesting and can have many programs and great prizes as well for the audience which can attract them to participate in the event as well.

Since this is a cultural event with a liitle mix of corporate it is a must to understand hwat aare they first .

What are Cultural Events

Cultural events tend to be interlinked with major events as due to the media coverage they attract significant numbers of visitors. These types of events stem from traditional routes or festivals. Major musicals such as Phantom of the Opera reap considerable tourism revenue for Londons west end and are classified as cultural events. Festivals within the events industry which involves the arts have a clear specific programme delivered with a clear purpose which can be usefully applied. Cultural events according to Bowdin (1999) can be sub classified. These are as follows:

High profile cultural event, tend to have a multitude of aims in order to be able to reach the highest standards, to gain a high level of media coverage, to reach a broad breath of the population and to generate high levels of income.

Festivals which celebrate a particular location are festivals which aim to bring people together to celebrate their local area. These events often feature a large number of local groups.

Art form festivals, offer unique opportunities for those wishing to see the particular event and the art forms associated with it.

Celebration of work by a community of interest, are festivals which highlight a particular group, an example of this being a fundraising musical concert raising money for the NSPCC. These events often contain a large proportion of participatory workshops.

Calendar events, these are cultural or religious festivals, Christmas for example. Indigenous traditions of large scale assembly have generally died away within the UK. However foreign influences have brought carnivals and melas which enhance the cultural mix of festivals within the UK.

Amateur arts festivals, this is a low profile sector but still fairly large involving thousands of people.

Commercial music festivals are the most commonly known and attended cultural events. Commercial music festivals take place in most major cities and even outside, for example Robbie Williams has performed at Knebworth.

What are cooperate Events

Organisations have to be creative enough these days to compete with their competitors to survive in the globalised market. A corporate event can involve a number of things especially great planning because any mishap can spoil the image of the organisation so they have to plan everything very effectively and try to organise the event and then try to accomplish their goals with this event by reaching their audience or may be it might be a company get together as well.

The Impact of the Event

There are many advantages of social & culture impact, for example, shared building community pride, and shared experience. Events play an important part in encouraging social interaction and the celebrations of happy occasions and its probably more important in society. (Shone & Parry, 2004) For example, the Live 8 concerts which took place in 9 countries coincided with the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005, the shows planned to pressure world leaders to drop the debt of the world’s poorest nations, increase and improve aid, and negotiate fair trade rules in the interest

The Timing Of The Event

The Timing of the Event is very essential because everybodys convenience has to bee seen especially the target audience , when they hangout and other things have to be identified.

This traditional cultural event will take place in the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur during the entire weekend starting Friday the 5th June which will be fully filled with great refreshments , games , music , family activities , quizzes , dramas , competitions and huge artist markets dance events like belly dancing , live music and fair. The event which is entirely free of cost will be held from June 5 to June 7, 2010. One can find almost every kind of art, painting, sculpture, jewellery and more. In this great place

The most sensational part of the event is its musical show. The event holds a lot of relevance in the society since such festivals also seem to educate young children This event always brings with it the shades and blossom of various cultures around the world especially in Asia along with exciting entertainment.

The timings of the festival are as follows:

On Friday, the event begins at 1700 hrs and lasts till 2130 hrs at night, while on Saturday, it will fall between 16:00 hrs to 21:30 hrs. The last day of the Dogwood Festival 2010, Sunday, will see the gates open at 16:00 hrs and end at 21:00 hrs.

Marketing The Event

Marketing the Event is the most important for the success of the event. The most important aspect of any event is to achieve its objective here in this event the main focus is on bringing in all the ethnic cultures under one roof which is the pavilion and also show to the world the unity which prevails in Malaysia which can improve the tourism industry as well and then the next focus is the grand launch of Nexus SAHE which is the latest car from the Lexus company.

Since this event is to be held in the Pavilion there will be a walk in crowd for sure but still it would be important that there are come promotional activities to be carried on so the marketing of the event will involve the following methods to achieve the goals and objectives of the event. When ever there is any kind of marketing going there is a big gap between the promises done and the actual expectations , generally what happens is the audience attend the events and spend their money without any results favouring them which is very common , so things have to be considered because the audience have this fear in their mind. , so the campaign designed will be in such a form that if somebody reads the advertisement he should be attracted they should be persuaded towards the event.

The most common methods of marketing would be the following

Inflators

Flyers

Billboards

Posters

Radio Jingles

Email Marketing

Internet banners

Promotional Ads with Gifts.

So all these will create a buzz among the people and in case if there is a teaser ad it can create a sense of suspense what is it , which could also lead many people to walk-in .

The Cost for this Event

The cost factor is very important for any event to be conducted because without the money no event cannot be conducted but at the same time the event should be worth the money . Although there is a sponsor for the event it is important that there are other methods of looking for more money like co sponsors , allocating booths to other advertisers and so on to cover up some cost from the event because this event is mainly from eh sponsors and nothing is covered from the audience , which is totally free for them.

Expenses

All the cost mentioned are approximate to the best of my knowledge which would be suitable for this event

The Site

Publicity

Decorations

Programs

Prizes

Miscellaneous

So the total expenses are

And the estimated expenses

Key components of a successful event

There are 7 key components of a successful event: establish the Mission and Objectives for the event, human resources management effective leadership, satisfying stakeholder needs, do detailed planning, implementing the event and good post evaluation report.

A clear statement of purpose and vision should underpin every statement. (Bowdin, 2006, page 124) A vision or mission statement describes in the broadest terms the task that the event organization has set for itself. (Bowdin, 2006, page 123) Objectives are based on the mission statement and provide more clarity as to what the event is trying to achieve.

Event is a kind of labor intensive goods because there are volunteers. Olympics Games is a good example, there were about 1,700,000 volunteers in 2008 Beijing Olympics. The core of every successful event is planning and management of human resources effectively. (Bowdin, 2006, page 144)

Every successful event must satisfy most of the stakeholders needs such as the community, host organization, co-workers and media. (Bowdin, 2006, page 99)

The personality and leadership style play an important part in how an event turns out. (Watts, 1988, page 31) Moreover, in the event management process the event leadership styles play an important role in it. (Goldblatt, 2005, page 159)

Finally, its the implementing and evaluation. Implementing is to achieve the plan and should have both plan A and plan B. If there are some accidents, you can use the plan B. Evaluation is get feedbacks from customers after event.

The Event Management Process

There are 4 main areas of planning and staging events: initial planning, detailed planning, implementing the event and post event evaluation. First of all, there are 2 parts of initial planning: creating the event concept and evaluating the event concept. Creating the event concept focuses on the 5 Ws which means Why, Who, When, Where and What. (Goldblatt, 2005) Evaluating the event concept means a feasibility study or a screening process will be undertaken to choose the best concept. (Shone & Parry, 2004) There are 5 parts of detailed planning: objectives, situational analysis, financial planning, marketing planning and operational planning.

The financial planning and good financial control are important part of the event management process. (Shone, 2004) Venue selection is the most important decision in event management process in many events such as wedding reception and birthday party. Operational planning includes getting every in place for an event and focuses on staffing, venue selection, equipment and catering. (Shone & Parry)

In the event planning process, the marketing plan is a significant component. It focuses the 4 Ps (product, pricing, places and promoting).

The Important Aspects To Be Considered

There are 6 very important elements that any host of a major international event should consider:

Supplying new and/or redeveloped housing and venues

Identifying and creating opportunities for employment and business growth

Increasing public transport and accessibility without interfering too much with everyday life

Improving the design of the urban environment, by creating new exciting venues, protecting heritage sites, and securing safe, well located public domains

Protect and improve the natural and cultural environments

Encourage efficient planning and encourage investment, job creation and business confidence

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My Role as an Events Organiser

An events organiser has many important roles and duties that need to be accomplished. In a events environment, the typical duties will usually include:-

To research the current market in order to identify if there are any prospect for that type of events;

To communicate with clients to determine their specific requirement for that particular event.

You would also need to create a thorough and comprehensive proposal for the events. This would include: – timelines, venues, suppliers, legal obligations, staffing and budgets.

You would need to set, agree and control a budget;

You would also need to book a suitable venue for the events to be held.

An events organiser would also need to guarantee that the insurance, legal, health and safety requirements are adhere to;

coordinating venue management, caterers, stand designers, contractors and equipment hire;

organising facilities for car parking, traffic control, security, first aid, hospitality and the media;

Some events may need special guest to be at the events, so it is the events organisers role to recognize and also secure the speakers.

They would also need to plan the room layouts and also schedule the workshops.

Manage staffing requirement and staff update;

The final straw of the role of an events organiser is that they would need to supervise the disassemble and removal of the event and also making sure of clearing the venue competently

On the 27th of April 2008, Josef Fritzl was arrested in Amstetten, a small town in Austria. It has shown that Fritzl sexually abused his daughter, Elisabeth, since she was eleven years old. When she was eighteen years old he locked her up in the basement underneath his house. Fritzl forced his daughter Elisabeth to write a letter to her mother where she stated that she had run away from home and joined a sect. The sexual abuse led to the birth of seven children. Three of these children were raised by Elisabeth in the basement and the other three were raised by Fritzl and his wife. One of the children died a few days after it was born. Furthermore, Fritzl convinced his wife that the three children they raised were exposed by Elisabeth. When one of the children that lived in the basement, the at that time nineteen-year-old Kersten, got ill Elisabeth convinced her father that she needed to be hospitalized. Because Kersten was not registered anywhere, one of the doctors informed the authorities. After this, Elisabeth saw a program on the television in her basement that made a call up for the mother of Kersten. Then she convinced her father to bring her to the hospital, which led to the hearings of Fritzl and Elisabeth and the confessions of the cruelties that took place. After twenty-four years Elisabeth was freed from the basement and reunited with all her children (Wikipedia, 2010).

This affair has received tremendous attention in the media and therefore the case is known all over the world. The affaire encompasses a painful and shameful episode on a national and local basis. Furthermore, the house of Fritzl has become a touristic attraction. Amstetten is dealing with an increasing amount of tourists that come to visit the house. When tourists visit the house, they often take photos of the house and of themselves in front of it. The articles on the internet show that the local authorities find this shocking (HLN, 2010). The phenomenon that people visit places that are associated with death, suffering and violence can be described as dark tourism. Thanatourism is a similar concept and also involves the visiting of locations associated with death and suffering, but an emphasis is placed upon symbolically experiencing a painful death. Another related concept is ‘black spots’, which can be described as commercial cemeteries of famous people or locations where death and suffering took place. The house of Fritzl belongs to such places and visiting this location fits the description of dark tourism and thanatourism. The house of Fritzl, where the abuse and cruelties took place, can be seen as a symbolic reflection of this affaire and its tragic events. Furthermore, the house serves as a tangible object that invokes the memory of the Fritzl-affaire (Yull, 2003: 10-13; Logan en Reeves, 2009: 1-3; Rojek, 1993: 136). The phenomenon that people visit the house of Fritzl inspired me to formulate the following research question: “What are the motivations of dark tourists? The case of the house of J. Fritzl in Amstetten.” It is interesting to find out why tourists visit the house, if the media attention has played a role in the decision of people to visit the house and if certain characteristics, such as age and gender, affect the motivation of these visitors. The case of Fritzl offers a fascinating and recent case to go more in-depth into the motivations of dark tourists.

Scientific and Social Relevance

The scientific relevance of this research question lies in the fact that the subject of dark tourism is relatively new within the academic field. Several articles have been published on this topic, but as Stone (2006) argues: ‘despite this increasing attention the dark tourism literature remains both eclectic and theoretical fragile’ (Stone, 2006: 145). Some researchers have already focused on visitor motivations of dark tourist sites. For example, Yull (2003) investigated why people visit the Holocaust Museum in Houston. However, according to Stone (2006) and Sharpley (2009) research first and foremost has focused on describing the different dark tourist sites, rather than on the consumption and experiences of visitors. This research will contribute to the understanding of visitor participation in dark tourism by taking the visitors of the house of Fritzl as the focal point of this research. Furthermore, the existing research has not focused on the motivations of visitors to dark tourist sites, comparable to the house of Fritzl and therefore this research will add to and fill the gap in the existing literature. The social relevance of this research is harder to determine. However, finding out what the motivations of visitors are, might provide useful and relevant information for directly involved parties, other than the scientific community. For example, this information could offer the local community of Amstetten and (in)direct victims of this case a better understanding of what is going on and with what reasons people visit this site of horror. For example visitors might be motivated to visit this place to pay respect to the victims or remember the cruelties that took place, instead of entertainment purposes. Furthermore, the results of this research could even be relevant to society as a whole, since dark sites similar to the house of Fritzl seem to increasingly pop up and attract visitors world-wide. This research seeks to provide insights into why people are motivated to visit these morbid locations.

Theoretical Concepts and Hypothesized Relations

As mentioned previously, several theoretical concepts are related to the phenomenon where people visit places associated with pain, death and suffering. Academic attention to this phenomenon increased in the twentieth century and several theoretical concepts were introduced. These concepts are black spots (Rojek, 1993), dark tourism (Lennon and Foley, 1996: in Yull, 2003) and thanatourism (Seaton, 1996: in Sharpley, 2009). These ‘dark concepts’ will be briefly discussed in a more or less chronicle order, based on introduction in the literature. Another concept of importance for this research is visitor motivations (Sharpley, 2009: 12-15).

Dark Concepts
Black Spots

Rojek (1993) coined the term black spots and argues that these locations involve commercial cemeteries of famous people or sites where death and suffering took place. In his research, Rojek (1993) also mentions that people increasingly visit these dark sites and that entrepreneurs initiate tours around these black spots. Examples of black spots are the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim-Brzezinka, Ground Zero in New York and the location where Princess Diana got killed in a car crash (Rojek, 1993: 136-145).

Dark Tourism and Thanatourism

Visiting places associated with death, pain and suffering is becoming increasingly popular. However, Sharpley (2009) argues that this is not a new phenomenon. In the Roman Empire, it was a common form of entertainment to attend a gladiators match. Another example are the public executions in the Middle Ages. Traveling to places where death and suffering are central elements can be defined as dark tourism. Furthermore, it involves consuming real or simulated places of death and horror. Visiting these places where actual cruelties took place by relatives or friends of the victims cannot be seen as a form of dark tourism. Thanatourism is a concept which strongly relates to dark tourism and was introduced in the literature in the same year as dark tourism. Thanatourism entails the visiting of locations associated with death and suffering, where visitors want to symbolically experience a painful death. This description points more to the motivations of visitors of dark sites. However, the term dark tourism is usually used in the academic field and no distinction is made between the concepts dark tourism and thanatourism. Therefore, I will use the term dark tourism in this research and make no difference between dark tourism and thanatourism (Lennon en Foley, 2000: 3-5; Yull, 2003: 10, 11; Sharpley, 2009: 3-19). Dark tourism involves the actual visiting of black spots. There are different black spots which are visited daily by tourists and therefore belong to sites of dark tourism. Furthermore, several tours are initiated around dark sites. Commercial motives, in terms of entrance fees, are often involved. Examples are the ‘Jack the Ripper tour’ in London or the tour in Charleroi which shows you, among other dark sites, the house of the famous kidnapper and child molester Marc Dutroux. Visiting morbid museums, old prisons or battle field fall also under the category dark tourism. As discussed previously, the house of Fritzl fits the description of a black spots and increasingly attracts visitors. This research seeks to understand the motivations of these visitors (Stone, 2006: 145, 146, 152; HLN, 2010).

Visitor Motivations

For this research it is necessary to include visitor motivations as a theoretical concept. Motivations of individuals to visit regular tourist places include getting acquainted with other cultures and increase ones knowledge about these locations. Furthermore, motivations often involve entertainment purposes, such as having fun or seeking adventure. Relaxation, revitalization, being active and get close to nature are also common incentives to visit a certain location (Kozak, 2002: 225). However, these motivations of regular touristic locations might differ from motivations of tourists that visit black spots. Unfortunately, few literature is available that focus on visitor motivations of dark tourists. The literature that is accessible, uses similar research questions to the one is used in this research. Yull (2003) studied the motivations of dark tourists and focused more specifically on the motivations of visitors of the Holocaust Museum in Houston. Niemela (2010) focused on visitor motivations of the House of Terror museum in Budapest. This museum is built to remember the tortured and killed people during World War II. In addition, Poria, Reichel and Biran (2006) chose to investigate the motivations of the visitors of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Although the dark tourist locations used in these researches are museums associated with death and suffering and therefore differ from the dark site that is used in this research, similar motivations may be found. If different motivations are found, it could be argued that this difference is dependent on the specific dark tourist site. According to Yull (2003), motivations of dark tourist could involve entertainment purposes, such as providing a thrill, a novel experience or adventure. Furthermore, remembering the victims and the cruelties that took place or curiosity can also be motivations of tourist that visit the house of Fritzl. Although education might be more suitable as a motivation to visit a museum associated with death and suffering, individuals can also visit the house of Fritzl to learn something. For example, visitors might want to enrich their knowledge about the Fritzl-affaire. In addition, Niemela (2010) argues that emotional involvement might also play a role in the motivations of dark tourists. Visitors might identify or have a personal connection with the cruelties that took place. Moreover, Poria, Reichel and Biran (2006) include two more motivations; tourists might visit a dark site, because it is famous or because they feel that the site is historically important (Yull, 2003: 146-159, 191-199; Niemela, 2010: 37; Poria, Reichel and Biran, 2006: 322). The media play an important role within the field of dark tourism. The media can report tragic events that take place all over the world. The attention that the media pay to tragic and horrible events serve as a stimulation for flows of tourism. Furthermore, media has the capacity to ‘bring dark tourism sites to public consciousness’ (Yull, 2003: 125). Additionally, Lennon and Foley (2000) argue that the attention of the media to specific dark sites, might motivate individuals to visit the location in order to experience the reality behind the media representations. Since, the Fritzl-affaire received tremendous attention in the media, it will be likely that this attention has an influence on the motivation of visitors (Stone, 2009: 57; Seaton, 2009: 90; 95, 106; Lennon and Foley, 2000: 152).

Operationalization of Theoretical Concepts

In this section, the operationalization of the theoretical concepts will be discussed. To answer the question “What are the motivations of dark tourists? The case of the house of J. Fritzl in Amstetten”, I will conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews [1] with visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten. This implies that a topic list will be made, consisting of topics that will be addressed in the interview. However, the order in which the topics will be discussed is not fixed and if necessary, the interviewer will probe for more information and adapt to new theme’s that are brought up by the interviewees. Furthermore, the interviewer can adapt to the level of comprehension of the respondents. The questions will be open, which means that no answer categories will be made (‘t Hart, Boeije and Hox, 2007: 274, 275; Gilbert, 2001: 123, 124). Several topics that will be addressed in the interview are outlined. First of all, it is important to include demographic factors of the visitors, such as age, the country the interviewee lives in and the highest obtained level of education (primary school or less, secondary school, intermediate vocational training, higher vocational training, college or post graduate). Furthermore, the gender of the respondent will be noted during the interview. These demographic factors are included, because they are important background variables and might affect the motivations people have to visit the house of Fritzl.

Other topics that will be included will focus upon the motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten. It will be asked what attracted the visitors to visit Amstetten and what their primary reason is for visiting this town. I will seek to explore whether visitors come specifically for the house or if they have other motives or more than one reason to visit this town. Then, I will focus on the topic of why people visit the house of Fritzl. Although, similar answers to the research on dark tourist motivations described above maybe found, such as entertainment, curiosity, remembrance of the victims and cruelties that took place, emotional involvement, historical importance of the site or its fame, unexpected answers also need to be taken into account. Furthermore, it is essential to go in-depth into the answers and ask for further elaboration if necessary. Additionally, it needs to be explored whether visitors have multiple motivations to visit the house of Fritzl. Seeking to understand motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl, demands for adapting to possible unexpected answers and the skills to react to this situation adequately. Furthermore, the role of the media will be addressed. Central themes will be, whether visitors are familiar with and interested in the Fritzl-affaire, if they have followed the case in the news, documentaries or on the internet. This will seek to explore whether media attention to the Fritzl-affaire affects the tourists in their motivation to visit the house. Next, I will focus upon if the visitors have previously visited other dark locations, where cruelties have taken place. It will be interesting to find out if there is a relationship between visiting the house of Fritzl and other dark locations and if we are dealing with tourists that have an interest in visiting dark sites in general.

Plan for Data Collection

For this research, the visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten are the objects of study. Hence, it is necessary to come into contact with these visitors. For this research I choose to use qualitative semi-standardized interviews to answer the research question. Qualitative methods are used when a certain research topic is relatively new and unexplored. Furthermore, qualitative methods offer the possibility to go more in-depth into specific aspects of a certain phenomenon. Baarda, de Goede and van der Meer-Middelburg (1996) argue that qualitative interviews are a suitable method when ideas, motivations, opinions and experiences need to be investigated. Since this research seeks to explore the motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten, it fits this description (‘t Hart et al. 2007: 253; Baarda et al. 1996: 18-20). I choose to use semi-structured, one-to-one interviews. This implies that topics will be formulated and addressed in the interview. Besides demographic questions, specific questions, answer categories or the order of the questions will not be fixed in advance. This gives the interviewer the opportunity to probe for more information if necessary or reflexively respond to new theme’s that might be brought up. This reflexive approach is essential, since motivations of dark tourists is relatively unexplored, especially in regard to locations comparable to the house of Fritzl. This may result in unexpected answers to be brought up. When standardized methods are used, this will not be possible. One-to-one interviews are used, because the interviewees will not be influenced by the opinions of others and may give them the feeling to speak more openly about their motivation(s). Furthermore, confidentiality and anonymity of the data will be guaranteed (Baarda et al., 1996: 18-24, 26-28; ‘t Hart et al. 2007: 254, 261, 262, 267; Gilbert, 2001: 123-129). To interview the research participants of this research it is necessary to go to Amstetten, which is roughly a nine hour drive from Rotterdam. I will spend three days around the house of Fritzl and I will approach the visitors that come by. I will ask them if they are willing to participate in this research. This research requires purposive sampling, because I assume that only a small group of visitors of the house of Fritzl is accessible in these three days and this group will be likely to represent the visitors as a whole. Furthermore, ‘using a probability sample is often unrealistic for small-scale or qualitative research’ (Gilbert, 2001: 62). The duration of the interview will be approximately twenty minutes and the amount of interviewees will depend on the willingness to participate. The aim will be to conduct ten to twenty interviews. Furthermore, the interviews will be recorded. Gilbert (2001) argues that recording is recommendable, especially when conducting non-standardized or semi-structured interviews. This, because this type of carrying out interviews requires an active participation of the interviewer within the conversation. By recording the interview, the data won’t be lost and in contrast to making notes it won’t obstruct or slow down the dialogue. It also signals that the responses of the respondents are taking seriously. Of course, the use of recording will be explained to the interviewees and their approval will be asked. Directly after the interview, notes will be made about the setting, the interview and the interviewee which can be used to recall the context of the particular interview (‘t Hart et al. 2007: 268-270; Gilbert, 2001: 61-63, 135-137).

Plan for Data Analysis

When the data is collected, the analysis of the data will begin. First of all, the recorded interviews will be verbatim transcribed. I choose to write down everything that is said, because then data won’t get lost that might be of significance when the research progresses. Although, transcribing everything is time-consuming and labor-intensive, the low quantity of interviews makes it possible to do so. Furthermore, transcribing the data allows you to get familiar with the data and it helps facilitating thoughts and ideas about possible connections and underlying themes. Before analyzing, the transcripts will be checked by listening to the recordings once more and by carefully reading the written text. The demographic characteristics of the respondents will be shown on the first page of the transcripts. After this, I will offer the transcript to the respondents, so that accuracy can be checked and comments can be made. This improves reliability and validity of the answers (Gilbert, 2001: 134-137). The transcripts will be read repeatedly with the aim to identify underlying themes and connections. By comparing and contrasting fragments within interviews and between interviews, fragments with an underlying connection will be categorized and labeled. Furthermore, it will show whether the earlier described motivations are found in the transcripts, or if new themes will be discovered. Similarities and dissimilarities between different respondents may emerge and might relate to their demographic characteristics. Eventually, the codified themes will be linked and compared to draw a full picture of the motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten and answer the research question (Gilbert, 2001: 137, 138; ‘t Hart et al. 2007: 176, 277).

Discussion

Gilbert (2008) describes six properties that a research question should have. The research question should be interesting, relevant, concise, answerable, feasible and ethical. For this research it is necessary to address two of these properties more in-depth, which are the feasibility of this research and its ethical dimensions. The research question, “What are the motivations of dark tourists? The case of the house of J. Fritzl in Amstetten”, is feasible to the extent that it can be answered within a relatively short period of time and with relatively low costs. Furthermore, the research participants are accessible. However, the search for visitors of the house of Fritzl might show difficulties. For this research I will spend three days around the house of Fritzl and approach the tourists that will visit the house. However, it is possible that on these particular days there will be no visitors at all. Consequently, finding research participants might be time-consuming and unpleasant (Gilbert, 2008: 48). According to Gilbert (2008), it is of importance to take into account the ethical dimensions of a research question. While no specific approval is needed from institutions to conduct this research, this research involves a certain sensitivity. The reason for this, is that this study focuses upon an affair where people suffered and were mistreated. Therefore, this affair is sensitive to victims or relatives of these victims. Furthermore, this case might be sensitive to the neighboring residents or the whole community of Amstetten. Spending three days in front of the house of Fritzl to gather the research participants might be offensive to the residents. For example, they might be upset or feel that their privacy is violated. Consequently, it is necessary to work with discretion. Eventual publication of this research also involves ethical implications. Publication might cause harm to the different parties involved (Gilbert, 2008: 48, 49; Gilbert, 2001: 49-53). A last brief comment I would like to make is about the weaknesses of

Literature

Baarda, D.B., de Goede, M.P.M. & van der Meer-Middelburg, A.G.E. 1996. Basisboek Open Interviewen. Groningen: Stenfert Kroese.

Gilbert, N. 2001. Researching Social Life (2nd edition). London: Sage Publications.

Gilbert, N. 2008. Researching Social Life (3d edition). London: Sage Publications.

‘t Hart, H., Boeije, H. & Hox, J. 2007. Onderzoeksmethoden. Amsterdam: Boom onderwijs.

Kozak, M. 2003. Comparative analysis of tourist motivations by nationality and destinations. Tourism Management 23, 221-232.

Lennon, J.J. & Foley, M. 2000. Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Logan, W. & Reeves, K. 2009. Places of Pain and Shame: Dealing with “Difficult Heritage”. USA/Canada: Routledge.

Niemela, T. 2010. Motivation Factors in Dark Tourism: Case: House of Terror.

https://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/14984/Niemela_Titta.pdf?sequence=3

6 October 2010

Poria, Y., Reichel, A. & Biran, A. 2006. Heritage Site Perceptions and Motivations to Visit. Journal of Travel Research 44, 318-326.

Rojek, C. 1993. Ways of Escape: Modern Transformations in Leisure and Travel. London: The MacMillian Press.

Sharpley, R. 2009. Shedding Light on Dark Tourism: An Introduction. In: R. Sharpley & P.R. Stone. The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism. Bristol: Channel View Publications, 3-22.

Stone, P.R. 2006. A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Tourism 54 (2), 145-160.

Stone, P.R. 2009. Dark Tourism: Morality and New Moral Spaces. In: R. Sharpley & P.R. Stone. The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism. Bristol: Channel View Publications, 56-74.

Yull, S.M. 2003. Dark Tourism: Understanding Visitor Motivation at Sites of Death and Disaster. http://etd.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/89/YUILL-THESIS.pdf?sequence=1.

7 October 2010

Websites

HLN, 2010

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/314386/2008/06/16/Toeristen-op-de-foto-voor-horrorkelder.dhtml

6 October 2010

HLN, 2010

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/1901/reisnieuws/article/detail/269697/2008/05/08/Ramptoerisme-bij-Oostenrijks-gruwelhuis.dhtml

6 October 2010

Wikipedia, 2010

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl-incestzaak

6 October 2010

2.1 WHAT ARE EVENTS?

Events play a vital role in human society. The least excuse could be found for good forms of celebrations. Events are planned acts and performances, which originates from ancient history. Events and festivals are well documented in the historical era before the fall of the Western Roman Empire (A.D 476). They serve important function for the society, providing participants with the opportunity to assert their identities and to share rituals and celebrations with each other. Events have its stem from cultural and historical values. In the middle ages, events and ceremonies played a major role in ensuring that a dull daily existence was enlivened and that people was entertained. Since at that time there was no TV or Net for entertainment. People have traditionally celebrated religious festivals, Christmas, Easter, Cavadee, Maha Shivratree. They have also participated in other major events staged by rulers of ancient time. In the seventeen and eighteen century, Kings have organized events in a way to have control on the public.

In modern societies, traditional religious and national festivals are no longer a key focus for celebrations and gatherings. They focus on creative events like weddings, anniversaries, award ceremonies, and so on.( Shone and Parry, 2004)

An event is any gathering that occurs at a given time in a given place. It is an occurrence, a significant gathering that takes place in a social setting. However, there are no standardized definitions of what is an event. An event is “a unique moment in time celebrated with ceremony and ritual to satisfy specific needs”.( Goldblatt 1997 p. 2)

The Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) industry glossary of terms (CIC ,2003) defines an event as, an organized occasion such as a meeting, convention, exhibition, special event, gala dinner, etc. an event comprises of many different yet related functions. Getz (2005, p. 16) argues that a principle applying to events is that they are temporary and that ‘ Every such event is unique streaming from the blend of management, program, setting and people.’

Modern events vary in terms of their scale, complexity and number of stakeholders involved.

Small Event Massive Event

Few stakeholders Many stakeholders

Clear objectives Complex objectives

There are different types of events that have been developed around the world to suit the needs of everyone. It ranges from individual to business events that bring together people around the world.

2.1.1The importance of events

It is crucial for event organizers to address the needs of the stakeholders, the direct and indirect participants. Event organizers have to keep in mind his clientele. If for them it is the nth event they are organizing, they should keep in mind that this same event may be the first one, the dream and opportunity of a lifetime for its participants and spectators. Bearing this in mind, event organizers must organize each event with the same zeal, motivation and thrill as they organized the first one. Organizers have to address the precise nature of their tasks as each event has different characteristics and requirements. Moreover all events and their customers are important. They deserve the best treatment every time an event occurs. It is important for event organizers to offer the best treatment possible as a poor service will result in customer dissatisfaction and loss of business in the long run.( Watt, 1998)

Events have a number of roles in a destination (Yeoman, Robertson, et al, 2004). Getz, 1997, identifies these as ‘attractions, image makers, animators of static attractions and catalyst for further development. They have the potential to reduce negative impacts of mass visitation and foster better host-guest relations. Events can expand tourists season, extend peak season or even bring in new season into the life of a community’. The community development perspective on event tourism acknowledges the elements of community spirit and pride, corporation, leadership, improvement of community traditions, capacity to control development, improvement to social and health services and environmental quality.

2.1.2 Characteristics of the best events

The elements that make best events are:

A clear vision and an explicit reason for everyone’s work.
SMART objectives to which everyone is committed.
An adequate, flexible organizational structure competent to accomplish precise tasks, but retaining a large unity of purpose.
Staffs that is committed and ready to ‘go the step beyond’.
Strong leadership to be able to manage the event.
Exact thorough planning carried out and documented within an suitable timescale.
A coordinated team effort that operates within financial plans, drawing on all accessible resources.
Well-organized lines of communications.
An excellent public image.
Successful advertising and presentation, and built in contingency tactics.
Full commitment towards customers.
Efficient ongoing control and monitoring systems.
An ambiance of harmony, focus and hard work, humor and interest.
Good post event assessment. (Adapted from Watt, 1998)
2.2Event Concept

All events start with an idea. The idea describes the event in its simplest forms. Concepts are clear statements that give meaning and parameters to an event idea. Defining an event concept is a creative process. The 5 W’s: WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHEN and WHERE, are tools used for transforming an idea into a concept. The W’s helps to know if an event idea is feasible, viable and sustainable. Those questions are crucial as they shape the event design and reflect the event purpose (Goldblatt. 2001).

WHO: events bring together people who deliver the event experience. Those people include suppliers, stakeholders, audience, planers and so on. For events to be successful it is important to determine who is responsible for what. Also communication should flow smoothly among all people involved as events have impacts on wider communities.

WHAT: Events experiences includes organizational teams that designs the contents of the event. This process is time consuming. By creating a mission statement specific goals and needs are set up. The mission statement defines the objective and assists in establishing the event in the wider external context.

WHY: It is important to consider why an event is happening. Consider the purpose of the event. All events have a purpose, whether it is an inaugural ceremony, cultural festival or a political meeting.

WHEN: Timing of events is a critical factor for its success. In the design and development stage, planning process, including research, funding, marketing and design has to be considered. In the event delivery process venue availability, production timelines, performers, customers, competing events and supplier availability needs to be taken into account.

WHERE: the location of the event needs to be considered. The choice of venues depends on type of events, organizations budget and accessibility to the public.

(Source: Robinson, Wale and Dickson, 2010)

2.3Event classification

Events are generally classified according to their size and type. Firstly we will look at the event classification by size; which is mainly of three categories:

Mega events
Hallmark events
Major events
2.3.1Mega Events

Mega Events are very large events with crowded audience and a good management team behind its organization. Allen et al. (2005) defines mega events as ‘those that are so large they affect whole economies and reverberate in the global media. They include Olympic Games and World Fairs.’ Mega events require many years of organization and it targets tourists as well as the host population organizing the event. Mega Events look into every aspect of life at the destination during the event; transport, medical services in case of injuries, retail outlets. (Getz 1997) suggests that mega events should have more than one million visitors and capital cost amounting to at least 500 million. It should have a reputation of a must see event. Additionally he argues, ‘Mega events, by way of their size or significance, are those that yield extraordinarily high levels of tourism, media coverage, prestige or economic impact for a host destination’.

Till now, in Mauritius has not yet organized such mega events.

2.3.2Hallmark Events

Hallmark Events are not on such huge scale. Such events take place repeatedly in the same destination. The term hallmark event refers to’ a recurring event that possesses such significance, in terms of tradition, attractiveness, image, or publicity, that the event provide the host venue, a community, or destination with a competitive advantage’.(Getz, 1997)

‘Those events that become so identified with the spirit or ethos of a town, city or region, that they become synonymous with the name of the place, and gain widespread recognition, and awareness’. (Allen et al. , 2005).

The benefits of such hallmark events are the creation of new facilities, improvements to the infrastructure, an increase in tourism revenues.

In Mauritius, the religious festivals, namely, Maha Shivratree and cavadee which are celebrated by the Hindus, attract many tourists and there is also media coverage.

2.3.3Major Events

Major Events can involve more people than a hallmark event. Such events have great pulling power in terms of visitors, media and performers/competitors. They also generate significant economic impact in the host destination. Major events are a source of temporary employment for some people (for example, to work on food stalls, cleaning services, etc.). It also attracts a number of volunteers and media coverage.

Many top international sporting championships fits into this category, and are increasingly being sought after, and bid for by national sporting organizations and governments in the competitive world of international major events. (Allen et al. 2002)

It can be said that, in Mauritius there has been major events. One of them being les Jeux des Iles de l’Ocean Indien held in 2003 where a games village was constructed at ebene for the accommodation of the athletes. Now the government has sold those apartments. There has also been international media coverage of the event and medical facilities, retail outlets, transportation of athletes, etc were provided.

2.4Special Eventsand Festivals

In recent years special events have become one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry. As stated by G. Bowdin, I. McDonnell et al, 2001, the term special events enclose specific rituals, presentations, performances and celebrations. Special events are staged to mark or celebrate a special occasion. The defining characteristic of a special event is its transience; ( Gilbert and Lizotte, 1998: 73). This suggest it would be impossible to tempt and maintain the same sense of thrill if a particular special event were to be held more often ( Yeoman, Robertson, et al, 2004). Special events include national day celebration, sporting events, and important civic occasions. An example could be, the Maha Shivratree festival celebrated by the Hindus in Mauritius.

Getz (2005, p. 16) Defines special events from two perspectives. One from the point of view of the event organizer and the second from the eye of the guest.

‘A special event is a one time or frequently occurring event outside normal programmes or activities of the sponsoring or organizing body’
To the guest the ‘event is an opportunity for a leisure, social or cultural experience outside the normal range of choices or beyond everyday experience’.

Getz added that the characteristics of special events are specialness, it creates a mood of festivity among the guests, they are unique and authentic. They have specific themes.

The word festival is derived from feast and implies a unique time for celebration. Festivals connect landscape to lifestyle and complex ways by introducing the human dimension. Those events entertain locals and offer recreational activity in and out season for visitors. Media coverage generated by events helps destinations build assurance and a positive image in the tourism market place.

Festivals are striking to communities looking to tackle issues of civic design, local pride and identity, heritage, urban renewal, employment opportunities and economic growth. The more an event is seen by its host community as emerging from within rather than imposing on them, the greater that community’s approval of the event will be. Festivals and events generally represent the host community’s sense of itself and sense of place.

Among the attributes that Getz believes makes an event special and unique are its festive spirit, uniqueness, quality, authenticity, tradition, hospitality, theming and symbolism.

Conferences fall under the generic umbrella of the term event. Therefore, it is important to consider the MICE industry when talking about events.

2.5 The MICE Industry

The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) Industry is known as a service industry that combines trade, transportation, travel and finance. It is also known as business tourism whereby people come to attend conferences, for example. MICE Tourism attracts invaluable business to a region and in return brings high returns to local economies in the sense that business tourists spend more, not only on hotels and restaurants but even on leisure activities such as visits to retails and local attractions such as museums and theaters’ (Clark, 2004). Attendees of MICE activities are known as ‘high spend’ travelers that meet the needs of yield driven tourism strategies (Braun, 1992). The MICE industry is characterized by the 3 Highs – High growth potential, high added values and highly beneficial innovations”. ; The “three larges – large output, Large opportunities for employment and large industry associations” ; and the “ three advantages – advantages over industries in human resources, technological knowhow and the efficient utilization of resources”.

It has been cited that within tourism, meetings and conventions are one of the fastest growing segments (Weber & Ladkin, 2003; Oppermann, 1996; Oppermann & Conn, 1997). The MICE sector is considered to be the blue chip of the tourism industry. The stakeholders in Mauritius are placing special interest and investing highly in this lucrative business of conferences to attract MICE businesses from particularly high profile destinations.

Meetings are structured events which bring people collectively to argue a topic of common interest, may be commercial or non commercial, may be attended by 6 or more people and may last a few hours or a week. What makes a meeting qualify as part of the tourism business is that it engages some of the service of the tourism industry, and is generally held away from the location of the organisation running it ( Davidson, 1994). There are various types of meeting that occurs in different settings and many goals or objectives for conducting a meeting (Boehme, 1999).

Incentive travel is a universal management instrument that uses an outstanding travel experience to encourage and/or recognise participants for improved levels of performance in support of the organizational goals. (SITE, 1998)

Conferences are participatory meetings that are designed mainly for the purpose of discussions, to find about a particular subject, to solve problems and consultation. Conferences are usually on a smaller scale and the flow of information is less complex. Conferences are usually limited in time and have specific objectives. The Meetings Industry Association (1996) defines a conference as ‘ An event involving 10 or more people for a minimum of four hours during one day or more, frequently held outside the company’s own premises’.

Exhibitions’. ‘Exhibitions bring suppliers of goods and services together with buyers, usually in a particular industry sector’. (Allen et al. 2002:15)

Recently there has been an initiative to not use the “MICE Market” label but instead “The Meetings Industry” as it encompasses every aspect of the MICE label.

2.6 Marketing of events and conferences

Marketing is seen as an integrated process of producing, distributing and selling goods and services. Lyndsey Taylor sums up the key characteristics and messages that genuine marketing contains:

Meeting customer needs
Attracting new customers
Reacting to market trends
Keeping up with competitors
Encouraging customer loyalty
Targeting specific customers
Identifying market opportunities
Noting customer feedback
Getting it right every time

The event industry is seen as a service industry. Events have the same characteristics as services (Watt, 1998). They are:

Intangible – customers enjoy the benefits and enjoyment of the event, but they can’t touch the event
Perishable- the benefits and enjoyment cannot be stored and carried forward to a future time. It has to be enjoyed on the spot.
Inseparable- it takes event organizers and customers to make an event happen
Consistent- it is important to offer consistent products an services as today’s customers are looking for consistency
Lack of ownership- events do not belong to any one. They are temporarily enjoyed by many.

Since events are the same as services it becomes important to market them. Marketing is a persuasive tool to attract people to an event. Event marketing is defined by:

1. “The marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organizational goals consists of determining the needs and wants of target markets (defined as the set of actual and potential buyers of products) and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors”. (Kotler, 2000)

2. “The functions of event management that can keep in touch the event’s participants and visitors (consumers), read their needs and motivation, develop products that meet those needs, and build a communication programme which expresses the event’s purpose and objectives. (Hall, 2000)

2.6.1 Factors in marketing

Marketing can be affected by a range of factors, some controllable and some not (Watt, 1998). He further stated companies must be aware of them:

Location; attractiveness and accessibility of the place as well as environmental factors like traffic and scenery.
Social factors; the attitudes of those involved in making an event or conference to happen affects people’s attitudes to what is appropriate.
Cultural influences; different groups in society; ethnic groups, social groups, will view events from different angles.
Fashion; at certain period certain events will be in craze and will attract large attendees.
Political factors; government will be in favor of those events that fits their beliefs.
Economic factors; how much money is available to hold an event or conference. Is there a need for sponsorship?
Philosophy; the beliefs and attitudes of people will affect the range of events provided.
2.6.2 Marketing Concept; theMarketing Mix

The marketing mix is a combination of marketing tools that are used to satisfy customers. It is the parameters that are within the control of marketing managers. The marketing mix is dependent upon environmental scanning, market research, understanding users and offering quality products and services. The marketing mix can be adjusted on a frequent basis to meet the changing needs of target population and other dynamics of the marketing environment. In the events industry, event organizers take into consideration the changing needs of its customers to develop their marketing mix. Jerome McCarthy (1960), a famous marketer states that marketing decisions fall under four categories:

2.6.2.1 Product

This is the end result – the event; exhibition, show or conference. It also involves all ancillary contributions like programmes, presentations, quality production and customer care.

2.6.2.2 Price

Can the event be provided at an affordable price? Can price packages be assembled to support group attendance or tourist rates?

2.6.2.3 Place

Place has several aspects. These include:

Venue, transport, accommodation, emergency access, car parking, geographic location, host town, catering location, environmental conditions, signposting, country, maps, region.

2.6.2.4 Promotion

Promotion also has several aspects, including:

Advertising, logo, pamphlets, displays, publicity, posters, merchandising. Appendix K elaborates on the role of promotion in the marketing mix

An excellent event manager will balance these aspects to produce a fine marketing mix. The leading thought must be for people and their quality concern; all operations at each phase and at any level need to acknowledge the elements of the marketing mix.

For some services, including events, another 4Ps needs to be considered. These include;

People; they are the vital picture in delivering events and conferences, especially proper customer care and effective teamwork.

Packaging; is concerned with the way events and conferences are being presented; whether as part of a holiday/ business package. Any marketing is dependent upon the packaging, e.g, a family package.

Partnership; the help of others and their marketing presence is very beneficial to make the event or conference successful.

Programming; when an event or conference is scheduled will be a main tool in its marketing. It should arouse curiosity and create interest by using extra projects around it.

(Adapted from: Watt, 1998)

2.7Impacts of special events and conventions

Impacts of events encompass a large number of positive benefits and negative impacts which arises because of an event taking place. Impacts can be positive as well as negative. It is the task of the event manager to identify and predict these impacts and manage them in order to achieve the best balance. Those impacts may be visible before the events actually take place, during the event and after the event and affect the stakeholders and the host population. Thus, it can be argued that there is inequity in the distribution of the impacts and benefits of events. (Hall. 1989) typically impacts from events fall under four categories, namely:

Economic Impacts
Physical and Environmental Impacts
Socio cultural Impacts
Political Impacts
2.7.1 Economic Impacts

Researchers and industry professionals agree that special events and conventions contribute to regional and national economies (Rutherford & Kreck, 1994). According to Crompton et al. (2001), economic impacts of events supplements the traditional financial balance sheets that do not address the issue of what the host population gets in return of those events.

The economic benefits that events bring to host destination are diverse. They bring an increase in employment and high income among the community, increased tax receipts and infrastructure. Hosting events demand work force, therefore, the host country’s population benefit from temporary as well as permanent jobs. It can be said that it is more beneficial to employ people residing in the region the event is held because there is no transport cost incurred. But even if labor is not available in the region the event is being held this is not such a major issue. As Mauritius is a small island, one can reach the farthest distance from one place to another in one hour. Tourists and locals come to events to spend; they purchase the tickets to attend to entertainments shows, they spend on food and beverage and so on. Money spent is injected in the local economy. Hence, events enhance the quality of life of people since the positive changes brought to the locality will remain even after the event has been held.

The costs associated with the economic impacts of events are the exploitation of resources, inflated prices and opportunity costs. Sellers choose to augment their prices, making more profit to the detriment of the host population Customers of events make inefficient use of the resources. For example, in a sporting event, in a moment of excitement, they can damage the lightings. Once the infrastructure is damaged, people will no longer be attracted to the event. There will be negative word of mouth and they may choose to stop coming there. For a local economy that depends entirely on hosting events, its economy suffers. Also, tourists have high spending powers.

2.7.2 Physical and Environmental impacts

Events are excellent way to showcase the unique features of hosts’ environments. In the interest of sustainability, sound strategic management, cost effectiveness and maximizing sponsorship/funding, it becomes increasingly important to consider environmental impacts of events. Today’s customers are looking for eco friendly products. Events market the environment in which it is held. Hall (1989) states that selling the image of an event comprises of the marketing of intrinsic properties of the destination. The impacts will be fairly visible for events that are held in suitable purpose built venues, e.g, stadium, sports ground or conference and exhibition centres. Impacts will be much greater if the event is to be held in public areas not ordinary reserved for event purposes. An event requires an environmental impact assessment before permission is given by government authorities to proceed

Events have positive effects on the natural and physical environments. The infrastructure at the destination is re organized, proper road network, lighting and scavenging facilities are set up to accommodate events. There is an improved transport and communication facility in the region. Many of London’s landmark venues have been the legacy of major events, including Crystal Palace (1851 Freat Exhibition)

Negative environmental and physical impacts of events occur when the level of visitor use is higher than the carrying capacity of the region. Aspects such as crowd movement and control, noise levels, access and parking are crucial elements. Other important issues include wear and tear of the physical and natural environment, heritage protection and disruption of the local community. Events cause potential threats to natural and built areas. This put enormous pressure on the area and leads to impacts such as land degradation (erosion), increased pollution, discharges into the soil, loss of natural habitat. It often put a strain on water resources and in the long run can force locals to compete for the use of critical resources. The different forms of travel used by the delegates, attendees’ performers and organizers of events impacts on traffic congestion.

Good communication and consultation with local authorities can help resolve of these issues. In addition, careful management planning is required to modify impacts.

2.7.3 Socio cultural impacts

Hall and Getz (1997) points out that all events have direct socio cultural impacts on participants as well as host community.

Events increase pride of its residents, which results from some community events, national day’s celebrations, and the validation of specific groups in the regions. Some events leave a legacy of greater awareness and involvement in sporting and cultural activities. Other’s widens people cultural horizons and uncover them to new and challenging people, traditions and values. For example, the melas held in Leeds every summer have brought about the powerful religious Asian traditions and cultural associations before wider audiences. Events have the art to challenge the imagination and explore new avenues. For example the installation of the Ice Cubes outdoor ice-skating rink at millennium square in Leeds. Moreover, events have the power to form the cornerstone of cultural strategies. Newham Council have developed its local cultural strategy, ‘Reasons to Be Cheerful’ at the centre of which is the vision that people choosing to live in Newham by 2010. In essence, events can become an opportunity to improve social relationships, for strengthening peoples abilities to understand one another and for peoples wellbeing ( Kurtzman and Zauhar, 1997).

The bigger and more high profile an event is, greater possibilities exists for things to go wrong, hence creating negative impacts. Major events can give rise to unintended social consequences like, substance abuse, unaccepted crowd behavior and an increase in criminal activity (Getz, 1997). If not managed well, these unintended consequences can hijack the agenda and determine the public perception of the event. English football clubs have successfully implemented strategies to deal with alcohol related bad crowd behavior in order to protect their reputation. Badly managed events can also have broader impacts on social life and community structures. These can include loss of amenity because of noise or crowds, resentment of inequitable distribution of costs and benefits as stated by (Getz 1997). Furthermore, commodification, staged authenticity and standardization are classified as negative impacts.

2.7.4 Political Impacts

Politics as well as politicians play an important part in the equation that is contemporary event management. Politicians believe that events will keep its population in good health and themselves in power. This is because politicians use events as an indirect means to build their personal profile and gain political advantage. Arnold et al. (1989, pp 191-2) argued that ‘Governments in power will continue to use events to punctuate the ends of their periods in office, to arouse nationalism, enthusiasm and finally, votes. Governments are aware of the ability of events to raise the profiles of politicians and the areas that they lead.

Abstract

The airline industry has been known to be volatile and competitive. It is volatile in the sense that any negative news either from the services such as air mishap, economic downturn, perceived threat of terrorism, the potential outbreak of the ‘birdflu’ virus or the factors of production like rise in prices of crude oil impacts negatively on the strategic position of each of the players in the industry be it market leader, follower or challenger.

The case of Gulf States (Countries) such as Bahrain, Iran, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia to mention just a few calls for closer attention. This is because the so ‘Gulf’ states are have the resources and capabilities to compete in all the four fronts of marketing mix which is often referred as the 4Ps of People, Price, Place, Promotion. In order to wean their economies away from declining oil reserves some Middle Eastern countries pursue substantial investments into their aviation sector. The bulk of these investments concentrates on the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and comprises fleet expansions stoked by massive airport extensions and development projects. The million dollar question is how Qatar airways can turn its fortune from being a market follower in the Gulf airline industry to a leader. In this academic work also, we would use the following framework for evaluating and writing

Customers: Who are the organization’s customers?

Products/services: What are the organization’s major products or services?

Location/markets: Where does the organization compete?

Technology: Is technology a primary concern of the organization?

Concern for survival, growth and profitability: Is the organization committed to economic objectives?

Philosophy: What are the basic beliefs, values, aspirations, and philosophical priorities of the firm?

Self-concept: What is the organization’s distinctive competence or major competitive advantage?

1.0 Introduction

The airline industry has grown to be one of be one of the largest industries in half century of its existence. Its origin could be deduced from the end of World War l but it was not until World War II that saw peace restored worldwide that accounted for the burgeoning of the business. Statistics have it that the industry often airlift more than 1.5 billion industry worldwide and generates more than $ 300 billion in revenue and employ 1.7 million people worldwide (Hanlon Pg 1,2006). Good to note is the fact that the post World War II airline industry are dominated by state owned airlines known as ” Flag Carriers” and the government which owned them often used them as instruments to further their mercantilist interests or to promote their countries status, power and prestige. Airline business in the Gulf States is often associated with government (Hanlon Pg 2, 2006). Government desire to protect flag carriers often lead to ‘artificial market’, in which the profitability of the airlines were determined more by the competitors that are allowed to fly the route rather the forces of quality and pricing.

Airlines suited in the Middle East currently hold 9% of long haul capacity worldwide. They will be responsible for about 25% of all global long haul aircraft deliveries over the next decade (Flagnagan, 2006). Dubai based emirates airlines accounts for the largest buyer, which approximately 70% of all new long-haul aircraft orders in the Middle East. Some airline commentators predict that come 2012, the airline would double its fleet (Flagnagan, 2006). After Emirates come Qatar airlines. The airline has placed an order of 140 wide body aircraft. The expansion plans of the gulf airline operators are shown in Fig 1 within

Qatar airways just like other airlines in the Gulf States is part of the government strategy to diversify its revenue base, economies, commerce, tourism and global transport importance. The airline has a rich mission statement which is “Excellence in everything we do.” According to a survey carried out by Pearce and David (1987) to analyze the mission contents of airline companies, the mission, it showed that Qatar’s mission statement is one of the best in the world. Amongst 9 points, it has 6 points.

Fleet expansion plans of Middle Eastern carriers (as March 2008). Source Journal of Transport Geography 18 (2008) 388-394

3.0 Current Marketing Mix of Qatar Airways
3.1.1 Product Strategy:
New Products

Existing ProductsServices is defined as involving one party offering something that is essentially intangible and where the interaction does not result in ownership of anything (Kotler, 2008). Applying Ansoff product grid matrix, it can be said that Qatar airlines is still in market penetration. This is because the airline as was shown in the introductory section of the work, has projected the number of aircraft it wish to buy before 2012. The attributes of a company in growth stage of company life cycle is expansionary qualities.

Existing Market

Market

Penetration

Product

Development

New Market

Market

Development

Diversification

ansoff’s product / market matrix

The attributes of market penetration strategy in which Qatar airways are using include

Maintain or increase the market share of current products – this can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to personal selling As part of this growth plan, Qatar Airways will extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of 2003. It has recently added Manchester and Rome to its increasing route network. It will soon be adding Shanghai, Seoul and Tripoli to its route network. (Airhighways Magazine, 2005, p. 1).
Secure dominance of growth markets. Qatar airlines have been known to dominate the ever busy African- Middle east air routes. The company always has some flights available from any part of Africa to the Gulf States. The topology of the area has encouraged the airline to operate in product penetration strategy of Ansoff product grid. Its sparsely populated area has encouraged travelling by air for intra-regional transport. Furthermore, a high per capita income that is still increasing quickly, offers a base for a strong aviation industry. But there are socio-economic constraints, limiting both domestic leisure and business travel potential.
Increase usage by existing customers – for example by introducing loyalty schemes .A market penetration marketing strategy is very much about “business as usual”. The business is focusing on markets and products it knows well. It is likely to have good information on competitors and on customer needs. It is unlikely, therefore, that this strategy will require much investment in new market research. There is no evidence that Qatar airways is investing on market research because they are not expanding into unknown routes such as Kula-lumpur – Sydney route.
3.1.2 Pricing Strategy: Going-rate-pricing strategy

Presently Qatar airline practice what is called Going-rate-pricing strategy. The market leader in the middle- east airline industry remains Emirates. Qatar charges its fare based on the price of Emirates which is slightly higher. This is because being the market follower, Qatar does not need to disturb the established market dynamism because it might not be able to compete on the same level with Emirates.

Comparing the price of Qatar and Emirates, on the same route of Kuala-lumpur (Malaysia) – Johannesburg ( South Africa)

Price of Qatar on 21st Nov returning on 23rd Dec from Kuala-Lumpur to Johannesburg

Price of Qatar on 21st Nov returning on 23rd Dec from Kuala-Lumpur to Johannesburg

3.1.3 Promotion Strategy:

Qatar airlines are not practicing product differentiation but it is practicing promotion differentiation. According to its chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker he said that ” Qatar By offering a variety of entertainment options, we are able to differentiate our passenger service through live entertainment programming while also setting new standards of comfort to ensure we are the airline of choice” (Rockwell Collins, 2005, p. 1). Some of their promotion strategies are as listed below and experienced by its passengers are as

Biggest and best business class in the Middle East

Interactive Audio, Video on Demand Entertainment System

Largest personal TV screens in the Middle East

Electronic seat controls

In-seat back massage

First Middle East airline in First Class with flat beds

Qatar has engaged the services of Global media industries to help spread the good news. Such internal media include

TV

Corporate Videos

BBC Campaign to position it as a premium carrier

CNN testimonials from airline staff

Sky News reports as a sponsor of the weather service

Sponsors a travel show through Al-Jazeera

Qatar is a major sponsor of high profile sporting activities such as World Tourism Day, World

Travel and Tourism Council Summit, World Economic Forum, Leading International sports events. Qatar airlines was the official sponsor of 15th Asian Games, Doha 2006. The company has come up with a new product called “Flying Oryx” Newsletter that it distributes to travel agents. The newsletter is also available through its websites. More links could be established to the newsletter through the Internet. The airlines also give away products to passengers that promote the logo of the Burgundy Oryx and “Taking you personally,” such as watches, computer”mice” and hand towels.

3.1.3 Place Strategy:

This places a little impact on the business strategy of Qatar. Qatar airways like any other airways have developed a system of getting their ticket. Unlike the normal businesses, whose distribution channel goes from the manufacturer – wholesaler-retailer-consumer. The normal business cycle Qatar airline and other airways are from the airline operators to consumers when online booking is done or through traveler agent.

Airline operator
Airline operator
Manufacturer
Wholesaler
Consumer
Travelling Agent
Retailer
Consumer
Consumer
Traditional Supply channel Online booking channel intermediary booking channel
4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS
4.1 Qatar current market

Qatar airways is one of the leading airline industry in the gulf states. There is no hiding from the fact that Qatar airways is building on the booming market of Dubai to feed the ever busy Dubai route. Qatar currently targets those customers who considers Emirates too expensive. Those that want a little bit high quality and class at an affordable price. Qatar market can be divided into two as follows

Geographic Segmentation:

Qatar Airways is currently operating in most of the regions of the world.They are presently hoping to expand their routes to include the south pacific routes of Australia and its neighbouring countries. Qatar Airways is a dynamic, high service carrier, which utilises the geographic location of its Middle Eastern hub to link 72 international cities. From the UK the airline operates regular services from London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester to Doha. Onward connections are available to cities including Dhaka, Ahmedabad (coming soon), Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin, Mumbai, Nagpur (coming soon), Trivandrum, Male, Kathmandu, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Colombo, Denpasar, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Myanmar, Yangon, Cebu, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Bahrain, Mashad, Tehran, Amman, Kuwait City, Beirut, Muscat, Dammam/Dhahran, Jeddah, Riyadh, Damascus, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sana’a,Bangkok,Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Cebu, Nairobi, Johannesburg and the Seychelles. Qatar Airways entering the US market with flights to New York and Washington, DC direct from the airline’s hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar

Demographic Segmentation:

Below is the demographic basis for the market segmentation for Qatar airways:

Demographic
Variables
Breakdown
Sex

Male; Female

Age

Under 12; 13-25; 26-40; 41-55; 55 +

Income (monthly)

USD 300.00 and over

Religion

Muslims (Halal status); Non-Muslims (Non-Halal status)

Education

Designed for

5.0 STRATEGIC ANALYSIS (SWOT analysis)

SWOT analysis helps to explore the internal and external environmental factors affecting Qatar Airways and hence enable us to make strategic decisions (Aaker, 2005). The recommended strategies that would be adopted in this paper would be based on the on the SWOT analysis of the company.

External Analysis
Strategic decisions

Where to compete?

How to compete?

Identification

Trends/Future events

Threats/Opportunities

Strategic uncertainties

How to compete?

Analysis

Information-Need areas

Scenario Analysis

Internal Analysis

Source: Adapted and modified from Aaker, D. A (1998), “Strategic Market Management”, 5th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA, p 40

5.1 INTERNAL ANALYSIS

Strength
Weakness
Brand Recognition

The airline has been able to build a strong brand that was described by Kelly Kaur, Marketing Director, as “getting to know the audience and using communication to build loyalty, stimulate desire, create confidence and build awareness”.

Consistency

The airline has been noted for offering consistence services which was one of the criteria that enabled it to get a FIVE STAR RATING.

FIVE STAR RATING

Qatar Airways is just one of the few airlines in the world ranked “Five Star” by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency. The same organization Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as “Best in the Middle East” for the third year running and fifth best in the world, following a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide. (World Economic Forum, n.d., p. 1).

Qatar Airways are the proud winners of the TTG Travel Awards 2009 – Airline of the year. In recognition of the world class service and their commitment to offer only the best to over 80 destinations worldwide

Numerous Flights

The airline currently operates a fleet of 42 all-Airbus aircraft, which is expected to triple in size to 110 aircraft by 2015.

Qatar Airways recently made an agreement to buy up to 60 of the new generation Airbus A350s. The airline also plans to acquire 20 Boeing 777s,with a total value for both orders set to be worth US$ 15.2 billion

Age

Many still believe that Qatar cannot maintain their high standard for a very long time because they are not too experienced in the industry.

Arabization

Many people still believe that the airline is Arab based because of their Logo. Qatar Airways logo uses an animal (Arabian oryx) that may be familiar to people in the Arabian Gulf, but not to people outside the region.

National Carrier

History has shown that most national does not last and they are often abused by the government. People would love to invest so that they can control or have shares in the business but that’s not the case here.

5.2 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Booming tourism industry

The present surge in tourism in the gulf states is plus for the company to expand its business capacity.

Image

The Airlines has gained some reputation in the region and in Europe and its other sites

Strategic alliances

The airline has the reputation of forming strategic alliances with some airline operators in the pacific rim. This can be done either via bilateral with the respective government.

Terrorism

The incident of 9/11 is a wheel in the spanner of most airline industry. It has greatly reduced the ability of airline operators to attract many frequent fliers.

New Entrants

There is possibility of new entrants to the market especially Etihad. Etihad has the financial capacity to compete on the same level with Qatar

Volatility

The industry itself is known to exhibit high volatility. This may be in the form of fuel price, technology change or epidemic and natural disasters.

6.0 PROJECT RECOMMENDATION STRATEGIES
6.1. Market penetration via new products:
Low cost

Qatar airways have the leverage to engage in more competitive prices that what they are offering presently. They should borrow a leave from what Qantas did. Qantas came up with a low cost carrier called JETSTAR. The low cost strategy can compete in the low cost flight category of the airline industry while the parent company keeps their normal standard.

Alliances

Qatar airways have the brand image to form strategic alliances with many similar airlines where they can get the benefits of economics of scale. This might come in the form choosing one airline company in the continent to form a loop. They might borrow a look from what Singapore airlines deed as shown below.

Singapore
Airlines
Air New Zealand
Star Alliance
Dinners Club
Avis
Singapore Airlines’ alliance network; strategic alliance, follower ( Kotler Pg 812, 2008)
6.2 Maximizing sales revenue
Reduction of booking agents

Commissions and other incentives to sales staff add to the operational cost of the company. These costs either passed on to the customers or absorbed by the organization lowers the margins of the company. The company should come up with a structure of appointing GSA (General Sales Agent) in major cities and towns. They might even pass it to the post office to sale for them since they post office has their fixed cost already running.

Web Friendly Site

The company should as a matter of urgency design a friendly user web site. Their current web site is not user friendly. They should borrow a cue at Airasia website. Airasia website is fast, user friendly and updates every minutes. This has greatly encouraged customers to use the web more frequently than physical office space thereby limiting people or place contacts to the barest minimum.

7.0 Conclusion

In its relatively few years of operation has shown that they can ranked amongst the best in service delivery. They have grown from a small company to a major player in the airline industry. They have put in place sound management principle and good chief executive Akbar Al Baker believed his airline was leaking significant amounts of revenue. A series of short diagnostic exercises confirmed his hunches needs continuous improvement.

The company has adopted a relatively moderate marketing mix by targeting its customers, positioning the company World Class Young, but growing fast – Forward Thinking, open-minded On-time, Clean image Friendly/helpful/warm/hospitable airline. The People is good, Price affordable, Place great and Promotion best.

The shrinking world is expanding the outreach of tourists. No more do hotels have a fully staffed reservation department with managers, assistant managers, supervisors and agents. The internet has conveniently replaced numerous phone calls, faxes and payment issues. Now potential guests just dial a toll-free number or book directly on the internet.

According to Forrester Research 32% of hotels revenues come through online bookings. They include both direct reservations and those made through third party websites. The travel industry allocates 29% of its marketing budget to online marketing. (Cullen)This is so because the importance of integration of E-Commerce with business strategies is realized. This is also because the nature of the traveler and travelling is changing. Present day travelers are hyper-interactive, who are texting, tweeting, emailing, communicating with friends via face book and commenting on their current or previous travels.

The advent of social media and mobile Web means that potential guests for the hospitality industry have continuous access to multi-channel interaction and sharing opinions. Thus hotel websites have to be designed in order to handle this hyper-interactive user. Thus hotel websites can no longer be static brochures with stale and boring context. (Max Starkov).

Back ground

The Holiday Inn hotel is a subsidiary of the IHG group of companies. It is a brand which remains consistent towards the board. Guests at the 1874 Holiday Inn hotels around the world know that they will be treated well and have certain level of expectations regarding the service. In fact the idea for the Holiday Inn hotels came into the mind of its founder, Kemmons Wilson, when he was disappointed with the consistency of road side motels during a trip to Washington DC. Consistency is a great advantage when it comes to providing services. The art of total quality management lies with the hospitality greats like Marriott, Hilton and of course Holiday Inn but when it comes to social media policies and the ever changing world of the internet consistency has a huge down side.

Consistency is not the only key feature of the Holiday Inn hotels and resorts. Innovation goes side by side with consistency. Holiday Inn hotels were the first ones to introduce the Holidex reservation system giving its competitors a run for money. Holiday Inn hotels also initiated the idea for indoor pools, termed Holidromes, turning its hotels into resorts. This innovation and comfort, which is the landmark of the Holiday Inn hotels, should be made evident in the hotel website.

With the advent of time, Holiday Inn is now an established name in midscale provision of hospitality. This midscale travel market consists of 43% of travelers worldwide. (Hospital and tourism industry report:Q2 2010) and is the sector of the tourism industry which faces the highest competition. With the tourism industry recovering from the economic depression of 2009, the number of tourists is increasing, but at the same time the new tourist is more cost conscious and e-savvy. With social media’s burgeoning levels and websites like tripadvisor advising tourists on the wide range of living options available, the tourist might not fall for the reliability of brand names as the previous guests were.

The increasing travel trend resulting from economic recovery also means that the internet is bombarded with tourism information. This is so because due to economic conditions many hotel websites were abandoned during the past two years. The waking up of hoteliers means that new websites are profoundly different as they now cater to a different inventory distribution system, social media and cross channel marketing. Almost all new websites cater to mobile web applications and so does the Holiday Inn website.

With increased globalization of the economy and increased competition hotels cannot rely on their past successes. Holiday Inn and IHG are bound to know this well as the hotel chain lost considerable market share in the 1980’s. it is only after its re launch in 2007 that the hotel has again captured some part of its market segment. At the time of the re launch, the new hotel website was also launched.

Consumers that visit the hotel website find a user friendly environment. The site provides availability details, locations, room features and descriptions of the surrounding area. But provision of these details is not enough for the highly competitive hospitality industry. Holiday Inn hotels needs to develop a website which highlights its core competencies, tackles competition from market rivals and eliminates the bargaining power of buyers.

During the pre recession times, visitors were more satisfied with the Holiday Inn website than the industry average. This data was deployed from studies based on 31 websites of leading hospitality brands. It checked data based on the five most crucial dimensions of a visitors online experience. They were navigation, content, interactivity, motivation and adoption. The customer satisfaction was generally higher ranking in the 92nd percentile. (Website Satisfaction Soars at InterContinental Hotels Group)

In the year 2007, the content dimension was an area of strength for the website. The amount of details provided covered a vast range of aspects of visitor concern. Coupled with this was the fact that the data was very well structured and easy to navigate. This led to an adoption rating higher than the industry average, pointing to future site referrals and a strong likelihood to return. The website also fostered brand loyalty. According to Sasha Paine, an analyst at iperceptions, “There is no clearer indicator of a site’s effectiveness than its ability to build loyalty among its visitors.”(Website Satisfaction Soars at InterContinental Hotels Group)

The new virtual market place allows small companies to compete with industry giants. This means that Holiday Inn faces competition not just from hotel chains like Ramada and Hilton but also from small hotels. By looking at the hotel website we can easily find out that the website is high in content. The most critical section, which is the reservations section, is right in front for customer ease. The reservations section helps finds locations and provide all details regarding the Holiday Inn hotel in the area to be visited. On the downside it is known that only 32% of visitors visit a hotels website to make reservations. (Hospital and tourism industry report:Q2 2010) The rest visit either to find information or to compare rates. For visitors who are not lured by the brand into booking, the website should be appealing and catchy enough to ensure adoption or at least a revisit.

But what the website lacks is targeting new customer strategies. It seems that unlike other websites which appeal to new guests by providing reasons for staying at their hotels, the Holiday Inn relies on its brand name and preconceived notions about its excellence to get potential guests to make reservations. What is not realized is that website design is an illustrative art and making correct use of this art might ensure that visitors will not have to change pages or scroll down for the required information. A look at the key competitor Ramada’s website demonstrates this very well. Though the reservation section is still on the main page of the site, the opening window encompasses much more than only the reservation section. It eyes potential customers and not just visitors by ensuring that new deals are right under the visitor’s nose.

The slideshow of the Holiday Inn website is not very creative and is short with only 4 slides. Though it instantly appeal to the comfort factor and attracts business travelers immediately. The family and friends factor and fun travelling and living is excluded from the slide show. In contrast other websites have wider navigation menus and longer, swifter slideshows. Websites are using rich media foreg the Pueblo Bonito website and the Atlantis hotel in Dubai. Websites foreg theurbansuites.com are also trying to split visitors by demographics and visitor types to provide custom services. Websites have an increasing number of testimonials, blog links and some even have the press singing their praises. (Mackenzie) This you attitude employed by the website and marketing strategy appeals to visitors.

This paper looks at the need for developing a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured using variables which include content of the website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is done by e-surveys and observing visitor behavior on the website. Conclusions are then drawn regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it will be very important to pay due attention to either reconstructing or renovating the website if needed.

The new website can be developed by outsourcing the development of the website to some leading website developers specially related to the hospitality industry. Budgetary allocations will have to be made. They include consultancy costs, advertisement of the new website, Search Engine optimization costs and website development and mantainence. Research will have to be made on the percentage of revenues generated by the website, the potential for development and the amount competitors allocate towards online marketing and website development. Budget allocation and trends in the hospitality website industry along with weaknesses in the current website will provide guidelines for the new website.

Rationale

The hotel marketing industry is a booming industry which caters exclusively to hospitality providers. Surveys are done and researches made to find out about visitor and guest behaviors. These researches aid hotel marketing advisors in development of new websites and to target customers. Special online surveys are designed to get visitor opinions and rate their satisfaction. Some of the works done in this regard are

The Iperceptions satisfaction index

It is the only metric device to measure exclusively customer satisfaction with an online channel. It provides advice to hoteliers on data mining and analyzes that data to provide results and draw conclusions.

The hospitality and tourism industry report

This caters to timely changes in the hospitality and tourism industry providing hoteliers with the current trends and predicting the future condition of the market.

Best practices in Hotel website design by Hospitality e-business strategies.

A report prepared by hospitality e-business industries which looks at the importance of websites for hotels and outlines ways to do so.

Best Practices for Maximizing Your Hotel’s Online Revenue & ROI by Kathreen Cullen. This white paper is a survey which as the name suggests helps hotels maximize their online revenue.

Although the content of these reports and many others which try to integrate E-Commerce with hospitality are industry specific but they provide broad guidelines for the Holiday Inn hotels.

This paper will focus on how the Holiday Inn hotels should conduct its research? what would be the methodology of research and what strategies would be involved. The limitations of the research and the potential for advanced features on the Holiday Inn website will also be discussed.

As Del Ross, vice president of Americas Distribution marketing for IHG, claims “We truly believe in the paramount value of knowing our customers and capturing

their opinions in the context of their actual online experiences by implementing improvements” research for the new website will be centered around customer opinion and satisfaction.

Data collection and methodology.

Advanced research methods will have to be employed to gather data from website visitors. According to Cooper and Schindler (Methods) qualitative studies may be combined with quantitative ones to increase the perceived quality of the research, especially when a quantitative study follows a qualitative one and provides validation for the qualitative findings. There is a strong suggestion within the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is best thought of as complementary (Malhotra) and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. There is a strong suggestion within the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is best thought of as complementary and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. Both qualitative and quantitative data sets will have to be used. Since customer satisfaction regarding the website has to be measures, offline data collection can prove to be useless and mundane.

Online data collection approach can be utilized in two ways and can result in both objective and subjective responses. The difficult part about this research is that though secondary data relevant to the industry is abundant, but none of this will be specific to the Holiday Inn hotel. Thus researchers will have to gather primary data from the scratch, analyze it and form conclusions about the current state of the hotel website.

Sampling methods

The sampling method will mostly be a non probability method as the only visitors cannot be forced to take part in the research. Probability sampling will be reserved for a small focus group. Quantitative research will depend upon visitors and visitors will only participate in qualitative research by choice.

Quota method of sampling will be the most convenient. This is so because only potential travelers should be included in the research. Only people with annual income above $50000 will be sampled. Population below this income group generally is observed not to travel frequently. Similarly other characteristics of current guests can be used to find the different quotas which should be used in sampling. This kind of sampling will make it impossible to assess the sampling error as the results will not be representative of the population as a whole.

Focus groups of targeted market will need to be used. Since the current website of the hotel and the general notion about the hotel chain is that it caters to mostly business travelers, business travelers can be selected randomly. They can be chosen from firms where work entails frequent travelling. These business travelers will be then asked to navigate through the website and answer relevant questions about the website content, ease of navigation, interactivity and adoption. The results can be classified and then visitor perceptions about the different aspects of the website can be rated. They will provide a clear guideline about the positive and negative aspects of the website. This focus group will be coupled with quantitative and qualitative data. The focus group technique will allow better screening of the focus group respondents to ensure that they are the people whom the hotel is most interested in and thus provides an in-depth insight.

Descriptive data from the survey and the questionnaire will reveal information that could not be easily explained by the statistics from quantitative data.

This survey will be limited to a very small population of potential Holiday Inn customers. It can be both biased and non-representative of the actual feelings of the general public. But this data will target the largest niche of current customers.

Gathering quantitative data

Quantitative data can be gathered by observing visitor behavior on the website. It can be done on a large scale on the website. The behavior observed includes number of clicks, time on site, no of visitors who made a reservation, net promoter scores and the page from where visitors are exiting. Relationships between variables can be observed. This can be done from web analytics of the website. The sample size from this kind of web analytics has to be large and therefore will have to be done over a period of time.

For much of its history, web analytics has been concerned with measuring behavioral phenomena. Unique visitor counts, pages viewed/visit, time on site, bounce rates, click through rates, ad impressions, and, more recently, rich internet application events have

But studying clicks alone can never tell more than a part of the visitor’s story and will never bring to light true engagement data. Behavioral analytics is akin to paleontology, in the sense that it presents a fossilized record of a visitor’s site experience, at least as much as can be captured through page tags with optimal cookie deletion rates. However much scientists study the material implements of the past, however, they will never truly be able to gauge whether people were happy and led meaningful lives. This is the primary shortcoming of behavioral research; the tracks a visitor leaves are necessarily incomplete without knowing intent, attitude, and satisfaction. Further, engagement indices will always be hollow metrics unless they can be made to account for loyalty, trust, and advocacy (iperceptions)

Gathering qualitative data.

Qualitative research will take more time and preparation. Different sampling methods and full time researchers will have to be employed to monitor data. The basic format will be inviting all visitors to the website for a short survey or questionnaire. It will have to be ensured that the questionnaire is short and to the point yet it is fulfilling the purpose. This is necessary because abandonment of questionnaires will lead not only to loss of data but will also cause distaste for the website in visitors.

Like all qualitative and naturalistic research methods, questions will have to be developed which are clear and unambiguous but open to change as the research develops. It is necessary because both qualitative and quantitative research goes hand in hand. It is qualitative research which will give a holistic view of the complexities which the website poses to its visitors.

In the course of the survey visitors will be asked to provide scores for the website attributes related to their online experience. Each of these attributes will be related to specific dimensions of the website. It can include questions such as whether the visitor likes the site enough to recommend it to another friend or colleague. The scaling can be done on a 1 to 10 scale ranging from very bad to outstanding. The attribute sets that will be selected will be in accordance with both the E-commerce and hospitality industry standards. They will be content, navigation, motivation and interactivity in this case. It might also address the most crucial section of the website which is the reservations section.

Thus the questions to be addressed are

Navigation

Website functionality must be intuitive and easy-to-use. If visitors are cannot find the information they desire, they may lose interest and move on to another hotel’s site. It is also important to be sure that hotels provide the capability to allow customers to book via the method of their choice such as mobile and smart phone technology.

Content

The website must provide all necessary information. This information should not only be limited to the hotel but also about the area and activities where the hotel is located. The content of the website should be accurate, up-to-date, detailed and relevant.

Interactivity

This will address questions about the visitors ease of communication with the website and therefore the hoteliers. It measures functionality, collaboration, informational exchange, and the intuitiveness of transactional tools.

Motivation

This measures whether the online content matches with the services the hotel provides. It questions whether the customers feel that the site was trustworthy and if their time on the site was well spent.

All these factors eventually answer one question and that is of adoption. This is the main factor of concern for the Holiday Inn hotels that whether the visitor will re-visit the website or refer the website to somebody else.

Potential for new features

New vanity websites can be added which cater to different locales. It should be ensured that the feel of the different websites remains the same but better search engine optimization can be achieved.

The Holiday Inn website can be optimized in two ways. It is the need of the time to modify the contents for Search Engine optimization.

The second is the renovation and restructuring of the website.

New website design

Visual content

It has been observed that the Holiday Inn website has a subtle color appeal. It stands true to catering to business travelers as they can visualize themselves in that situation. But simultaneously excludes a large travelling class. A glimpse at the Marriott hotel website speaks loads about integrating target markets at one place. A boost of color on some place in the Holiday Inn website will provide the required energy to indicate that the hotel welcomes both fun and families.

Selling travel is all about selling a vision, a dream-an intangible product. Rich media and its many formats-from photos and visual galleries, to videos and virtual tours, e-postcards, web cams, interactive maps, etc.-can truly present your travel product and make it tangible and real. Seventy-two percent of US Internet users view video online on the same scale as network television and 89% of user’s surveyed said video influenced their booking decision.

Usability surveys about hotel websites show that the majority of users think hotel websites are “lacking or need more” pictures and images

The website can also add more visual content as the number of slides on the main page slide show is only 4 and only targets limited audience. The website can make use of good photography which provide more details about rooms and amenities.

Demand generator content.

The website should add more localized content to each of its franchise content sites. This will not only aid in showing up on search engines but a description of the area and the activities of the areas helps visitors thus creating better chances of adoption.

More navigation options can be introduced on the main page as even though the current website has a high content percentage but the visitor has to scroll and search for it. More tools can easily be added in the navigation tool bar without making the site look congested.

Scalability

The website platform should have the ability to grow with the needs of the growing Hotel Inn. Holiday Inn is launching new hotels so it should be ensured that the new website keeps pace with both the rapidly changing face of the hotel as well as the fast changing tourism industry. Thus new development should be both easy and inexpensive. It should be easy to add new pages without the returning visitor to find a change which hinders his navigation.

Conclusion

The rapid pace of change of tourism industry and the changing face of the traveler requires the Holiday Inn hotel to maintain a website which is intuitive and adaptative. Regarding this concern quantitative data can be analyzed from the websites web analytics. An understanding of this quantitative data can be done by a focus group survey of the target market and online questionnaires.

Visitors to the website can be surveyed about their views about the website. This will be random non-probability sampling. The questions have to be short and succinct as target specific attribute. This is to ensure that the visitor does not abandon the survey midway.

After the online survey, a deep understanding can be gauged by using a focus group. This can be done either online or offline. The focus group can be small but chosen by quota or snowball sampling. The target audience should be used as the part of the focus group. The sample can be small but the questionnaire has to be extremely detailed. This will address all questions which arose from the satisfaction or non-satisfaction of the online survey participants.

The final data set will lead to a certain conclusion about the visitor satisfaction index. This can be used to provide guidelines about visitor expectations from the website and how and how much the website should be modified. The modified website will lead to higher revenue and return on investment.

Online questionnaire

Based on today’s visit, how would you rate your site experience over all?

Very bad

Bad

Fair

Good

Outstanding

Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of your visit?

Make a reservation

Compare rates

Find more information

View/cancel reservation

Other please specify

Were you able to complete the task you visited the website for?

Yes

No

What do you value most about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did you most dislike about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Would you recommend the site to somebody?

Yes

No

If you answered in negative to the previous question, why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Would you recommend any changes to the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How did you arrive at the website?

Typed the URL in the browser

Search engine

Advertisement

Link on a Blog

Another website

Link sent by somebody

Other. Please specify _______________________________________________

The offline questionnaire presented to the focus group. This will be modified according to the response generated from the online website survey. It will be more detailed so as to sound explanations of the data derived can be provided.

Offline questionnaire

What is your age category?

15-20 years

20-35 years

35-60 years

60 or above

What is your gender?

Male

Female

Are you single or married?

Single

Married

Your email address? _____________________________________________________________________

How often do you travel?

More than four times a year.

Twice or thrice a year.

Once a year

Less than once a year

Is your travel related to work most of the time?

Yes

No

Do you always make your bookings online?

Yes

No

What features of the website did you use?

_____________________________________________________________________

Did each page load quickly enough?

Yes

No

On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent rate the following

Reservation procedure

Website speed

Ease of navigation

Visual appeal

Information

Your overall satisfaction

Was the reservation process efficient?

Yes

No

Were you tempted were you to abandon the reservation process midway?

Yes

No

If yes then why? Choose one that is applicable

Technical difficulties

Rate issues

Difficulty in finding

Unfriendly website

Other. Please specify ______________________________________________________________

Did you easily find what you were looking for?

Yes

No

Did the website design confuse you?

Yes

No

Was the language easy to understand?

Yes

No

Was navigation comfortable?

Yes

No

Was the information you were looking for easy to find

Yes

No

Was the information useful?

Yes

No

Was the information detailed?

Yes

No

Was the information accurate?

Yes

No

Was the information up-to-date?

Yes

No

Did you like the appearance of the website?

Yes

No

Do you think more visuals should be added to the website?

Yes

No

If yes, do you think it will make the hotel more appealing?

Yes

No

Will a more detailed, illustrative website, aid or hinder you in your work?

Yes

No

Do you think the overall design of the website can be improved?

Yes

No

If yes then how? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Can the website alone without the Holiday Inn brand name lead you to make a reservation?

Yes

No

What did you like the most about the website?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did you dislike most about the website?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What problems if any did you face when navigating the website?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Was the website user friendly?

Yes

No

If no why not?

Would you recommend the website to someone you know?

Yes

No

If no, then why not? __________________________________________________________________

Would you navigate the site from your phone?

Yes

No

If no then why not? _____________________________________________________________________

Do you think your time on the website was well spent?

Yes

No

If no then why not?

_____________________________________________________________________

What are your overall suggestions for the website? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Field guidelines

The research survey will look at the need for developing a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured using variables which include content of the website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is done by e-surveys and observing visitor behavior on the website. Conclusions are then drawn regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it will be very important to pay due attention to

7.3 Site Management Strategies

The Marina Barrage has many site management strategic plans in place, which include but are not limited to waste, crowd and pollution management. As Marina Barrage is an environmentally sustainable place, the management seeks to maintain its pristine image of sustainability.

7.3.1 Waste Management

Waste management generally involves the collection, removal, processing, and disposal of materials considered as waste, which can be solid, gaseous, liquid, or even hazardous and are generally generated through human activity (Ekvall et. al., 2007). Proper waste management is important as it can cause many health, safety and even economic issues if not managed well (Giusti, 2009). Improper waste management is crucial to Marina Barrage as its image rides on its greenery. Its waste management policies ensure that the Marina Barrage is kept litter free as much as possible. This is done through the placement of litterbins strategically throughout the Marina Barrage. However, through observation, the team recommends that the number of litterbins should be increased to accommodate the large crowd numbers on the weekends. On weekends where the crowd numbers are significantly higher than on weekdays, rubbish bins tend to overflow due to the unavailability of sufficient bins along high volume areas such as the green roof. This would ensure that waste pollution is kept to a minimum and that its image as a sustainable and green destination is maintained (Kumar, 2014).

7.3.2 Crowd Management

Crowd management must take into account all the elements of an event especially the type of event (circus, sporting, theatrical, concert, rally, parade, etc.), characteristics of the facility, size and demeanour of the crowd, methods of entrance, communications, crowd control, and queueing. As in all management, it must include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and evaluating. Particularly critical to crowd management is defining the roles of parties involved in an event, the quality of the advance intelligence, and the effectiveness of the planning process (Tubbs & Meacham, 2007). For Marina Barrage, crowd management is vital as it provides a safe and organized setting for visitors. The Marina Barrage has excellent existing crowd management measures in place. The Marina Barrage would hardly be classified as an overcrowded destination on a day-to-day basis with the exception of days with events or festivals. Even so, event and festival organisers are monitored to ensure that the crowd management does not go out of hand (PUB Occupation License, 2015). The team recommends that these measures should be maintained and perhaps upgraded through crowd management software with crowd forecast plans implemented. This ensures that crowd numbers are monitored well and overcrowding is prevented.

7.3.3 Safety Guidelines

Safety Guidelines are regulations or rules that are put in place to ensure a product, event, etc., is safe and not dangerous (Vimlati et. Al., 2009). The Marina Barrage has many safety guidelines in place and most of which places public safety and wellbeing as its number one priority. Its safety guidelines include code of conducts for water activities, safety permits for both events and boat hoisting (Code of Conduct, 2015). Such practices help to prevent any safety infringements from happening and in turn could hurt visitors to the Marina Barrage. Safety and security are vital to provide a high quality tourism policy. In fact, the success or failure of a tourism destination depends largely on its capacity to provide visitors with a safe and secure environment (Tubbs & Meacham, 2007). Besides physical safety aspects, the team recommends that the Marina Barrage should continue to ensure the social security of the destination. This should be relatively easy as Singapore is classified as one of the top five safe cities in the world (Bertrand, 2015). It will help build Marina Barrage and Singapore’s image as safe destinations to visit. Health safety aspects are also recommended to be looked at by the management. The annual haze Singapore faces could be a point to start from. In 2013, PSI levels reached dangerous levels of above 400 (Vaswani, 2013). The marina barrage could ensure public health and safety through measures such as advising the public to remain within the indoor sections such as the sustainable gallery. This could have a dual effect of ensuring public safety and public awareness of the gallery’s existence.

7.3.4 Accessibility and Infrastructure

Public accessibility heavily influences tourists’ willingness to visit a tourism destination (Schofield et.al, 2010). Public accessibility via public transport such as MRT and bus services are available. However, due to the location of Marina Barrage, these services remain rather limited. For example the nearest MRT Station as of March 2015 is Bayfront MRT which is a 20 mins walk away and there is only one bus service ferrying visitors to the Marina Barrage. However, private vehicle access is truly excellent. The team recommends that upon completion of the Gardens by the Bay station along the Thomson-East Coast Line, sheltered walkways should be built between the MRT station and the Marina Barrage. Sheltered walkways should also be constructed between the existing bus stop located outside the Marina Barrage and the barrage itself along with bicycle rental kiosks to reduce the carbon footprint around the vicinity. Shuttle buses could also be implemented between nearby hotels around the Marina area such as Marina Bay Sands & Marina Mandarin to attract higher tourist numbers and raise the awareness of such an tourism destination. More public bus services can be proposed to the relevant government authorities or at the very least increase the frequency of the current service to cater to the needs of the public. This would help the Marina Barrage in its accessibility issues over the long run. Where visitor infrastructure within Marina Barrage is concerned, the overall review remains excellent. Detailed considerations have gone into the planning of the infrastructure of the place. The marina barrage is significantly wheelchair friendly though improvements can be made to make the sustainably gallery a little more wheelchair accessible as accessibility is a human right and basic need of people and should be a fundamental consideration during planning of urban destinations (Evcil, 2009). The team recommends to further enhance the Marina Barrage to make is completely barrier free to wheelchair bound visitors to enhance visitor experience and satisfaction.

7.3.5 Environmental Protection

Environmental protectionis a practice of protectingthe naturalenvironmenton individual, organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the natural environmentand humans (Heink & Kowarik, 2010). As the marina barrage is touted as one of the greenest destinations in Singapore, its need for environmental sustainability and protection is high. Environmental protection is of outmost importance as it involves the protection of the natural environment on various governmental levels right up to individuals and can results in benefits for both people and the environment (Gonzalez, 2014). Green principles were thought through thoroughly during construction and operation of the barrage. Thus, the marina barrage reduces its electricity consumption and waste pollution significantly. The team recommends that the Marina Barrage apply more energy conservation measures to enhance its image as a sustainable green destination. This can be done by increasing its aircon temperature to 25 degrees Celsius, adding more solar panels to its roof and perhaps and inclusion of an electricity generating water turbine in its outlet pumps. The additional solar panels can not only help to power the Marina Barrage but could be transported to the Marina Vicinity. This would reduce carbon footprint as well as greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore and increase its self-sustainability to run on green and clean energy generated through its day to day operations (Schulz, 2010).

Aim: To understand how destinations are presented to visitors for them to be able to have an experience.

This research paper seeks to find out about the experience build of visitors on their visit to a monument, in this case, Jantar Mantar. Jantar Mantar is a place of great historical, astronomical, and astrological value and is in existence since 1724. It is an Observatory built by Jaipur’s Maharaja Jai Singh Sawai II on the order of the Mughal Emperor, Muhammad Shah to develop a medium to record and compile all the astronomical data and future predictions of time, related to study of the movements of sun, moon, and other planetary bodies.

Four more observatories were built by the same Maharaja in other parts of India. The observatory in Delhi was the first observatory built by him.

Aim of the Project is to explore number of related questions, including:

1. What are visitor’s reactions on their visit to Jantar Mantar?

2. How have other tourist places been developed for improving the experience of visitors?

These questions were explored through literature review, contextual study, interviews and questionnaires and observations.

The paper concludes by analyzing the findings from the data collected and coming up with recommendations for Jantar Mantar Authority (Archeological Survey of India) to consider some changes in the way they present themselves to their audience, i.e., to the visitors.

198 WORDS

Research Questions and Data Collection Method
Contextual study and literature study

Introduction: Jantar Mantar also known as Yantra Mantra which means “calculation instrument” in Delhi is the place to observe the movements of the Sun, stars and other planetary bodies. It’s an astronomical, astrological observatory, a sun dial. It is a monument which has great astronomical and astrological values attached to it.

Build: In 1724 by Jaipur’s Maharaja, Jai Singh Sawai II, on the order of Mughal King, Muhammad Shah. Later king build four other observatories in India, in Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi.

Location: It is situated in the Parliament Street near the Connaught Place.

Admission fee: INR 5 for Indians and INR 100 for the Foreigners.

Admission timing: Open from sunrise to sunset.

How to reach: Rickshaws, taxis, bus, metro can help you reach this place in time.

Nearest railway station: Delhi Railway Station.

Nearest metro station: Connaught Metro Station.

Reason for it’s building: To revise the astronomical tables. The monument was built as the significance of a Sun Dial, and to record the astronomical data and future predictions of time, the purpose was to study of the movements of sun, moon, and other planetary bodies.

What is an Observatory?

“A room or building housing an astronomical telescope or other scientific equipment for the study of natural phenomena.” Http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0571970#m_en_gb0571970

Oldest Observatories in the world: Chinese archaeologists claim that they have found the world’s oldest observatory, dating back to some 4,100 years ago, in North China’s, Taosi, Shanxi Province. He Nu, a researcher from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said “the observatory was not only used for observing astronomical phenomena but also for sacrificial rites.”

Other discovered sites that fall under the category of the “world’s oldest astronomical observatory,” includes one in Goseck, Germany, that was constructed around 7,000 years ago, it is called a “sun temple” and other is the “German Stonehenge” with construction beginning around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Standing Stones of Callanish in Scotland, are older than Stone henge, being constructed around 2900-2600 BC. In Egypt Nabta Playa, are around 6,000 to 8,000 years old.

One of the oldest known sites in the world is “Gobekli Tepe, Turkey” which is around 11,000-year-old ruins at Gobekli Tepe.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-10/31/content_488952.htm

Some observatories build during 1700’s:

· 1724: Indian observatory of Sawai Jai Singh at Delhi

· 1725: St. Petersburg observatory at Royal Academy

· 1732: Indian observatories at Varanasi, Ujjain, Mathura.

· 1734: Indian observatory of Sawai Jai Singh at Jaipur

· 1758: John Dollond reinvents the achromatic lens

· 1780: Florence Specola observatory

Instruments which comprises of Jantar Mantar:

The Samrat Yantra :

As the name says “Samrat” which means Supreme. The name completely justifies the instrument because it is in the shape of a giant triangle which represents a sun-dial. Measuring 70 feet in height, 114 feet in length and 10 feet thick which depicts the hours, the minutes and seconds of the day. Its hypotenuse is parallel to the axis of the Earth. It is used to depict Delhi’s local time.

The Jai Prakash Yantra:

The shape of an instrument is a hollow hemisphere of concave surface with markings on them. One is treated as Northern hemisphere and other as Southern hemisphere and this one is used by Astrologers to make humans horoscopes.

The Ram Yantra:

The shape of the instrument is very interesting in itself, it has windows and the edge of windows have marking inscribed on them, and with the help of those marking the observers can find position of sun and moon. The role of this instrument was to track the eclipse and full moon There are two Ram Yantra’s one to track the moon and other to track the Sun.

The Mishra Yantra:

Since the name is “Mishra”, which means combination, this instrument is used to depict the time of noon of various cities across the globe and Delhi’s local time. It is the only instrument which was not constructed by Maharaja Jai Singh Sawai II.

Ancient India’s contributions in the field of astronomy:

The earliest references to astronomy are found in the Rig Veda, which are dated 2000 BC. Astronomical principles were used to explain matters which are related to astrology, like making of a horoscope. Besides from linking astronomy with astrology in ancient India, astronomy continued to develop independently, and resulted into original findings, like:

· The calculation of eclipse occurrence.

· Earth’s circumference.

· Theory of gravitation.

· Proving that sun is a star.

· Finding number of planets under our solar system.

Experience Design:

“No man’s knowledge can go beyond his experience.”

– John Locke

Great experiences don’t happen by accident.

They are the result of deep thought and deliberation.

– Bill Buxton

Experience design is the practice of designing services, events, and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience by providing a relevant solutions. Experience design draws from many other disciplines psychology, linguistics, architecture, environmental design, hazard analysis, product design, theater, information design, ethnography, brand strategy, interaction design, service design, storytelling, and design thinking.

Touch points are created between people and the place on the basis of ideas, emotions, and memories.

Ronald Jones, describes the practice as working with disciplines, which is an integration between concepts, methods, and theories. According to Jones, the mission of Experience Design is “to persuade, stimulate, inform, envision, entertain, and forecast events, influencing meaning and modifying human behavior.”

Experience designers create experiences that brings change in behavior amongst clients, users, visitors, audiences.

Study of how other tourist places have been developed for improving the visitor’s experience:

“Eiffel tower, Taj Mahal, Pyramid of Egypt, Great Wall of China provides incredibly powerful image for their respective destinations.” These destination works to build an experience for the visitors.

Lubbe Berendien,page 154, part5 Tourism management in Southern Africa

EIFFEL TOWER

Introduction:The Eiffel Tower is located on the bank of the Seine River which is northwestern of the Champ de Mars, Paris. It was build to celebrate 100th anniversary of French revolution. It was built as an entrance arch for an international exposition held in Paris in 1889. After the exposition closed everything was dismantled, the tower remained, to help recover the costs of its construction. It was supposed to be dismantled after 20 years, in 1909, but by then it being useful as a radio transmission tower was discovered by the military.

Http://www.chowhill.co.nz/library-studentawards02.html

Build by: The engineering firm of Alexander Gustave Eiffel.

Height: Till May 28, 1930, Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure till Chrysler building in New York City, United States.

Http://www.atkielski.com/main/EiffelTowerFAQ.html

Reaction of people in 1800’s for Eiffel Tower: It was treated as an eye sore. Parisian novelist Guy de Maupassant used to dine very frequently in Eiffel’s restaurant because that’s the only place where he could not see the tower. He wasn’t alone in not liking the structure. If it hadn’t proven so useful for radio communications it would have been dismantled in 1909, at the end of the lease period.

Present scenario: Paris tops ranking in global city image study. GfK roper public affairs & media and simon anholt Roper (world’s fourth largest market research company) release 2009 City Brands Index, which captures consumer perception of the image and reputation of 50 major cities worldwide.

The Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world and it is one of the most recognized structures on earth. In 2009, Paris topped the GfK anholt city brands index and the Eiffel tower is visually a big part of that brand.

http://www.gfkamerica.com/newsroom/press_releases/single_sites/004195/index.en.html

Eiffel Tower from inside: The structure has three platforms, to reach to different elevations either stairs or elevators can be taken, in which stairs are only allowed till 2nd elevation, to go to the summit elevator is a compulsion.

Counting from the ground, there are 347 steps to the first level, 674 steps tothe second level, and 1710 steps to the third level. While climbing up one can read the small boards explaining about the history of Eiffel tower.

Http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/pratique/acces/page/tarifs.html

Facilities for visitors:

Level 1: This is the largest platform, with room for a cafe, post office with special Eiffel Tower stamp and small museum called Cineiffel showing a short film about the history of the Eiffel Tower and, Souvenir shop.

Other attractions on this level include the grand historical staircase, the one Gustave himself used to climb to his office on the top.

http://www.suite101.com/content/eiffel-tower-a-visitors-guide-a114907

http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/Newsletters_and_Articles/facts_about_the_eiffel_tower_vi.htm

Level 2: One can experience viewing Paris with telescope, souvenir shops, animated displays on the operation of the elevators, restaurant.

Http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Monuments-Paris/Eiffel.shtml

Level 3: Office of Gustave Eiffel. Scale model presenting the history of the platform.

It is here one will be able to see that the tower is of communication and transmission importance as it has dozens of antennas of radio and television.

There is a table while indicates the Parisian landmarks and distance of Eiffel tower from other places in the world.

http://www.hotelsorbonne.com/fiche/eiffeltower.html

http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Travel/Tours/Paris/EiffelTower.htm

Engraved names: The names of 72 French scientists, engineers and famous individuals were graved by Gustave Eiffel, under the first balcony, with 18 names on each side. This has been done to pay tribute.

Commemorate the French presidency: In mid-2008, the tower was lit from the outside in blue.

Visitors Comments, suggestions, tips and their experience

Paris’s Image:

· Place to fall in love with.

· For the ultimate romantic feeling, there’s no need to travel across the globe.

Words from Eiffel tower manager: Melissa Drumheller::

· “At nighttime, it’s very romantic, “and Eiffel Tower is a popular romantic destination.”

· “During the day, you get a view of all these mountains which is a phenomenal view.”

Suggestion by visitors:

1. Visit at Night: It is agreed that Eiffel Tower is magical at night, going up to different elevations ad observing streets of Paris is a visual delight, and makes you realize why Paris is called “City of light.” http://www.france4families.com/paris/RegionsParisAttractionsEiffelTower.htm

2. Tour to mechanical room: Visitors interested in mechanics can have a look of how Eiffel tower works. Original machineries are placed with current Eiffel tower control room, and the visitors can learn about the construction of the tower.

Http://www.parisescapes.com/paris_eiffel_tower_tips.html

Http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/Newsletters_and_Articles/facts_about_the_eiffel_tower_x.htm

3. Send a Postcard: On the First floor of the tower is a post office. Send postcard with Eiffel Tower postmark to make the trip memorable.

Http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Travel/Tours/Paris/EiffelTower.htm

4. Souvenirs: Around Eiffel tower one can find many vendors selling the Eiffel tower souvenirs, interested people can buy.

5. Visit to the website: visit to the Eiffel tower website’s news page, it lists current events taking place on the tower.

Http://www.parisescapes.com/paris_eiffel_tower_tips_page2.html

Http://192.5.73.104/attractions/on_the_strip/eiffeltower.html

Experience of one of the visitor’s to Eiffel tower:

– Akash Bhasin

My day started with the touring of the Eiffel tower. The tower has glass-walled elevators which get to the first, second and top platforms. There is a ticket to enter the tower which is around 12-14 euros. Nevertheless, I purchased the ticket and started my journey, the journey of eiffel. Everything about eiffel is special, starting from the entry gate, the glass-walled elevators which gives you a wide view of the lovely city. As there are three levels in the tower, I halted at each one of them as I wanted to have the feel from different altitudes. At last I reached the Top most platform of the eiffel tower. The moment I stepped outside the elevators I was flabbergasted with the view I saw. It was a lifetime view, the one I used to see in my dreams. As I was on a height of 300 meters, there was fear inside but I outstripped it and moved towards the corner. The view of the Paris city I saw from there cannot be defined. It was the most mind-blowing and fabulous scene I have ever in my life. From the top I could see the sienne river just below me, the high-rise just opposite the tower, a playground and traffic moving like ants. The humans from the top were barely visible. On the Top platform, there were arrangements for a pantry and other basic necessities. There was a room in which an effigy of Gustave Eiffel was placed. In another room, there was a list of countries and their distance from the ‘Eiffel tower.’

I saw India distance that was about 6600 kms, I felt great to see that.

I stayed for an hour on that platform and gazed at the view so that I can capture it through my eyes and store in my memory forever and ever. It was lovely, it was great. I actually felt that love in the air, felt like in serene nirvana.

This is the moment of my life I actually lived.

Statue of Liberty

Introduction: The Statue of Liberty or known as Liberty Enlightening the World is a sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, it was designed by Frederic Bartholdi on October 28, 1886. The statue was a gifted to the United States by the people of France. The female figure represents Liberates, the Roman goddess of freedom, she holds a torch and a tabula ansata i.e., a tablet which represents the law upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence. A broken chain is placed at her feet. The statue is an iconic symbol of freedom, liberty and of the United States.

Idea and people behind its making: Bartholdi a sculpture was inspired by French law professor and politician Edouard Rene de Laboulaye, he commented in 1865 that “any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples.”

In June 1871,Bartholdi went to New York Harbor, he their fixed on Bedloe’s Island as a site for the statue, because vessels arrive in New York has to cross that island, which is owned by United States government.

In 1875, Laboulaye offered that the French can finance the statue and the Americans canprovide the pedestal and the site for it. Bartholdi visited U.S President Ulysses S. Grant, where he was assured that is would not be difficult to get the site for the statue. The framework was by Euge-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel.

Public appearance of the statue: Bartholdi completed the head and the arm holding torch, before the statue was completely designed; two pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions. The arm was displayed in New York’s Madison Square Park between 1876 to 1882.

Fund-raising: Efforts were made to raise funds for construction of pedestal in America, but till 1885 work on the pedestal was a big question due to lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer started a drive for donations to complete the project. This campaign inspired over 1,20,000 contributors.

Construction and Assembly: The statue was constructed in France and was shipped to United States and it was then assembled on the pedestal of what it was then named Bedloe’s Island. The statue’s completion was celebrated by New York’s first ticker-tape parade and a ceremony by President Grover Cleveland.

Encharge: The statue was under United States Lighthouse Board until 1901, then it was under Department of War till 1933; since then, it has been looked after by the National Park Service.

Renovation: The statue was closed because of renovation in 1938. In the early 1980s, it was found that it had deteriorated to such an extent that a major renovation was required. For the same reason statue was closed from 1984 to 1986. The torch and a large part of the structure were then replaced. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the statue was closed for safety reasons. It then reopened in 2004. It’s again scheduled to close by late 2011.

Meaning of the statue: The seven rays form a halo or an aureole. They mean the sun, the seven seas, and the seven continents, and the torch represents Liberty enlightens the world. Bartholdi’s model’s concept, a female figure in represents liberty, wearing a stole (which is a gown and cloak, and it is common in depictions of Roman goddesses). The face was modeled after sculptor’s mother Charlotte Beysser Bartholdi. He gave it bold classical look and applied simplified

The erected statue is over a broken chain, it is half-hidden by her robes and it is difficult to see from the ground. He decided on to a tabula ansata, a keystone-shaped tablet which is used to realate to the concept of law, he chose to inscribe “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI”, indicating the date of the country’s Declaration of Independence.

Usage of the statue as an Icon: 1971 US airmail stamp depicted the head of the Statue of Liberty.

It appeared on coins which were issued to mark its centennial in 1986. An image of the statue was decided for the American eagle platinum bullion coins in 1997. It also appears on the back side of the currently issued series of Presidential Dollar which are currently circulating coins. Two images of the statue’s torch also appear on the current ten-dollar bill.

In between 1986 and 2000, New York State had issued license plates on which statue was used. The “Women’s National Basketball Association’s New York Liberty” uses both the statue’s name and its image as their logo. The “New York Rangers” of the “National Hockey League” had the statue’s head on their third jersey which began in 1997. The “National Collegiate Athletic Association’s” 1996 “Men’s Basketball Final Four”, again had statue on their jersey and used it as their logo.

Replica in circulation: A tiny version of the original statue, approx. one-fifth the height of the original, was gifted by the American community in Paris to France. For a patriotic tribute, “the Boy Scouts of America”, as part to encourage and strengthen the Arm of Liberty campaign in 1949 to 1952, donated about two hundred replicas of the statue to states and municipalities across the United States.

Media: In the movies, the torch of the statue helped to set the climax of director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942film Saboteur. The statue was featured as the most famous cinematic appearances in the 1968 picture Planet of the Apes, in which it was shown half-buried in sand. It was destroyed in the science-fiction films “Independence Day”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, and “Clover field”. In Jack Finney’s time-travel novel “Time and Again”, the right arm of the statue, played a crucial role.

On October 15, 1924 it was announced to be US National Monument, and in 1984 it was announced to be a UNESCO world heritage site.

Presentation to Public: Inside the statue is a museum for visitors to get to know about the history, importance of the place and about the great minds behind its making, for this the picture gallery is set there, they have audio visual media and multimedia presentations for explaining it easy and convenient way.

For kids special program has been installed to get to know the place better and understand it in fun and easy way. For this a program called “Junior ranger” has been set up in which children from age group of 7-12 can participate. Children are given assignment sheets in which they have to complete the assignment which asks questions about the Statue, answers to which could be found from visiting museum and asking questions from the ranger. In this way the children learn about the statue which will remain with them for time, and as a reward on the completion of the assignment they get certificate and a batch.

The Wall of Honor

The American Immigrant’s Wall of Honor at Ellis Island, which is outside the statue, is the largest Wall on which names are written in the world. Over 7,00,000 names are currently inscribed.

People can have your family name inscribed at Ellis Island. Along with the inscription people receive a certificate and their names will be listed in Ellis island’s website which is an online virtual wall, which can be viewed world wide over the Internet.

Benefits of a Name on the Wall of Honor:

It is a permanent inscription on “The American Immigrant Wall of Honor”, which featured exhibit at the “Ellis Island Immigration Museum.”

A listing is done of the honoree’s name and their country of origin, on the “Virtual Wall” where it can be viewed by the world.

And, most importantly, people know that for ages to come their family’s name will be on display at “Ellis Island”, which honors their family’s unique contribution to America’s heritage.

Visits to places (for primary data collection):

Red Fort: It is known for magnificent history of India, where Kings stayed and gave their judgement. To explain the history of India to audience the light and sound medium is used as a tool. Human mind retains more when it hears or see, rather than what it reads, so they work on the same lines and presents history in a fun and interesting way.

Gandhi Smriti: It is place where Gandhiji spend last few days of his life. It is an interactive museum, using electronic media. It try to explain about India and Gandhiji’s Life, they work on the lines of the more you do it yourself the more you gain. I observed the visitor themselves get so involved that it definitely creates an experience and the visit become worth and does not go waste.

Finding and Analysis

Now in 21st century due to time factor and pollution the marking of the Delhi observatory has become invisible, which means it does not work anymore. Now when visitors visit this place they do not understand how it used to work, because it was all visual game. Though the shadow falls, but the observer needs the marking to find out the time.

Visitors to Jantar Mantar and

Their activities: {VISUALS}

What do visitors do in Jantar Mantar:

1. Get their pictures clicked.
2. Climb up the stairs.
3. Walk.
4. Relax.
5. Wait when some official work nearby has.
6. Some read the description on the boards.
7. College goers come to pass time when they bunk classes.
8. Couples find this place private.
9. Hang out with friends.

There are two options available to describe the instruments at Jantar Mantar, guides, and these descriptive boards.

Visitors visit and their feedback:

One of the visitors to the observatory was a Physics professor from Bangalore, he was extremely keen to understand the instruments because of which he went through every descriptive boards. He was able to get a fair idea that different instruments are used for different purpose. But he was not able to understand how it used to work, what are the different components in an instrument about which is described in board.

He was bit upset on his visit, so he gave suggestions to improve the place.

1. To have a scale model of all the instruments, so that the visitors can visually observe the time without imagining reading description about it.

2. As the place is closed in night, and it has a lot of meaning for night time i.e, stars are tracked by using instruments, so to make the visitors clear picture

Gallery should be developed.

3. Descriptive boards can be more for one instrument as one board which has too much of text is bit unpleasant to read, it will increase the amount of information which the visitors get.

4. Mentioning of other near by places in Jantar Mantar.

5. The descriptions could be more in audio visual form which the will enable the visitor to retain the images in mind.

6. Package should be developed for educational trips to the place.

From other visitors:

Something should be done to bring out it functional value to the visitors as the main aim to visit the observatory is to observe time.

Current image of Jantar Mantar from visitors point of view:

So now Jantar Mantar has built an image for itself in the mind of visitors’ especially local people, which is that it’s a place

1. To have fun,

2. Where you can hang out,

3. It has apparently become the famous place for the couples because of which many youngsters go there for bird watching,

4. it is famous for all protest related activities in the city.

Visitors see this place like this because what they want they do not get to see that there, i.e., The working observatory.

Visitors from the entire globe come to view this ancient astronomical delight to fill their curious minds about the usage of the various tools and methods applied during those past centuries for calculations and predictions, but their curious minds remains unanswered.

For now Jantar Mantar is not creating or have impact on visitors mind, it fails when it comes to leave an impact on visitors mind. It’s not the fault of the place or the monument since it is an observatory and visitors visit it to see how in ancient time, these giant structures used to work, they come with curious minds which apparently remains curious because there answers do not get solved, as the observatory is a non working structure now as its marking has got erased over the period of time.

A place builds its image at following step:-

On the visit plays a major role as the visitors come to the place and experience it but if that experience is not memorable or something that person does not feel proud about his post visit activities would not be there, as in the visitor will not spread about it, will not post anything/less on internet, will not be encouraged to write articles.

1st visitor’s post visit become the prior to visit of the 2nd visitor, so it’s a circle/ chain which is followed.

Example: when the 1st visitor visits to Eiffel tower, on the visit he is offered a package to experience so many things, and he takes back home a bag full of experience and memories so post visit he will be encouraged to spread about it amongst the friends, will upload pictures, write up on internet and will share the memories with people around, will have souvenir to share, and will be encouraged to write an article. :: this is what happens when people come after their tour to Eiffel.

Now his post visit will be prior to visit for other potential visitors, who will be encouraged to plan a visit to the place.

Conclusion

Jantar Mantar being an astronomical and astrological observatory has all visual appeal and because of it’s non working instruments its main motive has disappeared. Visitors visit a place like observatory expecting to make observations using instruments, markings and shadow but on their arrival the scenario changes. In short, their experiences are not great in terms of gaining or understanding the purpose of the monument.

While the other tourist places attract more tourists and have a better name because they let their purpose of existence come across the people and they make sure it does not wash off, which creates a space in memory of visitors.

Synopsis

Jantar Mantar, Delhi, is place which holds great astronomical and astrological value since 1700’s when it was build my Jaipur’s Maharaja Jai Singh Sawai II, to track the stars, sun and moon placement.

The present day scenario is that everything sells because it try to creates a memory or emotional bond with the people.

Jantar Mantar is one of the monuments which attracts large number of audiences one of the reason except for its values is that its in Connaught place. Observatory is not working now, the visitors except for large red structure don’t get to see anything as the observatory is something in which you observe and not imagine, the same happens with every visitors. A lot of imaginations go in for those who are interested in knowing the working of observatory, which can be misleading.

Now, it’s the age to sell place by providing a unique experience, the other tourists places are doing it by creating an whole package for the visitors, which they can take home as a nice experience.

Travel has become a part of lifestyle and tourist plans there tour keeping in mind the place which suits there style.

The tourist places follow it, although it make the place commercial and might hurt the sentiments of the stake holders, but for doing so related authorities should agree and then think about the changes, and improvements.

It’s the time when Jantar Mantar s