Category: Free Essays

City planners around the world get an opportunity for rapid urban development and regeneration at a large scale through mega-event planning. The Barcelona Olympics of 1991 saw a paramount shift in mega-event planning, where city planners focused on the legacy that the event leaves behind and its impact on the city. The sustainable urban development of the city of Barcelona catapulted it to one of the top cities of Europe in a matter of year.

Following the success of the Barcelona Games, mega-event organizations such as the IOC, Commonwealth Federation, FIFA etc. began focusing on the legacy plan of bidding cities for determining winning bids for such mega-events. An understanding of the effects of various legacy plans and its implementation in bid-winning cities is essential in formulating guild lines for evaluating the success of the legacy plans.

The City of Delhi derived much of its legacy plan from previous bid winners and developed its urban regeneration plan for the city. The intention of this dissertation is to investigate the legacy plan for urban regeneration intended for the city of Delhi through the Commonwealth Games as well as the legacy that the event left behind. A comparison can therefore, be made to determine the extent to which the urban regeneration plan was implemented and how successful it was.

The Macmillan Dictionary defines:

Legacy:

something such as a tradition or problem that exists as a result of something that happened in the past.

something that someone has achieved that continues to exists after they stop working or die.

The mega-event is by its nature large scale, organized by the social elite in the host nation or city and projects secular values and principles through the creation of an official version of the city or nation’s history and contemporary identity. Performance mega-events are typified in the 20th century by the Olympics and represent a populist cultural expression of the achievements of the host city or nation (Roche, 2000). Reinvention of a Mega-event as catalyst of urban development became prominent towards the late 1970s. Reasons for this were the growing awareness of the pervasiveness of deindustrialization led city planners to take action to stimulate new sources of employment and also that urban regeneration by traditional production – based approaches became implausible. This lead to alternate strategies that relied on service industries and consumption to supply growth.(R.Gold, M. Gold, 2007)

Mega-events are used by city planners to fast forward the planning and execution process by overcoming problems of urbanism. The recent host cities of mega-events have used it to contain the social disruption arising from rapid urbanization and economic expansion. Host cities use these events to achieve specific local and national goals. The 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games represented an opportunity to redevelop the city using a mix of public and private sector funding that balanced the commercial and social aims. The ‘Fantasy City’ model (aggressive commercialism and tourist orientation) of the Los Angeles Games were modified and the Barcelona approach emerged as an alternative to obtaining a post-Games regeneration legacy. Since 1992, ‘Legacy’ has assumed a considerable significance to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – as its evaluation process has incorporated environmental and other social dimensions – and is now firmly focused upon non-sport related outcomes as a source of legitimation for hosting the Games. The Barcelona – inspired modification of the ‘commercial’ approach to hosting the Games was replicated by London – with the 2012 bid creating a combination of public and private funding and partnerships to deliver the event and an ambitious social, cultural and economic legacy. (Poynter, 2009). The Government of India also gave a comprehensive legacy plan to the Commonwealth Federation in order to win the bid of the 2010 Commonwealth Games to Delhi, India over Hamilton, Canada. The study of previous Mega-events particularly the Olympics of Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, their legacy plan and implementation, are key to understanding and analyzing the legacy plan for Delhi post the Commonwealth Games of 2010.

The key findings of the Greater London Authority on previous editions of the Olympic Games of Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 for assessing the Legacy of the London Olympics of 2012, are as follows:

Economic
Legacy Momentum

In the economic sphere Legacy Momentum refers to the capacity of the city and regional economy to continue an upward growth path following the immediate post-Games downturn in economic activity. The capacity to achieve momentum relates to several factors.

The Games must complement an already existing regeneration plan that involves new phases beyond the Olympic event.

The knowledge-base derived from the preparation and staging of the event is not dispersed when the Games end but is utilized to promote further innovation with the city and region.

3. The negative consequences and omissions from the Olympic-related

regeneration phase are addressed in subsequent urban development projects. Barcelona (1992) is the best example of a host city achieving Legacy

Momentum.

The Mega Event and the City Economy

The impact of the Games on a city economy is both tangible and intangible. The intangible re-branding of a city may have subsequent tangible effects, especially through inward investment and the enhancement of entrepreneurial confidence and expertise (Barcelona 1992). The Games provides a significant catalyst for renewal; accelerating the completion of infrastructure projects (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004 and more modestly Sydney 2000) but the host city population emerges with a balance sheet of positives and negatives from a process of regeneration that happens to it rather than is shaped by it.

Social, Cultural and Lifestyle
Olympic Philosophy: Regeneration

The IOC commits “to ensure that the host cities and their residents are left with the

most positive legacy of venues, infrastructure, expertise and experience”

Urban Renewal

All Cities pursue “hard” legacy gains: infrastructure, the reorientation of city spaces,

improved amenity, new types of land use and economic activity. Barcelona is the

acknowledged success story here.

Planned-in legacy offsets “white elephant” syndrome in some cases The post-Games use of infrastructure is an important guide to the success of the Games, and in all cases legacy needs to be built into initial conception, design and delivery of Olympic facilities (buildings, but also IT, governance, city brand management, and post Games maintenance contracts). Barcelona Olympic village, Atlanta business tourism, Sydney and Australian tourism and Athens transport systems provide indicative evidence.

The Green Legacy

The first ‘Green Games’, and its Environmental Audit Legacy- Sydney was the first Games to be audited throughout by Greenpeace, who issued a detailed and fairly positive report. Any future Games’ environmental impact will be judged according to the Sydney benchmark, and therefore cooperation with NGOs (in information sharing, planning and execution as well as in establishing the principles for construction, raw materials procurement, etc) is vital.

Sustainability and poverty reduction

Environmental sensitivity and sustainable development together form the ‘third

pillar’ of Olympism, as is fully explained in the Olympic Agenda 21 document of

1999. Sustainable development means engaging with the whole world’s needs for

clean air and water, and creating opportunities for personal and social development

worldwide.

Hard infrastructure and urban renewal

aˆ? Housing, Olympic Village development (Cashman 2006)

aˆ? Transport connectivity and enhancement – greener, cleaner and more efficient (Cashman 2006; Essex and Chalkey 1998)

aˆ? Economic success (Preuss 2004; Cashman 2006)

aˆ? Telecommunications infrastructure

aˆ? Sporting facilities permitting increased sports and other community activities/participation.

aˆ? The outward fabric of the city – cleaning and greening

aˆ? Hotel and other tourist and leisure venues – including night time

Economy

Definition of a Good Legacy

While each of the past cities can be seen to have pursued many of these aims,

typically each city can be shown to have emphasized in particular instances a

narrower range of ambitions. It is the case that typically cities aim to integrate Olympic-based renewal alongside wider urban development agendas.( Preuss 2004).

Notable differences in cities’ starting points

Adapted from McKay and Plumb (2001)

The Barcelona Games (1992) are often cited as a model for London. These Games represented the regeneration of an entire city of three million people, rather than a narrower geographical area within a larger city. It is also worth noting that the Barcelona Games were the most expensive of the recent Olympiads, as a consequence of the large-scale regeneration program.

The Atlanta Games (1996) were not particularly focused on regeneration. Spending was confined largely to sporting facilities (no Olympic Village was built, for instance), and the private funding of the Games left a very limited legacy.

The Sydney Games (2000) were less focused on regeneration than the London Olympics are: the Homebush area was regenerated by the Games, but the residential areas were in fact already wealthier than Sydney overall. Athens Some major regeneration projects (2004) included the Athens metro and road systems. Revivification of Athens as a world class tourist city and assertion of relationships with Europe were key aims.

Other Legacies

Typically, apart from sporting venues, there are four areas of development –

aˆ? Transportation: road, rail, tram, air and various interconnections, as well as policy and planning on parking, pedestrianisation and “modal shift”.

aˆ? Telecommunications infrastructure – primarily to service the world’s media,

but in the future perhaps also developing Olympic area for WiFi and/or other

connectivity for visitors

aˆ? Housing, especially the Olympic village urban realm and “cultural

infrastructure” – night time economy, Cultural activities as well as ecological

and parkland projects.

There is typically some initial disruption locally, and related concerns about the long

and short term impact of such development on various costs, especially on the

inflationary impact on rents and prices, not only in the short term period of the

Games, when congested transport systems and the prospect of inflated restaurant

prices can jar with local communities, but in the medium and longer term, where

infrastructure investment, especially improved transport links (as well as

reputational benefits for the city) can drive up property and rental prices either city

wide or, as is more significant, in certain privileged areas.

The Games are welcomed as a stimulus to and accelerator of such investment and

developmental change in the city, however; transformations leading to gentrification

and house price/rental inflation can rapidly produce divisions. As with any kind of

regeneration project, the Games can contribute to an amplification of socioeconomic

differences, producing new spatial distributions of wealth and well-being and gentrification effects which sometimes polarise local populations in regenerating areas. For instance, Barcelona is understood to be amongst the most successful cities in terms of legacy. As part of its successful development of its image and infrastructure towards becoming a key European hub – and a renewed centre for global tourism and culture, the city has also seen (as a consequence) massive house price and rental inflation (131% between 1987-1992), and the emergence of a large population of wealthy international resident/visitors and property investors benefiting from long term infrastructure investments more directly than some local populations, whose access to housing and jobs may not have significantly improved.

Legacy of Sports Infrastructure

It is possible to identify a range of subsequent legacy uses for sports infrastructure.

The “afterlife” of the venue is an inaccurate designation, since the short, 16 day

Olympic phase (not including the test and training events that may proceed the

Games proper) while determining many of the features and fabric of the structure,

ideally ought not, exclusively and definitively pre- or pro- scribe subsequent usage.

Preuss (2004) suggests four main “follow up uses” of Olympic facilities, to which we

might add a further “use”, drawing on Cashman’s (2006) account of the importance

of memory and retrospection in informing the subsequent symbolic and soft

legacies of the Games:

Follow up usage of Olympic Infrastructure (Table below)

Source : adapted from Preuss, 2004 and Cashman 2005

The Requirements

There is no direct correlation between such increases and the wide variations in the cost of putting Games on, however; such variance is a function of decisions about how and which sporting and other infrastructure will and must be developed, revitalized or replaced in the particular host city.

What the Cities Built: Outlining New and Existing Facilities

Clearly hard legacy, as well as costs, are linked to the proportion of new construction

undertaken for the Games. This work, extensive as it is, represents less investment

than the large capital projects such as roads, rail links and land reclamation leading

to fundamental legacy gains (as well as massive cost – including cost overruns).

However, it is the specifically Olympic buildings and in particular large stadiums that

invite most speculation about future usage.

The degree of new infrastructure development undertaken by different cites varies

(Preuss 2004; Baim 2007; Essex and Chalkey 2003). In part this is a matter of

culture, where specific sports and facilities (such as baseball in the UK) are not

routinely apart of the host nations’ sporting habits. Existing development and

intended investment planning largely shape this aspect of hard legacy.

General Facilities Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens (Table below)

Source : Adapted from Preuss (2004)

As Carbonnell (2005) suggests, drawing primarily on the Barcelona experience,

For any city, hosting the Olympic Games is both an honour and a challenge.

Much of the infrastructure required is temporary in nature; it only serves a

purpose for the duration of the Games themselves. Barcelona took a very

clear-cut approach on this issue: the aim was to undertake ambitious

projects which would benefit the city as a whole, convinced that what was

good for the city’s residents would also be good for the Olympic family

(Carbonell 2005).

Accommodating the required numbers of visitors to the host city, and ensuring a

high quality and secure experience for all, over 16 days, is no small task. However,

the scale of host cities’ Olympic projects, especially when thinking in terms of

legacy, must also, and primarily, include consideration of the scale, extent and

quality (in terms of delivery and planning for subsequent use) of the whole

refurbished fabric of the host city, in and around the main Olympic sites, but also

beyond, up and down transport routes and down and through hi-tech telecom and

IT infrastructure.

Indicative changes in Land Use Associated with Olympic Construction (Table below)

Source: Adapted from Preuss 2004

Barcelona

The Olympics were an accelerant to and focus for a number of projects, some long

planned, others specific to circumstances pre-1992. The Games emerged within

transformations involving extensive urban development; of old fish markets, army

barracks, a women’s prison and polluted waterfront areas3.

aˆ? The 1936-built stadium in Montjuic Park was refurbished and many new

venues were built.

aˆ? The Olympic Village necessitated a new placement of two rail lines that

separated downtown Barcelona from the coastline – formerly an industrial

area.

aˆ? The industrial section was replaced with beaches, which after the redirection

of the metro line re-connected the city to the sea.

aˆ? The sewage system was also modernised

aˆ? Four museums and a botanical garden were renovated in preparation of the

Games.

aˆ? In 2004 Barcelona was the number one tourist destination in Europe.

Observers of host cities in the aftermath of the Olympiad are well used to noting the “white elephants”, the most common characterisation of infrastructure

aˆ? One kilometre of beaches in front of the Olympic Village, with a series of piers protecting the sand from the dominant stream that flows in East-West direction. The Olympic harbour with a capacity for 700 boats in the water and 300 ashore, with 75% of public space (bars, restaurants, commercial space etc).

aˆ? Seaport promenade. 30 meters wide pedestrian seafront promenade with cafes, restaurant and other facilities.

aˆ? Two towers 100 metres high for hotels and offices and other minor buildings.

aˆ? Highway. Part of the city system of ring roads, with high traffic intensity (120,000 vehicles a day).

aˆ? Urban nucleus. The basic idea was to link the new residential area with the

traditional morphology of the city.

aˆ? Some 2,000 housing units were built to host 15,000 athletes and 17,000 inhabitants.

aˆ? There was finally an integrated system of parks both for the use of the communities living around and in the nearby neighbourhood. developments which fail, in the medium or long term to find suitable subsequent usage.

The study of Olympic Villages throughout this century is the study of the

history of ideas about how to develop the city, how to plan it and how to

manage it (Munoz 1998).

It is probably unwise to generalise from either extreme; however, Barcelona is an

instructive instance of a largely progressive and positively received redevelopment

and of imaginative and sustained “legacy momentum” in the post Games periods.

As noted above in term of infrastructure, the Games certainly offer some

improvements. Truno (1995) tracked both access and facilities in Barcelona preand

post- Games. If the number of installations available in Barcelona in 1982 is compared with those available after 1992, it can be seen that the Olympic and non-

Olympic investment effort resulted in an increase of 75.8% as far as installations were concerned, and of 126.4% in the case of sports venues. Altogether, a total surface area of nearly 300,000 square metres was involved (Truno 1995)

The figures for use of new sports centres created after the Games: in all the

installations which accept subscribers or members, there has been an

increase of 46,000 new users. (Truno, 1995)

P.T.O

Indicative positive legacy developments from Olympic village development – Barcelona(Table below)

Atlanta

Essex and Chalkey (1998) provide a useful summary of the Atlanta infrastructure.

aˆ? The centrepiece of the Games was the Olympic Stadium (capacity of

85,000) constructed especially for the event with private finance. After the

Games, it was converted to a 48,000 seat baseball park for use by the

Atlanta Braves baseball team.

aˆ? Other new facilities, such as the Aquatic Center, basketball gym, hockey

stadium and equestrian venue, were given to educational establishments or

local authorities. The main Olympic Village (133 ha) was located on the

campus of Georgia Technical College.

aˆ? The other main infrastructural legacy to the city was the Centennial Olympic

Park in central Atlanta, which was intended to be a gathering place for

visitors during the Games and later to enhance the quality of life for local

residents.

The Atlanta legacy is largely understood to have been committed to business and commercial aims – building the reputation of the city.

Nevertheless as McKay and Plumb (2001) observe,

Atlanta largely used existing facilities to house athletes and as such did not

experience the mass residential construction around its Olympic precinct.

The Olympics did, however, have a considerable influence on the location of

demand by helping to create a more attractive inner city residential

environment through improvements to transport facilities, retail amenities

and public areas, such as parks and pedestrian walkways. The Atlanta

office market has continued to grow strongly since 1996, with more than

520,000 m.2 of office space absorbed across the metro area in 1998.

INDICATIVE CASE STUDY: Negative Impacts – Atlanta – adapted from

Newman (1999)

aˆ? Economically deprived African-American areas of Atlanta were affected

most by the preparations for the Games.

aˆ? Residents were relocated from at least six public housing projects

aˆ? For these individuals the preparations for the Olympics were disruptive

costing many “the use value of their homes and neighbourhoods”.

aˆ? CODA’s neighbourhood revitalisation plans failed, and only those areas

closest to Olympic venues received substantial support for revitalisation.

Newman makes a useful point about tendencies relevant in particular to mega

event driven regeneration. He suggests that events such as the Olympics are part of a process of reshaping land use in the city to make room for ‘urban spectacle and display’ at the expense of the routine aspects of daily life for urban residents. In public housing projects and in low-income neighbourhoods, many families were moved to make way for the spectacle.

Newman concludes that:

The legacy of newly constructed sports venues and the enhanced image of

Atlanta as a ‘world city’ must be tempered by the continuation of a pattern of

moving low-income residents to make way for growth.

The study suggests that:

Only the most dedicated efforts by business leaders and city government to

work with low-income citizens after the Games will change the legacy of

distrust the Olympics have helped to perpetuate.

Athens

The main features of the Athens projects included an attempt at revitalising major

tracts of the city precinct.

aˆ? Remediation of almost 300 ha. of disused wasteland/quarries, and 250 ha.

of polluted rubbish dumps, as well as 600 ha. of former army camps – deindustrialization and de-militarisation of land use

aˆ? Developing park, recreation and environmental education areas covering

250 ha. of urban space (landscaping of 60 dry and seasonal river beds into

landscaped parks)

aˆ? The unification and enhancement of major tourist/archaeological sites

aˆ? Enhancement of residential districts in the centre and outskirts of the city

aˆ? Transport

aˆ? Athens International Airport Regeneration

aˆ? Athens ring road and designed to take traffic from notoriously congested city

aˆ? Athens Metro, with an intention towards encouraging legacy modal shift –

necessary in a city well known for congestion problems

Sydney

The main features of the Sydney Olympic regeneration were:

aˆ? New sports facilities (inc. Olympic Stadium),

aˆ? Telecommunications enhancements,

aˆ? Land remediation in Homebush Bay,

aˆ? Olympic Village built as new suburb (Newington) with housing – the world’s

largest solar powered settlement,

aˆ? Green redevelopment: international benchmarking on waste reduction,

water re-use, use of recyclable materials,

aˆ? Further sports, retail, commercial and transport facilities; widening of

footpaths and new street furniture, aimed at smartening up central Sydney

aˆ? Transport the major policy and planning aims of the Sydney Games were to

ensure public access. This would have also contributed to the green

credentials of the Games. This was achieved practically by:

aˆ? Public transport being the only means by which spectators [could]

directly access events at major Olympic sites;

aˆ? Satellite car parking venues established in “park and ride” type

schemes. (see Cashman 2005: 200-1)

aˆ? In addition the Games served as catalysts for catalyst for expansion of

Sydney airport including new rail link and Eastern Distributor road linking the

airport to the CBD;

Cashman, noting in particular that there was a post-Games slump in enthusiasm for all things Olympic. He identifies a range of factors that should continue to be tracked, suggesting that (as with Athens) the legacy needs to mature before some key assessments can be made.

These include:

aˆ? Media tracking and analysis of cultural issues – city branding, national

reputation, attitudes to multicultural issues within Australia, attitudes to

disability and sport

aˆ? Business and economic outcomes

aˆ? Impacts on Sport – elite performance and everyday participation

aˆ? Ecological issues

The Olympic Village, Sydney

The aim in building the Village was:

aˆ? to provide the best possible housing and residential facilities for all athletes

and team officials

aˆ? to apply the highest possible environmental standards

aˆ? to provide a new suburb for post-Games use

The site had previously been an abattoir.

After the Games

aˆ? The Village was made into a residential area, a suburb of Newington

aˆ? Medium density housing

aˆ? 850 three- and four-bedroom architect designed houses and 350 two- to

three-bedroom apartments in 94 hectares.

Cashman offers some examination of “participation”. These figures are in

some sense more clear, however they do not reveal too much detail about “sports

participation”, rather giving emphasis to generalised Post Games legacy uses –

civic amenity as much as sporting venue nonetheless valuable social assets.

Attendances at the Aquatic Centre in recent years in Sydney (Table below)

Source: Cashman (2006)

Overall Assessment

Source: Greater London Authority ( 2007)

Medical tourism- the concept of traveling far and wide for better medical treatment is not a novel idea, only the term. The globalization of the health care sector and the massive demand for low cost-high quality treatment in recent times has caught the attention of many developing countries that have the adequate resources and potential to meet these demands. The profitability and the lucrative nature of the medical tourism business has now put this trade, high on the agenda of both the Indian government and the private health care providers.

Today, medical tourism has become a commonplace practice with a large number of people around the world since usual constraints like language, finance, difficulties in global travel and fear of the unknown are no longer acting as barriers to the tourists who seek medical treatment in foreign countries. Countries like India, Singapore, Malaysia etc have developed strategies specifically with the aim of tackling such issues and rendering themselves as the ideal medical tourism destinations.

Although India is emerging as the ‘hot-spot’ medical tourism destinations within the Asia-Pacific and other regions of the world, it seems to be facing tough competition from other big players of this industry who have projected an equally good reputation for themselves and are reaping the benefits of this business. Therefore, it is imperative for India to continuously rethink and reform its marketing strategies to gain competitive advantage and increase its market share in the health care sector.

It is an undisputed fact that medical tourism is a rapidly growing industry and creating inroads into the Indian economy. There are a large number of stake holders in this industry in South East Asia including countries like Singapore and Malaysia. There are various marketing strategies being used for propagating this industry. My endeavor would be to seek the gaps that exist and suggest remedial action.

Being from the medical fraternity and having had the opportunity to treat a number of overseas patients, the concept of medical tourism has generated a great deal of interest in me. I believe that there are some deficiencies in the marketing strategies for health tourism in India that need to be looked into and improvised. The aim of my research would be to propose marketing strategies that would boost the Indian Medical Tourism for the future.

3. Preliminary review of literature

There are three sections of the literature review:-

i) Historical aspects- inception and evolution

ii) Medical tourism in India- the present scenario

iii) Probable concerns and pitfalls of the Indian medical tourism industry.

i) Historical aspects- inception and evolution

The concept of constructing health complexes around hot springs goes back to as old as the Sumerian civilization (circa 4000BC) where health care facilities comprised of grand elevated buildings with flowing pools. The hill tribes of Switzerland of the area presently know as St. Moritz, during the Bronze Age (circa 2000 BC) recognized the benefits of bathing and drinking in iron-rich mineral springs. The discovery of bronze drinking cups used by them in thermal springs in Germany and France possibly signifies health pilgrimages within these cultures.

As per written historical accounts, bathing and healing complexes were erected around therapeutic springs in Mesopotamia, India, Greece and China. The concept of medical tourism emanated as trips to sacred baths and hot springs. However, it is the Greeks who have to be given the credit for laying the foundations for medical tourism networks.

Greek medical tourism.

Asclepius was considered to be the god of medicine according to Greek mythology. In his honor, Asclepian healing temples had been constructed throughout Greece by the 4th Century BC. These temples were established near the mineral springs which were considered to be the prime “Healthful” Locations. The system of medical tourism during this period was as follows:-

Patients and their attendants came to Asclepia temples seeking treatment for various ailments. At Epidaurus, the port temple, treatment included gymnasia, palaestra (exercise area), bathing springs and a ‘dream’ temple. There was a retinue of priests, caretakers and stretcher carriers who attended to the patients before they were granted final appointment with the mighty priest. Patients made sacrificial offerings according to their status- the poor left shoes; Alexander the Great left his breastplate.

Roman Medical Tourism.

The hallmark of ancient Roman medical tourism centered around hot water baths called Thermae. These centers of medical treatment were posh establishments. Some of these centers comprised of art galleries conference halls, theatres and sometimes sport stadia. Because of the active trade with Asia, the Roman baths augmented medical tourism activities like Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic massage and various aspects of Buddhist spiritual healing at some Roman Thermae.

Japanese Medical Tourism-Onsen.

ONSEN means hot mineral springs in Japanese. Medical tourism in Japan centered around these hot mineral springs which were enriched by surrounding volcanic soil. It attracted a variety of people including hunters, fishermen, farmers and warriors. It was believed that these mineral springs were effective in alleviating pain, healing wounds and recuperation. A thousand years later, this form of medical tourism in Japan is still an ongoing phenomenon.

Indian Medical Tourism.

India has been the home ground of alternative system of medicine for the past 5000 years. Aspects of medical tourism include yoga, eastern cultural, spiritual and medicinal compilation with meditation thrown in. India has been a Mecca for alternative medicine practitioners. A new boost was given to health tourism in the 1960’s with the “New Age” movement in the US. This New Age movement seeks “Universal Truth” and the attainment of the highest individual human potential and is characterized by an individual approach to spiritual practices and philosophies and the rejection of religious doctrine and dogma. With this movement, India had once again become the most sought after destination for thousands of western pilgrims. India’s deep commitment to health care infrastructure and technology furthered the mass influx of medical tourists. India is now one of the world’s oldest medical tourism destinations and has gained popularity over the years over other destinations.

European Medical Tourism.

European medical tourism came into existence with the rediscovery of the Roman baths in the 16th century. With the rediscovery of the Roman baths, Baden Baden , Aachen and most notably Bath, became spa towns. By the 1720’s the spa towns came to be frequented by Aristocrats and gentlemen of leisure from other parts of Europe and even royal patronage. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, French royal inventor of the essay was the most noteworthy medical tourist of this time. He traversed the continent for 9 years for the cure of his gall bladder problem. He is widely believed to be the father of luxury travel and has helped to write one of the earliest documented spa guides for European tourists.

Health Tourism-New world.

English and Dutch colonists in the 1600’s, constructed log cabins near mineral springs in the newly discovered Americas. By 19th century the American reformists made it a habit to travel to remote Western springs that were rich in medicinal properties.

Today, there are no physical, economical and cultural barriers that separate nations from one another. Coupled with the flattening global economy, ease of international travel and lenient trade policies has opened the vistas of medical tourism destinations around the globe. This has made affordable health care availability to patients who find it difficult or impossible to access such health care facilities in their own countries. Inflated health care costs are driving the patients to medical tourism destinations like Thailand and India for sophisticated procedures at a fraction of the price. Long waiting periods for medical treatment is another factor that is making patients seek treatment abroad. Also, lack of comprehensive medical insurance has attracted thousands of patients to seek treatment abroad.

Medical tourism today has become a global phenomenon with many countries expanding their offerings, including unique tourism opportunities for example South Africa is promoting medical safari in a big way.

ii.) MEDICAL TOURISM IN INDIA-the present scenario

Medical Tourism India or Health Tourism India is a developing concept that has gained tremendous popularity and is attracting people from all over the world for their medical and relaxation needs. The treatments most commonly include knee transplant, cosmetic treatment, dental treatment and cardiac surgery. India is now a favorable medical tourism destination as its infrastructure and technology are at par with USA, UK and Europe, enabling it to provide treatment centers and hospitals that are best in the world with world class facilities. These factors coupled with visits to some of the most alluring and awe-inspiring places of the world have brought about the merging of tourism with medication giving rise to the concept of Medical Tourism.

India is promoting health tourism through depicting the “high-tech healing” of its private healthcare sector. The Indian government is marketing the concept of traveling to India for cheaper and world-class medical facilities to foreigners, with the intention of encouraging the growing Indian medical tourism industry. The policy of the Indian government to merge medical expertise and tourism was announced during the 2003-04 budgets when the finance minister Jaswant Singh propounded India to become a “Global Health Destination”. According to a study conducted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the field is so lucrative that it has the potential to become a $2.3 billion business by 2012. Around 150,000 foreigners visited India for treatment during 2004 and since then, this number has increased by 15% every year.

In recent times, India has emerged as the “Global Health Destination” due to the following advantages:

1. Medical services are provided at almost 30% lower cost than the Western countries and are the cheapest in South-east Asia.

2. India has a large population of doctors and paramedical staff who have good knowledge of spoken English. Therefore language is a major comfort factor that attracts so many foreign tourists to visit for the purpose of medical and health tourism making it easier for overseas patients to relate well to Indian doctors.

3. Indian doctors expertise in various surgical procedures including cardiac surgeries, liver transplants, orthopedic surgeries and other medical treatments.

4. Indian hospitals offer a wide array of high quality treatment procedures comprising of joint replacements, cardiothoracic surgery, dental care, cosmetic treatments and more.

iii) Probable concerns and pitfalls of Indian medical tourism industry

Review of literature suggests the following concerns that need attention if one has to augment and boost the medical tourism sector.

Concerns of the consumers

Some of the consumers feel that India is unhygienic, polluted and bureaucratic. There is no appropriate accreditation system for the hospitals. Concerns about medical insurance which is underdeveloped, inadequate and has few global players. overseas companies refuse reimbursements. There are also concerns about terrorism, communal unrest and bad connectivity between cities and towns. While some of these concerns are genuine, most of them are mere perceptions.

Concerns of the promoters

From the promoters point of view, the concerns that have emerged revolve around lack of regulations concerning ethics and systemic support, lack of infrastructure deficiencies like electricity, power supply and water, inadequate land reforms, taxation anomalies, funding constraints, implementation lacunae and bureaucratic bottlenecks.

4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVES.

India seems to be an emerging medical tourism destination offering great opportunities in terms of creating new jobs and generating sources of revenue for the Indian economy. It is therefore imperative that the impetus gained so far should not be jeopardized and measures should be adopted to improve the present situation by developing and implementing new strategies.

Research questions

1. What is the present state of Indian medical tourism? – indicating assessment of the present situation.

2. What are the drawbacks or felt impediments of the medical tourism trade sector? – indicating an analytical structuring of the data.

3. What are the ways to improve medical tourism in India through better marketing strategies? – an assessment of the lacunae in the existing marketing strategies.

4. Is the government doing enough to support the medical tourism industry? – an assessment of the governmental leaning towards the industry.

Research objectives

1. To develop pragmatic marketing strategies for health care institutions involved in medical tourism in India.

2. To assess the impact of the government action on the present marketing strategies for foreign patients.

3. To make a marketing plan model for the Health tourism industry in India

5. RESEARCH PLAN

Research perspective

My research approach is based upon the words of the renowned anthropologist Clifford Geertz “man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun. I take culture to be these webs, and the analysis of it is not to be an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one inn search of meaning” (Jewell,S.2010). It therefore forms an interpretivist approach. Since the medical tourism industry is a business and management perspective, any research into this field would fall into the gamut of positivist and interpretivist approaches. My research is essentially a qualitative one since my data collection is mainly secondary in nature. Furthermore, my research is theory forming where in I shall be using the inductive approach to analyze the data. My research also involves the assessment of factors of concern that are related to the health tourism industry of India. It would be my effort to sift out the relevant factors and analyze them from the point of view of developing marketing strategies.

Research design

The approach that best answers my research questions fits into the modified cross sectional design. Here, the research design revolves around the collection of data that is occurring naturally over a designated period. My research design also involves mainly quantitative data and some qualitative data too. My research is based upon observation and document analysis. The cross sectional design also gives information on aspects of who, what, how many, where, and the how and why.

Data collection methods

I shall be collecting my data through analysis of secondary data. I also intend to submit questionnaires to the stakeholders and the major players of the medical tourism in India with the aim of seeking relevant data that would help me in answering my research questions and fulfill my research objectives.

Secondary data: the secondary data would be collected through the following;

Written materials- various websites, websites of homepages of key players, magazines and journals, books and publications. I would also be looking for government publications, laws and acts related to this subject.

Non-written materials- media, television etc.

Most of the data from outside the individual organization will yield information about the medical tourism industry. While, data that is collected from the organizational websites would give information on how things are done within the organization and their modus operandi.

ii. Questionnaires: I will be sending the questionnaires to all the major players in the Indian medical tourism industry. The questionnaires will be used to obtain data for quantitative analysis in order to assess the functioning of various medical tourism facilities in India. The idea of using questionnaires is that a large quantity of data can be made available covering a wide range of database for quantitative analysis. A good amount of objectivity can be incorporated and the results would be of valid and reliable nature.

Analysis of data

Having collected all the qualitative and quantitative data, I would subject it to appropriate analysis and apply relevant statistical tests of significance to ensure that the results are valid, reliable and give a reasonable level of generalisabilty. I aim to deduce the relevant marketing strategies being used and to assess their impact on the industry. I shall be presenting the analyzed data in the form pie diagrams, bar charts and other forms of statistical presentations.

LIMITATIONS
Validity and reliability

Since my data is mainly secondary in nature it is presumed that global players in the me dical tourism industry would not putting false data to propagate their business ventures. From this point of view my data would be valid as well as reliable. As my data is being collected from internet, websites of various stake holders, magazines etc. I am confident that stake holders at this level of global competitiveness would not be putting up false data or information for promotional activities that could jeopardize their reputation. However, the limitations of validity and reliability I foresee to come across would be from the questionnaires I would be sending to the stake holders. The disadvantage I feel I would face using the questionnaires is that some people may not respond, may take a long time for returning back and the response rate cannot be predicted. However despite these limitations, I expect to be able to generate valid information and data for quantitative analysis. I shall be sending these questionnaires to the concerned stakeholders through their homepages and their websites and try and elicit as much response as possible from them.

Generalisabilty

My research design is based upon the study of an industry and does not impinge upon a case study research. All factors being studied can be considered as offshoots of a single industry. For e.g. the legislation aspects would be covering the entire industry and not a single institution or a hospital. Secondly, my aim is to give broad based generalized guide lines on the recommendations for improving medical tourism in India. My attempt therefore would be to collect and analyze data from where generalisabilty can be achieved.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I will abide by the Coventry University BES ethical guidelines. I will conduct my research honestly and present all the data accurately. I will get the low risk approval form signed by my supervisor to get his approval before I begin my research.

I shall take all precaution to ensure and respect the rights and integrity of subjects if any.

I shall treat all the data confidentially and would ensure that it would not be used for any other purpose other than that intended.

Since my data collection is mainly secondary in nature, my research work is considered to be a low risk from the ethical point of view. I shall keep all the raw information on ethics and the data collected for audit purposes.

PLAGIARISM

I will paraphrase; reference and cite the sources used by me, to acknowledge the work of others and avoid any sort of plagiarism.

INTRODUCTION

As per British Hospitality Association, hospitality is UK’s 4^th largest industry which employs 2.7 million people in the UK and accounted for 27.7% of total job growth in the UK. Importance of this industry to the UK’s economy can never be overemphasised. In recent past the UK’s economy has faced radical changes which led the organisation to adapt and change in order to survive and grow. The aim of this research is to analyse the impact of business environment on the success of an organisation chosen from this ever growing Hospitality and Tourism industry. The study choses McDonald corporation which is a key food service retailer. McDonalds serves over 69 million customers in over 100 countries through its 36000 locations. The organisation stepped in the UK market in 1974 and has more than 1200 restaurants across the UK.

References:

http://www.bha.org.uk/

http://news.mcdonalds.com/Corporate/Press-Releases/Financial-Release?xmlreleaseid=123062

1.2 FACTORS AFFECTING AN ORGANISATION: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENVIORNMENTAL FACTORS

As per www.study.com there are a number of events and situations that impact an organisation and they can be classified into: internal environmental factors and external environmental factors (referred to as IEF and EEF hereafter). Few examples of IEF would be changes in the management, cultural changes and employee morale changes etc. Similarly few examples of EEF will be industry regulations, economic and political factors, government regulations etc.

References:

http://study.com/academy/lesson/internal-and-external-environments-of-business-lesson-quiz.html

1.2.1 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENVIORNMENTAL FACTORS IN THE CASE OF MCDONALDS: As per Campden BRI which is a food and drink research firm, there are six challenges that this industry will face in 2012 and beyond. The Campden report broadly classifies these factors as

Manufacturing challenges
Innovation
Food Drink and the Consumer
Safety
Knowledge

The tables below classifies the Campden BRI’s six factors as IEF and EEF applied in the case of McDonalds.

Factors / Challenges for food industry as per Campden BRI.

How this factor applies in the case of McDonalds as an IEF or an EEF.

Raw Material

External environmental factor: to be able to secure and sustain an efficient supply chain right from raw material procurement stage.

Manufacturing Challenges.

Internal environmental factor: Improving efficiency in the manufacturing process, cost control and optimisation, assuring effectiveness though out the operations.

Innovation

Internal environmental factor: Innovation in the use of raw material, packaging material.

Food, drink and the consumer

External environmental factor: Understanding of consumer, consumer choices and their behaviour.

Safety

External environmental factor: Compliance to regulatory safety standards for better understanding of allergens and contamination in the food.

knowledge

Internal environmental factor: Continual process improvement is possible through efficient knowledge management and knowledge transfer.

Source: http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Supply-Chain/Campden-BRI-s-six-food-industry-challenges

1.2.2 ANALYSING INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENVIORNMENTAL FACTORS IN CASE OF MCDONALDS

This section tries to analyse various IEF and EEF based on

1.2.2.1 RAW MATERIAL CHALLENGES/SUPPLIERS- AN EXTERNAL ENVIORNMENTAL FACTOR

The foremost supporters for McDonalds are their supplier as they are the one of the largest company to supply burgers in the US. Customer’s reputation is highlighted through maintained system of service, quality and cleanliness in every aspect. They have also met or exceed USDA standards that are strictest in the food industry. The public supporters are in general multiple support clubs and with respect to customer group represents multi fan sites and blogs.

1.2.2.2 MANUFACTURING CHALLENGES / AN INTERNAL ENVIROMENT FACTOR

Analysing the business environment will attempt to demonstrate the complexity of issues arise with the organisation. They have developed network operation and distribution system. The company has been able to achieve consistent product taste. Their focus is on delivery sales and protecting its life time reputation. McDonalds has also done culture adaption to consider vegetarian options for their all universal food branch.

1.2.2.3 INNOVATION / AN INTERNAL ENVIROMENT FACTOR

The innovation will increase both product quality and longevity.

1.2.2.4 FOOD, DRINK AND THE CONSUMER /

McDonald’s had maintained the quite low bargaining power of buyers. They are very low risk of switching customers into other brands. There was quite stagnant image among the customers through quality of differentiation, customer care and other promotions.

1.2.2.5 SAFETY / REGULATORY AND STATUTORY COMPLIANCE

1.2.2.6: KNOWLEDGE /

1.2.2.7 EXPANSION/ NEW GEOGRAPHICAL MARKET

A number of key internal and external environmental factors constitute the elements of long term sustainable growth plan and it will not be wrong to say that the geographical diversification is vital element to fuel growth. As per the company’s corporate website:

“We believe these priorities align with our customers’ evolving needs, and – combined with our competitive advantages of convenience, menu variety, geographic diversification and System alignment – will drive long-term sustainable growth.”

Looking into the recent trends it can be said that McDonald’s growth is fuelled by its franchise business.

As per the company’s official website

“We view ourselves primarily as a franchisor and believe franchising is important to delivering great customer experiences and driving profitability. At year-end 2014, more than 80% of McDonald’s restaurants were franchised.

SOURCE: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/company_profile.html

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/company_profile.html

References:

http://www.bha.org.uk/

http://news.mcdonalds.com/Corporate/Press-Releases/Financial-Release?xmlreleaseid=123062

http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Aboutus/Franchising.html

Competitive advantage

http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Aboutus/Development/Locations_and_contacts.html

McDonald is very open about its grown plans. On the official website the company has posted geographical regions for its intended growth region and invites the public to propose a development site. The study feel that by using this approach McDonalds is making an effective use of public information by providing an open platform for the local. This information gathering methodology not only is more efficient in terms of using local public knowledge about the area, but is also effective way of reducing planning, research and development cost and time that goes is development of a new site. This marketing strategy also adds to Brand awareness, brand recognition and stronger connect via the local people.

Negative: The Company may end up losing a lot of time effort cost in moving in a direction which may not be fruitful.

To afford a comparative analysis of the internal and external environment of McDonalds this study has used KFC’s corresponding data.

It’s structured as an independent business with responsible accounting operations, community relations, training and human resources. They offer both counter service and drive through service with indoor and outdoor seating. In 2006, introduction of forever young brand was to redesign the current structure outlet of restaurant. One of the cornerstones of McDonald’s success in the UK is its property portfolio, which provides a well located and convenient network of restaurants throughout the country for our customers to use and enjoy. There are almost 1200 restaurants to be found in a variety of locations such as traditional high streets; shopping centres; retail parks; roadside locations; leisure centres; railway and airport termini and motorway service areas. We are renowned for being the pioneers of the drive-thru restaurant concept and are the UK and world leader in this sector. This continues to be the key focus for our growth.

Due to the growing success of the Company, the intention is to increase the pace of acquisitions with a target of 40 new restaurant openings per year from 2014, which will create up to 2,400 new job opportunities annually.

The primary vehicle for this expansion will be freestanding drive-thru restaurants where convenience is key or locations in new or existing retail and leisure parks and transport hubs where visits are often part of a linked trip.

Competitors

http://www.kfc.co.uk/join-us/become-a-franchisee/

Mc Donald’s has a much stronger presence in the UK Market as compared to its competitors whereas a key rival KFC has 800 branches across the UK.

http://www.kfc.co.uk/join-us/become-a-franchisee/

As evident from the information openly available on the website of Mc Donald’s KFC it appres that the cost of opening a Mc Donald’s franchise is much less as compared to cost of opening a KFC franchise.

They suffer tough competition through burger king’s that are specialised in beef products. Wendy has also been added as a competitor due to high hamburger chains. They are other companies as well who are gaining market shares due to specialised in gourmet coffees, pasties and fresh sub sandwiches like Subway, Greggs and Starbucks.

http://www.kfcdevelopment.co.uk/faqs/

KFC pays finders fee

Do you pay finder’s fees for introducing a site?

Yes we pay generous finder’s fees for recognised introductions – ?20,000 for DT sites and ?12,500 for food courts/restaurants.*

Figure: Competitors of McDonald’s

A table showing a comparative analysis relating to the franchise between Mc Donald’s (UK) and KFC (UK) based on information directly available from the website.

Mc Donald’s

KFC

Number of Locations

1200

800

Cost of Setting up a Franchise

Ranges from ?125,000 to ?325,000

As per the KFC official website

“At least ?5m if you’re a business. (?2m must be your own investment)”

Franchise Ratio

80%

75%

Finder’s Fee for franchise business

Information not available

Yes

http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Aboutus/Franchising/the-finance-bit.html

http://www.kfc.co.uk/join-us/become-a-franchisee/

Opponents

McDonald’s has been targeted due to their popularity in the food industry. Recently there was criticism about the cow disease crisis which showed serious threats towards world health. Children welfare society also opposes this company about their advertisement on happy meal which continuously attract children to buy their products. The other opponents are mainly animal rights groups that supported animal cruelty, which are against the manufacture of food produced by killing animals.

Environment Analysis

McDonald’s differs from its Competitors
All leases are taken in the McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd name
McDonald’s take leases up to 25 years
McDonald’s has a superior covenant strength achieving yields of between 5% and 6%
Site requirements
Mixed Use/Retail Parks/Leisure Parks/Main Arterial Routes
Co-location opportunities with hotels and petrol stations considered
Ideal site size is 0.5+ acres
All opportunities considered: Standalone units/Leasehold or Freehold – sites up to one acre

Our Recommendations:

The research asserts that being in food industry the importance of maintaining a healthy and clean image in the eye of the public can never be overemphasized. Having said that, the increasing competition in the industry may lead to targeted negative criticism towards McDonalds. Developing a proactive crisis management team will be key element to manage any crisis situation.

This study feels that there is a direct correlation between growth planning and the number of outlets that an organisation can open in new geographical areas across the UK. The franchise model plays a key role in deciding the growth path in the UK market and how well McDonald’s and its competitors manage this model will determine the organisations future share in this industry segment in the foreseeable future. Below are some key recommendations:

Proactive measures to find a store location in the newer markets: Whereas, inviting public to propose a site for an outlet is a very cost effective and efficient way for growth planning, at the same time the study feels that McDonalds should take proactive steps to capture all the key locations in the major towns and cities. Using extensive market research, talking to local people and other direct means of research will be highly recommended for this purpose.
Encouraging active participation of local resources: From finding a new location to the stage of complete set up of a franchise store, the process may involve a close liaison with local public. The study feels that there should be more incentive for the local parties to take an enthusiastic participation in this process. The study found that the KFC offers a ‘Finder’s Fee’ covenant openly disclosed under the FAQ section whereas provision for such a clause was missing from McDonalds website.
Full disclosure of key information which is vital for decision making: If the franchise procedure is explained well, it could play a key role in encouraging people to show active participation in the process. Whereas KFC’s website discloses information about handing of planning permission and the time duration involved in the whole set up process very openly, this was found missing from the franchise FAQs section of the McDonalds website. Clear and full disclosure of the vital facts will afford more tools for informed decision making in the hands of perspective franchisee.

The destination marketing plan will be based on a small island, which is not even visible on the world map, called Mauritius. It is a volcanic island of lagoons and beaches in the Indian Ocean, it is known for its stability and racial harmony among its blend of population. It is an island situated at about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar and about 3,943 kilometres south-west of India. (Blunt 2005)

It has more that 150 kilometres of beaches and the lagoon is protected by the world’s third largest coral reef. Its population is estimated to 1,2 million which forms a blend of cultures from India, Africa, Europe and China.

Mauritius was discovered by a Portuguese sailor, Don Pedro Mascarenhas. It was occupied by the Dutch (1598 – 1710), French (1715 – 1810) and British (1810 – 1968). It gained its independence on the 12th March 1968 and its Republic status on 12th March 1992. It has a democracy based on the British democracy. The currency used there is the Mauritian Rupee, made up of 100cents and its capital city is Port Louis. The Mauritian economy is dependent upon the textile, tourism and sugar industry.

Currently the destination is attracting tourist mainly from European Countries and the destination’s current mission to keep its loyal customer and promote in countries where people are not aware of Mauritius as a tourist destination. They want to maintain the image of Mauritius as being a “paradise” to their current markets.

The Destination would want to regain the French market following the chikunguya disease, to attract more tourists from American countries and become the number one tourist destination in the Indian Ocean.

Jobber (2004:210) defines segmentation as the “identification of individuals or organizations with similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy”. In other words it means dividing a segment into sub-segments because customers differ in tastes, needs, attitudes, lifestyles, family size and composition. Identifying these submarkets will help the destination to serve its customers with similar requirements efficiently and effectively. The more a destination knows about its customers the better they will be able to satisfy their needs. A segment is identified by dividing them according to the purpose of travel, the buyer’s need/motivations and benefits sought, the buyer’s behaviour, their psychographic profile, the price of the ticket and the demographic, economic and geographic profile.

The identified segments for Mauritius were people aged 25 and upwards with a medium to high income per year, because the price of a ticket for the destination is around ?600 – ?700 and the life cycle identified was newly married couples, full nest II, empty nest I and empty nest II. It has been found that it is mostly leisure tourists that come to the destinations and their motivation honeymoon, young married couple seeking paradise for their honeymoons, looking for a quiet place, this applies to retired people, families willing to escape the European winter and seeking sea and beach holiday, individuals seeking for water- sports and tourist coming for cultural interest. Most of the tourists coming to Mauritius are Loyal and spend a lot during their stay. Regarding price, tourists are quite sensitive to this variable when the price is high less tourist travel to the destination when the price is reduced more tourists travel. Price is also an indicator of the perceived quality, so when playing with the price variable one should be careful of the quality that it is going to reflect.

Market Positioning

Position is about the perceived image of the destination by customers compared to other nearby destinations. Customer’s has this perceived image of Mauritius being paradise when they look at the brochure and see the white sandy beaches and the turquoise ocean. This perceived image would help to make the island the number one destination in the Indian Ocean.

Marketing Mix/branding image

The marketing mix is defined as a combination of controllable variables that can be used to achieve the desired levels of sales in target markets. This combination is known as the 4 Ps, which includes product, price, place and promotion.

Product

In terms of the tourism industry, the product covers the complete experience from the time a tourist reaches their destination to the time he/she leaves. Therefore the tourism product is a mixture of attraction and facilities at the destination, facility and destination. The role of marketing is to increase awareness of the product, improve their presentation and their delivery to customers. One has to bear in mind that when a customer buys a tourism product they are actually buying the expectation of benefits; it is the benefits that are the product. Thus the product should match customer’s needs.

The tourism product comprises of five components:

Destination attractions and environment

Destination facilities and services

Accessibility of the destination

Images of the destination

Price to the consumer (Middleton 1994)

The destination’s approach to the product mix will be doing a market research to see what customer perceptions of the product are and used the information meet their needs. It can also be done on non-users to see what attraction or facilities the destination will need to build up. To attract more customers the destination will introduce packages made by tour operators such as when tourists staying in certain hotels they will have free admission at certain attraction. This type of package will particularly suit families. Extending the usage of the products will help to achieve this strategy as well, such as offering one free night to customers if they are staying for a weekend. The destination could also introduce an airline, like Ryanair in Europe, which would do flights in the Indian Ocean only, such as flights from Mauritius to other island in the Indian Ocean at a low price.

Price

Tourism businesses deal with different segments at the same time and they frequently use different price for the different segments. Pricing is a very complex decision due to the high degree of competition and the inaccuracy in forecasting levels of demand. It may vary not only because of the industry’s characteristics but also due to other factors such as weather, terrorism and strikes. There exists no universal way of pricing, price will always vary. Pricing acts as an indicator of quality, thus it can be used to assess quality before purchase.

The characteristics that affect pricing are the following:

Perishability:

Intensive capital investment

Cost of intensive staff employed

Customer’s characteristics

Regarding pricing the destination will use a low pricing strategy at the beginning to encourage long-run demands, capture market share from competitors and discourage any potential new entrant to enter the market. If it is observed that there is a high proportion frequent customer, this means that the customers are satisfied with the product and customer loyalty has been created. Then price could be raised at a reasonable level to maximise profits. The price could also be lowered during off-peak season to attract customer and non-users as well that could try the destination. Special price could be given to newly married couples for their honeymoon, if they did like the destination by word of mouth they will tell it to their other friends who might use the destination for their honeymoons. (Ernie 1992)

Place

Place is the element of the marketing mix which includes channel of distribution and physical distribution. Channel distribution includes tour operators, retailers and travel agents. Channels should be chosen according to the other the other three marketing mix. Choice of location, which is the point of sale, should be well located to increase the flow of customers (Ernie 1992)

Since we already know who our target markets are the destination will choose tour operators which specialize in their target market and travel agencies that are located where their target market are. For instance if the destination is targeting at families they will choose a travel agent that is specialize in that market and located in area where families live. Since the destination is aiming at non- users they will have to find an operator in these countries.

Promotion

Promotion mix consists of four elements: advertising, personal selling, publicity and sales promotion. They are designed to create excitement and interest about the destination. These elements should communicate similar, consistent and non-conflicting messages to each of their target markets. (Ernie 1992)

The aim of the destination is to increase advertising in target’s market countries and in non-user’s countries as well. Mass media advertising and aggressive advertising will be used to send the message that Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius. This message will be sent through the use of televisions, radios, newspapers and billboards. Market research could be use here to see what image our target markets have of the destination and use it for the advertising. The destination will advertise in trade magazines to reach tour operators and travel agents. The destination will use travel agents as an intermediary for personal selling and they could also be used as a way of promoting the destination. Using sales promotion would help to achieve the objectives mentioned earlier, the destination will use price promotion, special merchandise use to promote the destination and familiarization tours for travel agents. Price promotion could be used when there is festival going on at the destination, such as the Independence Day, which would include discount on attractions, restaurants and hotels. Selling merchandise such as T-shirts, key chains and souvenirs will help to promote the destination by word of mouth when tourists go back to their countries, this might encourage prospective customers to visit the destination. Familiarization tours are free trips for travel agents to let them experience the tourist destination before the customers. This would be for travel agents operating in an area where there non-users of the destination, the travel agents would be able advise non-users on the destination. Promotional impact can be managed by carefully managing the four elements of the promotion mix.

TALC
Tourism Area life Cycle

Tourism Area Life cycle a framework concept by Buttler (1980) highlights the tourism attractions and resources of a particular country. It mainly involves according to Butler (1980) a six stage evolution of tourism namely exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation and post stagnation. . Mauritius Island can be classified between a

Development stage and stagnation in the TALC (buttler 1980) more people are reaching Mauritius (see tourist Arrival stats) by years, more people discover the destination, and the word spreads about its attractions and the amenities which are increased and improved ( development) with the approach of the carrying capacity* (define below next content) stagnation rise with the social and environmental limits. Buttler (1980) mentioned that a rise from Exploration to Stagnation happens very rapidly, as implied by the exponential nature of the growth curve. As this is the case for Mauritius in a rise of infrastructure, development in Technologies, improving services for quality customers. For Instance carrying capacity clearly explains the rest of the situation.

Carrying Capacity
Definition of carrying capacity

Carrying capacity can be defined as “the maximum number of people who can use a site without an unacceptable decline in the quality of experience gained by visitors” (karma;2001 65) .Lime(1976) points to a substantial expansion of the meaning of carrying capacity – from a focus on numbers of visitors to the entire topic of “how to plan and manage a particular recreation resource “.

Findings in Carrying capacity

Carrying capacities are usually determined for the planning area involving features of key attractions, development sites and even the tourist transit point. The carrying capacity analysis implying the institution of upper limits on development in other words, the number of tourists in terms of days, feedbacks and market forecasts, Moreover, carrying capacities can be established both for the developing as well as developed tourist destination.( Kamra;2001:68) he also argues that carrying capacity analyse most the number of tourist arrivals to the number of inhabitants in the destination area, in a result they found to be genuinely measuring the elements of socio-cultural environment and physical. More elements such as economical and infrastructure issues are to be seen as a part of the carrying capacity.

A source of pollution can be a source of major problem in an environmental aspect, for example the beaches in Mauritius are well preserved by the government and by the hotels themselves, pollution (land) might affect the tourism industry, if not taken into consideration it might result to a decrease in tourist arrivals in the destination, this one major issue can be classified as being a physical more on that is the preservation of wild life animals, the animals in Mauritius Island such as “the kestrel” and the Mauritian Parakeet are unique in the species, preservation of those natural resources have large impacts on tourism industry. Economical benefits are mostly crucial for the government of Mauritius, as this is tourism industry is being as a major source of income, tourism industry also bring employment for the local communities for example hotel resorts have been built in the coastal areas.

SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT

SWOT, is a tool use to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the destination. The aim of SWOT is to isolate the key environmental factors that are important to the destination.

Strengths:

Distinctive and exotic environment

Mauritius is known for its exotic environment and its natural park.

The opening up of new hotels

Lately in Mauritius there a lot of new hotels opening up, this is an advantage for the island because now they accommodate more tourists than before.

High purchasing power for tourists

?1 = Rs 63.6447, which means that with ?1 UK tourist could more things in Mauritius than in their country. (Anon 2006)

Excellent service provided by hotels

The tropical island is not also known for its physical asset but also for the high quality service provided by hotels. (Anon 2005)

Weaknesses:

Diseases

Lately in Mauritius there has been a disease, chikunguya, which is caused by mosquito bites and because of this the number of French tourist has declined.

Language Barrier

Although the official language is English, not all Mauritian speak English and

It is hard for tourist to communicate since most of the tourists are English speaking.

Long haul flights

– The flights to Mauritius from Europe, America and Asian countries is a 12hr flight, which is very tiring.

Opportunities:

Exploit Golf tourist market

It has notice that golf tourist spend a lot when they come to Mauritius, thereby Mauritius try to attract more golf tourist to maximise their revenues.

Growth in Spa tourism

New air routes such as flight to Russia has been open thus creating a new market and if exploited wisely could bring in more revenues for the island.

Increase in the number of flight to Mauritius

– There are now two new airlines doing the flights to Mauritius, TUIfly Nordic and Corsairfly. (Chateau 2006)

Threats:

Competition

Future competition from the surrounding islands might be an issue; Mauritius will have to find a way of gaining the competitive advantage over them.

Tsunamis

Following the tsunami that hit Indonesia in December there were some minor effects felt in Mauritius. Since that time there are still some tourists that feel it is unsafe to visit the island. (Anonb 2006)

Recommendations:

Mauritius Island has the best possible ability to become the pioneer in Tourism industry in the Indian Ocean , The Government of Mauritius understand very well the importance of Tourists for the Economy, the improvement of the Hotels infrastructure is to be made ( now in process 2008-2010 project) , the preservation of the wildlife park such as the rare animals and rare plants species, the introduction of a new airport also under future planning of the Government, the size of tourists arrivals is increasing with years and several discounts on Air Fares are available.

2665 words

Tourism Industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Tourism has long been a central component of the economic, social and cultural shift that has left its imprint on the world system of cities in the past two decades (Dumond; 2005 cited in Beben; 2006;1). According to the statistics of World Trade Organization, there was 693 million tourist arrivals across the globe in 2002 (Beben; 2006). Moreover, WTO and the World Tourism and Travel Council announced a possible increase in the number of tourists to close to 1 billion by the end of 2010 (Massound; 2010).

Mass tourism is seen as a large number of people participating in tourism as well as inflexible and packaged standardized holidays (Poon; 1993). Starting from the 50’s a new tourist demand leaded to a new stage in this evolutionary process. Tourism industry just like other Fordist industries has been supplying mass products, mostly considered under the label of mass tourism (Conti; Perelli; 2004). According to Conti and Perelli (2004;3), Thomas Cook created the tourism packages in the 19th century as “the pioneering forms of mass tourism and the opportunity for the definitive shift from the aristocratic forms of vacation to the mass mobility of workers spending their paid holidays travelling”. The concept of Cookism was used in a place of Fordism to express the era of mass tourism. Others seen mass tourism as consuming places by the large number of visitors (Urry; 1995). More recently mass tourism consumption experience has been linked to the ideas of “a McDonaldization, Disneyfication or McDisneyfication of societies” (Ritzer and Liska; 1997 cited in Conti and Perelli; 2004;3). The impact of those consumption patterns has been considered as the typical Fordist “leading to a reduction of the cultural diversity by mean of the demand of a tourist experience that will be more and more reproducing the everyday life patterns of consumption” (Contti and Perelli; 2004).

Mass tourism is strongly linked to seasonality. The impact of schools closure for the holiday periods as well as companiesA? work programmes and the destination specific weather conditions, all that aspects are gathering great number of tourists at the same time (Shaw and Williams; 1995). Before tourism was a luxury, available mostly for higher class but after the introduction of packaged holidays and development of mobility and technology, travelling became more accessible for everyone.

Tourism has aroused on the market as a forceful industry making changes which have both positive and negative economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts. The development of tourism industry is very important for economy of the country especially for less developed countries as it increase foreign exchange earnings and generates employment. According to UNWTO, tourism stands for 8% of employment and 9% of global GDP and by the year 2019 will provide 296 million jobs (UNWTO cited in MercoPress, 2010). Tourism can have a powerful and beneficial direction for both economic and sociio-cultural change but at the same time it can be destroying. Do actual benefits from tourism go to the host community? Is governmentA?s priority in development are to provide the needs of the tourists instead of local community? The government blinded by the opportunity of the country to generate the money from the development tourism is forgetting about the negative aspects that the industry can bring. Most of the attention has been made to economic aspects of the tourism growth and environmental and socio-cultural issues have been swept out to the second plan. Although to make tourism sustainable it is very important to look at those aspects.

As mentioned before tourism enables the development of the destination although, the lack of own capital and a weak economy of some underdeveloped destinations makes foreign investors to build a new hotels that makes tourism being beneficial mostly for the developed countries. The same is with employment. It seems like tourism would give jobs to the local community but in the meantime the investors from developed countries employed the workers with a better education and abilities so the developing country stays with almost nothing. When the development is lower than the position of a country is worse. Leakage is an amount of money that escapes from the local economy (France; 1997). According to Kripperdorf(1982;136), “tourism planning is usually in the hands of outside promoters the local population are regarded merely as landowners or as a reserve of labour, not as people entitled to participate in decision making”. For example, tour operators owning resorts and sending the customers to the destination which mean that local community won’t benefit much from those tourists. They export food for the tourist and employ British stuff.

How tourism can be sustainable if itA?s breaking the basic rules of it. The tourism control and planning strategy is crucial in developing sustainable tourism but how can it be done if even government is closing their eyes on the unfair practices in the Tourism sector of that region. The uncontrolled tourism in Goa has a strong impact on host community who has to face the food and water shortage (Almeida; 1996). Moreover, Goan has to face with “electricity problems, there is a severe water shortage. The water pipeline that was originally meant for the villagers is now being utilised by the hotels. The transport too is insufficient to transport both locals and tourists” (Misquita, 1996a cited in Noronha;1999;101). Very fast process of urbanisation has changed Goa into the concrete jungle. Police is closing their eyes on the drug fulfilled parties. Barely 10 % of Goans have benefited from tourism development, moreover, the foreign investors are buying large amounts of lands in the region (Almeida; 1996).All those examples illustrate how unsustainable tourism it is.

Moreover, as suggested by Wall and Wright (1977); physical impacts to the tourist destination include “alterations to the natural environment, including air, water, soils, vegetation and wildlife as well as changes to the build environment” (Mathiesen and Wall; 1999; 38).

Mass tourism affects strongly beaches, cliff-side, environment and degraded landscape. In some mass destinations ground water is in an alarmingly low level which is largely consumed by agricultural sector, by the irritation of a great number of gardens constructed due to the development of new summer houses and second homes and golf courses (Molz; 2004;5). Also the beaches have been extended in order to meet tourist demand. The unlimited constructions and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources will lead to the serious environmental problems. Recreational activities organized for tourists have also strong impact. Tourists by touching reefs when diving and snorkeling are damaging them. Also by the great number of boat trips tourist are disturbing marine animals. According to Kripperdorf (1982;135), “the mass phenomena of modern tourism have initiated the paradoxial process “Tourism destroys tourism”. The landscape loses its tourist value through its use, or rather over-use, by the tourist”.

Mass tourism is not only a problem of coastal regions but also the winter season is strongly connected to mass tourism. In Alps the number of tourists doubles every 7 years (Dziedzic; 1998). In Tyrol the ski slope is going through the endangered forests. Every year more than 500 hectares of agricultural land is used to make new skiing resorts and slopes (Dziedzic; 1998). Environmental degradation destroys the meaning of existence of tourism itself. The number of tourists is growing every year. According to the World Travel report (cited in Hickman; 2006) “by 2020 the natural features of some of the wonders of the world will be damaged by global warming, while other resorts will become seriously overcrowded”.

The carrying capacity has been described as greatest number of people who can use the place without any damage to the natural resources and without degradation of the environment (Wall and Mathiasen; 1999). The attrition of historical buildings and the saturation of the coasts are one of the problems were carrying capacity has been overtaken. Changes in tourist destinations are inevitable but the concept of carrying capacity has the chance to indicate the amount and the way of change and to assess to which point those changes are acceptable (Mathiesen and Wall; 1999).

The socio-cultural impacts are the other aspect of a great importance when looking at the changes in tourism as it strongly changes the way of life of the local communities. Mass tourism is causing displacement of indigenous population by tourists. For example in Hawaii there are about 1 million of indigenous inhabitants, which is a quarter of the whole population (Dziedzic; 1998). In human relationships, the disappearing traditional hospitality is a very important aspect. Especially in the big tourist resorts, these relations were long ago converted into a commodity for sale.

Kuhn (2007; cited in Hanna; 2010 HHhhKKKK) argues that sustainable tourism attempts to preserve traditional cultures in a way that the western tourist deems as ‘authentic’. If sustainable tourism will lead into that direction it will not be very successful. Tourist resorts also offer its guests a more refined, but a fake version of its folklore and traditions, adapted to the stereotypical images of the visited country. According to Mathieson and Wall (1992; 4) “the commercialization of culture, through the marketing and sale of artefacts, may revive traditional art forms or modify them so that they are scarcely recognizable”. Which in a long term might create a “phony folk culture” but at the same moment it can lessen existing unemployment problems and create more jobs.

The Tourism authorities are pleased of the fact that tourism is developing in the country but some of the local communities have different opinions on that. According to Ignacio Cembrero in “View from Fez” (2006), “the country’s Islamist party frequently rails against hotel casinos, restaurants that serve alcohol and the growing gay club scene” (Ranger; 2006). The tourist must accept the cultural differences of other countries. The most of Moroccans are very religious and tourist has to respect it. Even more tolerate Moroccans can become tired of tourists when seeing nudity on the beaches or tourists wearing t-shirts or short trousers in the churches. It insults their believes and rules. “A lack of consideration by tourists for local norms, culture, people or the environment of tourist receiving destinations” is leading to unsustainable tourism practices (Poon; 1993 in Wahab and Pigram; 2004;51). This point was also commented by Obrador et al (2009;3) who suggest that “local cultures are seen as eroded by a homogenous inauthentic, consumer culture”.

Moreover, overcrowding and growth of the bad reputation of the destination by breaking ethical rules can be destructive for the destination. There are many places in the world which have been spoiled by mass tourism and after the development of low cost airlines many cities has lost their “shine.

As most of the products also destinations have a lifecycle. It was clearly presented by Butler (1980) in his model of lifecycle of a tourist destination. He evaluated six stages a destination goes through when tourism development takes place: “exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, concluding with either rejuvenation or decline.”

At this stage the destination is visited by small number of tourists who are keen to explore cultural and natural beauty of the place but the number of visitors is limited due to accessibility difficulties and lack of facilities. Here the attraction of the place yet remains unmodified by tourism. In the next stage of involvement advertising and local initiatives are seen as the element of promotion of the destination which results in increase of the tourist number with the pressure on the public sector to develop infrastructure. Next step in the cycle is development in which further initiatives for development of facilities are made by national and multinational companies. In this stage the control of the public sector is necessary as the popularity of the destination and increasing number of visitors may not only be the reason of success but also cause failure and “the destination may suffer a change in quality through problems of over-use and deterioration of facilities” (Butler; 1980;92). The consolidation is the next level of tourism life cycle when tourism becomes a great part of the local community. Next step of stagnation occurs when after reaching peak numbers of visitors the destination is no longer popular and only conservative visitors are still coming back. In this stage the environmental, economical as well as socio-cultural problems can be seen as the reason. The last stage is decline where effort is need to maintain the tourist arrivals by introducing new types of facilities like for example casinos.

Prague is only one of the examples of the life cycle destination. The city has become one of the most visited cities in Europe after Czech Republic became a member of EU and after the growth of mobility (Global Travel Industry News; 2010). This beautiful, full of historical monuments city was rejuvenated in the last two decades. The commercialization of the city took place and the old town became surrounded by souvenir vendors, Irish pubs and beer gardens losing its authenticity. Also the prices have gone up and all locals who couldnA?t afford been forced to move out of town. It’s one of the examples when the way of making quick cash has prevailed over the unspoiled charm of the historic Prague.

Mass tourism has led to the development of sustainable tourism in order to reduce negative impacts of tourism growth. Later in time the concept of Post Fordism was seen as the customers seem to acquire more power in determining market tendencies. According to Contti and Perelli (2004;9), “this change also tend to meet the new demand for environmental friendly tourism products, being new tourists generally perceived as more educated, interested in local communities culture and in a real interaction with the surrounding environment”. Since 1980 the sustainable tourism has began to be an important issue in the tourism industry (Swarbrooke; 1999). By creating a new infrastructure, hotels and businesses the employment is increasing. By travelling people have a chance to experience new cultures and traditions, although not every tourist is keen to do that and some visitors are not interested in it and ignore host communities. Sustainable tourism development is directed especially to create a better understanding of tourism, of how to achieve balance between economic, cultural and environmental aspects of tourism development. It is necessary to encourage people to take responsibility for the environment. Moreover, fair distribution of tourism benefits is necessary and the bigger involvement of local community in the tourism development decisions of their region has to be improved. The sustainable tourism directs to reduce negative impact on environment by introduction of quieter, more fuel efficient aircraft to start from to maximizing economic benefits for the host community rather than the visitors countries. Mass tourism is strongly connected to the high seasonal tourism caused by the great demand of 3’s tourism tourists all over the world (Bramwell; 2004). That is why diversification of tourism like development of rural tourism has been developed to minimize saturation of the beaches in the high seasons and to avoid mass tourism. The development of sustainable tourism in very important for the countries where tourism industry is a main element of the local economy because the traditional beach holidays will decline caused by the saturation if the mass tourism will be increasing with that speed (Swarbrooke; 1999). According to Perry (2001), the climate change caused by humans will result in future modification of the climate conditions for example in the Mediterranean area, whereas the northern and western Europe climate will be improved.

In 1992 on the conference in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil the first strategy document on sustainable tourism has been announced – Agenda 21 as the basic economic model of tourism in XXI century (Hanna; 2010). Although, the Agenda 21 has meet various criticism mostly “due to its non-binding treaties allowing most of the recommendations surrounding climate change and various other cultural issues to be ignored by the international community” (Hanna; 2010). Nowadays, alternative forms of tourism have been emphasized but taking in account that even small group tours can be damaging the sustainable tourism is hard to accomplish.

Latest debate of Tourism Concern came to a conclusion “that all-inclusive holidays, arguably the epitome of mass-packaged tourism consumption should be banned” (Farrington; 1999 cited in Sharpley and Telfer; 2002; 304). For example Gambia’s tourism authorities have banned all-inclusive holidays in 1999 (Sharpley and Telfer; 2002). It is an effective contribution to the development of destination. This could be a possible solution of applying sustainable tourism into a real life but it is doubtful if it would work for every country. Another alternative solution suggested by France (1997;89) is “the development of holiday complexes which provide artificial A?sun-warm water` environments (e.g. Center Parc villages), located at points of maximum market access” which could be an exit for achieving sustainable tourism just if the great number of people would choose it instead of “normal” holidays.

In conclusion, the growth of tourism seems to be inevitably unsustainable. Tourism is giving employment and economic benefits but for example in the Third World countries the division of money is unequal. The powerful developed countries are always going to be stronger than less developed countries if management will not be carefully planned. So even if tourism is bringing money, it is not always bringing it to the right place. Nowadays people blinded by money forgetting about more important things like passing their tradition to the next generation by conserving it.

Mass tourism is termed as a neo-colonialism which can be compared to army forces where instead of their invasion we have an invasion of the tourist influx (Dziedzic; 1998). There is no solution to stop people from travelling. The great understanding of negative impacts would lead to better sustainable tourism development but this need a high number of people involved in it which is hard to accomplish as nowadays people donA?t think much about the future risk related to the planet because “not to go away is like not possessing a car or a nice house. It is a marker of status in modern societies” (Urry; 1990;4). There is a lack of sustainable understanding and adequate tourism control to develop sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism will not eliminate negative impacts of tourism but it could be a way to minimize its impact. Because if the growth in mass tourism will continue as fast as it does now the global warming will be arising and some destinations will suffer unbearably high temperatures with an increase in the risk of fire. All those changes will lead tourists to changes in their holiday destinations, which not necessarily means stop of mass tourism. Tourist will continue with transport use even if they will reduce their travels, it will be still environmental damaging. All the facts are coming into conclusion that the best way for sustainable tourism would be staying at home.

Chichen Itza is a famous tourism and archaeological site in Mexico. It is situated in the Yucatan Peninsula state of Mexico. Chichen Itza was built by the Mayas, one of the oldest existing habitations of Mexico and the world. The site was also known “Uucyabnal”, which means “Seven Great Rulers” (Henderson,1997). It is located at approximately 25 miles southeast of the city of Merida. It is also known as one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. In year of 1988, it was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Since 2007, when Chichen-Itza’s “El Castillo” (Kukulkan Pyramid) was named in the list as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World after a worldwide vote, the number of visiting tourists increased by 75 per cent. Now the Mexican tourism board is expecting to double this tourist number by 2012. Almost 2.5 million tourists visited Chichen ltza in 2009 (Mexico tourism statistics, 2010).

The pyramid of Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent God (also known as Quetzalcoatl to the Toltecs and Aztecs) is the largest and most important ruin structure at Chichen Itza. The old Spaniards (Mexico was ruled by Spain in past) called it El Castillo, which means the Castle. However, the pyramid does not look like a castle and in old times it was used for religious and astronomical purposes.

This legendary ninety-foot tall pyramid was built during the 11th to 13th centuries. The basic structure is based upon the previous pyramid (Barkin, 2000). The architecture of the pyramid shows some specific information about the old Mayan calendar, it is directly linked to the solstices and equinoxes. According to equinoxes two times a year there is an illusion of a snake, which is created by the sun, the pyramid has a set of 91 steps each side, which when linked together with the shared step of the stage at the top, total 365 steps which is indicative of the number of days in a year.

The core ball court was the biggest ball court of those times, the size of the ball court is 166 x 68 meters and the sides are lined with sculptures of ball players (similar to the game of basketball). El Caracole (the central pyramid), or the Snail, is a round building with a twisting staircase that served as an observatory. The pyramid contained various instruments to help determine important dates and details in the Mayan calendar. Particularly, the equinox and the solstice were important in view of astronomy. An interesting and famous fact by the Mayan calendar is December 21, 2012 as this is the last day of the earth which is also depicted as “doomsday” (Tencati, 2007). This site is open almost every day of the year during the hours of 8 am to 5 pm. There is a light and sound show performed at 7 pm every day to attract tourists. Research says, this light and sound show is very harmful for Chichen Itza in view of sustainability.

Management issues at the site

1. Mass Tourism and Damage

1.1 Current and Future of Mass Tourism

Since the late 1930s tourism has grown worldwide. Due to the fact that after World War II western people were crucial in introducing free time and leisure activities to the working class, consequently there is more spending money for holidays (Judd & Fainstein, 1999). This phenomenon has been the major cause in the increasing volume of tourism in Mexico. In the book “Archaeological Tourism” Walker (2009) refers to four H’s of cultural or indigenous tourism: habitat, history, handicrafts and heritage researched by Valene Smith (1996): habitat means the geographic setting and underlying platform for the visit. History implies post-contact relations between Westerners and aboriginal groups. Handicrafts often are created for souvenirs and made from local goods, which are relative to the market demands of tourism. Lastly, heritage refers to the body of knowledge and skills associated with human survival in terms of individual values and beliefs. In this case, the tourism interaction of Chichen Itza offered all of these elements and more.

Chichen Itza and its dominating features have become the symbol of Mexico for example; the pyramids of Kukulcan and El Catillo. The achievements of the Mayan Riviera in astronomy are also widely known in the cycles of the heavens namely in the Maya calendar. As a result, there is an influx of visitors to Mexico who are timing their travels, to coincide with astronomical phenomena.

Furthermore during the spring and fall equinoxes, the pyramid presents a graphic depiction of darkness and light, symbolizing day and night. The sun of the late afternoon creates the illusion of a snake creeping slowly down the northern staircase (The University of North Carolina, 2011), large crowds of visitors come to the site to view this spectacle. Juan Jose Marti Pacheco, a secretary for the Tourist Promotion of Yucatan has identified the number of visitors to Chichen Itza has increased by 75 percent since being named a wonder of the world (New 7 Wonders, 2010). In addition the number of tourists expected to visit Chichen Itza will double by 2012 (Lyn M, 2008).

In response to this influx of tourists for the near future, the World Heritage Alliance (an international organization which is responsible for supporting World Heritage conservation, sustainable tourism and local economic development for communities in and around UNESCO World Heritage sites). Is working with the Secretary of Tourism for Mexico and the Mexican Tourism Board, along with the founding partners of the World Heritage Alliance, Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and the United Nations Foundation, have extended more partnership to promote and preserve World Heritage sites especially Chichen Itza through 2012 (Consejo de Promocion Turistica de Mexico, 2007).

1.2 Carrying Capacity Management

The impact of over tourism is also related to the natural resources in Chichen Itza. Many archaeologists are concerned about the public consequences of their research and restoration in heritage sites and are making important efforts to provide archaeologically and environmentally responsible, sustainable, and educationally sound contributions to local communities and national governments (Walker, 2009).

In particular the responses of local government, the Nature Conservancy and the Rainforest Alliance have been working to build capacity for conservation by working with local communities and promoting sustainable livelihoods that support forest health and biodiversity conservation in the Maya Forest region (Ayen, 2007). On the other hand the planning for the construction of water management in the ancient city of Chichen Itza takes into account practical considerations for the needs of a growing population, as well as preventing flooding during the rainy season that may be the cause of architecture collapse (Rocio, Osorio & Schmidt, 2009).

1.3 Security in Mass Tourism

The security concerns separate into two issues. First is the security of their own material patrimony such as artifacts on display in a museum, monuments and archaeological materials. Second is the safety and comfort of visitors. Breglia (2006) explained that preventive measures at that site included the installation of ropes or chains to assist in climbing certain structures and to prohibit public access to others. The stairs of the structure are narrow footholds and also difficult for visitors to navigate even under dry conditions. Moreover, there is no an official policy to warn visitors against climbing, even when the lightest rains turn climbing into a slippery and dangerous undertaking.

Although tourism is the only product where the consumer must go to the source to consume, this is more apparent in the Maya world where major archaeological destinations namely Chichen Itza in Mexico, expected in the order of over million visitors a year (Meethan, Anderson & Miles, 2009). However, citing concerns over safety after various incidents of death and serious injury that visitors have sustained over the years at Chichen Itza, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico has closed down most of the popular monuments to solve the tourist traffic problem on the site (Cyark, 2011). For instance, El Castillo, the main pyramid of Chichen Itza was closed after a tourist fell to her death in 2006. In addition, the Jaguar Throne room was also closed down in 2007.

2. Vendors

The next problem on this site is the local vendors, who try to sell local craft carved stone, cheap price Mexican cloth and food. This site has more than 500 vendors in the corridor of the pyramid. These vendors create some big hassles for tourists and management because they try to up sale their vending items to the tourists. The more important thing is that these vendors have unstructured shops in the protected area of the pyramid. During the season, this number reaches in the thousands. The visual appeal of site is affected by their tables and blankets in the park. Almost every tourist is affected by these vendors and their push selling strategies.

The federal government has developed a new plan for these vendors. The director of Regional Programs on site, Juan Carlos Arnau says, “There is a project to build a space outside the archaeological zone for the sale of crafts and to offer complementary productive alternatives for the local communities”. This plan is in progress with coordination of the state government of Yucatan and diverse local municipal governments. But yet, there is no defined date to start this project but it is targeted to finish by the year 2012.

3. Economic Inequality

Tourism in Chichen Itza is a main source of economic growth in the Yucatan Peninsula. According to the book ‘Population, Development and Environment on the Yucatan’ Lutz, Prieto and Sanderson (2000) identified that the next 20 years of tourism in Yucatan Peninsula, tourism will be the most dynamic economic activity on Yucatan peninsula in both the short and medium terms. With the increasing tourism and population, it might be a main factor which affects environmental problems directly. Thus ecotourism should be a right technique to balance both a big amount of tourists and environment. Due to that fact that ecotourism is an accessible ‘Engine of economic growth’ which without excessively heavy investment can help a country generate foreign exchange and added to this is the hope it will be green and sustainable (Barrow, 2006).

Infrastructure Development

Improvements have been made in Yucatan since 1990, for example; the international airport and highway transportation system. The purposes of this practice is to provide a more accessible gateway to the ancient Maya site of Chichen Itza and also to the new maquila plants opening around Valladolid (Baklanoff & Moseley, 2008). At this time, the main causeway under construction aims to access directly and indirectly to the center of the Chichen Itza site, integrated by the Group of the Castle and the Group of the Thousand Columns, both built on top of the Great Leveling (Ruiz, 2009). Chichen Itza has become the nexus of this great metropolis, and the strict internal political control that existed through this sophisticated network.

4. Land Ownership

Chichen Itza sold (A conflict between property owner and government is finished)

It is a great mystery for the millions of visitors around the world who trip to the site each year that, Chichen Itza has been privately owned for the past 500 years. On March 29, 2010, Hans Jurgen Thies Barbachano, owner of the 200 acre property on which some of the world’s most identifiable monuments stand, EL Castillo, the ball court and the temple of warriors, decided to sell his belongings to the state of Yucatan for $220 million Mexican ($17.6 million US).

This property war ended after more than a decade of debate between the property owner and the state federal government. Various stakeholders such as the vendors and the local people have been affected by this decision.

According to an interview of Barbachano Gomez Rul, brother of the property owner during the years of 2005 and 2006,the owner has received a certain percentage of tourist tickets sold. The owner has his own entrance gate and has developed his own hotel in front of the pyramid named the Maya land resort (Alright, 2000).

The owner said in interviews that he was not opposed to selling Chichen Itza, he only wanted a reasonable price, which he estimated at $250 million in US dollars which was a huge amount. According to the director of INAH at the time, Alfonso Maria y Fields, INAH made a formal offer for pyramid and that all archeological zone of $8 million Mexican, but again received no response from the owner. By the end of 2006 the owner was dead and his Chichen Itza property belonged to his grandson, Han Jurgen Thies Barbachano. The new owner had accepted the new deal of the government and Chichen Itza was sold to the state government for $220 million Mexican peso or $17.6 million US dollar, on 29 March 2010. Although, the owner is still waiting to receive the money, the principal parties signed a purchase contract in front of a press conference.

Jorge Esma Bazan, director of Yucatan’s Culture, illustrated a 10-point policy plan for the future of this archeological site. This policy regulation explained future work with cooperation INAH. This contract also has some points to discuss with vendors and try to find out a solution for them. The policy is focused on the creation more opportunities for the local Mayan people. The policy also illustrates future major tasks for the state government in the field of research and restoration of Chichen Itza.

Current Management Practices at the site

To support the growing tourism of Chichen Itza in 2012, the government has to manage the main issue that is mass tourism. Dr. Steven Fly (2011), the author of Plugging Yucatan into the Tourism Circuit in Yucatan Living Online Magazine, mentions Plan Maetro Chichen Itza (Master plan of Chichen Itza) 2011 that this Yucatan tourism project is part of an integrated plan with the archaeological sites, two new attractions (Museum of the Maya World in Merida and Palace of the Maya Civilization) and the circuit of infrastructure.

With the large number of tourists predicted for the future, Chichen Itza will not be the only place to encounter this fast tourism in the Yucatan. New attractions have been created for this reason. The Palace of the Maya Civilization is a museum which is proposed in Yaxcaba, located approximately ten kilometers from Chichen Itza. The museum reveals the origins of the Maya world and includes a 300-seat IMAX theater and gift shop, a courtyard and outdoor amphitheater. Museum of the Maya World in Merida closed to the Siglo XXI convention centre on December 21, the significant date is from the belief of the Maya calendar, which is the end of the world in 2012. Moreover the government is also creating the tourist complex in Rio Largartoes city with government owned resorts and hotels. As well as a tourist intelligence information system offered by the state government will introduce tourists to the new attractions and will assist the state in a part of capacity management.

The circuit of infrastructure consists of the network of four features in the peninsula are archaeology, colonial, ecological and coastal circuits. These tourist circuits are redesigned and rebuilt roadways. In part of infrastructure in the Mayan World will be started with improvements and remodeling of the Chichen Itza International Airport in Kaua. Next project will be the redesign and renovation of the Malecon in Progreso which is a major port that will have an increase in traffic due to several cruise ship lines each year. Finally, there is the construction of cross peninsular trenes rapidos (fast train) named “Bullet Train”. The major route will be across the Yucatan Peninsula, from Merida to Chichen Itza and Valladolid.

Recommendations for Sustainable Management

The state government should limit the numbers of tourists on the site per day and arrange a timetable by online reservation for group tours and individually.

To enhance security on the site, the government has to provide more infrastructures, for examples; the international public signs, the gates surrounding the site and general facilities.

Due to the mass tourism, the impact may lead to pollution problems in the future. Thus the government should prepare for waste management.

Local government and INAH should support the locality by buying the art works and refuse purchasing products from endangered animals or being offered illegal products. Moreover, most of indigenous products can be value added when displayed in art galleries and art museums.

Government should reduce the trading hours of the site. Currently its open 365 days consisting 10 hours each day. Possibly it should be 5 days a week for tourism sustainability.

Local government and INAH can buy this art and can sell to tourists in proper art gallery or can show in an art museum which is beneficial for both, vendors and government. Tourist can also enjoy this art in meaningful manner and can enjoy trip without vendors hassle.

Local Craft institute can be an option to support this art and vendors to educate the locals and vendors.

Conclusion

With support and promotion by the Mexican government, Chichen Itza has become one of the globally well-known sites as the symbol of Mexico. Chichen Itza is also faced with many management issues such as mass tourism, vendors, economic inequality and land ownership since being one of Seven Wonders of the World in 2007. As a result, the state government has to invest the budget in infrastructure, new attractions and accommodations to encounter an increasing number of tourists everyday. However, the side-effect of this practice leads to excessive tourism accessing the main attractions. Therefore, the government should start limiting the number of tourists allowed at the site. Due to the fact that uncontrolled tourism will damage existing structures, new infrastructure and nature. As well as the government needs to find the solution for the waste problem from over-visitation in the near future.

Introduction

As we know that motivation is a process where our need activates a selected behavior thanks to we can try to achieve our goal, It drives us to act in a way to achieve our desire goal and it’ s the general term for all processes involved in starting, directing, and maintaining physical and psychological activities. Maslow hierarchy of needs theory is one of the most popular motivation theories and it’s also considered one of the most important theories in psychology. According to Maslow people has a specific needs and they are motivated by their desire to satisfy these needs. In addition to this he arranged these needs in hierarchical order, he put physiological needs at the bottom of hierarchy ,followed by safety needs ,the belongingness and love needs after that esteem needs and at the top of hierarchy self -actualization need. He proposed that the lower -level needs must be satisfied before higher-level needs become important. Travel motivation reflects one’s needs and wants and can be viewed as a critical variable in relation to their purchase decisions. Maslow hierarchy theory help us to understand the different needs that motivate travelers and in other hand it will be enhancing service providers’ knowledge about what kinds of experiences travelers seek, especially for certain groups of people. Maslow’s hierarchy is considered a useful tool for understanding consumer motivations, developing marketing strategy, appropriate advertising appeals and as the basis for market segmentation and product positioning because consumer goods often serve to satisfy each of the need levels

The determinants of travel decision-making and the influential factors would also be examined since they are related to the travel motivations. Understanding of travelers’ motivations is critical to predict future travel patterns. Maslow’s five-level hierarchy need theory has been broadly accepted and used to explain travel behavior. This paper will try to discuss the Maslow hierarchy theory in tourism and the importance of this theory in tourism field .this paper also involves some studies in tourism which based on Maslow hierarchy theory and how the authors applied this theory in tourism field.

Maslow hierarchy of needs theory

Hierarchy of needs theory was proposed in the 1943 by Abraham Maslow who was born in April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA in 1930, his MA in 1931, and his PhD in 1934, all in psychology, all from the University of Wisconsin. Maslow presented hierarchy of needs. On the bottom of the pyramid are all physiological and safety needs such us food, water, air, rest etc. Higher levels represent higher needs, which are more complex. An affiliation on the third level of the pyramid says about belonging to a groups such as family, school or work colleagues groups; a need of love and friendship. On the forth level are self-esteem needs such as respect, achievement, confidence, need of being recognized. Self-actualization needs are on the last level of the Maslow’s pyramid are creativity, morality, spontaneity, problem solving etc.

He also proposed that the lower -level needs must be satisfied before higher-level needs become important in addition to this Maslow in 1970 also discus two important needs related directly with tourism ;the aesthetic need and the need to know and understand .(maslow,1987)

The basic need hierarchy

1-Physiological needs: – in this level of hierarchy people must be satisfied their physiological need which involves basic survival needs such as the needs of air, water, food and shelter. People can’t become concerned with other higher-order needs before they satisfy these needs

2-Safety needs: – this level is the second level of maslow;s hierarchy of needs which concerns people’s need to be secure and safe in their environment. It includes the need for protection psychological and physical harm.

3-Belongingness and love need: – these needs include dealing with and acceptance by other people, giving and receiving affection and friendship. Based on Maslow’s theory people can’t reach to this level until satisfied their physiological and safety needs

4-Esteem needs: – according to Maslow theses needs may be classified in to two subsidiary sets. First, the desire for achievement, adequacy, strength, competence and freedom.seconde we have what we may call the desire for reputation or prestige, status, recognition importance and dignity.

5-Self actualization needs: – people need for self- actualization represents their desire to fulfill their potential, maximizing the use of their skills and abilities .malsow proposed that even if all the previous need are satisfied we may still often expect that anew discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he or she, individually is fitted for.(Hitt ,Miller andColella,2006)

There is no doubt that , all these needs affect the choice of destination selected by tourists by tourists, an extreme -adventure tourists might forgo all lower needs to satisfy self actualization.

The basic idea of Maslow’s theory is that individuals are waiting beings they always desire more and that they want relays on what they already have. It’s necessary to know that Maslow’s theory relates to individual development and motivation in life and not just to the behavior of people at work. That’s mean the hierarchy of needs can be applied to the satisfaction of the needs and expectations of tourists as well as to members of workers who work in tourist establishment. (Mulins, 1998)

Maslow theory in tourism

This theory is very important in tourism sector because the determinants of travel decision-making and the influential factors would also be examined since they are related to the travel motivations. Understanding of travelers’ motivations is critical to predict future travel patterns. Maslow’s five-level hierarchy need theory has been broadly accepted and used to explain travel behavior. In addition to this, the satisfaction of people (tourists, employees) needs plays a vital role to develop this sector.

According to Horner and Swarbrooke, (2001) satisfying the tourists in tourism is very important for three reasons:-

It leads to positive word -of -mouth recommendation of the service to friends and families, which in turn brings in new tourists.

Creating a repeat customer by satisfying them with their first use of product brings a steady source of income with no need for extra marketing expenditure

Dealing with complaints is expensive, time-consuming and bad for the organization’s reputation .further more; it can bring direct cost through compensation payment.

In tourism we have two customers one who pay and the other who is working in tourist’s establishments’ .when we satisfy the workers need in workplace that will be reflected in their works and quality of service which provide to tourists.

Maslow as we know that also discuss two important needs related directly with tourism ;the aesthetic need and the need to know and understand. these needs are less known to people because they were not included in the hierarchical needs model .however, from tourism standpoint , these needs carry more weight than others beyond the hierarchical needs model .people travel to learn about something new and to be exposed to objects of beauty. Unfortunately, a few tourism studies have applied Maslow’s model in relation to these two sets of human needs. (Hsu and Huang, 2008)

Examples of tourist’s studies

TOURISM MARKETING FOR CITIES AND TOWNS

Using Branding and events to attract tourists

By Bonita M. Kolb

The author in his book used this theory when he discuss the factors which affect on a person behavior to chose tourist destination, we can observe that the Hierarchy of needs theory has direct application for marketing because many of these needs are satisfied through the purchase of services and products . Of course, person must continue to satisfy his basic need for food, clothing shelter and security even while they are satisfying his belonging and self-esteem needs. A well-designed tourism package will give

Chance to tourists to satisfy many of their needs at the same time. After all, on matter how exciting is the place’s attraction, the tourist will still needing good food, a comfortable be, and personal security. Therefore, tourism marketers must provide information in their promotional on how tourists can satisfy their basic needs while stimunesaly promoting how a visit to the place will satisfy tourists’ need for belonging, self- esteem, and even self-actualization needs.

Satisfying physiological and safety needs

Tourists want assurance that the place can provide a suitable hotel rooms and high quality restaurants. Inn addition to this the tourists information about the place’s safety can encourage them to visit this place. Promotional materials must provide information on the place’s restaurants, hotels and safety[mark. in other hand money is one hotels award that is potentially related to these needs to the extent that it provides for food and shelter. , in addition to this workers must consider their jobs are security factors and as means for keeping what they have acquired ( mulins,1998)

Satisfying belonging needs

The social belonging and self -esteem needs play a key role to motivate people to visit any place by using a good promotion such as a small places or tourists destination can satisfy tourists belonging need by communicating a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

A large destination also can satisfy these needs through the number of tourists from every where can be helped to make tourists feel like they are apart of new social group. In addition to this when the tourists build a strong relationship with a local community that may help to motivate a repeat visit. In addition to this, Workers satisfaction in hotels may come from family relationships, a job usually provides an additional source of relationships, The manager can use this theory when he wants to motivate workers through give them money in order to satisfy them basic needs after that by communication can make a good work environment .also when the worker feels there are affair system in hotel that’s mean career development he will be more satisfy

To satisfy tourists belonging need, all tourists destination have to provide a social events and activities that allow tourists to deal with indigenous people and with other tourists .in other hand the workers in tourists establishment must satisfy their belonging needs

Satisfying self esteem

These needs also can be used to motivate people to visit by sharing the information about the trip with others after returning home.

Tourists can satisfy their self -esteem by traveling to learn or improve skill or pursue anew or existing interest .in other hand these needs can be also be enhanced by participation in events that are unique or of limited availability .workers also can satisfy their esteem needs by money and financial rewards because they provide signals of people’s worth to the hotels.

Satisfying self – actualization

Tourism may provide the chance for tourists to improve their own special skills or interests to a professional level; tourism marketers could improve a tourist package that involves advanced lectures by experts or training by celebrities.

Self actualization also involves the need to do good for others; tourism marketers also must consider hosting special activities for tourists that also have an altruistic purpose.

Maslow’s hierarchy and food tourism in Finland: five cases
By Irma Tikkanen
The author in this paper attempted to explore the field of food tourism in Finland by using Maslow’s theory in classification and how can the food tourism promoters emphasize on the need of people to motivate them
According to Tikkanen food and beverage expenditure amount to one-third of overall tourist expenditure of the global tourism because eating is one of our physiological needs ,in addition to this in his paper he attempted to find the link between needs and motivations in hierarchy of needs and also how are they linked with tourism .
As we know that Food need is one of the most important basic needs which person cant survive without it but also catering services and food images are very important ingredient of cultural tourism.
In this paper the author mentioned that If the physiological needs are relatively well gratified, consequently, a new set of needs emerge, which may be categorized roughly as the safety needs, The safety needs represent the desire to be free of danger ,it is also a multidisciplinary problem. That includes food processing and legislation; management systems and organizational culture; microbiological, chemical and physical hazards; and human behavior. After the physiological and safety needs satisfied, needs of the need for love, affection and belongingness arise.

The esteem needs show an individual desire for a feeling of self-confidence and adequacy. This may reflect internal feelings of strength, achievement, independence, or external desires of reputation, prestige, recognition, attention, etc

Even if all these needs are satisfied, we may still often expect that a new discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual has an inward vocation. In other words, what a man can be, he must be. These needs called self-actualization.

Food tourism defined as”a visitation to primary and secondary food producers, food festivals, restaurants and specific locations for which food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production region are the primary motivating factor for travel. The authors believe that this definition is insufficient in explaining all food tourism and he agrees with the opinion which said that food and tourism have a strong related and Food has recognized as:

a part of the local culture, which tourists consume;

a part of tourist promotion;

a potential component of local agricultural and economic development; and a regional factor that is affected by the consumption patterns and perceived preferences of the tourists.

The authors in his study used multiple-case design because the evidence obtained this way is often regarded as more impressive and assuring. In addition to this five cases representing each type of need in Maslow’s theory of needs were selected. The goal of the identified five sectors with cases is to explain the case study findings with related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and its applicability into food tourism.

According to authors the five sector of food tourism in Finland are; food tourism based on physiological needs, food tourism based on safety needs, food tourism based on esteem needs, and food tourism based on self-actualizing needs. In this paper author discussed food tourism respect to hierarchy of needs.

Food tourism based on psychological needs:-

When the main motivation of food tourism is physiological needs, food is then seen as a tourist attraction such as, on cruise ships the quality and the variety of the meals is attracting tourists, That’s mean the tourists want to satisfy their psychological needs through food tourism. The authors discussed the situation of food tourism in Finland and he mentioned that the international cruising food tourism dates back to the 1960s when cruising tourism started between Finland and Sweden. At that time the assortment of foodstuffs in shops was narrow, and the display was imperfect compared to that of today, and also he focused on the alcohol which was one of the main motivations for the international cruising tourism between Finland and Sweden as well as Finland and Estonia. In addition to this In the Suonenjoki region, strawberry picking attracts tourists from Russian Carelia every summer offering seasonal income. Self-service strawberry picking attracts tourists locally and regionally on a smaller scale.

Food tourism based on safety needs:-

In this sector of food tourism , it respected to safety needs which consists mainly of local and international food, as well as health and safety conferences, where participants are mostly university researchers, health officers and retailers .the authors emphases on the international conferences of safety food which organized February 1-3, 2003 in Paris, France and one of the One of the companies sending delegates to this event on an annual basis is Kesko, the second biggest retailer in Finland.

Food tourism based on social needs:-

In this sector of food tourism the author mentioned that Food is becoming the main point of festivals and special activities that attracts tourists as well as indigenous residents in addition to this Food and food activities can be viewed as complementing the trip and helping to the trip’s success, the tourist’s consumption experience, but they can also form a top activity during the trip. Therefore, food and the activities linked to it may become the region’s core attraction such as; the International Wine Festival in Kuopio collected about 50,000 visitors in 2003.

Food tourism based on esteem needs:-

As we said that before esteem needs show an individual desire for a feeling of self-confidence and adequacy, the authors focused on Provincial a la carte projects which established to promote culinary food tourism and organized in the following regions: Kainuu, Lake Finland, Lapland, Middle Finland, Northern Savo, Northern Carelia, and Ostrobotnia. One of the most important aim of this project is to increase information of the regional food tradition and main materials and to use them in the modern catering services

Food tourism based on self-actualizing needs:-

In this type of food tourism the authors emphasized on categorized business to be the purpose of a visit in meetings and conferences. According to thee authors Food trade fair tourism involves of international and domestic food trade fairs. There are many international food trade fairs, such as BioFach – World Organic Trade Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. International food conferences attract food scientists to increase their knowledge. One annually organized domestic food conference is the Finnish Food Congress which has been organized annually since 1970. It is the largest professional educational event for the food sector in Finland. Through these conferences we can satisfy self actualization of food experts who seek new kinds of culinary ideas and new food products. Such as cooks, restaurant managers, food wholesale buyers etc.

The authors in his paper used the empirical findings which indicate that when classifying food tourism by sectors, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and motivations can be used as the basis in the classification.

Travel motivation: a critical review of the concept’s development.
By Cathy H.C Hsu and Songshan Huang.

The intent of this study represents the development of travel motivation concept over the year; the authors apply Maslow’s hierarchy theory to travel motivation theory. in addition to this they highlights the two conceptual framework ; travel career leader and travel career pattern . The study also discussed other concepts which influence in travel motivation such as push and pull, Mannel and Iso-Ahlo model of escaping and seeking dimensions, merits of Plog’s allocentrism / phsycontrism. In addition the study explained methodological issues in tourist motivation research. We will focus only on the uses of Maslow’s hierarchy in this study.

According to Hsu and Huang (2008) travel motivation related to why people travel motivation related to why people travel so this area is relatively difficult research area of tourism enquiry . Based on this problem this paper reviews some of the most important research pieces relating to the subject, and which document the conceptual development of the motivation construct.

Authors mentioned that sociology and social psychology is root of theoretical framework of travel motivation studies. In addition Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be used to analyze the theoretical of many tourism researches because is one of the most influential motivation theories in the academic and in the public domain, one reason of this popularity of theory is its simplicity. Maslow’s theory was developed by clinical psychology, the premise is applicable to others sectors such as counseling, marketing, tourism and organizational psychology.

The study also explained how Pears in (1982) used Maslow’s hierarchy theory in his study “the social psychology of tourism behavior “. Pears in his study analyzed 400 cases of travel experiences provided by some 200 tourists in Australia, Europe, U.S.A and Canada .he wrote down each respondent one positive experience and one negative experience.

Pears analyzed and coded the tourists experience data in to five categories in accordance to Maslow’s hierarchy. Based on the information s which collected through analyzed, he suggested that travel motivation has the properties of an approach-avoidance paradigm and travelers attracted to holiday destination because of the possibility satisfying self-actualization, love and belongingness and physiological needs in that order of importance. (Hsu and Huang ,2008)

This paper also mentioned hat Maslow in his theory discussed two others important human needs: aesthetic needs and the need to know and understand something new. These needs are very important in tourism field because person travels in order to see and learn about something new. But these needs were not included in the hierarchy of needs so the needs are less know to people.

Maslow’s of needs theory as applied to tourism field has been one of the significant main point in travel motivation research, as we said that before this study also highlights the two conceptual framework in understanding travel motivation; travel career leader (TCL) and travel career pattern (TCP).

Travel career leader can be traced to Pearce’s earlier work in tourist behavior and it is based upon Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Based on the TCL tourist’s needs or motivations are organized in a hierarchy with relaxation needs at the lowest level followed by safety needs, relationship needs, self-esteem and development needs and finally fulfillment need. The main idea underlying this conceptual framework is that a person’s travel motivation changes with his /her travel experience. (Hsu and Huang,2008)

The second conceptual framework which presented recently by Pearce and his friend Lee in (2003) is Travel Career Pattern (TCP), it is also known as adjusted version of TCL. In fact it’s quite different of travel career leader.

This concept tested by Pearce and lee in two studies and generate very similar motivation factors ,these factors can be classified in two groups ; the first one involves the most significant and common motivation factors to tourists such as novelty ,relax and relationship while the other group involves motivation factors that were less significant to respondents e.g. stimulation ,isolation and social status. In addition Pearce and lee proposed three levels of TCP they put significant common motives e.g. relax, relationship and novelty in the main layer, the next layer which surrounding the main layer involves the moderately important travel motives e.g. self -actualization. The outer layer includes of common and less important travel motives e.g. social status, isolation and nostalgia. In addition Pearce and Lee explained that pleasure tourists at all levels of TCP are affected by the most important and central travel motives as well as by less important motives. Travel Career Patterns as a tourist motivation model is still underdevelopment and it’s validity requires further rigorous tests. (Hsu and Huang,2008)

We can observe the relationship between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and TCP and how can Pearce and his colleagues Lee in 666 used maslow’s theory to introduce this new model.

4-Travel motivations of package tour travellers

By Jui Chi Chang

In this study the authors examined travel motives as well as travel decision-making of Taiwanese travellers with a group package tour abroad. Tourism is an industry for people who are looking for something different and they want to be treated as valuable customers travel motivation as we know reflects one’s needs and wants and can be viewed as a critical variable in relation to their purchase decisions and outcome of satisfaction. Motivation emerges when an individual wants to satisfy a need.

According to Maslow theory a person has different needs which he wants to satisfy it and these needs motivate person to act anything in order to satisfy his needs , the author mentioned that , Studying travel motivation helps one to understand customers’ needs, thus enhancing service providers’ knowledge about what kinds of experiences travellers seek, especially for certain groups of people in addition to this Understanding of travellers’ motivations is critical to predict future travel patterns. that’s mean it’s necessary to study motivation theory especially the Maslow theory of need which determine the person need

According to the author Maslow’s five-level hierarchy need theory has been broadly accepted and used to explain travel behaviour. Self actualization, the highest need in Maslow’s hierarchy, generates internal satisfaction and explains the necessity of acquiring knowledge and learning about different cultures. Fulfilling higher-order needs might also be associated with lower-order needs to which multiple motives contribute. Still, it is arguable that not all travellers are able to fulfil the highest need of self-actualization since some people may not consider it to be so significant.

The author mentioned that It is difficult to determine which stimulation triggers one’s needs in the first place. Besides, one person’s needs may not be the same as another’s, even though they are in the same life cycle. Nevertheless, theories of motivation have played an important role in the development of tourism psychology

This study suggests that socio-psychological needs are an important motivation for travel, and socio-economic considerations are regarded as a crucial motivation for travel decision-making. Furthermore, travellers’ decision-making may be strongly influenced by their social relationships – friends/relatives’ recommendations.

Finally we can say that Maslow hierarchy theory can used to explain travel behaviour and can help to determine which factor play a vital role to effect on person decision to visit destination and practice some activities.

Conclusion

There is a wide variety of theoretical frameworks that have been developed and used in attempts to explain the issues of motivation and satisfaction. As we know that, Human needs can be divided into different categories and the successful in tourism field based on how can tourism satisfy stakeholders’ needs in tourism sector,.

Maslow’s hierarchical needs theory, although developed in the field of clinical psychology has become widely influential as the best-known general theory of motivation and has been applied to explain motivation in many social disciplines, and areas such as business, marketing and tourism. it has been called an ’emotional trigger’ that enables marketers to communicate with their target audiences on a personal, meaningful level that goes beyond product benefits.

This theory has been broadly accepted and used to explain travel behaviour. Self actualization, the highest need in Maslow’s hierarchy, generates internal satisfaction and explains the necessity of acquiring knowledge and learning about different cultures. Fulfilling higher-order needs might also be associated with lower-order needs to which multiple motives contribute. Still, it is arguable that not all travellers are able to fulfil the highest need of self-actualization since some people may not consider it to be so significant.

One of the main reasons for the popularity of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is probably its simplicity. This hierarchy could be related to the travel industry in the sense that unless individuals have their physiological and safety needs met, they are less likely to be interested in travelling the world to make a difference. Self actualization can, in fact, be considered the end or goal of leisure.

Finally we can say that, Maslow’s five-level hierarchy need theory plays a vital role to determine these needs and helps all the parties to understand the different needs of people in order to satisfy it and achieve success in tourism field.

1.1 Sri Lanka is being of the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is very famous for Tourism. The surrounded wonderful beaches, the different climates in the same country at the same time within short distance, the unique animals and the trees and wild life all matters for Tourism. Despite all these reason there was one another importance reason which is unique to the country which attracted the foreigners. Masks!! Sri Lanka is very famous for masks. And that is very unique to the Country. Sometimes there were visitors specially visit Sri Lanka to buy masks. And Ambalangoda is the area which is the most popular area for Masks and Ambalangoda is the city which has the Mask museum in Sri Lanka. Ambalangoda is located in the middle of two cities, Hikkaduwa and Benthota which are most popular for tourism. But apparently this industry is not developing and showing a declining over the past years.

CHAPTER 2
AIM

2.1 The aim of this re-search is to identify the facts that blocking the mask industry development in Ambalangoda in Southern province Sri Lanka and investigate what measures and actions should be taken place for the growth and expansion of the Masks Industry in order to increase the earning of foreign currency.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

2.2 Over the Past few years, the Masks Industry in Ambalangoda is not showing any growth or expansion. Instead it shows a reduction of the manufacturing, selling and reduction of the foreign attraction. Hence this has shown a reason of attenuation of the foreign currency coming to Sri Lanka. At the same time due to the limited man power and masks are being fully done by the pure man power, the manufacturing is not sufficient to meet the demand.

HYPOTHESIS

2.3 The diminution of the Sri Lanka Tourism due to the war, caused Sri Lanka naming as a threaten country which most of the countries announced their residents not to visit Sri Lanka and also the tsunami affected the Sri Lanka tourism and that actually caused declination of the Sri Lankan Masks Industry.

2.4 Masks becoming an undemanding business, the Masks manufactures started giving up the Masks manufacturing and they started working on other opportunities which they could earn money. Also manufactures tended to produce masks for low cost with low quality which at least they could sell masks to the local market.

PREVIEW

2.5 The ultimate objective of this effort is to consider what genuine facts that cause the decrease of the Sri Lankan Masks Industry and what are the next steps that should be taken to augment the Masks Industry in Sri Lanka.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

2.6 To identify the difficulties and obstacles affected declining the Masks Industry in Sri Lanka. As Ambalangoda is the only city which has the Masks Industry in massive for a long time, Masks Industry in Ambalangoda will be considered in this research.

CHAPTER 3
THE ORIGIN OF THE MAKS INDUSTRY IN AMBALANGODA
WHAT IS A MASK AND WHY MAKS?

3.1 The authentic Masks and Masking Traditions of Sri Lanka are extra ordinary culture phenomenon and a significant contribution Sri Lanka has made to the Asian Cultural spectrum.

3.2 The area around Ambalangoda, about 25 Km up the coast from Galle (about 85 Km from Colombo), is well known for the craft of traditional masks production. The Masks are worn in dances and are also sold to the tourist trade and institutions for display.

3.3 Ambalangoda has a private Mask museum and institution named “Ariyapala and Sons”. They do have commercial outfit selling masks that are made by hand on the premises it self in the Masks Museum.

HOW DOES THE MASKS MAKE

3.4 The traditional Masks are carved from light Balsa like Kaduru wood (Nux Vomica). Kaduru trees grow in the marshy lands bordering paddy fields. This wood is light, soft and easy to Carve. We can view the traditional Masks craftsmen busy in the Ambalangoda Masks museum at their workshop crafting Masks.

Kaduru tree –

Craftsmen need especial set of tools for Masks carving.

Equipment needed –

3.5 Firstly, the trunks of felt tree are kept under hot sun to dry and to drain out the sticky juice. Then it is measured and cut into pieces of required sizes of various masks. Then the carver gives the basic shape of the mask. There measurements of carving have been given in ancient manuscripts. After this, the masks are kept on a stall of hearth for six to seven days to get the smoke to season the wood. This is a very important step as well as a traditional method to keep masks free from insects.

Carving Masks –

3.6 Before a mask is painted, it is smoothen with Motadelia leaved and Delsavaran which is obtained from the Breadfruit tree. As a first step of painting, light yellow is applied on the surface of every mask. Then onwards colors are applied according to the ancient manuscripts. Colors are mixed with “Dorana Oil” to assure the durability of colors. Each mask has its own particular colors to depict their characteristics feature.

Coloring Masks –

It is amazing how a raw wood finally become a nice valuable mask.

MASKS DANCING

3.7 There are three kinds of Masked Dances.

Kolam Masks – Are used in storytelling performances.

Raksha(Demon) Masks- Are used in processions and festivals.

Sanni (Devil Dance) Masks – are used in curing ceremonies.

3.8 Traditional and original masks dancing can be seen at the Bandu Wijesuriya School of Dancing and they do have weekly scheduled dancing shows. Typically show begins with Kolam dance and then follows several ritual Dances.

THE VALUE OF MASKS INDUSTRY TO SRI LANKA

3.9 Not only the foreign market but also the local market is also open for the Masks industry.

Many of the locals buy and hang masks in their own houses for the goodness and to get the God’s wishing to the house.

3.10 Foreigners also somewhat believe the believing of the Masks hanging in their houses. More than that foreigners buy masks for their uniqueness and traditionalism that a mask contain. The colors and the expressions the masks get the foreigners attraction.

The Ambalangoda Masks Museum has many of the very old, original traditional masks and they do present the history and the details of the masks to the visitors to the museum. This massively supports to increase the foreigners Masks awareness and the marketing.

3.11 And there are Masks dancing shows organize for the foreigners at Ambalangoda. Foreigners get more attract to masks once they see the Masks dancing done wearing Masks. Its make them more understandable of the meaning of different kind of masks as well.

3.12 According to the facts from the Ambalangoda Masks Museum, and from the outlet sellers, sometimes they get large orders from foreigners and the Masks sellers provide the facility of doing the shipment to the customers’ doorstep.

3.13 Masks Industry has been one of the main sources of foreign currency to the Sri Lanka. And it opens the door for many job opportunities. The job opportunities start from the Kaduru tree suppliers, the other painting material suppliers, craftsmen, masks painters, sellers, masks dancers, tourist guides and shipping lines etc.

TOURISM INVOLVEMENT ON MASKS INDUSTRY

3.14 Masks manufacturing and the selling is mainly depend on the tourism. Though there is a local market open for the Masks industry, the most of the selling and the profits are from the foreign market.

3.15 In the other hand, the tourism totally depends on the country situation. According to the statistics on tourists arrivals (data from the Airport Surveys and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority); there has been a significant increase of tourist arrival during the peace period starting from 2002. But unfortunately with the war in 2008 to 2009; it shows a considerable drop on the tourists’ arrivals which affected the Masks Industry. In 2010, statistics shows an increase in the tourism, which would be a good sign for the Mask Industry as well. More statistics on tourist arrivals are presented in Chapter4 and 5.

3.16 In addition to the war, Sri Lankan tourism was badly affected by the tsunami. According to the statistics, the data shows the tourist arrivals have been increased in 2006. This is a very important point, which most of the foreigners visited Sri Lanka to support the people affected by the tsunami. Most of the hotels in coastal areas are affected by the tsunami. And the momentum of the tourist on visiting for holidays and to enjoyment was reduced vastly. During this time there wasn’t much focus on selling items to foreigners rather the focus was on getting foreigners support to re-establish the destroyed hotels and peoples life in coastal areas. Hence, during this time period also there wasn’t any focus on the Mask industry.

CRAFTSMENS AND RAW MATERIALS AVAILABILITY FOR MASKS INDUSTRY

3.17 As explained in previous chapters, the raw materials used for Masks Industry are mostly from the villages itself and not available in any other country to import. According to the facts gathered from the Masks Manufactures in Ambalangoda, they do have a separate set of workers who supply the Kaduru wood to the manufactures. But according to the facts from the manufactures it self, it was raised the concern that now a days, the supply is slightly meeting the requirement. The manufactures gave the reason as; the suppliers don’t grow the Kaduru tree purposely for their business and they cut the existing Kaduru trees in the area and then supply. Hence the manufactures already have the concern of not having enough supply to meet the demand. As per the manufactures, they don’t have any alternative wood also to use for Masks Carving.

3.18 And the craftsmen that involve in Masks industry are mostly from the tradition and they don’t have much of higher educational background as well. As per the facts from manufactures, most of the craftsmen join the masks carving just after giving up the school and they don’t have any suitability and education or financial strength for higher education. Manufactures don’t see this as a drawback as they are doing the Masks Carving job at their best. But manufactures have seen the facts that now a days, it is very less number of people give-up the school at least before their Advance Level and most people go for the higher education or other careers and the trend of craftsmen joining the industry on Masks carving ahs been very minimal. Up to the painting of masks it has to be Male employees who do the work on most of the time it is Female employees who work on the final part of paining the masks.

3.19 As per the facts from the Manufactures they do have a separate outsourcing craftsmen who supply the completed Masks it selves to the masks manufactures or to the Mask selling people. These outsourcing craftsmen do the buy or find the raw materials by them selves and do the masks carving and sell to the manufactures or the selling outlets directly according to the demand. And one important point that manufactures mentioned about this out sourcing craftsmen are, their main income source or their main occupation is not the masks carving. They do have some other income sources and they do the Masks carving on need basis or on demand basis as another source of income.

3.20 Further, manufactures mentioned this Masks outsourcing method was initiated and started during the War period. As the tourism decreases, the Masks Industry also decreases and hence most of the craftsmen were asked resign from the large manufactures and then these craftsmen started looking for other occupation and they did the Masks carving if there is any demand only. They are still continuing this and as per the facts, in year late 2009 to 2010 they have more involved in Masks Carving with the increase of tourism which is resulting more masks demand.

3.21 More statistics on the human and raw material resources are explained and discussed in the Chapter 4.

GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT AND SUPPORT TOT EH MASKS INDUSTRY

3.22 According the information gathered from the manufactures, there has not been a significant support from the government to the Masks Industry. In 1980 decade there has been events organized by the Government for the Masks industry publication around other countries and during that time the Government has given sponsorships to the Masks Manufactures and traditional Masks Dancers to visit different countries and participating on commercial activities.

3.23 But after that with the other main problems the government facing such as the tsunami, the war and the other huge development projects, the government has not focused or put any effort on the Masks Industry development.

3.24 As per the Traditional Masks Manufactures and Masks Dancers opinion, Masks is a subject which can be included in the university subjects and make the new generation aware of the value of the industry. This way they should be able to get much more visibility towards to the Masks Industry and specially the Masks Dancing. Masks Dancing is a very demanding among the foreign countries and that should be promote as a one of the main foreign income source to the Sri Lanka.

IMPROVEMENT THAT CAN BE TAKEN FOR THE MASK INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

3.25 As per the facts given by manufactures, Tourism is the main success factor of the Masks industry development and ways and simply increasing the tourist awareness and attraction to the Masks is the key point that can help on Masks Industry development.

3.26 Mean time, additional to the Traditional Masks manufactures, there are many small size business masks manufacturing beginners also popping up and having or giving them the opportunity to for publicity and marketing through out by events organized by the government such as exhibitions in Sri Lanka and other countries, and opening up contacts and connections for the local sellers to the foreign markets also would be very helpful for the Masks Industry development.

CHAPTER 4
DATA CAPTURING AND ANALYSIS

4.1 As the Mask Industry is greatly depend on the Tourism, it is really important to analyze the tourism facts to evaluate the Mask industry over the past 10 years to now and how that has affected the Mask industry as a whole.

TOURIST ARRIVAL

4.2 Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) is the Sri Lankan Government department which was formed as the apex body for the Sri Lanka Tourism. The vision of the SLTDA is transforming Sri Lanka to be the Asia’s foremost tourism destination. Towards that vision SLTDA has done many data capturing and surveys to analyze the Sri Lankan Tourism.

4.3 One significant data they are presenting is the number of tourist arrivals over the past Ten years. For the year 2010 they have actually captured the data only up to the month of September yet. Hence the data presentations of the Tourist arrival below will be presented only up to the Month of September for the year 2010.

Tourist arrival for the past Ten years

Year

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Arrivals

436440

400412

336794

393171

500642

566200

549308

559608

494008

438475

447890

445225

Table 1.01

Graphical representation of the Tourist Arrival from the year 1999 to year 2010:

4.4 According to the Data it shows, the tourist arrival has increased to the max during the year 2004. This is during the peace period and just before the tsunami.

4.5 This figure explains many things. Before the year 2002 also the tourist arrival has not increased due to the internal country situation. But after the year 2002; that means after the ceasefire agreement was signed in 2002, the tourist arrival has increased significantly until the year 2005. Unfortunately Sri Lanka was severely affected by the tsunami in end of the year 2005. Though the foreigners attraction to the Sri Lanka was high due to the beauty of coastal areas and the nice whether, the coastal it self became a reason for the foreigners not to visit Sri Lanka. Instead of foreigners thinking of spending their holiday/vacation in Sri Lanka with a risk, they more tend to select another country to spend their leisure time.

4.6 This reason it self caused the decrease of the global business in the Masks Industry. When it is lessening the tourist visiting to Sri Lanka, directly it lessens the demand in the Masks Industry.

4.7 The figures display a slight increase of the tourist in the year 2006 than in the year 2005. There is a very valid reason for that. After the Sri Lanka was affected by the tsunami in December 2004, many of the foreigners came to Sri Lanka at the beginning and throughout the year 2006 to support and give donations to the people in tsunami affected areas. But according to the Masks Manufactures, this has not helped in any case for the Masks Industry as there wasn’t any focus about leisure in Sri Lanka among the Tourist during this period of time.

4.8 Again from 2007 to 2008 the data shows a decrease of the tourist arrival to Sri Lanka. This is mainly due to the civil war that was at a higher point during this time. During the period of war, many countries officially announced and declared Sri Lanka is a threaten country that their residence should not visit. Due to these reason the tourist arrival and the tourism faced a huge problem where there were lots of hotels ran on lost and many of the employees worked in hotel industry lost their jobs or most of them left to foreign countries looking for new jobs.

4.9 As per the facts gathered from Masks manufactures, during this period of time they also had faced a big problem of selling their Masks. As the main buyers of the Masks are the tourist, and due to the lack of tourism, Masks manufactures faced a huge crisis of selling their products. Hence most of the manufactured has had to ask their craftsmen to resign from their workshops and cut down the employees or the staffs in their outlets.

4.10 Meantime, there has not been any support from the government also to the Masks industry to export Masks, to have any exhibition or any sales promotion in foreign countries during this time period. Hence most of the Masks manufactures also has loosen their focus on the Masks industry as an income source and they also has started looking for other alternative business as their income sources.

4.11 With the end of the war in 2009, the data shows the tourist arrival is being increased; but slightly. It is very difficult to reason out and interpret the reason of not showing significant increase on the tourist arrivals even after the war. Is it because the foreigners are still uncertain on visiting and having a nice time in Sri Lanka, they are not confident enough about the security situation in Sri Lanka or the foreigners are much more interested in visiting other Asian countries than Sri Lanka? To get these question answered, we should capture tourist arrivals and we should do tourists satisfaction surveys at least for 2 more years and should analyze the data and conclude. As like the Masks Industry, there are many more commercial industries which are directly depend on the Sri Lankan tourism.

4.12 According to the Survey done among the Masks Manufactures, they do not have much of outlets or stocks of Masks in hotels or Laksala or any other places other than their own outlets at Ambalangoda. This is also very important information or a reason for the Masks Industry drop off. If foreigner see and get the accurate and clear information about the value of masks and historical back ground in their convenient, it would have been a much more convenient way or better marketing of the Masks among foreigners. But according to the Masks manufactures, this needs more investments to have staff locate in hotels. As especially the Masks have traditional history and very important purposes; the salesmen must aware of historical and theoretical facts in details of individual Mask for them to explain to foreigners and make them attractive and interested on Masks.

4.13 According to the interviews done with the Masks Manufactures at Ambalangoda, there is one another important reason for the Masks Industry drop off; the written and verbal English knowledge of the people in the industry. Most of the craftsmen and the people who involves on Masks dancing which are the expert of the knowledge of the Masks and the Masks history are not highly educated people. Hence their communication skills in English or in any other foreign language are not in a higher standard to clearly explain about the Masks to the tourists. Most of the time it is the tourist guide who translate and explain the information about the masks to the tourists. And some times, the Masks Manufactures itself should explain to the tourist for better explanation and make better deals on Masks. As per the Masks manufactures, when ever they are getting large orders, the Masks manufactures have to have the direct communication with the foreign customer.

WORKERS EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

4.14 Craftsmen educational background was measured by the survey done among masks manufactures targeting 110 workers (craftsmen and people who involve on masks painting as well) and the data is as below;

Education Level

Less Than GCE O/L

GCE O/L Pass

GCE O/L Pass but Before GCE A/L

GCE A/L Pass

Any Higher Education

(Degree/Diploma)

Total

Count

21

36

43

8

2

110

4.15 According to the data captured form the survey on the Masks Industry craftsmen educational level and educational background, it shows most of the workers who involve in the Masks industry doesn’t have much of Educational background. Most of the people have the educational level up to the Ordinary level and before completing the Advance level.

4.16 This shows and implies the fact that it doesn’t need much of educational background to be Masks craftsmen or low educated people involve in the Masks carving. This can be affected in two ways. These workers will not leave the Masks Industry even if they don’t earn much money as they don’t have much of educational background to move into another industry or in the future the workers that will be joining the Masks industry can be lessen as now a days most of the people are going for higher education and the number of students who give-up the education before the Ordinary level or the Advance level is very much less. Hence the Masks manufactures already has started facing the problem of recruiting craftsmen. The people who have more educational background join other better jobs and the focus on the Masks carving as a career has been considerably reduces.

WORKERS REASON TO JOIN THE MASKS INDUSTRY

4.17 According to the data captured about their reason of joining the masks Industry, among the employees; the most of the employees has joined the Masks industry from the generation or Family background. And the “Social Acceptance” is the least selected reason for the Masks Industry employees. This indicates that still there are no training programs or any plan available for the Masks carving and Masks Dancing as a profitable and respectable profession as still the reason for most of the peoples joining the Masks Industry is from the family background or from the generation.

WORKERS EXPERIENCE IN THE MASKS INDUSTRY

4.18 Workers experience was captured through the survey and the highest percentage of the employees has the experience between 5 to 10 years and the least percentage is for the less than 2 years experience category. This indicates the fact that employees newly joining to the industry is less and most of the employees in the Masks industry are the ones which has been in the masks industry for a long time.

MASK MANUFACTURES STATISTICS FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS

4.19 According to the data captured from the Department Of Small Scale Industries and the Industrial Development Board of Ceylon regarding the Masks industry, there have not been any new business registrations during the past few years. It shows that they have not been any interested parties which have not done any new investment on the mask industry where as there has been little new registration on other foreign or tourist investments.

4.20 Below shows the figures captured from the Department of Census and Statistics on the number of employees in the tourism:

Employment in Tourist Industry
Category of Establishments
No. of Establishments
Total Employed
2006
2007
2008
2009
2006
2007
2008

1. Hotels and Restaurants

1128

1205

1246

1264

36017

39758

31626

2. Travel Agents/Tour Operators

472

532

495

500

6825

7538

6725

3. Airlines

23

20

20

20

6056

5396

5251

4. Agencies Providing Recreational Facilities

8

15

15

21

132

297

259

5. Guides

–
–
–
–

2010

3450

3460

6. Tourist Shops

219

145

144

151

2396

1585

1485

7. National Tourist Organization

1

3

4

4

303

305

313

8. State Sector

16

18

18

18

1910

2187

2187

Total

1867

1938

1942

1978

55649

60516

51306

Source – Department of census and Statistics

4.21 The number of newly established employment and the total Employment in the tourist industry is as of above for the years 2006 to 2009. These numbers clearly shows the total employed in the tourist industry has been increased in the year 2007 and has been significantly decreased in the year 2008 and that has been slightly increased in the year 2009. At the moment the statistics for the year 2010 is not yet released. The below graph clearly show this information:

4.22 The data shows the total employment on the tourism industry has been significantly reduced during the year 2008. This is the time period where the LTTE war was in the peak and the tourism was very much negatively impacted. Hence the data shows the same fact that Masks manufactures also raised where due to the lack of foreigners visiting Sri Lanka, the Masks Industry was also turn down and most of the craftsmen and other people involve on the Masks Industry giving up their career in the Masks industry to other careers.

4.23 Also the workers who work under the Masks industry comes under the “Tourist Shops” category and that numbers also shows a significant reduction of the total employment from 1585 to 1485 in the year 2007 to 2008. And again has increased from 1485 to 1546 from the year 2008 to 2009. This is due to the lack of tourist coming to Sri Lanka due to the War in the year 2008.

4.24 Below data shows the total employment distribution during the years 2006 to 2009 according to the given categories:

4.25 The drop off on the total employment in tourism does clearly shows for the “Hotel and Restaurant” category.

4.26 Simply these facts proves the fact that the Tourism has been dropped-off during the year 2008 which was affected by the War the Sri Lanka faced during that period of time which resulted the drop off of the Masks Industry as the Masks industry main customers and the main market are the foreigners and foreign countries.

EMPLOYMENT IN THE MASKS INDUSTRY

4.27 As per the facts gathered from the Masks Manufactures, The workers who involve in the Masks Industry; craftsmen and all other workers don’t have a much of idea or a trust on the stability of the Masks Industry or the future of the Masks industry. Hence the employment to the Masks industry from the younger educated generation is very much less. As Masks carving or the history of the Masks is not included in any of the subjects the student learnt, the new generation doesn’t have a much of a good idea of the Masks Industry or the heritage value of the Masks Industry. Hence there is not any official or a government channel available to pass the information about the Masks industry to the new generation. This is also a reason for the Mask Industry being not developed or the drop off of the masks industry. According to the Masks manufactures, the employment from the younger generation to the Masks industry is very much less and they already do have the fear of not having enough employment for the Masks carving and all other employment related to the Masks Industry.

THE FUTURE OF THE MASK INDUSTRY

4.28 For the further development of the masks industry to have a better future for the masks industry, it is essential to develop the tourism. Hence it is important to analyze facts on improving and increasing the Sri Lankan tourism. To develop the tourism in Sri Lanka it is required to analyze below facts:

The Purpose of visitors

The Interest and most attracted areas of visitors

Most highest Masks Selling Countries

The Purpose of visitors
Purpose
2008
2009

Pleasure

73.2

80

Business

8.5

8.6

Visiting Friends and Relations

8.3

5.2

Convention and meetings

1.3

1.4

Religious and cultural

2.6

2

Others

6.1

2.8

Source: SLTDA, Annual statistical report 2009

4.29 The purpose of the foreign visits is mostly on the “Pleasure” and that has been increased from 2008 to 2009. This indicates; after the war in Sri Lanka the foreign visiting for the pleasure has been increased. This is good sign for all the employment in the tourist industry. Once the tourism in Sri Lanka increased, that directly positively affect for the Masks Industry as well.

4.30 The information gathered from the Masks manufactures proves this fact. Below are the figures of rough annual sales information captured from eight Masks Manufactures in the Ambalangoda area:

Year

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Total Annual Sales

53.0

51.0

47.0

54.0

57.5

64.5

61.0

35.0

46.0

32.5

49.5

58.5

4.31 The figures are in Millions and in the currency Rupees.

4.32 The figures show the sales have reached the peak at the year 2004. And a slight decrease in the year 2005. But unfortunate with the affect of tsunami at the end of the year 2005, the sales have been terrifically

Masai Mara is known as the greatest wildlife reserve in Africa. The reserve is located in the southwest Kenya. The reserve is famous for the huge numbers of lions, the Great Wildebeest Migration and the Masai people who are well known for the culture and dress. The Masai Mara National Reserve is considered as Africa’s most famous safari destination (McBrewster et al. 2010).

The Masai Mara has a rich resource of ecosystem that holds one of the highest densities of the lions and the reserve is the place where two million Wildebeest, Zebra and Thomson’s Gazelle migrate annually. The Masai Mara hosts over 95 species of mammals and more than 570 recorded species of birds. All the members of the Big Five (lion, leopard, African elephant, African buffalo, and Black Rhino) can be founded in Masai Mara National Reserve (Gibbons 2004).

Kenya hospitality and tourism introduction

From 1998 to 2006, the total number of visitors increases from 890,000 to 1,600,000. (See Appendix 2) The Gross receipts increase from USD $ 502 million to USD $ 579 million. In 2006, visitors spend an average of USD $ 1,875 in coastal area meanwhile visitors spend USD $ 4,375 in the wildlife areas. In 2010, the hospitality and tourism industry has brought 439,000 jobs for Kenya (Honey 2008).

Sustainable tourism and development
2.1 Sustainable tourism

Sustainable tourism is an industry commitment that making a low impact on the environment and local culture meanwhile helping local people to get more employment opportunities. The aim of the sustainable tourism is to bring the sustainable development for the local people, tourism companies and tourists themselves (Weaver 2007).

2.2 Sustainable development

In the Bruntland Report, the sustainable development is defined:

…ability to make development sustainable as well as to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs (WCED 1987, p.16).

Furthermore, the Johannesburg Declaration has provided a detailed definition:

…a collective responsibility to advance and strengthen the interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development: economic development, social development and environmental protection at local, national, regional and global levels (WSSD 2002, p.1).

Thus, the purpose of the sustainable tourism is to provide the economic development, social development and environmental protection in the destination.

Social sustainable development and hospitality and tourism industry

The social sustainable development can be concluded that the future generation should have the same or greater social resources as the current generation. The social resources include cultures, basic human rights, and community (Galea 2004).

The Kenya has a 40% of unemployment rate country wide in 2009 and about 50% of the population is below poverty line. The population who live with HIV is about 1.2 million in 2009. Thus, the social sustainable development in Kenya, especially in Masai Mara National Reserve is to providing job opportunities meanwhile increasing the living quality (CIA 2010).

The Social Sustainable developments in Masai Mara National Reserve are implementing in following principles:

3.1 Equity

Individuals have the right to gain sufficient resources to participate fully in their community and have opportunities for their personal development and advancement. A fair distribution of the resources in communities are good for social sustainable development (Rabe 2001).

The UNDP (United Nation Development Program) is supporting Kenya in sustainable development and management in resources. The Masai Mara National Reserve is supported by the UNDP to solving the poverty in the area and implement development with the help of the business organizations in the area. The reserve is also working with the UNDP to reduce the unemployment poverty to below the national rate of 56% and 47% by cooperate with the hospitality industry in the area.

3.2 Social inclusion and interaction

Individuals in the communities have their own rights and opportunity to participate in, enjoy all aspects of the community life, and interact with other members in the community (Gui and Sugden 2005).

The Kenya government has established few regulation to the protect the Kenyans’ rights when they interact with the community and other members, especially in the hospitality industry, the regulation protects labours from low salary and poor working conditions.

3.3 Security

Individuals will fully contribute to the community life if they have the economic security, safe living condition, supportive and healthy environment (Pieters 2006).

The KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) community enterprise development and human-wildlife conflict resolutions.

The KWS Community Enterprise Development is designed for communities and private landowners to develop their capacity establish and manage economically viable and sustainable nature-based enterprises within targeted landscapes of Kenya. The goal of the program is to build the capacity of communities to increase social benefits meanwhile reduce the dependence syndrome.

The program guarantees to employ local people, procure locally and pay fixed. It also promoted the gender equality that provides men and women same working condition and salary. The guaranteed incomes, which make local Masai landowners first time, receive direct, predictable income from wildlife resources, allowing local people to plan for the future and encourage them for wildlife conservation (Dolan and Prins 2000).

On the other hand, the Community Enterprise Development program can also motivate the communities to adopt new land use ways that are more compatible with wildlife conservation and management, which might be a good way of solving the human-wildlife conflict.

The KWS has paid many efforts to minimize the human-wildlife conflicts in Masai Mara National Reserve. Measures such as fencing off protected areas to encouraging community tourism enterprises and providing compensations for livestock killed and crops damaged by wildlife to local communities have been taken. The KWS also provides technical support and education for wildlife conservation and management issues.

The KWS also holds a series of local events to raise money for interventions, including the famous Rhino Charge four-wheel-drive challenge and the Lewa Safari Marathon.

The cooperation between KWS and local communities creates a win-win situation for both wildlife and human beings. The wildlife conservation and management has become more efficient than before. The wildlife resources being conserved may contain valuable compounds for all humankind. It also helps local communities to realize the benefits from the sustainable wildlife conservation (Rabinowitz et al. 2003).

Marrakesh – The Red City

As-salam alaykom! (Hello in Arabic)

Marrakesh is the third largest city of Morocco and is situated at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. It is the most important of the four imperial cities of Morocco and has a rich history. A city of palaces, tombs, markets and myriad entertainments, Marrakesh is a treat for the senses. It is easy to get lost in its many alleys and markets, and the action packed Djemaa El-Fna square at the city center is enough to keep you occupied and intrigued for an entire day. The modern half of the city, Gueliz is a contrast and offers a getaway from the hustle and bustle of the Old Town. Visiting Marrakesh is an exhilarating experience that is sure to leave a lasting imprint on all travelers, who will return impressed with its beautiful architecture and unique culture.

Best Season to Visit Marrakesh

Marrakesh, with its sunny weather presents itself as a year round destination. However spring (March to May) and autumn (October to November) are the best months to explore this city, with lower temperatures and lesser crowds. The Easter Weekend is an exception and crowds throng the city as a getaway from their hectic schedules. While early summer can still be pleasant enough, the later months (July to September) can be unbearable if you are not used to the heat. In spite of this, summer is the peak tourist season and prices for everything skyrocket during this time. Many festive events are held during summer. Winter (December to February) brings along sunny days and cold nights, and there is snowfall in the nearby Atlas Mountains. Tourists visiting around this time can take off to the ski resorts in the mountains and enjoy the snow.

Highlights (Special Things to Do in Marrakesh)

Visit the La Mamounia for a buffet lunch by the poolside and be floored by the splendor and glamour of this spectacular hotel.
Go back in history and view artifacts from the past at the Dar Si Said Museum that includes exquisitely carved cedar wood pieces that have been rescued from the ruins and monuments in the city.
Soak in the pungent and medieval experience of Marrakesh by visiting the Tannery District and watch the tanners at work as they cure the animal hides with foul-smelling liquids that transform them into finished leather products ready for sale.
Head to a luxury bath at one of the many Hammams for an authentic Moroccan experience of luxury and indulgence
For a belly dancing performance, head to the Comptoir Darna, the first lounge dining restaurant in Marrakesh. Beautiful ambience, great food and wonderful performances make it a perfect place to soak in the true feel of Morocco.
Immerse yourself into street food at the Djemaa El-Fna and feast on the many exotic varieties of meat available at the various counters.
Indulge in some souvenir shopping and visit the traditional markets known as Souks that sell everything from handicrafts to antiques, spices to ornaments, carpets, cashmere and even items made of “cactus silk”!
Head out on a city break to the nearby sand dunes of Erg Chegaga or Erg Chebbi for an exotic camel ride and desert safari.
Ski in the snow in the nearby ski resort of Oukaimeden, situated in the Atlas Mountains where snowfall occurs in the winter months.

Attractions in Marrakesh

Medina:

Djeema El-Fna: Originally a place of public executions (back in AD 1050), this is the main public square of Marrakesh. Filled with snake charmers and medicine men during the day, the square really comes alive as the day ends. Musicians, story tellers and entertainers fill up the square and the open air acts begin as a visual treat. Hundreds of food stalls also line up to provide exotic, hot, mouth-watering delicacies.
Koutoubia Mosque: The mosque is made of red sandstone and is the largest in the city. It is most famous for its minaret, built in Almohad style and rising to a height of 70m. The minaret was an inspiration for many later towers including the La Giralda in Seville, Spain. Non-Muslims are not allowed inside, but a walk around its periphery may be enough to marvel at this masterpiece.
El Badi Palace: Largely in ruins, this impressive palace was built in the 15^th century and its name translates into “The Incomparable Palace” in English. It is easy to imagine the grandeur and luxurious lifestyle of its royal inhabitants as you walk through the large pavilions, sunken gardens and abandoned pools.
El Bahia Palace: Built in the late 19^th century, this grand building is a great example of Eastern Architecture. Lavish decorations and beautifully landscaped gardens are reasons enough to visit this palace.
Almoravid Koubba: Considered to be the oldest building in the city, it is also the only surviving monument from the Almoravid era.
Bab Agnaou: It is one among the 19 gates that serve as entry and exit points to the Medina and was constructed in the 12^th century.
Ben Youssef Madrassa: One of the largest madrassas in North Africa, it is home to some very beautiful artwork.
Saadian Tombs: The tombs were constructed to hold the graves of the Sultan Ahmed Al-Mansur who reigned in the 15^th century, and his family. Lavishly built with Italian marble, cedar woodwork and intricate decorations and carvings, the tombs are sure to inspire awe among the visitors.

Gueliz:

Majorelle Garden: This delightful garden is worth a visit for the extensive use of the Majorelle Blue colored walls and ponds, as well as the many colorful fountains and large variety of cacti that are found within it. Spread over 12 acres, it offers a respite from the heat of the city.

Menara:

Menara Gardens: Situated near the outskirts of Marrakesh at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, The gardens are spread across orchards and olive groves with a pavilion and a lake in the center. The snowcapped Atlas Mountains form a great backdrop to the beautiful gardens.

Shopping in Marrakesh

Shopping in Marrakesh can be an assault on your senses, as you take in the colors, the atmosphere and the vibrancy of the markets. Almost all shopping in Marrakesh needs to done in the traditional markets that are called Souks and it is possible to find anything- yes, anything, in the narrow lanes of the souks that you navigate, as you move from one shop to the next. The Souk Semmarine is the main lane that runs from the Djemaa El-Fna to the Ben Youssef Mosque and is flanked by a never ending array of souks that sell a wide variety of products.

If it is spices that you are interested in, visit the Rahba Kedima (Spice Square) that has stalls selling a plethora of spices from saffron to cumin, cinnamon to mace and even Argan oil that is almost exclusively produced in Morocco. A number of stalls selling herbal remedies, cosmetics, essential oils are also to be found.
For shoes and footwear, look no further than the Souk Smata, where brightly colored Moroccan slippers are a must-buy. Other leather items can be found at the Souk el Kebir and Souk Cherratin that specialize in camel leather goods like belts, wallets and purses.
Visit Souk el Attarin if it is fragrances and perfumes that you are looking for.
Souk Zrabia is the place to be if Berber carpets interests you, and for clothing and fabrics, stroll through the Souk Larzal and Souk des Teinturiers markets.

How to reach Marrakesh

Marrakesh is well connected to many European cities due to its popularity with the European tourists. The Marrakesh-Menara International Airport has direct flights that connect the city with destinations like Paris, London, Stockholm and Madrid, to name a few. Those flying in from North America, Asia and elsewhere will need to change flights at Casablanca. The airport is located at a distance 5km from the city and there are air conditioned buses plying every 30 minutes between the airport and the city. Marrakesh is also connected by train service to other major cities of Morocco. There are regular trains connecting Marrakesh with Casablanca and Rabat. Night trains are also available with sleeper cars for farther off destinations like Tangiers. A number of long distance bus services are also available for those wishing to take the roadways to travel between the Moroccan cities.

How to get around in Marrakesh

Marrakesh has a good bus service that can get you anywhere within the city. The Medina is small enough that everything can be covered on foot, although an umbrella is necessary to protect you from the sun. Taxis and horse drawn carriages are also available to explore the city.

The Bus service is quite good and covers all parts of the city that tourists will want to visit. Most buses stop at Djemaa El-Fna in the Old Town and Place Youssef Ben Tachfine in the New Town. Fares are dependent on the distance, but most of the time you will be paying between 2-5dh. Airport buses run at frequencies of 30 minutes from early morning until 9:30 in the night.
An Open Topped Sightseeing Bus is available that will take you around the city with headphones to provide commentary on the various tourist locations. You can get down anywhere to explore the location at your leisure and then board another bus to continue. Tickets are valid for 24 hours and cost 145 Dh.
An alternate way to get around the city is the small horse-drawn carriages called Caleche. It is better to negotiate on a price before getting onto them. The Caleche offers a romantic way to explore the city.
Taxis are generally not to be preferred, since they will try to rip you off with high charges for getting you to the destination. Some may even try to charge you for the bags that you are carrying. If getting into one, always ask them to use the meter. Petit taxis are smaller taxis that accommodate 3 passengers and can be boarded on a sharing basis.
If you are inside the Medina, Walking is the best way to cover all the destinations. All places are quite nearby and easily findable by directions from the locals or by using GPS.

Top Areas of Marrakesh

Medina: The Medina is the older, historic part of the city and is centered on the main square, Djeema El-Fna. A lot of the stay options in this district consist of the Riads, which are basically furnished Moroccan houses with a courtyard.
Gueliz: This is the modern, European half of Marrakesh that is characterized by upmarket restaurants, cafes and luxury boutiques.
Hivernage: Situated quite close by to the Medina, the Hivernage Quarter is a quiet, residential part of the town characterized by broad, tree-lined avenues, rooftop restaurants and luxury hotels.
Palmeraie: The Palm grove Quarter is an oasis situated outside of the city. A few luxury resorts are available here.
Agdal: An area of recent development, it is situated outside of the city and is being built as a major hub for further expansion of the city. A number of shopping arcades and expensive hotels are coming up in this locality.

Shukran! (Thank you in Arabic)