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The fall of Roman Empire resulted into downfall of tourism, at least till the end of Middle East. The available facts reveal that Roman evinced interest in visiting temples, shrines, festivals and baths for health and amusement. The contours of Development underwent radical change at least till the 15th century. The trade and commerce along with religious activities gained the momentum but till the beginning of industrial revolution, tourism continued to remain the matter of pilgrimage. Of Course a number of developments took place between 15th and 18th centuries. Specially In the industrial world which raised the significance of specialization or expertise for excelling competition. This motivated the elite of the society to go abroad for enriching the knowledge, speeding up the learning cycle developing the excellence and making possible cross fertilization of thoughts and ideas. By the turn of 19th century, we find multifaceted development in transportation, communication and, technological sophistication, which energized the process of industrial transformation. The tourism started developing as a business and the professional Travel agents started taking part in the process. With the beginning of the 20th century the process of invention and innovation stated gaining momentum which made ways for the development of infrastructural facilities and further added new dimensions in tourism business. No doubts, the World War I and World War II obstructed the flow of development but the second half of the 20th century proved to be golden age, since almost all the countries of the world started patronizing tourism as an important economic activity.

Thomas cook was of the view that beauty is for the people. The opinion of Mr. Cook generated new dimension in the tourism business, which paved copious avenues for development of tourism as an industry. We can’t deny that since the time immemorial travel has been first choice of masses , the qualitative improvement in the process could take place with the participation and co-operation of leading global organization , such as WORLD TOURIST ORGANISATION, PACIFIC AREA TRAVEL ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OFFICIAL TRAVEL ORGANISATION or so With the development of a broader concept, the essence of Tourism further distilled and it was more holistic approach because in the general theory of tourism, Walter Hunziker and Kurt Kraph (1942) considered it both a human As well as economic activity. In 1974, Burkat and Medlik again brushed up this approach since they viewed tourism as a composite phenomenon embracing a whole range of different relationship between traveler’s and the host population.

The intensity foreign exchange requirement was found at its peak and the tourism appeared to all of them an important source to be tapped optimally. In the face of succulent benefit, the developed, less developed and even the Developing countries started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. We agree with this view that with tremendous Socio-economic potential, the tourism industry is considered to be an economic bonanza which paves avenues for the Development of a number of allied Industries, such as hotel, communication, banking transportation, trade and commerce or so. In addition, we also consider tourism a potential source for making possible world peace through mutual appreciation and international understanding.

In the Indian perspective, we find Seventh Five Year Plan as watershed in the Development of tourism industry. For the first time, the vast potential of tourism as a foreign exchange earner and generator of employment opportunities was recognized.

Several policy initiatives were taken to develop the tourism sector In the development of tourism, the public sector has made a significant contribution. Of late, the industry is equipped with a reasonable infrastructural base and is poised for a self-sustained growth. The future growth of tourism is required to be activated with the support of the private sector. The strategy for the development of tourism is required to be designed on the basis of low-cost economy, higher level productivity, efficiency in the use of infrastructure and sophisticated tourist facilities.

The tourism industry bounced back from the global economic slowdown of last year with 2011 poised to show a positive growth number. As a matter of fact tourism is one of the largest industries globally, both in terms of size and employment ($5.4 trillion and 8.6 per cent of the global workforce.)

Indian tourism industry contributes 6.4% of total GDP. This compares to 3.3% for automotives manufacturing, 4.5% for education and 3.7% for the mining industry. So INR 6.7 billion is contributing from tourism industry in India.

PRODUCT PROFILE

1. Holiday as a Base – Mass Market, Popular Market

2. Demand as base – Primary, Secondary opportunity

3. Geography as a base – Cities, Provinces, Regions, Countries

4. Psychography as a base – Lifestyle, Personality Motive, Product, Knowledge.

5. Demography as a base – Age, Sex, Occupation, Class, Religion.

6. Socio-economic of base – Rich, Poor, Rural, Urban, Literate, Illiterate

7. Purpose as a base – Business Travel, Cultural Tourism, Common Interest

8. Age as base – Kids, Teens, Youths, Young, Married, Single.

The holiday base focuses or attention on the fact that long-distance tours require availability of more leisure hours. The holiday market is classified in terms of demand. The different categories are, the mass market, the popular market and the individual holiday market. The mass market involves largest number of- vacationists who generally travel in long groups. They prefer all-inclusive tours. The users belong to the conservative group in which we find skilled and semi-skilled workers, blue-collar employees as the potential users. The users are generally class one and class two groups, pensioners and retired people. The individual holiday market involves “social group-A7 like corporate chairman and senior executives. We find an apparent change in the behavioral profile of different categories in the holiday base. Another base is purpose in which we find business travel market, cultural tourism market, common interest tourism market and conference and convention.

The demand base classifies markets into primary tourism market, secondary tourism and opportunity tourism. The geographic base includes lifestyle, personality, motives, product and knowledge. The demography base covers age, sex occupation, class and religion. The socioeconomic base makes classification like rich, poor, rural, urban, literate and illiterate. The age-base classifies markets for kids, teens, youths, young married and old people market.

The aforesaid small segments simplify the task of tourist professionals. They know about the changing needs and requirements of different segments and innovate their strategic decisions accordingly. The development of marketing resources in tune with the changing levels of expectations make the ways for the stimulation of demand and simplify the task or marketers. It is in this context that we need to segment the market for the different allied industries helping the tourism industry in many ways.

Designing a Package Tour

In the process of formulating a sound product strategy, there are a number of factors to be given due attention. The designing of a package tour occupies a place of outstanding significance. For the profitable marketing of tourism services, it is pertinent that the different components of product are managed in a right fashion. This gravitates our attention on the offering of a package holiday product which necessitates management of the following factors.

Destination

The development of destination or tourist sites has a far-reaching impact on attracting the tourists. It is essential that destination or the tourist sites are easily accessible. This necessitates safe, fast and reliable transportation facilities hither and thither the tourist sites. To be more specific for promoting world tourism or attracting the foreign tourists, it is essential that the flying time is made proportionate. The site should be clean, the beaches should be sandy, sun-shine should be certain, the entertainment facilities at the site should be of quality the site should be safe to walk about, the local people should be friendly, the tour operator, the travel guides and others should have competence of speaking English and other regional languages. These facilities at the destination would add attractions.

Management of Airport

While managing the tourism product, the airports are required to be managed carefully. The airport should be local and convenient. The arrangement for car parking should be safe and adequate. It should not be congested but it should be spacious. In addition, the shopping facilities should be duty free. The airport should be clean and the vehicles should be available so that tourist doesn’t face any trouble. Besides, the security arrangement should be tight to protect the passengers and their valuables. The aesthetic management occupies a place of significance in the very context.

Airlines

The flights should maintain the time schedule otherwise a dislocation may invite multifaceted problems, not only to the tourists but even to the airport authorities. The services should be reliable, good and polite. The sophisticated modern aircrafts of new generation should be included in the fleet to attract the tourists. The safety record should also be up to mark to remove the fear psychosis or psycho-fobia.

Road and Rail Transportation

For the tourists preferring to travel by buses of railways, it is significant that the stations are well managed. The booking and reservation counters should be managed scientifically. The enquiry should be controlled by efficient and well behaved staff. The safety arrangement should be adequate to counter the law and order signposts should be positioned at right places to help the travelling passengers.

Hotels

For managing the hotel services, it is essential that we are also careful to the hotel accommodation facilities. It is pertinent that hotels are easily accessible to the tourist sites or beaches or shops. The hotel personnel trustworthy and competent enough to speak English and other regional languages. They are supposed to be friendly. The management of facilities at hotels need due care. Though the standard of services, amenities and facilities depend upon the grade of hotels still it is essential that hotels offer the promised services to the users. The gap between the services-promised and service-offered should be – bridge over. The hotels should be well maintained, the decor should be attractive; possibly a fair mix of eastern and western culture, the atmosphere should be calm and quiet; specially at the night time, public rooms should be adequate in number, the swimming pool should be neat and clean where inflow and outflow of water should be scientific to protect the danger of water contamination or pollution. There should be bar with good range of drinks.

The bedrooms should be spacious in which balcony facilities should be made available. The childcare services should also be made available. Particularly at the beach resorts, the sea view should be possible with all rooms, in-room telephonic services should be available, in, and room-TV should be provided. There should be adequate cupboard space. The hangers should be attractive and artistic, toilets should be neat and clean and well equipped with east and west provisions. The lighting and ventilation arrangements should be adequate. The intensity of light at different points should be given due weightage. While managing hotels, the restaurants and cafeterias also need due care. The restaurants and cafeterias should be well managed. The food and drinks should have taste-orientation. The varieties of meals and drinks should be available. The seating arrangements should be comfortable, the meal should be flexible and the hotel personnel should be polite and friendly.

Resort Representatives

Regarding representatives of resort, they should be-knowledgeable friendly, accessible and competent.

Miscellaneous

In addition, the fellow travelers should be like-minded. The main thing is to make the tour pleasant and memorable. If the tourists have companionable fellow travelers, the journey would of course remain memorable.

The aforesaid facts make it clear that being an amalgam of a number of industries and services, the tourism industry is known as a multi-segment industry in which the designing of a package which proves its instrumentality as a motivational force is found a bit difficult and challenging. It requires professional excellence so that we are in a position to assess the changing levels of expectations of the guests/tourists and all the required amenities and facilities are made available to help tourists to go to the destination, to enjoy and to come back safely. The tour operators and transport operators bear the responsibility of formulating a package tour and therefore they should have world class professional excellence to know and understand their changing needs and requirements.

The services are related to a number of industries managed by others and therefore, the tour operators and transport operators managing the affairs should make it sure that whatever the promises they have made on behalf of hotels, airways,’ railways, roadways are not to be distorted. This is likely to project the image of tour operators and therefore a gap between the services-promised and services-offered would make the task difficult. It is against this background that designing of a package tour occupies a place of outstanding significance and all the allied industries making the package are required to be careful that they are not inviting degeneration.

DEMAND DETERMINATION OF THE INDUSTRY

You should know this fact that India is such a country which is rich in beautiful and amazing places. Some places are god created whereas some are manmade. But in spite of having unbeatable tourism potential, lesser number of tourists visit different destinations of India for which it is known. Though Government authorities are continuously paying attention towards the growth of the tourism industry but still it is lacking the attention of a good number of travelers. It is a fact that tourism industry is contributing a large amount to the total GDP of the country so governments want to attract a good number of tourists to India. But Indian tourism is lacking a good number of tourists. This may be due to various reasons. Some of the important reasons are:

PRICE:-

While time and price are self-explanatory, pricing is an art in itself and

requires careful study as part of corporate policy. Price is the most powerful single variable in the marketing mix. But it does not operate in isolation. Value for money, albeit at different levels, is imperative. The product must be in demand or fashionable. It may be in short supply. Competition can be weak or strong, affecting achievable rates.

The wide variety of airline and hotel rates for basically the same product at different times and conditions of sale reflect these characteristics. The market may be very price sensitive, as in the case of traffic from Northern European urban areas to Mediterranean beaches where there is a strong competition and a wide choice. There are also resorts and their establishments offering exclusive attractions, justifying a premium price. Price discounting and discrimination, and segmentation, in the market has always been a feature in travel services. The historic rule is to charge

what the market will bear. The product is highly perishable and cannot be

stored. It is necessary normally to appeal to a number of different

segments. The railways invented first-, second- and third-class travel on

‘scheduled services’. When capacity exceeded demand, excursions and

package tours were invented, the purpose being to sell to capacity and

maximize the yield or return. Prices can be lowered segment by segment.

But the marketing task is to ensure that cheap traffic does not drive out

or invade the higher price and regular clientele. Airlines, for example,

offer Saturday night stopover fares at half or less than full fare, on the

assumption that full fare paying travelers, notably business travelers, will

not stay over the weekend. In times of crisis or recession, special rates apply. In fact, recession has always been the mother of invention in tourism, giving rise to new initiatives that created new movement.

Packages, cruises, specialist tours are all examples. Indeed many hotels have created events to attract business. Tactical plans must be highly flexible, short term and changing to meet the

varying ‘tides’ in demand, especially seasonal change. Economic and

political ‘perturbations’ usually unexpected, can alter trade suddenly and

sometimes with great force. Currency devaluation, the Gulf War and the

severe recession of 1991 in world markets are examples.

The strategic plan with its long-term marketing implications needs

consideration with the development plan. As marketing has a key role in

product formulation the plan must select market segments. For example, it may give priority to quality and higher priced services, which will affect the investment in equipment to provide luxury items. It will be important to select segments that fit together. At a later stage in preparing the marketing plan, a detailed product/market match exercise will be necessary.

The early resort promoters understood the selective approach very well.

There were from their inception select resorts, usually quiet, small and

patronized by the ‘upper classes’ and higher spenders, and large, gregarious resorts which were popular centers for ‘lower class’ visitors.

THE SUPPLY DETERMINANTS:-

There are supply determinants, ranging from absolutes such as under- or

overcapacity to infrastructure weakness, e.g. transport bottlenecks and

health and security dangers or political instability. Such factors can seriously

limit or even destroy for a time a tourist destination’s reception capacity. The

marketing plan will take such factors into account.

SEGMENTATION AND MOTIVATION:-

Two key aspects of the third demand determinant – consumer preference –

need careful study. Indeed the success of the whole marketing operation

depends on this. They are segmentation and motivation.

Tourism’s mass expansion takes many different forms. It is a heterogeneous

not a homogeneous movement, made up of many different types of

traveler, seeking a wide range of tourism products. Thus the mass

movement divides up into a number of segments, each differing from the

others and needing a separate approach in sales, servicing and product

provision.

There are many possible divisions and subdivisions which can be made

usefully in planning, but essentially the segmentation task is to identify

specific groups in the travelling population interested in the same type of

facility and service. The group identified must be large enough to warrant

separate marketing or production attention, to make a specialist approach

profitable. It must also be possible and practical to reach this section of the

population in an effective way. This means that the group should not be too

dispersed, and that there should be efficient media and distribution

channels enabling the producer to reach the customer at a reasonable

marketing cost. There are a number of criteria and categories in segmenting the total market.

POOR ARRANGEMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION FOR THE TOURISTS:-

Even after making lots of effort in improving qualities of the comforts for the tourists, it is said that the transportation system still requires to be improved. Tourists from outside India want to enjoy their tour with comforts in all respect and they are ready to pay for all these facilities. So it is essential to offer the best transport facilities for the tourists in order to attract more and more tourists.

NON-STANDARDIZATION OF FARES AND RATES:-

There are not any standard fares and rates for the transportation. Due to this tourists face lots of problem. Most of the travel agencies want to earn more and more especially from the tourists outside India. This ultimately gives a bad impression of India on outsider.

IMPROPER MAINTENANCE OF HERITAGES:-

With the advancement of tourism industry in India, numbers of heritages and resorts are built at different destinations in order to avoid inconvenience to the tourists. But most of the heritages are not maintained properly and these things are disliked by the tourists especially from outside India.

LACK OF SECURITY AND CHANCES OF HARASSMENT:-

If we talk about the security of the tourists, it is little bit weak. We can’t say with full confidence that the tourists who tour to India are secured completely.

LACK OF TRAINED AND PASSIONATE PROFESSIONALS:-

Due to lack of trained and passionate professionals, tourists don’t enjoy and get satisfied fully.

LACK OF PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES:-

Indian tourism must adopt a good number of promotional strategies which will help in attracting a large number of tourists.

ABSENCE OF HYGIENIC AMENITIES IN THE RESORTS AND HOTELS:-

Though there are numbers of hotels and resorts but most of them lack in hygiene especially in the basic amenities which they offered to the tourists.

PLAYERS IN THE INDUSTRY
TOURISM COMPANIES
MARKET SHARES

Prime Travels

Thomas Cook India

SOTC tours

Cox & Kings

Club Mahindra Holidays

Kuoni Travel Group, India

Galileo International

Goodwind Travels Pvt. Ltd

Airtravel Enterprise India

Compass Tours India

KEY ISSUES AND CURRENT TRENDS

Tourism as one of the important foreign exchange earning industries has manifested great potential of growth under liberalized Indian economy. To attract the foreign tourists in India, liberal policies and reduction in taxes along with a comprehensive package for attracting tourist and foreign investment are the need of the hour. There is also a need to increase the government’s role in promoting India as a brand. Just like exports and other sectors, tourism will grow only if the India brand is established in the global market. Hence, we must have an open mind on alliances with other countries, which might help in adopting better promotion strategies, marketing, services and packaging. Only overall growth can help in improving revenue generation, which needs to grow in line with the additional capacity being setup by the hospitality industry.

Present Position of Tourism Industry in India:-

It may be mentioned here that the Government of India had no Tourism Policy for more than forty years since the initiation of planning in the country in1951. Consequently, no efforts were made to lay down any sort of infrastructure for the promotion and development of tourism industry in the country. As a matter of fact, the country, after independence, had to pay serious attention towards increasing food production and laying down infrastructure for industrial development. On both the fronts, the country made tremendous progress and became leader of the developing nations. In order to achieve targets of faster economic growth, a number of Public Sector Enterprises were set up including India Tourism Development Corporation. However, no worthwhile progress was made in developing tourism in accordance with tourism potential of the country. It was only in 1992 that a tourism policy was laid down by the Government of India.

As far as total revenue to the Government of India is concerned, tourism is the third largest source of foreign exchange earnings to the country after garments, gems and jewelry. India has tremendous potential to earn more foreign exchange because it has a huge and diverse potential for tourism ranging from pilgrimage tourism, beach tourism, eco-tourism, spiritual and health tourism to leisure and adventure tourism. The amazing diversity offers tourists everything they want to enjoy from a holiday but still we could not capitalize on the huge variety of amusements offered by our country. In order to attract the influx of tourists in the years to come, the Government of India has allocated US $590 million for the tourism sector for the period of 2002-07. While the global tourism market has shown negative growth, tourist arrivals in India have improved a little in the recent past. This is a positive indication but much more can be done to promote inbound tourism in India. In brief in India, the tourists feel insecure and irritated on account of unwanted paper work, time consuming compliance of various rules and regulations, customs and immigration formalities, currency convertibility, beggars, tipping, bargaining, environmental pollution, transport problem, high rates and taxes etc. Beggars are such a nuisance that they are visible almost at all tourist spots, hotels, shopping centers, markets, monuments, places of worship, railway stations and bus stands. They constantly follow the visitors and there have been occasions that the tourists are so much irritated that they cut short their visits, shopping and spending. The tourists, thus, ignore India to avoid hassles and prefer other destinations where the specter of poverty and its manifestation like begging do not spoil their holiday spirit. Thus, India’s third largest foreign exchange earning industry is beset with a large number of problems. These problems have been examined in greater details in the pages that follow.

RECENT CHALLENGES OF TOURISM INDUSTRY IN INDIA:-

During the last few years tourists have witnessed good amount of violence and killing almost in every country including India. Kashmir, historically known as ‘Heaven on the Earth’, appears to be deserted on account of terrorism and violence. A large number of tourists, who used to visit and stay for a longer period in the Kashmir valley, do not tour the State of Jammu & Kashmir for fear of violence and aggression. The business travelers also schedule their business trips only when it is absolutely essential. In fact, terrorism and violence have become the first and the foremost problem for tourists everywhere and India is no exception. The problem has assumed such alarming proportions that the world community must find its last in solution. The injustices done to the people in various parts of the world have result in great damage to tourism industry all over the world Tourists, especially of the developed countries; have been avoiding such destinations where there is any chance of violent activities against them. The problem has become so acute that the Governments in UK and the USA, in the recent past, had to issue travel advisories to their tourists. Though these travel advisories were, later on, withdrawn but the damage had already been done. India is not a preferred destination now for most of the Western tourists who spend, from our standards, a lot of money on tourism. Tourists are also irritated on account of unwanted paper work, time was the compliance of rules and regulations in India. In addition to customs and immigration formalities, language barriers are also the major problems faced by the foreign visitors. The difficulties of entry and exit too spoil half of the holiday charm. Again, our poor infrastructure, shortage of packaged tours, lack of connectivity between places, lack of transportation, our failure to create mass awareness throughout the world, polluted environment, discriminating economic and social behavior, inadequate and inexperienced staff, uneasy current convertibility and lack of multi-linguistic guides come in their way of pleasant tour and make the foreign tourists reluctant to come to India.

PEST Analysis

The Indian tourism industry has seen rapid growth in the last few years. Before any kind of analysis is undertaken, it is important to find out what are the main environmental influences that have lead to this growth and how the extent to which the changes are occurring. This is important because the change in these factors can have significant effect on the way the industry performs.

These environmental influences can be analyzed by using the PEST Analysis. The PEST Analysis within its parameters indicates the importance of the political, environmental, social and the technological changes on the industry.

a) Political / Legal Political

The political factors are the main force of the industry. The Indian tourism industry is built on the backbone of Government support and the industry cannot sustain itself without it. The various archaeological sites and the places of historical importance, the roads and the railways are all in the hands of the Government. All the support services like the hotel industry, the airlines industry and the tourist operators to name some are heavily dependent on the support and the cooperation of the Government. The major reason as to why the tourist visits India is for the vast and rich heritage that our country has .That is under the control of the Government through the Archaeological Survey of India. Any policy change that comes into force can have dramatic effect on the way the industry players perform. For example, the Government charges high rates of taxes on the luxury and the star category hotels and this has always been a cause of disagreement between. The hotel association and has been getting many incentives and many has been getting the government .There are many areas where the growth of tourism has not been rapid or has been dramatic fall because the political environment has been conductive. Examples are the North East for the former and Kashmir for the later. The neglect of the Government in Developing the North East leads to a situation where there is practically no tourism in the seven.

Similarly, the political turmoil in the state of Kashmir has seen the virtual decimation of the flourishing tourism industry. The “Heaven on Earth” is A virtual hell for the industry. There has been a major change in the policies of the Government as regard to the industry. The hotel industry has been getting many incentives and many State Government are encouraging the growth of major hotels in their states. After years of tight control over airport infrastructure, Government has finally taken the decision to privatize the airport. Cobwebs and even rats were the frequenters in the arrival lounge at a major international airport of India . It is the only way to improve their condition.

Tourism has been a Neglected sector in India .Though it was recognized As a priority sector in the Seventh Five Year Plan but hardly anything was done to promote this industry. Recently, the BJP Government has even dropped it from the National agenda. It is t

In the recent past, the world has been through a fast paced transformation of lifestyle and preferences. This has been marked by tremendous changes in the way people spend on leisure and recreation especially on tourism. Likewise, many economies have been facing hard economic times forcing creativity and cost saving strategies to take toll in the delivery of goods and services. Specifically, tourism is a very ancient activity which ranges from field executions, adventure tours, special-interest tours, regional or city tours, fully escorted tours and group tours (Fay, 2002). Despite all these forms of tourism, harsh economic times have led to emergence of package tours which are holidays where a variety of services are paid for once and for all. Basically the costs are inclusive of all necessities that a person on voyage may find essential. Such tour packages come with services such as accommodation, transport, tour guides, insurance, transfer costs between sites, entrance fees paid to warders at scenic attraction sites, tickets to events and meals. The costs also vary depending on time schedules or number of days to be spends on tour sites, ability and willingness to pay for the goods and services. To this end we discover that tourism is a recreation activity which is conducted at a person’s convenience therefore it is a leisure activity. Tourism being a leisure activity, it is worth noting that over a short time frame the consumer behavior is bound to be irregular pegging on the fact that expenditure on recreation is seasonal if not cyclic. In this paper, there is need to establish fundamental differences between group packaged and individual tours, their merits and demerits, and finally try to integrate the two forms of tourism for the sake of saving costs.

Consumer behavior entails the study of processes used by individuals, organizations and groups of buyers to acquire and dispose services, products, goods, ideas or experiences in order to satisfy human wants. Human wants are psychological therefore buyers are guided by social anthropology as well as economics. Through the study of consumer behavior, marketing managers are better placed to make subtle decisions regarding market segments they wish to exploit. In addition, comprehending the behavior pattern of customers will fashion strategic managers with essential data necessary to facilitate decision making. This research is double faced since it provides comparisons between group tours and individual tours while at the same time exploring strengths and possible bottlenecks associated with both forms of tourism. In a nutshell fundamental elements of individual consumers are brought to light since they are dictated by behavior variables and demographics. In the end, the research will establish if the psychology of a consumers is dependent on friends, family, society, class or reference groups.

The behavior of customers is so dynamic since buyers patterns are literally unpredictable, it therefore requires a distinction in the roles played by consumers ranging from being a payer, a user or a buyer of a product. By so doing a researcher will have an easy time predicting consumer patterns of clients and establishing relationship marketing techniques; this is a very powerful asset used in the analysis of consumer behavior because it establishes a keen interest in redefining the meaning of marketing. On the other hand relationship marketing emphasizes on the need for rediscovering customers while placing a greater importance on the need to retain current customers, manage customer relationships, customize and personalize a one to one marketing approach.

Tour Packages and their Applicability to Consumer Behavior

Today there are many types of tourism packages basing on the suitability, convenience, cost and affordability. Researchers have established that these many packages have emanated from the need for service providers to meet the varied desires and needs of customers. Tour agents and brokers find it prudent to design various packages and assign them with respective cost element which makes these packages affordable depending on the willingness of the customers to spend. While other customers will want a customized and economic tour package, extravagant or fun loving customers will prefer a prestigious treatment during their voyage. The packages can be broken down further into; first, special interest tours which are excursion focused on a specific area of interest for instance sports, arts, agriculture, and culture (Wang & Hsieh & Huan, 2000).

Secondly, adventure tours which are sight sees designed to encourage customer participation for a period of time that has been agreed upon by the tour agents. It is based on the customers gaining firsthand experience of the trip depending on their physical capabilities. This package is more enjoyable if practiced in groups since it entails physical activities thus encouraging bonding and socialization. Examples are mountain climbing, diving, skiing, diving and cycling (Solomon, 2004). Thirdly, there are regional or city tours. They last for a span of one day within which the tour participants have to visit areas of interest within specific places in the city. The places visited could be religious, cultural, and historical and the tour agents have to provide the tourists with meals and refreshments as stated in the package agreement.

Down the list is group tours which follow a pre-arranged or fixed schedule. This type of a tour is specific on the number of participants required making it very tricky for the organizers to establish the needs of each and every customer in the group. On the other hand, tour agents would want to capitalize on the large numbers in order to increase their profit margins or else they might go at a loss for entangling themselves in unprofitable group tour arrangements. The number of people in a group will definitely be limited to the mode of transport being used and availability of accommodation facilities. It also entails accompaniment by tour guides who may divide the groups into sub groups to ease movement and save on time which is a cost determinant.

Finally is the fully escorted tour where a traveler is offered security by a specialized security firm. It is an expensive type of tour since it entails offering of personalized services for instance security against hostility since most of these tour packages are educational in nature, the tour guides or escorts are more often than not authentic inhabitants of a place (Shell, 2009). They are therefore equipped with knowledge on history and cultures making them expensive. On the other hand they are very resourceful making them a preferred choice for the lovers of fully escorted tours. The consumer behavior under each of this classification is very unpredictable because most of the customer’s decisions is influenced by affordability, family, culture and above all, by the spirit of adventure.

Methodology

According to secondary data collected by a group of consumer behavior analysts; eight people were sampled basing on the social welfare function and assumptions of anonymity, decisiveness, anonymity, neutrality, monotonicity, homogeneity, unanimity and Pareto optimality (Schwartz, 2004). The results collected by this group of researchers will be helpful in elucidating the main points on consumer behavior analysis. With the understanding that marketing is a special program designed by an organization to satisfying customer’s needs, the productive system employed by tourist firms is regulated beginning from production levels in such a way that it will market services offered by the firm and increase profitability. The marketing managers often design strategies that maximize on revenues while cutting down on costs and expenditures. In the research it was discovered that tour agents dealing in group package tour enjoy economies of scale because they pay for services in bulk.

Likewise a strategic manager could conduct a parallel research similar to that undertaken by consumer analysts in Hong Kong. The research could emphasize on the comparison of the stimulus listed in the consumer behavior black box model shown below (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007). In considering the stimulus listed in the black box model, it will act as a research tool or a guided questionnaire which limits the researcher on the scale of coverage in terms of establishing consumer behavior in relation to tourism and the motive behind how consumers spend their incomes leisure and recreation.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

BUYER’S BLACK BOX

Marketing

Stimuli

Environmental stimuli

Buyer Characteristics

Decision process

Buyers response

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

Economic

Technological

Political

Cultural

Demographic

Natural

Attitudes

Motivation

Perceptions

Personality

Lifestyle

Knowledge

Problem recognition

Information search

Alternative evaluation

Purchase decision

Post-purchase behavior

Product choice

Brand choice

Dealer choice

Purchase timing

Purchase amount

A diagrammatic representation of the black box model (Foxall, 2005)

The model shown above identifies the interaction between stimuli, decision processes, consumer characteristics and responses as portrayed by consumers during the research. Using the model, consumer behaviors can be noted depending on the stimuli for instance interpersonal and intrapersonal stimuli. The model is a reflection of the black box theory which attempts to explain behavior of consumers in service related industries such that marketing managers use these stimuli to draw relationships between them and consumer response (Kuester, 2012). In addition the black box model encloses buyer’s psychology and characteristics which are the main determinants of consumer responsiveness. Under this section, the researcher established that tourists are driven by conscious judgment of the both group package and individual tours hence establishing a fair ground for rational decision making.

Findings

As it was reported by Heung & Chu (2000) in a Chinese Journal; “Important factors affecting Hong Kong consumer’s choice of a travel agency for all-inclusive package tour”, a sample research was conducted in Hong Kong which is a very big city boasting of being among the best metropolitan cities in the world. Although the sample population of one city cannot be a representative of the consumer patterns portrayed by tourism industries around the world, it would be wise to use the report on Hong Kong since the city is fast paced and employees get exhausted due to long working hours with little time to rest. Given such working environments, employees get some times-off to relax (LeBlanc, 2002). It was established that most people prefer all inclusive group package tours to individual tours. The services are provided by tourism agencies that can be found through online platforms such as company websites. According to the findings collected using an open ended questionnaire it was discovered that tourists have different needs and expectations. The needs could be ranked in a descending chronology starting with price, itinerary, accommodations, meals, transportation, departure date and time, hotel facilities, reputation and last on the list is brand of travel agency. The needs portrayed by the consumers influence how customers purchase packages for their tours.

The group of consumer behavior analysts observed that out of the eight customers that were sampled from Hong Kong city to fill in the questionnaires, six of them identified price to be the number one determinant of consumer behavior. It therefore becomes evident that customer needs are limited by the size of their wallets hence some customers may prefer going for a group package tour rather than individual tour not because they desire to but because they are limited by their income or budget. This is where the need for integrating group package tours with individual tours so as to satisfy customers who have a desire of individual tour but want to also look for the benefit of lower price and lower hassle which group packaged tour could offer. It is after prices have been considered that other factors in the needs bracket are made too surface which means that they are not as essential as price factors. Only four correspondents stated to care about the itinerary drafted by the travel agents. On the same note four other customers supported accommodation mattered while touring because they could opt for adventure group package tours so that they can pitch tents in the wild and spend the night in company of other tourists (Heung & Chu, 2000).

Only three people considered modes of transportation as a determinant in deciding between group package and individual tour. They stated reasons such as maintaining their reputation and class which makes it evident enough that in our situation, transportation is but a secondary determinant in determining customer behaviors. Moving down with our analysis on the needs of customers and how it determines their selection of a suitable tour package, it becomes imminent that only one person would have issues with hotel facilities. The customer in question is after luxurious offers which can be best offered by under the fully escorted individual tour package since they can proffer spa and hot spring services which is a luxury. The main factor behind these findings is that customers have varied attitudes, motivations and perceptions and this influences their tour consumption behavior.

Pros of Group Package Tours

Group package tours are cost saving because they travel agencies buy the packages in bulk therefore they can compete for services in the tourism industry for instance hotels and scenic site. In addition, the agencies enjoy economies of large scale or impulsive buying of packages thus their rates can be discounted or subsidized (Dellaert & Ettema & Lindh, 1998). The benefits can trickle down to customers through subsidized prices. The same effect is spread to meals making them affordable. Secondly, the operators take the bigger part of responsibility that could otherwise have been passed on to the tourist in the case of individual tour. In the event that something goes amiss then the operators or agencies involved will be charged with the responsibility of solving problems on behalf of the tourists.

Group package tours are time saving and convenient since the agents deal with making travel and accommodation arrangements. This saves on time an individual tourist could spend putting in place orders and booking appointments with several services providers. From the outward aspect people traveling in groups will socialize along the way. Besides, people traveling in groups are assured of quality since tour operators have specialized in analyzing customer behavior hence they are away of tour companies offering best services and they are able to establish areas that would be fascinating to the tourists. Some advantages will also be accrued by the travel agents who take the initiative of organizing group package tours at affordable rates. Agents get paid 10% commissions for their job.

Cons of Group Package Tours

To some extent, group package tours are inflexible because tourists have to follow a given schedule and wait for schedules regarding travel, because it entails a collection of many people. Also, travel agents find it tricky to organize and control groups especially during off peak seasons when the number of people willing to go on tours is below breakeven point. The operators may also be faced with challenges beyond their control but they will have to bear the brunt of angry group tourists who might not be willing to understand.

Pros of Individual Tours

Some countries attach a more personal touch to tourists using individual tour option. China is an example of a country where individual tours are cheaper and a ticket to receiving special treatment such as personal care, sense of control, handy services and time flexibility (Engel & Blackwell, 2006). Moreover, a tourist opting for private tours is bound to enjoy flexibility of schedules since he or she could have the opportunity of doing exactly what they want to do unlike in a group tour where everything is fixed and hard to negotiate. In addition, a family with children should think of using private or individual tour since the parents can plan events that will be perceived relevant to both age groups involved.

Cons of Individual Tours

Private tours are expensive in relation to group packaged tours because of the bulk involved. Whereas the latter enjoys economies of large scale buying of goods and services, the former has to go through the hustle of paying for each and every individual services hence it is expensive.

Conclusion

From the above comparisons the research established that consumer behavior is key in weighing the best option between group packaged tours and individual tours (Kotler & Bowen & Makens, 2003). To find the best alternative to integrate individual and group package tours, then agents will have to work out a strategy that will work to the advantage of both groups. This means that an agent may have to prepare new rates and schedules which allow tourists interested in having a taste of both travel and tour arrangements gain maximum benefits from both arrangements. It would be prudent for the costs to be the average of individual tour costs and that of group packaged tours. Therefore a person undertaking the third option should be ready to incur costs at a personal level.

The agents will also be responsible for providing only the services agreed upon while neglecting the other services at the expense of the tourist. For instance, assuming someone was interested in the integrated option, he or she will be free from the scheduled group tours thus this will be the perfect opportunity to visit places of one’s choice. Under the integrated option, the tourist will have to be pay consult with the travel agent for transport, insurance and accommodation services so that they enjoy subsidized group rates whereas they can determine places to visit on their own while paying for entry fees. The integrated option would be the best option for customers who want to satisfy the desire for individual tour but want to also look for the benefit of lower price and lower hassle which group packaged tour could offer.

Practical Application of the Research

Much weight of this paper is laid on the aspect of analyzing consumer behavior in relation to tourism and recreation industry. It is based on updated and current information relating the current state to tourism statistics. It lays out a learning outcome fashioned with knowledge on factors influencing buyer behavior. This information is essential to a marketing manager who may be interested in studying the consumer behavior in the tourism and recreation industry for the sake of control management of future forecasting.

The study emphasizes that theories of motivation are very applicable in influencing customer behavior towards liking for any of the two forms of tours; group package tour and individual tours (Deaton & Muellbauer, 2008). Most customers are guided by motivation which inevitably implies that tourists have a liking for fascination and nature. A strategic manager in conjunction with the marketing manager should strive at using advertisements to create psychographics in the minds of the consumers. All this can be done in a bid to influence or motivate customers into anticipating for such a tour. Travel agents would major their advertisements towards making people to appreciate group packaged tours so as to win a certain segment of the consumer market. In short a manager who approaches the market with caution and intensive analysis of consumer needs will understand the psychology that guide decision making in tourists and capitalize on it during peak seasons. A manager may therefore make use of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to deterring the social class and consequently the motivation behind customer’s selection among the two classes of tourism.

Looking at this report from the customer’s point of view, a customer who reads this report is bound to justify why he or she tends to behave in a certain way. Mostly, a travel agent will want to create advertisements that motivate customers by driving their instincts into wanting to visit a place, regretting a certain events, nostalgia or fantasies. All this are suitable strategies that can be molded into an individual’s perception of holidays. On the other hand, this report may consumer educate consumers on the decision buying process applicable in the tourism industry. According to Burke & Resnuk (2001), the stages start with arousal or recognition of need, it then develops into a nagging interest or want, the customer then identifies an alternative assessment of substitute decision choices. These stages finally induce a customer into either group packaged or individual tours.

The Travel and Tourism business demands an effective policy and co-ordination the following framework offered using examples at local and regional level provides some indication of what efforts are being made to this end.

CATEGORIES OF ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED:

The tourist organisation I have selected is SAMLESBURY HALL a 1325 black and white timbered medieval manor house Organisations that could interact with this attraction are, from a range of levels. The local tourist information centre situated at Guild Hall Lancaster Road, Preston. The sub-regional organisation(known as a Destination Marketing Organisation) which is the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board. The regional organisation is the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The North has an umbrella marketing group that promotes the whole region overseas,this is known as England’s North Country. The national tourist board/agency is VisitBritain responsible in conjunction with the national tourist boards of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales for promoting England and Great Britain to both domestic and overseas visitors. It has a network of overseas offices eg Poland, Russia, China. It is funded by its partners and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which is responsible for implementation of Government policy on tourism; part of whose work is to assist the diverse businesses to identify a common interest in working together. The England Marketing Advisory Board(EMAB) is the overseer of Marketing Strategy for England. VisitBritain may encourage or influence attention to such organisations as English Heritage, committed to preserving selected historical monuments and environments while supporting research to preserve archival material. The international organisation involved in tourism is the European Union which operates with a hybrid system of supranationalism(e.g. majority voting and directly applicable laws) and intergovernmentalism(e.g. consensus bargaining by states)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union

OTHER ORGANISATIONS:

There are also some international agencies that also possess the capability of influencing tourism in a number of ways. These involve the matter of international travel. There is The International Air Transport Association(IATA) with over 240 airlines as members. It has 94% of international scheduled air traffic. The IATA guides and serves the airline industry in general aspects. Then there is The International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO)It is an agency of the UN; functioning to ensure safety and orderly growth of the air skies; international navigation being regulated with advancement of planning and development of international air transport.

Air transport is first and foremost a dynamic industry. IATA represents the interests of world airlines.It will challenge anything unreasonable in rules or charges,checking governments and pinning down for what is considered to be sensible regulation. IATA nurtures a self-help philosophy with its airlines. Always seeking to simplify processing for the convenience of the passenger,seeking to keep down rising costs as well as improving efficiency.Safety is certainly of prime importance to the IATA and ways of improvement are continually being sought. Also a concern that has rapidly come to the fore is impact on environment which the IATA seeks to minimise. The flow of airline passengers needs to be seamless as if it were only one airline operating within one country;this being the aim. Professional expertise is available for investment in publications,training and consulting. Financial systems assist carriers and the travel industry to increase revenue.

The IATA requires sensible forecasting delivered with foresight from Governments and therefore ensures they are kept well informed concerning complexities surrounding the aircraft industry.

Many of the aims of the European Union require for realisation quite close links between the EU and national and regional levels of government.

The following,outlines the influences that each of the organisations referred to above could possibly have on Samlesbury Hall that possesses a location ideal for ‘short breaks,business trips and overnight stays’. It consists of extensive Tudor grounds and wildflower beds with a miniature farm. t has a full calendar for events, business functions and exhibitions. There is an evening ghost hunt and contrary to such a theme it is a beautiful setting for a wedding. There is self-catering accommodation available.

THE TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE(TIC):

The Tourist Information Centre provides accurate and useful information to the traveller/visitor/tourist. The visitors need correct, precise, relevant and immediate up-to-date information the TIC provides this. Tourists are catered for in their search for hotels, bed and breakfast or self-catering accommodation.Queries involving local transport can all be answered. Tourist Information Centres should be regarded as the lifeblood for tourism activity, originating from the regional boards in this case the North West Regional Development Agency and funded from local authorities together with private investment.

It has been argued that Tourist Information Centres have no real significance or role. That most purchasing decisions are made before leavetaking-arrangements such as accommodation, car hire and what to do; where to eat, where to shop or where to drink and the rest being left to time of arrival; but rarely upon advice from a TIC. You would ask reception,or seek assistance from a cab driver or a shop assistant. It is not thought that many people make a beeline for the TIC.

There would be more suitable ways of booking for the next destination.Hotels and guest houses are now all online with many many online travel agents;with rooms available all over the country. A very small amount of visitors would be influenced into making a decision based on the TICs.Literature is made freely available by distribution companies; there is wifi to be found in the hotels and restaurants. The B&Bs,public houses,all are mines of information available all hours of the day. The mobile phone and laptop add the finishing touches. Upon arrival at attractions the reception area contains a plethora of information outweighing that available from TICs. Yet if it be asked as one reads this what is the explanation it is considered to be that of the political.It is considered that such would be local reaction to any prospect of closing that the ensuing struggle would simply not be worth it. Councils would retaliate and declare that with reduction of services tourism would be killed off. Is this so?

Yet what has been inferred is that the information required can be obtained quite easily from any hotel,high street shop at no extra cost to public funds.Can it also be inferred that given a choice of deployment in funding,that there would be immediate choosing of international marketing instead of providing information in a local context.

Refurbishment is being carried out on TICs that have received no investment since the 80s.The object is of course to provide that world class information system required by visitors to our country,and extensive customer research backs this up.Accomodation bookings are not now the priority or function although still present.The main aim of all TICs is to encourage visitors to explore more of the area in which they have found themselves,thereby persuading free spending that will ultimately benefit the people locally.

Research has shown that visitors still need the personal touch in such matters.Of course it is easy and natural to elicit information required immediately from those in proximity,taxi drivers shop keepers etc; but it is the prospect of experiencing something extra some inner desire from being able to refer to a focal point wherein they are encouraged and directed to acquire such an experience, and this is how the TICs come to the fore. It has been found that receipts are indeed higher with the application of local professional advisers to assist the visitors. There is the factor of arrival marketing where the visitor expects to find assistance upon arrival.

A DESTINATION MARKETING ORGANISATION(DMO)-THE LANCASHIRE AND BLACKPOOL TOURIST BOARD:

The next organisation that is able to influence activities to do with Samlesbury Hall is a sub-regional organisation;known as a Destination Marketing Organisation.This happens to be for Samlesbury Hall the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board.

The official tourism website representing Lancashire and Blackpool is visitlancashire.com. It is promoted both nationally and internationally. The tourist board possesses a powerful DMS(Destination Management System) with an extensive data bank to serve all visitors. Samlesbury Hall with VisitBritain,the local Tourist Information Centre, the local authority, and the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board all cooperate in promoting elements of their business effectively and are able to respond effectively efficiently and rapidly to any queries from the public or press. Samlesbury Hall has accommodation apart from its unique attractions so it would benefit from the banner advertising promoted on www.lancashireandblackpool.com website.Their target market is visitors worldwide;also corporate and leisure concerns.Unique visits to the site amount to a 40% increase each month.E-marketing slots are also available with some 25,000 opt-in consumers who must be continuously ‘trawling’ for information as to whatever is happening in Lancashire throughout the region. Online marketing offered includes any marketing opportunities, campaigns, publications and exhibitions.

The Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board is concerns itself with support and advice for businesses and development.It is an objective that the sub-region and Blackpool will have undergone transformation into a world-class destination.Lancashire being the destination for the mature and discerning.Salmesbury Hall can be part of this vision. A Business Development Team is available for staff development and local contacts. They are also available to assist in any funding requirements for projects.

Key strategy for the Northwest concerns development and management of its economy.

There is a Visitor Economy Strategy(VES) for 2006-2016 that outlines principles and priorities for the region’s approach to destination management and development. A three year action plan (2006-2009) supports the VES.A Destination Management Plan(DMP)has been constructed with the assistance from a number of prominent partners and investors.The Lancashire Economic strategy(LEP) enables Partners and supporters to have a framework within which future development will happen. Included within this is the Preston City Vision. Salmesbury Hall will be supporting this.

THE NORTHWEST REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY(RDA):

The Regional organisation for tourism is the Northwest Regional Development Agency. It serves a useful link between business needs within the region and Government policies.As an RDA(Regional Development Agency) is pushes for economic vigor and development, and regeneration. The Northwest Regional Development Agency liaise with partners within the public, private, voluntary and academic sectors both at regional and local levels. Investment and enterprise are prime factors in its impact as an influencing organisation. RDAs work with the Government but are not party affiliated. It has a role to play in support of the RES,Regional Economic Strategy to transform the region into vibrant growth.

Issues of Equality and Diversity, Climate Change and Europe need a unified and sustained response for implementation of any national Government policy prevailing. Yet it is concerned with all kinds of local issues requiring consultation.The RES supplies a twenty year foresight for development of economic strategy with more immediate actions to happen within the next three years. It provides therefore a framework for regional, sub-regional and local action.The current RES was launched in March 2006. The action plan was the resultant of an extensive consultation between 25 private and public sector partners with feedback from over 4,000 organisations. The next RES will be presented in 2010.

In 2007 visitors generated ?13.6billion for the regional economy. This represents a 4% growth in spending compared to 2006. To improve this figure there is focus upon tourism development and tourism marketing.Also in place is a Major Events strategy to maximise revenue from one-off events and others.

THE NATIONAL TOURIST BOARD/AGENCY -VisitBritain:

The national tourist board/agency is VisitBritain responsible in conjunction with the national boards of Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales for promoting England and Great Britain to both domestic and overseas visitors. It promotes Britain as a visitor destination to overseas markets. There is a rapidly developing domestic tourist market in the UK and the organisation is eager to encourage short-break holidays and more of them.VisitBritain is able to influence both international and domestic markets more effectively with astute marketing and themes. Anything concerning or involving tourism the organisation is available for consultation. There is active partnership participation throughout the tourism framework with the devolved boards and the industry itself. It aims to achieve goals with economy, efficiency and right communication. It is funded by the Department of Culture, Media,and Sport.

VisitBritain promotes England both within Britain itself and also to France, Germany, Ireland and The Netherlands.

VisitBritain works closely with a range of investors and may encourage or influence attention towards such an organisation as English Heritage. It is a statutory adviser to the Government on matters of conservation and policy issuing grants for repairs to ancient buildings and ancient monuments.It receives about 75% of its income from the Government; the rest from revenue obtained from membership fees, properties in its care and other sources such as legacies.

The Government Department(DCMS) assumes responsibility for the implementation of a policy seeking to nurture a common response for the well-being of tourism. The England Marketing Advisory Board(EMAB) is the overseer for marketing strategy in England.

CONCERNING THE EUROPEAN UNION:

The international organisation that could possibly be an influencing agent affecting Samlesbury Hall is the European Union which operates under an amalgam of international agreements consisting of majority voting with directly applicable laws and interstate bargaining. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European Union.

The Northwest region is directly affected by European policy,influencing the prosperity of the north west.Regional business receives impact over a wide range of areas e.g.environment, employment, with other legislation. The EU is a vital agent for schemes of regeneration within the region. Markets and employment opportunities either through the agencies’ companies or from financial support from structural funds, the Common Agricultural Policy(CAP)or R&D budgets.

CONCLUSION:

Many of the aims of the EU need quite close linkage between itself and national and regional levels of governments.The European Priorities has a number of thematic issues while looking forward beyond 2013. England’s Northwest intends to deliver such priorities by access of EU programmes that lie outside the European Regional Development Fund(ERDF). Any organisations within the northwest region with a special interest in such areas should become involved in supporting this.O verseeing this will be the North West Regional European Partnership(NWREP), a regional stakeholder forum.

Apart from pursuing such thematic priorities, the Northwest will position itself to take part in debating on the future of the EU and its policies.In October 2006 it was confirmed by Government that the RDAs should have the responsibility for managing the ERDF programmes in England for the 2007-2013 period. There will be only one ERDF Programme for the region, named the Northwest Operational Programme(NWOP).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Sharpley,R.(1999) Tourism,Tourists and Society.ELM Publications

Page,S.(2003) Tourism Management:Managing for Change.Butterworth-Heinemann

Cooper,C et al(2005) Tourism:Principles and practice.FT Prentice Hall

Holloway J C(2006) The Business of Tourism. FT Prentice Hall

Destination of Goa is a dream for all travelers who are all visiting India. Goa is also the wonderful coastal place for destination. Most delight area or region in Western Ghats. It has green expand in space of land and normal pictures and excellent landscapes. It is also called queens of the beach. Goa is also having bird paradise, adventure sports and water of epicenter, and nature that following some of most delighted waterfalls in India. Identifying the feature of home tour is the beautiful sunny beaches, wonderful white sands in beautiful sea.

Travelers can discover a satisfaction our in ancient temple and churches in the place of goa. So for travelers are mostly eating sea foods like fish, prawn, gin, crabs and feni. One of the famous festivals in goa is shimoga festival and it’s for people enjoyment with music, playing and having fun. Most of visitors emigrate to goa for look at the world class casino and also people enjoying the night life and parties in goa.

Introduction:

Goa has been an ideal destination for tourists for decades. Millions of tourists flock to Goa, a small city along the coast of the Arabian Sea. It’s beautiful coastline beach, tropical landscape and with coconut palm as a backdrop makes it a most preferred destination for travelers. Goa was once dominated the Portuguese, their architecture, churches can also be found there even today. Goa still has that Portuguese flavor to their streets which still remains narrow and in their cuisines.

Goa has several beautiful locations to offer. From the Dona Paula a spot which oversees the magnificent harbor of Goa at Mormugau. Panjim was once a fishing village, which the Portuguese declared it as the Capital. It still remains with the charm it had its glorious past. The buildings, churches, still remain intact and have overcome the testimony time had to offer. Panjim has houses and villas built along the banks of the river Mandovi.

Goa has a mixture of old fashioned markets selling vegetables and fruits to Bars and Pubs which have a western culture associated to it. Several foreigners have made it into Goa and never left, those who have left have only wished to make it back. It has been the summit spot for tourism in India. It has the highest concentration of foreign settlers in India. It’s all thanks to the well preserved natural beauty and the serenity that Goa has to offer. Goa attracts more tourists than any single city within India and it will remain the same way for years to come.

Pest analysis:
Social:

Hostels and resorts are always seemed something that made a damage of the public material and place. More quantity of foreign arrivals arriving in to a position, the more chance of that position to decline its identity. A perfect example of goa from the past sixties to the beginning eighties when their life style of the goa people was at its peak, goa was a dreamful city for such oldest people.

However they came in plenty of years and improved the total life style of the condition. This is how make something impact on the nations. Individual became careful, especially of the foreign travelers. Nevertheless a certain position became popular place in goa; they was mentioned to prevent the influx of foreign travelers some of the locations such as Rajasthan and Kerala has been able to attack a stability between their life style and the requirements of the foreign travelers and have producing money and attractive in a strong in the deal. People are how utilizing on their own points that travel and leisure will pay and it will be a considerable. Revenue for them.

However, travel and tourism as a way of enjoyment has actually taken. People on their own have started visiting and are prepared to travel to a places that is out of the distinctive. Generally, travelling on a holidays supposed to going out mountain position or beaches, now every people is keen to go for getting practical experience over travel and location that could be individuals and cannot be genuine in the position of the place.

Legal:

The rules that control by the organization are not the similar in all the places. Various part of rules which are in impact are mature and ancient and it’s not developed to get assemble the issues of the twenty first century.

The process of would valuations and journey of authorities has experimental to that taxes paying by travelers in local people’s are the maximum on the global. Hotels are indicting about forty percentage of tax indicating to other countries somewhere it varies among three percentages and six percentages.

Although high duty to provide the travel and enjoyment of travel sectors as a entire mutually respectful. The additional, factors among the taxes of state level, mainly on a prepared drink and foods. In detail, the taxes to bring soft drinks vary generally and its sixty three percentage in Karnataka to twenty eight percentage in Bengal.

Political:

The Government aspects are the principal power of the tourism sector. The local travel industry of India is to developing on the main reference of government guidance and the market cannot continue to devoid of it. A range of standard websites and the spaces of common meaning all the servicing solutions methods like the location of the organization, the travel agencies and the vendors to identify the few guidance and the efforts of the management.

The main purpose as to why the visitors to verify out ancient part of India are the intensive and loaded life style of our region. That is below the regulate authorities by means of the standard study of the nature in India. The method alter it happens into strength will have wonderful results on the travel sector players execute. There are several locations in which the development of vacation quick to found wonderful fall simply because the administration of ecosystem in positive way.

Environment:

The guidance an idea has seen developed by the administration in review with the travel sector and are becoming utilize the non relaxation the travel sector not in different to the other areas to deliver the past in the doing an expense to the people. The additional people spending the extra the travel sectors

People who recently utilized to occur to the nation on a constrained amount vary and appearance for around cost effective of genuine property it will be deal with the star hotels. The progress of huge section of accommodation in the nations. Nevertheless a improvement of providing an expense don’t only to control themselves to genuine property. Making an expense of evident in the huge variety of family visitors travelling by flights has considerably removed.

Technical:

While the innovation don’t look to be a necessary have an impact on initial look, it attributes a main features in the marketing and advertising of the locations. Better interactions features are the initial situation for the development in the improvement of visitors. This has been developed by feasible with situation for the development in the improvement of visitors. This has been developed by feasible with scientific development. Although greater connection implies to marketing. The necessary of any location needs to be foreign visitors. In the same way to improves their travel operates have include to a wonderful development in the range of visitors observing and certain location. The use of an terminal and the variety of great enjoyment to all visitors.

Three range of years:

Vision in 2022:

To arriving the place back up to the team whereas the demand is to receive an revenue don’t visitors out of alternating place obtaining a extra does not alternate being more capability or lack of capability, efficient price, national or area of qualification of units does not avoid people from major and damage from growing goa city of organization and growth discuss it was offered by an specialist in the location of goa.

The farming organization participation can maintain to minimize the farming organization do not generate plenty of revenue, we can continues layout to the area destination for the career possibilities in our sites. The culture of goa may comfortable in the process of the destination.

Several necessary information with the objective of goa in 2022 inhabitants will exist approximately one eighty five million as well as the travel population would in unwanted of about three million situation all will go fit. The primary can attack proof raised of three hundred dollars a package more over to value of earning might healthy be extreme. Therefore the rest of this product will focus on this concentration of cleaning fit in the prospective. We recognize that faming department play a role on several percentage of the left over ninety three percentage and the rate of growth and development department is innovation them the tourist it will be spring time to alter the providing specifics. Designed of growth is a great deal with partially straight through issues somewhere as tourists will increase.

Vision in 2030:

The huge possible in the floor of farming mostly late towards its place, atmosphere scenario limited enhance perfect for large costs vegetation as well as its extremely designed individual. Resources it requirements to indicate efficiently to separate left beginning established to farming and meeting point on function benefits and to travel beginning product breath taking to impressive difference to less important and elevated the costs further vegetation increasing and require for brought up assessment products to the cost.

Over all look of impresser organization such as part breaths taking in little property because of bright to personal offer also suggest numerous chance foe growth of agriculture. The majority of significant is the enchasing of the breath taking area to carry watching the location in addition to the restricted inhabitants. Growth of restricted fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh vegetables probably will rise of amount with the purpose of they probably will be sell overseas. The daily trade is enchasing and requirement maintain to turn into self relevant and further a similar breath taking item for consumption become recognizable to hold plenty performance.

Vision in 2035:

It should be the development of a main center designed for advanced learning with explore inside the India. The learning as well as study focuses among a center taking place in order to contact skill, public fitness, Nano technology, bio technology and architecture. Must stand a personal in price to provide brought up operate economical as well as organization, providing within bookkeeping, law, marketing, group relationship, organization in the level of creating growth and inner mean along with in the creating technology such as media, books, movies, TV and transferring. Here an remarkable possible during the education within pressure growth such as with stand their arts.

Sustainability:

To maintain the journey and vacation therefore labor to generate average accomplish occurring the environment along with area way of life whereas area to generate financial commitment more over career used for inhabitants because fit as to market the good company of limited system. it is efficient journey and vacation development up to impressive amount, it is be likely to position an awesome specification on top of the various position more over to these commitment as damaged. In frequent journey and vacation might be fast to rapidly least complete destination. The recantation and you will find the scenario. The supporting of journey and the scenario means are defeat the purpose as problem the beach along with over filling.

The energy is a quality of a system or scenario it is able to be immediate organization dropping because anywhere needed on the way to make it is constant.

The restricted inhabitants have an essential place to sign up during maintain viewing the places as well as dedication to remain the following place of intelligence with the sound used for the achievement of the situation.

A lot of travelers beginning to global be amazingly different from the location with purpose of the inhabitants impact than look by the aspects of them along with the following. The place anywhere the travelers are trip off with this purpose incredibly a lot of trip and holiday promote is come across a serious accomplish of the benefits. Travelers in goa and other travelers position exercise a collection of discomfort starting the region supplier in particular adolescents again and again keep on guests with continue with the aim of the generating the goods.

Conclusion:

Goa has been attractive destination for Decades. It has attracted millions of tourists from across the globe. The tourists are mainly from United Kingdom, Russia, Scotland, Germany, France, Australia and United States of America. They all come there to explore the natural sanctuary and serenity that Goa has to offer in abundance. People come here to have a wonderful experience, explore the natural heritage and resources Goa has to offer. People come here empty and take home a lot of memories they could cherish for a lifetime. Goa also has a interesting night life, which interests a lot of people from the west. Goa is seen a place where tourists from several parts come and meet each other and share cultures with each other.

People flock to Goa for a reason it has several naturally attractive locations to offer the tourists. It is also considerable cheap to stay at Goa considering other tourist destination making it an ideal location. There have been instances where foreigner stayed in Goa for years before the cash they had ran out. The destination has a lot of pubs, bars and Casinos that interest tourists. No one comes to Goa and goes back dejected. This makes Goa an ideal place to stay. Being a Union Territory, Goa has liberal laws for tourist’s settlers. Hence making it an ideal location for immigrants and tourists. There are several foreigners residing in Goa been there for generations. Goa has the essence to make it an ideal spot to rest and settle down. A place where culture mixes and harmony precedes the natural serenity makes it a most preferred tourist destination.

Goa with its natural sanctuary that is being preserved has a long way to look forward to. It will remain to have tourists knocking at its doorsteps for years to come. The culture it shares with the immigrants and the locals have a unique tale to tell. The harmony and peace that looms around its surrounding makes tourists not wanting to leave and most of them wish to return to Goa at some point of their life. Goa has a long way to go, with tourists setting foot on its shores daily, it has room for development and improvement and the future seems bright.

Through its vast network of research on the consumer and industry, some researchers were pinpointed the following spa industry trends:

aˆ? Spa is a Lifestyle: Research shows that more than 2 million spa-goers took part in lifestyle classes in 2005. Examples of lifestyle offerings include healthy cooking classes, seminars on achieving balance and managing stress and treatments which allow guests to customize their own at-home spa experience. more people are embracing the spa experience as it is linked to lifestyle decisions based on health and wellness. Issues such as stress, obesity, and environmental toxins being serious concerns, many spas are incorporating lifestyle elements, which include fitness, diet and overall health into the traditional treatment-based spa concept.

aˆ? Spa Visits are Necessary and an Entitlement: This trend is catching particularly among baby boomers. The most common reasons for visiting spas include soothing sore joints/muscles, relieving/reducing stress to feel better about oneself and for mental/emotional health.

aˆ? Looking for Results: People expect more than just pampering from their spa visits simply. More than one in ten spa-goers treat spa-going as part of their larger health and wellness lifestyle.

aˆ? Medical Components: The annual growth of 69 percent from 2003 to 2005 shows that medical spas are one of the fastest growing segments of the industry. The most popular medical treatments are microdermabrasion, chemical peels and natural weight loss measures such as body wraps. Increasingly, the medical industry in general, and the plastic surgery sector in particular, are incorporating spa treatments such as acupuncture and naturotherapy into their service structure.

aˆ? Living at the Spa: Spas are adding residential components and real estate developers are building spas in gated communities and condominiums. For example it is particularly visible in cities like New York City and Las Vegas.

aˆ? Socialization: Today’s spas are offering enhanced opportunities for socialization. Many spas are merging the traditional spa concept with entertainment and networking. Eight percent of U.S. spa-goers say they use their time at the spa as an opportunity to socialize.

aˆ? Customization: In today’s times Spa-goers desire experiences that are customized to their personal needs and desires. Right from booking time, to selecting the background music, room temperature lighting, and massage oils; being a spa-goer is no longer a spectator sport.

aˆ? Gender-specific experiences: consumers are looking for experiences tailored specifically to their gender. As 45 percent of spa-goers are men, the demand for products and services designed specifically with men in mind is at an all-time high.

aˆ? Spa Vacations: About 63% of U.S. spa-goers have visited spa while traveling from home. Apart from budgetary considerations, trips to spas are shaped by desires to visit particular places and have specific types of vacations. Women are more likely than men to be spa-goers, though spa traveling reduces the gender gap considerably as 36 percent of spa travelers are male.

aˆ? Experiential Journeys: Spa-goers are drawn to indigenous treatments and products, especially when traveling. New textures, aromas and sounds with meaningful story-telling help forge connections to people, places and traditions. Additionally, another trend to watch for is skin care evolving from a product-based service to an experience-based service.

Industry Background

The spa industry has grown significantly from 2005 to 2007. According to the latest Global Spa Research of ISPA (International SPA Association) there are nearly 100 million active spa-goers globally. The need to relax transcends borders. Regardless of where they live, the primary reasons spa-goers visit spas are to relax and relieve/reduce stress. Most spa businesses market a Web site to advertise products or services. It may not be an attractive or professional looking page on the Internet, but businesses are still using these uninviting Web pages. Owners are staying away from potentially helpful management software, because they are caught up in the paperwork. If all businesses used an Internet strategy, sales and new clients would increase significantly. It’s a matter of developing an Internet strategy, sticking to a plan, and remembering the big picture. The purpose of this research is to determine whether having an Internet strategy is beneficial in the spa industry. Internet articles, e-books, personal interviews, and books were used for research purposes. Overall, research suggests that having an Internet strategy proves beneficial for clients, spa technicians, and management. With a willingness to learn about new software and ways of doing business online, revenue will increase as fast as over night.

Goal and Objectives of the Business and Milestone

Our mission is to run a profitable business by providing high-end therapeutic massage and aesthetician services in a caring, upscale, professional environment. We offer massage in a variety of styles – traditional Swedish Massage, Sports Massage, Deep Tissue work, Sports Massage, Hot Stone Massage, Reflexology, and others. Our licensed aestheticians offer the latest in skin treatments, body treatments and anti-aging therapies.

Our goal is to tailor the client’s experience based on initial interview information, as well as feedback during the treatments, to ensure the client’s comfort and satisfaction, and to increase repeat business. We are mindful of the overall experience – using only the finest oils and lotions, beauty treatments and aromatherapies. Special lighting, music, decor, and textiles are used throughout the spa to complete the comfortable, plush environment and enhance the client’s overall spa experience.

Objectives of the Business

Achieve $33,900in sales the third month after opening by performing 16services per day.

Achieve $81,600 in sales the 6 month after opening by performing 27 services per day.

Have a local client return rate of 90% by the end of the first 6 months.

Become an established community Spa destination by the end of the first 12 months.

Perform 23 services per day by the end of the first year.

Uniqueness of Product or Service

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing – Owner is a proven, 15-year sales executive. Marketing will be the first strength to our success and a huge competitive edge.

Professionalism: Which are includes everything from maintaining confidentiality, to hiring the very best LMT and Aestheticians.

Individual Attention: Each client’s experience will be tailored to his or her preference.

Repeat business/Recommendations: giving the kind of service that brings people back for regular treatments, and encourages clients to recommend us to friends, and other health professionals to recommend their clients.

Unique Treatments: We have the latest in techniques with the best products from around the world.

Fantastic Location: Orchard road

A Few More Notable Itemsaˆ¦

Treatments that use two or more therapists are also seen as being on the rise.

Spa-going moms desire products and experiences designed for them.

The most reason that customer want go to spa is to reduce and relieve their stress, painfuls and the attractiveness of our spa is stone and fruit massage.

Marketing Plan
Research and Analysis

Knowledge of the target market provides a basis for determining the appropriate marketing action strategy that will effectively meet its needs (Hisrich, Peters & Shepherd, 2008, p245).

Market Segmentation

A basic foundation of relationship marketing is market segmentation (Zeithaml & Bitner, 2003, p.164). Through market segmentation, our company can reach target market easily. Market segmentation is variable. For our company, the main segmentations are as follows.

Demographic Segmentation

Age:The chart above is the result from our survey. That indicates the main customers of our company are aged from 25 to 40.

Occupation

Our market segment will include officials and housewives. Officials in Singapore are always stressful because of work. Therefore, doing spa will make them be relaxed and comfortable. Housewives always have a lot of leisure time. In that case, spa would be one of their favorite activities.

Income group

Our market segment would include people with high income. Because of our company not only provides traditional massage, also provides special Day spa, like hot stone treatment and fruit spa, our clients should has high income.

Behavior Segmentation

This segmentation is based on people’s lifestyle. Our company’s market segment would include people who prefer to take massage to relax. In addition, people who like to take massage as a healthcare method also can be seen as our target segment.

Geographic Segmentation

Our main target segment is tourists who are from other countries.

Target Market

Firstly, tourists would be our company’s major target market.

Meanwhile, based on the demographic segmentation, our company would target local people aged from 25 to 40. According to the left graph below, the population of Singapore had a dramatically increase from year 1970 (2,013,600) to year 2009 (3,733,900), which means the number of people we can serve also increased.

In addition, the chart on right depicts people at age group from 25 to 40 is a large segment therefore that is a huge market for us. It is also has a growth trends from 1999 to 2009. These are good signals for running Spa Company.

Source: Statistics Singapore, 2010

Market Analysis

The spa industry in Singapore is prosperous. This country has been positioned as the urban spa hub of Southeast Asia by the tourism board. (Melinda Taschetta-Millane, 2007).

Source: Singapore Tourism Board, 2010.

The graph above depicts the number of visitor arrivals in Singapore. It is clear that, the number of tourists increased from 2003 to 2007. After that, the number decreased slightly, probably because the economic crisis. However, visitor arrivals to Singapore registered 26.7% growth to reach 950,000 in June 2010, the highest ever recorded visitor arrivals in the month of June (Statistics Singapore, 2010). Thereby the number of tourists is still large. In that case, the market size of spa industry is very big in Singapore.

On the other hand, our survey also asks peoples’ opinion on whether spa is popular. The chart below indicates that the percentage of people who state spa becomes more popular is 94.

Figure: Survey result of whether Spa become more popular

However, there are many key players in spa industry, such as Spa Esprit, Estheva Spa and Raffles Amrita Spa. Based on many years operation, these spas already have good brand image and many loyalty customers. Therefore, they already got a large number of market share. In that case, our company should use business strategy to gain at least one percent market share at the first year, such as use the latest in techniques with the best products from around the world.

Competitor Analysis

As the spa business is growing day by day, competition is becoming more challenging than before.

The graph above indicates which spa is the most favorite. This is done by survey from our own. It is clear that most people prefer to Spa Esprit. It is one of the key players in spa industry. However, our company’s competitors would be a Fond and Esprit Spa which are located in Holland Village.

The main competitive advantage for them is their experience from long term operation. In addition, they might have some loyalty customers which would affect us.

Our company not only has direct competitors but also has indirect competitors. For instance, OSIM Corporate which has variety kinds of massage tools. People can take massage at home by using their massage chair. That would also impact our company as our potential customers would loss.

Marketing Plan

Our strategy is to implement the most aggressive marketing and networking in the community, followed by the best services in the business. Our prices are competitive for the area, and our personnel plan, which includes using a pool of skilled, commissioned therapists and aestheticians, will give us a financial advantage.

Competitive Edge

Our competitive edge is our ability to market effectively and creatively to bring in the clients and then back that up with the best service and products in the business. In addition, our combination of unique services, outstanding location and our interaction with the customers are setting us up for huge success.

Market Strategy: Sale – Distribution

Local Advertising & Seasonal Promotions: Local newspaper advertising, local fliers, grand opening party kick-off and promotion for first 30 days. Continue regular advertising and plan for seasonal events like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Chinese New Year’s.

Local Networking: Charities, women’s groups, country clubs, wedding planners, and membership with the Spa Association Singapore (http://www.spaassociation.org.sg/).

Health Care Referrals – Prior to opening: Work current contacts and create new contacts with health care providers, especially chiropractors. Also, become a Provider with health insurance companies that offer Alternative Care to their members. Most people don’t know that massage therapy is usually paid by insurance when billed correctly and when prescribed by a physician. aFond and Esprit Spa already has practice management software to handle medically billable massage. When the insurance does not cover the entire amount of a service the client will pay the difference. For that reason, we will not want to participate with any PPO’s that require write-off for amounts over the usual and customary fee (which tends to be too low). A list of acceptable insurance company plans will be maintained and those clients will be able to handle massage therapy through their insurance. Any opportunity to convince allopathic physicians – MDs – to see massage as having long-term healing benefits for their patients will also be taken, since they hold to key to having massage paid for as “medically necessary.” The client will also help drive that with the physicians if they are properly educated.

Hotel Referrals: Hotels that do not offer their own spa services will send their guests to our spa or use our out-call spa services. Prior to opening, I will make contacts with managers and concierges at local hotels to ensure they are aware of the services available. Promotions will be offered to professionals in these industries to create buzz and build relationships.

Online Website: Our spa will show up on every major search engine and in the phone directory. The website will have a full menu of services and eventually have the ability to schedule appointments on-line. The spa software we are using will allow a user to see the schedule and make an appointment without making a phone call.

Location traffic: It is imperative that we be located in a high-traffic strip road, Tanglin road, which is high-end, modern, and clean. We prefer locating near a complementary business like a nail or hair salon, shopping centre that does not offer any massage or facial treatments.

Pricing Strategy

If, as it has been said, the top three items which determine success in business are location, location, location, then a busy location at Culway Pla in a thriving residential community represents our top marketing strategy. With the owner focusing on the sales, marketing and management and delegating the massage and aesthetician therapies to employees–business profitability potential is exponentially maximized over a one or two person operation by a direct care-giver without any marketing, management or sales background.

As the owner, Madame Pamperzhou has done extensive market research and visited some of the best spas in the world — Beverly Hills, Paris, Amsterdam, Vegas and Arizona — and has taken ideas from the best to offer an upscale, ultra-amenity, spa experience. Once a client experiences the luxurious, high-end level of personalized care that we offer, we are confident that we will have a return client.

Advertisement and Promotions

The business is still in its introductory stages. Therefore, it is necessary for the business to advertise heavily through mass media. There are various ways of doing so:

Newspapers and magazines: The Company may choose to advertise with color in the standard newspapers.

Leaflets, brochures and pamphlets: These will be prepared for the purpose of informing the customers about the prices, the activities and the general background information concerning the nature of the business.

Banners and posters: For the sake of large-scale advertising, the most eye-catching form would be the banners and the posters. These will be used to illustrate the name of the business, its nature, location and the products we offer. They will be located in areas concentrated with the target market.

5. Business cards: They will be distributed in the market since our business comprises of offering services, it is a good form of increasing clientele.

6. Travel agencies: They will be used to market our spa packages. A certain fixed amount will be paid to them annually to issue our brochures and leaflets as they will be the first ones to come in contact with potential customers.

7. Face book: Perhaps, the easiest and most effective form of advertising in the modern days. It will deliver our message to our target market directly.

8. Discount vouchers: Since our business is heavily outsourcing with various companies, to promote our business in return, they may issue discount vouchers for certain activities or packages for our business, in order to promote it and attract more clients.

9. Hotel referrals: we can make contacts with managers and concierge at local hotels that do not offer their own spa services; this will help to create more awareness about our services.

Operations Plan
3.1. Company Location and Facilities
Location 1

Development Name: 41 Holland Drive

Property Type: Shop / Shophouse

Price: S$ 8,000/ month Negotiable

Size: 731 sqft / 68 sqm

PSF (built-in): S$ 10.94 psf

Developer: Housing & Development Board

Tenure: 99-year Leasehold

Lease Term: 2 years

The convenience location in the bustling Holland Village vincity, walking distance to 2 Mrt: Bouna Vista Mrt & upcoming Holland Village Mrt. Ample carpark space just behind the shop and another multi-storey car park across the street.

Upmarket neighbourhood with sophiscated consumers, highly suitable for specialised clinics/education centres/niche retail concept shop/etc.

Operation Hours

Our business is day spa so the operating hours will be from 9 am to 7 pm. We will run the business all 7 days and during holidays the business will increase because many people have plans to spent time in holidays. In public holidays also our spa will be opened, the staffs will be paid incentives during public holidays.

Transportation

The transportation facilities in Singapore are easy and economical. Holland Village is usually reached from other parts of Singapore either by bus or taxi, and is linked to Orchard Road via Holland Road. Holland village is nearby to Queensway.

3.2. Products and Services

The products we use in our Day Spa are body treatments like body scrub and body scrub, facials and fruit massage.

Services

Body Scrub

Body scrub will remove your dead skin and unveil a smoother more rejuvenated skin with these divinely aromatic scrubs. Your skin will feel refreshed and reborn.

Body wrap

Our body wrap recipe is made up of a fresh daily blend of ingredients that includes special herbs and oils. The more times you perform a body wrap the faster and better the results. You will be amazed at how soft and healthy your skin will feel and look after.

Facials

This is a fresh and radiant treatment nourishing you skin. In twenty steps including whether it is: cleansing, deep cleansing, Peeling, Massaging and improving your skin by using mask and specific serum depending on skin type.

Nourishing Treatment for Normal & Combination Skin.

Moisturizing Treatment for Dry Skin.

Purifying Treatment for Oily Skin

Fruit Massage

This Moisturizer provides that lock in the skin’s own moisture to prevent dryness and cracking, this new formula nourishes dry skin and helps retain moisture giving your skin a softer and smoother feeling like never before.

Suppliers

The products for our spa are mainly brought from Amber Products. The Amber products are one of the favourite brands for the customers. Amber has been a dedicated partner with spas and salons around the world for 30 years. Their goal is to build awareness of the importance of maintaining health and well-being through spa services.

Packages

In our Spa the package is very open and allowed guest to choose any product they like not more than 2 things.

3.3. Licenses and Permits to Start a Business in Singapore
Compulsory Licenses

A compulsory copyright license is an exception to copyright law that is usually philosophically justified as an attempt by the government to correct a market failure. As an exception to copyright, another party can exercise one or more of the copyright’s exclusive rights without having to obtain the copyright holder’s permission (hence “compulsory”) but will have to pay a licensing fee.

Some compulsory licenses protect those who wish to use a work for educational or non-commercial purposes. In cases when it is judged too burdensome for scattered or small-scale buyers and sellers to find one another and negotiate a price, governments sometimes issue a compulsory license for the use so that the relative difficulty of obtaining permission for it does not extinguish it. Intellectual Property legislation in Singapore is pepped with regimes for compulsory licensing.

Business Activity License And Permits

A business license is a permit or registration required by the federal, state, county, or local government to conduct business. Besides the basic operating permits, business owners should investigate other possible licensing requirements based on their location and industry. Conducting business without the proper licenses and permits may result in penalties, notices, and the inability to operate.

3.4. Legislation and Regulation

Due to spa business, company also needs certificates or licenses for each employee to show the credibility. In the pre-opening of our spa, if employees do not have licenses, we would like to pay for them to training section and get the certificate or license. This method gives benefit to both employees and employers.

In order to work smoothly, our spa needs to get prove from union that our work place is safe, employees have the proper social security, holiday, salary, wages, and other benefits are enough for their living standard.

Operating as the company is a must to pay TAX to the government; however, we cannot be sure how much tax will increase or decrease in the specific period.

Management
4.1. Management Team – Key Personnel

Benny: Managing Director and one of the investors holding 40 % of the share in the investment for the business. He comes from a business family having an amazing business skill and is a PR in Singapore, also has a good knowledge about SPA and Massage as he owns some of the popular Massage shop in other parts of the city. He will only be present for the monthly meetings with the management team and would not be looking after the day to day operations.

Raja: Finance Manager and holds 30 % of the investment share in the business. He has a good knowledge of finance as he has done his masters in finance from University of Wales. He will be looking after the cash inflow and outflow, would be preparing the balance sheet and profit and loss statements and would help the management team in taking the financial decisions of the business.

Becky: Operational Manager having a sound academic background and holding 20 % of the investment share in the business. She has a good work experience as he is in this industry from the last 10 years. She has worked in some of the best restaurants & lounge in the city. He will be having the sole authority of the operations in the workplace.

Varun: Marketing Manager having a good work experience. His responsibility is to update the management from time to time with the Spa and lounge industry, watching out the competitors, negotiating and finding reliable suppliers. He will also serve the business as a Receptionist during the day time.

Nathan: Floor manager and will look after the inventory supplies and will provide assistance to the operational manager.

4.2. Legal Structure
Employment Agreement

Employment agreement is also known as employment contract. It is an agreement between an employee and employer that specifies the terms and conditions of employment (Janus Corporate Solutions Pte , n.d.). A violation of one or more of the terms in an employment contract by either an employee or employer is considered breach of contract. Employment agreement will include several important clauses such as:

Code of Conduct

This Code is a concise outline of the Company’s standards of business ethics and conduct (A. T. CROSS COMPANY, n.d.). It deals with various laws and Employee should act honestly and always in the best interests of the employer. Employee should follow all the rules lawfully and proper direction of the employer (ipccc, 2004). The employee must not use any item belong to the employer for their personal use. The employee must not smoke and take any drugs on the workplace.

Salary/Wages

The Salary will be paid according to the appointment position. The salary must be paid at least once a month within 7 days after the end of the salary period. Overtime pay, if applicable, must be paid within 14 days of the stipulated salary period. This will be paid to the employee by electronic fund transfer. The employer is required to make contributions to the CPF fund. Both employee and employer make monthly contributions to the fund.

Hours of Work

Employees are entitled to work not more than 44 hours per week (focus singapore, n.d.). The employee may be required to work for additional hours depending on requirements. Employee ordinary daily hours of full time work are not more than eight hours per day. Employees are entitled to take a break for 30 min after working not more than 6 hrs.

Public Holidays

Employee is entitled to paid day off on public holidays. These are the following public holidays in Singapore. New Year’s Day, Chinese New Year, Good Friday, Labour Day, Vesak Day, National Day, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali, Hari Raya Haji, and Christmas Day (8Links, n.d.).

Annual Leave

Employee must have served at least 3 months with the employer for qualifying the leave for 7 days. An employee is entitled to 14 days of sick leave per year, and 60 days of hospitalization leave provided the employee has worked for at least 6 months for the company (The Law Society of Singapore, n.d.).

Employee Benefits

Employer offer medical insurance plans that extend to dependants and typically cover personal accident and hospitalization. Company will provide a per-day allowance, transportation allowance or reimbursement of actual expenses while travelling. The company will sponsor employee training programs and educational courses (The Law Society of Singapore, n.d.).

Stock Agreement

This agreement is between the supplier and the customer. This agreement is mandatory for all the business. For the spa there must be an agreement between the spa and the supplier of the materials. Stock agreement will include several important clauses such as:

The Engagement

The spa has appointed the Supplier to supply the goods and the supplier have agreed to supply the Contract Goods for the Customer. And the supplier will be the sole and exclusive provider of the Contract Goods to the Customer.

Prices and Payment

The spa has agreed to pay the Supplier the prices for the Contract Goods as negotiated. The Supplier must issue a Tax Invoice for the Contract Goods supplied.

If for whatever reason the spa does not pay for any Contract Goods when payment becomes due the Supplier may stop the supply until all the dues will be cleared. Suspend supply of the Contract Goods until all outstanding payments have been made.

Retention of Title

Until the spa has paid the Supplier for the Contract Goods, title in the Contract

Goods will not pass to the spa. The spa must keep the Contract Goods insured noting the Supplier’s interest therein. The title remains in the Supplier, the Contract Goods will be at the spa’s risk until they are paid for.

Quality of Contract Goods

The Contract Goods must comply with all safety standards, codes and applicable legislation.

Ordering, Delivery and Packaging

All Contract Goods must be ordered by the spa on the Supplier’s standard order form or standard method which order form or method the Supplier may from time to time change. Any damage during the transportation will be the supplier’s liability.

Financial Plan (Detail Balance Sheet)
Critical Risks

The risk refers to the probability, and magnitude, of downside loss, which could result in bankruptcy. The risk of downside loss is partly derived from the entrepreneur’s uncertainties over market demand, technological development, and the actions of competitors (Hisrich, Peters & Shepherd, 2008, p477).

There are several potential problems for our company in the tourism industry.

Firstly, the natural disasters would be our potential risk. For instance, the erupted of Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland lead to many flights canceled, as a result of Singapore lost a large number of tourists. Our company’s potential customers also would decrease. Other natural disasters effects are the same. During that period, our company should focus on local customers to reduce the losses.

Secondly, the economical factors also would be our potential risk. During the economic crisis period, people would not prefer to spend money on spa. It would affect our company directly. In that case, our company should do many promotions to attract people, such as distribute gift certificate and lower prices.

Thirdly, the increasing number of competitors would be our company’s risk. Singapore’s population is not large therefore if there are many competitors, the number of our company’s potential customers will decrease. On the other hand, our company provides the special spa-fruit spa, which is the first company use this kind of treatment. It means that it would be our competitive advantage. However, other company also can imitate tha

3.0 Global Financial Crisis in Mauritius: Evidence from Macroeconomic Indicators

The analysis below is based on some macroeconomic indicators namely GDP growth rate, some tourism components (arrival, receipts, number of hotels and room, employment rate, FDI inflows, BOP) of the Mauritian economy and Air Mauritius in the event of the crisis.

3.1 GDP growth rate

Mauritius relies on three traditional pillars specifically agriculture, E.P.Z manufacturing sector and tourism but the market structure changes over time. From 2006 to 2008, the growth of GDP was constant but unexpected decline of 2.4%, from 5.5% in 2008 to 3.1% in 2009 as shown in figure 1 below. The main reason behind the decline was the impact of the financial crisis on Mauritian sectors. The GDP improved to 4.2% in 2010 compare to 2009 projecting a gradual recovery from the global crisis but this was not the case in 2011 as there was a drop of 0.7%. This means that global crisis has a continuous effect on the economy as it cannot be solved overnight. However, there was a slight increase by 3.5% in 2013.

Figure 1: Real GDP Growth Rate 1994-2013

Source: CSO, National Accounts of Mauritius, 2012

3.2 Global financial Crisis and Mauritian Tourism Industry
3.2.1 Tourism Arrivals and tourism receipts

In pre-crisis era, the tourism and travel industry has been the largest flourishing sector. Since the late 90s the tourism sector has experienced a boom. Since 1994, there was a rapid growth in the number of tourist arrivals in Mauritius that led to an increase in the tourism receipts as shown below in figure 2.

The amount of tourist arrivals has increased from 400,526 in 1994 to 993,106 in 2013. The amount of tourism has boosted from Rs 6,415 million in 1994 to Rs 40,557 million in 2013 indicating an increase of Rs 34142 million over the past years. There has been around 532.2% increase in the tourism receipts the past 20 years. There was a very little increase in 2000 to 2001 in number of arrivals and the amount of receipts was quite the same in 2001 and 2002 due to the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York on the World Trade Center in 2001.

Figure 2: Tourism Arrivals and tourism receipts for last 20 years

Source: Central Statistical Office Mauritius

For the past few years, Mauritius has experienced hostile impacts on the tourism sector due to the global financial crisis. The 930456 arrivals in 2008 indicated a growth of 2.6% but the rate decreased by 13% compare to the growth of 15.06% in 2007. However, the difficult times and global crisis started afflicting our shores by slowing down the growth. Eventually in 2009, the tourism industry was hardly hit as it showed a negative growth of 6.4% decreasing by 59,100 of arrivals between 2008 and 2009. There was also a heavy decline in tourism receipts around 13.4% between 2008 and 2009. During 2010, Mauritius maintained the highest arrivals growth of 7.3% due to the incentive taken by the government. The tourism arrivals rebounded by a growth rate of 3.2% in 2011 and 0.08% in 2012. The tourism receipts boosted up in 2010, 2011 and 2012 but there was a decline by 8.6% in 2013 although the number of arrivals increased by 2.9%. The disparity in 2013 would be explained as there was a decrease in hotel price in order to attract European clients and the markets has been opened to Asian countries.The figures used are attached in Appendix A.

3.2.2 Number of Hotels and hotel rooms

In Mauritius, the number of hotels and rooms has expanded along with the growth of tourist arrivals. In 2013, there were a total of 107 registered hotels and 12,376 rooms. There was a closure of 3 hotels in 2011 and 10 hotels in 2013 which led to a decrease in the number of rooms. The graph below shows the trend of hotels and room available in Mauritius over the past 10 years.

Figure 3: Number of Hotels and hotel rooms for the past 20 years

Source: Central Statistical Office Mauritius

3.2.3 Employment in Tourism Sector

Figure 4: Employment in Tourism Sector, Mauritius

Source: Central Statistical Office Mauritius

The tourism sector has been creating plenty of jobs over the past years. From the figure above, GFC has shown its huge impact mainly on travel and tourism as there is a continuous decrease from 2006 to 2007 and only 2011 there was a slight increase. The restaurants have only been affected in 2011 with a slight decrease around 2.2%. Tourism sector was mainly touched in 2009 so the employment in hotels demonstrated it by a decrease of 1836 jobs and in 2012; there was only a small decrease. Overall, the total employment in tourism sector had a negative impact around 6.1% in 2009 and 0.38% in 2012.

3.2.4 Balance of payment (BOP)

There are various components of the economy in Mauritius that contributes to the BOP namely tourism earnings, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and invisible exports. Since the plague of GFC, “the phenomenon of global imbalances aˆ?aˆ? that is, the coexistence of large current account deficits and surpluses in the global” (Serven and Nguyen 2010). The continuous deficit in the current account indicates a slowdown in the Mauritian economic activity and growth. Meanwhile, the surplus in the services account showed a decline of around 17.6% in 2008-09 due to a depression in our principal export markets in the EU and UK meant that services fell by 17.6% in 2009 (see Table 1 below). The service showed sustained growth to Rs 27,485 in 2011-12. However, this was not reflected on the financial statement of listed hotel groups which showed a declining profit.

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

Current Account

-17,415

-22,232

–24,771

-24,655

-33,633

-39,676

-37,009

Services

14,069

20,626

17,000

22,031

23,090

27,485

24,738

Table 1: Balance of payment

Source: Bank of Mauritius

In relation to FDI inflows, present to the changeable economic environment, many companies have postponed their investment schemes. While some projects in the tourism sector have been deferred and there was also delays in the construction of airport project. Tourism industries have responded to the crisis by reducing costs, cutting the accommodation price in hotels, changing work methods and prolonging investments and recruitments. Figure 6 below, shows the deterioration in FDI in tourism sector from 2007 to 2012 and only 2009 there was an increase of USD 10.5 million.

Figure: 5: Foreign Direct Investment by tourism Sector

Source: photos.state.gov

*Figure for 2012 is for the period Jan-Sept only

3.3 Air Mauritius

Air Mauritius is the national airline of Mauritius. Ujooha, the CEO of Air Mauritius (annual report, 2008/09) mentioned that GFC would be remembered as the ‘worst in its history’ of airline industry. Air Mauritius was badly affected by the GFC as it faced huge losses on fuel hedging where they hedged on fuel for USD 104 a barrel for 2 years until August 2010 but fell to USD 33 a barrel in 2008. With the worldwide recession, the number of passengers carried has declined around 9% in 2008/09 and 4.9% in 2009/10 as shown figure 6. In 2012, due to the reduction in seats on European markets so there was a termination of flights to Rome, Munich and Vienna and it had an impact on 2012/13. Hence, the GFC really had a negative impact on Mauritian tourism sector and airline industry as Air Mauritius is still trying to overcome that crisis.

Figure 6: Passengers carried & Revenue

Source: Air Mauritius

New Mauritius Hotels (NMH)

NMH is also known as Beachcomber Hotels, is one among the largest and oldest of hotel in Mauritius. It consists of eight hotels operating in Mauritius under its brand name:

Royal Palm
Dinarobin Hotel Golf & Spa
Paradis Hotel & Golf Club
Trou Aux Biches Resort & Spa
Shandrani Resort & Spa
Le Victoria
Le Canonnier
Le Mauricia

NMH had an amazing year in 2007 which has reported a profit reaching around Rs 1,969m. This profit fostered NMH to invest immensely in the development of the companies. Consequently the financial chaos put a cessation to the ascendancy of the business in 2008. Nevertheless the incomes of company for nine months boosted by 8% ending on June 2008, the company’s profits for the similar period compared to last year fell dramatically. Since the arrivals in tourism dropped by 7.6 % at national level, receipt for the group declined by 16.2% for the following year and revenues plummeted by 8.6% in the year 2009. There was no exception in 2010 as the group showed another decline in revenue of 7.7%. The company also reported this fall because of the shifting and fluctuation in demand towards low-priced accommodation and huge discounts by some hotel operators. The main reason behind it was due to fragile and weak conditions that overcame Europe. The year 2012 had a harsh trading condition as there was a drop in the average of guest night spending because the exchange rates were unfavorable but the total revenue improved by 6.4%. In 2013, there was a negative drop of -3.5% in total revenue due to the heavy discounting rate provided by their competitors.

Sun Resorts

Sun Resorts is a luxury and deluxe hotel group that owns five hotels in Mauritius namely:

Le Touessrok (5-star resort)
Long Beach (5-star resort)
Sugar Beach (5-star resort)
La Pirogue (4-star resort)
Ambre (4-star resort)

Sun Resorts began to get worse in terms of both rates and volume by the end of year 2008, as the current turmoil in the world financial markets had affected our core source markets. While the decrease in occupancy rate persisted, the group’s profits kept on decreasing severely also and in the end of 2009, Sun Resort showed a deficit of Rs105m. The company reported Rs133m loss in 2010 as the market disorder that is staying uncertain and difficult and to predict. In 2011, there was a decrease of 2 % in the group’s revenue so in order to lessen these risks; the company has diversified its approach towards some emerging markets of Asia and Russia.

Naade Resorts

The luxury hotel group, Naade Resorts owns one-villa in Blue Bay at Ile des Deux Cocos and 6 hotels in Mauritius namely:

Beau Rivage
Legends
Les Pavillons
Tamassa
Merville Beach
Le Tropical

It started to experience a decrease in terms of both revenue and volume in 2008, as the decline in the rate of occupancy continued and Naade Resorts’ profits kept on falling sharply. The group reported a negative increase of 4% in the revenue in 2009. The average revenue per room decreased by 41.5% in 2008 and decreased by 0.8% in 2009. As the group itself reflected the impact of the GFC in their annual report, it ended with a deficit of Rs367m in 2009. The overall hotel group’s performance was extremely affected by the destructive effect of the GFC on the arrival of tourists for both the Maldives and local operations and together with an elevated gearing influenced harmfully on the performance of the hotel. Naade Resorts ended its 2012 with an increase of 19% in the average revenue per room compare to 49.9% in 2006.

3.4 Conclusion

The chapter 3 shows that GFC has afflicted the GDP and tourism sector in Mauritius. Moreover measures have been taken by government to overcome it and to increase the amount of tourist arrivals. The next chapter will analyse the impact of GFC on tourism sector and different steps of analyzing.

Tourism Paths of the Black Sea Region – Research and analyze of main trends of Tourism Sectors in Georgia (Part I)

Abstract

The study ,, Research and analyze of main trends of Tourism Sectors in Georgia” consists of two parts, in the presented article we will propose the first part of the research which had been conducted in the frames of the project “Tourism Paths of the Black Sea Region” implemented by ICCT and funded by the European Union in the BSR. The survey results will help the countries’ surrounding the Black Sea to see the strong and weak sides in terms of tourism development, enabling them to make better planning in future. The study covered the following issues: to determine local and foreign tourists’ preferences while traveling in Georgia, tourists’ travel motivations, main impact and influencing factors on tourists’ decision –how they got the information about Georgia.

Key Words: Tourism trends, tourism sectors – research and statistics

Target Groups: Foreign and local tourists; Tourist Information Centres;

Research design and methodology

The study was carried out in target cities and municipalities – covering 12 administrative units : Ambrolauri, Tbilisi, Rustavi, Tbilisi, Gori, Kvareli, Batumi, Poti, Mestia, Mtskheta, Telavi, Kutaisi.

About 150 respondents were questioned.

Foreign and local tourists’ survey results

During the researches the following amount of the respondents participated among which 92% were foreign tourists, and 8%- the Georgian tourists . 82% of foreign tourists visited Georgia for the first time, while 18% traveled for the second time. The absolute majority of tourists who arrived in Georgia was looking for the possibilities of recreation, cultural tourism, tourism activities and mountain walking:

Among the tourists were those whose aim was to have a holiday and those who showed their interest in sightseeing, attending cultural events and tasting traditional Georgian cuisine and wine.

About 63% of the survey participants received the tourist information via the internet. Also the high rate went on recommendations provided by friends and relatives, resulting in a total of 44% . The role of travel agencies in the development of national tourism should be noted, which attracted 31% of total travelers:

Tourists consumer behavior

Most of the tourists prefer traveling together with the partners or friends. Respondents’ experience concerning this issue was as followed:

Tourists start planning to travel much earlier before they decide to travel. It should be noted that 43% of tourists arrange their travel schedule 1-3 months before the trip, 32% -1 month before, while 26% – more than 3 months in advance. Among those who plan to travel more than 3 months in advance are the families who belong to the consumer segment:

Planning Period

Age Group

The percentage distribution

At the last minute

19–25 years

5%

1 month before

20–34 years

10%

1-3 months before

35–75 years

75%

3 months before

30–45 years

10%

The majority of tourists visiting Georgia apply to the low-cost airlines, but for local transportation they prefer a rented car, which is probably determined by a low development level of public transportation :

International Transportation

Local Transportation

Low-priced airline – 38%
Main Airlines – 34%
Charter Flight – 4%
Commercial Flight – 4%
Private Airline – 1%

Own Car – 9%

Hired Car – 38%
Bus / minibus– 22%
Train – 15%
Excursion Transport – 15%
Own Car – 9%
Bicycle – 1%

The main stream of tourists visiting Georgia for periods was ranging from 3 to 14 days. In particular, the average duration of the visit periods was distributed as followed:

Estimates of the tourist experience

During the general assessment the majority of the tourists highly estimated the conditions of the tourist sites; 86% said that the quality level of service was excellent. Only 2% complained on the service quality, while 12% refrained from answering. The impressions of the traveling were of high assessment:

The tourists’ assessment displayed strong and weak features of the typical tourist places. In particular, the environmental contamination was detected:

Ultimately, traveling along Georgia, the majority of respondents positively estimates their trip. 83% of travelers said they were satisfied with the decision to travel in Georgia . 68% of respondents believed that the experience of traveling in Georgia had exceeded all their expectations. Only 26% had a reason to express dissatisfaction, mainly due to the pollution of the environment or the low quality of service.

In order to create the travel motivations of tourists, especially for the second visit, it is not enough just to possess the rich cultural, historical and natural heritage resources. There are additional factors that affect the degree of tourist’s satisfaction. During the survey/study the following priorities were determined:

In Modern marketing the most effective advertising was considered to be the recommendations. The best way to determine a real impression of customers was to determine whether they recommended this product to their acquaintances. Providing from these factors, the percentage of spreading positive information among the respondents who had the second visits was very high:

Tourist Information Centre Assessment by Tourists

Tourist Information Centers in Georgia are in the development process. They can be found/are available only in the active tourist regions and cities . One of the research directions of their work was to define efficiency and quality of service . 90% of respondents said that they were satisfied with the services provided by the Information Centers:

Travel expenses and assessments

The average travel time and expenses in Georgia are different. It depended on the user’s age, employment status, sex and other variables. According to the overall data, the average expenditure per tourist has the rate of 1,023 EUR. Among the most low budget segment of the tourist market are students and the high budget tourist are middle-aged employed women / men. In accordance with the nationalities, most of the money spent in Georgia falls on Russian, Ukrainian and Western European tourists.

The different needs of the average expenditure was as followed (amounts are in euro currency):

Average transportation costs

ˆ243

Accommodation average flow

ˆ130

Average food spending

ˆ67

Average cost of Cafe, bar, restaurant,

ˆ100

Averagecostof souvenirs

ˆ45

average cost of Entertainment (theater / cinema / museum tickets)

ˆ36

The average spending on shopping

ˆ76

Average rate of Other costs

ˆ70

Total average expenditure per tourist

ˆ1,023

72% of visitors said that they did not exceed the costs incurred while traveling to Georgia by the specified amount. 20% of the guests said that the cost was much less than planned. The proportion of consumer respondents who said that the costs exceeded expectations were the students . Overall, tourism expenditure assessment is as follows:

In relation to travel costs 70% said that the service was worth the fee/expenses. 64% of respondents believe that in Georgia prices are reasonable for accommodation and food service . 70% think that the prices of additional services, excursions, spa services, entertainment and other facilities are absolutely acceptable.

Demographic and social characteristics of tourists

The average age of the surveyed tourists was 37 years old, including the youngest- 19 years old, while the oldest is 65 years old . Among the respondents – 44% were women and 56% – men.

The distribution of tourists interviewed by country of origin are as follows:

Poland

20%

Russia

10%

Ukraine

10%

Israel

9%

France

9%

Georgia

7%

Germany

7%

Lithuania

5%

Czech Republic

4%

USA

3%

Belgium

3%

Latvia

2%

Kazakhstan

2%

Luxembourg

2%

Turkey

1%

Armenia

1%

Azerbaijan

1%

Netherlands

1%

Denmark

1%

Sweden

1%

Finland

1%

Australia

1%

Japan

1%

Canada

1%

Research Results of Tourist Information Centres

One of the aims of the research was to share the experience and level of development of tourism in urban and regional information centers throughout the region in order to establish better tourists’ characteristics.

As a result of the information obtained, it was possible to compile a profile of the typical tourist, taking advantage of the determination and identification of areas for development.

The information centers were visited by 67% of foreign tourists and 33% of Georgian tourists. Among studied 12 administrative units only one region noted that there was provided a staff training sessions and communicative course of English.In other 11 regions negative answers were received about the trainings sessions in the regions that pointed to the lack of the work done in this direction.

Does your information center conduct a training sessions

Topic of the training

The target audience

The training organizer

Yes

8%

Communication English

The staff, the local people involved in tourism

NGO

No

92%

Urban and regional information centers occasionally cooperate with local public agencies and private companies involved in the tourism sector. However, a lot of work should be done, because it will encourage the rapid development of tourism at the local level:

92% of Tourist Information Centers stated that they are still working on statistical data collection. See below the tourist characteristics of the regions which were based on the data received from the Tourist Informational Centers after they had filled the questionnaires.

Characteristics of tourists by region:

Ambrolauri

Tourist profile:Mountain Resort.

The region’s most active tourists:Georgian, Polish, Ukrainian, French and Israelis tourists.

Consumers age:20 to 60 years.

The Consumers goal: Vacation – 82%, Cultural Tourism – 45%, Ecotourism – 20%.

Interests:83% of visitors interested in cultural and natural monuments.

The type of consumer:67% of tourists in the region were vacationers with families

Duration of stay:42% of visitors stayed at an average of 10 days

The popular means of transport:Due to the lack of transport and poor roads, 50% use a rented car, while 43% use the private cars, and a small portion of the bus.

Akhaltsikhe

Tourist profile:The region is rich of Historical monuments

The region’s most active tourists:Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and German tourists.

Consumers age:20 to 50 years.

The Consumers goal:In this region 68% of the visitors were oriented to the recreation and cultural tours and 31% tourists were wishing to visit relatives and friends.

Interests:80% of visitors were interested in the historical and cultural monuments.

The type of consumer:89% of tourists in the region, are traveling with a partner

Duration of stay:52% of visitors stayed at an average of 7 days

The popular means of transport:This region is easily accessible and has comfortable transport facilities. 62% of visitors used a bus / mini-bus to arrive, while 32% used train.

Bolnisi

Tourist profile:Historical and multi-ethnic region

The region’s most active tourists:Russian, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani and German tourists.

Consumers age:20 to 35 years.

The Consumers goal:45% of visitors to the region were cultural recreation-oriented and 40% of tourists were wishing to visit relatives.

Interests: 98% of visitors were interested to view the historical sites

The type of consumer:45% of tourists visited the region with a partner, while 35% of tourists were traveling with their families.

Duration of stay:42% of visitors stayed at an average of 7 days

The popular means of transport:Transport facilities are readily available in the region. 58% of visitors to the bus / mini bus travels, while 25% of the rented car.

Borjomi

Tourist profile:Healing / health resort.

The region’s most active tourists:Georgian, Ukrainian, Russian, Azeri and Kazakh tourists.

Consumers age:25-75years

The Consumers goal:The goal of the journey is to restore the health – 65%, Ecotourism – 20%, entertainment – 5%.

Interests:Nature monuments, local healing tasting water and rafting.

The type of consumer:The consumer segment of families with children is 85% and the elderly couples – 10%.

Duration of stay:25% of visitors stayed at an average of 7 days, and 65% stayed for 8–14 days.

The popular means of transport:The public transport facilities connecting the region is well developed.Most of the tourists travel by minibus – 55% and – 20% by train

Gori

Tourist profile::The Historical region

The region’s most active tourists:Russian, American, German and Polish tourists.

Consumers age:23-65 years

The Consumers goal:Cultural tourism – 65%, visit to friends and relatives – 25%.

Interests:View historical and cultural sites – 65%.

The type of consumer:Single traveler – 30%, middle-aged and older couples – 55%.

Duration of stay:about 7 days

The popular means of transport:The public transport facilities connecting the region is well developed. The populartransport is a minibus – 45%, rented cars – 34%.

Kvareli

Tourist profile:The Historical region, Wine-producing region.

The region’s most active tourists:Georgian, Russian, American and German tourists.

Consumers age:21–54 years

The Consumers goal:Vacation – 30%, cultural recreation-35% and Entertainment – 32%.

Interests:The local cuisine and wine tasting – 45%, cultural sites – 30%.

The type of consumer:Single travelers – 45%, young and middle-aged couples – 40%

Duration of stay:7–days – 45%, 8–14 days-30%.

The popular means of transport:Rented cars – 35%, own cars – 32% and minibus – 30%.

Tbilisi

Tourist profile:The capital, administrative and cultural center.

The region’s most active tourists:Polish, Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, German tourists.

Consumers age:21–75years

The Consumers goal:Entertainment – 43% , businesses tours – 35% and visit of relatives / friends – 34%.

Interests:Cultural sites – 45% taking part in events – 48% of business meetings – 35%.

The type of consumer:Single travelers – 30%, of of families – 33% and of couples – 37%.

Duration of stay:7 days – 40%, 7–14 days – 36%.

The popular means of transport:The plane – 65%, own cars – 25% and the train – 10%.

Telavi

Tourist profile:The Historical region, Wine-producing region.

The region’s most active tourists:Czech, Polish, Belgian, Israeli tourists.

Consumers age:30–50years

The Consumers goal:Cultural Tourism – 45%, and visit of relatives – 24%.

Interests:Cultural sites – 67%, the local cuisine and wine tasting – 63%.

The type of consumer:Middle-aged couples – 47%, the families – 52%.

Duration of stay: