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INTRODUCTION

This paper will consider some of the key issues and challenges surrounding escort services provision. Where possible the arguments and discussions presented seek to generate a broader, more international view in order to encourage open debate around this socially, culturally and legally sensitive topic (Laskowski, 2002).

In examining this area, the initial difficulty is in capturing a single, shared understanding of what escort services are (Scoular & O’Neill, 2007). Most societal expectations automatically generate an assumption that the individual providing escort services is a sex worker, although the range of activities involved can include more benign requirements such as social companionship (Burghart, 2017). Many escort agencies operate within legal national frameworks by openly offering such companionship or more accepted services (e.g. massages). The personal nature of those activities then creates the environment within which subsequent informal and less open negotiations around what sexual services (if any) can be provided by the escort (UK National Escorts Association, 2018).

It therefore follows that escort services involve the provision of personal, intimate and tailored engagement to a client for remuneration, which may or may not include the provision of sexual services (Agustin, 2009).

ASSUMPTIONS AND EXCLUSIONS

This paper focusses on the provision of female escort services, offered directly or through an agency –male escort provision is not reviewed (Argento, Taylor, Jollimore, Taylor, Jennex, Krusi & Shannon, 2016). No examination of the nature of these services is conducted, although a distinction is drawn between those activities deemed to be legal and illegal (Jeffreys, 2010). In taking a broader, more international perspective it is important to recognise that different national approaches will exist which means that in some cases the provision of sexual services is considered legal (Outshoorn, 2004). However, legal recognition does not necessarily translate into social and cultural acceptance for either the client or the escort worker(s) concerned (Agustin, 2009).

The demand for escort services, be they legal or illegal and with or without a sexual element is well established (Burghart, 2017). This paper therefore does not consider the perspective of clients but instead focusses on the issues shaping the actions and decisions of those women acting as escorts (Matthews, 2007).

THE EMPOWERMENT CASE

For women that choose to work as escorts, arguments have been presented which suggest that doing so provides them with a position of power and authority over their clients (Weitzer, 2007). They work in a sector that puts a particular value on their skills, abilities and attributes and the woman is able to direct and control to what extent she places herself ‘on the market’ e.g. whether to engage in sexual activity or not and if so, what those acts will be (Cho, Dreher & Neumeyer, 2013). Whilst many services are engaged through a broker (the Escort Agency) which will take a fee for their involvement, charges for any additional activities are often arranged on a direct basis between the escort and the client (Laskowski, 2002).

However, such empowerment arguments assume that the woman concerned is operating within the realms of an established business framework which she can adapt to her own requirements (Sanders, O’Neill & Pitcher, 2017). They also imply that the women has exercised free will and choice in becoming an escort and that no coercion has been applied, such as that seen in many cases of people trafficking (O’Connor, 2017). Even where no overt coercion has been applied, women may feel that working as an escort is the only viable option given issues such as social/economic deprivation, personal addiction issues and unstable family backgrounds (Scoular & O’Neill, 2007).

Consequently, any empowerment arguments presented must clearly consider the foundations underlying any perceptions of informed choice (Jeffreys, 2010). Even where such factors are not an issue (such as those women from A or B socio-economic groups with high net-worth clients), the social and cultural stigma around escort services can limit the extent to which women are truly empowered (Szirmai, 2015).

THE SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

Many women working as escorts see themselves as offering an essential social service to their communities, supporting clients through periods of disruption and turbulence (Sanders, O’Neill & Pitcher, 2017). Examples cited include widowers seeking company (or even sexual services) without wishing to enter into another emotional relationship and those coping with the breakdown of a long-term relationship seeking guidance on how to re-engage effectively with women (Sanders, O’Neill & Pitcher, 2017). Whilst engaging vulnerable clients seeking emotional rather than physical support could be considered exploitative, competition within the sector could ensure that clients favour those women best able to meet the needs presented (Koken, 2010).

Legislative and social constraints do limit the effectiveness of such support given the stigma often associated with engaging escorts, even if no sexual content is involved (Koken, 2010). It could also be argued that the dominant focus on meeting physical/sexual requirements in the sector creates longer-term social problems, as the clients concerned are often unable to form stable, emotionally sound long-term relationships as a result (Weitzer, 2007). Those clients that regularly use escort services to meet both their physical and emotional needs may end up seeking to apply the same transactional thinking to external relationships, inadvertently undermining the status of women in that community (Sanders, O’Neill & Pitcher, 2017).

Where female workers are genuinely empowered, then social benefits can accrue. For example, the working hours involved and the income levels that can be sustained may allow them to remain both employed and effective, accessible parents when they may otherwise be relying on state support (Brooks-Gordon, 2006). However, the hidden and illegal nature of much of the escort sector economy limits social benefit potential (e.g. undeclared incomes and welfare concerns for the children of sex workers) (Sanders, O’Neill & Pitcher, 2017).

THE ECONOMIC RATIONALE

Many escort agencies operate as legitimate business interests, generating tax revenues and providing either paid employment or self-employment frameworks for the women concerned (UK National Escorts Association, 2018). The value proposition is on the provision of a booking service for time and companionship with women (UK National Escorts Association, 2018). It is the subsequent transactions between clients and those women which may or may not be legal and which may not necessarily form part of any transparent business activity which raise concerns (Matthews, 2007). Whilst the nature of business registration in the UK makes it difficult to identify tax revenues specifically attributed to escort agencies (which often register as entertainment services), it is estimated that prostitution (i.e. unregulated and untaxed activity) in that country sustains a spend of around ?770M each year (BBC, 2001; UK National Escorts Association, 2018).

Women working in the sector may therefore have the ability to generate and sustain incomes that their educational and social backgrounds would deny them in terms of more traditional employment routes (Weitzer, 2007). As such, depending on the legal and regulatory frameworks in place, they may be net financial contributors to society rather than a drain on national resources (Laskowski, 2007). However, such arguments are predicated on the concept of choice and empowerment as those women working in the sector to sustain addiction problems will still place greater demands on health and social welfare services (Rani, Jain & Saxena, 2017). Also, the exploitation that exists in the sector through organised criminal activities (arguably fuelled by legislative and societal constraints around sex workers) means that significant escort revenues remain invisible to the national exchequers concerned (Sweeney & Fitzgerald, 2017). Also, these hidden revenues can fund activities which create significant economic and social costs for the countries concerned (e.g. the drugs trade, money laundering and criminal violence) (O’Connor, 2017).

POLITICAL ISSUES

Political attitudes surrounding escort services are shaped by national/regional cultures, societal expectations and the legislative frameworks that result (Outshoorn, 2004). As a consequence, in many societies the political leadership prefer to maintain a discrete distance from the sector, rather than engage in open debate about the role of women as escorts (Brooks-Gordon, 2006). Whilst more enlightened attitudes are emerging, such as the operating of licenced establishments with Government health monitoring programmes and social support, anything outside of non-sexual escort activity is still considered illegal in many areas (Agustin, 2009). This limits the political support for women in the sector to focussing on applying criminal sanctions to clients rather than workers and/or the development of social programmes to encourage them to explore alternative employment options (Cho, Dreher & Neumeyer, 2013).

As a consequence, many women working as escorts (employed and self-employed) are denied a legitimate political voice within their societies (Outshoorn, 2004). This again calls into question the concept of empowerment, as it is difficult for the women concerned to influence decision-makers about their working conditions, rates of pay and employment rights (Bartlett & Kennedy, 2018). This lack of power and influence has led to these women becoming even more isolated from (and controlled by) mainstream society as their roles and life choices are debated and regulated by others (Outshoorn, 2004).

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY

The advent of modern technology solutions, particularly social networking platforms has provided women with a means to directly access the market for escort services (Heymann-Reder, 2012). The ease with which websites can be created and the willingness of consumers to provide (anonymous) feedback in relation to the services received can negate the need to use agency resources to source, screen and support clients (Tuten & Solomon, 2014). This also extends to payment services which further supports women working in the sector in establishing a viable, self-managed business model (Henry, 2011). Such approaches mirror the growth in self-employment opportunities for women in the service sector, where on-line demand for associated skills such as massage and male grooming services can provide a conduit for the marketing of escort activities (Cader & Al Tenaiji, 2013).

However, technology developments also expose workers to greater risk (Sanders, O’Neill & Pitcher, 2017). The absence of any third-party, escort agency involvement means that women may find themselves alone when coping with an aggressive client or one unwilling to pay for the services received (Jeffreys, 2010). It also introduces a new skills requirement as those pursuing such technology solutions will need to effectively manage and deploy the technology in order to build a sustainable business (Heymann-Reder, 2012).

LEGAL CONCERNS

Whilst those operating escort services as a legitimate business model are afforded the same legal protections as the wider society concerned, often the provision of sexual services falls outside of such frameworks (Cho, Dreher & Neumeyer, 2013). Consequently, the women involved are committing criminal acts even though they are meeting a demand that society is aware of and which addresses a clear social need (Jeffreys, 2010). This means that when such women require the full protection of law – for example, if assaulted by a client – the very nature of their profession often means that they are denied that support (Bartlett & Kennedy, 2018). The level of violence and associated criminal activity in the sector is therefore well known, but chronically under-reported by those that experience it (O’Connor, 2017). This lack of visibility also undermines efforts to extend legal protection to escorts and the ability of enforcement officials to prosecute offenders (Scoular & O’Neill, 2007).

For those women who have fallen into escort work due to social, health and addiction issues limiting the employment choices available to them, the more sympathetic application of legal sanctions in some countries is beginning to provide them with the support required (Agustin, 2009). Viewing such women as being vulnerable and exploited ensures that they are seen in a different light by state institutions, helping them to move out of escort work if their continued involvement undermines their self-worth, health and social status (Reitmeijer, 2017).

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Basic economic theory dictates that women will continue to provide escort services for the foreseeable future. There is a constant (potentially expanding) demand, technology advances make it easier for consumers to express that demand clearly and for suppliers to efficiently tailor their services to the requirements of distinct customer communities (Henry, 2011; Burghart, 2017). Consequently, a dynamic and competitive market exists (and has always existed) irrespective of the behavioural and cultural norms outlined by the societies concerned.

If this proposition is accepted, then it is argued that current attitudes, reflected in the legal frameworks of many nations are discriminatory and punitive to women (Bartlett & Kennedy, 2018). They limit the protection that can be offered and expose women to greater risks (including sexual health concerns). Critically, making female sex work an illegal and unregistered activity allows criminal entities to control their access to the market (O’Connor, 2017). Such control disempowers women when they should be shaping their operating environment to meet their own requirements and aspirations (Koken, 2010). Criminal exploitation and the legal frameworks that unintentionally support it also create opportunities to force women to work unwillingly as escorts (Sweeney & Fitzgerald, 2017).

Technology advances are giving those women that choose to work as escorts the opportunity to exert greater control. However, this needs to be matched by a more realistic and progressive attitude within societies around issues such as regulation, health screening and support services if women escorts are to be truly protected and empowered.Page Break

REFERENCES

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Argento, E., Taylor, M., Jollimore, J., Taylor, C., Jennex, J., Krusi, A., Shannon, K. (2016). The loss of boystown and transition to online sex work: Strategies and barriers to increase safety among men sex workers and clients of men, American Journal Men’s Health, pp. 1-19.

Bartlett, K.T., Kennedy, R. (2018). Feminist Legal Theory: Readings in Law and Gender, Abingdon: Routledge.

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Cader, Y., Al Tenaiji, A. A. (2013). Social media marketing.?International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation,?2(6), pp. 546-560.

Cho, S-Y., Dreher, A., Neumeyer, E. (2013). Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking? World Development, 41, pp. 67-82.

Henry, A.E. (2011). Understanding Strategic Management, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Jeffreys, S. (2010). “Brothels without Walls”: the Escort Sector as a Problem for the Legalization of Prostitution, Social Politics, 17(2), pp. 210-234.

Koken, J. (2010). Independent Female Escort’s Strategies for Coping with Sex Work Related Stigma, Sexuality and Culture, 16(3), pp. 209-229.

Laskowski, S.R. (2002). The New German Prostitution Act: An Important Step to a More Rational View of Prostitution as an Ordinary Profession in Accordance with European Community Law, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 18(4), pp. 479-491.

Matthews, R. (2007). The Prostitution Strategy: A Response, Safer Communities, 6(3), pp. 4-6.

O’Connor, M. (2017). Choice, agency consent and coercion: Complex issues in the lives of prostituted and trafficked women, Women’s Studies International Forum, 62, pp. 8-16.

Outshoorn, J. (2004). The Politics of Prostitution: Women’s Movements, Democratic States and the Globalisation of Sex Commerce, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rani, P., Jain, D., Saxena, V.P. (2017). Stability Analysis of HIV/AIDS Transmission with Treatment and Role of Female Sex Workers, International Journal of Nonlinear Sciences and Numerical Simulation, 18(6), pp. 457-467.

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Sweeney, L-A., Fitzgerald, S. (2017). A case for a health promotion framework: the psychosocial experiences of female migrant sex workers in Ireland, International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 13(4), pp. 419-431.

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Weitzer, R. (2007). Prostitution as a Form of Work, Sociology Compass, 1(1), pp. 143-155.

Harar is an ancient and historical town of Ethiopia, which is located in the eastern part of the country and about 525 away from the capital city, Addis Ababa. According to the current regional Administration set up it is the capital of Harari National Regional State.

In 2008, Harari Region had a total population of 188,173 of which 94,688 were males (51.6%) and 93,485 were females (48.4%) Currently the population of Harar city is estimated to be 199,321. The area of town is about 1720 hectares (17. 29 Kms). The city has two distinct sections, the new and the old parts of the city. The old city comprises the walled part, popularly known as Jegole is far more densely populated than others areas of the city. The town has got five gates namely Erer Ber, Buda Ber, Senga Ber Felana Ber, and Shewa Ber. At present, the town has six Kebele Administrations (KAs) and nineteen sub Kebeles.

Harar has been and remains the major trade center in the eastern part of Ethiopia. Its commercial orientation dates back to the older times, when it had contacts and strong trade links with India, Greece, Turkey, Italy Yemen, Egyptian and other Arab Nations. The Jegol with its five main gates represents a unique historical and religions place for residents and an attraction for tourists. The “hyena show” is a unique phenomenon in the country and perhaps in the whole world. The cultural heritages including the Mosques, Shrines, Harari National House, traditional handicrafts and tools make Harar one of the most important places and centers of attraction in the country. Recently the UNESCO had included the city in its list of world heritages.

In such a place SWM gains importance as people from all walks of life from all over the world pay visits to know more about the city. Hence, this project is quite relevant to make the city cleaner and the population healthy and productive.

Moreover, the migration adds woe to SMW in Harar city. It adds number to the existing population and contributes to the rapid increase in garbage accumulation which negatively influences MSWM in the city. Migration is one of the components of population dynamics that can affect the population size of an area when its volume is significant. People move towards areas which are believed to be desirable for either economic or non economic reasons through interplay of push factors at the place of origin and pull factors at the place of destination. The following are major push factors that face people to leave rural areas in the region and come into Harar city.

Scarcity of agricultural land in rural area,

Poverty of rural people due to various socio-economic crises, and

Existence of trade in Harar town especially, large scale contraband trade, illegal smuggling of cattle and chat from the region to neighboring counties

As population increases all over Sub-Saharan Africa, the quantum of garbage accumulated on each passing day also increases multifold. Many countries in African Continent are in the stage of development and the problems they face in all spears of life are numerous. Among them collection of garbage accumulated, mange the collected garbage and its disposal are of paramount importance as it affects the day to day life of almost every household with respect to Sanitation, Health, Economy, Livelihood and Socio-Cultural Phenomenon. Ethiopia is not an exception in this regard. There exists a system of garbage collection and disposal in the capital city Addis Ababa. Although it might be as efficient as it should be, the public gets some support and help from the municipal administration to live in a related clean environment. Moreover, there are mechanisms and devices in place in Addis Ababa metropolis to handle and manage of solid wastes accumulated. On the other hand, elsewhere in the country including the Historical city of Harar, one can find no established system exists with regard to garbage collection and disposal in general and solid waste management in particular. Hence, this study had looked into the factors that affect the solid waste management of the Harar municipality form different angles.

On one hand Garbage management in general is a huge task to a developing country while its population and social participations is increasing rapidly. On the other hand, solid waste management in particular poses a great threat to its population challenging the health, economic, educational and socio-cultural fronts.

Further, in the modern times occupational migration takes places, especially in developing countries, at a faster rate than ever before. This brings along with it economic strains, environmental population and various diseases. This is quite true to Harar city in Ethiopia as urban migration is in full swing as the city develops fast.

There are umpteen numbers of constraints with regard to solid waste management. It varies from financial to sc social constraints. Some of them are geographically influenced while others are caused by negligence of personal and environmental hygiene. Hence , this project aims at bring to the notice of the policy makers of the country in general and to the Harar municipal administration in particular to take necessary actions and prepare interventions so that the solid waste management in Harar city soon becomes effective and this Historical City becomes a green and beautiful city. Moreover, this project may forward some input as the inclusion of direct water supply and sanitation targets are directly included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the nation.

It was basically hypothesized in this project that demographic, institutional and socio-economic factors of the household were playing key roles with regard to SWM of Harar city. However, these factors were greatly influenced by the following broad based phenomena with respect to municipal SWM system.

In any given country solid waste management system displays several problems, including low collection coverage by concerned authorities besides, poor collection methods. The garbage collected is not properly stored and eventually disposed. Consequently, disease spreading micro-organisms spread at alarming rate and speed. Several factors are responsible for this situation. They can broadly be grouped as institutional, social, financial, technical, economic, and constraints as explained below.

Technical Constraints
Lack of Human Resource

This is a major problem in developing word. On one hand, people do not want to be sanitation workers as they believe that are looked down by the society; the compensation for such workers is indeed very low, on the other. Consequently, there is enough manpower to so the job. Therefore, the development of human resources is essential

Ineffective Planning

Another important aspect is planning with regard to SWM. In the absence required resources even an effective plan fails more often than not. Moreover, experts in SWM planning are few. Even those very few experts available in this filed are not given any skill upgrading training. This results in inefficiency as they could not plan as per the demand of the situation. It is fact in many countries in Africa that SWM planning is always linked with general planning.

Lack of Research Activities

Almost all countries in Africa lack funds for all- round development in general and SWM in particular. In the absence of required funds, research activities can not be initiated. In the absence of research, any development in this filed is impractical. Hence, more research activities are to be carried out in this regard. The current project is a step forward in this regard.

(b) Financial Constraints
Funds Provided by Central / State Governments

MSWM is not given priority in many parts of the world, especially in several developing nations. The annual budget allotted for MSWM could not meet even 6 months need. Lack of funds is indeed a great barrier in MSWM.

Willingness to Pay by the Users/Households

The problem is indeed great at the local government level in many developing countries. People in many countries in the developing world believe that MSWM is the total responsibility entrusted with the central, regional and local authorities and the individual citizen has nothing to do with it. Hence, the willingness to pay by the citizens is very low and it gets worse as the income of majority of the people in the developing world is bare enough to make both the ends in their day-to-life leave alone their willingness to pay for MSWM.

Lack of Industrial Development

It is needless to say that industrial development in the developing world is slow and it faces several continuous constraints. The governments, hence, are forced to import spare parts and machines from abroad using their hard earned foreign currencies. This has a negative impact in the development of the nations concerned. The lack of industry is responsible for several bottlenecks in MSWM as the municipalities could not get needed implements and machinery to collect, store and dispose the garbage safely. Moreover, due to lack of industries, the solid wastes could not be recycled and reused.

(c) Institutional Constraints
Lack of Coordination between Institutions

Communication between and among institutions that have stakes in MSWM is matter of concern. There exists lack of coordination among them and this creates hindrances in effective MSWM. The sanitation workers may not receive timely instructions form the MSWM controlling body and the MSWM controlling body itself may not receive any communications or instructions from health institutions, hospitals, industries and the like on the nature and amount of SW available for collection and disposal.

Difficulties in Enforcing SWM Laws

No laws were enacted in many countries in the developing world with regard to MSWM. There are several social and tradition al constraints in enacting any law in MSWM. Although a few countries enacted laws in this regard, they could not effectively enforce them due to financial constrains, lack of manpower and public cooperation. Moreover, there is lack of clear legal authorization to local governments from the federal level with regard to MSWM.

(d) Social Constraints
Households’ Attitude towards SWM Personnel

Even in the current 21st century, some people still believe that a sanitation worker is doing an inferior job such as collecting industrial and human waste. This taboo prevents many from joining the sanitation team paid or unpaid.

Absence of Social and Economic Incentives

It is a fact that the educational level of the people is far below in the developing world in comparison with industrialized countries. Hence, social attitude towards MSWM is not encouraging. People do not come forward to participate in any cleaning activities proposed by local administration or Non Governmental Originations or Environmental Activists. Although some people may come forward to participate in such activities, they may not get required devices to perform the job such as a broom-stick, a fork and a garbage collection container. Moreover, scavenging from waste disposal is a livelihood strategy to many people. They collect materials from the garbage that they could sell in the market or individual and earn money. Large number of people involved in this activity. They have no training for change of profession and to become creative citizens.

Thus, this project looked into the factors mentioned above aggregately focusing on the demographic, institutional and socio-cultural realities related to the households in the selected study areas of Harar city with regard to SWM.

Statement of the Problem

We discussed above several factors that have direct relationship with and influence on SWM in Harar city. Any onlooker in the main streets of the city can easily say that the current SWM system in the city is quite wanting. One could see garbage is spilled on the road sides, corners and in front of dwelling premises. There is municipal overseeing in the city with regard to garbage collection and distribution. Yet, there are several factors that make the SWM of the city poor and inefficient. The following illustrations illuminate the problems of SWM system of Harar city.

The following snapshot clearly shows that SWM is not in a desired level. Rubbish and refuse are thrown indiscriminately all over the place in the city. Although there are garbage containers placed at different locations in the city, there is no controlling mechanism to see that they are properly maintained. People and animal alike live together in the place very close to garbage collection containers. To make matters worse materials for human consumption such as vegetables are kept for sales in close proximity of garbage containers that may result in environmental pollution and health havoc.

Photo 1 Proximity of Public-Business- Animal to Waste Containers

Source: Own Photography, 2010

Another snap shot taken a few days ago at the study area depicts the awful situation

in which human and mammal make day-to-day living along with the garbage as if nothing unusual is happening. It is evident from the picture that the garbage container is very much in place; nevertheless, the hazardous garbage is spilled all over the place where human and animal walk on that. This may eventually result in epidemics and environmental degradation. It is evident from the picture above and the one below that garbage collection is erratic and the socio economic condition of household living in the vicinity plays its own role towards this environmental condition that prevails in the study area.

Photo 2 Animal – Human- Business – Garbage Together: a Health Hazard

Source: Own Photography, 2010

From the picture below one can get a horrible sight adjacent to the city limits. People who make their living from collecting materials that they can sell from the rubbish are doing their job in a condition that might infect them and eventually make them unproductive citizens. Here also man and mammal are close to each other. The pickers do not wear any protective gears- not even gloves. This is due to the fact that the collected refuse is not stored properly and the disposal system is indeed alarming. The rubbish may decay in very short time due to humidity and spill into waterways and water points nearby. The wind plays its part in bringing the garbage back into the city. Neither sanitary workers nor municipal guards are seen anywhere near the dump.

Photo 3 Waste Pickers- Young and Old with Animal- A Risky Survival

Source: Own Photography, 2010

In the following illustration we could see that the municipal sanitary worker collects the garbage into a small mobile container. Although the container is already filled to its capacity, the worker is on the process of filling it with more garbage only to make it fall on the road reroute. The mobile container is small that it may not suffice the need in comparison with that the total amount of garbage collected in the area that is thickly populated. A single sanitary worker is in action in a place where hundreds of kilos of rubbish generated in a single day. Moreover, the sanitary worker uses a broom stick made of local grass and has no spatula nor other devises that are needed to handle the rubbish.

Photo 4 Ill-equipped Sanitation Worker

Source: Own Photography, 2010

We shall now look at the final destination of the garbage collected from the city. They are brought to a place just outside the main settlement area of the city and dumped in an open field without any protection or fence. The garbage is piled over and over and eventually they fall into the waterway underneath and reach the households nearby. They are highly contaminated and for sure put the members of the households in risk that come into contact with the rubbish. More importantly, this dump is the breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes that spread diseases of different kinds. The vegetation near the dump site dwindles due to the toxic soil caused by the chemical reaction of the rubbish stored for unlimited number of days and months. Above all the dump site is certainly not an attraction to any visitor to this historical and UNESCO preserved city.

It is evident from the description and illustration above that the SWM system is not upto the desired level at Harar city. There are several factors that make SWM not effective elsewhere in the country in general and in Harar city in particular. The current SWM system in the city puts the households at the risk of getting exposed to health hazardous and socio-economic debacles. Moreover, neither any survey researches nor project works were carried out in the city on this thematic area although some reports were submitted by appointed consultants to the local government on SWM in Harar city. The researcher, thus, feels there is gap in this regard and he believes this project can fill to a given extent.

Project Purpose

Solid waste is generated more and more at the end of each day throughout the world. Therefore, the space needed to store it and its handling techniques decrease fast. Yet, there are people who are really concerned on this issue. Our households and industries create waste; hence, it our duty to device a mechanism to solve this problem. We have to reduce the refuse, reuse the remaining, and recycle the rest. It is obvious that it is easier said than done as many people live in cities of “REFUSE”. To make matters worse, the wealthier nations are bargaining with the needy nations to accept their waste, both civil and nuclear.

However, the problems and short comings in SWM may not be similar in all countries although it is indeed a challenge to the world in general and developing countries like Ethiopia in particular. It is even worse in place like Harar- a historical city in Ethiopia due to the combination of several problems.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to look into some factors that the researcher believes contribute towards the poor and weak SWM in the city.

1.4 Objectives of the Project

The general objective of this study is to look into factors that negatively affect SWM in Harar city

The Specific objectives are:

The current level of SWM in Harar city, and

Factors that effect the SWM service delivery in Harar city

It was hypothesized for this project that the prevailing municipal SWM system at Harar had several challenges and threats influenced by demographic, institutional and socio-economic factors. Based on this hypothesis the following questions were addressed for this project

What is the current Status of the Solid Waste Management by the Harar municipality?

What are the challenges faced by the municipality and the household members with regard to garbage accumulation, collection and disposal in the study area?

What are the threats that face both the municipal administration and the household members in this regard?

What could be the solutions to mitigate the challenges and threats so faced by the municipality and the household with regard to Solid Waste Management?

Methodology

Harar city is situated 525 Kms away from the capital city Addis Ababa to the east. It is a historical city dated back to several centuries. It is one of the holy places for Muslims all over the world. Harar is also known as “Walled City” as the entire city was circled by a long wall then. Presently, the city is extended out side the wall limits. It is a city known for trade. Almost all types of trades are carried out here. There are six Kebele Administrations (KAs) in Harar City. In addition to these PAs there are nineteen sub-Kebeles in the city. The following is the map of Ethiopia that shows the location of Harar city.

Figure 1 Map that Shows the Location of Harar City in Ethiopia

Source: Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Harari Regional State

For this study two Kebele Administrations viz. Amernur Kebele from within the Jegol and Jinela Kebele outside the Jegol were purposively selected based on the fact that they are larger Kebeles in population and size. Moreover, these two KAs contribute the largest share to the daily garbage accumulation of the city as per the available information from the Municipality of Harar. Both Amernur and Jinela Kebeles are inhabited by households who are involved in trade, civil service and skilled and unskilled jobs. Jinela Kebele has the largest open market of the city with household population. In Amernur Kebele the SW generated included both household rubbish and trade refuses whereas in Jinela Kebele the SW generated included both market refuses and leftovers and household rubbish. Thus both Kebeles were similar in SW generation. Moreover, the modes garbage accumulation and collection processes were quite similar in both the Kebeles. Hence, fifty households from each Kebele were randomly selected as samples. The samples were selected randomly for the reason that the numbers of households live in both Kebeles were near similar although Jinela Kebele has the largest open market of the city. Besides household samples 20 municipal workers, who involved in SWM were selected on voluntary basis. Additionally, Garbage pickers numbering 5 (two elderly men, one elderly woman, one young lady and two boys) who were present collecting materials at the time of visit of the researcher to the dump sites were selected. This was because of the fact that those garbage pickers did not have any permanent address nor contact details. Aggregate case studies collected from both the municipal workers involved in SWM and the garbage pickers were presented in the result and discussion chapter. Further, the ethics of social science research were strictly followed for this project and the rights of the sample participants with special reference to sample selection, data collection procedure were adhered.

Five enumerators, besides the researcher, were selected who had experience in conducting research projects/surveys and who could communicate in the local vernacular Harari and Afan Oromo besides the country’s official language Amharinga. The enumerators were given training for a week before data collection on the nature of the project and ethics of data collection in social science related projects. A checklist was prepared for the interview and group discussion and a semi-structured mini-interview schedule was prepared to elicit information from Households on SWM. Both the interview checklist and mini interview schedule were pre-tested with non-sample population in the study area and needed amendments/modifications were incorporated in them. The data so collected were interpreted in words supported by relevant tables, figures and individual case studies.

1.6. Delimitation of the Project

The study was conducted only in two Kebele Administrations of Harar city viz. Amernur and Jinela Kebeles were selected due to time constraints and for the reason that the researcher lives and works in the proximity of these Kebeles ,visiting these Kebeles almost two to three times daily either for professional or for personal reasons or for both. Thus, he is well aware of the challenges of SWM in these Kebeles. Moreover, the facts emerged from this project with regard to SWM in these Kebeles are, more or less, true to other areas of the city.

1.7 Limitations of the Project

The major problem that the researcher faced in this project was the disinterestedness of the sample population to undertake any campaign with regard to weak and poor SWM right in their dwelling area although they are quite aware of the health hazards that non-disposed or improperly disposed garbage might bring on them. One could understand from the photographs exhibited above how man and mammal live together with the garbage disposed. Hence, the researcher had to induce interest in them by talking to them the need for a better SWM system in the city and how in turn it would make their day-to-day life more pleasant than it is now. Eventually, he could make them actively participate in focus group discussions and answer the questions raised for data collection. Accordingly all samples gave all information available with them with regard to SWM in the city.

1.8 Significance of the Project

As far as the knowledge of the researcher goes, no credible research done at Harar City with regard to MSWM except for a few consultant reports as mentioned elsewhere in this project. Therefore, it is believed that this project could serve as a secondary for potential research to be carried out in the days to come.

India is famous for its great ethnicity and diversity among the cultures and these two main elements reflect in the level of tourism development in any region of the country. Apparently this has led the government and other respective authorities of tourism to call out the importance of heritage tourism in this 21st century. This report is based on the issues and impacts of tourism in Khajuraho, a UNESCO listed world heritage site, famous for its exotic sculptured temples.

Khajuraho is a located in a central state of India, and one of the oldest heritage sites in the world. The temples were built a thousand years ago and still they stand dazzling with all the ancient glory. The tourism development in the area has changed many features of the destination and there has been some issues regarding the level of tourism. The place was found only in the early decades of 20th century and even from that time Khajuraho still took so many decades to be printed in the world famous heritage sites. The basic aim of this report is to identify the tourism developments and impacts of tourism in the selected tourism site and it is structured by beginning with a concise glimpse about the destination and followed by explaining the tourism developments in the area, discussing the influences of tourism and its impacts among locals and suggestions to improve the practice of tourism followed by a conclusion which will sum up the overall report and research conducted.

Background of the study

India is a large nation with huge number of population and great numbers of both cultural and heritage spots. This exclusivity has made the county, a world famous tourism destination in the global tourism map and regarded as a country, famous for its great cultural diversity. Many of these heritage sites are secured by UNESCO- and are still striving to find a place in their destination list.

Ethnicity and diversity are the two main key elements of Indian cultural Heritage tourism, and it is really difficult to focus on the whole country’s tourism development and the impacts being facing currently. To understand the effects of tourism on culture, environment and economy it was therefore, I decided that this study should look further deep into the heart of the country’s heritage spots which are commonly unknown for its own nationalists but relatively known by other parts of the world. Khajuraho, a world heritage tourism site in the Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh was chosen and examined to articulate the nature and dimensions of some of the common issues from the impacts of local and international tourism.

The study materials used mainly are reliable sources from the internet and also referred to the theories used in the tourism industry by linking to some of the case studies conducted in the subjected destination. Moreover some parts of the report will be reflecting from my personal experience in the destination. The facts and figures received from the Indian government tourism website back up and gives an overall glimpse of the importance of international tourism occurring in that place.

Khajuraho: A mirror of Indian Heritage

Khajuraho, a Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh is world famous for its UNESCO recognized heritage sites and practices great heritage tourism. The site is well known for its imposing temples by reflecting the beauty of antique sculptures and structures carved in huge single sand stones (http://www.mptourism.com/dest/khajuraho.html).These temples, mirroring the sensuous images of both men and women also lead to shed some lights on the medieval Hindu and Jain cultures

Pic1-Khajuraho TempleThe history of temples in Khajuraho village is believed to be dated back to a thousand years ago, erected by the great Chandela Rajput Dynasty of Central India, by taking a century to build more than 85 glorious temples with richly carved unique and magnificent sculptures. (Gill, 2008).During the depredation of time only 22 are managed to survive and they stand still calling out the glory of medieval architectural masters. Some of the temples are sculptured with enticing erotic structures representing the Tantric Vedas which the people in the village used to practice.

Area

16.93 sq. km.

Altitude

257 m above Sea Level

Temperature

Summer: Max 47°C, Min 21°C.

Winter: Max 32°C, Min 4°C.

Rainfall

114 cms annual

Languages

English, Hindi.

Table1-General InformationThe other Tourism activities include Khajuraho Dance Festival, organized every year in the month of February or March for one week and the Daily Sound & Light Show ((Khajuraho, n.d.). Table-1 shows some general Information about Khajuraho (http://www.delhitourism.com/khajuraho-tourism/)

Level of tourism development

Pic2-LocationEver since the airport is opened, a daily flight operated from Delhi, the capital city of India connected Khajuraho with some other famous destinations. These made the visitors to reach there without any inconvenience and also the ground transportation facilities improved, while connecting to nearby important towns and railway station by running daily trips to Khajuraho. The main significant changes in the level of tourism happened was “the creation of a Master Plan to guide the growth of Khajuraho and the institution of the Khajuraho Dance Festival, a successful event that has, to some extent given Khajuraho a ‘classical’ image” (Menon,1993).D:ACADEMIC6th SemesterTOUR310reportkhajuraho-map.jpg

What was Khajuraho before

Pic3-SculpturesKhajuraho or the ancient name ‘Khajurapura’ is believed to be derived from the word ‘Khajurvahila’ meaning the ‘garden of dates’ surrounded the village at that time (Krishnamurthy, 1996). Deserted after the 14th century, the area was completely unknown to outside world until it was discovered by a young British Army officer T.S. Burt in 1838 (Menon, 1993). According the Ministry of Tourism, (http://www.mptourism.com/dest/khajuraho.html) after the turn down of the Chandela dynasty in the 13th century, the temples were hidden from outside world by dense forests and shrubs around. Nobody knew the epitome of Indian Architecture was diminishing dawdling in the rampage of time. Many of the structures were destroyed by weather, the slackness and laxity of surrounding world. But this hidden identity must have saved the remaining temples from the early Muslim invasions in the past (Hegewald & Mitra, 2008). According to Menon (1993) the temples were unknown to the world until 1950’s and it was only the foreign journalists and photographers who published the photos to the open world. The place was opened to the tourists only a few decades after the Independence of India from British in 1947 after building adequate facilities for transportation to get there.

Changes after the tourism developments

Today, Khajuraho is a booming tourist spot for both domestic and international travelers. The infrastructure is modified significantly by the government to the needs of thirsting travelers, as

the years pass by. According to (UNESCO, 2005) few modest hotels were built in the early sixties to attract foreigners and domestic tourists and the number of people coming to visit Khajuraho has changed dramatically ever since the airport was built as the surface transportation was not convenient enough. The ‘draft Development Plan’ produced by Indian Government in 1975 is also guided consequent development of the area (Menon, 1993). Now the old village of Khajuraho is changed absolutely into a place with a number of 8 star hotels including 2 five star chains affiliated hotels and other budgeted hotels also, in an area of just few kilometers (http://www.tourism-of-india.com/hotels-in-madhya-pradesh.html) equipped with efficient roads access, other transportation and accommodation facilities. Subsequently areas around Khajuraho have also flourished and harvested the benefits from these tourism developments.

Tourist profile

There have been a lot of changes happened during the last few decades and this has led to have a significant change in the demographics of travelers arriving in Khajuraho. Menon (1993) stated that a few decades back, the foreign tourists visiting Khajuraho comprised 3.3% of total number of visitors to India and ‘most of the tourists were independent and included in low budget category, half of the group tourists who visited India visited Khajuraho also’.

Table2-Statistics from 1984-1992The statistics published by the government a few years back, shows the tremendous hike in the number of tourists visited the destination and it gives a lucid idea about the expansion of the Khajuraho tourism plans (Menon, 1993)

Table3-Statistics from 2004-2006

The number of people visited in the early 80’s were higher than in early 90’s in the domestic travelers as it is believed to be the reason of political instability at that time. But the number of foreign travelers remained constant between these periods. Table 2 shows that total numbers of tourists in 1985-1986 were around 203,646, but in the early 90’s it was decreased to 151,350. (Appendix I-IV)There is a significant percentage of increase in the number of foreign visitors to Khajuraho in the current decade almost double the numbers in previous decades while the number of domestic tourists remained constant apparently. This increasing number of tourists mainly depends on the level of promotions of the destination or and the transportation facilities.

Driving force

It is not only just some sandstone structures to see in Khajuraho, but it is the picturesque depiction of medieval existence of village people ruled under the great ‘Chandela’ kings portrayed by the maestros of stone architecture about a millennium ago. It is the thrusting force of quaint beauty to lead the travelers to Khajuraho from around the world. The main motivation of travelling to Khajuraho is the splendor of these sculptures in the temples. The government tourism board and other tourism agencies have recognized the demand for tourism in the region and offer various tourism packages including the nearby cities of Khajuraho. It is another value added benefit for the travelers and a motive to visit Khajuraho. Although it is an icon of Heritage Tourism, the erotic sculptures, illustrating the ‘tantric’ arts in the sandstones attract many of the tourists from around the world.

Rise in the economy- A positive impact

Though there are many identified impacts of tourism in Khajuraho, the most significant one is the rise in the total economy, as the level of tourism in the destination parts a major share in the total number of foreign tourist flow into the country (Appendix V)

As a result of tourism development programs which eventually offered more than 3,000 job offers to the local community made the status of lifestyle to go up resourcefully as there was significant growth in education and health care systems. The other noticed results are in the local handicraft industry and the offering of large scale indirect employment in other sectors especially in the farming (UNESCO, 2005). The development of tourism in the region have also reduced the level of poverty than the neighboring villages as this mass tourism has helped the local people to indulge in increasing their personal income through various tourism activities. All those improvements in the public utility infrastructures and transport infrastructures in Khajuraho show the positive economical impacts and it has been forecasted to make a dramatic change in the future number of tourists (In 2015, expecting 1,00,965 domestic tourists and 8,59,701 foreign tourists with a total number of 19,60,666) Appendix-VI

Negative economic impact

The level of tourism has made some negative impacts in the local economy to a certain level, especially the development programs by the government which brought many outsiders into the village economy. Instead of using the natural resources, things are being imported from outside by the migrants. Most of the imported goods are manipulated as local art work and being sold to the tourists which is a leakage in the integration of locals and the government systems (Menon, 1993). Moreover, the inflation has increased due to the less supply for the high demand for local items caused by the tourism development program. According to Menon, (1993, p.37) “a local guide explains that 20 years ago people were friendlier and close together: tourism, he said, has made the people money-minded”.

Positive Environmental impact

The wild shrouded temples are titivated by the government by the level of tourism in Khajuraho. According to UNESCO, (2005) the place is now equipped with complete infrastructure including transportation, electricity, water supply, hotels and hospitals. The temples are now protected by the Indian Central Government with the help of archeological and tourism departments to preserve the Indian heritage, as they are wall protected by the security systems in order to avoid intruders and vandalisms. Now the temples are surrounded by gardens which are not truly, a part of original temple designs, to enhance the beauty of temple premises. Apart from that, a central museum is located in the village to keep the valuable broken parts from the temples and show case the ancient artwork to the visitors and the excavation areas are restricted for public .One can clearly see that the old sleepy image of Khajuraho is completely changed by the changes happened in the environment due to the tourism (Menon, 1993).

Negative Environmental impact

Due to the characteristics of the destination, Khajuraho poses very less detrimental effect on the physical environment as the tourists who visit are particular nature of sightseer activity and their primary intention is just to see the sculptures in the temples (Menon, 1993). Thus rate of losing the natural resources will be very less in the region comparing some other tourist destinations, however the mass amount of tourist flow into Khajuraho must have changed the environment negatively due to the air pollution and solid wastes disposal. Moreover the destruction of unique flora and fauna in the area, due to the excavation work happening nearby the temples reduced the wild life in the surrounding region. The other considerable negative impacts are the air pollution caused by the aircrafts flying. A study conducted by Indian central archaeological department found out that aircrafts flying over the temples produce a certain level of vibrations which could damage ancient monuments(Archaeological Survey of India, n.d) According to a monthly social awareness magazine (Khajuraho Special, 2004) land pollution and air pollution are some of the major environmental issues in Khajuraho faced by tourism. None of the hotels in Khajuraho have proper waste management system or recycling system which persuade them to litter openly and so do the tourists, especially the canned foods and other disposable items. In the same way, increasing number in tourism has caused the same number in vehicles for transportation which pollutes the air by emitting dangerous gases and causing to change the atmospheric temperature. The final thought is about the shrinking of water bodies in the area, where the improper land usage reduced the natural water resources drastically.

Positive socio-cultural impact

The lifestyle in Khajuraho is being affected by tourism activities as a natural consequence of socio-cultural impact. People have been more aware of the tourism needs and other cultures, to mingle with other nationalities flawlessly. The dance festivals and other cultural activities unite the local community and also portray the true image of Khajuraho to tourists. It has been proved that there hasn’t been any complaint of sexual harassment or prostitution, which shows that the local community is more responsive about social norms (Menon, 1993) and some of the local people have managed to make marriage relationship with foreigners. After all, some of the local community still indulge in their daily prayers and go to the temples for worshiping which point towards the conscientious tourism in the area.

Negative socio-cultural impact

The migration and settlement of outsiders have changed Khajuraho social and cultural environment, as now the local populations is consisting of various ethnic groups who drifted to make business via tourism. The local language spoken is very less in Khajuraho as majority of people living in Khajuraho are nonnative. From my personal experience in Khajuraho, what I could see mainly was the children and young people are following the path of tourism to make money easily rather than going to schools and colleges. Most of them are grabbed by travel agents to become guides and receive commission from them. Ultimately tourism has brought in these multi cultural societies who sell the true art for money into Khajuraho and broken the integrity of local culture.

Recommendations and final thoughts

“The promotional material and the information available to the tourists, reduce Khajuraho to a single-issue destination” Menon (1993). This image of Khajuraho is more likely a single point destination where the tourism is only focused on the sensual sculptures in the temples. Instead of publicizing the true illustration, the tourists are falsified by the travel agent mafias which make them to take pleasure in the erotic part of the heritage art worked temples instead of understanding the true principles of an ancient civilization existed there. Hence the government should be more responsible to stop these misleading by establishing examples such as providing proper tourism marketing campaigns, awareness seminars and cultured guiding system. Instead of focusing only on the temples, tourism board should take hand in developing the vicinity and neighboring locality as they are still under poverty and the wildlife around Khajuraho still remains unguarded though it is reserved.

“Over the past years Asian countries have on looked incredible social, cultural, political and technological changes” (Pandey, Chettri, Kunwar and Ghimire, 1995).These significant changes have been received by the far-fetched development of tourism in the subjected countries. Despite the fact that tourism fosters the national economy to a certain extent, it has definite impacts on country’s enlightening ethnicity and legacy while leaving the natural possessions to an economic item of trade for income. According to Bandyopadhyay, Morais, Chick (2008, p.791), ”Tourism is not just an aggregate of merely commercial activities; it is also an ideological framing of history, nature and tradition; a framing that has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs.” It is apparent from this report that, these factors have certainly affected either positively or negatively on the values of economic, environmental and socio cultural in Khajuraho. The final say is tourism in Khajuraho has fostered over the years and it has changed many factors, it is the obligation of each and every single tourist who comes to visit Khajuraho to practice ‘responsible tourism’ while mesmerized by the prehistoric sandstone shades of ancient arts.

Aim of the report: The main focus is on how they improve the public transport system for local .Though this analysis, we will get to see the improvement of the public transport system like bus, trains ,taxis ,fares and the facilities in both bus and trains including bus stop , trains station and taxi stand.

CONTENT :
Pages

Introduction on LTA

4

How the planning of rail system does influence the land transport system?

2.1) History and expansion of routes

2.2)LRT

2.3)Maps

2.4)Facilities in and out of the station

5- 10

How does providing more bus and taxi along the road benefit to us?

3.1)Bus service provided

3.2)taxi

3.3) fare

11-13

SWOT analysis

strength

weakness

opportunity

Threat

14-16

5)Recommendation

6)references

16-17
1.Introduction

LTA which is known as Land Transport Authority was formed in 1 September 1995 after merging with 4 government agencies:

Registry of Vehicles

Mass Rapid Transit Corporation

Roads & Transportation Division of the Public Works Department of Singapore

Land Transport Division of the then-Ministry of Communication

LTA has the responsibility to lead the overall public transport system in Singapore like rail,bus,taxis and road(for example: expressway)The aim of LTA is to provide a public transport network that are effective, time-saving, economical and sustainable to meet local’s requirement based on overall financial(economic) status.Secondly,to set up a environment-free while creating the best use of our transport measures and to provide security for the well-being of the local that travel by public transport.

2.How does the planning of rail system influences the land transport system?
2.1)History of trains system and expansion of route

MRT(mass rapid transit) is the backbone of the Singapore railway system. There are currently 87 stations in operation.31 stations on East-West line, 25 stations on North-South line, 15 stations on North-East line and 16 stations on Circle line. It was operated by these 2 companies: SMRT and SBS Transit. Trains frequency for peaks hours is between the range of 1-2mins, for non-peak hours is about 4-8 mins.

The planning of route was began in the year 1967 ,it was part of an urban renewal and development project which aimed to formulate a long-term comprehensive concept plan for facilitating the Singapore’s future development. The trains routes are expected to operate in the year 1992.It consist of 67 km of track to be constructed, with 42 stations, of which 26 would be elevated, 1 at grade and 15 underground. It was managed by MRT Corporation which is currently LTA.

The construction of train route began in the year 1983,and the first stage of train route was completed and operated in 7 November 1987 and the last stage was completed in July 1990 which marks the completion of train routes 2 years ahead of schecules.Each direction was determined by TWO COLOUR at that time.

http://www.google.com.sg/imglanding?q=mrt%20map&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Singapore_old_mrt_map.png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singapore_old_mrt_map.png&usg=__tSbLsy80d3dWMYwtTkzTJt92pzE=&h=968&w=1280&sz=157&hl=en&sig2=Qna-1ryn2j2gnFMg7roR3w&itbs=1&tbnid=acuCejOKZKC9mM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmrt%2Bmap%26start%3D36%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=miFUTMWeJMO9rAe2woTzAw&start=34&sa=N&gbv=2&ndsp=18&tbs=isch:1#tbnid=acuCejOKZKC9mM&start=38

Subsequence Extension:

Due to more towns was being developed in the early 1990s, more lines were be constructed to reach the people’s needs and conveniences. One of it were be Woodlands line, it serve the residents living in Woodlands,Sembawang directly to the city and Jurong East instead of transferring bus at Woodlands centre or Yishun.Construction begin on the year 1993 and completed in 1996.It replaced the northern terminus,Yishun to present,Jurong East.

Next ,the following extension were made :

Lines
Purpose

North-East Line( SBS transit)

To serve a fast,conveniences,time saving routes from the new develop place like Punggol and Sengkang to the city

Changi Airport Extension(SMRT)

To serve a direct train service from other places and city (tourist and local).

Serve an other transport options for businessman, exhibition organizer to Changi South industrial park and Singapore Expo

Circle line(SMRT)

To serve a time-saver route to one place to another

Serve as a purpose of bring passengers to the heart of Marina Bay, for example Marina Bay Sands.

Reduce the crowds at the busy interchange like City Hall and Raffles Places.

Downtown Line(future lines)

To serve a time-saver route to one place to another

Besides serving to the heart of Marina Bay,it serve the busy Central Business District from east and north-west side of Singapore

Reduce the crowds at the busy interchange like City Hall and Raffles Places.

Thomson line(future lines)

Shorten the time from Northern side of Singapore to Central Business District

Reduce the crowd on the North South Line

Eastern Region Line(future lines)

Serve the residential area in South-eastern side of Singapore

It connects the Marina Bay areas bypass the residential areas to Changi.

Extension of East West Line and North-South Line & the JEMP

East West Line:

Serve as the connectivity between the Jurong West residential area to the heart of Tuas

Reduce the time travel by trains instead of bus

North South Line

Serve as the direct connection between Marina Bay to upcoming development in Marina south area.

Shorten the waiting time and the crowd at jurong east station (JEMP)

2.2)LRT

LRT(Light rapid transit) consist of 3 lines,Bukit Panjang LRT,Punggol LRT and Sengkang LRT.The purpose of constructing LRT is that to serve a feeder service to link to MRT stations. It reduces the traffic congestion on the road and in addition, the LRT train is environmental free. The LRT system is operated by this two operators: SMRT and SBS transit.

2.3) Maps

Due to more line being built, the old map cannot be used because it is very difficult to determined and they are run out of colour to represent the line. Instead of using 2 colours, they use one colour to represent a line:

Green represents East West line

Red represents North South Line

Purple represents North-East line

Orange represents Circle line

Brown represents Downtown Line.

Grey represents LRT

http://www.lta.gov.sg/projects/index_proj_maprail.htm

2.4) Facilities in the station

For the benefits for the all passenger, LTA set up a road sign to each of the MRT exit in order to allow the passengers who alight to find their correct way out. As for the convenience for the elderly and wheelchair passengers, barriers and lift will be built on the exit, concourse and platform instead of escalators and staircase. A wide fare gate was installed for wheelchair passengers. It is to allow them to have a safe journey.

3. How does providing more bus and taxi along the road benefit to us?
3.1) Bus service provided

More roads was built, more basic bus were diverted to new bus terminal or extend the distances of the trip. It is to serve a direct convenient service from town to the city. Due to the heavy traffic congestion during peak hours, Express bus and premium bus are provided to cater the passengers from town to city within a shorter time. Express buses operate everyday from 6am to latest 11.30pm but as for the premium bus, it only operates during morning peak hours.

Premium bus cost more expensive as express bus and other basic bus because it serve as a comfortable and direct bus service to CBD.It only have one trip every Monday to Friday and cost about $3.50 .

Night rider bus and Nite owl bus serves a direct and comfortable service from city to town after the last train and basic bus has ended. It normally operate at 11.30pm to 4.30am for Night rider service which operate by SMRT and 12am to 2am for nite owl bus service which operate by SBS on every Friday, Saturday and eve of public holiday. Night rider cost about $3.50 per trip and as for night owl, if it is between each HDB town or from city to town will be $4, if within HDB town, it will cost $1.50 per trip.

3.2)Taxis

Nowaday, getting a taxi is much simpler. You may call cab through the hotline booking, hail along the roadside and queuing at taxi stand outside shopping mall , mrt station or hotel .Taxi can be hail anywhere on the road as long as it doesn’t cause any traffic congestion or waiting for a taxi at the taxi stand.

Taxi stand usually located at the place where there is high demand of taxi like mrt station, outside shopping centre or CBD. Taxi cannot be hail or stop along the road where it is next or near to the taxi stand, bus lanes during their operational hours, lanes with double zigzags lines, and at bus stops, all public roads and side roads in the CBD.

LTA has put up a sign board around the taxi stand in the CBD area so that driver and commuters can take note of the sign board.

There is less taxi available during morning and evening peak hours. Long queue can be seen in high demand location. Passenger may consider booking a taxi half and hour to one hour before to check the availability of the taxi.

3.3) Fares

Distances fares were introduced on 3 July 2010 by Public Transport Council. Bus and train fare will be charged according to distances you have travelled, and it will not impose any additional charged and no transfer penalty on every transfer trip within your journey. You also may also choose the route that you feel comfortable when you travel.

There are rules to follow when you are using distances fare:

Fares must be paid by ez-link and NETS FLASHPAY card

Transfer must be done within 45 minutes and maximum transfer can only made up to 5 transfer

Your journey must be complete within 2 hours.

Train network is only allowed one entry and exit in one journey.

Same bus number is not allowed to board and alight twice within a journey.

It has the standard charges of first 3.2km of $0.71 and above 40.2 of fixed charged $1.94. As for Senior citizens, they will enjoy 25% discount off adult fares and pay a fixed charged for travel beyond 7.2km of $0.86 .Standard charges for first 3.2km for senior citizen is $0.53. Senior citizens’ concession fare is applicable for all day on weekends and public holidays but they have to start their journeys after 9am on weekdays to enjoy concession fare.

As for students(exclude polytechnics and university student),they will enjoy they will enjoy 50% discount off adult fares and pay a fixed charged for travel beyond 7.2km of $0.58 .Standard charges for student for first 3.2km is $0.36. Polytechnics student, university student and NS man will be charged according to adult fare. Student and NS man concession is applicable in monthly basis. Concession is divided into 3 categories: bus concession (unlimited rides on basis bus services per month), train concession (4 rides per day), hybrid concession (combination of bus and train concession per month).

Monthly Bus Concession Passes

Card Holder

Concession cost(per month)

Primary school student

$22.50

Secondary school student

$27.50

Tertiary student

$52.00

NS man

$61.00

Monthly Train Concession Passes

Card Holder

Concession cost(per month)

Primary school student

$20

Secondary school student

$25

Tertiary student

$45

NS man

$50

Monthly Hybrid Concession Passes(for both bus and train)

Card Holder

Concession cost(per month)

Primary school student

$42.50

Secondary school student

$52.50

Tertiary student

$97.00

NS man

$111.00

But there are some bus service that doesn’t applicable for distances fares and concession like Premium Bus, Night rider bus,Parks,Chinatown direct and niteowl.This bus has its fixed amount. As for Express, it does charge according to distances fares but concession is not applicable. For student, which is similar to basic bus service, they will enjoy they will enjoy 50% discount off adult fares and pay a fixed charged for travel beyond 7.2km of $0.88 .For senior citizen, which is also the similar to basic bus service, they will enjoy 25% discount off adult fares and pay a fixed charged for travel beyond 7.2km of $1.31.Express bus has its standard charge of 3.2km of $1.31 and maximum charge of 40.2 km of $2.54. Standard charges for first 3.2km for senior citizen is $0.98 and standard charges for student for first 3.2km is $0.66.

Taxi fare is charge based on the metre .Additional charges on Midnight, Morning and evening peak hours, Public Holiday, trip to Central Business District (CBD) during peak hours and other location related surcharges are also applicable.

4)SWOT analysis
Strength

As above introduction mention, the aim of LTA is to give commuters more choice of transportation modes, enhance the effectiveness of the transport network and its accessibility.

Based on the graph above, the average daily ridership has increased in MRT and LRT in past fifteen years due to more MRT and LRT lines has built and it helps to save more time from each direction of town in Singapore to the city areas.

For bus and taxi, it shows that the number is fluctuated in these 15 years. This may due to more bus services is created and more new roads and expressway has constructed that makes more choice of transport mode that causes the fluctuation.

LTA has won a Singapore Quality awards in 2009, the award is to reward to the whole organisation that put in more effort to improve and deliver innovative and quality service to the commuters. The main key of success is the cooperation between partners like public transport operators (SMRT, SBS), engineering/construction contractors to improve the service they provide.

It strongly believes that innovative services may provide satisfaction to the public. Convenient and user-friendly, customer touch-points such as ONE.MOTORING, 77LTA SMS service and the Integrated Feedback Management System are established so that customers may enjoy a less-troublesome, convenient and pleasant experience with LTA.Innovation services helps LTA to serve a faster, one-stop and convenient electronic information like Public Transport Portal and real-time bus arrival

Information via SMS (Applicable in every bus stop or through Handphone GPRS or GPS function.)

It also launches the LTA MASTERPLAN in the year 2008.Aim of the LTA master plan is to supervise the development on land transport system in next decade.

Weakness

Because there is more rail suicide accident in elevated mrt station, a certain crowded station has already installed the platform screen doors since 2009.It is best to install platform screen doors in every elevated mrt station as soon as possible in order to prevent any accident happen and ensures the commuters safety.

Till now, the overcrowding situation during Peak hours is still unsolved. Even through SMRT and SBS has provided more train running during peak hours but the problem still exist.LTA plan to solve this problem by JEMP,and building more mrt lines like Downtown line that pass by the city area.

When Distance fares were launched on 3 July 2010, there was error in fare charges due to the incorrect distances detected. Instead of paying less, the commuters need to pay more. As at 15 August 2010, TransitLink has given refunds to a total of 80 claims due to distance errors.

4.3) Opportunities

Public Transport Council has been partnership with LTA, SMRT, SBS, and Singapore Kindness Movement to promote proper behaviour in public transport by Dim Sum Dollies (DSDs) as the ambassadors for the whole campaign in Sept 2010.Song will be played in crowded MRT station and bus interchange to create awareness of the good behaviour in public transport.

Threat

LTA is very concern about the security in Singapore public transport. It is one of the popular places for terrorist attack. It has already happened in trains and buses in the city of Madrid , London & Mumbai ,causes a lot of death ,injured, a decrease in economy & striking psychological fear & unrest among the citizens. It has shows us the intention of the terrorist.

LTA has authorised Public Transport Security Committee to plans and execute the measure of improving the security of Singapore public transport system by

Setting up CCTV in everywhere in exit, station concourse and platform

Trained police officers and transit security officers are also deployed at our MRT station to ensure the security of the commuters and prevent terrorist attack.

Public education through posters and LCD screen in the station concourse and platform was implemented and in station announcement was made to increase the commuters’ security awareness

Increase the support by commuter by reporting suspicious person, bags, equipment that they find it suspicious to the respective authority.

Recommendations

In conclusion, I feel that LTA has done a very good job except for the peak hours overcrowding situation and the fares. During peak hours, the bus and trains waiting time and frequency was longer (for circle line only) and yet it is very packed till the commuters have to wait for the next bus or trains.I think they should shorten the waiting time, and increase the number of frequency of bus and trains during peak hours.

Regarding the fares, even although monthly concession is benefit to a lot of students and NS men, it has increase by $2 as the distances fares is required to pay less. It is best to make it balances so that the distances and monthly concession can pay standard and reasonable prices.

Heritage is property of the world. It has important evidences of past incidents and changes and it is the necessity to conserve it without political involvement and racial discrimination (UNESCO, 2004). So far Graham et al. (2000, p40) suggested Heritage is tremendously concerned in the construction and legitimating of collective constructs of uniqueness, such as group, gender, religion, civilization and nationalism.

When we talk about the relation of heritage into tourism industry, at first, holy cities such as Rome are acknowledged as a highly multifunctional and even ‘multi heritage’ place, as a result, the heritage attractions positively become the feature of Italy for tourist. To manifest the implication of heritage is consequently the key point of managing a heritage sites.

As cultural heritage tourism is mostly depending on the history, the event in the past has abundant evidence that how the past travels had been changing the entire pages of each century and affected our past life. Much of it is also passed on form age to age occasionally in the form in which it actually “happen” but more often as “myth or fable”. In whichever form it is of prime importance to a tourism professional, particularly in the circumstances such as the one obtaining in India with wealthy cultural heritage having continuity form the ancient (IGNOU, 2002). The process of finding will continue to the future because no one predict that how many real stories have buried in the earth or still has not being found. But somehow scholars has been able to find the real incident of past with the help of evidences of literature which still present all over the world as well as the role of science and researchers. An archaeology department of each country is encouraging the researchers to find out about our past. These particular reasons also encouraged to the selection of the dissertation topic, so at first this will focus on past history and development of Ajanta and Ellora caves and then it will look at the past record of tourist information and the with the help of available secondary data from Books, Journal articles, news papers past surveys and the information available from the internet, respective governments and non government agencies such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, IUCN, GHF, etc.

Introduction:

Cultural heritage conservation is always a centre of discussion in the form of developing economy of various nations. Cultural heritage tourism product is becoming a prime source for develop and developing countries. Countries like India where every tourist gets glimpses of diverse culture in his/her entire journey. India is primarily a cultural destination in international tourism in these are the features of India marketed as tourism product in international as well as domestic circuit. Domestic tourism competition already has begun in India from past decades every states government has been developing their strategies with the help of international organization to improve the tourism. In result due to sudden changes the competition can be seen among service providers as from hawkers to a large scale stakeholders. In scenario market everyone’s mind has been diverting toward the heritage sites in India, thus it’s creating trafficking of tourists as well as service providers. So it is affecting the quality of services and facilities. So it shows a different picture of hospitality and tourism industry in India.

Visitors/ tourists these are the main driver of tourism industries. Firstly, the different demands and requirement of individual is affecting on tourism industry in India such as tailor made tours and the class of tourist. Also the issues and understanding of heritage tourism by people it may be visitors/tourists or local communities are different.

There are two types of tourists are who has interested to visit a cultural sites around the world and the second one who Most of the people’s travel interest is to watch heritage sites around the world and some leisure activity thus it boosting the economy of respective destination. The most important part of tourism is a cultural as well as natural heritage property. So it always remains prime attraction to most of the people to come and enjoy their holidays. This dissertation will focus on the every aspects of cultural heritage tourism industry such as supply, demand, conservation management, interpretation, authenticity and politics of cultural heritage site.

The primary data can receive with the help of some questionnaire to understand the real nature and find out what can do more to achieve the overall development at Ajanta and Ellora Caves at Aurangabad.

To understand the World cultural heritage site here the UNESCO considers that as a monuments, architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science; groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of exceptional universal importance from the point of view of history, art or science; sites: works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of excellent universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view.

In contrast it is suggested that World Heritage Sites should not only be exemplary situations for the pursuit of research but also be closely identified with the creation and maintenance of different kinds of knowledge (Darvill, T., 2007). People always willing to learn new things or exchange the knowledge between each other, it is nothing but to become aware about our surroundings and changing of trends in scenario market.

Here, In the Krakow Charter (2000), a monument is defined as “a clearly determined entity, the bearer of values, which represent a support to memory. In it, memory recognises the aspects that are relevant to human performance and feelings, associated with the historic time-line” (Vecco, M 2010).

Economic

In the Times of India there was an article about heritage tourism and in that the Atul Sethi has mentioned that Heritage can become a serious economic driver for India, if the country is able to get its act together. If we take an example as future 2025, so the picture of the heritage site will give different view as no beggars or touts in particular area like Maluti temple, a world heritage site in Jharkhand India. So tourist can enjoy the holistic experience of the temples and can savour the living legacy of the region. The heritage tourism in India is attracting hordes of international and domestic tourist and top of the line contributors to the country’s foreign exchange and GDP. The global heritage fund organizations 2010 report says that developing countries like India can tap a $ 100 billion a year opportunity by 2025, if they make sincere attempt to preserve and responsibly develop their heritage sites.

Literature Review:
Introduction:

This chapter will investigate the perception of cultural heritage tourism and visitor management as well as development of tourism at site by reviewing several concerned literatures. The review will start with the overview of cultural heritage tourism including the concept of Culture, heritage, cultural heritage tourism and cave architecture from different World Heritage Sites to understand the their current scenario of cultural heritage tourism management. The review will be followed by the discussion on visitor impacts, their experience and management. Also it will focus on the intermediaries of cultural heritage tourism.

Cultural heritage tourism:

Cultural Tourism is the subset of tourism that is defined as travel directed toward experiencing the traditional and contemporary culture, arts, and special character of a place. This includes the performing, visual and literary arts, language, museums, heritage, crafts, architecture, design, film and broadcasting. The primary benefit of cultural tourism is economic impact. There are plenty of statistics that talk about the fact that travellers who participate in cultural activities spend more money and stay longer than leisure travellers. A good cultural tourism plan shapes and defines a community’s image, both to itself and to the outside world

Cultural tourism and cultural heritage management work as equivalent activities in most places with really little conversation between the two (Mckercher and Du Cros, 2002). As it shows common interest between the cultural and cultural heritage is the management, conservation, and preservation of the cultural and heritage properties. So the results of this many lost opportunities to provide value to visitor experiences even though managing rare and weak resources in a social context, environmentally and ethically responsible and sustainable manner. Sometimes this loss results in some (and scholars stress some) unprincipled tourism operator exploring local culture and heritage assets for their own personal gain (Mckercher and Du Cros, 2002).

Hall and Zeppel (1990a:87 in Timothy and Boyd, 2003) stated that relation between cultural and heritage tourism is:

Cultural heritage is experiential tourism based on being involved in and stimulated by the performing arts and festivals. Heritage tourism, whether in the form of visiting preferred landscapes, historic sites, buildings or monuments is also experiential tourism in the sense of seeking an encounter with nature or feeling part of the history of a place.

Most researchers believe that heritage is linked to the past which symbolizes some sort of gift to be passed down to current as well as future generations, both in terms of cultural traditions and physical objects (Hardy, 1988 cited in Timothy and Boyd 2003). But in contrast many authors have pointed out that what elements of past a society need to maintain (Fladmark 1998; Graham et al., 2000; Hall and McArthur 1998 in Timothy and Boyd 2003). As there are many incidents all cannot link to the cultural aspects. This makes selective sort of heritage it assumes some aspect of value, that which is of personal value is labelled as personal or family heritage, whereas those values dictated by nations or communities become ‘our’ heritage (Hall and McArthur 1998 cited in Timothy and Boyd 2003). Hall and Zappel (1990) observed differently that the connections between cultural and heritage tourism, stating that Cultural tourism is experiential tourism based on being involved in and stimulated by the performing arts, visual arts and festivals. Heritage tourism whether in the form of visiting preferred landscapes, historic sites, building or monuments, is also experiential tourism in the sense of seeking an encounter with nature or feeling part of the history of a place.

However the most internationally accepted definition of heritage was defined by UNESCO that “Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to the future generations” (UNESCO 2008a, p.5).

Furthermore Timothy and Boyd (2003) stated that heritage can be divided into tangible immovable resources (e.g. national park, sanctuaries, monuments, buildings), tangible movable resources (e.g. objects in museums) and intangible resources including values, customs, ceremonies, lifestyles and experiences such as cultural events, currently UNESCO focusing on folk dances of south India as a cultural heritage( ). It defines that heritage tourism as ‘an immersion in the natural history human heritage, arts, philosophy and institutions of another region or country’ (Timothy and Boyd 2003).

The importance of Heritage

The importance of heritage and reasons for preserving heritage can be described into four aspects which are social, economical, scientific and political (Hall and McArthur 1993a). In social significance, heritage refers to personal and collective identity people and society have which can lead to create a sense of belonging. The sense of belonging and social conscience is a driver to consider preservation in the first place. In terms of economic importance, heritage is preserved because of its value for tourism and recreation. As being a large scale business, heritage tourism can generate incomes for the sites either from visitor spending or sponsorship from various stakeholders (Hall and McArthur 1993a). Further mainly Heritage have scientific and educational importance since heritage attractions especially natural heritage sites such as national parks may have rare habitat and endangered species which will be useful for scientific researches as well as the monuments and wonders of the worlds creates more opportunities to the scientist and researchers to find out the exact meaning of the past it may be by digging by the archaeological department of each country or the scientific analysis of wall paintings at various world heritage sites (Hall and McArthur 1993a). In terms of political importance, Hall and McArthur (1993a, p. 9) state that “the importance and demonstration of heritage may serve political ends” as the conservation and interpretation of certain heritage attractions may serve to underline a particular version of history or to promote existing political values.

Current tourist demand:

According to (Pavliv, 2009) up gradation in the standard of living is become a main cause of rises in fluctuation of tourists spending for example the income generating from the modern tourism commodities. Modern tourist’s behaviour is the main factor in current tourism industry. As currently many of travel operations that could be from demand side or supply side are in boom because ease of accessing Information through internet. So the importance of information technology in the current industry is the main factor while considering the supply and demand of tourism industry. Also it can be assumed that the personal needs of the modern tourism have more influence compare to old masses of tourism. The current tourism mostly depended on economic mass and production to consume mass, standardized and rigidly packaged holidays. The new tourists are dictating the pace and direction of industry changes (Poon, 1993 in Pavlic, 2009).

New tourist’s behaviour is the most important factor in the modern tourism development. Consequently, here the intention of the research is to find out the main factors and consequences of tourism demand changes. The researcher wants to find out if there is the universal type of tourist for the universal tourism supply or there are different types that require different marketing approach for example the e-tourism method to attract the tourists. Also the goals of the paper are to research the main causes of changes in modern tourism. The stated phenomenon has exerted a great influence onto the behavioural changes, as well as on the change in structure of the existing needs of tourist demand compare with the previous period. While the old mass tourism, apparently identical tourists were forced by the economic and mass production to consume mass, standardized and rigidly packaged holidays of every group of people and individual, new tourist consider the changes in this industry are and it affecting on their individual decision (Poon, 1993 cited in Pavlic, 2009). For ex: tour packages.

Vellas & Becherel (1997 in Pavlic, 2009) the modern tourist can be classified in various factors and in that three main factors which particularly in demand of travel of tourist firstly, demographic and communal changes. These factors mainly control by traditional and existing outbound market respectively these are two main markets in this industry so as far as concern it has enormous influence on the individual tourist as well as on international tourism. Secondly, leisure time and duration of holidays is greater than before as.

Segmentation of holidays and market segmentation.

Chapter 3
A case study of Ajanta and Ellora caves

The consideration of architectural heritage had been a matter of national concern only at most the laws regarding protection of historic building in Europe date back to that period of their national borders. There are numerous cultural groups live in each country, but their scope never went beyond the boundaries. The cultural internationalism was a result of the First World War, with the formation of the confederation of Nations, and most of all of the Second World War, with the formation of the United Nations Organization and the establishment of the UNECO (ICOMOS, 2010).

The chapter provides a literature review of cultural heritage tourism in India, Particularly at Ajanta and Ellora Caves World Heritage sites inscribed in 1983 by UNESCO at Aurangabad, India. These caves are great example of cave architecture from the 2nd to 6th century. It is mainly demonstrate the Buddhist, Jain and Hindu religion cultures. So, these studies will focuses on the religious diversity of cultures in India as well as it involve the importance of heritage visitor’s management at those sites. And then it will compare with other world heritage sites. As what can do more to maintain/sustain the balance between demand and supply side of heritage tourism industry in India. Increasing tourists and the conservation of heritage sites these are the main issues now days. So, as subsidizing product of tourism industry what are the main significance and characteristics of cultural heritage tourism and its importance around the world and in India particularly at Ajanta and Ellora caves.

According to the UNESCO, the Ajanta Caves are the masterwork of the Archaeological rock cut caves. The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. During the Gupta dynasty period (5th and 6th centuries A.D.), highly abundantly decorated caves were added to the original group. The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta, considered as a stunning success of Buddhist religious art, have had a considerable artistic influence.

As it mentioned above the Ajanta caves depict the role of the Buddhist community, intellectual and religious halls, schools for self development based on the teaching of “Vipassana”. In the Buddhist tradition which means insight into the nature of reality. Vipassana is one of world’s most ancient techniques of meditation; it is a practice of self-transformation through self-observation and introspection. In English, vipassana is often referred to simply as “insight meditation”. The caves also was a reception centres in the India of the Gupta and their immediate successors.

The caves are located 100 km north-east of Ellora, 104 km from Aurangabad, Maharashtra India and 52 km from Jalgaon Railway Station. They are cut into the volcanic lava of the Deccan in the forest ravines of the Sahyadri Hills and are set in beautiful sylvan surroundings. The most important part is these magnificent caves containing carvings that depict the life of Buddha, and their carvings and sculptures are considered to be the beginning of classical Indian art. And this is main reason why tourist and researchers attract to those sites.

The description of the caves is, the total number of caves are 30 but one is unfinished caves so the 29 caves were excavated beginning around 200 BC, but they were abandoned in AD 650 in favour of Ellora. In that five of the caves were temples and 24 were monasteries, thought to have been occupied by some 200 monks and artisans. After 7th century to 18th century there was no any supportive record has found, it may be because of increased forest surrounding of the site and that it was forgotten until their ‘rediscovery’ by a British tiger-hunting party in 1819.

The Ajanta site consists of 29 caves cut into the side of a cliff which rises above a wander in the Waghora River. Today the caves are reached by a road which runs along a terrace mid-way up the cliff; however each cave was once linked by a stairway to the edge of the water. This is a Buddhist community, comprises five sanctuaries or Chaitya-grihas (caves number 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) and monastic complex sangharamas or viharas. A first group of caves was formed in the 2nd century BC: the Chaitya-grihas open into the rock wall by doorways surmounted by a horse-shoe shaped bay. The ground plan is a basilical one: piers separate the principal nave from the side walkway which joins in the apsis to permit the ritual circumambulation behind the (commemorative monument). This rupestral architecture scrupulously reproduces the forms and elements visible in wooden constructions.

A second group of caves was created at a later date, the 5th and 6th centuries AD, during the Gupta and post-Gupta periods. These caves were excavated during the supremacy of the Vakatakas and Guptas. According to inscriptions, Varahadeva, the minister of the Vakataka king, Harishena (c. AD 475-500), dedicated Cave 16 to the Buddhist sangha while Cave 17 was the gift of the prince, a feudatory. An inscription records that the Buddha image in Cave 4 was the gift of some Abhayanandi who hailed from Mathura.

The earlier architectural formulas were re-employed but treated in an infinitely richer and more ample manner. The decoration attained, at this time, an unequalled splendour: the statuary is numerous (it was already permissible to represent Buddha as a human; these representations are found both on the facades and in the interior). Finally, the wall painting, profuse and sensitive, constitutes, no doubt, the most striking artistic achievement of Ajanta.

Under the impulse of the Gupta dynasty, Indian art in effect reached its apogee. The Ajanta Caves are generally decorated with painted or sculpted figures of supple form and classic balance with which the name of the dynasty has remained synonymous. The refined lightness of the decoration, the balance of the compositions, the marvellous beauty of the feminine figures place the paintings of Ajanta among the major achievements of the Gupta and post-Gupta style and confer on them the ranking of a masterpiece of universal pictorial art.

Here needs to understand the history of India as how the past events has changed its culture first major civilisation Indus River valley was found early five thousand years back. The twin cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappa World heritage site UNESCO now in Pakistan were ruled by priests and held the fundamentals of Hinduism. These civilisations are known to possess a sophisticated way of life, a highly developed sense of aesthetics, an astounding knowledge of town planning and an unreadable script language. The Indus culture at one point of time extended nearly a million square kilometres across the Indus river valley. It existed at the same time as the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer but far outlasted them. Surviving for nearly a thousand years the Indus valley civilisation fell to tectonic upheavals in about 1700 BC, which caused a series of floods.

The Aryans came around 1500 BC, and that was the reason to the collapsing Indus Valley culture. At the dawn of Vedic ages the Aryans came in from the North and spread through large parts of India bringing with them their culture and religious beliefs.

Pleased

In 567 B.C. Siddhartha Gautama was born. After asceticism and meditation, Siddhartha Gautama discovered the Buddhist Middle Way-a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.

Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment sitting under a Pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, (A name of place) India Gautama, from then on, was known as “The Perfectly Self-Awakened One,” the Samyaksambuddha. There are lots of paintings and sculptures “Vipassana”.

During this time lived Mahavira, who founded the Jain Religion. The Indian subcontinent is full of caves and monuments devoted to these religions and are worth a visit.

After two hundred years, in the 4th century B.C., Emperor Ashoka, one of the greatest King of Indian histories, led the Mauryan Empire to take over almost all of what is now modern India. This great leader embraced Buddhism and built the group of monuments at Sanchi (a UNESCO world heritage site). The Ashoka pillar (four lions are seated back to back on single cut rock pillar) at Sarnath has been adopted by India as its national emblem and the Dharma Chakra on the Ashoka Pillar adorns the National Flag.

They were followed by the Guptas in the north, while in the south part of India quite a few different Hindu empires, the Cholas, the Pandyas and the Cheras spread and grew, did business with Europe and other parts of Asia till the end of the 1100s.

Christianity came in India at about the same time from Europe. Legend has it that St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in India in 52 A.D. Even earlier than that people of the Jewish religion arrived on India’s shores.

In about the 7th century A.D. a group of Zoroastrians, or Parsees, landed in Gujarat and became a part of the large mix of religions in India today, each of which adds its important and distinctive flavour.

In the 15th century Guru Nanak laid the foundation of the Sikh religion in Punjab.

In 1192, Mohammed of Ghori, a ruler from Afghanistan, came into India and captured several places in the north including Delhi. When he went home he left one of his generals in charge who became the first Sultan of Delhi. During this time Islam, was introduced into a major part of Northern India. It can be mentioned that even before that, just after the period of the prophet, Islam was brought to the western coast of India by Arab traders and flourished in what is now Kerala.

The Dehli Sultanate gradually took control of more and more of North India over the next 200 years, till Timur, who was called “Timur the Lame” or “Tamberlane” came from Turkey in 1398 to attack India. He and his army stole all the valuables that they could carry and left again, Soon the Mughals, who were from Iran, came in and took control of the north.

In the meantime south, in 1336, the Hindu Vijayanagar empire was set up and became very strong.

The Europeans – Portuguese, French, Dutch, Danish and British – started arriving in the early 1600s. The above people held territories in India and made a good friends as well as enemies among India’s rulers as they got more and more involved, with the Indian politics, however the British who eventually controlled most of India and finally made it one of their colonies.

Two hundred years later, in the 4th century B.C., Emperor Ashoka, one of the greatest King of Indian histories, led the Mauryan Empire to take over almost all of what is now modern India. This great leader embraced Buddhism and built the group of monuments at Sanchi (a UNESCO world heritage site). The Ashoka pillar at Sarnath has been adopted by India as its national emblem and the Dharma Chakra on the Ashoka Pillar adorns the National Flag.

They were followed by the Guptas in the north, while in the south part of India several different Hindu empires, the Cholas, the Pandyas and the Cheras spread and grew, trading with Europe and other parts of Asia till the end of the 1100s.

Christianity entered India at about the same time from Europe. Legend has it that St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in India in 52 A.D. Even earlier than that people of the Jewish religion arrived on India’s shores.

In approximately the 7th century A.D. a group of Zoroastrians, or Parsees, landed in Gujarat and became a part of the large mix of religions in India today, each of which adds its important and distinctive flavour.

In the 15th century Guru Nanak laid the foundation of the Sikh religion in Punjab.

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In 1192, Mohammed of Ghori, a ruler from Afghanistan, came into India and captured several places in the north including Delhi. When he went home he left one of his generals in charge who became the first Sultan of Delhi. During this time Islam, was introduced into a major part of Northern India. It may be mentioned that even before that, just after the period of the prophet, Islam was brought to the western coast of India by Arab traders and flourished in what is now Kerala.

The Dehli Sultanate gradually took control of more and more of North India over the next 200 years, till Timur, who was called “Timur the Lame” or “Tamberlane” came from Turkey in 1398 to attack India. He and his army stole all the valuables that they could carry and left again, and after that the Delhi Sultanate was never so strong again. Soon the Mughals, who were from Iran, came in and took control of the north.

In the meantime south, in 1336, the Hindu Vijayanagar empire was set up and became very strong.

The Europeans – Portuguese, French, Dutch, Danish and British – started arriving in the early 1600s. All of them held territories in India and made friends and enemies among India’s rulers as they got more and more involved, with the Indian politics, but it was the British who eventually controlled most of India and finally made it one of their colonies.

India got its independence from Britain in 1947 after a long struggle led mostly by Mahatma Gandhi. In the process of becoming independent, India became two countries instead of one. In the years since independence India has made huge progress and coped with great problems, and has developed its industry and its agriculture, and has maintained a system of government which makes it the largest democracy in the world.

India got its independence from Britain in 1947. Since independence India has made huge evolution and muddle through with great problems, and has maintained a system of government which makes it the largest democracy in the world.

Every community and nation try to protect, conserve and develop heritage as an asset, particularly to make them important tourist sites by developing better infrastructure and facilities, which offer a rich cultural experience to tourists and ensure cultural and natural heritage of the destination to be preserved and conserved.

To extend INTACH’s mandate beyond conservation, the Heritage Tourism Division was set up in December 2005. A cogent system of sustenance of heritage sites was evolved in the activities of the Division. This would allow people to have access to and understand heritage sites in complete detail. The Heritage Tourism Division’s primary work is to synergize heritage with tourism.

The Division works for development of sustainable tourism connected with heritage as an asset. A development of tourist facilities is in harmony with the local eco-system and heritage architecture, and regulates sensitivity of design in architectural style of construction of any new tourist facilities. The aim of developing tourism is to conserve and utilize buildings to sustain their maintenance. Heritage Tourism development aspects are:

Community Development of tourist receiving destination

Socio-economic Growth of the receiving community

Preservation and Conservation of cultural and natural heritage sites

Income Generation

Abstract

In the present context of an increasingly globalized world, and the nature of the tourism industry, it is worthwhile to note if Porter’s Diamond framework still provides answers to the changing competitiveness of Thailand’s tourism and identifies success factors and factors detrimental to its competitiveness. A revised version of the Diamond framework has been proposed for the given context of tourism industry and Thailand state. This paper tries to analyze Thailand’s Tourism industry using this revised form of Porter’s Diamond Framework, identifying the various sources of competitiveness or the lack of it thereof. It attempts to identify key areas for improvement based on the above analysis and suggests solutions for the same.

Keywords: Competitiveness, Thailand, Tourism, Diamond Model, Revised framework

Introduction

For any country tourism impacts not only revenues but employment and economic development as well. For Thailand, this is even more so. It is therefore important for Thailand’s tourism industry to be competitive not just in ASEAN region but globally. Subsequent to the success of Visit Thailand Year in 1987, Thailand, a small country in the Asia Pacific region became the biggest growth story in the region with a growth rate of 7 %. Subsequently its economy (GDP) grew at an astounding 10.9 %, 13.2 % and 10 % respectively in the next three years – i.e. an average of 11.7 % from 1998 – 1990, about the best in the world. However, it did not maintain that growth subsequently, and its tourism industry faced many adversities. This paper will analyze the recent developments in the tourism industry to help understand the reasons for the same in today’s context.

Today when not only individuals, products, firms compete against each other but industries and nations themselves strive to outdo the competition, it becomes imperative to understand what it takes to beat the completion and stay competitive i.e. to acquires a good understanding of the determining factors of competitive growth. This paper proposes to do such an analysis for the tourism industry of Thailand.

It also, argues a case for revising the Porter’s Diamond Model framework for the given context.

Porter’s Diamond Model Framework

Besides traditional resource advantages like land, location, labour, natural resources and size of population Porter (1990) argued that grouping or ‘clusters’ of interconnected firms and stakeholders like institutions, suppliers and related industries provide ‘competitive advantage’ which are not inherited and which can be acquired. To get a better understanding of the determinants for such attainment of competitive advantage, Porter (1990, 1998) provided the famous diamond framework (Fig. 1). This framework helped in the analysis of not only industries but also nations.

The four vertices of the diamond indicated four groups of determinants. These were: factor conditions (also called ‘input’ conditions), demand conditions, related and supporting industries; and firm strategy, structure and rivalry. These were the basic determinants.

There were however two external or additional factors – chance; and government.

All these factors were not isolated but interconnected. Thus, demand and factors conditions were connected. So were the factors: related and supporting industries; and firm strategy, structure and rivalry.

The national factors of production like natural resources, infrastructure and skilled labour are the key factor conditions. The nature of domestic demand for product and services chiefly define the demand conditions. The presence (or absence) of suppliers, related industries which are themselves competitive (internationally) form the related and supporting industries vertex. The domestic rivalry between the firms and the conditions that govern their formation, organization and management form the last vertex of the diamond in the framework.

The framework is useful in identifying not only the sources of competitive advantage but also identifies key problem areas to be addressed. Oz (2006) illustrated this when identifying the sources of competitive advantage of Turkish construction companies in international markets. The success factors like dynamic domestic market, variables favourable to entrepreneurship, and intense domestic rivalry pressures effects were brought to fore along with the trouble causing areas like government induced hindrances, difficulties in financing and weak consulting and design engineering capabilities positioning of Turkey in the international arena. However, there are limitations to this framework and many researchers have combined this with other form of analysis like Rugman and Verbeke (1993) used SWOT for comparison, citing flaws like difficulty in making it operational i.e. of putting it in practice. It is noteworthy that this framework is been applicable to services as given by Lee and Spisto (2007).

The case for the Endogenous Role of Government and Chance

Apart from the limitation attributed to the diamond framework above, another flaw in it is that it does not include government as one of the basic factors but only considers it as an external factor despite the fact that it greatly affects all the other basic factors. To compensate for this Wickham (2005) re-conceptualized the framework for the Australian context. It had government as an integral basic factor at the centre of the framework, depicted as government surrounded by all the other factors as vertices of a hexagon with the chance factor in incomplete (dotted) lines giving it a separate identity as an external factor alone.

He also suggested that the role of chance be considered in with new attention when applied to a regional economic model like that of the Porter’s Diamond.

Fig. 1: Determinants of Competitive Advantage: Porter’s Diamond Model Framework

Factor Conditions

Chance

Firm Strategy, Structure & Rivalry

Related & Supporting Industries

Government

Demand Conditions

The importance of government policy initiatives to promote and develop the industry can be seen for the tourism context in Prideaux (1996), who on examining growth trends of Taiwanese inbound tourism to Australia, studied the factors responsible for this and listed them as better air connectivity, promotions and organization of Taiwan’s travel industry. Suggestion was also made that repeat visitations would be greatly beneficial and to achieve better tourism prospects with Taiwan steps like forging links with operators in Taiwan, increasing frequency and connectivity of airlines, cultural education including language training, and customization of products to suit Taiwanese tastes should be undertaken. The importance of the study lies in the fact that it provides a model for Thailand to replicate with neighbouring ASEAN nations. It provides inputs as to what it should do to target a lucrative, individual nation like China. Clearly government policies and trade agreements with regional nations play a great role in determining the relative competitiveness of Thailand as a tourist destination.

The role of government and chance here, for the Thailand tourism industry plays a crucial role given the recent history of Thailand – it was the epicenter of the Asian financial crisis of 1997; it faced the Indian Ocean earthquake followed by Tsunami on 26th December 2004; it dealt with global recession post September 11, 2001 attacks, the financial downturn of 2008, SARS (and H1N1 Flu phenomena) and more recently domestic political chaos. These seem to have impacted tourism severely. This builds the case of chance being a critical determinant in the diamond model – leading to the assumption that it should definitely be regarded as an endogenous factor and not just one having an exogenous role in the whole framework.

Pine, Chan and Leung (1996) have outlined the impact of the Asian economic downturn and stated that the economic downturn which affected adversely the tourism industry has led to slowing or halting of many projects in the hospitality arena. It noted that intra-regional tourism had grown due to the region’s strong economic growth. They further expect the tourism to be adversely affected (based on limited data); intra-regional tourism was expected to decline but increase from Europe and Americas in the light of the recent currency devaluations. Zhang (2005) has reported after analyzing industry data that China’s outbound tourism got distributed as a result of the Tsunami. The South East Asian and South Asian nations lost out on many Chinese tourists to hitherto new choice of destinations. The perception of the region was one of high risk and this eventually led to loss in tourist numbers and revenue. The new destinations garnering attention even saw escalation in prices. Travel insurance was more sought as a result of the tsunami phenomena. Also, Ichinosawa (2006) provides highlights as to how Tsunami stigmatized Phuket as a tourist destination. Leiper and Hing (1998) studied unrelated four events in 1997-98 in the Asian context and the impact on the tourism industries of the respective nations. The events included huge forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, the triggering of Asian Economic Crisis with currency collapse in Thailand and social and economic unrest in Indonesia; and political and economic crises in Cambodia. These they inferred resulted in decline in international as well as domestic tourism. Thus, chance was a major factor here.

Malhotra and Venkatesh (2009) have explored how vital it is to have contingency plans for crises and provide guidelines to proactively design a crisis management plan; even to take care when things go really bad. They compared Hong Kong’s strategy and Thailand’s response to the Tsunami and the SARS outbreak. Based on such deliberations they advise having fluid structures and policies with regards to the organizational design, so as to effectively and timely deal with uncertainties of various kinds. They name various kinds of crisis, along with all their stages and depending upon the readiness of the affected entity (nation etc) determines the gap that needs to be filled in terms of crisis management. This they argue is the responsibility of the hospitality and tourism industry. The role of the government in formulating beneficial policies then becomes crucial given the above chance factor is so influential in the tourism industry. Thus, roles of chance and government are said to be critical in relation to the tourism industry. The influence chance has over government policies (and even governments themselves) implies that chance is way too important and thus should be regarded as intrusive, internal factor integrated with the whole framework of the diamond model. Clearly, for the case of a highly specific industry like tourism and a country where the government (directly or indirectly) holds more than half of its net capital stock (Phongsathorn, 2001), the government cannot be left out as just an exogenous factor. It is too important to be dealt as an influence. Thus, government should be thought of as an endogenous factor in the model. Also, government today has more a role of a collaborator than just an influencer or policy maker.

Considering that the diamond framework has not been applied to services as it has been to manufacturing industries, and also less work is done specifically on the tourism industry using the model, the role of the external factors need to be seen in new light. Besides, tourism itself is such an industry which in the case of nations like Thailand may incorporate the whole country as the operating area. More recently, Pettus and Helms (2008) have included government in an endogenous role in the diamond model framework, while analyzing the case of Argentina.

Though, Porter (1990) has opined that chance events are outside the control of the industry, nevertheless its effect can be negated. Also, prudent investment and preparation can actually prevent the occurrences of man-made disasters and reduce the probability of many untoward incidents. Besides, the operationalization of chance even outside the diamond as an external factor is also very difficult.

It is noteworthy also that chance even affects the government and its role. In the scenario of much globalized world where two countries are not isolated anymore and the events in one country affects the other in a more significant way than ever before the model requires an upgrading. Thus, a case has been made for the exogenous factors – Government and Chance to be treated as endogenous. Therefore, in effect the diamond model gives way to the proposed model (fig.2).

Fig. 2: The Proposed Revised Porter’s Diamond Model Framework

Factor Conditions

Government

Related & Supporting Industries

Firm Strategy, Structure & Rivalry

Chance

Demand Conditions

Research Methodology

The study identifies the key variables that act as constituents to the various determinants of competitiveness of the tourism industry of Thailand. It also looks into the role played by Chance and the Government in altering the industry’s competitiveness. For this, unforeseen events and government policies and their impacts were studied and extensive literature reviewed to achieve the above stated objectives. A couple of telephonic interviews with Thai people were conducted to probe into specific areas and to corroborate findings. Thus, primarily the analysis is qualitative in nature.

Discussion and Analysis
Factor Conditions

Factor conditions like infrastructure have been in the government’s eye along with the human resources. However, it is perchance that the multi-million dollar airports that were to be a gateway to Thailand and its scenic beauty was the centre of anti-establishment protests and subsequently two airports were then shut down.

Thailand’s natural resources like beautiful beaches definitely provide a competitive edge. This factor condition is also one of the key variables for the tourism industry. Its spicy food, hospitality and exotic culture are inherent attractions.

The significant external markets for the tourism industry are widely spread across the world and include major European countries, the U.S. and now even China.

Thailand’s ideological commitment to liberalization and open economy has had major impacts on the industry dynamics especially over the long run. Knowledge resources also have grown. Capital resources which were an area for concern has been dealt well in recent times and policy measures for financial markets has made it more sound and less prone to international volatility in comparison to earlier years.

Location is definitely an important issue here. Singapore and Taiwan are so important for global businesses because of their strategic location. Quality and quantity of highly skilled work force for the industry is also a huge concern. Serious policy initiatives are to be taken by the state in this regard. Recommendations include the continued development of various transport related infrastructure and maintaining and enhancing a skilled labour pool.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand Travel Industry Portal provides online training for the industry personnel.

Another facilitator for easy travel is a rail link from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Bangkok by means of a sky train. This initiative reduces the travel time to 15 min and is greatly appreciated by travelers. [1]

There is growth in the road linkages. The newly formed North South Economic Corridor links Thailand to other Asian countries by means of a twelve hundred km R3A road highway which links Thailand with Laos to China emerging from Chiang Rai in Thailand was developed successfully in 2009. Thailand is becoming known for its status as a definitive hub for regional aviation. It has strong aviation linkages and airlines presence. Now, many countries have more flights from Thailand than most others in the whole of Asia. There are weekly 131 direct by around 13 airlines connecting Middle East Asia. Thailand is served by over seven hundred flights per by charter, scheduled and low-cost airlines from all over the world. Thai Airways has also launched new routes to Abu Dhabhi and Jeddah form Bangkok. Tehran-Bangkok link has been proposed. Similarly, rival Emirates Airlines have inducted Airbus-380 aircrafts for its Bangkok route to provide daily service from the city of Dubai. [2]

Human Resources: Labour Force Statistics 2009 (Source: NSO)

Total population is 66.72 million of which persons who are aged below 15 are 14.15 million, and persons aged 15 years old and over 52.57 million. Total labor force (Available for work) 37.53 million. Persons not in labor force (Not available for work) are 15.04 million. Thus, employed persons are 36.50 million, unemployed persons are 0.78 million. Of these seasonally inactive are 0.25 million. Household workers are 4.93 million, students are 4.41 million, and others are 5.70 million.

Fig. 3: Comparison of number of employed persons between Quarter 1 of 2008 and 2009 by Industry
Unit: Million Persons

(Source: Labor Force Survey 2009, NSO)

The physical and natural beauty of the beaches and islands of Thailand are the greatest attraction for tourists. Thailand’s most popular beaches and island destinations include along the Andaman Coast: Phuket, Mu Ko Similan Marine National Park, Mu Ko Surin Marine National Park, Ao Phang-nga National Park, Krabi, Phi Phi Islands, Mu Ko Lanta Marine National Park, Tarutao Marine National Park; along the Gulf of Thailand: Cha-am (Hua Hin), Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan, Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine National Park, Ko Tao and along the Eastern section: Pattaya, Rayong & Ko Samet and Ko Chang Marine National Park.

The National Telecommunications Commission Act of Oct 2004 along with the earlier Telecommunications Business Act 2001 has done a lot to setup the competitive environment for telecommunications industry. The formation of the Universal Service Fund by CAT (Communications Authority of Thailand) and TOT (Telecommunications Organization of Thailand) has provided impetus to the development of the industry. This has been instrumental for the growth of the tourism industry of Thailand.

Car (rentals), train, bus; taxi services are available for transportation. A host of other offerings are available for inland transportation which includes motorcycle taxis, Tuk-Tuks, tricycles, bicycles and Song Thaeo or the very popular pick-up trucks. Charter, scheduled and low-cost airlines make up the air travel avenues; cruises, boat, etc provide water transportation facilities. Railways provide access to a large network of destinations in Thailand, providing economical and efficient transportation.

Firm Strategy, Rivalry

Corruption and bureaucratic hurdles created by the government is another deterrent to it reaching its competitively superior position. Anti-trust policies of the Government are few and far between. There is a lot to be desired on this front from the Thai government. A recently enacted anti-competitive law had a monumental flaw in it as it did not apply to state-owned enterprises (that enjoyed monopoly). Environmental regulations are being looked into by the state.

To be competitive on the global platform requires efficiently producing goods and services of value more than that provided by other competing nations. It is important for Thailand to do so for the tourism industry to make a mark for itself on the global platform especially when its productivity levels are low.

Firms should lay emphasis on retention of and attracting intellectual capital. Within the industry as well as across the industry technology should be shared.

The Trade Competition Act 1999 and thereby the Trade Competition Board helps provide fair trade. The General Agreement on Trades in Services (GATS) furthers this cause. However, the anti-trust policies are not very effective as these are biased in favour of the government. Also, the players pay a high price for the illegal or unethical practices of rivals. The governmental officials prove a bane as there is rampant corruption and cases of corporate cronyism provide hinder fair competition between the players. The rivalry is also relatively less intense than it could be to get more value for the consumers for the services offered. The local base of the competition makes the rivalry worthwhile. Employer and labour relations are adequately cooperative to discourage any untoward strikes or major hurdles in provision of productive output.

There is adequate decentralization of various corporate activities and delegation of responsibility and authority is a prevalent phenomenon. However, the corporate boards leave more to be desired in terms of efficacy.

The cry for greater privatization is justified as it would certainly help in making the industry more competitive. Greater role of the private sector would ensure better management and corporate governance practices, reducing the business related corruption highly prevalent today. This process could be expedited by better corporate control activities, maintaining ethical business standards, sharing management know how, devising incentive based compensation systems, applying performance based appraisal systems, and having collaborative partnerships with local players with an understanding that practices to be in the right spirit, having joint investments, etc. Considering the significant role of the government in this industry, Private public partnerships (PPP) could effectively achieve the requisite competitiveness for being one of the best globally.

No doubt that if this is implemented properly over time then the incident revelations from CNN’s survey of global travel and tourism that Thailand was the best on the basis of value for money amongst all countries in the Asia Pacific region would not be an isolated event but among a series of similar results.

‘Turtle Conservation Plan’ in Mai Khao area which involved beach and reef cleaning also is a PPP initiative for environmental considerations.

Interestingly, many hotels in Thailand have raised the quality standards in terms of environment friendliness by going smoke-free i.e. promoting anti-smoking measures.

Thai Airways and Nok Air have decided to cooperate to boost up domestic traffic over specific routes like Bangkok to Phitsanulok, Bangkok to Ratchathani and Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son

Already Thai Airways is part of the Star Alliance – the world’s first major global airline alliance which aids its network operations.

Demand Conditions

The internal demand though grown is limited by the population size and disposable incomes. Reductions in prices have encouraged local demand in recent years. However, Thailand may not be able to charge the premium it did during the hey-days. And any further price increase will discourage domestic demand. However, the internal demand for Thailand’s tourism industry offerings has been seen to grow in recent years.

Advantage for Thailand exists in the offerings in terms of varied services and a competitive value proposition vis-a-vis other countries. Also, the active tendency of the local tourists to readily accept the latest offerings offered by the tourism industry makes the demand.

A few regulatory standards for tourism based trade and environment are exacting in nature. Even the intellectual property rights and safety standards for online transactions are less than desirable providing less encouragement for innovation and stimulation of demand.

However, not only does the internal demand conditions condition the industry to become competitive globally it provides an avenue for experimentation and more importantly provides revenues when global tourist inflows ebbs below expected levels. Increasing internal demand could then easily be used as a hedge for fluctuations in collections from international tourists especially during the off seasons.

Specialized market segments for specialized services and distinctive benefit segmentation provides impetus to the internal demand and subsequently to the external demand. In this regard providing incentives for innovation and aiding multinational corporations should be the policies pursued by the industry.

There are various activities that a visitor or tourist can undertake for pleasure. Thailand offers a wide array of such offerings which include shopping, golf, adventure treks, hill tribe visit, special cooking and food, elephant rides, special festivals and celebrations, spa, spiritual and religious insights and learning (especially Buddhism), meditation, water sports, etc.

Water sports include diving, sailing, yachting, cruising, canoeing and kayaking, swimming and snorkeling, fishing, windsurfing, rock climbing and bouldering, jet skiing and wakeboarding. Medical-tourism and business events also form an integral part of the range of offerings.

Many indigenous events attract visitors from within and outside the country thereby stimulating demand. Some key events that happened from time to time in Thailand are the Luang Phor Thuad and Sunflower Field Festival dealing with the first blossoming of sunflower at a distinguished temple and paying tribute to Luang Phor Thuad, Chinese New Year Fair where prayers are offered the Chinese way, and there are opera shows and a food festival for vegetarians, Chinese Lantern Festival where a competition for lanterns and its decoration is held, World Wetland Day involving environmental related activities and awareness, bird watching and games, Eco-tourism and Kasalong Flower Festival involving bonfire and camping activities, showcasing of rare species of wild flowers and visiting caves, Thailand International Kite Festival that showcases traditional kites from different regions, kite flying competitions, etc; Thai Sky Festival involving a show of Skydiving by skydivers from many countries, Traditional Gold Leaf Covering Ceremony at Kuiburi Temple involving prayers and religious rites and as the name suggests gold leaf covering, Blooming Lotus Festival providing a tour of the Lotus Pond and trekking, Hua Hin Jazz Festival where Jazz concerts are performed, Hua Hin Regatta involving a race of sailors, Hua Hin (Cha-am) Golf Festival involving golfing contests, Hua Hin Vintage Car Rally which involves parading vintage cars.

Many sports events, trade events and festivals had been planned for attracting visitors to Thailand in 2009. Important among these were the 1st World Comedy Film Festival, Thailand Grand Sale 2009, Thailand Tourism Festival (TTF) 2009, LPGA Thailand 2009 (Golf), The 2009 King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament, 1st Asian Martial Arts Games, Loi Kratong, Candle Festival, Songkran Festival and the 14th ASEAN Summit. New attractions like Sirindhorn Museum and Phu Kum Khao Dinosaur Excavation site, Chiang Mai Zoo Aquarium, Dragon Descendants Museum, etc have come up.

It is interesting to note that Thailand was voted as the best sailing venue in Asia in a poll conducted by Top of The Gulf Regatta. Also, Phuket King’s Cup Regatta was the winner for best regatta in Asia. Thailand was also voted as the ‘Asian Spa Capital’ for 2009 by AsiaSpa magazine. Also, Thailand won the Destiantion Spa of the year for Six Senses Destination Spa in Phuket.

The major destinations chosen by tourists are (by region):

Central Thailand: Ayutthaya, Bangkok, Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi, Cha-Am, Chachoengsao, Lampun, Nonthaburi, Petchburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuab Khiri Khan, Pranburi, Samut Songkhram, Saraburi.

Southern Thailand: Koh Lanta Island, Koh Phi Phi Island, Koh Samui Island, Krabi, Phang Nga, Phuket, Trang, Chumphon, Hat Yai, Khao Lak, Koh Phangan Island, Koh Tao Island, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ranong, Suratthani.

Eastern Thailand: Koh Chang Island, Koh Samed Island, Pattaya, Chanthaburi, Chonburi, Koh Kood Island, Rayong, Trat.

Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Sukhothai, Lampang, Phetchabun, Phitsanulok, Tak.

North-East Thailand: Nakhonratchasima, Khon Kaen, Loei, Nong Khai, Ubonratchathani, Udonthani.

Latest foreign technology is available to it and this should be made good use of by the industry players and the government. Use of ICT (info-communications and technology) in hotels and other areas is a step in the right direction.

The following of the Star Rating methodology for hotel standards by Thailand’s premier hotels was a step in achieving quality and recognition.

To the advantage of Thailand is the level of orientation of the tourists coming to Thailand and the internal tourists as well). These are more or less favourable for the state and should be capitalized upon. ‘Thailand Travel Mart’ was a large showcase for travel and events held in June in Bangkok. Such events promote the internal demand significantly.

Inadequate reliance on experts and professionals for managing the business and related aspects of the industry, poor managerial innovation, low level research and development activities for the tourism industry, provides a hindrance for Thailand to emerge competitive against other players compromising the very nature of its competitive advantage. The extents to which it brands its industry though much better now and steadily improving over the years even in quality, leaves more to be desired in this front. Basing compensation on incentives is another recommendation for the industry. Training staff, at various levels is required to put together a skilled workforce and efficient labour pool for the industry.

Related and Supporting Industries

The tourism industry is well connected and ‘linked’ with industries like the transportation and hospitality. Specialty services and has also provided impetus to the industry. However, the stigma of child prostitution and Aids epidemic is still a major concern for the government of Thailand.

Labour productivity of Thailand is also not competitive at all. The revenues per tourist to Thailand are less than many competitors in the region. Also, these have not gone up over the years. Understandably, this was due to the chance factor but nevertheless, it seems to compromise the competitiveness of the industry even further.

The importance of the framework applied here is that it helps identify sources of competitive advantage. One specific area of interest is the formation of clusters. Domestic rivalry and geographic concentration enhance competitiveness of Thailand’s tourism industry. The six factors depicted in fig. 2 help the framework act as system. Scalability, magnification and upgrading help provide linkages and networks. These thus help in forming clusters which provide competitive advantage.

Efforts should be made to build special business relationships with the various players. Partnerships and alliances between and across the industry could help get the maximum value to the consumer inevitably making Thailand more competitive and the formation of clusters more evident, thereby benefitting the industry greatly. Provision of incentives to encourage; and subsidies to support the entrepreneurial talent in the industry’s core and related areas could benefit the industry in many ways including the adoption of innovative tools, techniques and methods and e

In the previous, it is explained that a wedding trip or honeymoon was become easier along the way with the improvement on ways of going places that no longer hardship to stir from home to go to other places and it was a new concept of traveling for leisure purposes. The transportation kept improving and producing newer and better destinations until there was more place than the visitors. There was no record who was the first couple going for honeymoon, but no doubt they go honeymoon because everybody else did and it seems as a challenge for them to do the same as others. At the first time honeymoon was considered only for the rich, and as a cachet for distinction and further glory (Hoke, 1933). However, as time goes by, the travel get cheaper, transportation keep improving and more destination enhanced, number of couples take their honeymoon also increasing.

There are many various variables that today’s honeymooners may be looking for. They may be looking for the atmosphere, facility provided, romantic places, and so on. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, most couples are willing to spend more money on honeymoon rather than the regular trips. Moreover, some honeymooners also looking for the unique places for honeymoon. They want to feel a different experience once in a lifetime. For these travelers, it’s the time for a fantasy journey to destinations whose very names mean romance. They are choosing to go further away on their honeymoon to a different environment and that includes everything: a different language, culture, and food. However, for some couples who have a fulltime job and, as work schedules become more and more hectic, many couples are choosing to honeymoon close to home, enjoying a long weekend at local bed-and-breakfasts and country inns (Perementer and Bigley, 2000)

According to MacNair Travel Management survey, it is suggested that Hawaii is the top honeymoon destination. And it is supported by Hoke (1933), Niagara Falls and Washington were the first outstanding honeymoon resort. The honeymooners are most anticipating to beach and dining as a part of their honeymoon activity. Other than that spa also was the couples preferred activity on their honeymoon. With the evolution and innovation that spa could make health better, spa becomes ideal to enjoy and fashionable newlyweds often choose it for honeymoon.

2.2. Hotel Classification

Along with the desires of traveler that keep growing, Tourism Industry along with all the attributes in it also needs to be developed to meet their needs. The hotel industry is so vast that many hotels do not fit into single well defined category. Industry can be classified in various ways, based on location, size of property etc.

Based on location, for example is city hotel, is the hotel which is located in the heart of city within a short distance from business center, shopping complex. Airport hotels, these hotels are set up near by the airport. They have transit guest who stay over between flights. Resort hotel, is the hotel that cater consumer who wants to relax, enjoy themselves. They could be located in beach side, hill, and recreational area. Most resort work to full capacity during peak season

Based in size of property, this category is divided according to the number of rooms available in the hotel. Small hotel is a hotel with 100 rooms or less. Medium sized hotel, hotel which has 100 rooms to 300 rooms. Large hotel, is the hotel which has more than 300 rooms. Mega hotel is a hotel which has more than 1000 rooms available.

Based on the level of service there are three types of hotel which are upscale or luxury, midscale, and budget hotel. Budget hotel meets only provide the basic needs of the guest compared to the midscale and upscale hotel which provide a better service than the budget. Luxury hotel offers world class service providing restaurant and lounges, concierge service, meeting rooms, dining facilities. It is easy also to identify those types of hotel from the design of the hotel itself.

Based on theme, there are Heritage hotels, Ecohotels, Boutique hotels. Heritage hotel offers rooms that have their own history, serve traditional cuisine and are entertained by folk artist. Ecohotel, is an environment friendly hotels which usually use eco friendly items in the room. Boutique hotel is a hotel that provides exceptional accommodation, furniture in a themed and stylish, unique manner.

Based on target market, hotels are classified into commercial hotel, convention hotels, resort hotel, suite hotel and casino hotel. First, commercial hotel, they are situated in the heart of the city in busy commercial areas so as to get good and high business. They cater mostly businessmen. Second, convention hotel usually provide a large convention complex and cater guest who are attending conference, etc. Third, resort hotel, is a leisure hotel which are mainly for vacationers, leisure traveler, who want to relax and enjoy with their family. The atmosphere is more relaxed. Fourth, suite hotel offers rooms that may include compact kitchenette. They cater to people who are relocating act as executives who are away from home for a long business stay. Last but not least casino hotel, is a hotel with a gambling facility. This hotel usually attracts those leisure and vacation travelers.

Honeymooners as consumer could choose the type of hotel for them to stay in their honeymoon. They can choose to stay whether in city hotel, resort, large hotel, small hotel, upscale, midscale, budget hotel, theme hotel, and many more. However, wherever they choose the hotel to stay, there must be the reason behind why they choose particular hotel. In choosing hotel for honeymoon, there must be a decision between couples. Therefore it is important to observe on how husband and wife decision making. ( http://hotel-industry.learnhub.com/lesson/8842-classification-of-hotels)

2.3. Decision Making
2.3.1. Consumer Decision Making Process

In our daily life we will always faced with various decision. When we want to purchase product or services is also a part of decision.

No one purchase or consume something unless they have a problem, a need, a want or a purposes.There are seven major stage that consumer typically go through in decision making but however in this study will only explain six stage such as need recognition, search information, pre-purchased evalutaion, purchase, consumption, post-consumption evaluation.

Need recognition, is the stage when the consumers will sense the things that they believe the product have the ability to solve a problem is worth more than the cost of buying it. Therefore the marketers could make a product that can fulfill the desire of the consumers but they also have to keep the cost in line with the market they are targeted. At this stage, the consumer are influenced with many variables such as, personality, social class, income, past experience, prior brand perception.

Source of Information, is the stage when the consumers are obtaining informations they need to make a product choices are suitable with them. The source of informations could be obtained from marketer dominated or non-marketer dominated. Advertising, sales person, website, travel agentcy are the source of information that refers to marketer dominated. Friends, family and the words of mouth refers to non-marketer source of information.

Pre-Purchase Evaluation, is the stage when the consumers are comparing the various choices of brands, products, and services that which will most likely result in their satisfaction with the consumption. In this stage the consumers will influenced with their motivation, knowledge, attitudes and personality, lifestyle. Other than that they also will consider on the price, and quality of the product.

Purchase and Consumption, is the stage when the consumers have decided the ideal product or services for them and after that they consume the product or services.

Post-Consumption Evaluation, the stage when the consumers have experience the product or services and they will sense whether they are satisfied or not satisfied. They will feel satisfied when the performance of the products or services are matched by the precieved performance, when the performance fall below the precieve performance there will be dissatisfaction.

Those the stages above are might be went through by the individual or couples decision making process in general. During the decision making process there will be a negotiation between the husband and wife. The stages before the purchasing stage, couples will affected by push and pull factors which is come from the internal and external. (Blackwell, Miniard and Mason, 2001)

2.3.2 The Choice-sets Model

Research on individual’s decision making process is explained by applying the choice-sets model. There are three stages in individual choice-sets model. The final decision made by the individual is the result of consecutive process of reducing some alternatives in the consideration from large number in the early consideration set to just a few in the late consideration set. The process from the early consideration set to the late consideration set is affected by the push and pull factors. After that the situational inhibitors also influence the individual from late consideration set to the final decision.

According to Jang, et al. (2006) couples and family are the substantial objects in analyzing decision making in the existing choice-sets model. In family decision making process, there are many individual’s different preferences involve for the final decision. The choice-sets selection process of an individual is different from couples choice-set process in several way. First, there are two people are involved in the decision making process. Each partner brings their own preferences regarding the possible choices. Second, it is possible for conflict to be occurred because of the differences of idea and perceptions regarding the alternatives. Therefore there will be a discussion among them to find out which is the best option match for them. Third, couples will formulate one’s own early consideration set, based on elements of their own preferences and their partner’s preferences that already mutually identified through discussion. Thus, the couple choice-sets model consist of four stages, while individual choice-sets model consist of three stages, from the early consideration set to the final choice.

In addition, as explained by the individual choice-sets model, the relevant process is also competent in the couple’s choice-sets model in choosing honeymoon hotel. The number of hotel alternatives under each individual’s consideration will be lessening at each stage, before the final decision is made.

The choice-sets model below is adopted from Jang, et al. (2006) study and will be used as a reference on the following literature review.

Comparing the individual destination choice-sets model to a destination choice-sets model for couples

2.3.3. Couples Decision Making within the Household

The way of couple decision making is also found in a household. It is interesting to observe a relationship between household decisions making with its consuming behavior. A research on entire consumption and saving behavior can be as an example to be combined with the findings on household decision making (Ferber, 1973). Beside that the other simple example to be observed in household decision making is about economic. Every household must have put economy as their main primary concern.

In traditional families, the role of householder is hold by the husband. Therefore logically all the decision within the household is decided by the husband respectively. Based on the data collection from Davis (1976), it has been proved that the decision making in the household are mostly done by the husband. He has a significant influence in the household consumption for frequently purchased on goods and services and for durable. Most of the time the husband gives his suggestion and his preferences for something and the wife is the one who purchase and spent the money for purchases of goods such as beer, liquor, shaving cream, and others. Same goes to the decision making for contraceptive usage. The husband has the important role and greater influence to the final decision (Davis, 1976; Bankole and Singh, 1998).

In families today, there is more negotiation between husbands and wives occur in consumer decision making. The increasing number of career woman create the increasing number of dual-income family that leads to the influence of women have on consumer decision making (Razzouk, et al., 2007). The presence of women in the workforce today makes the women no longer seen as just homemakers and men as just breadwinner. As mentioned by Qualls (1987, pp.269) “husband and wife established their own position and preferences as individual, through discussion, individual preferences evolve into joint decisions”. Therefore there are some household decision making which is done by joint decision making which means that there is a corporation between the husband and wife in making decision. The simple example can be found in making decision on purchasing durable goods which is jointly consumed such as buying cars, home, villa, and many more (Davis, 1976).

It is not an easy thing to make a decision by two people. Sometimes there are some different desires or preferences on each of them. Even though they make decision together, actually they still have a different tendency for each aspect to decide. For example like husband will be more on deciding the price differences, whether the price worth it or not for some items to buy and wife will be more on how many items to buy, how the design, etc. (Bernhardt, 1974 in Davis, 1976). In other words, husband tends to have a control in all decision which is taking a consideration of functional attributes, and wife would be considering on aesthetic aspect or beauty.

Overall, the decision making within the household depends on the decision made by the spouse and also depends on what thing to decide. Sometimes husband has a significant influence in making a decision, and sometimes wife the one who taking a control in decision making, or sometimes both husband and wife put their idea and making a decision together, joint decision making. And how about couples decision in choosing honeymoon hotel? Is that would be the same situation with the decision making on regular consuming behavior within the household or not.

Based on the notion explained, the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis A1. There is a joint decision making between husband and wife in choosing honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis A2. There is a different area on making decision between husband and wife in choosing honeymoon hotel.

2.3.4. Gender Differences towards Travel Behavior

There had been several studies conducted in the area of tourism and gender. It covers the role of women in tourism decision within the family. The various result gained depends on the difference roles among the family members, etc. (Fraj-Andres, 2010). Gender roles vary across cultures. There are behavioral differences between men and women that reflect the culturally determined differing roles of men and women. In some cultures, the traditional values point out the need for women to stay at home and take care of children. Women depend on men as breadwinners and women’s responsibility is to take care of a family and home (Jackson & Henderson, 1995).

Nichols and Snepenger (1988) compared men and women’s travel patterns and found that women preferred shorter trips, having fewer sports activities on their journeys and spending less money. Other than that women prefer on cultural and educational experiences when travelling, and men looked for action and adventure (McArthur ,1999). The other previous research result found that, in the choice of a hotel, expectations varied according to gender. Additionally, some demographic variables such as educational level, income level, have been useful for explaining the tourist behavior (Kastenholz et al., 2005)

Based on the notion explained, the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis A3. Each husband and wife has different preferences towards honeymoon hotel in the early consideration set.

2.3.4. Influence in Family Decision Making

In family decision making process is often dynamic and complicated. Suggested by Jang, et al. (2006) in family decision making, individuals’ different preferences plays an important role deciding the final decision. These different preferences can result from the differences objective and differences perception towards the relevant topic discussed. There are might be some disagreements created in the decision making process. However, those disagreements may indicate an attempt to accommodate and resolve the problem, so that the joint decision could be made (Spiro, 1983).

As mentioned by Strodtbeck (1951) in Spiro (1983), he tried to measure the power or influence of the husband and wife in the decision making. He observe the interaction between husband and wife in resolving the differences in the decision making process. There many influence strategy that might be used to make joint decision making. Spiro (1983) emphasize on six influence strategy that can be used to determine the type of influence strategy which is commonly use by couples to have a joint decision making. The result of his study was explained that there are many types of influencer strategies used by husbands and wives in attempting to resolve the differences of opinion or preferences. And some of the strategies that focus on this research are:

Expert influence refers to the influence that a spouse has specific information concerning the various alternatives. She or he can try to convince the other that she or he is more knowledgeable concerning the product by giving the detailed information under the consideration.

Legitimate influence reflects from one spouse’s attempt to shared the values concerning their role upon other’s feelings. The spouse is influenced by the shared belief that she or he should make the decision. For example husband is the man of the house, therefore he should make some particular decision.

Individuals may use many different combination of influence strategy simultaneously during their attempt to persuade one another in discussion to reach the modification consideration set. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis A4. Husband has greater influence in making decision for modification consideration set

Hypothesis A5. Wife has greater influence in the in making decision for modification consideration set

2.3.5. Conflict in Couples Decision Making Process

Not only couples but also all the consumer will have a consideration and negotiation when they want to make a decision. The simple practice is how consumer selecting a product such as normal product, house, or travel destination. An individual will likely to interact with others during the decision making process and it will affect the final decision. In a couple, the husband and wife will discuss on the matters that they want to decide and undeniable that each of them should change their preference to the other alternative to reach the final decision and they will share their opinions on the desirable alternatives since they individually have different preferences (Spiro, 1983 in Jang, et al., 2007).

There is a possibility that conflict might happened within the couple decision making process. Conflicts may be happened because the impact of gender role orientation reflects the atitude of the spouses toward roles played by husbands and wives (Qualls, 1987) or primarily due to the difference of perception on objectives (Frikha, 2010). However, couples will have a discussion, negotiation, to seek an agreement to the final decision.

Hypothesis A5. Conflicts occur during the discussion due to the different preferences.

2.4. Push-Pull Factors Affected the Decision Making Process

In decision making process, there are many variables that could affect the consumers to reach the final decision. As mention in the concept of couples choice-sets model, the final decision is made by passing through several stages which are early consideration set, modified early consideration set or discussion, late consideration set to the final decision. As suggested by Crompton and Kim (1999) in Jang, et al. (2006) those continuous processes are affected by push factors and pull factors.

2.4.1. Push Factors

In making decision, consumers generally have some internal factor that will affect them in the process to find the ideal final decision. The internal factor which is the push factor, the needs and wants of traveler, are the reason of why traveler wants to get out from their home or regular place. Moreover, push factors also concern to the desire to travel (Dann, 1977 in Decrop 2006) and predispose consumer to travel. Asserted by Decrop (2006) push factors develop travelers internally causing them looking for something, situation, and events. To make it easier, push factor is a foundation of motivations (Kent,1990 in Decrop, 2006).

While there are many study on attitudes, images, perceptions and learning committed on the understanding on traveler’s behavior, motivation seems to be liable for describing much of the consumer’s tourism consumption behavior (Sirakaya, et al., 2003). Another suggestion said that motivation is a driving behind the consumer’s consumptions behavior, therefore motivated consumers try to fulfill their needs by acting on physiology and psychology. In previous research on tourism, the researcher was emphasized on the motivation-based because it could gives idea and comprehension for the marketers in developing and promoting the tourist attraction. Without an understanding on the consumer’s motivation, the marketers will not be able to generate efficient tourism marketing (Fodness, 1994) and will allow researchers to have a better explain on future travel pattern and behavior (Uysal and Hagan, 1993). Iso-Ahola (1982) also pointed out that motivation is one of the crucial elements of leisure traveler.

Exploring the leisure travelers’ motive that affected the choice of destinations or alternatives, Crompton (1979) mentioned that variability of consumer’s social, cultural and psychological needs could be the main motivation for travel. He also analytically mentioned seven motives as push factors for travel which are “escape from the day to day environment, exploration and evaluation of self, relaxing, prestige, regression, enhancement of kinship relationship, and facilitation of social interaction.”

Escape from the day to day environment, refers to the situation where the physically and socially different from the normal lives environment. Exploration and evaluation of self, motivations which travelers will get from the changes into new surroundings by physically and socially that could not be achieved by staying in their own environment. Relaxing, referred to a mental relaxation rather than physical relaxation. Prestige, it is a motive when travelers have a frequent travel, for them it is perceived to be less prestige. Regression, motive when consumers respond that leisure vacation provides a chance to do things extraordinary, different from their usual life. Enhancement of kinship relationship refers to a perceived value of leisure travel as a medium to enrich the relationship. Facilitation of social interaction, when the travelers bring motive to meet new people, therefore the travel will be people oriented rather than place oriented.

According to the description above, those motives also applicable on couples in choosing honeymoon hotel. Therefore, based on this concept, the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis B1. There is a motive of escape from the day to day environment when couples choose honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis B2. There is a motive of exploration and evaluation of self when couples choose honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis B3. There is a motive of relaxing when couples choose honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis B4. There is a motive of prestige when couples choose honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis B5. There is a motive of regression when couples choose honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis B6. There is a motive of enhancement of kinship when couples choose honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis B7. There is a motive of facilitation of social interaction when couples choose honeymoon hotel.

2.4.2. Pull Factors

Not only push factors that affecting consumer in making decision but also the pull factors. Pull factor is an external factor which created by the information of the goal objective, tourist holds and product’s attraction power (Gnoth, 1997 in Decrop, 2006). Different from the push factor which concern to the desire of travel, Dann (1977) explained that pull factor concern on the destination choice and attributes, that attracts traveler to a given hotel or destination and whose value is visible to stay on the object of travel. Furthermore, pull factors are those that appears as a result of attractiveness of a travel attributes. There are a lot of pull factors which affect traveler on the hotel selection process for travel which are novelty (Crompton, 1979), heritage/culture, entertainment, nature, rural (Uysal and Jurowski, 1994), facilities, easy accessibility (Kim et al., 2003), safety (Bogari et al., 2003) and so on.

2.4.2.1. Hotel Attributes as Pull Factors

Nowadays there are many tourist destination spread out over countries. Tourism industry has become increasingly growing and a highly competitive market. In the hotel environment, where competition dominates, hoteliers must study the strengths and weaknesses of the product or service they provide and accurately define their importance and performance. Many choices of product and services attract tourist differently in each destination. However, each tourist has their freedom to choose amongst a set of destination according to their motivation, preference and attitude to determine a destination to be selected.

According to Kozak (1999), tourist mentally categorize destination into three categories. First is ‘consideration’, where all destination that consumer is aware and likely to visit. Second is ‘inert’, where all destination that consumer is aware but no decision is made to visit in a specific period. Third is ‘inept’, refer to destination that consumer is aware of but has no intention to visit in a specific time.

Various type of consumer profile such as level of age, income, occupation and personality significantly affect the choice to vacation and select the destination. In choosing destination for vacation, there several factors attract consumer externally. Regarding the hotel industry, Chu and Choi (2000) mentioned that room rates have been considered as the main factor that increases the cost for a trip. Other than that, price also affects consumer’s motivation to travel. The price for a destination becomes one of main attributes for motivation to travel. And usually price directly affected by the exchange rates (Kozak, 1999). Some tourists are preferred to travel to a destination that has a lower value than their own currency (Witt and Martin, 1987 in Kozak, 1999). The positive or negative variance of exchange rate of a country or destination may lead to the increase or decrease in the level of tourist product or services prices. Following by facility and services are the major thing that consumer meet during the vacation. An adequate and qualified of both facility and services in a particular destination will affect consumer to revisit the destination itself (Kozak, 1999). The services and facilities offered by a hotel or are those features of products or services that lead consumers to choose one product over others (Lewis, 1983 in Chu and Choi, 2000). The previous study have shown that tourists satisfaction with hotel properties, including services, facilities and price, seems to be one of the factors that could bring the hotel successful and create many patronages or loyal customers (Stevens, 1992 in Chu and Choi, 2000). Safety and security also becomes an important thing to be considered in choosing destination for vacation. Making tourist feel secure will become the plus point for the destination itself to be selected (Kozak,1999). Consumer will prefer to go to a place that has a lower rate of crime and high in safety and security matters. Hotel image also one of the factors that influence the consumers choice. LeBlanc and Nguyen (1996) mentioned the five hotel factors that may determine a hotel’s image to travelers. These five factors are physical environment, corporate identity, service personnel, quality of services and accessibility. Moreover, it is found that that cleanliness of the accommodation, followed by safety and security, accommodation value for money, courtesy and helpfulness of staff were identified as top attributes for travelers in hotel choice selection (Atkinson, 1988 in Chu and Choi, 2000). The previous study shows that

There are a lot of studies have attempted to analyze customer satisfaction in terms of both expectations that relate to certain important attributes and value of the attribute performance (Chu and Choi, 2000). According to Barsky (1992) the terms importance is accepted by customers as satisfaction. When a customer perceives an attribute as important, the customer will believe that the attribute will play an important role in influencing his or her choice (MacKenzie, 1986 in Chu and Choi, 2000). Those attributes will influence consumers’ purchase intention and as a comparison from competitors’ providing.

A comprehensive review of the literature for the hospitality industry suggests that attributes such as cleanliness, location, room rate, security, service quality, and the reputation of the hotel have been considered by most tourists in hotel choice decision. Those factors above are some of the pull factors that may be taken as consideration by consumer in choosing destination for vacation. However, there are many factors to be considered which may be affected couples in honeymoon hotel and no doubt those factors above are possible as well become the factors that affected their decision making.

Based on the description above the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis C1. Hotel attributes which falls under facilities and services are influencing couples late consideration set in choosing honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis C2. Hotel attributes which is room rates are influencing couples late consideration set in choosing honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis C3. Hotel attributes which is falls under safety and security are influencing couples late consideration set in choosing honeymoon hotel.

Hypothesis C4. Hotel attributes which is falls under hotel image are influencing couples late consideration set in choosing honeymoon hotel.

2.4.2.2. Advertising

In today’s globalization, marketing aspect has become an aspect which is keeps growing follow the world trends. Business to consumer e-commerce is fast replacing the traditional way of marketing. The electronic commerce is slowly changing the way businesses operating. The spread of web facility and the acceptance of the internet have requested businesses to establish internet website to maintain the relationship with customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders.

The development of the internet has been a major event in the hospitality industry and it will gradually revolutioniz

The energy crisis and global recession, in 1973/4 highlighted the structural deficiencies in the third world economies. The need of foreign exchange and employment, along with the concerns of inequalities, leakages and constant levels of poverty (Sharpley & Telfer, 2002). Even so, in the past two decades the Sub-Saharan Africa tourism has experienced a remarkable growth, a difference from 1.5% in 1970 to 4.5% in 2003 and is expected that the Africa’s share will increase to 5% of total international arrivals by 2020. Although, Mozambique tourism sector could not benefit from this recovery, because the two wars had occurred in between, a period that other nations including the neighbouring have managed to develop their own tourism industry. This essay is to explain the key factors that may contribute to the ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of tourism planning. Conscientious about ‘planning’ different terminology and thoughts, a range of illustrations and description that applies to Mozambique’s tourism plan (history, political, economy, social and development), and its aims will help a better understanding around the topic.

Planning

The absence of planning may cause unregulations, leading to a range of negative socio-economic and environmental impacts. So, in order to create and respond to the tourism concerns it is important to include a rational plan (Mason, 2003). Different approaches of planning have been presented: Boosterism; Economic; Physical/Spatial; Sustainable; Community and so on. Kadt, (1979), noted that the consequences of tourism planning are a result of the nation’s overall political economy, because it is what will determine the equality in the distribution of tourism benefits. Nonetheless, planning is a process for anticipation and implementation of changes that would maximize positive developments (William, 1998, cited by Mason, 2003). However, Mason, (2003) argued that planning is a very complex term and can be applied in many contexts, for example: in relation to individuals, groups, organisations and governments, but at same time to different geographic areas (urban, rural), or as well at local, regional and national levels. In accordance, Cullingsworth, (1997:5, cited by Hall, 2008) stated that planning is also, a sort of decision and policy making because they are connected and interrelated, planning is the process where goals are set and policies are made to implement them. However, it deals with interdependent and systematic decisions, rather than individual decisions. Many activities in the process cannot be isolated (bargaining, negotiation, politics, values) and the process of planning is only one part of the overall plan. Therefore, planning is more complex than Dror’s (1973) perspective of ‘set of decisions for actions in future’ (Hall, 2008). Besides, various such as Mason, (2003); McCabe et al., (2000:235) argued that the important is the process element of the plan, as it provides direction by enabling individuals to indentify ‘the path that is to be taken and the outcomes or end results’. On the other hand, Gunn, (1998) argued that by focussing on the physical design, there is a risk of failure in recognising the key principles of the planning process; the fundamentals that originated its creations, but he also added that by focussing on the process of planning rather than considering the product itself may possibly lead to planning being considered vague and theoretical.

Destination case study:
Historical

Tourism has been important to Mozambican economy since the Portuguese colonial period and was developed around three themes: sun and sea, wildlife and urban (dynamic environment). During the colonial period the Mozambique tourist arrivals were mainly from southern Africa and Portugal and were close to 400,000. However, since the colonial war conflict in 1973, tourism infrastructure and several animal species were destroyed, therefore the number of tourist and the tourism activity declined (Visser, 2004). After the peace-accord in 1992 initiatives to recovery the tourism industry has been applied (Sun, Sand and Sea, complemented by Eco-tourism; Culture; Water sports, Adventure and Urban Tourism).

Political

Frelimo has been in power since the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975 and has the majority of the parliamentary seats 191 out of 250. In 1990 a new constitution that provided for multipartysm was implement (www.news.bbc.co.uk, 2010). The country shift from one-party autocracy to multi-party democracy. Implemented institutional reforms for the re-schedulling of debt and loans; it ‘open up’ to the markets by adopting adjustment measures of liberalisation which included public/private cooperation (Kulipossa, 2006). There was a shift from centralised government approach based in a dictator state where single decisions were made and all the infrastructure belonged to the state (horizontal policy coordination across Ministries), to a decentralised approach (vertical policy coordination between different levels of govern) where the power of management was shared with regional and local levels since they were better positioned to deal with local needs and more able to implement policies and integrating the communities as part of the process . The government decided to open the nation market to private sector as they were better financially to build and reconstruct the infrastructures that were in need and because of their ability to bring foreign exchange to the country.

Even the govern of Mozambique being responsible for ‘Tourism Policy and Implementation Strategy’, is still fragile in experience and financial resources. To reduce the existing gap of linking policies with the actions, the nation’s government are dependent of foreign help, needing to defer the responsibility of tourism recovery, national or local economic development to the Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Associations, (Rylance in Spenceley, 2008).

Economy

According to Rylance in Spenceley, (2008:29), the nation economy varies from inefficiency, poor infrastructure and high levels of corruption, which discourage foreign investment. Nevertheless, between 1993-2004 there was a growth of 7.2 GDP, an annual average of 8 per cent over the last decade. Additionally, there was a decrease on annual inflation from more than 54 per cent in 1995 to 13.5 per cent in 2003 and 9.1 per cent in 2004. Despite the achievements Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The per capita income in 2004 was equal to $320 (UNDO, 2004 cited by Rylance in Spencely, 2008:29). Furthermore, the country remains very dependent of international help through donations and is largely dependent of the agriculture sector which employs 83 per cent of the population and is responsible of 80 per cent of the exporters and for 26 percent of national GDP (SNV Mozambique, 2007:3 cited by Rylance in Spencely, 2008). The influence and power of negotiation is weakened by the nation’s vulnerability and dependency upon a greater number of foreign companies. On the other hand, Mozambique governments have been accused of problems of corruption on the legislation and collection of revenues. Critics assert that Mozambique is pursuing mega projects that do not generate social benefit (www.news.bbc.co.uk, 2010). Nonetheless, during 2006 the tourism sector generated revenues around US$ 144 million, it is expected that the industry will became one of the major foreign exchange earner as it is increasing in its foreign investment (Jossai, 2010).

Social:

It has been recognised that as an economic sector, tourism has both positive and negative impacts over the society. However, with an adequate anticipation and implementation of strategic plan tourism can be developed with reduced impact in the natural areas: the several benefits of the industry upon the society can be maximised, and the disadvantages can be minimised or even eliminated. With this understanding Mozambican policies and planning developers have adopted sustainable actions aspiring a balance in the tourism development, humans, animals and ecological communities. The focus was to reduce poverty by adopting tourism sector as a tool for development, either by local supply of services and goods to tourism enterprises or by enterprises employing the poor; plus providing the means for improvement of health, education and sanitary conditions. Though, it may be assumed that the government have failed to provide the right tools for local involvement as it was incapable to support people with training and knowledge to reduce the barriers of getting locals involved in the tourism economies, did not have option than lead it to the NGOs and associations that have started to do so (Rylance in Spenceley, 2008). This is due to the government lack of capacity and low involvement in implementing and manage policies. Moreover, the shortage of available finance for small enterprises and the time needed to start a business, discourages the majority of locals from contributing to the sector. For example: to open a business in Mozambique it takes on average 153 days (World Bank, 2004 cited by Spenceley, 2008). McEwan, (2004, p7) argues that local tourism enterprises are prevented from getting involved in the business and remain very dependent of foreign investment and international aid. In fact foreign investment involves 70 per cent of the Mozambique tourism projects and local borrowing from banks, has high costs ’15 per cent interest in real terms’ (Rylance in Spenceley, 2008).

Development

As a reflection of predominance of business travellers, visiting friends/relatives and regional weekend trip of leisure segment, the average stay in Mozambique is around 2.3 days, comparatively low to Kenya 8.4 days average length. There are 2.030 tourist establishments in Mozambique which directly employed over 35.000 people. The southern borders are the visitors main entrance but investors are starting to show some interest in the northern areas (Pemba, Quiribas archipelago and Nacala). In 2001 the number of international tourist arrivals was just about parallel to the visiting numbers during the colonial period. The accommodation sector has a total of 12.000 beds, near 5,000 cope with the luxury standard or 3 star above on the international market. In compare, the city of Cape Town has something like 30,000 beds and Mauritius 19,600 beds. The national air lines are expensive and limited: operating three Boeing B737 which serves domestic connections from Maputo to the other main cities of the country (Beira, Nampula, Quelimane, Pemba, Lichinga, Chimoio and Tete) and regional routes to Johannesburg and Dares Salaam (Williams, 2006). The accommodations and tourism facilities (hotels, tourism resorts) are very expensive favourable for the wealthier customers. Furthermore, the human capital (residents, poor people) are mostly employed in low levels jobs such as cleaners and bar staff which reduces their chance of economic benefits as their wages and level is equally low (SNV Mozambique, 2006 cited by Rylance in Spenceley, 2008). The major investors of Mozambique’s tourism industry have recognised the uniqueness of the country, that is the fact of being the only in the neighbours that do not have Anglo-Saxon colonial past since was colonized by Portugal, and from the fact of having a mix of cultural environment and rich heritage of Arabic, Swahali, Portuguese and African influences (Williams, 2006). Conversely, as the majority of tourist are English speakers, this advantages is also a barrier since tourist and locals have communication gaps. In addition, the nation has a limited offer of tourism products, constrained to the ‘safaris games’ products. The investors and tour operates still reluctant in diversify and reach the unexploited areas by developing new tourism products and attract new markets. As a withdrawal affect the country competitiveness with exception of Malawi, is very low in comparison to the bordering neighbours (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Suazilandia, Zambia). Although, there are indications of economic improvement since the civil war: increase in the national GDP, reduction of inflation and levels of percentage of poverty however, the wealth distribution of income still irregular by favouring elite groups and elements of government. In addition the country continues dependent on food import and, also vulnerable to the global prices (EIU, 2010).

One aspect of the tourism industry is the negative impact that it causes to the destinations. It, has been suggested by many, such as: Kadt, (1979); William, (1998); Mason, (2003); Hall, (2008); Spenceley, (2008), that the destination plan should encompass the tourism alternative approaches. Moreover, even the existence of different plan approaches or reasons of plan, it is assumed that they are imperative for the insurance of pathways to be taken as a mean to anticipate and correct possible events. In this basis, by adopting the national strategic plan for tourism, Mozambique allowed itself for any readjustments if necessary. The focus of the Strategic Plan for the Development of Tourism in Mozambique 2004-2013, (2004), was the business modern management approaches, tourism towards to product service quality and conservation, rehabilitation of wildlife in specific areas, co-operation with the neighbouring countries to consolidate and expand conservations areas, promote professional hunting industry and support communities to actively and effectively participate in tourism process, with the aim of four million arrivals per annum by 2025. The government priority was to reduce poverty and prevalence of HIV infection which even high is still lower than the regional average. This was intended to be done by building country prestige, broadcast possible investments, job opportunities, income generation, developing health and education (Ministry of Tourism, 2004). Seeing that, foreign currency plus capital investment into the tourist destination, permits a faster urban, social, economic regeneration and that worldwide tourism is the industry that employs most people and had shown some ability in adapting quickly to crises that have affected the world economy. Tourism was identified by Mozambique Government as a mean to promote local economic development (Gunn & Var, 2002). To minimise the negative effects of the industry on environment and culture, while as well maximises the economic and community benefits, the tourism policy is guided by the Tourism Law. (2004) which regulates licensing, provides the basis for sustainable growth and criminalises child sexual tourism; Action Plan for Absolute Poverty Reduction (PARPA), (2006) which sets social policies and programs to promote economic growth through tourism; National Tourism Code of Conduct, (2007), elaborated between the Ministry of Tourism and the Mozambique Confederation of Business Association (CTA) (www.sustainabletourismnetwork.co.za, 2010). The objective was to generate new employments for the enhancement of people quality of life; increase the numbers of international visitors and investors by improving the balance of trade; fairly distribute the tourist benefits, and expand the industry in zones that present greatest potential, by providing a ‘more equitable development of the nation’, putting the emphasis on the relation between tourism and its environs; in addition for the tourism growth and for the creation of benefits to its people, the country was seeking for ‘greater national unity through tourism’; in order to protect regional architecture, monuments, conserve resources, balance planning of areas, and incentive the development of handcrafts and folklore, the tourism strategic plan recommends ‘protection of cultural and natural resources’ (Ministry of Tourism, 2004).

Conclusion:

An analysis of tourism in Mozambique, indicate that existing tourism mix are the ‘beaches’ and unspoilt ‘interior’ that offers greatest potential for the development of wildlife market. Conversely, the poor infrastructures contributes for low tourism products and, inhibits investment. Bearing in mind the nation natural resources as the tourism potential (2700 km of tropical coastline with diversity, rare ecological systems and rich historic cultural heritage), shall be said that the coastline is unplanned and uncontrolled becoming then, the biggest threat for the tourism sector. Moreover, the actions taken by the private business that are mainly interested in the immediate circumstances and profits, exclude factors of the market such as the preservation of public goods (parks, historic sites, beaches, infrastructures), externalities (simultaneous production and consumption of tourism, which restrict access to the coastal land, fishing and historic places) and external costs (not reflected like as the ‘opportunity costs’), causing the inability of the market system ‘Market failures’. Which prevent the nations ‘ achievement of the economic efficiency and reflect the social costs.

The key factors for Mozambique tourism planning are political, economic and social. Its ‘success or failure’ depends upon all organism together being able to share and achieve goals that would be difficult to achieve by themselves. Rylance in Spenceley, (2008) argues that there are ‘differences between the policy and practices of tourism-led LED in Mozambique’. Although, admits that there is a lack of statistical data for a firm conclusion. Nonetheless, the fact of government investment in megaprojects that do not generate social benefits may indicate a deviation from the key principle of the strategic plan: the business modern management approaches and the perspective of ‘development first’ instead of ‘tourism first’ (Burns, 1999). In conclusion, it may be said that tourism in Mozambique is in its early stages. It is very incipient, high levels of corruption, limited in air transport and road accesses, lack of experience and has expensive tourism services and facilities. Still, it can be said that it is hard to predict the directions it will take, and if the target arrivals by 2025 are realistic or not; so far there is potential, willingness and the initial steps were taken.

My friend and I have passion in tourism. My friend has several years of experience working for an international travel company in Ho Chi Minh City as a travel consultant cum tour operator. She have strong relationship with five star hotels and restaurants in Vietnam. I have chance to travel to many countries and study international tourism industry. I also have a part-time job as a tour guide for some travel companies. I understand what tourists expect from a knowledgeabe and friendly tour guide , quality service as well. Thus, combining her experience in Vietnamese tourism market and my understanding about international tourists’ demands, we decide to open a travel company, named “Luxury Tour Co.” in Ho Chi Minh City. Our target market is Spain. Within the next five year, we build “Luxury Tour” as the first choice for the Spaniard when they think of travelling to Vietnam. This name guarantees for “best service,best choice” as our slogan of “Think nothing, let us”. This marketing plan is designed to highlight significant steps and other related issues to run business well and meet the goal.

Market Overview

Tourism is considered as the key industry in the near future. Tourism involves three sectors, they are, domestic market, inbound market and outbound market (Helmut Wachwiak, 2006:48). Domestic tourism aims to local customers, while inbound tourism aims to attract international tourists to the country and outbound tourism aims to organising tour for local tourists who want to travel abroad. Among of which, inbound tourism is emphasized most. It not only creates more employment opportunities for the local people but also plays an important role to attract foreign investment in Vietnam as MICE tours becomes popular.

Tourism is based on a lot of factors. Here is the list of some changes influencing tourism in general and Luxury Tour business activities ( Lloyd E. Hudman, Richard H.Jackson, 2003:24)

Infrastructure in Vietnam . Understanding the contribute of the non-smoke industry, Vietnamese Government has invested in some projects, such as building metro, road etc. , and encouraged people take part in introducing beautiful image of Vietnam to the world ( Vietnam Tourism, 2010 )

Social behavior. For example, considering the tour price, it depends on the suppliers’quotation. They are five star hotels, restaurants, transportation etc. In peak seasons when several tourists come to Vietnam, lack of commodation or waiters/waitresses is predictable. As the result, the tour price is higher, but tourists are served less.

Increased gas/petrol price. That is to say, it leads to the increase of price in transportation, flight ticket etc.

The rapid development of Internet and e-commerce. According to the CIA Factbook, in 2009, 50% of Spaniard use internet, and this number is increasing repidly. It push e-commerce developped more

Stable VND-Euro currency rate makes tour price stable and more competitive than other markets ( Vietnam Central Bank, 2010)

Stable politics makes international tourists feel safety while staying in Vietnam

New tourism trend. According to ITB World Travel Trends Report 2010/2011, Southeast Asia is sparkling as an ideal destination to EU market. They prefer enjoying “sun and beach” and discovering Eastern culture

Increased income. That is to say, more tourists want to spend their holidays at the highest standard

Customer Information

According to World Tourism Ranking, Spain ranks 11th in the world in terms of spend on international travel, but there has been significant growth in recent years in outbound travel. Growth is expected to continue as more and more Spaniards have holiday habits .Besides , Spanish long-haul travelers take advantage of very favorable Euro to VND exchange rate. The weakening of the VND could attract more interest in this destination .To understand clearly, here is the Spanish Outbound Travel Trend.

aˆ? Destination: Some competitive destinations to Vietnam are: Fiji, French Polynesia, Australia, China, Japan, Mexico, and the USA . However, Europe remains the main destination for Spanish travelers , only 27 % of the outbound trips are far beyond the European borders ( World Tourism Organization, 2007 )

aˆ? Travel season : Most of the Spanish decide to travel abroad in August , September – the time of summer vacations . However , short breaks are spread more widely through the year, in particular around public holiday times. The average length of stay for holidays abroad is around 9 nights.

aˆ? Purpose : Leisure (54.3%) remains the main reason for travelling outside Spain , followed by business events or work related (20%). The key driver for taking overseas holidays is visiting other countries, learning about their culture and seeing and doing lots.

Market Information

According to Vietnam tourism, in 2010, there were 5,049,855 international tourists travelling to Vietnam, which was 34.8% higher than 2009. Most of them were from China, South Korea, Japan and other Asian countries. Obviously, compared to other markets, Western tourists have not known much about Vietnam. With the wave of Asian culture, Asia becomes an ideal choice, especially Southeast Asia. Following the new trend, Vietnamese government have encoraged travel companies to study and make plans to expand busiess into Western markets.

According to World Torism Organization, in Europe, with 19.7 billion USD spent in international tourism expenditure (2007), Spain ranked 11th in the world . This number seems to increase annually. However, according to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the number of Spanish tourists to Vietnam for leisure purpose is still low and recently, the government with promoting activities is aiming efforts at opening Spain market as our main target market in the near future

In Vietnam, there are two major travel companies which target Spanish markets, they are, ASCO Lotus Travel and Exotissimo Travel. ASCO have years of experience for Western tourists to operate tour to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia and ASCO while Exotissimo opened branches in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar. They aims to high-and-above-income maket while Luxury Tour aims to serve mid and high income tourists with the highest standard. As a Vietnamese travel company, Luxury Tour understand Vietnamese business behavior. Thus it is easier to build strong relationship with local suppliers.

Industry Information

Nearly 1.6 billion is the expected number of international arrivals forecasted by UNWTO’s Tourism 2020 Vision by the year 2020. Among of them, 1.2 billion will travel to other countries and 378 million will take longer trips. It is obvious that travel between different regions (outbound and inbound) tends to grow at a faster rate than intraregional travel (domestics) . In 2007, interregional travel increased by 8% as against a growth of 6% for intraregional traffic.

According to Vietnam Tourism(2010), from October 10th to December 31st 2010, following “Vietnam-your destination” campaign, international tourists were welcome to Vietnam without visa. With this opened policies, Vietnam was successful in attracting inbound tourists, especially in Western markets. In 2011, it is expected that Vietnamese Government will consider its effectiveness and efficiency to making further decision better.

Product/Service Information

Luxury Tour wants to approach mid and high income Spaniards. Most of them are businessmen, specialists, and professors etc. who are too busy to enjoy their time. With the slogan of “Think nothing, let us”, Luxury Tour wants to be the useful right hand by bringing them into the most comfortable world with families and friends. We offer several tour packages with high quality. All customer requirements are satisfied perfectly. From the moment customers contact Luxury Tour to the end of the tour, customers will be serviced by friendly and professional staff, such as travel consultants, tour operators, tour guide and others

SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS

High-quality service

Operational efficiency

Experienced and highly customer-oriented staff

Strong marketing and sales forces

Strong relationships with both suppliers and Spanish travel agencies

WEAKNESSES

New brand name in the market

Limited budget

No representative office in Spain, so Luxury Tour can not contact directly to the target customer

Depend on Spanish travel agencies

OPPORTUNITIES

Spain is a new emerging or developing market for Vietnamese tourism industry

Less competition

Rapid development of e-commerce

Support from government (i.e.: opened policies to encourage tourism)

Social changes: more Spanish want to travel to Southeast countries

THREATS

Financial crisis

The increasing of potential competitors

Social problems: there are many beggers who follow tourists from places to places

Objectives

The key objectives for Luxury Tour are:

Within 5 years , Luxury Tour becomes the Vietnamese leading tour operator in Spanish market segment with 30% of share market .

Integrated marketing services are established to present a unified image/brand identity of Vietnam as an ideal destination .

The number of loyal tourists is increased

After the first five year, Luxury Tour will expand business into other Western markets, such as the Portugal, the Netherland etc.

Strategy

With Luxury Tour, tourists will experience the finest service, enjoy the most delicious Vietnamese cusine and stay at the most comfortable hotels. Our efforts are to make tourists remember uniqueness and hospitality of Vietnam in general and Luxury Tour in particular. It is can be measured by the increased number of Spanish tourists coming back to Vietnam annually.

What Luxury Tour try to sell is not only tours themselves but also benefits. A good tour operator knows how to control income factors and how to balance incomes and outcomes ( customer requirement) to satisfy three parties, that is to say, tourists are pleased with service, suppliers are happy to serve and Luxury Tour gets profits and more importantly, customer awareness.

Product

To be more competitive in the market , our tour itineraries are designed with two advantages : Quality and Customer service.

*** In term of Quality :Tour itinerary is designed based on 5H model , that is the combination of Hospitality, Honesty , Heritage, History,Heroic

**** In term of Customer Service :

Speed :We have hotline served 24/7 to answer all customers’ questions and complain

Flexibility : Tour itinerary can be re-designed to fit each customer’s requirement

Reliability : all needed info is provided to customers before they book tours , including warning (if applicable )

Pricing

Our target customer is from mid-income and above. They usually prefer to enjoy holidays in their own tastes and required to be served at the highest level. Thus we mix two price strategies, good-value pricing strategy and value-added pricing. Luxury Tour will design a basic package price which combines high standard, good service at reasonable price. From the basics, this tour is tailor-made to fix each customer demand. The price is changeable based on the seasons, supple-demand balance and other unforeseen situations. Normally our estimated price is around USD 2,200 / pax.

Distribution

For the short term , to perform activities to attract tourists from Spain to Vietnam and expand distribution channel to meet market needs and serve customers better, Luxury Tour has partnered with tourism companies in Spain. With this partnership, Luxury Tour has been in the big cities of Spain, such as Barcelona , Madrid , Valencia etc. For the long term, within the next 5 years , Luxury Tour opens one representative agency in Madrid to approach customers’ needs easily and efficiently

Promotion

Website:

Luxury Tour launches and operates Internet site effectively as a virtual tourist office in which customers can find a lot of information about Vietnam and useful tips for their tour . The website is designed with friendly screen and easy-to-follow instructions. Besides, our online travel consultants are willing to help customers design suitable tour itineraries with reasonable price and support them during and after journey.

Search Engines Optimisation:

To be recognized among millions of tourism websites, we will corporate with some internet search engine sites such as :

http://www.ivivu.com/

http://www.skydoor.net/

http://www.chudu24.com/

http://yeudulich.vn/

http://www.tourism-review.com/

Instead of buying a place on their website, Luxury Tour offer them a business corporation opportunity, this is, banner exchange. This is a win-win corporation

Advertising:

As a new brand name in luxury tourism industry, we decide to focus on bringing our image to the target customers. Our target customer segmentation is from mid and high income. Choosing a reliable magazine is the first choice. Among of which is “Travel and Entertainment” magazine – the publication of Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism and the leading magazine in tourism of Vietnam. It is available in Vietnam Airlines, Indochina Airline and Royal Brunei Airline.

Public Relations:

To build strong relationship with Spanish travel companies as well as to prove them our outstanding service offered, Luxury Tour usually invites partners and Spanish press to have trips to Vietnam for free of charge. It is not only a normal business trip but also a chance to introduce Vietnam beauty and its tourism potentials as well. Besides, Luxury Tour also have budget to sponsor for community activities such as planting tree, building houses for the poor etc. to emphasize that Luxury Tour image is not connected to business only, it is the combination between social responsibility, environmental protection and business.

Promotions:

Luxury Tour usually takes part in some trade exhibitions in Vietnam and foreign countries. This form of promotional activity enables promotion directly to the consumer for creating ‘word-of-mouth’ channel. We offer 10% discount for who books tours at exhibitions

Branding:

Luxury Tour wants to build a friendly image and impress current and potential customers by service quality. Our logo is design with the main color of green and the image of a typical tourist. Our slogan is “think nothing.Let us”.

Operational Plan

Sucessful tourism business depends on the service quality. Tourism is unlike other industries. We try to sell invisible products. The key points are how to persuade them to trial our service and how to make them feel undisappoited about their decision.To meet that goal, Luxury Tour must pay attention to setting up a quality control system strictly. Not only checking service from suppliers, employee force must be trainned to serve customer 24/7 . Any problems before, during and after tour need to be solved soon. After each tour, based on their feedback, Luxury Tour have some change to improve more and serve better.

Sales promotion

Dyring the first six month, Luxury Tour aims to attract customer awareness and introduce our service. We offer customers 5%-10% discount program. When customers know more about us, so discount strategy is not applied. Instead, we focus on added benefits, for example, booking tour to travel across Vietnam, tourists get one buffet ticket at Caravelle Saigon.

Advertising

Our target segmentation is mid and high income customers. Most of them are businessmen who usually travel by airplain. Thus in our marketing budget, there are amount of money spending to advertising on airline magazines, such as “Travel and Entertainment” .

Public relations

Public relation is a tool to improve company image positively. It needs long-term plan. Developing a brand name with the image of friendliness and hospitality, Luxury Tour will organize some special tours called “community connection”. Joining this, tourists do not only have chance to travel to Vietnam but also join community activities, such as teaching children, planting tree, farming etc. It makes tourists feel that their money is reinvested into society.

Direct Marketing

In term of direct marketing, there are many forms. To maximize marketing effectiveness, we suggest to combine direct mail, email marketing, social network, brochure and magazine advertising. To get the mid and high income customer database, Luxury Tour could buy from market research companies or take advantage of current database of Spanish travel agencies. Then we will send them our company profile and e-brochure to introduce our service and encorage them to log in our website to receive a 10%-discount travelling coupon for the first visit.

Online Marketing

Owning a well-designed and multi-function website is a tool to approach targeted customers. Our online travel consultants who comminicate well in English and Spanish are willing to assist customers to search info, design tour itineraries. Customers can book and pay online. The payment method is variable, from bank transfer to PayPal, Master Card, Credit Card etc. Once payment is done, confirmation, receipt, flight e-ticket and a package of Vietnamese information are sent to customer’s email box.

Budgets and action plan

Item

Jun-11

Jul-11

Aug-11

Sep-11

Cost

( USD)

Department / Employee name

Measure of Success

Making business plan, design logo, slogan and complete register documents

1st

1st

2,000

Nguyen Mai Ly – The genaral Director

Recuit human resource

1st

1st

1,000

HR Department

recruit experienced employees

Design tour itineraries and deal with suppliers

1st

31st

1,500

Operation Department

Tour itineraries are design to meet Luxury Tour targerted market requirement and local suppliers are pleased with our request and agree to offer competative price

Contact with some Spanish travel companies, pursuade them to corporate with Luxury Tour and sign the contracts

15th

15th

5,000

Operation Department

At least 10 Spanish travel companies are interested in our offers and agree to cooperate with Luxury Tours

Design Website and brochure

1st – 15th

1,000

Admin Department

The website is well designed , easy-to-follow and imformative

Discuss with tourism websites for banner exchange

15th

15th

1,000

Sales and Marketing Department

our banner is posted at all sites as listed

Print brochure and distribute at luxury hotels, Tan Son Nhat airports and other entertainment centers

15th

15th

3,000

Sales and Marketing Department

Our brochures are delivered to the targeted customers

Advertising on travel magazines and newspapers

15th June – 15th December 2011

700

Sales and Marketing Department

Luxury Tour information is advertised for 7 months ( June – December 2011)

Organize tours for 10 major Spanish travel representative and 10 Spanish travel journalists to Vietnam

15th

5th

20,000

Operation Department

All guests are pleased with our service and after this tour, ten articles will be written and published over the next month in major travel magazines and website in Spain

Opening ceremony

8th

2,000

100 invited guests, including suppliers, Spanish travel companies, press, Spanish businessmen in HCMC and others

TOTAL

37,200

This report will be divided into 5 sections. In the first section I will be describing the function of the company and the product it provides for its customers. The second section will provide an overview of the economics of the business and competition. The third section will describe the management structure at the company. The fourth section will provide both the PEST and SWOT analysis. Finally I will reflect on my time as a tourist guide, describe the job role and give my impressions of the company. Describing the company and what it offers Tower Bridge is a municipal enterprise owned, funded and managed by the City of London Corporation who are the local Government body responsible for the “financial square mile”. The City of London is therefore responsible for all commercial and operational matters relating to Tower Bridge. Funding of the enterprise comes from a long standing trust.

Description of the company

London Tower Bridge is located in the heart of London and is very close to London’s transport infrastructure and world famous historical sites such as; the Tower of London and HMS Belfast. It is a well known bridge that has become an iconic figure of London, spanning the River Thames, and is within walking distance of London’s other famous attractions such as the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern. Originally built in 1894 to ease traffic congestion on London Bridge and designed to allow access to large ships to the pool of London, it was subjected to a major conversion to become a tourist centre in the 1980s. Tower Bride is therefore both a monument to London’s past and a successful tourist attraction. The main offering is the Tower Bridge Exhibition which allows visitors to enter inside the Bridge allowing access to the High Level walkways with uninterrupted views across the city. This provides a unique selling point with which to market itself and provides a memorable and emotional experience for visitors. The tour also allows visitors to see the Victorian engine rooms from which the bridge used to be powered by. The company also offers corporate entertainment packages and a popular gift shop for visitors. Entry prices are at an affordable rate and for viewing pleasure, the Exhibition comes equipped with interactive screens, sliding window panels for better picture quality and excellent graphics on their giant screens. One of the most important features of Tower Bridge is its “bascule” mechanism system, which rises around 1000 times a year and is still in function to this present day. Bridge openings are very popular with the public and are part of its attraction and allure to tourists. This particular bridge is the only bridge in the world of its type that opens and closes.

Market and competitors

Another historical attraction within the same vicinity as Tower Bridge is the ‘Tower of London,’ which often competes with Tower Bridge as people tend to mix up the two because the structures are quite similar and this may sometimes lead to confusion. Moreover, the Tower of London was famous in Britain and around the world during World War 2 as an iconic landmark. Inevitably overshadowing Tower Bridge. Nonetheless the Tower Bridge is central to London’s historical heritage as a major commercial port. London has many other attractions including: the London eye, which can have up to 10,000 visitors every day and even the London Bridge Experience which opened in 2008. The Tower Bridge Exhibition has grown steadily since opening in 1984, with last year being its most successful in terms of financial surplus and numbers of visitors. With a small marketing team and budgets, Tower Bridge Exhibition relies heavily on organisations such as Visit Britain/London to document trends in visitors. Tower Bridge Exhibition targets throughout the year a very broad area including both the European and domestic markets. Within the domestic markets educational groups are also targeted but equal importance is placed on family groups. Advertising normally occurs through specialised magazines, in particular publications like the Times Educational Supplement or via websites such as www.vistislondon.co.uk where costs are generally lower then other mass media options. Trade shows are attended such as “World Travel Market” where the exhibition is promoted to a range of tour and group organisers and databases are created for direct mail campaigns. Tower Bridge Exhibition has a unique relationship with its competitors, although in direct competition with one another, attractions within London work together along with Visit London to bring people to the area. Tower Bridge Exhibition has a list of distributors which in return for a discounted ticket rate sell tickets globally, however they also promote competitors. Other key stakeholders of Tower Bridge Exhibition are Local and National Government and the EU who and impose rules and regulations. The local community and response services, the Tower Bridge charitable trust, all visitors, the media, internal trade unions and employees are also key stakeholders.

The cost of visiting the exhibition is ?7.00 per adult and ?3.00 per child (5-15) under fives go free, with a concession ticket costing ?5.00 and disabled guests getting in for free. Group discounts are available for 10 people or more and a promotion with Network rail allows 2 for 1 entry. Ad hoc promotions are run throughout the year targeting specific groups, for example the exhibition’s 25th anniversary was celebrated by letting local residents in for 25p.

Job role

As a Customer Care Guide at the Tower Bridge Exhibition I had a fair amount of duties, roles and responsibilities which was based on the nucleus of customers and their safety along with their well being which meant constantly putting there needs and requirements first at all times. Furthermore, that meant me providing exceptional customer service and care at all times and making sure that the customers visit was as enjoyable and pleasant as humanly possible. With that in mind I would have to posses a certain degree of knowledge regarding the bridge and the local vicinity. I would also be required to have a competent level of expertise relating to the bridges history, construction and design most notably for when I am positioned inside the bridge and doing a position that entails doing speeches regularly. For positions like these I must convey clear and precise information to the customers so that they are made aware of the process inside the bridge. In addition, I would also need to be fully aware of all the processes of the bridge if say there was a fire or an evacuation I would have to be mindful of the correct drills and steps that needed to be taken in order for a safe and secure evacuation to be achieved for all customers especially the disabled, elderly and those in a wheelchair. My duties included maintaining a high level of security for both the visitors and the exhibition items as well as always being on hand and available to interact and engage with visitors should they need or require any assistance or help from me at any stage during there visit. Moreover, if they had a query or wanted further information about the or the area.

Management Structure

A business structure is very important and every organization has its own structure. A company such Tower Bridge organizational structure is a hierarchical with a concept of subordination of entities that collaborate and contribute to serve one common aim. Most of the staff in Tower Bridge are all in the front office dealing the member of public and tourist, some have more interaction such as the Ticket Office and Customer Care Guides.

The mangers

Tower Bridge uses a functional structure which has the advantage of being easy to understand. The chain of command requires that an employee can report to one or more managers, but one manger such as Andy Nicholson, typically has more authority over the employee than their other manager(s). In Tower Bridge there are three mangers: one exhibition manager and two assistant managers. Having this structure means having layers of management that control the company by maintaining a high level of authority, with the power to make decisions concerning business activities. Employees such as customer care guide have limited authority to carry something out without prior approval. This organizational structure tends to focus on top-down management, whereby executives at the top communicate by telling middle managers, who then tell first level mangers, who then tell the staff what to do and how to do it. A limited number of employees report to a manager, who then reports to the next management level, and so on up to the Bridge Master or Tower Bridge Director.

The managers needs to be responsible for motivating the staffs and ensuring that any formal systems and practices that are in place are not undermined in anyway. In theory the managers at Tower Bridge are responsible for the business performance, as well as maintaining high standards of service and health and safety.

A functional structure of Tower Bridge can be illustrated by the following diagram:

The Managers are responsible for arranging shifts for their staff, creating promotional events and discount offers, deal with customer complaints, motivating staff, ensuring that staffs have the right uniforms, greeting customers and organising table reservations.

PEST Analysis

Political

Political factors that may affect the ability of Tower Bridge to operate include government and City of London polices. In fact it seems unlikely that these will impact adversely on the attraction in the immediate future given its high profile and historic status. Cuts in public expenditure may lead to higher admission prices and less staff running the exhibition. As the government recent decision to cut funding to Visit Britain by 18% has big consequences for all London Attractions most specifically the smaller attractions such as Tower Bridge Exhibition who relay heavily on its services. Flight and bed taxes could deter visitors away from the city. Terrorism threats threaten the entire London tourism industry.

Technology

With more people using the internet, Tower Bridge Exhibitions will have to review its current website, as currently ticket purchases are too complicated. Advancements in ICT have meant that statistical data on tourist trends is now simpler to collect and more easily accessible through websites such as Visit Britain. Tower Bridge still has old and new technology some of the original hydraulic machinery is still remain as exhibition in the engine room nowadays they use electro-hydraulic drive that open the bridge up.

Economic

The main external forces (macro environment factors) that affect Tower Bridge Exhibition are economic and social factors. London is perceived to be an expensive place to visit, so the exhibition will need to provide better value for money. This is possible as at currently utilises only one third of available space. It will need to consider joint promotions with other attractions. Changes in interest rates at home cause fluctuations in disposable income meaning leisure activities are often put on hold, exchange rates and the strong pound against the dollar has seen a smaller spend per person from the important American market.

Social

Tower Bridge Exhibition relies heavily on family groups, so a decline in traditional family set ups will require Tower Bridge to re-think its family tickets prices. Over the recent years are has been a changes in holiday patterns with people now preferring city breaks and long weekends. Terrorist attacks also cause fluctuations in the market with people looking for safer destinations.

SWOT Analysis

Strength

The business philosophy is not just about making money but emphasizes on educating and informing the public (particularly young people). On the tower’s walkways, there is a great view of London similar to the Millennium Wheel but not as detailed or exciting. Furthermore, on a positive note, this particular zone is free of congestion charge, which allows people to freely enjoy their journey over the bridge. Although the bridge is funded by the City of London council, it also makes a reasonable income by hiring the venue in the evenings for special occasions.

Weakness

Although it is an indoor attraction with a large view of London, a visit to Tower Bridge depends on the weather because the best sights are not always available due to the fact of the unpredictable British climate, for instance, on a rainy or overcast day, the views from the bridge can be very poor and distorted which could result in unhappy customers. What is more, London is an all-year-round destination so major attractions are not seasonal. Due to the fact Britain has such unpredictable weather, people usually carry sunglasses and umbrella because they never know what the weather can be like. This could have a bad effect and lead to a bad experience when coming to visit Tower Bridge on an unpleasant day. Firstly, the entrance to Tower Bridge Walkways is confusing for tourists who are unfamiliar with the area as there are no clear signs pointing in the right direction. Also, the journey to Tower Bridge is quite complicated if you have no knowledge of its whereabouts and may get lost. In addition, it is not pedestrian friendly as there tends to be lots of traffic and congestion upon entering the bridge. Secondly, in my opinion their main website is unappealing which doesn’t help to attract or interest people into visiting Tower Bridge. This apparent weakness and flaw could have a bad impact on tourists who have never been to London, as the websites layout and structure does not represent or give Tower Bridge an acceptable status (more life and colour in the graphics required to attract online interest). On the other hand, their website has easy access to different links that also caters to children’s needs such as fun packs for children’s discovery which is fun as well as being educational at the same time. Furthermore, to add to criticism the historical building needs substantial refurbishment to help increase the volume of visitors. Although people are aware that it is a bridge, some people are afraid of heights and may feel unsafe or in danger. Moreover, although the lengths of the walkways are reasonably lengthy, it is quite narrow and may have an affect on those who are claustrophobic. Security measures are paramount for one of the worlds most famous tourist attraction. When entering the Tower there is a single stage of security that visitors must pass through. Once their body has been examined and their belongings are check they are allowed to enter the walkway but it doesn’t mean the security level is up to standards. Reportedly, there have been cases where people have entered the building then proceeding through the security check in order to commit suicide. Fortunately, this has not changed people’s views to visit the attraction because any potential suicide incidents have been prevented. In reality, when the bridge does have a scheduled lift this results in a hold up of traffic. It is found that “An estimated 38,000 vehicles use the bridge each day, pushing it to capacity during peak hours”. This results in many delays for many people, who may decide to take an alternative route to avoid the traffic queues. Likewise, “Extra traffic is expected to increase impact damage to the extremities which flex under traffic loads.” This could mean that traffic queues are causing damage to the structure of the bridge, which may have a long term affect on the bridge. What is more, it is said that “these measures are expected to increase congestion either side if the bridge, adding to delays caused when it opens for shipping. Last year Tower Bridge lifted 925 times”. In my opinion, was this necessary?

Opportunities

Global advertisement could possibly result in an increase in the volume of visitors as many foreigners are unaware of a bridge that opens and this may be an attractive feature to witness in person. Perhaps due to the recession peoples lifestyles are changing, rather than individuals coming to the Tower Bridge they could engage in some promotion and coupons like the “two for the price of one”, “children of the age of under 12 go in for free” etc. Other attractions could work together with Tower Bridge rather than competing with them. They could cater for more languages by enhanced displays for overseas visitors such as Europeans and Asians. Provision of tour guides could be encouraged. Even though it is a self-guided exhibition they could offer a guided tour within the ticket price would encourage more visitors and may enhance the quality of the experience. Additionally, they should provide reasonable adjustment to facilitate for people who have disabilities. Due to the fact of the economic crisis the value of the pound has decreased. This is good news for the overseas visitors because of the currency exchange rates. In years to come the growth of tourism will increase despite the recession; London will generate tourist revenue from the 2012 Olympic games to be held in this city. This will boost and soar the volume of visitors in the capital.

Threat

The biggest threat to Tower Bridge is any potential terrorist attack perhaps of more concern is that there is no security check when going through the bridge and anyone is allowed to walk along the bridge. On the other hand, Tower Bridge is surrounded by a high level of competition with other tourist attractions equally famous like the Tower of London. In spite of the fact that other attractions complement each other it is possible that Tower Bridge will lose out due to the fact that it is less appealing. The economic downturn could have an impact on people’s lifestyles and their finances. Another way of viewing this is that the recession has changed our way of life. Culturally and socially people may prefer doing simple things like taking a walk in the park, instead of expensive vacations. After all a large proportion of overseas visitors come to visit the Tower Bridge. As a result this recession could have an significant effect resulting in a decrease of the number of visitors. In conclusion, it could be said that the current service could continue unchanged. The inherent advantages of location, history and unique appearance will service the attraction well in the future. However, improvements could also be considered namely a more attractive website, cater for different languages, refurbishment of the walkways. The main threats for the future are: economic downturn and limited attractiveness to a young audience.

Reflection

Working in Tower Bridge has taught me a number of things about how tourist attractions operate in the market and what factors lead to an attractions success. Even though my time at the Tower Bridge consisted of 400 hours work experience I still had to go through the same procedures as I would if I were applying for a permanent job. I was interviewed by Andy Nicholson who gave me a fair amount of information regarding the history of bridge and what they offer to the public. Even through the interview lasted over 3 hours it was very insightful and useful to me. I gained a lot of knowledge about Tower Bridge and its surroundings. When I started work it was the beginning of the Easter holidays. I didn’t get any training at first except on how to use a radio. I was thrown in at the deep end for the first three days as I didn’t know much but I guess that is the best way to learn. After a few days I was formally introduced to other members of staff and my official training started. The assistant manager gave me the correct uniform as there are different ones to wear for different positions. I was given a full guided tour and met all the security staff, the maintenance department and human resources. I was shown all the emergency exits as well as all the other exits and where to meet if we had to be evacuated.

I was given a radio with my own personal identification which was “uniform 13” which enabled me to communicate with other members of staff via the radio. After that I undertook three days of shadowing a full time tour guide and I was also given a big pack of information about Tower Bridge. I learnt 4 different speeches plus aborts and general information of the history of London. A big plus point for me was that I was given the chance to get to know the surroundings and I spent a couple of days visiting other tourist attractions such as the Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern gallery. I thought this was very helpful to me. After 1 week of shadowing and intensive reading I was finally ready to work on my own. My first position was to operate the north lift which takes the customers to the high level walkways and to give them instructions on what to do when they got up there. I did this a few times before trying out the other roles and positions. In total there are 8 positions, 1-3 are working in the lifts and the towers and the customer service areas. The only negative point about this aspect of the job is that it can become very repetitious.

Position 4 and 5 involve working in the gift shop next to the Victorian Engine Room. I was lucky to have this experience and to be till trained. Working in the shop has a lot of responsibilities, not only dealing with money and providing customer service, throughout the day you’re on your own and this can be quite stressful. There are many duties working at the shop in the morning before opening up, you are required to do a number of duties: making sure that there are enough products on the shelf and that these are neatly presented, knowing what’s not available and what’s low on stock so it can be ordered in, cash up the money for the till etc. Working in the gift shop can be pleasant but the only difficult issue that I faced was dealing with several customers at the same time. The gift shop is quite a small and confined area and it is where customers exit from the Exhibition. In some cases an unsatisfied customer will use his time in the gift shop to vent his frustrations and whoever is currently occupying the shop position is usually the one that is on the other end of the brunt of the customer’s fury. In addition to this, in most if not all the cases of a customer who was not completely happy with there visit and experience and demand a refund or if a technical malfunction occurs to any of the penny press machines then it is at the gift shop where all of the would be resolved.

Positions 6, 7 and 8 are what the company refers to as “footfall enticement”. These duties are intensive and consist of you dealing with customers at the front of the ticket office who are visiting the Tower Bridge Exhibition or are just walking pass as well as giving out general information about the bridge. I think the footfall position is a crucial role as it represents the Tower Bridge image and they are the first staff and port of contact to interact with the customers before they enter the exhibition. Throughout my work placement I have undertaken a fair amount of footfall and my view upon it is that it can be quite enjoyable. The only downside is that the footfall is an all year position which I think is unfortunate because Tower Bridge is on the river it can very windy and during autumn and winter it can be very cold. I did a few footfalls in April and even so it was extremely cold for me to endure and for someone to do this position you have to be mentally and physically strong. I don’t think people should have to work 8 hours outside in such cold conditions most notably during winter times and I think they should use the footfall personnel to go onto the walkways to give talks about the bridge and have one at the gift shop for assistance as the shop can get very busy and hectic at times.

After 200 hours I was given the opportunity to work at the Monument. My job role was to give out leaflets to those who completed the 311 steps and give brief talks about this famous landmark. I had a lot fun working there because it was a more intimate setting than the bridge so you got to talk and engage more with your work colleagues. It also meant that you could immerse yourself more in depth with the visitors and ask them more about their visit to the capital and how long they were intending on staying and where they were originally from. There is so much history written into the Monument which is intertwined with the Great Fire of London so for me to work there and to be a part of it was a good experience which contributed to my enjoyment there.

In terms of organization and structure there is much to change and develop. What surprised me is that staffs do not really work together and in some ways work in isolation from each other which seems inefficient and ineffective. There tends to be a gap and divide between the permanent staff who have been employed there for many years and the temporary staff such as myself.

Conclusion

Overall working at Tower Bridge has been a good learning experience for me. Like any other job there will always be positives and negatives but in some ways the work has provided some unique insights. I think Tower Bridge and the Monument are very successful tourist attractions for the reasons stated previously and there is no reason why it should not continue to prosper in the future with the right investment and a culture of continuous improvement. Many people who work at Tower Bridge have provided years of dedicated service for a prolonged period of time. Tour guides, ticket office, managers, security and maintenance people have worked their for a long time. A large proportion of them are 40 plus in age which is a change for me because it is the first time I have come across a situation like that. I think I have picked up some of their characteristics and learnt a lot from their experiences of being at Tower Bridge. On the whole I had a great experience and I would highly recommend it to other students who are interested in the tourist industry or those people who like history. Out of all the places I have worked in previously I can honestly say that this was the most interesting job and role that I have ever experienced. The majority of the staff I built and formed a relationship with not only as work colleagues but as friends outside working hours.