The Development and Management of Visitor Attractions Part 1

1. The Development and Management of Visitor AttractionsPart 1

2. The Development and Management of Visitor Attractions Routledge ISBN-10: 0750651695 ISBN-13: 978-0750651691

3. Table of Contents Part One The Context Part Two The Development of Visitor Attractions Part Three The Management of Visitor Attractions Part Four Case Studies Part Five The Future of Visitor Attractions

4. Part One: The Context • Introduction • The role of visitor attractions in tourism • The visitor attraction product • The visitor attraction market • The business environment and visitor attractions

5. Introduction • Hard to define due to its divergence and complexity Attraction • a feature in an area that is a place, venue or focus of activities • Intends to attract (day) visitors from resident, tourist populations • Provides fun and pleasurable experience , an enjoyable way to spend leisure time • Developed to realize this potential • Managed to provide satisafaction to customers • Provides appropriate level of facilities, services to meet demand, interests, and needs of visitors • May or may not charge an admission for entry (Walsh-Heron and Stevens, 1990)

6. Typology of Attractions • Features within natural environment (beach) • Human-made structures designed for a purpose other than attracting visitors (churches) • Human-made structures designed to attract visitors (theme parks) • Special events (olympics) 1.-3. permanent, 4. temporary

7. Scope of Attractions • Hard to treat them as mutually exclusive • Grey area • Lew (1987) • Ideographic • Organizational perspective • Cognitive perspective: tourists‘ perceptions, experiences of attractions • Gunn (1988) • Natural • Cultural • Artificially created

8. Visitor – Tourist Attractions • Most visitors of attractions are not tourists • Usually day-visitors • Often come from the region

9. Attractions - Destinations Attractions Destinations Larger areas Include a number of individual attractions together with support services required by tourists Existence of major attraction • Generally single units, individual sites, very small, easily delimited geographical areas based on a single feature • Difficult to seperate from destination

10. Classification of Visitor Attractions • Ownership (public, private, voluntary) • Catchment Areas (local, regional, national, international • Visitor Numbers (link: visitor numbers and population of catchment area) • Location (urban, rural) • Size • Target Markets • Benefits sought (visitors expect from visiting attractions)

11. The Role of Visitor Attractions in Tourism • Historical development, relationship with growth of tourism • Link between attractions and other sectors of tourism • Their economic, social and environmental impacts and their use

12. Historical Development • Greeks; Romans visiting pyramids of Egypt • Middle Ages: religious shrines (e.g. Mecca) • Renaissance: nature, culture of exotic lands • 17/18 th century: health (spa, sea water), Grand Tour (France, Italy) • 19 th century: museums; Southern Europe, Alps • 20 th century: package tour, whole world is accessible, heritage attractions, etc

13. Attractions and Development of Destinations • Stage 1: single attraction • Stage 2: embryonic destination (stage 1 plus services) • Stage 3: developed single market destination (newer attractions, appeal same market) • Stage 4: diversified destination ( new attractions, attract new markets to the destination)

14. Impacts of Attractions • Economic • Tourists (valuable foreign curency) • Provides jobs, but often poorly paid • Environmental • Overall negative, e.g destruction of vegetation (natural attractions) • Sociocultural • Too many tourists can destroy experience for local community • Key point: extent to which attractions reflect needs, desires of local people

15. Conclusion • Many governements worldwide have recognized the potential of tourism as economic development tool • Not always aware of problems tourism can cause

16. The Visitor Attraction Product • Product/service mix • „... An offering of a business entity as it is perceived by both present and potential customers. It is a bundle of benefits designed to satisfy the needs aand wants, and to solve the problems of, specified target markets. A product is composed of both tangible and intangible elements...The utility of a product derives from what it does for the customer.“ (Lewis and Chambers, 1989)

17. Visitor Attraction as a Service Product • Staff involved in producing and delivering the product are part of product itself • Customers themselves are involved in production process • Service products are not standardized • Perishability • Intangibility • Surrounding of service delivery process are feature of service (atmosphere)

18. Visitor Attraction Product as an Experience Elements affecting the experience • Tangible (restaurants, cleanliness) • Service delivery ( behavior of staff) • Customers themselves (expectations, attitudes) • Factors outside control of operator or customer (weather)

19. Levels of Products Kotler (1994) • Core Product • Core benefit or service • What customer really wants • E.g. excitement, atmosphere • Tangible Product • Entity consumer can buy • On-site attractions • Augmented Product • All additional services and benefits the customer receives, both tangible and intangible • Procedures for handling complaints

20. Benefits Sought from the Product • Beach • Sun tan • Cathedral • history • Museum • nostalgia • Theater • entertainment • Leisure Center • exercise • Theme park • Excitement

21. Branding Kotler (1994) • Name, term, sign, symbol, or design or combination of them intended to identify the goods or sercives of one seller ... and to differnetiate them from those of competitors • E.g. Disney Jones (2001) : brand extension • Create a visitor experience which embodies the values of the brand, stimulates the further interest of consumers and provides a profitable additional revenue stream • Use attractions to raise profile of brands

22. Packaging • To make product attractive to potential purchasers • Make it easier for customers to pick up, transport and use • Provide information for visitor to find attraction • Attractive entrances • Make product part of package offered by another organization

23. Price • Direct cost of using attraction • Cost of extra discretionary purchases (meals) • Travel costs • all-inclusive price • No entrance fee (natural attractions) • Lack of perceived competition • Price discrimination (students, adults)

24. Product Life Cycle

25. Trends in the Attraction Product 1980s 1990s Euro- Disney (Disneyland Paris) Sea Life Centers Legoland Remodling of existing attractions (Louvre) • Theme parks • Museums (open-air) • Leisure shopping complexes • Factory tourism • Arts festivals • Wildlife and science-based attractions

26. The Visitor Attraction Market Whole population- Potential market Proportion of the population that visits attractions of any kind- the current effective market The markets for particular types of attraction, e.g. Museums, theme parks Market subgroups such as the elderly visitors with special needs

27. The Nature of Demand • Effective demand • Suppressed demand • Deferred • potential • No demand at all

28. Motivators and Determinants Motivators Determinants State of health Disposable income Real, perceived leisure time Commitments to family, etc Fear of travel Word of mouth recommendation Weather mobility • Excitement • Status • New experience • Education • Economy • Health • Relaxation • Escape from routine

29. Market Segmentation • Geographical • Demographic • Psychographic • Behavioristic • others

30. The Leisure Paradox

31. Cross-Cultural Differences • Preferred types of attractions • Ability and willingness to pay • Attituteds towards and expectations of customer service • Nature of visiting groups (school groups) • Factors which influence visitor satisfaction

32. Future of Attractions Market • How large will it be? • What types of attractions will receive most visitors? • Volume, nature of supply • Rate of growth (domestic, international tourism) • Economic situation • Changes in lifestyle

33. The Business Environment and Visitor Attractions • Macroenvironment • Political factors • Economic factors • Sociocultural factors • Technological factors • Microenvironment • Organization • Suppliers • Marketing intermediaries • Customers • competitors