WILDLIFE TOURISM IN SOUTH AFRICA - Essay Example

?WILDLIFE TOURISM IN SOUTH AFRICA – A Marketing Plan Outline The paper takes into account mainly two target groups the domestic and international wildlife tourists. The domestic tourists mainly the original dwellers of South Africa account for a major portion of wildlife tourism in taking tours encompassing both night and day stays. The international wildlife tourists however comprise of such people who are mainly keen of conducting tours inside Africa (Avitourism in South Africa, 2010,pp.12-13). The target market identified for the marketing plan presented here accounts for 21000 to around 40000 wildlife tourists visiting the region on an annual basis. Domestic tourists comprise the major chunk of the wildlife tourist population and range from 13 to 24 thousand while the international tourists account for 8 to 16 thousand people on an annual basis. These target groups accounting for making wildlife tourism in South Africa render around 1025 to 1975 billion rand to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product on an annual basis (Research and Analysis Report, 2010, p.9). The report therefore intends to provide a clear-cut plan to attract these tourists by strategies in marketing and promotion and therefore add to the economy in terms of revenues as well. WILDLIFE TOURISM IN SOUTH AFRICA – A Marketing Plan Marketing Plan for Promoting Wildlife Tourism in South Africa South Africa is home to a large amount of biodiversity spread along its natural parks and wildlife habitats and accounts for drawing visitors from a worldwide base. This activity of ecology based wildlife tourism in the region helps in drawing huge revenues for the South African economy. In South Africa the amount of tourists coming to visit the wildlife sectors accrue to about 79 percent of the total number of tourists visiting the region on an annual basis. In terms of economic value the wildlife tourism in South Africa account for around 50 percent of the total amount of income generated from tourism activities. To attract the tourists visiting the South African region for their interest in wildlife, the South African government has rendered space for the development of natural parks, which hosts a large number of flora and fauna. These natural parks help in hosting a large number of tourists in several rest camps containing both lodging and hotel facilities. An example of a national park in the South African region is the Kruger National Park, which helps hosting a large number of tourists in both caravan and camps along with other guesthouses and guest cottages. These latter ones are built to present to the visitors a huge variety of opportunities to live and enjoy their tour. These hotels, rest houses and guest camps are designed in such a fashion as to provide to the people dwelling and food based on international standards. Estimates made show that only the Kruger National Park in South Africa draws around 1.4 million wildlife tourists in the region. This national park also helps to accrue huge amount of revenue for the South African economy. Estimates made show that on an average annual basis the national park amounts to around 40 million dollars of revenue for the South African government (Spenceley, 2006, pp.652-653). It is found from the above discussion that the impact of wildlife tourism in South Africa has helped the development of the economy of the region. The marketing and promotional activities designed would help greatly in enhancing the growth of wildlife tourists in the region, which would thereby augment the revenue patterns of the economy. However the marketing and promotional activities that would be taken to enhance the development of wildlife tourism in South Africa by helping in attracting large number of tourists must be developed in an organized fashion to optimize the utilization of available resources. Thus the design of the marketing plan for developing wildlife tourism in South Africa must function on the basis of the following agenda. Firstly the marketing plan must focus on enhancing the parameter of domestic wildlife tourism through creating mass awareness about wildlife sanctuaries and tourist spots among the domestic population of the country. The domestic population of South Africa amount to a greater number of wildlife tourists than that present in the international arena. Secondly the marketing and promotional activities must make further progress in drawing interests from international visitors who are taking tours to gain access to wildlife regions. The promotional activities can be further enhanced by the work of local agents who can draw out economic plans in helping the international visitors to invest in wildlife tours. Thirdly, the marketing plan must hint towards the development of effective price strategies, which would help generate considerable attraction in the minds of the foreign tourists. Thus while addressing the needs of the foreign tourists visiting South Africa comfortable planning must be made to adjust their spending based on the prevailing exchange rates. Fourthly the marketing and promotional activities must be further enhanced to encompass the activities, which would help attracting large number of both international and corporate or business tourists to wildlife zones. These business tourists can range from mere business travelers to wildlife journalists and document producers and filmmakers whose interest can be further enhanced. Fifthly the marketing and promotion activities in promoting wildlife tourism in South Africa must take help from a specific marketing tool like Public Relations, which would help in enhancing the personal relations of the government and the marketing agencies with the general people. These Public Relation activities must endeavor to encompass the people beginning from the several provinces to the national heights. Large number of people, both domestic and international, must be made largely aware of the number of wild life resources present in the country through concerted actions of these marketing communities. Sixthly, the concerted marketing actions of both the government and the marketing agencies must not be only restricted to attracting the tourists to pay visit to only popular wildlife zones. Rather the work of these sectors must also help in the development of more innovative and creative wildlife zones where the tourists can visit. Seventhly the marketing and promotional agencies must take resort to huge advertisement and promotional campaigns to help in making large number of people tourists or otherwise get increasingly aware of wildlife tourism. Eighthly, the marketing and promotion plan must also be designed to make the government aware in making larger amount of investments to help draw a larger number of visitor traffic to these sectors. More number of resources designated would certainly help the country in developing more number of wildlife sanctuaries in the South African region and thereby augmenting tourism. Ninthly, the marketing and promotion events must also look forward in identification and development of newer wildlife markets in the region. The development of newer markets can also be attached to the niche factor, which would help in increasing focus on a particular tourists segment. Creation of niche markets would also help in enhancing the product portfolio of tourism in the South African economy. Tenthly, the marketing and promotion plan in order to measure the effectiveness of the promotion and advertisement campaigns must set forth measurement tools which would help in understanding the effectiveness of such in drawing visitors. Next, the marketing and promotion plan also focuses on the development and incorporation of the visual mix to help change the perception of viewers worldwide in regards to the South African region. In the twelfth case the number of information centers, which would help in rendering potential information to the tourists, must be greatly enhanced both in the provincial and in the national scale. This activity would help the tourists in getting potential information as to the availability and cost of touring resources and the promising sites in the region. In the thirteenth point the marketing and promotion activities must focus on development and issue of brochures to be rendered to the tourists, which would contain all types of relevant information. The tourists visiting the country and residing at different provinces can also be helped to make instant reservation through the extensive cooperation of the tour operators and agencies. The marketing and promotion plan in the fourteenth point renders stresses on the development of transportation operations across the country, which would help in generating more number of tourists from several regions. In the fifteenth case the marketing and promotion activities in order to enhance mass awareness must focus on expanding the marketing propaganda to both the school and college level. The young children along with the youths made interested to visit the wildlife areas would help in the growth of domestic tourist population in the country. Finally in the sixteenth position the marketing and promotion agencies must act in reducing the intensity of crime and violent operations both within the regional and national level. This practice would help in the development of congenial environment for inviting more number of international tourists in the South African region (The Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa, 1996). The above plan set based on marketing and promotion events in developing wildlife tourism operations in South Africa can be further enhanced through the activities of the South African government. The government of the country can work forward in the development of tourism products in the region by rendering investments in the development of more and more natural parks and other niche tourism sites. Further the government of South Africa must also work forward in further enhancement of the marketing and promotion programs to encompass a larger section of the South African region. The government of the country is also required to render strong regulatory measures and enhance the policy practices to help in the strict monitoring of tourism operations in the region. In regards to the regulatory practices of the South African government strict monitoring of the same should be done based on identifiable standards. The natural resources like the huge diversity of flora and fauna hold the key to inviting large number of foreign visitors to the South Africa to conduct their natural or ecological tourism activities. Estimates show that around 90 percent of visitors to these natural ecological tourism sites come from developed countries of the world. Thus the government of South Africa is considering steps to enhance the ecological diversity of these places through concerted efforts. Further the regulatory bodies under the government of South Africa are also working on to develop other ecological sites in addition to the existing ones, which would render innovation and creativity to the wildlife tourists. Further creation of the new sites for ecological tourism would also help in creating space for the wildlife tourists to spread along large areas in times of peak periods. Henceforth concerted marketing and promotion actions would help in expanding the tourism operations along different regions and thereby give space for further growth and development of tourism operations. The marketing efforts need to increase their focus to considerably promote the region of South Africa as one of the prime zones for conducting operations on ecological tourism being one of the largest storehouses of natural beauty and wildlife culture. Further the level of marketing and promotion operations also tend to focus on making the South African population aware of foreigner visits to their places. The government and marketing agencies through such awareness campaigns focus on educating and training the South African people of the kind of behavior they ought to show to such foreign visitors. Further it was found that the level of tourism operations in the South African region was devoid of better infrastructural and financial facilities. Thus the high level of marketing and promotion operations taken was triggered to help draw large amount of investment in this sector, which would help in the development of cottages and other lodging facilities to be constructed for the foreign tourists. The region of South Africa in recent years has become the home ground for the growth of many anti-social operations, which aim at spreading violence and impairing the growth of the economy. This spreading of violence and anti-social operations tend to have a negative impact on the movement of foreign tourists in such regions. Increase in the level of violent operations tends to reduce the frequency of tourism operations in these countries. Thus the marketing and promotion operations must be supported by the government of the country to help counter the impact of such negative operations on the tourism growth of the region (Allen & Brennan, 2004, pp.23-25). Another point, which earns high consideration in case of marketing activities pertaining to wildlife tourism, is that the potential growth of tourists appears in such wildlife sectors, which accrue the largest variety of ecological diversity. The foreign and domestic tourists tend to flock to such areas, which would present the largest showcases of wildlife. Thus marketing and promotion activities regarding wildlife tourism must focus on creating such areas and propaganda, which would reflect a large variety of biodiversity and wildlife. This method is considered to be a useful strategy for creating heavy flow of tourists in the South African regions. The main point of wildlife tourism marketing operations is to make optimal use of resources for reflecting the abundance of wildlife in the region. Only the above strategy would count the best in letting the growth of tourism activities and revenues in the country (Roe, Williams, & Clayton, 1997, pp.19-20). Implementation of the Marketing Plan To enhance the wildlife tourism activities in the region a large number of marketing and promotional activities need to be taken. The implementation activities concerning the marketing plan designed above for the wildlife tourism event in South Africa revolves around some salient points, which can be underlined as follows. Implementation of the marketing program must be made to focus on issues like increasing the brand awareness for the product in the market and design marketing programs to help in the penetration of new market areas. Further the marketing and promotion programs must also work in develop the position of the product or service in the existing markets. Implementation of the marketing and promotion activities can be further enhanced to help in the production, development and sustaining of new products or innovation made in the service parameters. Similarly the implementation activities can further move to help in venturing into newer markets and other sectors to enhance the operational paradigms of the industry. Other activities include countering the growth of problematic situations and negative effects of adverse press image. These activities underlined above must be closely dealt with in regards to the proper implementation of the marketing programs stated above. Brand Development Activities Brand development activities need to take the support of communication tools like e-marketing which help in promoting the nation’s wildlife as a brand altogether (Egan, 2007). The basic idea should be to assure the potential tourists about their safety and security during their visits and at the same time taking care of providing them as much amenities as possible during the tour. For instance a visitor should be provided with the proper and appropriate transport such that they might see the wild animals in the forest by taking the suitable route. He should be accompanied with equipped guards and guides for safety and adequate knowledge. These measures adopted must be communicated to the customers such that they know exactly what they will face in their visit. First they must be guaranteed that their real purpose of adventure and other professional ones are served. Next they should understand that it is actually safe to visit the forest and encounter the wildlife of the nation. The image of the nation is also very important. The government should take special care in building attractive websites, which will not only bring out the attractions of the wildlife tourism like the elephants, rhinos, lions, game parks, scenic beauty, etc along with small interesting stories of tourists’ visits in the forests of South Africa. The attention paid by the government to develop wildlife tourism should be evident on the website in terms of text, images and videos. What makes the wildlife special to the tourists should be emphasized upon. The brand development efforts should also focus upon projecting South African wildlife as an attraction for eco-tourism. A safari through the wilderness of South Africa should be presented as a blend of the old world of Africa and the modern nation. Attractive videos might be uploaded for attracting visitors. Along with this the tribal life and culture of South Africa should be promoted through the websites. Direct communication tools for individual interaction with customers should help in answering their queries within the shortest time frame along with helping them plan their tour package. The international and domestic tourists should get an idea about the brand value of the wildlife tourism from the comfort of their home and plan their tour package accordingly. Development of Markets for Wildlife Activities in South Africa Domestic tourists and other commercial community producing wildlife films and photography mainly contribute to the wildlife market in South Africa. Development of the existing wildlife market in South Africa is taken as a premier initiative of the marketing and promotion activities taken in the region. This domestic wildlife tourism market helps in the protection of the wildlife industry in the light of reduction of the flow of international tourists to such regions owing to global disorders. In addition to the growth of domestic markets for wildlife tourism operations the region also tracks the growth of the commercial market, which works, on the production of live animals for feeding the wildlife population in such regions. The development of the commercial markets to cater to the growth of wildlife units in South Africa works out to be a sprawling business, which in turn also helps the growth and development of the wildlife market in the country (Child, 2004, p.44). In order to attract the professional filmmakers and photographers special provisions should be designed and promoted. They should be allowed to visit during some specific hours fixed previously when no other tourists would be around such that they might shoot in peace. This is more applicable for filmmakers. The photographers should not be charged too much for professional photography and should be allowed adequate time and taken across proper routes to enable them a sight of the major live attractions of the jungle. These commercial tourists can bring huge revenues to the wildlife tourism industry, which might be invested in building amenities for the tourists and protection of the wildlife. The tools like e marketing and advertising are used to communicate the tourism activities of the nation abroad. Sponsorships for events related to world health issues like AIDS and other international sport events might help in drawing the attention of international tourists. The potential market might be USA and European nations but South Africa needs to highlight the wildlife for Asian nations like China and Japan. The private agencies, which provide packaged tours to the tourists of their nations, should be encouraged to enter these segments of the tourism industry. Development of Wildlife Tourism Products in South Africa The development of tourism products is based upon the nature of tourists who visit the wildlife in South Africa. Some visit for commercial purposes and others for non-commercial purposes. Special care should be taken in developing the products for commercial tourists. Again purpose of tourism might be direct viewing or indirect viewing of wildlife. Indirect viewing comprise of hiking, camping and boating related activities, which keeps wildlife viewing optional. For such tourists the beauty of nature is the key attraction. Now indirect wildlife tourists require an attractive destination for camping and related activities. Therefore the natural environment should be enhanced and added to. Commercial tourists might also like to involve in these activities especially for photography and filming. These wildlife tourists need to be guarded against insects and mosquitoes and provided with guides and other tools for their activities. A person who is visiting for commercial photography should be taken to attractive locations, which can cover an interesting topography of the wilderness. Apart from this a museum with interesting articles might be a lucrative spot for the tourists to visit especially if the want to research on the wildlife. Visit to such museums might be chargeable and so could be some items associated with the wildlife (for instance, a T-shirt with pictures of lions etc and a calendar with pictures of wildlife of the place) that could be put up for sale. Some such articles could be given as a gift to the international tourists such that they might carry these to their homeland and this might work as an advertising tool. The funds collected through such sale might add to the tourism industry apart from the revenues accumulating form transport and lodging charges paid by the tourists. Countering Negative Impacts of Wildlife Tourism in South Africa The growth of ecological based tourism in South Africa though has potential effects in developing the community base of the poor economic regions also counters some serious negative impacts in destroying the natural heritage of the country. The agencies involved in conducting ecological tourism in the South African region are held to conduct destruction on the ecological balance of the nation in a disguised manner. These tourism agents helping in the flow of tourists to these ecological sites and natural do not abide by the environmental guidelines. Owing to the above fact they continually produce harm to the natural environment of the region. These ecological agents are also accused of rendering increased stress on the commercialization of the tourism operations, which tends to render lesser significance of the development and protection of the natural environment. To counter the negative impacts rendered by the ecological agents in destroying the natural habitat of the ecological parks that the South African government should take special action in planting and conserving the forest zones. In a similar manner the government agents, in order to help in the protection of the natural habitat zones also render with the aid of these agents proper training to the different tourists visiting the ecological parks. The local communities supporting such ecological tourism activities must also be given proper training to get committed in the protection of the ecological balance of the regions. Further these ecological tourism activities involving the visit of large number of tourists help in the generation of large amount of revenues. The government of South Africa in the development of the ecological parks should use these revenues generated on a large scale by the flow of tourists both domestic and international in these areas (Bad Ecotourism More Bad than Good, n.d.). The wildlife tourism activities in South Africa must be strongly focused by the government of the country along with other social and economic agents to help in the growth of the poor communities. Thus the marketing and promotion of wildlife tourism in the South African region must be rendered special focus through the preparation of an effective marketing plan. This marketing plan so developed must aim at developing the brand for wildlife tourism activities. Similarly the marketing activities must be also concerned in developing the wildlife zones of South Africa and also in countering the negative impacts rendered by ecological agents in destroying the natural habitat zones. References 1. Allen, G. & F. Brennan (2004), Tourism in the new South Africa: social responsibility and the tourist experience, I.B.Tauris. 2. “Bad Ecotourism More Bad than Good” (n.d.), ecotourism.ca, available at < http://www.ecotourism.ca/badecotourism.html> (accessed on March 26, 2011). 3. Child, B. (2004), Parks in transition: biodiversity, rural development and the bottom line, Earthscan. 4. Egan, J. 2007. Marketing communications. Cengage Learning EMEA. 5. Spenceley, A. (2006), Tourism in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, Development Southern Africa, Vol.23, No.5, pp.649-666. 6. Roe, D., Williams, N., & D. Clayton (1997), Take only photographs, leave only footprints: the environmental impacts of wildlife tourism, IIED. 7. “The Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa” (1996), ecotourism.ca, available at < http://www.info.gov.za/whitepapers/1996/tourism.htm>, (accessed on March 26, 2011). Read More