Destination Development and Marketing - Report Example

Destination management Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Reference to key events and setting the tone of discussion 3 Discussion 7 Use of events by destination to attract visitors 7 Contribution of events towards economic growth 7 Events enhance destination visibility 8 Cost and drawbacks associated with using events 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Across the globe tourism is considered to be most booming sector. Sustainability in tourism is brought forth by various factors. Special events ate organized by regions in order to enable destination management. These events usually serve as a medium through which large base of tourists can be attracted and desirable revenue margins can be gained. Destination management is all about reducing environmental impacts. There are number of factors encompassed within this approach such as land use planning, business permits and zoning controls, environmental regulations, business association initiatives and utilization of daily operations for development of tourism related activities. Event management can be defined as creation and development of large scale events like conferences, ceremonies, concerts, festivals, ceremonies or conventions. Event planning is all about organizing an event in such manner that is able to address needs of target audience. Sustainability also plays a critical role in event management. In this context event planning is all about decreasing impact caused on environment and focusing more on the concept of green environment. Destination can be considered as a region that provides tourist with a memorable experience. The focus of destination management is to eradicate negative impacts caused on environment by tourism industry. Destination management initiate sharing of opportunities for individual’s vibrant exchange and reduction of negative impacts on local communities. Word of mouth can be stated as an effective tool to advertise any location but promotions are essential to consider a location as an attractive region. Destination development and marketing are inclined towards making a region most attractive for tourists. Reference to key events and setting the tone of discussion In due course of time tourism as an industry has experienced tremendous growth to emerge as one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Modern tourism has grown to become closely linked associated with development and now encompasses a no. of new destinations. For many countries tourism has become one of the major sources of livelihood. Tourism has in fact assisted many developing countries to move away from agriculture based economy (Lea, 2006). If we consider global tourism industry then it contributes 9% of the Global GDP. It creates 1 in 11 jobs and creates $1.4 trillion in exports. Tourism facts and figures (Source: World tourism organization, 2014) Today the business volume of tourism equals or is sometimes greater than oil exports, automobiles and food products. Tourism has become one of the major players in international commerce, and represents at the same time one of the main sources of income for many developing countries. To tap on the growth in international tourism destinations the countries fiercely compete with each other. The countries compete with each other by offering different events in order to attract international tourists. There has also been a change of destination choice. In 1980s the main tourist destinations used to be developed countries but coming to 2014 the developing nations are eating a major pie as the destination choice. If one looks at the reasons for which people travel, then travelling for leisure counts as the top most priority followed by travelling for health concern or religious purposes. So promoting events serves as an important tool to attract the people who are travelling for leisure. Inbound Tourism by purpose of visit Tourist destination by country (Source: World tourism organization 1, 2014) To group events according to the different countries of the world one can look at the example of United Arab Emirates. UAE has long been associated with oil exports and has depended on the oil exports as main part of its growing GDP and economic growth. However due to the worldwide concern that the oil reserves will cease to exist someday the country has started building infrastructure to host events in order to attract tourists to the country. Some of the popular events of the country aimed at attracting international tourists are Dubai international shopping festival This festival spans over 1 month and features in addition to stalls by salesman, street performers, sport activities, art exhibitions etc. It draws tourists from across the globe to the region. The event draws around 3 million shoppers every year (Pozzan, Dunstan and Carter, 2009). Dubai tennis championship Dubai tennis championship is held every year and is part of the ATP and WTA world tennis tours. It attracts top seed players from across the world coming to take part in the championship. It also attracts a lot of tourists from across the globe that comes to cheer for their favourite stars or to watch the game (Abed, Hellyer, Vine, Abed, Vine, and Hellyer, 2004). Formula one race Formula one race is held in Abu Dhabi every year and is known as the AbuDhabi grand prix. It is held at 5.6 km Yas Marina circuit. As a result of all this activities and events being held at Dubai, Dubai has seen growth in tourism influx from 2011 to 2013 at a steady rate of 10.4 to 11.3%. The following pages analyzes how destinations use events to attract visitors, how events contribute towards economic growth, how events enhance visibility and cost and drawbacks associated with using events. Discussion Use of events by destination to attract visitors Destinations often use events to attract wide array of visitors. There are different kinds of events that are normally hosted by a destination. These events majorly reflect local culture and values. On the other hand, some events are usually organized so as to initiate cultural exchange. These events usually take place in the form of conferences or concerts. Throughout the year attractive events are hosted by a well known location known as Hong Kong. This region is regarded as a preferred destination for majority tourists (Kotler and Keller, 2011). In this location Dragon Race is most favourable event which is hosted. It has been observed that during this event Hong Kong acquires more revenue margins. London hosts Arts Festival and while this event is hosted more tourists are attracted to this location. Sustainable tourism development to a great extent is achieved through hosting such big scale events (Getz, 2007). Destination marketing is initiated through this approach since cultural insights are present within such events. Arts Festival being hosted in London or Hong Kong is not only a medium to promote local culture but also serves as a medium to highlight Western culture. Best performers from around the world are encompassed within this program. Hence tourists visit these regions during such events not only for witnessing local culture but even to be a part of other cultural values. Malaysia hosts film festival and this serves a dual purpose (Veal, 2002). This event not only enables tourists to observe different cultural background but even provides opportunity to expand on its knowledge base. Contribution of events towards economic growth Tourism as can be seen by reading the above discussion is a major industry that attracts tourists (especially foreign tourists) to the country. The coming of foreign tourists to a country brings in the much needed foreign exchange which leads to the economic growth of the country. In that sense event actually aids in bringing foreign tourists to a country. Not only that, events helps in creation of jobs and aids in bringing business to the country. For example in Britain events industry employs more than 550,000 people. The events industry is a major source of income for the Britain (Bowdin, Allen, Harris, McDonnell, and Toole, 2012).The events industry currently contributes £36.1 billion/year to the economy and by 2020 is expected to contribute £48.4 billion/ year. In 2011 conferences and business events in Manchester alone generated £822 million. Events are important from the business perspective as well. It is for the simple reason that business are now more focussed to cultivate relationship with the customers in order to retain them and events provide that perfect scope (Baum, Deery, Hanlon, Lockstone and Smith, 2009). In Dubai for example Meetings, Incentives, conference and exhibition industry alone generates $650 million/ year and is expected to grow @7% per year (Mair, 2013). Events enhance destination visibility Tourism industry is the most attractive segment and there are innovative strategies adopted by destinations so as to attract majority tourists. Individuals who possess disposable income are only attracted towards a particular location when they observe any additional features. Every destination encompasses certain attractive components and these elements are outlined through wide array of hosted events. Event management is an essential aspect when it comes to promoting a particular destination. This is because events are added phenomenon which makes a destination attractive for its tourists. It can be stated that events are responsible for increasing visibility of a destination. Dragon race, arts festival, etc., are all well known festivals and these attract visitors to a particular destination. Visibility of a destination is increased through reflecting upon its local culture and values (Ali-Knight and Chambers, 2006). All these events which are hosted by specific destinations are a medium through which people from across the globe are connected. Destination visibility is increased through these events since promotions highlight such events that ultimately reflects upon destination been specified. In overall context it can be stated that those locations which did not gained significance in early years has come into existence by hosting big scale events. On the contrary, events been hosted by a particular region is not similar to that organized by any other region (Masterman and Wood, 2006). These differences draw in more destination visibility. Since individuals are able to differentiate efficiently one region from another and visit allocation numerous times. Events are responsible to portray destination image and convey required message to tourists. Cost and drawbacks associated with using events Events are a source to earn high revenue margins in a particular destination. These events encompass additional costs which need to be taken into consideration. Hidden costs of tourism have a negative impact on economy of host community. It can be stated that these costs often disrupt profit margins earned through tourism sector (Crouch and Ritchie, 2005). Developed countries are usually witness to explore benefits of tourism industry country in comparison to less developed regions. This is simply because developed regions are not totally dependent on tourism sector. On the contrary, less developed countries are inclined towards earning high income level, eradicating unemployment and raising living standard of local community. In midst of these activities less developed regions are not able to explore fully benefits gained through tourism industry (Allen, 2008). There are high costs associated with events hosted in any destination. These costs can only be substituted when disposable income is high of tourists. Infrastructure costs are also closely knitted with tourism development. Such costs or tax breaks prevent government from investing into other sectors such as health or education. Events are a source for providing employment to wide range of individuals belonging to local community. However seasonal character of these events creates major economic issues as an event would be organized only at a significant time. Drawbacks are mainly in the form of hosting similar events in different locations. This in turn attracts less percentage of tourists to a particular location. Conclusion As can be seen from the tone of discussion in the above pages is that events are a major driver for the drivers of economic growth of a country. In many a developing country the tourism industry has grown to become the key driver of economic and GDP growth and replace other factors such as agriculture. The tourism industry is growing at a rapid space and in fact it is one of the few industries which are growing at such a rapid pace. The growth of tourism industry does not only generate foreign exchange for the country but also aids the country in terms of employment generation and business activities generation. There are also other allied industries such as hotel industry which solely depend on tourism industry for their growth. There are certain countries such as UAE which are focussing on events and the tourism industry because they want to reduce their over dependence of oil as the primary contributor to the GDP. Events play a major role in attracting customers to the home country. Countries host international events such as international sports events to attract visitors to a country. This is for the simple reason that even if the country does not fall in the list of places that a person wants to visit as a tourist destination, they may actually visit the country in order to see the event. However the problem with tourism industry is that it suffers from lot of leakage and its actual contribution to the economic development is very few. In countries such as the Caribbean the leakage is as high as 80%. References Abed, I. A., Hellyer, P., Vine, P., Abed, I. A., Vine, P. and Hellyer, P. 2004. The united arab emirates yearbook 2005. Abu Dhabi: Trident Press Ltd. Ali-Knight, J., and Chambers, D., 2006. Festivals and events: beyond economic impacts, case studies in festival and event marketing and cultural tourism. Eastbourne: Leisure Studies Association. Allen, J., 2008. Festival and special event management. Australia: John Wiley & Sons. Baum, T., Deery, M., Hanlon, C., Lockstone, L. and Smith, K. 2009. People and work in events and conventions: a research perspective. Cambridge: CABI. Bowdin, G., Allen, J., Harris, R., McDonnell, I. and Toole, W.O. 2012. Events management. NY: Routledge. Crouch, G.I., and Ritchie, J. R., 2005. Tourism competitiveness and societal prosperity. Journal of Business Research, 44(1), pp. 56-162. Getz, D., 2007. Events studies: theory, research and policy for planned events. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Kotler, P., and Keller, K., 2011. Marketing management. UK: Prentice Hall. Lea, J. 2006. Tourism and development in the third world. NY: Routledge Mair, J. 2013. Conferences and conventions: a research perspective. NY: Routledge. 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