Identification of the Market Segments of the Harbourfront Centre - Assignment Example

New Project Table of Contents Introduction 3 Overview of the company 5 of the industry 6 Competitor analysis 14 Identification of the market segments 17 Reference 19 Introduction The world of the 21st century is proceeding at a swift and smooth pace. The fast pace of advancement of the current day world is mainly because of tremendous development and rapid change. The rapid development of the telecommunications technology along with the emergence of high speed internet and various kinds of technology enabled gadgets has contributed in a tremendous way in influencing the lives of the population around the world. Because of the fast penetration of the high speed internet connectivity in various markets and locations around the globe, the channels of communication has undergone a drastic improvement all over the world. It is of considerable importance to highlight that this technology propelled development has resulted in the process of global transformation, where the entire world is increasingly seen and represented as a well connected single global entity. As a result of the technology based transformation of the globe, there has always been a continuous evolution of various kinds of globalization trends. The trends of globalization are emerging from all corners of the world and are increasingly getting diffused at a very rapid pace. It is interesting to state that the diffusion of trends is happening all over the world irrespective of the fact of whether the regions are located in the developed or developing economies. The rapid diffusion of the trends of globalization is resulting in the process of generation of many new types of consumer demands which are basically an outcome of new kinds of consumption habits as well as individual behaviour. It has to be stated that these new consumer demands are increasingly paving the way for a significant amount of business opportunity. Talking from a broad macroeconomic perspective, the economies of various countries around the world are witnessing significant fluctuation of performance more or less on a regular basis. While the credit crisis of the recent past has taken a serious toll in the performance of the European economies, the recent US shutdown has also impacted the performance capability of the world’s biggest market in a very negative fashion. Also, the continued political crisis in some of the regions of the Middle East has continued to mar the chances of growth and economic performance of those regions. In discussing the economic performance scenario of the Asian economies, it needs to be stated that the fluctuations in currency as well as market based volatility has continued to paint a gloomy picture as of the current times. However, it is very interesting to note that despite the overall gloominess existing in the entire global economic scene, the emerging markets of the MENA region as well as the Asian region has continued to retain the level of attractiveness in the global markets. Witnessing the evolution of new prospects of business, because of new kinds of consumer demands, multiple business entities are looking forward to enter in the highly emerging markets. This has triggered a significant amount of business oriented activity on the lines of strategic business expansion as well as organization’s process of entering new business markets which are highly attractive in nature. This has automatically resulted in the increase of competition in the markets. Organizations in order to develop their competitive edge in the global marketplace are trying their best to lower the operating costs and focusing on maintaining a leaner organization structure. Because of the significant reduction in workforce, so as to reduce operating costs, the level of work load has increased tremendously on the employees of various multinational as well as global organizations. However, in order to retain the talented and skilled workforce of the organizations and in order to promote the organizational culture of a work life balance at the work place, the human resource department is focusing on offering annual vacations to their employees. In order to make the most of the vacations and associated perks provided, the employees are moving out to spend their vacation in various international locations. Also, apart from the employees of various organizations, many tourists are lining up to travel the international and highly popular tourist spots to fulfil their need for excitement, thrill, fun and adventure. This project focus on conducting an external analysis of the Harbourfront Centre, which is a local based not for profit organization in Canada. Overview of the company The Harbourfront Centre is formed on 1st January 1991 as a non profit charity based organization whose main focus is to organize and present public events as well as conducting of operations of a 10 acre area around York Quay as well as John Quay. It has to be stated that both the areas are located in the South of Queens Quay West. From the early days of non profit organization’s operations, the Harbourfront centre has been credited with the introduction of audiences to art forms which are high on exploring new and bold frontiers (harbourfrontcentre.com -1, n.d.). While talking about the non profit organization, it is very important to highlight the long and short term focus which is commonly represented as the vision and mission of the company. The vision of the popular non profit organization of Canada is to develop a vibrant home for the culture of the present time and simultaneously triggering an inspiration among the people through a magic which is propelled only through a creative spirit. The mission of the Harbourfront centre is to nurture the growth of the upcoming and fresh cultural expressions while stimulating Canadian as well as international interchange. Also, the mission focus on promoting a dynamic as well as highly accessible environment for the masses to experience the excellence of imagination of a creative nature (harbourfrontcentre.com -2, n.d). It is important to highlight that the factor of diversity is the main spearhead of the organization besides being the main source of its creativity. It is important to highlight that the diversity factor of this particular non profit organization is largely based on four pillars like physical site, community place, cultural institution as well as entrepreneurial organization (Harbourfrontcentre.com - 3, n.d., p. 4). In the current days, the Harbourfront Centre was become a highly popular all year round tourist destination. The site’s offering to the tourists of both local as well as international market comprises of a sizzling blend of culture, arts, recreation along with indoor cafe and outdoor patio. Various events of cultural nature like festivals, dance, musical performance as well as theatre also happen on an annual basis. On an average, the flow of tourists to this particular destination of tourism in Canada amounts to over 12 million (Toronto.ca, 2013). Description of the industry Since the non profit organization, Harbourfront centre is located in Canada and belongs to the tourism sector, hence to focus on studying the description of the industry, the attention needs to be directed towards the tourism industry existing in Canada. Talking in regards to the tourism industry of Canada, it needs to be stated that the tourism sector is a dynamic as well as a very impactful sector for the economy of Canada. It is important to highlight that the tourism sector of Canada share a high amount of collaboration with a wide range of other businesses which are associated with multiple sectors like transportation and hospitality. While talking about the tourism industry of Canada, it is also important to focus on the tourism sector of the entire globe, because of the sector’s highly overlapping nature. In the global front, it has to be stated that the tourism is a global industry and is the fourth fastest growing industry. As per the reports of United Nations World Trade Organization, the global tourism industry currently has around 1 billion travellers of international nature. In terms of financial returns, it can be said that the global tourism industry is generating around 1 trillion dollar of revenues and the rate of growth for this particular sector around the globe is around 4%. The trend analysis of various confidential tourist data has also revealed that much of the growth in the global tourism sector is being powered by the growing middle class residing in the emerging and highly attractive markets of Russia, Brazil, China, Mexico and India. Talking in regards to the tourism industry of Canada, data of the year 2011 revealed that the tourism industry in Canada is growing at the rate of around 2%. In highlighting the vital facts of the tourism industry of Canada, it can be stated that the tourism industry of Canada contributed a greater percentage of the tourism industry of Canada as compared to the industries related to agriculture, fisheries and forestry combined together. In the year 2011, the tourism industry of Canada generated around 78.8 billion dollars in economic activity. In the same year, the tourism industry of the region generated around 15.9 billion dollar in terms of export revenue, despite a rising travel deficit. Also, the Canadian tourism sector generated over 603,000 jobs spread all over the nation (tiac.travel -1, n.d.). It is very important to highlight that despite the growth rate of 2%, the tourism sector of the region is facing competition in the international travel market. In the year 2011, the Canadian tourism industry realized that for sustainable growth over the long term, the development needs to be made on large structural issues. The Tourism Industry of Canada (TIAC) has realized that the challenges in public policy in the domains of marketing, access and product have resulted in the stunted growth of the Canadian tourism sector (tiac.travel -2, n.d.). While discussing about the tourism industry of Canada, it is important to consider the factor of domestic tourism happening in Canada. Normally the trend for the Canadian masses is to opt for international sunny tourist destinations. It is important to highlight that the choice of the locations is dependent on the season of the country. During the winter months, the most preferred international tourism destinations by the Canadians are Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica and the United States. In the summer months, the preference is for France, UK, Italy as well as Asian tourist destinations like China and Hong Kong. Also, within the country itself, data available as of the year 2010 has revealed that the Canadians make around 229 million domestic trips. From the overall perspective, it can be said that the domestic travel accounted for around 80% of the total visitor spending as of the year 2010 (Canadian Tourism Commission, 2012, p. 8). Discussing from the perception point, it can be said that the masses of Canada get motivated to make the domestic trips within their country because of a very inspiring geography as well as highly engaging people. Also, the domestic trips are largely motivated by the factor of affordability which is treated as a very important and influencing factor in regards to the perception criteria (Canadian Tourism Commission, 2012, p. 6). Talking in regards to international travellers statistics for the Canadian tourism industry, it can be said that as of the year 2012, around 16 million international travellers made trips to Canada as compared to the previous year’s statistics of around 15.6 million. The jump in the number of international tourists has resulted in a growth of tourist inflow by around 1.7%. In terms of financial contributions to the tourism sector of Canada, it can be said that the overnight spending by the international visitors is around 12.3 billion dollars as of the year 2012. This is an increase of around 2.3% when compared to the previous year’s overnight spending by international visitors of around 11.9 billion dollars. In terms of making overnight trips to Canada by the international tourists from the global markets, the United States holds the number one position. The international tourists from the UK and France markets hold the second and third position respectively. In mapping the provinces and territories of Canada, which attracted the highest number of international visitors in the year 2012, Ontario stood out as a leader with around 7.7 million international travellers. The provinces of British Columbia and Quebec occupied the second and third positions with footfalls of around 4.3 million and 2.9 million. Source: cdn-corporate.canada.travel, 2012 In analysing the trends of the international travellers who has visited Canada in the year 2012, it can be said that the top three activities for the international tourists are shopping, sightseeing as well as visiting friends and family. From the statistical point around 9.5 million international tourists indulged in shopping while another 8.3 million gave preference to sightseeing. Around 7% of the international tourists engaged in visiting their friends and families. From the demographic point of view, it can be said that around 2.4 million international visitors fell in the age group of 24 years and below. This rise in youth visitors is a year on year increase of around 12.6%. In trying to identify the main objective of travel by international tourists, it was found that around 7.7 million trips in the year 2012 were made exclusively for pleasure purposes. It is also important to highlight that the Canadian festivals and fairs which provide a very pleasing and happening party time to the international visitors received around 1.7 million footfalls, which is a year on year increase by over 20%. Out of the people whose main objective was business purpose, the US based business traveller spent around 1.5 billion dollar in the year 2012 (cdn-corporate.canada.travel, 2012). Talking in regards to the statistics of the current year, it can be said that the Canadian Tourism Corporation has highlighted that the American tourists has made around 8.7 million overnight trips to Canada in the first eight months of 2013. It is notable to mention that the rise in frequency for overnight travel by the Americans led to a year on year increase of around 1.7%. Apart from the American tourists, the international overnight trips to Canada also witnessed an increase from tourists of other global markets. From the numbers perspective, it can be stated that the leading markets are UK, France and China. While discussing about the rising inflow of international tourists to the Canadian market in the year 2013 as compared to the previous year, it needs to be highlighted that the inflow of tourists from China was the highest. Also, the inflow of tourists from the markets like Australia, UK, France, Brazil, Mexico, India and Japan has increased in huge percentages over the year 2012 (http://cdn-corporate.canada.travel, 2013). Talking in a more specific manner about the rise in international tourists in the first eight months of the current year, the Canadian Tourism Commission has highlighted that the overnight arrivals in the Canadian market grew at a consolidated 2.8%. The inflow of international tourists from the core markets like UK, France, Germany and Australia fell at the rate of around 0.3 %. On the other hand, the inflow of tourists from the emerging and transition markets like Japan, south Korea, Mexico, Brazil, China and India grew at the rate of around 7.9% (en-corporate.canada.travel, 2013, p. 2). While discussing about the tourism industry of Canada, it is also important to draw the attention towards the associated strengths and weakness. The biggest strength for the tourism industry of Canada is the rich natural resources which include the many multiple World Heritage sites. The other strengths for the sector include highly qualified human resource, cultural resources which often include multiple international exhibitions and fairs. Also, the well developed infrastructure for air transport is counted as a strong and positive influencer for the tourism industry of the region. Now in discussing about the negative factor for the Canadian tourism industry, it needs to be highlighted that the detoriation of the environmental sustainability has to be taken into account. Also, the fall in price competitiveness as well as growth of visa complexities for undertaking tourism in Canada is leading to the process of negative influencing of the prospects of the tourism industry in Canada. The focus also needs to be given on the factor of challenges that is faced by the tourism sector of Canada. As per a report produced by the Canadian Tourism Commission under the title of “World Economic Forum Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013” the most important challenge that is faced by the tourism sector of Canada is in regards to the visa factor. As per the report of the Canadian Trade Commission, the visa requirements of Canada are highly uncompetitive in nature. This has even led to the process of falling in terms of global ranking on the basis of this factor from the 72nd spot of 2009 to that of 106th in 2013. The next most important challenge is the environmental sustainability issue. The report highlighted that the decline in regards to environmental stability is happening on the lines of poor enforcement of environmental regulations. The third important challenge is in regards to the issue of ticket taxes as well as airport charges. The Canadian Tourism Commission report highlighted that the ticket taxes and charges for the airport are one of the highest in the world and this issue has resulted in the pushing down the position of Canada from the 98th position in 2009 to 136th position as of 2013. Another important threat is in regards to the purchasing power parity. The declining purchasing power parity of the Canadian tourism market has also aggravated the decline of attractiveness of the tourist spot of the Canadian market. The tourism industry in Canada witnessed a slip of position in regards to this particular issue from the previous position to the current position of 131st. The last major challenge for the tourism industry of Canada is in regards to the issue of air transport. While the country ranks in the first position in regards to the air transport infrastructure yet, it needs to be highlighted that the country ranks very poorly in regards to the criteria of quality of air transport infrastructure as well as international air transport network (Canadian Tourism Commission, 2013, p. 2). Competitor analysis While doing a competitor analysis for Harbourfront Centre Canada, it needs to be highlighted that the organization offers tourism services. As a result, the focus has to be given on the direct and indirect competitors existing in the tourism sector of Canada. It also needs to be highlighted that since the offering is in regards to the tourism sector, hence a lot of information for the factors of sales, market share, growth, positioning, advertising and many others will be interrelated in nature. The first competitor for the Harbourfront Centre Canada is the Niagara Falls. Talking about the most popular tourism spot in Canada, it can be said that it is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Southern region of Ontario. The city gained its popularity because of the presence of the globally popular Niagara Falls of the Niagara River. Because of the good visibility of the Horseshoe and the American falls from the Canadian side of the river, the city has become a very popular tourist spot. A study by the Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports revealed that the highly popular tourism destination has a recorded around 10.1 million visits as of the year 2010. It is important to highlight that the revenue generated from tourism for the Niagara Falls tourist destination touched a revenue base of around 370 million dollars (Day, 2013). Apart from the attraction of Niagara Falls, the popular tourist destination also has a number of smaller attractions which generate considerable amount of interests to the tourists of domestic as well as international markets. The activities like fine dining, shopping, gambling, nightlife, spa treatments, festivals, theme parks and sightseeing can act as strong boosters for increasing the popularity of the tourist destination and thereby acting as indirect competitors to the tourism prospects of Harbourfront Centre (niagarafallstourism.com, 2013). The second competitor for the Harbourfront Centre Canada is the Banff National Park. In a brief manner, it can be said that the Banff National Park in Canada was created in the year 1885 among the Rocky Mountains of Canada. The oldest national park in Canada is mainly comprised of numerous glaciers, ice fields, coniferous forests of dense nature along with alpine landscapes. This tourist location in Canada is a highly popular destination and attracts a large number of visitors from all over the globe. As of the year 1984, the Banff National Park has been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site mainly because of the stunning mountain peaks, lakes, glaciers, canyons, limestone caves. It is highly important to mention that the flow of tourists to this spot mainly increases during the summer seasons. In the current times, the tourist destination has a flow of over 3 million visitors on an annual basis. The reason for the high demand for the park is because of its successful marketing and positioning of the various activities like hiking, trekking, skiing, biking, canoeing, horseback riding, fishing, canoeing (Brokaw and et.al, 2011, p. 555). Around the year 1980, many park services were privatized. User fees of multiple facilities and services were introduced so as to effectively release the pressure on the budget cuts. In the year 2007, the Banff National Park contributed around 800 million Canadian dollars to the local economy of Alberta. The region has a large number of businesses focused towards the tourism sector, which can acts as indirect competitors to the tourism services offered by Harbourfront Centre. The tourist services present in the Banff National Park comprises of hotels, bed and breakfast inns, restaurant, and other retail businesses. Apart from these services, campgrounds, campsites, service stations, community health units, hospitals and a public library are also present (Jamal and Robinson, 2009, p. 403). The region of Alberta which is close to Banff National Park has a shopping mall in the name of West Edmonton Mall. The mall is highly popular for services if shark sightings from a submarine along with various fantasy services like living a roman fantasy, having a bubble filled spa near a volcano. The mall also has a popular attraction, which is a full scale replica of the ship of Columbus, Santa Maria. The attractions of the mall of Alberta include Ice Palace, Roulette Wheels, and even some theme based parks. The third direct competitor for the Harbourfront Centre is the Signal Hill, which is located in the city of St. Johns in Canada. The Signal Hill is a very popular tourist attraction in Canada and is acclaimed as a National Historic Site of Canada (newfoundlandlabrador.com, n.d.). Talking in a brief manner about the historic tourism site, it can be stated that the historic site is largely associated with the history of defence and communications of the nation. The attraction of the historic tourism site lies with the fact that it was a military site since the 17the century and played very important roles in the World War I and World War II. The Signal Hill holds the transition of the signalling system that has evolved in the course of time, right from the early days visual signals to the modern day wireless ones. The Government of Canada has recognised it as a national historic site of Canada as of the year 1951 (historicplaces.ca, n.d.). Among the activities provided by one of the popular tourism destinations of Canada, it needs to be stated that the focus is mainly on activities like hiking, historic tour, weapons of warfare tour, dusk concerts, rum tasting and mess dinner experiences (www.pc.gc.ca, 2013). Also, one of the very new experiences that are being provided by the historic tourism site of Canada is the annual Cape to Cabot Road Race. Identification of the market segments In discussing about the various market segments, it has to be stated that the service in this case is tourism for the Harbourfront centre in Canada. Since, the service is tourism; the market segment is quite expansive in nature. Judging by the previous trends, it needs to be stated that the demand for tourism in the Canadian is a well balanced mix of both domestic as well as international tourists. The international tourists mostly come from the wide range of emerging as well as core markets. Also, it needs to be highlighted that as per the new and emerging trends, a considerable number of young tourists who fall in the age group of below 24 years are increasing in the recent times. A report released by the Canadian Tourism Commission has identified that the consumer segments for the Canadian tourism can be basically categorised into two very overlapping categories. The first one is the category of learners while the second one is the category of enthusiastic indulgers. Also, the two categories also have various sub divisions. In the learners’ category, the subdivisions of authentic experiencers, cultural explorers as well as cultural history buffs exist. Talking in a detailed manner about each of the sub divided category, it can be stated that the authentic experiencers are older in age and are highly educated. They look forward to having a very relishing experience for all the travel and tourism destinations in a very reserved manner. They are highly attracted towards history and travels independently. The cultural explorers are avid and open minded in nature who look forward to having a great travel experience. The cultural history buffs are mostly single and highly educated and look forward to discovering the cultural and historical aspects of their travelling destinations. In the category of enthusiastic indulgers, the subcategories are free spirits and social samplers. In describing them, it can be stated that the free spirits are mostly young and experimentalist in nature who look forward to having thrills and excitement. The social samplers are generally well educated, older and open minded category of female travellers who desire to view and enjoy the most important and most luring tourist attractions of the society (en-corporate.canada.travel, 2012, p. 14) After analysing the previously existing trends of the tourism destinations of Canada, it can be said that the most desired market segment for the tourism package of Harbourfront Centre is the learners’ category of tourists from the global markets. The reason behind opting for the learners’ category of tourists is because it makes a very good strategic fit in regards to the demands of the tourists as well as the offerings of the Harbourfront Centre to the tourists. Talking in regards to the level of involvement, it can be stated that the learners’ category will attribute a high level of involvement for the tourism service package offered by the Harbourfront Centre. In the theoretical terms, it can be stated that the key stages in the decision making process are need recognition, alternative search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision as well as post purchase evaluation. In the case of the tourism service of Harbourfront Centre, the most important influencing stages are need recognition as well as alternative evaluation. Specifically, it can be said that the factor of budget as well as fun and excitement are the most important influencers for this service. Reference Brokaw, L. and et.al. (2011). Frommer’s Canada. USA: John Wiley And Sons. Jamal, T. and Robinson, M. (2009) The SAGE Handbook of Tourism Studies. USA: Sage Publications. harbourfrontcentre.com -1. (n.d.) History. Retrieved from: http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/whoweare/history.cfm harbourfrontcentre.com -2. (n.d.) Who We Are Retrieved from: http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/whoweare/aboutus.cfm harbourfrontcentre.com -3. (n.d.) Harbour front centre. 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Retrieved from: http://en-corporate.canada.travel/sites/default/files/pdf/Research/Stats-figures/International-visitor-arrivals/Tourism-monthly-snapshot/tourismsnapshot_2013_08_eng.pdf Canadian Tourism Commission. (2013) World Economic Forum Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013. Retrieved from: http://en-corporate.canada.travel/sites/default/files/pdf/Research/Industry-research/world_economic_forum_tourism_competitiveness_report_2013.pdf en-corporate.canada.travel. (2012) Global marketing & sales plan 2012. Retrieved from: http://en-corporate.canada.travel/sites/default/files/pdf/Corporate_reports/global_stratplan_2012_en.pdf www.pc.gc.ca. (2013) Signal Hill National Historic Site of Canada. Retrieved from: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/nl/signalhill/activ/activ1.aspx newfoundlandlabrador.com. (n.d.) Signal Hill National Historic Site. Retrieved from: http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/PlacesToGo/SignalHillNationalHistoricSite historicplaces.ca. (n.d.) Signal Hill National Historic Site of Canada. Retrieved from: http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=4439 Day, M. (2013) Tourism: Niagaras economic backbone. Retrieved from: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2013/05/20/tourism-the-backbone-of-niagaras-economy niagarafallstourism.com. (2013). THEATRE & SHOWS. Retrieved from: http://www.niagarafallstourism.com/play/theatre-shows/ Read More