Creativity and Innovation in Business - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Creativity and innovation in business Creative ideas are unique and utilize simple ideas to generate income to the participants in the travel and tourism industry (Bibiana et al. 97). Some of these ideas provided below are meant to generate income for the locals, and provide unique experiences and products to tourists. The five ideas are as listed below; Wooden cut-offs: These items have always been made of soapstone and sold to foreign tourists visiting United Arab Emirates (UAE). In this case, naturally occurring plants with unique shapes are cut and dried. They are then applied resins to protect from moths and insect attack. A wooden base is prepared and the cut section attached to it. The items can be displayed in supermarkets, malls and institutions for locals to buy. From observation, people in the UAE love art and they will appreciate a product that has unique appeal, natural, simplistic and valuable. The product can cost 10 dirham to make and sold at 25 dirham. In a day, 100 items can be sold which makes about 2,500 dirham. The profit margin will be high at 1,500 dirham. Offices and homes will be a huge target market for the wood art. Talk shows on TV will be used to market the items and demonstrate their aesthetic appeal. Wooden carvings, ornaments and beads are substitutes to this product and close competitors are furniture sellers. Products can also be ordered and delivered online through online payments (Cooper 17). Customers will have unique products that will spice their living rooms. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’: Some tourists visiting the UAE may be lovesick or in a failing relationship. A tour company can provide a questionnaire for all visiting tourists and inquire if they would be interested to meet styling therapists from the UAE. To give guests a much needed boost, a section of the hotel they will be checking in will be specifically booked for visitors who would like to recover from the heartbreak or if going through relationship issues. The visitors are treated with unique herbs and UAE charm alongside a hearty touch of personalized care and appreciation. Tourists love new experiences and cultural touch that goes beyond the ordinary (Hall 33). This is a niche getaway for the lovesick and will be charged $50 above the normal hotel charges. For example, if a visitor will be staying in a Dubai hotel for one week, the charge will be $350. These charges are daily fees and will apply for the duration the visitor will be staying in the hotel. Competitors are mountain retreats, cottage breaks and spa holidays. Since the competition offers massage and relaxation, they lack the aspect of therapy and personalized attention having known the reason for the visit. Discoveranddeliver.com: Tourists who visit UAE may envy the items and décor they find in their luxury hotel rooms. Locals may also desire some items that they may only have seen from the internet or television (Wurzburger 27). However, they may not know where to find the items. The idea of discover and deliver will target international tourists from the US, UK and Europe to take home tokens as well as the locals request items to be brought to them. This will also be an avenue to forge relationships and bridge cultural divides. The site discoveranddeliver.com will charge $1.5 each time a request is made for a certain item either from the tourists or the locals. The market will be locals and tourists and will include people from all cultural and religious divide. Competitors are online buyers and sellers such as pleasebringme.com. This site will be unique because it behaves like a blog and will have a 24/7 services with a call centre to respond to queries and inquiries. For example, if a visitor from Australia visiting Abu Dhabi is be interested in traditional shoes, they will be requested to include in the items they would want to be delivered while still staying in their hotels. For the locals too, they will order items from Australia such as a Kangaroo carving and delivered by the tourist. Nanny in the Clouds: Mothers and couples with young children travelling may have too much on their plate (Bibiana et al. 68). For first class customers and even economy class customers, the flight company can arrange for the babysitters who are part of the crew at an extra fee. The babysitters will have an eye on the children leaving the parents to be free and relaxed while travelling. The charge will be $20 for each kid on the plane that the mother has offered for babysitting. Target market will be young parents who find babysitting on a plane tedious and difficult work. Competitors are baby prams and buggies since these gadgets alternatively keep the babies comfortable. The benefit of this idea is that the baby will have a human touch and play which means that they will be fresh and lively after the flight. For example, a mother who wants to enjoy some drinks with friends may not want to interfere with conversations while holding the baby. Nanny in the clouds will be a suitable alternative to relief and offer babies a unique flight experience. Gamified visitor personal guides: Tourists often do not fully understand the destinations until they experience firsthand. This idea of visitor personal guides provides the interests and preferences of the visitor and the guide (Wurzburger 19). The tourists and guides are drawn to a learning contest and exchange of notes. This will be an online gaming where participants will log in and participate. It charges $5 to become a member and each time one gets a partner will be charge $2. This game will have a selection of 30 local residents from which the tourist can pick one with matching characteristics and similar thinking. Upon picking, the tourist is able to learn and spend time with in the UAE. This service will provide gamified travel experiences that are unique, personalized and drawn on local UAE knowledge. Some of the competitors online are PlusOne and Rambler which are old generic tourist packages. For example, having entered as a member, one will get a list of potential tourists who will visit the UAE in the coming week. They will poke to get the response and play the game on preferences, tastes, knowledge of history and food. The game will then submit results for matching qualities after which the two will exchange contacts. Works cited Bibiana Walder, Klaus Weiermair, Amparo Sancho Pérez. Innovation and Product Development in Tourism: Creating Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co KG. 2006. Cooper, Christopher. Classic Reviews in Tourism. Channel View Publications. 2003. Hall Michael, Williams Allan. Tourism and Innovation. Routledge. 2008. Wurzburger Rebecca, Alex Pattakos, Sabrina Pratt. Creative Tourism, a Global Conversation. Sunstone Press. 2009. Read More