Strategic Planning and Development: Masdar City Tourism Perspective - Essay Example

? Table of Contents A.Goal 3 B.Objectives 3 C.Strategies 5 D.Messages 7 E.Tactics 8 Reference 11 A. Goal Each task should have a specific goal that provides a particular direction to meet the primary aims and objectives. In the post modern organizations, the importance of goal setting has increased as managerial thought process has undergone various stages of improvements. Hellriegel and Slocum have identified that the process of goal setting is not an easy task and “the effort is not only worthwhile, it is also becoming essential in the current highly competitive global business and institutional environments” (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2007, p.152). This paper will attempt to present a campaign plan for enhancing the tourism industry of Masdar City. Masdar City is a project and unit of Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company of UAE. This company has planned and developed this city backed by green technologies (Masdar-a, n.d.). This beautiful city is a potential tourists’ destination and hence, it requires better campaign plan for promoting this city in the global travel and tourism industry. Therefore, its goal involves the campaign plan for Masdar City. As this paper deals with the formulation of campaigning plan for Masdar City, the goal of this paper is to develop Masdar City as the most attractive destination for the tourists, who want to spend their holidays in a green and healthy environment. B. Objectives In order to make the tasks more focused and well defined, specific objectives are very essential. In case of business development though marketing plans, there must be a set of objectives for each specific area. Objective provides a platform to achieve the overall and long term goal of an entire task. Hurd, Barcelona and Meldrum have defined objectives as “measurable steps to achieve goals” (Hurd, Barcelona and Meldrum, 2008, p.53). They have also focused on developing the smart objectives. The smart objectives must have some features i.e. “specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, timed” (Marinel, 2005, p.23). For enhancing the validity of this campaign plan, some specific objectives are framed to achieve long term goal of this campaign plan and these objectives are stated below. Before establishing a campaign plan, it necessary to obtain and analyze the feedbacks of internal publics i.e. employees and residents of Masdar city. These internal publics of Masdar and residents will be able to provide useful information for bringing further improvements. The internal publics must include the employees associated with the project of Masdar City development. External publics are the potential tourists from the different countries of the world and these people will have proper knowledge of Masdar City’s features and location. Therefore, more than 50% of external publics of different countries must be made aware of the features of Masdar City within next three months. Currently, Masdar are using its websites and social networking sites to promote Masdar City. However, in order to compete in the global tourism market, it needs to increase the advertising frequency. Hence, it must increase its advertising activities and expenses by 75% within the end of next two months. The advertising medium should include television, social network sites, newspaper, hoardings etc. For better campaign planning, it is also necessary to target and specify the markets. The target market includes the different countries of the world from which tourists may visit Masdar City. Therefore, Masdar must conduct promotional programs in these target countries after finishing awareness programs. C. Strategies Formulation of strategies must take into consideration the overall goal and specific objectives of this campaign plan for Masdar City. Moreover, the different type of target publics is also an important factor in this process. UAE is emerging as a major tourist destination in the global tourism industry. Dubai has already become one of the most preferred destinations by the global tourists. Moreover, Abu Dhabi is another major tourists’ attraction. During 2010, this city experienced a number of tourists from South Korea and European countries like UK (Hyo-sik, 2011). Therefore, the primary external target publics should be the tourists from these countries. The primary strategies must focus on these target publics. South Korea and UK both are stable economies. South Korea is a South East Asian country and large numbers of South Korean outbound tourists are increasing significantly. Due to rapid growth in industrialization, the economic conditions of this country are strengthening. Its GDP as per purchasing power parity was nearly $1.364 trillion and per capita GDP was $17,074 in 2009 (U.S. Department of State, 2010). There has been a significant growth in disposable income of South Korean people. The historical data indicates that the number of outbound tourists from South Korea is increasing. The following table presents the supporting evidence. Table 1: South Korea: Inbound and Outbound Tourism, 1985-95 bin (000's) (Source: Prideaux, 1998) During the financial crisis of 2007-2008, UK was heavily affected as its economic growth declined drastically and hence, during 2009, there was 10% drop in UK outbound tourism (Breaking Travel News, 2009). However, currently, UK’s economy is recovering gradually from financial crisis and there has been a growth in the economic condition of the people. This economy has greater potentials and UK people can be considered as major primary external publics. Besides, other European countries like France, Germany, and Italy etc are also major target countries. However, the tourists from these countries can be considered as potential secondary publics. Considering the primary and secondary target publics and their demographics, some specific strategies for developing campaign plan are given below. The advertising strategies must consider the demographics of multiple target publics. For example, social network sites are very popular among Korean and UK nationals and hence, it can be one of the best advertising medium (Hae-Joang n.d.). Brand is an important factor that plays a crucial role in consumer behaviors. Therefore, Masdar must try to develop a positive brand image of Masdar City as a healthy tourist destination in the mind of its primary and secondary external publics. For brand building, an appealing identity is necessary and hence, there should be a specific, recognizable and unique logo as well as slogan for Masdar City’s tourism, based on a strong positioning statement. Masdar should categorize the target public i.e. Korean and UK. Their demographic features are different and hence, there should be distinct strategies for each category. In the major cities of UK and South Korea, Masdar should conduct promotional programs and should focus on attractiveness of Masdar City. It is also necessary to understand target publics’ brand perception regarding Masdar City. The advertisings, promotional programs, brand development strategies would create opinions regarding Masdar City in the target consumers’ mind. Masdar must collect these feedbacks and analyze it to bring further developments. D. Messages The primary essence of a campaign planning is its core ‘message’ which is to be delivered to target publics. Therefore, while developing campaign planning and campaign tactics, it is very important to design proper and relevant campaign message (Heath, 2001, p.347). Before designing a campaign message for Masdar City’s tourism, the competencies of Masdar City must be identified by analyzing rationally. Generally, tourist destinations can be promoted as per core advantages e.g. shopping, medical, nature, wildlife, historical heritage, sports etc. For example, Singapore is a famous tourist destination and it is famous as “a dynamic city rich in contrast and colour where you'll find a harmonious blend of culture, cuisine, arts and architecture” (WCCEE, 2010). Hence, this city is defined as ‘Uniquely Singapore’. In case of Masdar City, it is a beautiful planned city and its theme is ‘Green’. The Green symbolizes safe and sound health as this city is “the world’s first zero carbon, zero waste city powered entirely by renewable energy sources” (Masdar-b, n.d.). Therefore, this city can be defined as one of the safest and healthiest tourists’ destinations in the global tours and travel industry. This should be the campaign message for Masdar City for enhancing its tourism industry. Global people are becoming health conscious and hence, an emotional approach should be followed. This city is free from any kind of pollution that will provide a pollution free and healthy holiday to its tourists. E. Tactics The overall strategy is meant to meet the goal of task, and on the other hand, in order to achieve the specific objectives, strategic tactics are necessary. Tactics are more focused than overall strategies and strives to achieve the short term goals. Nwankwo and Gbadamosi defined that “marketing as tactics is concerned with the day-to-day activities of product management, pricing, distribution and marketing communication such as advertising, personal selling, publicity and sales promotion” (Nwankwo and Gbadamosi, 2011, p.46). This paper has already established specific and well defined objectives that must be met for achieving the goal, and hence, specific tactics must be developed and executed for those pre-defined objectives. Some relevant and actionable tactics for Masdar City’s tourism industry are given below. Social networking advertising should be given priority as these are the most effective medium at present. Masdar should develop communities for Masdar City in Facebook and should write blogs for communicating Masdar City’s features. These communities and blog should include attractive photos of Masdar City. Masdar should develop a particular website for Masdar City’s tourism and it must disclose necessary information like travel guides, hotels, government helplines, embassies addresses etc. Masdar must try to organize world events at Masdar City to promote the city. Masdar should sponsor the events, programs, sports held in target countries especially in South Korea and UK. It must develop a unique mascot and slogan for promoting Masdar City in the target countries. Masdar should offer memberships to the potential tourists from Korea and UK and for the internal public i.e. employees and residents of Masdar City. It can also publish monthly magazines on Masdar City and it must be available in target countries and e-book versions should also be available at websites. Reference Breaking Travel News. (August 13, 2009). UK outbound tourism drops 10%. Retrieved March 04, 2011. http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/uk-outbound-tourism-drops-10/. CH Hae-Joang. C. H. (No date). Social Network Sites. Retrieved March 04, 2011. http://futuresoflearning.org/index.php/Firda_08/tag/social+network+sites. Heath, R. L. (2001). Handbook of public relations. Sage. Hellriegel, D. and Slocum, J. W. (2007). Organizational behaviour. 11th ed. Cengage Learning. Hurd, A. R., Barcelona, R. J. and Meldrum, J. T. (2008). Leisure Services Management. Human Kinetics. Hyo-sik, L. (March 03, 2011). Abu Dhabi emerges as popular tourist destination. Retrieved March 04, 2011. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2011/03/135_82444.html. Marinel, A. L. (2005). Start and run your own business: the complete guide to setting up and managing a small business. 2nd ed. How to Books Ltd. Masdar-a. (No date). Masdar City. Retrieved March 03, 2011. http://www.masdar.ae/en/Menu/index.aspx?MenuID=48&CatID=27&mnu=Cat. Masdar-b. (No date). Masdar City Partnership Opportunity. Retrieved March 04, 2011. http://www.masdar.ae/en/Menu/index.aspx?MenuID=69&CatID=32&mnu=Cat. Nwankwo, S. and Gbadamosi, T. (2011). Entrepreneurship Marketing: Principles and Practice of SME Marketing. Taylor & Francis. Prideaux, B. R. (1998). Korean Outbound Tourism: Australia's Response. . Retrieved March 04, 2011. http://www.hotel-online.com/Trends/JournalTravelTourismMarketing/KoreanOutboundTourism_Nov1997.html. U.S. Department of State. (December 10, 2010). Background Note: South Korea. . Retrieved March 04, 2011. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2800.htm. WCCEE. (October 17-19, 2010). About Singapore. Retrieved March 04, 2011. http://www.wccee2010.org/singapore/. Read More