Winter Wine Weekend Festival in Australia - Essay Example

Winter Wine Weekend Festival Course Name and Code Institution Name Faculty Name Insert Your Name Insert Your Number Instructor’s Name 14 June 2009 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………….3 2.0 Context……………………………………………………………………4 2.1 Role of the Festivals in the Region………………………………..4 2.2 Push and Pull factors of the Festival………………………………4 2.3 History and Contemporary Importance…………………………...5 3.0 Planning…………………………………………………………………..5 3.1 Vision/Mission…………………………………………………….5 3.2 SWOT Analysis………………………………….………………..6 4.0 Human Resource…………………………………………….……………7 4.1 Stakeholder Involvement……………………………..…...………7 4.2 Recruitment/Employees….………………………….…………….8 5.0 Sponsorship…………………………………………………….…………8 6.0 Marketing……………………………………………….……….………..9 6.1 Marketing Mix…………………………………………….………9 6.2 Market Segmentation…………………………….……………….10 7.0 Legal and Risk Management………………………………….…………11 8.0 Evaluation of the Festival…………………………………….………….12 8.1 Impacts of the Festival (Positive)…………………….…………..12 8.2 Negative Impacts…………………………………..……………..12 8.3 Achievement of Objectives………………………..……………...13 9.0 Conclusion…………………………………………………..……………13 10.0 Recommendations……………………………………………………..14 11.0 Reference………………………………………………………………15 1.0 Introduction Tourism brings immerse benefits and complexities to a country. Tourism can be viewed in different perspectives in terms of what motivates the tourists to visit a given location, why they participate in a given activity and why they enjoy the facilities and food that are provided. One of these festivals is the Winter Wine Weekend is an annual festival that takes place during the winter and held in Mornington Peninsula Vignerons, Victoria, Australia (Mornington Peninsula Vignerons 2009). The festival usually concedes with the Queens Birthday Weekend and usually spans a fully weekend during the month of June. Food and drinks are important components in any festival and the main aim of the Winter Wine Weekend is to sample a variety of food and wines. Some of the foods that they offer include cassoulet, terrines, paella and seafood chowder. The location has more than 50 wineries that produce more that 200-premium variety of wines that include Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Pinot Gris (Mornington Peninsula Vignerons 2009). This annual event is traced back to 1987, when it was incepted (Visit Vineyards 2009). This attributed to the fact that this time is immediately after they have harvested their vines. Moreover, the festival brings into focus various activities e.g. seminars for wine tasting. The opening event is commonly termed as the Winter Wine Fest at takes place on Saturday between 11 am to 4 pm (Visit Vineyards 2009). This event is usually a tourist attraction facility in which it is open to all people who wants to visit and enjoy the festivals. Therefore, the aim of this report is to analyse the Winter Wine Weekend. The report also discusses the context of the event brining into consideration the planning, human resources, marketing of the event, financial assistance, legal and risk management and evaluation of the entire festivity. 2.0 Context 2.1 Role of the Festivals in the Region The main activity that brings many people within this area is wine. The appeal for wineries, wine shows and vineyards has brought many tourists, improving the position of Victoria relative to the rest of the country in terms of tourist destination. Moreover, the unique activities that take place, which includes drinks, food and songs, have played a major role in ‘pulling’ the customers to the festivities. 2.2 Push and Pull factors of the Festival In most cases, there are reasons that a given destination offers so that visitors can visit. These factors can be defined as the push and pull factors. Push factors are those reasons that makes the visitors to visit the Winter Wine Weekend whole the pull factors are those factors that are developed by the organisers of the event to attract more visitors (Visit Vineyards 2009). Some of the push factors are cultural exploration, event novelty and socialisation. These factors make visitors to visit the location. On the other hand, the pull factors diversity in the products that are offered, discounted ticket sales, a variety of activities and flexibility of visiting many places within Mornington Peninsula. 2.3 History and Contemporary Importance Any festivity or activity is traced back to events that are associated with the community, cultural activities or economical factors of a given place. Winter Wine Weekend since its inception in 1987 and has been associated with the Queen Birthday and it usually takes place during the Queen Weekend (Visit Vineyards 2009). Moreover, the festival takes place within Mornington Peninsula in which wine ingredients and raw materials are harvested and usually takes place after the harvesting period. In addition, the festival improves the position of Mornington Peninsula has a wine region are enables of its marketing has a place and producer of high quality, cool climate and maritime wines (Weiler et al 2004). The community embraces the activity; this is illustrated by the diverse wine producers’ participation in the event. The wineries and organisers ensure that the best quality of wine, food and songs are offered to the visitors ensuring that the visitors will have positive view towards the activities and services that are offered by the Peninsula community. 3.0 Planning 3.1 Vision/Mission Ekerman and Moerdyk (2006) define vision statement as “a document that sets out its long term goals and what it wants to become in the future” while mission statement defines basic reason why an organisation or event exists (p. 82). The objective of the festival is not clearly indicated, but it may be linked with quality of services and products that are offered. Weiler et al (2004) state that the main objective of the festivity is to ensure that the visitors and other people understand that Mornington Peninsula region produces wine. Moreover, it is not just wine but “high quality, maritime, cool climate wines” (Weiler et al 2004, p. 3). The Winter Wine Weekend is also used to improve the cultural aspect of the region and to ensure that people of relevant requirements come together to enjoy the wines, foods and songs. This can be measured in terms of attendance, participants, incomes and the general perception of visitors towards the festival (Eckes, 2004). Goals and Objectives The main goals of organising the festival are: Improve the economy position of Mornington Area and the entire Victoria region To improve the quality of services and products that are offered Due to most of the visitors are from Victoria region, it is imperative that attendance from other regions should be encouraged and increased by 15% Awareness of the Winter Wine Weekend is increased by 10% through the use of appropriate promotional strategies The quality of workers and motivation approaches should be improved 3.2 SWOT Analysis In any festivity, there are strengths that ensure the sustainability of a given occasion. Thus, the strength of the Winter Wine Weekend is its association with the Queen Birthday and its taking place after the harvesting period. This pulls visitors to come and relax after the harvesting season and market their products. However, through the statistics that are available it indicates that most visitors are from the region. Thus, there are few visitors from other regions. This greatly negates the future success of the activity. Opportunities are an important aspect in improving the position of the festivity. Hence, many people are appreciating good wine and leisure or rest after a hard work. This open the opportunities to improve the wines that are produced and diversity the products that are offered and improve on the quality of the service that is been offered. However, any activity is prone to threats and one of the threats is competition. Increased competition in tourism industry and especially marketing of destinations will decrease the number of visitors visiting the Winter Wine Weekend. 4.0 Human Resource 4.1 Stakeholder Involvement Friedman and Miles (2006) view stakeholders as those groups who are important in ensuring survival and success of an organisation. Eckes (2004) share the same view by stating that stakeholders are the individuals who are likely to be affected by change or their involvement may create change. Stakeholders bring into consideration customers, employees, suppliers, investors, communities, unions and government directives. In most instances, the investors, employees, communities, governments and suppliers produce the products and services that may be used by the consumer. Hence, the suppliers are the various wineries, food suppliers and singers who provide the products that will be used within the festivity. Victorian Government and Australian Government provide the policies and guidelines that ensure that the festivity is successful and does not become a burden to the communities/environment of the destination. The investors ensure that economical and infrastructure is in place that ensures for the success of the activity. 4.2 Recruitment/Employees Employees are crucial in ensuring that the visitors received the best possible assistance within the period of festivity (Harris 2004). The employees should understand the activities and responsibilities that they should accomplish to ensure that Winter Wine Weekend is successful. Hence, it is important to pick the right person to accomplish a given task bringing into consideration the understanding of the products that are offered. Motivating these employees also improves the quality of the service that they will offer to the customers. Each of the 50 wineries will come with specific employees who will market and sell their specific products while other employees will come in terms of chefs and singers. Thus, no elaborate number of employees and volunteers that will be present in the occasion. 5.0 Sponsorship Sponsors are crucial in ensuring that the event is successful in terms of financial and product wise. In every activity, there are costs that are associated such as in planning, organising and marketing the event (Coughlan and Mules 2001). This calls upon the assistance from the sponsors to supplement the budget. The government usually sponsor most activities that are associated with tourism and to some extent, the government sponsors the Winter Wine Weekend since it has some link with the Queens Birthday. Moreover, the wineries that provide the wine that will be used during the events will be required to register and provide some monetary assistance. In fact, the wine itself is a form of product that is sponsored by the sponsor. Moreover, other financial income may come from the entrance fee and other costs that are associated with the activities that are taking place within the festival (Coughlan and Mules 2001). Through the sponsorship, the sponsors ensure that the consumers come to understand and access information concerning the products that are offered. For example, the wineries can improve on the sale of the wines that they offer through manipulating the consumer behaviour. The government on the other hand will improve on the taxes and revenues that are associated with the events and providing a foundation in which other services can be used. Furthermore, it provides a means of employment to the people within the region and ensures that the loyalty of the consumers is retained (Coughlan and Mules 2001). 6.0 Marketing Marketing is an important aspect in understanding the requirements of the consumers and how they can be shaped in utilising a given product or service. Marketing bring into consideration many factors including the actual research of the customers’ requirements, means of enticing the consumers and appropriate means to acquire the given product. 6.1 Marketing Mix This is the important component in the marketing mix since it brings into consideration the means and ways that the consumer can acquire a given requirement. A marketing mix includes promotion, price, product and place in ensuring that the consumer can access their requirements. Product/ service are the actual component that a consumer appreciates in utilising. For example, the products that are offered in the Winter Wine Weekend are the variety of premium wines, food and songs while the actual provision of these products is such as serving is the service. The price is the monetary value that is given to the service or product that the consumers can acquire. For example, the entrance fee is the price for a consumer to enter the festival while also the value of the wine and foods. Place is the way that the consumers will access the product. This is clearly distinguished since the people who visitor the Mornington Peninsula wineries region while sample the wines that are offered by the region. Moreover, it provides the way that the culture in terms of food and songs will be appreciated by the customers. Promotion is the corner stone of any success of product or service. The producers can communicate this way with the consumers. Weiler et al (2004) clearly states that may people are informed through recommendations from friends and other people. Hence, this results in more visitors visiting the Winter Wine Weekend festival. Moreover, the idea of promotion can be championed by the use of magazines, newspapers, radio and actual marketing by the government. Additionally, promotion brings into consideration the marketing communications such as advertisements and public relations. 6.2 Market Segmentation Market segmenting is a strategy that is used to pick the appropriate market that the festival or organisation can maximise the meagre resources that are available. Market segmentation results into selecting the appropriate target markets that will improve the position of the organisation or festivity. In this case, the market should be grouped into family package, come together package, cultural exploration and leisure package (Weiler et al 2004). These groups will result in formulating and implementing the appropriate marketing strategies that will ensure that the position of the festivities is improved. 7.0 Legal and Risk Management In any activity, guidelines and directives ensure that the activity is successful. Hence, in the case of Winter Wine Weekend, the Victoria local authority and the Australian government has put in place statutory directives that ensure that business operates without any risks exposed to people within the activity. All the activities that are taking place within the festival should have permits that control the way a given activity is accomplished. For example, Alcoholics and Drug-dependent Persons Act 1968 and Food Act 1984 provide the guidelines in laying foundation on the permits that should be possessed by the festival organizers (Victoria Government Health Information, 2009). Nevertheless, the legal aspect of any activity bring into consideration contracts and agreements reached between the various stakeholders within the festivity. Thus, it is important for the organisers to ensure that contracts are followed and agreement is factored into any activity that takes place. Due to large number of the participants, it is important to put in place measures to ensure that risks are management. Controlling the crowd is achieved through ensuring that specific number of people can attend an event, which is guide by the sale of tickets to various events. Moreover, the organisers seek the assistance of the Victoria Government in providing the appropriate security arrangements and means to ensure that risks are managed (Victoria Government, 2009). 8.0 Evaluation of the Festival Evaluation is an important aspect that is used to measure the success or failure of the festival. In most visitors destination or events participation, the evaluation of the festival is measured by the number of people who attended and the diversity (e.g. region that they came from, type of food and drinks taken, attendance to various shows or wine tasting tuitions) of these visitors. Even though Winter Wine Weekend festival has no specific way to measure or evaluate the success/ failure of the festivity but various festival and events evaluates events in terms of economic, social/cultural and ‘values’ that the visitors received during the festivities (Tzelepi & Quick 2002). 8.1 Impacts of the Festival (Positive) Any festivity has various impacts and this is evident in the Winter Wine Weekend festivity. Festivals are increasingly becoming important social, environmental and economic drivers that stakeholders should identify and structure appropriate means that will ensure that the impacts are managed appropriately. In most instances, impacts may come in terms of been positive or negative. Economically, the festival improves the financial position of the participants and employees. This important factor is used to evaluate the success of the festival since the amount that was used by the visitors can be measured (Lee and Crompton 2003). Through socialising, the visitors can compare and exchange their cultural diversification; this will improve the society view of other cultures and beliefs. The success of the festival within the wine region will increase farming practices and improve perception of activities that take place in the Mornington Peninsula. Moreover, the success of the festivity will make the government to invest to ensure that future festivals will be more successful thus; it results in the improvement of infrastructure and technology (Tzelepi & Quick 2002). 8.2 Negative Impacts In most festivities, especially those that bring people of different backgrounds in terms of culture and society are prone to cultural degradation. This means that there are activities that can be brought into Mornington Peninsula that does not follow the tradition of the place. Moreover, due to the various activities that are associated with the festival, the region is prone to environmental degradation. This is because there will be litter, pollution of the air and actual degradation of environmental factors such as grass and trees. 8.3 Achievement of Objectives The aim of any festival or event is to ensure that certain goals are achieved. The main aim of the festivity is to ensure that many people come to know that Mornington Peninsula is a region that produces high quality wines. The success of the festival will be measured in terms of visitors who visited the location and the amount that the visitors used when they were within the festival. Moreover, stakeholders’ perception and view towards the success of the activity will make them to improve their future participation on the activities that take place in future Winter Wine Weekends (Taylor & Shanka 2002). 9.0 Conclusion Festivals are important events that ensure that have impacts in terms of economy, socio-cultural and environment. Winter Wine Weekend is one of the festivals that occur annually in Australia especially within Mornington Peninsula a region that is well known in product of wine. The festival occurs in the winter and usually takes place in the Queen Birthday, a festival that began in 1987. The main aim of the festival is to market the wine that is produced in the Mornington Peninsula region. Marketing is a crucial component in ensuring that the visitors come to know what is offered at the destination and other features that are associated with the festivity. It is also important for the stakeholders to understand their contribution towards the success of the festival. Moreover, the festival organisers should factor into consideration all government directives and statutory laws to ensure that the visitors, participants and the entire environment to prevented from been exposed to awful conditions. 10.0 Recommendations The aim of recommendations is to ensure that there are corrections or improvements to be made to ensure that the Winter Wine Weekend is more success. Thus, some of the recommendations include: Define clearly the responsibility and role of the various stakeholders and their contribution towards the activity. Put in place appropriate structure or framework that will be used to evaluate and measure the way that the festival took place. Put in place appropriate strategies that will improve on marketing and ensure that more visitors from other regions visit the festival. Diversify the events or activities that take place within the festival. Improve on the products that are been offered and the way that are been offered. For example, the gate ticket should factor into consideration accommodation e.g., when the visitor stay in a given location will enter the festival free. 11.0 Reference Coughlan, D and Mules, T 2001, ‘Sponsorship Awareness and Recognition at Canberra’s Floriade Festival’, Event Management Vol. 7, pp. 1- 9 Eckes, L 2004, Six Sigma Team Analysis, New York: John Wiley and Sons Publishers. Ekerman, G. and Moerdyk A, 2006, XKit Undergraduate Human Resource Management, Cape Town: Pearson South Africa. Friedman, A. and Miles, S 2006, Stakeholders: Theory and Practice, London: Oxford University Press. Getz, D 2002, ‘Why Festivals Fail’, Event Management, Vol. 7, pp. 209-219 Harris, V 2004, ‘Event Management: A New Profession?’ Event Management Vol. 9, pp. 103-109 Lee, S and Crompton, J 2003, ‘The Attraction Power and Spending Impact of Three Festivals in Ocean City, Maryland’, Event Management vol. 8, pp. 109-112. Lade, C & Jackson, J 2004, ‘Key Success Factors in Regional Festivals: Some Australian Experiences’, Event Management, Vol. 9, pp. 1 – 11. Mornington Peninsula Vignerons, 2009, Winter Wine Weekend, Viewed 1 June 2009, Prentice, R and Andersen, V 2003, ‘Festival as Creative Destination’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 7-30. Taylor, R & Shanka, T 2002, ‘Attributes for Staging Successful wine Festivals’, Event Management, Vol. 7, pp. 165-175. Tzelepi, M & Quick, S 2002, ‘The Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) “Event Leadership” Training Course – An Effectiveness Evaluation’, Event Management, Vol. 7, pp. 245-257. Visit Vineyards, 2009, Celebrate the Start of Winter: Mornington Peninsula Winter Wine Fest, 2 June 2009, Victoria Government Health Information, 2009, Food Safety, Weiler, B, Truong, M & Griffiths, M 2004, ‘Visitor Profiles and Motivations for Visiting an Australian Wine Festival’, Department of Management Working Paper Series, ISSN 1327-5216 Walle, A 2003, ‘Building a Diverse Attendance at Cultural Festivals: Embracing Oral History/Folklore in Strategic Ways’, Event Management Vol. 8, pp. 73-82. Read More