Analysis of Economic Downturn - Example

Talise Spa Introduction The economic boom and the rich cultural heritage made the country of UAE a hot spot for the tourists and accordingly this hasmade the tourism and hospitality sector one of the most important sectors as far as the contribution to the economy is concerned. However, there is a perception among the people that UAE means Dubai or Abu Dhabi; such perceptions hold true specifically for the foreign tourists. However, there is very little doubt over the fact that there is a lot more to explore in the country than just Dubai; from a cultural heritage as well as business perspective. Such circumstances has actually worked as a motivation for the study and the tourist destination in focus happens to be the Talise Spa situated in the city of Al Ain; which happens to be the fourth largest city in UAE. It is also known as the garden city because of the greenery; making it a unique location of for tourists. The study has been done in lieu to analyze the location in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Also a stake holder analysis has been conducted to identify the key stake holders and their impact on the business. Based on the analysis a strategic plan for the facility has been prepared which includes the preparation of a vision and mission statement, environmental impact analysis, developing a product development strategy and promotion or communication strategy (Kolb, 2008). Location Audit Location Description While describing the location in details it needs to mention that both Talise Spa as well as the city of Al Ain would be considered, simply because both the unique geographical elements and the infrastructure of the Talise Spa would play a major role in the overall strategic marketing and communications. The city of Al Ain is the fourth largest city in UAE and it is well known as the garden city due to the unique greenery. This would most definitely act as an USP of the destination mainly because people have a perception that UEA is equivalent to hot, dry and humid desert. Also transportation wise the city is just to the south of Abu Dhabi. Also the annual rainfall in Al Ain is 96 mm which is quite high as per the Middle Eastern geographic condition. The level of humidity in the city is also quite low; it is round about 60% in the summers. Due to such reasons Al Ain is one of the most popular tourist destinations for the people of UAE; especially during the summers. As a tourist location Al Ain is still a developing one. The city gets a lot of traffic in the summers; most of that are locals who have holiday houses in the city. However, as compared to its counterparts like Dubai, Al Ain gets very little foreign tourists. Talise Spa provides personalized treatments in all the thirteen private rooms of it. There are a range of experiences provided by the Talise Spa such as facials, body treatments and massages. To be a bit more detailed it provides body scrubs, aromatherapy, body wraps, full day packages, waxing, skin care treatments, etc. There is also availability of Food centres, play yards, food corner. The facilities provided by the authorities are excellent to say the least. However, there is still room for improvement as the authorities are looking to position the spa as a place to have fun; which also reflects the cultural heritage of the country. Reason for choice Again in this section, both Talise Spa and Al Ain have to be focused. The major reason for choice of Al Ain is the unique geographical conditions and rich cultural heritage. Also as compared to its counterparts like Dubai there is a lot of opportunity for development. Based on the initiatives of the government to develop Al Ain as a premier tourist location, it would most likely that slowly but surely the place would start to get traffics in the forms of foreign tourists and hence it would be impotent to have a facility like Talise Spa that provides an array of services under one roof reflecting the cultural heritage of UAE. Location SWOT Analysis Strengths Excellent location, infrastructure and facilities. No out sourced workforce Strong and convenient transportation facilities Dedicated staffs Presence of augmented services like WI-FI enabled rooms, presence of audio visual facilities, protection of luggage, etc. Weaknesses Lack of brand awareness Lack of digital presence Work Force requires a lot more training to deal international customers. Opportunities Unique geographical features of Al Ain. Involvement of the government to improve the Al Ain as tourist spot Tourism and hospitality industry of Al Ain is still not as competitive as the counter parts. Threats Presence of other organizations providing similar facilities. Perception of People as Dubai being the premier tourist location. Stakeholder analysis Before conducting a stakeholder analysis it is extremely important to define the stake holders. Stakeholders are individuals or any groups who can affect or get affected by the activities of an organization. However, just like any other elements related to the business stakeholders also vary based on the amount of effect or impacts. Hence it is important for every organization to conduct a stake holder analysis to identify the major stake holders related to the business. One of the most widely used conduct a stake holder analysis is through an influence interest matrix (Brown, 2009, p. 209). In case of Talise Spa based on in depth industry research it has been decided that the key stakeholders of the facility would be Competitors, Customers, Employees, Government bodies, Environmental authorities, Local community, Media, NGO, Channel Partners (marketing partners, travel agencies, etc.) Stake holder Analysis Based on Influence and Interest Who Influence Interest Competitors 5 5 Customers 5 3 Employees 5 5 Government bodies 5 3 Environmental authorities 3 3 Local community 3 2 Media 4 3 NGO 2 3 Channel Partners 4 3 Here needs to be mentioned that in order to carry out the analysis five point rating scale of likert scale has been used. Here 5 means very high, 4 means high, 3 means medium, 2 means low and 1 means very low. Strategic Planning Vision The vision statement of an organization is an inspirational, descriptive, projected and imaginative picture of what the organization wants to be in the future. It should contain a core ideology and envisioned future. From a case specific perspective Talise should be envisioned as a facility which provides high quality services and intriguing customer experience through the dedicated staffs. The customers should perceive it as a place to relax mind and body; a place to have fun for all ages and genders. Talise Spa should have a feel of sophistication due to the target market segment. Most importantly despite of all the modern facilities provided; Talise Spa should yet reflect the rich and cultural heritage of the Arabia; making it a unique and yet competitive combination. The proposed vision statement could be: To provide luxurious and yet personalized outstanding services to the guests to create the ultimate Arabian experience. Mission Statement A mission statement reflects the main purpose of an organization and acts as a road map to provide guidance to the organization towards the achievement of continuity and growth (Churchill, 2009). A mission statement should be well alignment with the vision statement of a company. In this case the mission statement of the company should be based on two important things; the target market segment and the cultural heritage of the region. Hence the proposed mission statement could be: “To deliver the most sustainable, exceptional, customized and luxurious services with the utmost humility and grace through our dedicated work force through a sense of true spirit and Arabian culture and heritage” Product Development While developing product it needs to be said that Talise offers services rather than goods. Services as compared to goods are in tangible in nature and hence service development is a bit more complex than the goods (Cowan, 2005). But, still service development can be described through the concept of three levels of products i.e. the core product, actual product and augmented product. The core product would most certainly be hospitality in the form of Spa, Food and lodging. The actual or tangible product is relatively hard to achieve in the service industry das the service in itself is going to be intangible. However, implementation services would be also important and for that the marketers would have to use the extended elements of the marketing mix in the form of people, physical evidence and process. Elements such logo of the marketers, hotel ambience and design reflecting the cultural heritage and the unique natural beauty of Al Ain, employee dress, employee knowledge, behaviour and the way the end product is being is delivered in terms of effectiveness and efficiency would critical to the success. The augmented services are often called extended services. This would include additional services such as Wi-Fi facility in the rooms, presence of high quality audio visual systems, trip to some of the most popular locations of the city, or even light and sound show about the Arabian cultural heritage; all these would be part of the augmented services (Burgemeister, 2003). The natures of the products indicate that the target market segment would be the higher income group people; this would be applicable for both domestic and foreign visitors. Hence, there may not be need for much of differentiation for foreign and domestic visitors. But yes, may be when it comes to food, especially for meat, the local Muslim community may prefer Halal food and certain amount of differentiation can be practiced, Bit other than that there may not be need for such cases (Zarrela, 2010). Communication and Promotion Strategy While developing the communications strategy the emphasis should be on both internal and external communications. Internal communication would be critical to the success and most of it would be concentrated on the training and development of the employees. It would be focused on getting the employees familiar with the mission and vision of the company (Wenderoth, 2009). Also a lot of effort should be given on cross cultural differences. It should include the educating the employees with the rich cultural heritage Arab as well as getting familiar with foreign culture keeping in mind that the Spa would get a lot of foreign visitors. Basic foreign language teaching especially English, Spanish and French; should a part of the training module (Belch and Michael, 2005). As far as external communication strategy is concerned among all the elements of promotional mix advertisement and public relations would be the most important. For Ads the company should choose television ads. But the most important medium would be digital medium. The Spa does not have a strong digital presence; this has to be changed. The Spa should have a well furnished website and strong social media presence. It should have PPC ads in Facebook and Google. Also banner Ads in yahoo and YouTube would help. A part from this regular posting on Facebook and Twitter, responding to customer queries through social media would also help in developing strong public relations. Another strategy that can be adopted would be developing an application. This would help the marketers to be in constant touch with the customers. Also from time to time there should be certain sales promotional offers to increase sales within a shorter period of time. Both Social Media and mobile app can be used to notify the customers about the offer. Overall integrated marketing communications should be used with special emphasis on Ads and Public relations (Kotler, 2001). Sustainability-Impact Analysis In order to discuss the sustainability impact analysis macro environmental forces in the form of environmental, social and economic forces would be considered. On the environmental forefront today people as well as the government have become quite concerned about the environmental conditions to control global warming. Hence the people are also looking to business with greener products. Therefore the green and cool environment of Al Ain would act in favour of Talise Spa. From socio-cultural perspective UAE has rich Arabian cultural heritage which has attracted foreigners; both tourists and researchers. Therefore, it would provide the Spa to act as a bridge between the Western and Eastern culture. The economic boom in UAE has meant that it has almost become the economic capital of Asia attracting foreign tourists; this is a welcoming sign for the Spa. However, sue to the economic downturn the disposable income of the European and American people have decreased. This may somewhat effect the visitor inflow as Western people are more focused on saving rather than spending (Henry, 2008). Conclusion To conclude things it can be said tourism has become one of the major contributors to the overall GDP of UAE. However, majority of the tourists visit places like Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Very few people are aware of a place like Al Ain. However, the diverse geographical nature in the form of the greenery and less humid condition can be just the thing the visitors would require. Hence the Talise Spa situated in Al Ain a lot of potential to become a major player in the hospitality industry. However, lack of brand awareness and present economic downturn and relatively in experienced staff may cause hindrance in the success. But correct vision and strategic marketing and communication keeping the combinations of the facilities provided, cultural heritage or Arab and unique geographic features of Al Ain can make Also Spa taste the sweetness of success. References Belch, G and Michael, G. (2005). Advertising &Promotion-An Integrated marketing Communications Perspective. London: McGraw-Hill. Brown, L. (2009). Marketing and Distribution Research. London: Ronald Press Company. Burgemeister, S. (2003). Market analysis. Berlin: GRIN Verlag. Churchill, G. (2009). Marketing Research. London: Cengage Learning. Cowan, A. (2005). Risk Analysis And Evaluation. London: Global Professional Publishing. Henry, A. (2008). Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kolb, B. (2008). Marketing Research: A Practical Approach. London: Sage. Kotler, P. (200)1. Marketing Management. London: Prentice Hall. Wenderoth, M. (2009). Particularities in the Marketing Mix for Service Operations, Munich: GRIN Verlag. Zarrela, D. (2010). The Social Media Marketing Book. Calgary: OReilly Media, Inc. Read More