Tourism strategy for Glasgow - Assignment Example

?STRATEGY FOR TOURISM Discuss how the term strategy is understood and used in the case material. Assess to what extent the visionis reflected in the Glasgow 2016 Action Plan. Tourism strategy for Glasgow is guided by its vision statement, which states that their shared ambition for metropolitan Glasgow is of sustained and sustainable growth in the tourism industry as a contribution to the wealth and well-being of all. In addition, the vision for Glasgow 2016 action plan is of leading destination in key markets offering a unique, dynamic, and authentic experience through the quality of place, product, and service differentiated through the strength of the brand, Glasgow: Scotland with style. Glasgow 2016 action plan takes advantage of the city’s growth, favorable national policy environment, and higher level of ambitions and desire for Glasgow’s future prosperity and well-being. This clearly indicates that the strategy for Glasgow tourism is closely linked to the national and city policy document. The Glasgow outcomes and to ensure it meets its 2016 vision, there are certain elements that highlighted in its vision that shows its intention of ensuring economic growth of Scotland. Due to this, the tourism sector takes a major role in protecting the environment and working closely with communities for mutual benefits (Tribe 2010 p. 5). For successful strategic planning, there are several key elements of corporate strategy, which if well implemented, leads to success. These elements include; i. Strategic analysis ii. Strategic purpose iii. Strategic choice iv. Strategic implementation Strategic purpose for tourism Glasgow is defined in its mission which states what the organization aims to achieve in the specified period. In the case of Scotland tourism 2016 action plan, the mission is that by 2016, tourism is seen as the major contributor to economic growth of Scotland. in this regard, the key contributor to Scotland tourism include Glasgow leading attractions, Tourism retail and leisure group, Greater Glasgow hotels association, Glasgow restaurateurs association, Scotland tourism and ministry of tourism. Strategic analysis incorporates consideration of influences upon Scotland tourism in terms of operating environment and resources available in order to attain its objectives by 2016. Strategic analysis is concerned in dealing with major strengths and weaknesses within internal resources and threats and opportunities posed by external environment in which the organization operates (Tribe 2010 p.10). In this sense, Scotland tourism identifies some threats in its external environment. These threats include; i. The use of IT by customers ii. The impact of travel on climate change iii. Competitive nature of tourism destination iv. Increase in fuel prices The major strength include i. Brand name ii. culture iii. partnership and joint working iv. international gateway v. city centre retail offer vi. architecture vii. conference facilities and viii. access to highlands Major opportunities for Scotland tourism include; i. Continued brand development ii. Increase in short break travel iii. , New hotel development iv. Experiential services v. Collaboration with Edinburgh and other, surrounding destinations vi. Developing service excellence vii. Attracting large scale events viii. Innovative new products and packaging ix. Waterfront regeneration x. Differentiation through unique selling points xi. Employment-rich sector xii. Green issues Major weakness includes; i. Signage ii. gaps in transport infrastructure iii. packaging of experience iv. cleanliness v. Image of sector for employment Strategic choice is more concerned with selection strategy, evaluation of available options and generation of strategic options. The strategic option favored by Scotland tourism 2016 action plan has moved from mass tourism where they initially concentrated on price to major emphasis on quality or differentiated tourism where consumer or visitor and host experience is emphasized. The Glasgow: Scotland with style brand remains a central part of the strategy. Strategic implementation mainly deals with logistics and implementation timetable, resource planning, organizational structure, monitoring, and review. In this manner, the Scotland tourism 2016 action plan focuses on its performance targets. These targets include; Increasing capacity by 3,000 premier hotel bedrooms to accommodate more visitors Grow tourism related employment to more than 30,000 employees To deliver a minimum growth of 60% in tourist revenue with a target of achieving 80%. 2. Describe the competitive environment within which Glasgow operates today and discuss how this competitive environment is reflected in the strategy and action plan in relation to strategic choices. Competition in tourism is extreme or intense because tourism is the fastest growing global economic sector in terms of job creation and foreign exchange. World tourism is undergoing massive growth of about 4%, which increases competition among tourism firms. Over decades, traditional sun and summer holidays dominated international tourism but due to new trends in tourism, this patterns have changed dramatically. Today, Glasgow faces major competition from other places mainly in terms of destinations since nowadays; destinations are competiting extremely to provide a range of wide experiences and activities to the increasingly sophisticated travelers in the world. Glasgow has grown into tourism destination in that over 10,000 hotel bedrooms, conference facilities and strong retail offering has seen the city develop and adapt quickly to new market opportunities. In addition, the city has included new tourism products in the market and improved the quality of services in order to attract more visitors. This has empowered the city to compete with the best tourist firms in the world (Tribe 2005 p. 23-24). Due to these emerging trends, Glasgow tourism strategy incorporating the following trends in order to cope up with other industries; Accessibility by ensuring ease of access to an increasing number of tourism destinations demographic change and lifestyle by targeting older population with more disposable income and more leisure time climate change by creating awareness of the impact of travel and tourism development on the environment and educating the public the need to protect the environment Information communication technology and its application because technology has taken centre stage in modern world. Glasgow will ensure global access to web based information, assisting consumers to research, select and book holidays growing demand and desire for service based skills and quality of services to attract more consumers propensity to pay more for experience than goods provided 3. Carry out an analysis of the tourism vision for Glasgow. In particular, discuss to what extent the stakeholders are acknowledged in the material and the balance between the profit and social ambitions. The vision of Glasgow tourism is to be leading destination for tourism in market context by providing unique, dynamic, and authentic experience through the quality of products, place, and service. In this instance, Glasgow tourism stakeholders are aware that place activeness is the key to attracting more visitors in the competitive market; therefore, they have put in place impressions that last. Glasgow is accessible, welcoming, vibrant, and physically attractive city with unique products, which manipulates tourist to return repeatedly. Stakeholders have embarked on massive refurbishment of historic buildings, removing the blight of vacant sites and making further improvements to the cleanliness of the city. In addition, stakeholders are doing their best to make sure Glasgow is accessible, attractive and distinctive destination with increased high quality accommodation supply, improved transport connectivity to all places and a stable communication network. In its vision statement, Glasgow is determined to invest heavily in people. Investment in skills and training is significant for ensuring the creation of strong workforce. People with high skills will automatically increase service delivery. Since Glasgow is expecting to increase its customer base, it will also be forced to increase its workforce in order to produce quality services to the customers this will in turn develop and uphold the city’s reputation as a visitor’s destination (Tribe 2010p. 44). Glasgow is determined to succeed by increasing competition in the market place through its innovative and visitor led strategy. At the same time, the aim to improve the quality of their products, services and processes, which requires inspirational managers and leaders who nurture and value their staff. This will result in skilled staff and workforce providing high quality service in an industry offering employment and career opportunities to many people. The city has embarked on a mission to preserve the city’s heritage by repackaging existing products in innovative and exciting ways and launching new products to meet changing market expectations. Events are significant part of the city’s tourism product. The need to host the 2014 common wealth games are designed to add value to Glasgow: Scotland with style brand. In addition, proximity and importance of Edinburgh and Glasgow to the national tourism product offers an opportunity for both cities. Collaborating of these cities to compete is the joint initiative, which aims to develop priority areas including higher education, tourism, and connectivity. In tourism sector, there is real scope for the cities’ visitors and cultural attractions to join forces to allow them to compete at a higher level. Stakeholders of Glasgow tourism have advocated for sustainable tourism with the need to attain much needed profits without harming the environment. The Scottish tourism: the next decade- tourism framework for change stipulates its objectives to be most sustainable tourism destination in that it attempts to make low impact on environment and local culture while helping to generate income and conservation of local ecosystems (Tribe 2010 p. 49). The sustainable program will provide support to Glasgow businesses to help them become more sustainable and develop their understanding how their business practices influences the environment. In addition, it is advisable for the stakeholders to encourage participation of other achievable and affordable environmental certification and awards schemes such as National VIBES award. Adopting robust environmental policies and working closely with other bodies and local community will reduce energy consumption and foster sustainable methods for working while increasing profitability. 4. Carry out a strategic evaluation of the “Glasgow’s Tourism Strategy to 2016” and “Glasgow’s Tourism Action Plan to 2016” using a. Suitability analysis b. Acceptability analysis c. Feasibility analysis Suitability analysis Using suitability analysis, it is apparent that Glasgow tourism industry needs to capitalize on its assets, which include people and infrastructure in ways that will meet the expectation of travelers by 2016. Scottish tourism industry has tried to encourage innovation and support the same in tourism in order to improve its service delivery that is suitable to the visitors. Furthermore, it is determined to build on existing assets that offers Scotland and Glasgow a competitive edge hence help bring distinct elements of the visitor experience together in integrated and consistent manner in its action plan of 2016. Due to distinctive innovative products, Scotland tourism will be able to have a competitive edge and will continue to attract and retain visitors. The firm is trying hard in that by 2016 it looks to have developed strong relationship with the public sector to work as a team to deliver a series of initiatives to foster a culture of innovation in the city by 2016 (Tribe 2010 p.78). Acceptability analysis The service economy is enhancing growth in Scotland since it represents part of economic life and its significance continues to grow tremendously. In this sense, tourism is the big player in the service industry because it looks set to continue growing as Scottish societies become more flexible and successful. Scotland tourism has ensured that it has qualified and skilled personnel to provide professional delivery to its customers. In addition, in its 2016 action plan, it has ensured that the use of ICT has been undertaken and do further research to facilitate technology solutions (Tribe2005 p. 56-59). Development of www.glasgowforbusiness.com site has been developed in order to host all new features of hotel development opportunities and provide guidance on how visitors can pursue them. In conjunction with historic Glasgow group, they have planned annual historic Glasgow event and promote historic and medieval Glasgow activities to enrich their products. Feasibility analysis Using feasibility analysis it has been able to uncover the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats that face the industry and which path it needs to take in order to attain its objectives. Architecture and culture are the strong points of industry and it should aim to capitalise on them to oust its competitors by 2016. There are some weaknesses such as poor infrastructure, shortage of labour and skills and lack of five star hotels. The threats that are facing the company include accommodation issues and lack of available labour. There are opportunities that the industry needs to utilise such as continued brand development and use of information communication technology. The upcoming 2014 commonwealth games will spearhead the growth of tourism industry in Scotland. References Tribe, J 2010, Strategy for Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers, Oxford. Tribe, J 2005, The Economics of Recreation, Leisure and Tourism, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford. Read More