Strategic tourism planning - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Private businesses have also served leadership capacities, including the gathering of support for certain collaborative ads and promotions and publishing newsletters, websites and a magazine about Floyd. The Floyd County Chamber of Commerce has been playing a significant role in the supporting of local businesses in the long time. A significant revitalization part has been performed by the government of the Floyd County in the downtown. The staff and town spent time in the prominent investments in the private sector and various alterations and modifications have been brought by the finances that were acquired from the federal and in the shape of restoration and enhancement of downtown which also includes more public restrooms, shops, a hotel, additional parking, and a community market (Butler, Richard, Michael, John, 1998). The Heritage Pathways project has been continually worked upon by the towns which will offer crucial interconnections to it. A downtown park is being developed within the town which has been granted the support from the Partnership for Floyd. Numerous local non-profits have been provided funding and finance by the Town of Floyd, which also includes it financing through the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Thus, the Floyd Town has worked properly and in sophisticated manner upon its tourist aspect. Tourism Promotion An active part has been played by the Floyd County government in terms of the development and promotion of tourism. The County offers the customers a destination market organization (DMO)—the primary contact for the Virginia Tourism Corporation. The staff of the County has hosted Virginia Tourism Corporation Visitor Center staff for tours of Floyd County and worked with VTC, The Crooked Road and others on numerous substantial media tours. Besides the tours of the group media, the staff of The County also facilitates as a liaison for individual, reputable journalists, suggesting itineraries, and linking them with various complimentary tours and services (Bruce, David, and Margaret, 1993). A customized media kit has been supplied by the County, which also includes the DVD of itineraries and images to visiting media. This outreach of the public relations has only been possible with the kind, generous, and the complimentary hosting that has been offered by the local lodging facilities. The tourism pages for the County are on its website (www.floydcova.org/visitors), which also contains the local listings direct feed from the main state site, Virginia.org. Being a DMO, the emails are moderated by the County from VTC related to media opportunities and shares pertinent ones with email list of tourism related entities in Floyd County and serves as a reviewer for tourism-related grant applications. Situational Analysis Being a significant element of the planning process, the participants undertake a Situational Analysis with respect to the tourist destination in order to determine the objectives and goals of the plan (Hall, 2008). In the current plan, the current tourism assets, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, target customers, and a brief analysis of the tourism infrastructure, marketing strategies, and tourism policy have been identified in the current plan. Tourism Assets A list of the premier assets of tourism for Floyd County is provided below. These assets can possibly be depicted in the promotion and advertising. It is as follows: ...Download file to see next pages Read More