Achieving the Aims of Ecotourism - Essay Example

? REWARD SCHEMES AS A MEANS OF PROMOTING AND ACHIEVING THE AIMS OF ECOTOURISM Reward schemes tend to be the most effective way of promoting and achieving the aims of Ecotourism, Discuss Introduction Business dynamics provide opportunities for organisations to engage stakeholders in the realisation of business goals. Reward schemes by corporate organisations play a critical role in enhancing performance. They entice the stakeholders to work harder and develop positive attitudes towards the organisation. Reward schemes have a long-term goal of raising the number of visiting tourists by improving productivity and performance. Consequently, it is fundamental to agree on the most suitable ecotourism strategies and approaches. Ecotourism Ecotourism involves visiting pristine, fragile and natural areas that are not distorted by humans. Ecotourism is small scale and has low environmental impacts compared to mainstream commercial tourism. It also involves responsible travelling to natural sites with an aim of preserving the surroundings and improving the welfare of the local people residing in such areas. The main purposes of ecotourism in to volunteer, learn and personal growth of the participants (United Nations Environmental Program 2011, p. 1). Additionally, it minimises the negative environmental impacts that mainstream tourism causes. It also promotes the cultural integrity of the local people. The participants in the ecotourism industry participate in recycling, conserving water, saving energy besides creating economic opportunities for the local people (Kotas 2009, p. 53). Ecotourism existed because of the prevailing problems in the tourism industry. The interest in ecotourism is the need to conserve wildlife facing extinction. There have been increased cases of invasion of natural habitats for agricultural purposes, fishing, logging and hunting. Although many countries have officially reserved areas for conservation, they lack enough funds for protecting and managing them. Consequently, several destructive activities are happening in these areas. Consequently, ecotourism is interested in restoring the values and the genetic reservoirs of vital biological resources (Buhalis 2002, p. 1). Reward scheme A reward scheme is an arrangement that an organisation provides to clients and other stakeholders in its industry aimed at encouraging them to appreciate and take part in activities that improves their welfare and community members. The focus of any reward scheme is to prioritise initiatives for customer care, initiate corporate social responsibility and strengthen communication strategies. Principles of reward schemes A reward scheme is hard to design and run because of the many challenges that characterise its execution. The challenges include the difficulty in getting tourists to sign up and join the scheme. It is also not easy to change the behavior of tourists towards this scheme because they focus on pleasure. However, it is necessary that an organisation follow several principles to ensure the creation of a comprehensive reward scheme. Organisations reward their clients differently based on the nature of clients and the organisation (Barbera & Dutta, 2008, p. 59). The initial standard is to ensure that the rewards currency is relevant to the organisation. An organisation must ensure that the rewards are directly linked to products and services. The perspective of the tourists must be the key driving force in such a situation. The second principle is to communicate the burn instead of the earned. One of the objectives of a reward scheme is to ensure that tourists acquire points as they purchase the products and enjoy the services of their host organisation. These points are exchanged with rewards. Most tourists are not always aware of the exact worthiness the points earned. They are only concerned with the benefits from the points. This means that communication plays a fundamental role when distinguishing and empowering the tourists (Fennel2007, p. 93). An organisation can achieve excellent reward scheme through celebrating events. Organisations arrange various events and encourage tourists to participate in to earn benefits. The events are normally colorful and provide many opportunities for organisations to communicate with clients and congratulate them for propelling the organisation. The avoidance of hidden benefits is a principle that helps organisations to trade off their reward schemes. The organisations ensure that they include eye-catching benefits to their clients to attract them. They take precautions to ensure that the scheme remains profitable. Many of these benefits are normally underutilised ensuring that profits are realised by the organisations. An organisation can also choose to keep on engaging its clients over time (Zenger, 2002, 208). The success of any reward scheme requires that the behaviors of customers change over time in accordance with change in brands. However, this principle can cause numerous challenges when not properly designed. Nevertheless, an organisation can take precautions by not creating powerfully attractive bonuses. Besides, it can reward new behaviors portrayed by clients. Finally, the organisation can ensure that rewards operate at all levels of engagement. How organisations achieve reward schemes Organisations achieve reward schemes through creating an incentive program plan. The aim of this plan is to gratify employees by offering them with benefits and compensations. Organisations will extend benefits to an employee and encourage him of her to work harder when they feel that the process would enhance success. An appropriate way that an organisation can achieve its reward scheme is raising the salaries of its workers. It can also offer cash bonuses and stock options to employees whose performance are exemplary. Employees can also gain from compensations through benefits like additional vocational days and reimbursement programs. The main idea behind this scheme is that engagement of employees leads to the increase in profitability and customer satisfaction (Barbera & Dutta, 2008, p. 124). Organisations and reward schemes Several organisations have a variety of reward schemes that target employees and clients. For instance, Virgin Atlantic, being a transport organization boasts of an award received in 2005 for being environmentally conscious. This organization is committed to reducing emission drastically. This helps promote ecotourism. The Ford Motors on their part have introduced fuel-saving EcoBoost engines on vehicles. This type of engine saves up to twenty per cent fuel consumption rate and reduces carbon dioxide emission by 15 per cent. As a result, ecotourism activities are promoted with Ford Motor vehicles. JVC has initiated programs where they encourage the consumers of their products to recycle the mercury-containing D-ILA lamps at the E-cycling Central unit. L’Oreal, on its part have taken energy saving measures such as the installation of solar panels, the installation of LED lighting and use of hydro-electricity. This helps protect the environment and thereby promoting ecotourism (Barbera & Dutta, 2008, p. 119). Examples of reward schemes Various organisations have different reward schemes to their employees and customers. Some of the examples of the reward schemes that are ecotourism related include Green globe, The Green Tourism Business Scheme, EU flower and the flower. Organizations such as the Virgin Atlantic that focuses on travel and tourism activities have the Green Globe Company Standard scheme as a benchmark for conserving the environment (Responsibletravel.com 2012 p. 1). The EU flower reward scheme offers particular criteria upon which companies are required to comply to be friendly with the environment. It is a scheme that rewards organizations within the EU zone that attain certain set standards of environmental quality standards. Additionally, tourism destinations such as hotels, campsites and leisure activities that meet certain levels of ecological standards receive the Green Key reward (Responsibletravel.com 2012 p. 1). Tesco have also put in place various programs that foster ecotourism. As a financial institution, it provides conservation institutions with direct financial benefits besides empowering individual persons engaged in environment protection with funds towards the same (Tesco 2012 p. 1). BMW, a car manufacturing company has also built and manages electric car charging stations where customers will use their smartcards for fueling. The aim is to reduce environmental pollution from the exhaust fumes produced from the combustion of petrol. How to control tourism industry Controlling tourism requires coordinated efforts of many stakeholders involved in the industry. The main driving force behind tourism control is its economic significance on a country. It reinforces the economic parameters such as job creation, sustenance and income generation. The use of information technology (IT) in the tourism industry controls tourism (Elliott, 2007, p. 72). The technological revolution has had tremendous impacts in the tourism industry. This makes effective use of information technology important in the industry. According to World Trade Organisation , success in business depends in quick identification of the needs of the consumer and reaching potential clients with inclusive, tailored and latest information (Singh, 2010, p. 91). Effective control of tourism requires appropriate application of management efforts and strategic marketing. Tourist organisations need to improve their performance through strategic marketing empowering. This is achievable using advanced information technology appliances. In the end, such organisations improve in networking and vitality (Zenger, 2002, p. 210). Tourism is affected with incidences of terrorism and other crises. This makes crisis management an important aspect in controlling tourism (Glaesser, 2007, p. 95). Crises can be managed through comprehensive and effective plans. Therefore, controlling tourism requires regular meetings involving different tourism agencies through networking and linkages (Wearing & Neil, 2012, p. 82). It is necessary to develop procedures and plans that would aid the implementation and management of disaster risks. The key stakeholders in this industry must establish and nurture consultations with the members of the community where tourists visit for effective communication. Additionally, the community and other personnel involved should also be trained on the relevant procedures (Buhalis 2002, p. 41). The need to make profit from products and services should guide the key players in the industry. This will allow them to control tourism in a business environment. The first step in controlling tourism is to obtain permission from the relevant authorities. Tourism organisations that offer tourism activities must first obtain relevant licenses from the Wildlife and National Park Department. The license issuing authorities must vet the applicants to ensure that they do not have previous violations of any tourism law (Buhalis 2002, p. 127). The processing of the applications to identify and address the available problems follows. Governments should also keep tourism operating databases for effective control of the industry. The details of all organisations involved in management of tourisms should be present within the database. Stock inventories of national and marine parks should be taken (Golany & Rothblum 2006, p. 13). The tourism management organisations must also ensure that all the regulations regarding the tourism sector are obeyed. This is achievable through the provision of safety equipments and engaging in healthy practices. For instance, tourists driving in national parks or sailing in marines must put on adequate safety gadgets and exercise immense care. Communication among all the players in the tourism industry is a good venture in controlling the sector. The tourists visiting remote parks and reserves together with officials must receive relevant communication gadgets (Kotas, 2009, p. 24). Additionally, it is necessary to minimise wastes disposals within the tourist centers like parks, game reserves and marine parks. Visiting tourists must dispose wastes at a centrally located point as a way of keeping the parks clean. Some waste materials can be harmful to the lives of plants or animals in the parks. Tourists must also be discouraged from feeding the park and marine creatures with food materials. This is because some food materials contain chemicals that have the potential of harming animals. They must also be encouraged to maintain safe distance between them and animals at the park for safety reasons. These duties require self- motivated workers. This motivation can be achievable through extending reward schemes to employees working for the tourism management organisations (United Nations Environmental Program 2011, p. 1). Conclusion Tourism is a lucrative industry that requires coordinated management efforts by all stakeholders to ensure the realisation of full benefits. A country must invest in conservation and protection activities of its national parks, marine parks and game reserves within its jurisdiction to attract and sustain maximum number of tourists. The success of these efforts requires the involvement of several persons with direct or indirect interest in the field. Additionally, specific activities such as ecotourism that conserve and protect the tourist sites should be encouraged. The members of the local community where the tourists’ sites are located must give their input because they possess vast information about the environment. The employees who work in tourism need to be motivated and inspired. This recognises their efforts and unique contribution. 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