The Viability of Establishing Theme Parks in the Western Regions of Africa - Research Proposal Example

? Research Proposal Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Research methodology 4 Justification of the Methodology 5 Research Approach 5 Data Collection and Sampling 6 Questionnaire 6 Focus Group Interview 7 Telephonic Interview 7 Data Analysis 7 Limitations of the Research 8 Ethical Consideration 8 References 8 Introduction In the past 50 years, theme parks have become one of the most popular leisure activities worldwide. This research aims to find out the viability of establishing theme parks in the western regions of Africa. Literature about the impacts of tourism, tourism industry, and economic dimensions of theme parks was reviewed to provide necessary information for further primary and secondary research. Apart from this, the literature review also throes useful information on the African tourism industry. Present economic and political conditions in Africa are also reviewed, which will help in creating a background for the reader. There are many renowned theme parks situated in the western regions of Africa. Tourists from all over the world are constantly looking for changes and advancement in the theme parks. Because of this, competition for theme parks has increased considerably. Literature Review Even though tourism industry has evolved quite recently, it gained quick popularity in the last century. Before the twentieth century, tourism was considered as an activity affordable and available only to people from aristocratic background. For example, during the eighteenth century, young sons from the aristocratic families of Britain were sent on Grand tour to Europe for improving their education (Black, 1985). At present, tourism has grown drastically all over the world. The year 2004 saw 764 million of word tourist moving around and international tourism went up to 633 billion dollars (WTO, 2005). Because of the rapid popularity of this industry, there has been a widespread growth of amusement parks and theme parks in different parts of the world. This has also caused some impacts on the different regions where these tourist attractions have been established. One of the earliest references to this concept was mentioned by Jafari in 1981 (Mason, 2003). He described it as a study of both industry and people living away from their original habitat as well as the impact they create on the host environment. Tourism can be considered as a human activity where tourists interact with the local culture, environment, society or economy. According to Cooper at al, 2005, tourisms impacts in different dimensions and the effect can be both positive as well as negative. Tourism industry can be investigated as a destination market, because destinations are sold as a place of attractions. But these places must have some attraction which will make them a hot tourist spot. An attraction can be considered as a resource which is managed and controlled for the amusement, enjoyment and education of the visiting public. In tourism industry, theme parks are one of the major attractions, and their share of revenues and visitors is the highest (Holloway, 2002). A theme park is an amusement park in which the background, surrounding and structure are focussed on a particular theme. Theme parks require intensive capital, high development and high user oriented technology (Kemperman, 2003). According to a data from IAAPA, footfalls in theme parks alone have increased by 25 percent as compared to 2003, and the attendance is likely to increase by five percent in the next five years. Because of the increasing popularity of theme parks, they are also increasing in numbers, either for pure entertainment and some others for offering a mix of history and culture (Gierstberg and Vroege, 2003). Technological advancements can be attributed as the major force leading to these changes in the entertainment industry (Rifkin et al, 2000). Research methodology Research methodology is one of the crucial elements of a research study and is responsible for providing direction to the study (Riley et al., 2000). The study seeks to investigate the viability of the establishing a chain of theme park in the western region of Africa. This study will involve three research questions and the questions are meant to address the area of concern. Hence, on the basis of the objectives, the study has will try to find solution for the following research questions. Q1. What is the viability of establishing a chain of theme parks in the western region of Africa? Q2. What are the economical, social and political factors that will influence the business of theme parks in Western Africa? Q3. How will the tourism industry of Africa be affected with the establishment of theme parks in Western Africa? Justification of the Methodology The prime intention of this study is to find out whether it is possible to establish theme parks in the western region of Africa. Thus, the study will involve collection of in depth information about the strategies to establish theme parks and their viability. Thus, it is also obvious that the study will also involve qualitative data. Hence, a mix approach will be used to accomplish the study. It can be considered that addressing the above questions will help the researcher to fulfil the objectives of the study. The research questions have been crafted in such a way that it addresses the objectives of the study. In addition, the research questions will open broader insights about the research. For example, the economic, social and political factors in Africa will help in a better understanding of the business risks the company can face, not only in case of theme parks, but with any other industry. A detailed analysis of the tourism industry in Africa will also shed light on the positive contributions by the company, if the theme parks were established in the country. Research Approach There are two broad research approaches, namely, inductive research approach and deductive research approach. Researchers who follow a deductive approach generally follow a pattern involving exploration of the main focus of study and then stepping towards a more generalized subject. A hypothesis is also developed and the validity of the hypothesis is tested accordingly. Inductive research has a different approach. It involves exploring a generalized topic and ultimately coming to the focus area. It is also regarded as a bottom up approach. Therefore, on the basis of the requirements, deductive approach is best suited to satisfy the objectives of the study. Data Collection and Sampling Sampling and data collection are important components of a research study. This study will involve collection of data from both primary and secondary sources (Bryman, 2008). The secondary data will be collected from multiple sources such as online databases, journal articles, books, and authentic and secure websites. On the other hand primary data will be collected directly from the market. The data collection instruments to be used for this study are questionnaire survey and focus group interview and telephonic survey. Selection of the appropriate sample or respondents and deciding on the size of the sample is another important step in a research study. Sampling is the technique which has been put into practice to achieve the desired results. Sampling can be defined as a process of selecting a subset from a large population (Thompson, 2012). However, the research should ensure that the selected sample will be representing the total population and a generalized conclusion can be drawn from their point of views. This study will have three participants’ group namely local authorities and national authorities who are in charge of the concerned area where the parks will be established, local residents of that area and tourists who are regular visitors of wildlife destinations and amusement parks all around the world. Questionnaire Questionnaire is one of the crucial data collection instruments of research. It contains a number of questions which are presented to the respondents for the purpose of gaining insightful information about the area of study (Hesse-Biber, 2011). In general there are two types of questionnaires namely closed ended questionnaire and open ended questionnaire. The questionnaire which will be used for the study will be mixed having both open ended and closed ended questions and the target sample for the questionnaire survey will be the local residents of the area of establishment. This will be helpful in finding out the acceptance of the local residents and will help the research to evaluate ways to involve them in the process. One of the biggest advantages of using questionnaire is that the collected data is easily organized and helps in saving time to a great extent. In addition, it also has many other advantages such as it takes comparatively less effort requires in data collection and is also cost effective. For this project, the sample questionnaire will be sent to the participants. Focus Group Interview The focus group interview is an approach of data collection involving collection of data directly from the candidates with the help of constructive interviews (Corey, 2008). The focus group interview session will be held for the local authorities having control of the area of establishment. It will have a series of open questions. In this case, focus group interview will help in understanding the basic political, geographical and economical viabilities for the company. Through this interview, the research will be able to identify the potential risks and opportunity for the establishment of theme parks and how through proper planning, these bottle necks can be removed. Telephonic Interview A telephonic interview is conducted for those respondents who either cannot be reached through mail or written questionnaire methods. In this case, the respondents for the telephonic interview will be tourists and wildlife enthusiasts. These respondents are a regular visitor of wildlife places and amusement parks all over the world. The main purpose of taking them as respondents is to find out their interest level for theme parks established in places like Africa. Data Analysis Data Analysis is the next step after data collection. It includes data filtering, data cleaning, inspecting, transforming and conversion of data for the purpose of gaining useful information and conclusion for the study (Kumar, 2011). Data analysis can be considered as the final step before decision making. Data analysis is a crucial stage in a research study and the outcome of the study also depends upon the information collected after data analysis. Analysis of data also helps in testing the viability of the hypothesis taken in the study. As mentioned earlier, in order to address the research question i.e. to know the viability of establishing a chain of theme parks in the western region of Africa, the study will consider a mixed approach. This study will make use of both statistical tools as well as office suite to analyze the data. Statistical tools such as SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and MS-Excel will be used to analyse the gathered and filtered data. It is also proposed that the study will also present a number of graphs and charts to present the data in a meaningful format. Limitations of the Research The research aimed to analyze the viability of establishing a chain of theme parks in the western region of Africa. Even though the steps and course followed by the study is pre determined and well crafted, there are some limitations which cannot be avoided. The study might face few limitations at the initial stage of the research. One of the biggest challenges of the study is retrieval of information. Information about the focus of study is regarded as one of the crucial material for the completion of the study. Initially, getting access to information was difficult as most of the databases required paid membership. This issue was surmounted by retrieving information from other databases that included both paid and unpaid use. Since it is the proposal of the research study the limitations related with the primary is yet to be experienced. However, it has been assumed that there will be problems in collecting primary data or approaching the intended sample population. However, this factor will be surmounted by seeking assistance from industry expert and qualified personnel. Ethical Consideration The criticality of ethics in a research study has increased in the last few decades. The reason behind the increased importance of ethical guidelines is that a number of cases related to the violation of ethical guidelines have come into light. This study will also consider certain ethical factors to safeguard the interest of the respondents as well other people who are assisting in the research. The study will be designed in such a manner that it does not cause any physical or psychological harm to the participants. It will also try to maintain the ethical norms of the society. The participants of the study are allowed the leave the process at any point of time. Apart from this, the respondents will not have to give any prior notice for the same. The study will also ensure that none of the participants or other members associated with the study has to bear financial expenses. References Black, J., 1985. The British and the Grand Tour. London: Croom Helm. Bryman, A., 2008. Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Corey, J. R., 2008. An Analysis of a Comprehensive Community-building Program Designed to Rebuild a Distressed Urban Neighbourhood. Michigan: ProQuest. Hesse-Biber, S. N., 2011. Emergent Technologies in Social Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kemperman, A., Borgers, A., Oppewal, H. and Timmermans, H., 2003. Predicting the Duration of Theme Park Visitors’ Attractions: An Ordered Logic Model Using Conjoint Choice Data. Journal of Travel Research, 41(4), pp. 375-384. Kumar, S., 2011. Knowledge discovery practices and emerging applications of data mining. New Delhi: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Mason, P. 2003. Tourism impacts, planning and management Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Riley, M., Wood, R. C., Clark, M. A., Wilkie, E. and Szivas, E., 2000. Researching and Writing Dissertations in Business and Management. Connecticut: Thomson Learning. Thompson, S. K., 2012. Sampling. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. WTO, 2005. Tourism Highlights.2005 Edition [Online] Available at< http://www.wtoelibrary.org> [Accessed 13 May 2013]. Read More