Destination Management - Stage of Tourism Development - Assignment Example

? Destination Management Quintessentially, tourism is a place based activity and its core business is the production and differentiation of a destination identity on a variety of levels to attract as well as retain different “consumers”. A tourist destination can only promote products that are its disposal at the time, as such, destination development a dynamic and fluid process of coordination and development of the available attractions as well as the introduction of new ones. Inclusion of restriction to tourism activities in cases when they seem to be having a negative environment on the social cultural and/or ecological stability of the host region is also a central part of destination development. This is done with the aim of improving the wealth of the experience for both tourists and locals as well as ensures sustainability of the environment and activities that promote tourism. When the content of this discussion are considered in line with the definition of sustainable tourism, it is evident that development is core in achieving the latter. According to the WTO (1981), sustainable tourism development has to do with meeting the desires and expectants of visitors and the host regions but also protecting the areas and the culture for posterity (p.89).Tourism should ideally be carried through careful resource management in such a way that aesthetic needs are met while cultural integrity and biological diversity are preserved. Stage of development According to Butler (1980), there are seven stages of tourism development “lifecycle ”(1980, p. 6)and they will be discussed herein in relation to the city of Venice in an effort to understand its growth and changes in regard to the tourism industry. The first stages are exploitation then involve of locals in providing facilities which results in the place becoming a popular destination (Garay & Ca`noves, 2010). Venice being one of the oldest cities in the world underwent these centuries ago and kept rising and falling depending on prevailing regional political stability. In the last few decades, Italy recognized the potential of Venice as a tourist destination and made efforts to advertise it, the world has recognized it as such too and millions of visitors flood there every year. However, due to the high number of tourists, they have destabilized the lives of the locals by making the city crowded and making it so expensive that many venetians are driven to live elsewhere. This is the fourth stage currently most dominantly manifested by the city today. Tourism facilities may also likely start to fade, as indeed they are due to the impact of too heavy a flow and if no action is taken to restore the old Venice tourism in the region will likely stagnate. The tourism managers in Venice have clearly noticed this and much effort has been put in restoration especially after the flood of 1968, this is the sixth stage of restoration, it has to a large extent been successful thanks to the combined efforts of the stakeholders. Should restoration fail, Venice would decline and ultimate previously tourist supported systems would fail. Approach to destination management A workshop on report produced by UNESCO on tourism in Venice asserted on the need for a diversified and sustainable cultural tourism and improved tourism management so as to effectively prioritize the needs of the host community. The need for better destination management stems from, among others, the fact that despite hosting over 22 million guests, only about 4 million spend the night, ergo, this makes tourism in the city more of a free ride than a cultural experience (UNESCO, 2011). The former is however neither sustainable nor healthy for the industry since “free riders” will rarely appreciate the sights and experiences enough to contribute to their growth by coming back An major managerial challenge facing the municipality of Venice ensuring a regular flow of visitors all year round to increase productivity as well as reduce the high costs of short term tourists, this could be done by encouraging visitors to visit during what is considered the off peak season by reducing the cost of the tours and giving special offers and other incentives. Additionally, the organizers could explore innovative ways of registering and informing the visitors of the attractions (Stankovic & Dukic, 2009), these may make them stay longer through online registration and offering virtual tours. System of governance Venice is governed by municipal authorities that are however answerable to the state government and they have to share authority in running affairs on the ground since some orders often come from above. While, Venice should be free to handle tourism independently as a territory, this is often not the case since the central government often takes a predominant place in decision making and to a large extent alienating local communities who would be more in touch with state mechanisms (Lenassi, 2013). This means that the funding for the tourism related projects has to be approved by and often emanate from the central government. In this regard, there seems to be a breakdown in communication between the policymakers and the local inhabitants of Venice since the latter are not as involved as they should be in the decision making. This has resulted in conflicting interests as the government appears to favor big and high cost projects such as infrastructure and flood control systems and ignoring the preservation of historical and artistic works in the city which is more crucial in the sustention of tourism. This is however not always the case as recently the chamber of commerce has recently presented undertakings to promote sustainable tourism by focusing on the needs of the local community especially through government support to local small scale economy as well as endorsement of the local products such as food and wines. Tourism Policy and Planning Tourism is not mentioned in the constitution of the state of Italy; nevertheless, despite the fact that it is not seen as a core state activity, it is unequivocal that it has impacted other state related activities such as emigration and international trade. As such Venice is by law as a territory of the state of Italy empowered to; program tourist activities, promote strategic marketing and perform task that relate to enterprise and tourism professions. Notwithstanding this autonomy, Venice is still answerable to the state on matters of international tourism and the state can make decisions that supersede those of local municipalities in regard to the industry if it deems it necessary. Some of the policy decisions made by the municipality that is in charge of Venice include introduction of new taxes for some of the visitors to curb the costs incurred by one day tourists. This is because these type of visitors do not use the central services sufficiently to generate any significant profit and they are also unpredictable in their arrival and departure thus making them difficult to manage. The authorities experimented with levying a tax on guests based on nights spent in a hotel, this however proved to have a potentially counterproductive impact since it discouraged all the visitors from staying longer (UNESCO, 2011). Forms of Tourisms Before attempting to discuss the various forms of tourism, it is crucial that one understands the meaning and acquires a reasonable definition for tourism, while there have been many attempts to define the phenomenon, the most commonly accepted is WTO’s which defines a tourist as, Any individual who has taken up residence in a country notwithstanding their country of origin travelling to any place other than their place of residence for a period of not less than 24 hours or a night for any reason with the exemption of carrying out remunerated activities at the country visited (WTO, 1981). There are four major types of tourism these are; international Tourism which is categorized into inbound and outbound tourism, in the case of Venice the most common type is inbound where tourist from abroad visit the city. Then there is internal tourism which is also quiet common in Venice, this is where Italians from other cities and territories such as Rome come to visit Venice, domestic tourism in Venice would constitute of the internal tourism combined with the inbound tourisms. Finally, there is the category of National tourism which in this case still categorizes the millions of tourist who visits Venice each year although these would also be considered in the statistics for the whole country. Stakeholders Ultimately according to the stakeholder theory in tourism all tourist policy must be inclusive and require the approval and support of all the stakeholders involved and the activities should retain the cultural authenticity of the host community. One of the questions that were being asked when Venice was being restored was; for whom is the city being restored? Venice has a variety of diverse stakeholders, these include a population of over 60,000 original inhabitants as well as over 15,000 who have bought second homes in the city, in addition there are about 4,000 students, both foreign and local, and who study in many of the schools and colleges. In the list of stakeholder, the approximately 4, million tourists who reside there temporally every year, as well as the government of Italy which benefits form the foreign exchange both economically and culturally. Furthermore, being a historical site, very art and history enthusiast who has interests in the history of the place or the many artistic and architectural edifices is by extension a stakeholder. At a certain level, all these and many other stakeholders are contributors to the creation and consumption, ergo development of the art and culture that make Venice so popular. Sustainability principles can be defined; environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects in the tourism sector that work towards assuring a long term sustainment of a given destination, ergo, it is determined by the extent to which the integrity of those three factors has been upheld. Under the circumstances that have been prevailing for the last two decades tourism in Venice cannot be described as having qualified to be described as fully sustainable (Russo, 1999). With an emerging trend of “do it yourself” tourism which is characterized by cheap flights and accommodation, the management of tourist in Venice has become difficult and the unsustainable quality of visitors are injurious to its welfare. Many important building and are covered with posters advising tour activities and there is a high rate of water and air pollution owing to an exponential increase in commercial activities albeit seasonally for the tourists. Infrastructural growth and development is present but is mostly focused on benefiting visitors and foreigners; money is being spend in building expensive and exclusive hotels which are out of the economical scope of most locals. While the culture of Venice has remained largely intact, it is possible that without controls to regulate the dominance and the influx of tourists at the expense of the locals who are slowly being alienated that the cultural diversity and uniqueness of Venice may not be sustainable more so if the locals do not have a major role to play. Destination Marketing Destination marketing is fundamental in facilitating the achievements of tourism policy and this often goes hand in hand with regional strategic planning development in tourism, through marketing, the optimization and maximization of the benefits accruing can be achieved. One of the main way through which Venice markets itself is by providing top of the range services to visitors such as expensive and very comfortable hotels and the construction of good infrastructure such as roads and trams. The city authorities also ensure they keep restoring and revitalizing the ancient sites and museums that are known world over to retain the authenticity that attracts visitors and keeps them coming back. It is however worth noting that sometimes marketing (de-marketing) can be used to reduce or control the number of visits especially when they are likely to be economically strenuous if they come in large numbers. To deal with this, Venice charges premium prices for most of the services offered thus reducing the number of tourist who come and go without using central services and the cost incurred by their presence. Trends As the world keeps changing, new trends emerge and the tourism industry needs must cope with them, ergo destinations will only be able to remain competitive if they adapt. One of the emerging trends in the tourism industry has to do with online advertisement, booking and in even online virtual tours (USAID, n.d) Venice has adapted these and more, today, tourist can book and pay for tours in most of Venice’s facilities in advance through the internet, this method was adapted for among other reasons to prevent the crowding of visitors and make planning and management of tour activities easier. Furthermore, through online advertising the manager of the destinations can inform potential visitors of new or existing places in great detail and this may serve to not only encourage more visitors but also more off peak visitors, this greatly contributes to sustainability of the tourist dependent economy all year long (Awang, Melissa and Zohohari, 2009). Domestic tourism has also been encouraged resulting to an increase in “Staycations” this implies that residents sometimes choose to stay at home and tour the sites therein. Ta adapt to this, the attractions in Venice are not only advertised with a view of targeting foreigners but even Italians as well as venetians who are encouraged to tour their own city as domestic tourist. Competition and collaboration Competitive strategy can be defined as the quest for a strategically favorable position I an industry and this is achieved by the undertaking of alternative activities that boost the image and the quality of services in the industry in the face of competition. Without doubt, Venice is one of the most highly ranked tourist destinations and is considered among the world’s most romantic vacationing spots; nonetheless, this reputation notwithstanding, Venice is faced with serious competition both from within and without Italy. Other Italian cities that jostle for position in tourist numbers include, Naples, Florence and Rome among many others, as such; Venice has to try to remain competitive by enhancing its tour package and expanding infrastructure as well as marketing itself internationally. In addition, the tourism industry consists of several stake holders ranging from tour firms, the municipal government to hoteliers and cab drivers, as such; overlapping is likely to occur as each tries benefit maximally from their time with the visitors leading to internal competition. It is vital that the stakeholders and service provider in the tourism industry work closely in collaboration with each other so they do not destabilize the industry through cut-throat competition which will be harmful to tourism in the long run. Research and application A lot of time and effort has been dedicated by both sociology and ecological researchers in studying the diverse urban ecosystem of Venice, among the major sponsors of such research are UNESCO which has set up a Venice office form which expertise on different pertinent field are mobilized. Studies carried out by UNESCO in collaboration with the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice in 2011 into the cultural and ecological aspects of Venice as a tourism in the global scale revealed that the city was in need of both restoration and revitalization. In addition it was recommended that more effort and funds should be put in the effort of preserving the cultural heritage of the city so as to prevent the encroachment by tourists at the expense of the host comfort. One of the ways through which the recommendations was applied was in the charging premium prices for visitors to increase income from tourism since too many were just going through the city without spending on central services. This has both reduced the number of “free riding” tourist and in the long run improves the sustainability of the industry which would ideally be characterized by few high spending customers a situation that is both environment and economy friendly (Buhalis, n.d). Reflection From the issues discussed herein, it is evident that while Venice is ranked highly as tourist destination, depends and greatly benefits from the same, there is much more that needs to be done before it can be considered fully sustainable in the long run. However it holds a wealth of opportunities and capacity for growth and dynamism which has made it the popular destination it has been for centuries. Key among the reasons why so many tourist flock Venice are the; cultural architectural and historic attractions that date back to centuries ago. Thus while Venice may need to keep changing, it is vital that modernity is not allowed to erode the timeless values that make the city a classic tourist destination as well as art and cultural centre. In the recent past, the city has adopted new methods of tourism development as it indeed has such as online advertisements in the form of virtual tours and internet magazines and websites. Conversely, with the popularity that stems from access through the internet, it may keep facing the present challenge of overcrowding since in high season it often has more tourist than it can sustain. Another major challenge that faces the tourism industry in Venice is that due to poor man agent, the growth of tourism seems inversely proportional with the prosperity of local residents many who are being forced to migrate since the cost of living is skyrocketing. Thus, any action taken in promoting and encouraging tourism by the authorities should involve the locals and ensure their interests are not jeopardized since despite the important role played by the visitors, the locals remain the main stakeholders. Ultimately, the city of Venice stands out from other tourist destinations for variety of reasons most importantly the diversity that is offered both in them of social cultural as well as the rich history behind it existence. Nonetheless, like any other destination, it faces its own challenges which are often a result of cultural and technological change as well as visitors and locals demographics. For the tourism industry to be successful and sustainable, it is vital that all stakeholders starting from the state, municipality, tourist locals and global community work in tandem. References Awang, K ,W. Melissa W. Zohohari , F. (2009)Tourism Development: A Geographical Perspective. Journal Of Asian Social Science. Vol 5 No 5. Buhalis, D (nd). Marketing The Competitive Destination Of The Future .Tourism Management Special Issue: The Competitive Destination. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1087/1/fulltext.pdf Butler, R. W. (1980). The concept of tourism area cycle of evolution: Implicationsfor management of resources. Canadian Geographer, 24(1), 5–12. Garay, and. Ca`noves, G.(2010) Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 651–671. Lenassi, A. (2013) Sustainable Tourism in Venice. Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved from http://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/61714/Lenassi_Alvise.pdf?sequence=1 Russo, A. P. (1999). Venice: Coping with culture vultures. The Unesco Courier, 52, 42-43. Stankovic, L. Dukic, S.(2009) Challenges Of Strategic Marketing Of Tourist Destination Under The Crisis Conditions. Economics and Organization Vol. 6, No 1, pp. 23 – 31 UNESCO. (2011) Culture and Development in Venice: from restoration to revitalization? Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/FIELD/Venice/pdf/rapporto3%20very%20high%20res.pdf USAID. (n.d). Tourism Destination Management Achieving Sustainable And Competitive Results. Retrieved from http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2151/DMOworkbook_130318.pdf World Tourism Organisation (WTO). (1981). Tourism Multipliers Explained. Madrid: World Tourism Organisation and Horwarth. Read More