Tourism Environment of York and Seville - Essay Example

? by Abstract The essay answers ten questions related to the tourism environment of York and Seville, from the perspective of the Chief Executive working for the York-Seville Strategic Partnership. 1. Unrealistic, inappropriate and irregular intelligence combined with less focus on tourism research, forecasting and data driven strategic planning are the key factors affecting the two popular destinations of the world. One of the primary issues common to both destinations are managing the diversities in terms of culture, luxuries and bringing regional priorities in line with the local priorities which plays a crucial role to improve the standard of services to every single tourist. On exploiting these opportunities, the Tourism industries can indeed open doors for more variety in the offerings like the food chain, entertainment, shopping and heritage sites (The Tourist Offices Of Spain, 2013; City Of York Council, 2003). This gives immense scope to incline the differentiating factors like the culture, history, heritage, language, lifestyle and natural resources.  While bringing these differences to a compromise seems challenging, the lack of effort in the same might make the tourist bored very quickly. Eventually, the most serious threat these two destinations might face would be the loss of revenue worth billions and the depreciation of regional output figure / GVA that has seen a commendable growth of about 20% in the last decade (The Tourist Offices Of Spain, 2013; York Tourism Partnership, 2007).   2. The key objectives for the two cities is to ensure consistent growth and sustainability, identify the areas that promote growth of visitor’s economy in the region by establishing a clear link between national, regional and local priorities in line with the industry’s target and come up with innovative business plans to keep the excitement alive at all seasons. Investment plans and priorities go hand-in-hand under the guidance of Vision for Leeds (Leeds City Council, 2012) and includes tie up with the local bodies. The private sectors also play a major role in the ‘place shaping’ agenda aimed at enhancing tourism experience in all popular spots and small corners of the city.  York and Seville are blessed with environmental assets which are indeed the strength for businesses. Exploring these unruffled regions creates new options for tourists and allows them to explore the best of them, rather than just the popular and most visited places. On the other side, the weakness of the two destinations is the lack of speedy communication option, together with the challenge of balancing standardization against customization and matching tourist’s luxury with value for money (Leeds City Council, 2012). 3. Having a competitive transport infrastructure increases the mobility of tourists and gives equal opportunities for all places to be explored in the same visit. One may easily reach York by car, bus, coach tour, train, ferry and boats (Visit York, 2013). For international tourists, the entries to UK is via major airports at Leeds, London, and Manchester with world class amenities which are well connected with other famous and frequently visited destinations of the world (City of York Council, 2003). However the local conveyance needs further detailing. To overcome the disadvantages like lack of geographical knowledge of the new place, emphasis on putting up detailed maps, precise sign boards, directions and distance for visitor’s reference should be made (Seville City Council, 2008). The key proposal of investment would be towards making the best travel experience, in terms of destination development and visitor management, which demands increase in public transportation facilities and roads to help tourists navigate throughout the city quickly and with ease. A smart investment plan would include joint development venture with partners such as the National Park Authorities to boost the transport infrastructure and tourism in York and Seville.   4. The Winning Strategy which further became “Raising the Bar – the National Skills Strategy for hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism” has a ten point plan that identifies the skills required for development of the hospitality sector in Yorkshire ((Eurocreative Industries, 2009). The tourism activities are closely governed by agencies who are the key skill partners to the tourism sector responsible to educate and train the professionals in line with the agreed regional priorities against the ten point plan, including ICT training and languages. Seville’s organizational structure has 3 main branches: Directive (Statutory and non Statutory), Legal (Public - Private Mixed Bodies) and Organic (Relationship with the Strategy). Their business process includes working extensively on Tourist information Systems, detailed planning and comprehensive task management of tourism activities (Moreno, 2013). York has a similar organizational structure; the minor difference between the two is their unique ways of implementing the business strategies. Both government and non governmental agencies are involved to ensure best of services and skills in the industry (City of York Council, 2003). Also, the extensive long term strategy, half term strategy and annual planning methodology adopted at Seville proves to be the most useful model that will go a long way as the industry scales a higher pinnacle of growth.   5. The city of York is a world heritage site and has a rich 2000 year history (City of York Council. 2003). Attractions such as York Minster, The Bar Walls, Merchant Adventurers, St William’s College, Hall Clifford’s Tower reflect the people and culture of this beautiful city (Visit York, 2013). Yourshire is home to many international events and business conferences as well. Besides the historic monuments, it has very well maintained gardens, castles, museums, arts, crafts, handicraft shows and exhibitions, adventure sports, restaurants, serene landscape, pristine water bodies and more (The Tourist Offices Of Spain, 2013; York Tourism Partnership, 2007). Seville, the capital city of Andalucia, traps tourists at famous Costa del Sol around Malaga (Seville City Council, 2008). and accommodates 2 million visitors annually (Moreno, 2013). It has a perfect blend of ancient streets along with urbanized destinations and offers a wide range of holiday options. The Cathedral and Giralda Tower, Gatehouse of the Alcazar, Costurero de la Reina, The Torre de Oro, Palacio Arzobispal, Archivo de India, The Maestranza, Pabellon Mudejar are must visit places (Seville City Council, 2008). The key similarities between York and Seville are the rich culture and heritage which have evolved around the same time in both the cities. Another similarity between the two is that the less popular and country-side areas are underutilized with unfulfilled potentials due to lack transport infrastructure and modernization of amenities. 6. If the recent statistics have to be considered, these venues host one of the highest number of conferences in the world and are prime destinations for international business events. Of the total business visitors, 26% constitutes the corporate crowd and charities each, 37% are the public bodies (The Tourist Offices Of Spain, 2013; York Tourism Partnership, 2007). An interesting fact worth noting is that 30% of turnover seen at these venues are conference oriented. York and Seville are well accessible and are striving to improve the infrastructure standard, local activities by collaborating with private sector and government bodies to ensure increase in the range of visitor's profile from mere tourists to adventurisms, businessmen and travel enthusiasts of all age groups (Leeds City Council, 2012). With 90% of tourists expressing their satisfaction, the tourism, food and entertainment industries will remain strong and continue to boom for many years to come (York Tourism Partnership, 2007). There is also immense opportunity for agriculture industry, hotel and hospitality industry (which includes restaurants and accommodation hotels) and the local events to expand business significantly both at regional and local level, thereby elevating the existing standards in the two cities to global norms, using business intelligence effectively.   7. Culture and creative industries make a substantial contribution to a thriving regional economy. While York is blessed with a culture and history or more than 20 centuries, Seville invites tourists to experience the laid back and relaxed Andalusian culture (Seville City Council, 2008). York is best explored along the less populated lanes, hanging out at historic places in the evenings, exploring the local food and practices. Seville's culture speaks volumes about its rich culture and heritage as you savour the traditional Tapas (Seville City Council, 2008); incidentally, Tapas is also gaining popularity as one of the most preferred international dishes worldwide. Both cities have new and innovative approaches which includes various activities such as community development, marketing and promotion of the local cultural events, focus on leadership of the tourism sector and working with strategic partners for collaborative actions in order to promote the cities as a leading cultural centre in Europe and the rest of the world (Seville City Council, 2008; Eurocreative Industries, 2009). Other significant approaches include the launch of UK Skills Passport and Universal Industry Standards of Professional Training for everyone in the industry and supporting small businesses in the region (Seville City Council, 2008; Eurocreative Industries, 2009). These strategies are sure to bring the tourism business a significant uplift in the near future.   8. Without compromising the service quality and value of money, the five year strategy is to attain 5% growth in visitor’s spending on annual basis, it is essentially the benchmark set by the CEO. As per the statistics, most visitors in York and Seville are already satisfied with the hospitality industries here, though the industry’s research and business intelligence shows a significant amount of unexplored land and service options (Visit York, 2013). More than 30% of turnover in these cities are contributed by the accommodation service providers in both cities; while the GVA is worth billions contributed by short term travellers whose primary aim is to travel and visit places as many places as possible, than to stay overnight ((Seville City Council, 2008; Yorkshire Forward, 2013). The tourism sector in the two cities is organized to bring in changes in the existing services and provide a facelift by upgrading amenities and historic monuments with technology and a modern outlook. The food and beverages, transportation, tourism and entertainment sectors are in close competition and evolving themselves into better market players (The Tourist Offices of Spain, 2013; Leeds City Council, 2012). Their relative merits are evident in the fact that visitor’s enthusiasm and contentment levels have always been high.  9. Both cities are evolving, offering great places to new generation of visitors to experience vibrant culture, good shopping and entertainment services, adventure and a colourful nightlife (The Tourist Offices of Spain, 2013; Leeds City Council, 2012). Their literary heritage is world famous, additionally art and sporting connections are notably evident. These regions are also world heritage centres having hundreds of historic monuments alive even today. They have gained national recognition for the standard and variety of dining, award winning accommodations, superb pubs, a vast range of independent breweries, riches of fresh local produce, national Parks (Seville City Council, 2008; Visit York, 2013) and huge employment opportunities for local dwellers and outsiders. Also, these cities are gifted with heavenly landscape, rich natural resources, water bodies, rivers, valleys and beautiful climate which offer variety of options and ideal holiday opportunities throughout the year. Moreover, York and Seville are well connected with other places of historic importance and tourist interest. With the rapid development in the tourism and related sectors, these cities will soon evolve as the most preferred destination for holiday, leisure and cultural expeditions ((Seville City Council, 2008; Visit York, 2013).   10. Using the tagline, “Bold Vision, Bright Future” (Visit York, 2013), the administration has identified important target markets in York spanning across domestic leisure visitors, accommodation and day visitors as well as international visitors for both short term and longer holidays. Additionally, the two cities are ideal for business tourism related to conference organizers, corporate meetings and business seminars. York’s GVA for 2014 is estimated to be 1.55 and by 2015, it is 1.88 as per the study published by the REIU or Regional Economic Intelligence Unit (Leeds City Council, 2012).  Accommodation, food & agriculture are forecast to be the fastest growing sectors in the region (about 3%) (Visit York, 2013; The Tourist Offices Of Spain, 2013). There are 25 travel agencies and about 1.8 million travellers lodge in Seville alone, annually (Seville City Council, 2008). The tourism policy emphasizes on quality and sustainability attributed to developing the city’s visitor economy, increasing the length of stay, and finally identifying, meeting and exceeding the customer expectations levels (The Tourist Offices Of Spain, 2013; City Of York Council, 2003). Business tourism markets are particularly important in cities such as York and Seville as they are high value industries and contribute towards both tourism promotion objectives and inward investment objectives (Yorkshire Forward, 2013; Eurocreative Industries, 2009).   References 1. City Of York Council (2003). Key Facts on Tourism In York, Available at www.york.gov.uk ?[Retrieved 23 Nov, 2013] 2. Eurocreative Industries (2009). Sevilla At A Glance, Available at www.eucreativeindustries.eu [Retrieved 23 Nov, 2013] 3. Leeds City Council (2012). Economic Update, Regional Economic Intelligence Team, 2012, Available at www.leeds.gov.uk [Retrieved 24 Nov, 2013] 4. Moreno, Manuel Rey (2013). Tourism Policy of Seville: New Challenges, Available at http://www.turismosevilla.org [Retrieved 24 Nov, 2013] 5. Seville City Council (2008), Leadership, Management and Changes In Seville’s Second Millennium, Available at www.visitasevilla.es/en? [Retrieved 24 Nov, 2013] 6. The Tourist Offices Of Spain (2013). Seville For You, Available at www.spain.info [Retrieved 24 Nov, 2013] 7. Visit York (2013). York: A Vision for Tourism, Available at www.visityork.org [Retrieved 23 Nov, 2013] 8. Yorkshire Forward (2013). Yorkshire & Humber Visitor Economy Strategy, available at www.Yorkshire-Forward.Com [Retrieved 24 Nov, 2013] Read More