York-Seville Strategic Partnership - Essay Example

?York-Seville Strategic Partnership College: There are key strategic issues affecting these two cities as tourist destinations. Despite these cities having a high demand of all sorts of tourists, they are constantly faced with problems related to the handling of the tourists and this requires more systematic solutions by all concerned parties. Therefore, these two cities are faced with a double challenge. This is described by the Conference on “Tourism and the City: The challenge of Sustainability.”Both cities are expected to respond to the needs and expectations of the increasing tourists number attracted to their varied and rich array of business, cultural, shopping, sports, entertainment and other attractions; Furthermore, they are required to continuously improve and renovate such facilities so that to maintain their share in the market of competitive tourism as well as the benefits that results from it. This is one the challenges that also faces the two cities in terms of tourist destination. Seville city has to make sure that tourism is managed and developed in such a manner that it is able to benefit the resident population, but is should not be involved in the urban environment deterioration but rather to its promotion. It should as well not supposed to become a financial burden to the local authority. York faces several challenges. The city is seen to be having a high poverty rate and this might have a great impact on tourism sector. 2) The tourist activity in both cities with no doubt is seen to be one of the fundamental pillars of cultural, social and economic progress of the city. There is forceful reality that has a broad effect on any of the civil life fields. For Seville, its advantage stems right from not only the artistic heritage and plentiful monumental of the city, but it is also seen in the other aspects which make up the tourist product (catering, recreation areas, housing, infrastructures and trade). While on the other hand, the competitiveness of York is in the international and domestic market that is based on the name which is known universally. Both cities have been recognized for several centuries by their singular character of heritage and celebrations that is seen to mark an authentic reference to several other cities that they tend to accede to privilege positions as the one that both cities enjoy. Over the past decade, on such a solid base, a tourist product structure that is of high quality and very effective in the housings, in the services, and in the tourist offer variety has been put up. But besides all these, tourism is seen to be a transcendental incident factor that is intangible and as crucial as the exterior projection, the city image, and, as a result, the world system position of the big cities. 3) For any city that has a mission of being at a better position in tourism sector, it is required to adopt a few accessibility levels basing on the demand needs. In this context, the cities, being among the big European cities, whereby their urban dimension do coexists with rural comforts, are currently among the best connected cities in Europe. For instance, Seville city which is characterized by efficient and very varied accessibility, it has not only turned into a touristic destination point but also into the Andalusia best port, because it is among the few Spanish cities that is efficiently communicated by air , sea, railroad and land. The roads of York city, is characterized by a network of regional scope highways and a renewed system of accesses to the city, that consists of rapid bypasses, that accurately connects all the neuralgic points of the surroundings and the city. But besides accessibility, the two cities have continued with investing in transport to incorporate a real tourism sustainable mobility policy in the cities based on the promotion of public transport and non-motorized transport (bicycle and pedestrian). With the aim of reducing the private vehicles use, the surrounding traffic reduction and the network development of bike lanes has been implemented throughout the entire city by the pedestrianization of Historic Centre. 4) The York tourism partnership that was previously referred to as First Stop York has existed as a consortium of public private Sector that is designed to develop tourism in York under the agreement between the major stakeholders in the tourist industry of York. It has the responsibility of implementing, driving and shaping action is an Executive, which includes the organizations as follows: York Tourism Bureau, Yorkshire Tourist Board, City of York Council, Yorkshire Forward, York Hospitality Association as well as Product Development, York Tourism Training working groups and Chairs of dedicated Marketing. The major goal of the partnership is to maximize the employment and economic merits of tourism in York in order to benefit residents, visitors, employees and businesses. For Seville city, the Spanish Administrations has a critical role it plays with the State of the Autonomies. In relation to this, tourism issues are decentralized to enable the Autonomous communities as well as other administrative states to adopt appropriate responsibilities associated to tourism. Seville has a very crucial tourist binomial: monumental heritage together with traditional culture. There exists major attractions that identify the city that include on the one hand, the Fortress, Tower of the Gold, the cathedral, the government buildings and palaces, its basilicas and churches; and on the other, the Fair of April, the bullfighting, the flamenco, the Holy Week, among others … Nevertheless, the city has managed to adapt to the 21st century needs through diversifying the tourist offering while the evolution consumer interests takes place ( Tresserras, 2005). 5) The Seville city excellent positioning in the tourist world system together with the segment strategic importance in the employment and economy of Seville are seen to be a reality. The spectacular growth this city registered is because of the tourist industry which represents Seville: agile, competitive, and alive and with a clear future projection. Thus, several authors agree that we are in the presence of “one of the principal tourist destinations of the world” (Marchena and Repiso, 1999). Its competitiveness is in the international and domestic markets that is based on the name which is known universally. Both cities have been recognized for several centuries by their singular character of heritage and celebrations that is seen to mark an authentic reference to several other cities that they tend to accede to privilege positions as the one that both cities enjoy. The York city is dominated by the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe known as York Minster and it as well offers a range of other attractions that include the National Railway Museum, Castle Museum and Jorvik Centre which usually brings about 4 million visitors to the city from all walks of the world every year. 6) One of the specific market segments of York city is the conference sector and business. More than 30 conference venues do exist in the city, this include others that are within the easy travelling distance. These range from education and hotels establishments to attractions that are historic and other venues that are unique. For Seville, its advantage stems right from not only the artistic heritage and plentiful monumental of the city, but it is also seen in the other aspects which make up the tourist product that include recreation areas, housing, infrastructures, trade and catering. There exists 8 attractions in the ‘‘York Big Attractions Group’’ (BAG): the Castle Museum, Yorkboat, the Yorkshire Museum, the National Railway Museum (NRM), Jorvik, Clifford’s Tower, York Minster and the York Dungeon that was unfortunately closed in mid September because of flooding, hopefully it might be re-open in March 2013). In the year 2012, it was seen that these eight attractions welcomed approximately 2,318,806 visitors that include groups and education visitors. Of all these, 2,104,765 were leisure visitors which is about 91% of the visitors. To make a comparison of alike-for-like with the previous year that include eliminating the Dungeons in the later year’s months when it is closed, there is a 5% reduction in the total visitors in number when compared with the previous year (2011) 7) For both cities, there is Network of cities “Heritage of Humanity”. This network usually operates in the defense of the cultural and historical heritage of the declared Humanity cities’ Heritage. For Seville city, the case is unusual because it is seen that the entire city is not declared as the Humanity’s Heritage, but instead the 3 of its big symbols are: the File of the Indies, the Cathedral and the Fortress. The Biennial Show, ‘‘flamenco fetival of the world,’’. The principal of the show is to teach persons how they can understand and recognize this artistic style. Symphonic orchestra and opera are 2 of the most important cultural events of the Sevillian city. Of valued and recognized prestige out and inside the borders, they have won awards on several occasions (Stanciulescu, 2009). 8) For Seville, its advantage stems right from not only the artistic heritage and plentiful monumental of the city, but it is also seen in the other aspects which make up the tourist product. While on the other hand, the competitiveness of York is in the international and domestic market that is based on the name which is known universally. Both cities have been recognized for several centuries by their singular character of heritage and celebrations that is seen to mark an authentic reference to several other cities that they tend to accede to privilege positions as the one that both cities enjoy. There relative merit can be evaluated through SWOT analysis, the analysis can focus on two different aspects of the rise of this two cities as a ‘’successful tourist attraction’’: firstly, the various strategies applied to refine promotion, the tourist product, planning, sustainability, commercialization, Marketing and quality; secondly, the transport infrastructure strengthening that is seen to add dynamism to this two cities. Through this analysis, there will be complements from literature through adding to our tourist industry knowledge 9) The type of relationship of these two cities with the surrounding is so critical, it is seen that both cities usually ensure that tourism is managed and developed in such a manner that it is able to benefit the resident population, but it should not be involved in the urban environment deterioration but rather to its promotion. In relation to this, it is evident that they try to be in a good relationship with the resident who normally benefit at the end and this strategy also benefits the cities as a whole in terms of tourist destinations. This should as well not supposed to become a financial burden to the local authority. On the other hand for instance, the Spanish Administrations has a critical role to play on issues related to the collaborating with several stakeholders such as the State of the Autonomies. In relation to this, tourist issues are decentralized to enable the Autonomous communities as well as other administrative states to adopt appropriate responsibilities associated to tourism. Seville has a very crucial tourist binomial: monumental heritage together with traditional culture (Prados Perez, 2001). 10) The objectives and current performance of the two cities can be put in different perspective that include; Integration of sustainable tourism principles into the World Heritage Convention mechanisms, Strengthening the overwhelming environment through strategies, tools, advocating policies and frameworks that usually supports sustainable tourism as a crucial vehicle for managing and protecting natural and cultural heritage of Universal Value that is outstanding. Seville city has the objective of promoting a wide engagement of stakeholders in the management, planning and development of sustainable tourism which usually follows the approach of destination to conservation of heritage and focuses on the empowerment of the local communities. The York city is obligated to Providing World Heritage stakeholders with the tools and the capacity to manage tourism sustainably, efficiently and responsibly based on the needs and local context. The York city ensures that the promotion and marketing of investment priorities is fully taken into consideration in order to promote York city to target markets that are clearly identified and with complementing national and regional marketing activities (Popescu et al, 2010). Reference Marchena, M.; Repiso, F. (1999). Turismo Cultural: El caso de Sevilla. Cuadernos de Turismo. N? 4., 33-50. Popescu R. I. and Corbos R. A. (2010). The role of Urban Tourism in the strategical development of Brasov Area. Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management Number 7(16) / August. 2010 Prados Perez, E. (2001). Turismo cultural: un segmento turistico en expansion. En Congreso virtual de Turismo Cultural. www.naya.org.ar Stanciulescu, G. C. (2009). The role of urban marketing in the local economic development.Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, 1(10), 114-135 Tresserras, J. (2005). Patrimonio y Turismo: Una Alianza Estrategica. En Patrimonio, turismoy Desarrollo. Tema 4, Modulo A3, Curso de postgrados Turismo Culatural. Barcelona. Universidad de Barcelona. . Read More