The Marketing of Tourism in Hawaii - Case Study Example

The Marketing of Tourism in Hawaii Total Number of Word 518 Key Points Importance of Image of Destination 2. Application of a Knowledge-Based Platform in Tourism Industry 3. Opening New Opportunities in Tourism 4. Impact of Local Festivals on Tourism Promotion 5. The Use of E-Commerce in Tourism Research References: 1. Echtner CM, Ritchie BJR (2003) ‘The Meaning and Measurement of Destination Image’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):37 – 48. 2. Jafari, J. (2003) ‘Research and Scholarship: The Basis of Tourism Education’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):6 – 16. 3. Butler RW and Waldbrook LA (2003) ‘A New Planning Tool: The Tourism Opportunity Spectrum’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):21 – 32. 4. Felsenstein, D. and Fleischer, A. (2003) ‘Local Festivals and Tourism Promotion: The Role of Public Assistance and Visitor Expenditure’ Journal of Travel Research. 2003;41:385 – 392. 5. Kyriaki K. and Vogt C. (2006) ‘A Structural Analysis of Destination Travel Intentions as a Function of Web Site Features’ Journal of Travel Research. 2006;45:204 – 216. Table of Contents I. Introduction ……………………………………………………….. 3 II. Hawaii’s Tourism Overview between the Years 2000 – 2005 ……. 3 III. Factors Affecting the Increase in Hawaii’s International Tourism ……………………………..…….. 4 a. Importance of Creating a Good Destination Image ..……. 4 b. Visitor Satisfaction Ratings …………………………..…... 5 c. The Use of E-Commerce …………………………………… 6 d. Impact of Tourism Festivals on Tourism Promotion ...…… 6 IV. The Relationship between the Size of the Market and its Promotional Activities …………………………………………… 7 V. Importance of Balancing Environmental Protection and Expanding the use of Wilderness …………………………………… 8 VII. Conclusion …………………………………………………………... 8 Table I – The Changing Hawaii Visitor at a Glance ………………………… 10 References ………………………………………………………………… 17 - 19 Introduction Tourism industry in Hawaii creates job opportunities in Hawaii. It is one of the major sources of economic contributor in the country. Therefore, it is essential for the government to pay close attention in the status of tourism in Hawaii. A lot of internal and external factors may contribute to the success of tourism in Hawaii. Therefore, topics such as the importance of establishing a good destination image; the visitor satisfaction ratings in Hawaii; the effects of using e-commerce in tourism; and the impact of local festival promotions will be discussed in the study. To create a deeper understanding in the marketing of tourism in Hawaii, the relationship between the sizes of the market, its promotional activities, the importance of balancing the environmental protection, and the continuous expansion on the use of Hawaii’s natural resources will be elaborated. Hawaii’s Tourism Overview between the Years 2000 - 2005 The government of Hawaii should promote of tourism considering that it is one of the major sources of employment and economic activity in the country. Tourism is significantly larger than marketing. Therefore, a more effective theoretical approach is to apply a knowledge-based platform in tourism. (1) This approach will encourage people to know the relationship between Hawaii society and its economy including the effect of tourism in the socio-cultural aspect of the country. According to Carl Bonham, “if you run a tour operation and are paying today’s gas prices and collecting the same dollars as you did back in the year 2000, then you are in worse shape.” (2) It means that there is a strong correlation between a good economic performance and the increase in the revenue from tourism. Based on the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) in Hawaii, the annual total number of domestic travel by air has increased from 61,721,150 to 67,687,479 during the year 2000 and 2005 respectively whereas the international visitors since the year 2000 has declined from 16,541,562 to 14,982.81 in 2005. (3) (See Table I – The Changing Hawaii Visitor at a Glance - % of Total Arrivals on page 9) Despite the increase in both domestic and international travel by air, development of Hawaii’s tourism industry is still not good considering since the visitor spending is way below the level that the country received back in 1999. Factors Affecting the Increase in Hawaii’s International Tourism Importance of Creating a Good Destination Image The growth of tourism industry worldwide resulted to the continuous expansion in the consumers’ choice of destination. Due to tight competition, tourism in Hawaii needs to remain competitive in the global marketplace in terms of implementing an effective positioning strategy in each destination places and offering an affordable price or tourist packages to the consumers. (4, 12) Calantone et al. (1989) stated that proper management in tourism is necessary in creating a distinctive image or an outstanding perception with regards to a specific tourist destination. (5) Good destination images play a critical role in designing and implementing good marketing strategies for tourism. Normally, a destination with an attractive image is more likely to be preferred by most of the international travelers. (6) Aiming to encourage prospective tourists in choosing a destination, a lot of tourist companies heavily rely on using promotional literature such as travel brochures and posters, newspapers or magazine print ads, television ads, and/or the advertisements on the Internet. (4) Colorful destination images are effective in creating a positive impression on consumers. It has an impact on the preferences of the decision-maker. Sometimes, a good feedback coming from the word-of-mouth advertising is also one of the effective ways of encouraging the tourists to choose a specific destination. (10) Visitor Satisfaction Ratings Based on a survey that was conducted to measure the overall rating of the most recent vacation to Hawaii, majority of the visitors rate their trip to the country as excellent. (8) Roughly two-thirds or 67.4% of the visitors coming from the U.S. reported to have a positive experienced during their most recent trip. The slight decline in the number of U.S. visitors from 72.4% in 2003 down to 67.4% in 2005 may indicate either a slight decline in satisfaction or due to some economic difficulty in the U.S. (See Chart I – The Overall Rating of Excellent Trip in Hawaii – Percentage of Visitors by MMA on page 10) Visitor satisfaction is an indicator of tourism industry performance. When Hawaii’s tourism receives good feedback on the services received by the travelers in each destination point, there is a higher chance that Hawaii tourism will achieve higher level of customer retention and loyalty. Therefore, loyal and satisfied tourists will recommend Hawaii to other travelers. To satisfy the visitors in Hawaii, the expectations of each visitor have to be met. Tourists’ expectation varies depending on the quality of service rendered to them and being able to satisfy their personal needs, motivations, and interests. (8) The Use of e-Commerce in Tourism Since the year 2000, the use of the Internet and Web site in the promotion of Hawaii tourism has significantly increased because of its significantly cost effectiveness in terms of set-up, advertisements, and maintenance. Internet, as a communication medium for the information gathering and travel planning, contributes a lot to the success of tourism. (9) Most research studies conducted on the performance of Website features like navigation, content, and accessibility including the contribution of the marketing aspect of the Website contributes to the customers’ perspective on certain destination point. (10, 11, 12, 13, 14) Impact of Local Festivals on Tourism Promotion Based on the research study conducted by Felsenstein and Fleischer (2003), the exposure of local festivals is considered to be a very effective instrument and strategy in terms of being classified as a successful way of promoting the development of tourism. (15) There are significant cases wherein the local cultural and traditional events including religious events have been proven to be effective in drawing in a large number of foreign visitors coming from both the local regions and foreign countries. The success of a local festival directly affects the country’s image as a whole. It also exposes a particular location within a country through the use of the media. Sometimes it is also possible to post such events over the country’s tourism websites. The Relationship between the Size of the Market and its Promotional Activities According to Innskeep (1987), a selective marketing and a highly controlled promotional development create good quality tourism. (17) The total area or size of a specific tourist attraction correlates with the maximum number of tourist a specific destination area could contain. (16) To avoid over crowding within a certain tourist spot, the level of promotional activities has to be in accordance to the size of each tourist attraction area. Based on the DBEDT report in 2005, the number of international tourist that arrived in Oahu, and the Big Island (composed of the Hilo and Kona) increases by 5.2% and 14.1% respectively. On the other hand, areas in Hawaii particularly the Maui County (composed of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai) experienced a decline in the number of travelers back in 2005. To balance the deficit in the number of international tourist, Hawaii travel agencies concentrated in promoting the domestic travelers to Maui County resulting to a 6.8% in the domestic market in 2005 as compared to the previous year. (17) Developing the remote and natural areas can prevent over crowding within a specific destination. (17) Another option is to implement a strong coordination over the control and management in domestic and international tourism. Coordination can be attained by limiting or setting quota on the promotional activities in each tourist agency. The possible conflict between the government and private interests should also be resolved in the tourist industry. Importance of Balancing Environmental Protection and Expanding the use of Wilderness To maximize tourism in Hawaii, it is necessary to balance the implementation of environmental protection with the expansion of tourism. (17) A constant increase in the number of international and domestic tourists could degrade the quality of Hawaii’s natural resources. Therefore, resource manager should carefully plan on balancing areas to maintain a reasonable economic return in each destination point as the travel industry continuous to create pressure on the tourist industry. Conclusion Tourism planning is important in Hawaii’s tourism industry. In case of inadequate traffic in the international tourists, resource manager and other related travel agencies should promote tourism domestically in order to compensate on the profit opportunity loss. Using e-commerce and promoting local festivals in Hawaii contributes a lot to the success of tourism. E-commerce is effective in communication and advertisements. Establishing good destination and national image also increase the tourist traffic. To maintain a good tourists satisfaction, the DBEBT should annually conduct a visitor satisfaction ratings. This type of survey study will enable tourist officials to monitor and track down customer’s loyalty, reasons for future revisits, or dissatisfaction among the most recent tourists. To avoid the degradation of Hawaii’s natural resources, it is important for the resource manager to balancing the environmental protection with the continuous expansion in the use of its natural resources. *** End *** Table I – The Changing Hawaii Visitor at a Glance Source: DBEDT, 2005 References: 1 Jafari, J. (2003) ‘Research and Scholarship: The Basis of Tourism Education’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):6 – 16. 2 Schaefers, A. (2005) ‘2004 Arrivals Near Record: Domestic Visitor Arrivals Hit a Record Last Year, But an Overall Increase in Tourism Spending has not Kept Up with Inflation’ Business Starbulletin.com. January 25, 2005. 3 DBEDT (2007) ‘Historical Visitor Statistics’ Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. 4 Echtner CM, Ritchie BJR (2003) ‘The Meaning and Measurement of Destination Image’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):37 – 48. 5 Calantone RJ, Di Benetto CA, Hakam A, Bojanic DC (1989) ‘Multiple Multinational Tourism Positioning Using Correspondence Analysis’ in Echtner CM, Ritchie BJR (Eds) ‘The Meaning and Measurement of Destination Image’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):37 – 48. 6 Woodside AG and Lysonski S (1989) ‘A General Model of Traveller Destination Choice’ in Echtner CM, Ritchie BJR (Eds) ‘The Meaning and Measurement of Destination Image’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):37 – 48. 7 DBEDT (2005) ‘Visitor Satisfaction & Activity Report’ State of Hawaii – Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. Research & Economic Analysis Division. 8 Innskeep E. (1987) ‘Environmental Planning for Tourism’ in Butler RW and Waldbrook LA (Ed) ‘A New Planning Tool: The Tourism Opportunity Spectrum’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):21 – 32. 9 Kyriaki K. and Vogt C. (2006) ‘A Structural Analysis of Destination Travel Intentions as a Function of Web Site Features’ Journal of Travel Research. 2006;45:204 – 216. 10 Ha M. and Love C. (2005) ‘Exploring Content and Design Factors Associated with Convention and Visitors Bureau Web Site Development: An Analysis of Recognition by Meeting Planners’ Journal of Convention and Event Tourism. in Kyriaki K. and Vogt C. (eds) ‘A Structural Analysis of Destination Travel Intentions as a Function of Web Site Features’ Journal of Travel Research. 2006;45:204 – 216. 11 Kline SF, Morrison AM, St. John A. (2004) ‘Exploring Bed and Breakfast Web Sites: A Balanced Scorecard Approach’ in Kyriaki K. and Vogt C. (eds) ‘A Structural Analysis of Destination Travel Intentions as a Function of Web Site Features’ Journal of Travel Research. 2006;45:204 – 216. 12 Morrison AM, Taylor SJ, Douglas A. (2004) ‘Web Site Evaluation in Tourism and Hospitality: The Art is not Yet Started’ in Kyriaki K. and Vogt C. (eds) ‘A Structural Analysis of Destination Travel Intentions as a Function of Web Site Features’ Journal of Travel Research. 2006;45:204 – 216. 13 Yuan J, Morrison AM, Linton S. (2004) ‘Marketing Small Wineries: An Exploratory Approach to Web Site Evaluation’ in Kyriaki K. and Vogt C. (eds) ‘A Structural Analysis of Destination Travel Intentions as a Function of Web Site Features’ Journal of Travel Research. 2006;45:204 – 216. 14 Perue, R. (2001) ‘Internet Site Evaluations: The Influence of Behavioral Experience, Existing Images and Selected Web Site Characteristics’ in Kyriaki K. and Vogt C. (eds) ‘A Structural Analysis of Destination Travel Intentions as a Function of Web Site Features’ Journal of Travel Research. 2006;45:204 – 216. 15 Felsenstein, D. and Fleischer, A. (2003) ‘Local Festivals and Tourism Promotion: The Role of Public Assistance and Visitor Expenditure’ Journal of Travel Research. 2003;41:385 – 392. 16 DBEDT (2005) ‘2005 Annual Visitor Research Report’ State of Hawaii – Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. 17 Butler RW and Waldbrook LA (2003) ‘A New Planning Tool: The Tourism Opportunity Spectrum’ The Journal of Tourism Studies. 2003;14(1):21 – 32. Read More