Development of Tourism Destinations through Food and Wine Festivals in Manchester - Case Study Example

Student’s full name: Tutor’s name: Course: Assignment title: Date: TABLE OF CONTENTS Development of Tourism Destinations through Food and Wine Festivals…………… 3 Cultural impacts of Ritual Oriented Festival Tourism……………………………….. 3 Strategies for maximizing impacts……………………………………………………… 3 Festival Outcomes……………………………………………………………………... 4 Social Impacts of Community Involvement…………………………………………….. 4 Strategies…………………………………………………………………………………... 5 Outcomes………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Economic Impacts of Destination Marketing…………………………………………… 6 Industry Involvement: Economic Impacts……………………………………………… 6 Strategies…………………………………………………………………………………. 6 Outcomes………………………………………………………………………………… 7 Sustainability of food, wine, and festival tourism: Environmental and political impacts……………………………………………………………………. 9 Strategies………………………………………………………………………………… 10 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….. 11 Development of Tourism Destinations through Food and Wine Festivals This report will discuss the cultural, social and economic impacts that the Manchester food festival has on the city as a tourism destination. Manchester is a city in England and the festival happens every year. Cultural impacts of Ritual Oriented Festival Tourism Ritual oriented festivals support events for the public. They also support and promote the creative, events and cultural sector in Edinburg, the rest of Scotland and even outside. The festivals also contribute economically to all the cultural venues that host the festival in the whole year. Artists and performers also get established professionally through the festival. The festivals improve the pride and perception of the locals about themselves and their culture as well as the value that the festivals bring to their cities (Hall and Mitchell, 2002, pp. 89). The festivals portray an image of openness and diversity which goes on to showcase a positive national identity. The festivals widely impact cultural participation. They result in greater attendance at other cultural events. Audiences can take bigger risks of exploring other cultural experiences and in the process those cultures become more established (Michael, Hall, &Sharples 2012, pp. 110). Strategies for maximizing impacts One major strategy of maximizing the growth of the culture in Manchester is to advertise the festival so that more and more people come to attend. This strategy has the effect of increasing the attendance so that many more from different places have exposure to the culture of the city. Another strategy is volunteer management for higher community involvement. Volunteer management ensures that the participants are well taken care of and that they can continue to support such festivals. It also ensures that more volunteers and participants can join the festival (Hall, Sharples, Mitchell, Macionis, & Cambourne 2003, pp. 38). Festival Outcomes The attendance of the Manchester food and drink festival has been increasing with time. More people from far away places have been flocking into the festival every year. 2012 registered high attendance as compared to the previous years. This is attributed to advertising and better management of volunteers who ensure that the festivals are a success. Volunteers got the opportunity to earn experience while helping the producers of the festival. They also gained the experience of marketing and administrative activities. Volunteers also got reference by volunteer producers to improve their CVs. Volunteers assisted in organization, marketing and administrative activities for the festival (Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2013). The strongest outcome of the advertisement strategy was the huge attendance of the event by been increasing through various media. Many more people have come to know it and this is what made people from different countries. Awareness about the Manchester food and drink festival has it a great success. The other strategy used in the festival was volunteer management. This one worked very well because the desire of people to volunteer in the festival has gone up and currently so many people are offering themselves. In order to improve the festival it would be better that the festival be organized with a cultural theme whereby the culture of the people in Manchester is showcased to the world. In such a festival, only foods belonging to the local culture should be made available (Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2013). Community Involvement: Social Impacts Those people taking part in the festival as attendees or as volunteers get opportunities for social transactions, developing social networks and building relationships. All these have positive outcomes for social capital development and for the community as well. People meet and share about different cultures and this enhances tolerance (Carlsen and Getz 2006). This further contributes to quality of life and well being. Taking part in the festivals contributes to a positive mental, physical and social wellbeing. This wellbeing is also felt among various groups in the community such as volunteers and temporary staff. Older people gain by gaining better self worth (Carlsen and Getz 2006, pp. 56). Strategies The major strategy used in enhancing community involvement in the Manchester festival is volunteer management. Management of volunteers is critical because it keeps them motivated, fairly treated and valued and this can make them to stay on. Retaining volunteers in the festival ensures high chances of success and attendance hence better realization of social outcomes. The volunteers themselves also feel that their well being is all rounded and by this they can attend fully to their duties (Carksen and Getz 2006). Festival Outcomes The volunteer management strategy which was widely used to enhance community involvement worked well. More volunteers have been seen to show interest in the festival. The number of attendees has also risen and this is attributed to the good work that volunteers are doing since they are being taken care of very well. The manner in which the event was organized, as well as its overall quality improved tremendously (Poitras, & Getz, 2006, pp. 34). Those who attended the 2012 Manchester Food and Drink festival expressed their satisfaction at how everything was planned and executed. Volunteers were exposed to different kinds of activities and people. Through this they gained interpersonal skills, developed a team spirit since they were working in teams and enhanced their ability to manage, market and organize various activities and events. Volunteers were required to handle any area of the festival with the help of the producers. For example some of them were involved in food serving, guiding the attendees and organizing various activities among other duties (Poitras, L & Getz, 2006). The weakness of the volunteer management strategy is that so much focus and resources is put on managing volunteers at the expense of other areas. Other strategies such as infrastructure development and education came out well because through them the local population realized the importance of the festival. This resulted in the improved attendance that was witnessed in the festival. The festival producers and organizers have realized increased support and participation from the community. Education has had to make people more sensitive to the need to support the festival and in turn allow the community to gain from it. In future, the producers of the festival should strive to get bigger social outcomes. For this to happen they should embrace the all inclusive strategy whereby they can find a way of fully engaging all the stakeholders including the government so that the event can have the support, backing and participation of all people from all sectors (Carlsen & Getz, 2006 pp. 49). Economic Impacts of Destination Marketing Marketing Manchester as a tourist destination definitely has its effects on the economy. Generally the food festival and the destination as a whole support the Manchester economy. This economic impact goes beyond the local cultural economy. Businesses in tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors are the greatest beneficiaries of these economic impacts. The festival provides routes to gaining skills and securing employment especially for volunteers. Temporary staff and volunteers taking part in Manchester food and drink festivals have developed through the experience they get at the event (Hall et al. 2003, pp. 67). The event provides stakeholders and sponsors with a platform for marketing. Sponsors get brand association as the most important benefit obtained from the festivals. This is not association with the cultural brand. They also get the benefit of reaching certain local audiences. The competition between festivals is not just with other cultural organizations and events but with other events like sporting events. Festivals have the impact of promoting tourism by showcasing the major attractions other than wine and food that get promoted in the festival. They also differentiate the destination from other destinations. The strategies for obtaining these impacts include localization, differentiation and diversification. According to Hall et al (2003, pp. 26) the localization strategy is important because locally oriented food and drinks provide the opportunity to develop visitor products via rural tours, buying directly from the farm, specialized hotel menus that emphasize on local foods and home stays on such properties. Developing local tourism products can trigger the awareness and interest of the local people, helps to diversify experiences and products, enhances community pride and reinforces local culture and identity. In the Manchester Food and drink festival the awareness of the local people to food and drink tourism has greatly increased. There is more interest and participation from the local populations. The event has also greatly promoted the image of Manchester city. The festival has also made it possible for various sponsors and stakeholders such as farmers and manufacturers to market their foods and drinks. Other tourism attractions such as other cultural aspects, cultural heritage among others have had a great opportunity to be marketed. This has happened because the festival has grown big so that it attracts people from all over Europe and beyond (Carlsen, & Getz, 2006, pp. 34). This provides the sponsors and other stakeholders with a big audience to market their products to. Awareness of the local population about the event has increased because of its impact on the community. Other strategies such as diversification and differentiation have also been used. Differentiation has ensured that many more people attend the festival since it offers a totally different taste from the others. The products are totally different and unique. Diversification was done by way of increasing the size of the festival and the amount of products available for marketing. Diversification has greatly contributed to the increase in the audience and the interest of the local people in the event. In future, the food and wine tourism should be promoted through nationwide campaigns so that Manchester as a destination can gain from this (Carlsen, & Getz, 2006, pp. 40). Industry Involvement: Economic Impacts There are many economic impacts that individual wineries realize when they take part in wine tourism. The involvement of the industry provides an opportunity for customers attempt using new products with little or no cost at all (Moscardo 2007, pp. 46). There is an alternative outlet for distribution important to smaller wineries. There is also a source for marketing information for wineries. Another impact is the education opportunity created for developing the appreciation of wine and to increase awareness and knowledge about wines and the entire wine industry as well. Wine tourism is a major business strategy that small wineries use because they lack the ability to sell their wine and do widespread distribution. Food and wine festivals are important because they help bring about the success of network and partnership development. The festivals help in establishing networks between various types of sectors in the industry through organization, participating in festivals and sponsorship. Some festivals are beneficial for finding new partnerships between industry sectors at different levels such as local, national or international levels. Other festivals that are based at the community level aim at strengthening relations in the local industry (Raj, & Musgrave 2009, pp. 76). Strategies Food and wine tourism may maximize its impacts by entering into cooperation with other businesses under tourism. This helps to provide the facilities needed to support whatever tourists need. For food and wine tourism to succeed in Manchester, there should be strong cooperation between the tourism industry and wineries (Stokes 2008, pp. 78). The cooperation with industries such as agriculture is necessary because they give wine tourism the required supporting components. The promotion of food and wine in restaurants could be a way of establishing and strengthening food and wine networks at the local level. Enhancing networks between different producers implies that the same producers can pool their resources so as to promote the local area. This makes it possible for smaller operators to develop their products and to optimize economic benefits in the region (Taylor, & Shanka, 2002, pp. 45). There is the formulation of local, regional and national plans so as to realize the achievement of the integrations of food, wine and tourism. Improved market research, information sharing, and training are necessary to enhance the partnerships and networks in food and wine tourism. Manchester food and wine festival uses different strategies in order to maximize their long term integration benefits between industries. These strategies are among others establishing industry associations, package programs by way of partnerships and building relationships through sponsorships (Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2013). Outcomes The cooperation of food and wine tourism with other businesses has been used to strengthen the festival. The local area has been promoted and it is now flourishing because the networks between different producers were enhanced and this made it possible for the producers to pool resources together. Other strategies are still under scrutiny and it is expected that they will be very useful in the future (Stokes 2008, pp. 58). Building relationships through sponsorships, partnership package programs and industry associations have helped to increase business and boost local and other investors in the festival. Sustainability of food, wine, and festival tourism: Environmental and political impacts Governments have been known to embrace certain events because these events have the capacity to drive big businesses. Governments use events as economic generators. Big events are favored because they provide platforms for improved internal relations in terms of trade. The events may also be used to improve the image of places that formerly had negative images. Festivals also have environmental impacts (Allen, O’Toole, Harris, and McDonnell, 2005, pp. 68). Through festivals, positive environmental impacts such as participant education on matters of environment such as organic farming, environmental leadership and climate change can be realized. Certain food and wine festivals have various environmental practices incorporated in them. These practices include use of seminars on issues of the environment, recycling glasses and waste management. There are negative impacts that result from the festivals as well. These impacts have a negative influence on local communities and the local environment (Raj, & Musgrave 2009, pp. 89). Strategies One key strategy that is used to manage the environmental impacts at the Manchester Food and drink festival is the cross festival environmental strategy which also maximizes the positive impacts. This strategy is for building capacity and awareness in the festivals. It also seeks to identify and enhance approaches and practice for tackling environmental footprint (Stokes 2008, pp. 157). Other strategies include the safe production of drinks and food. Environmental management is another strategy. Two major environmental management practices are used. These are the hard or direct and the soft or indirect management strategies (du Rand, and Heath, E. 2006 pp. 210). Hard management strategies relate to rules and regulations while the soft strategies have to do with the code of conduct, voluntary leadership and education. These two strategies have been to different environmental practices such as management of energy, recycling, management of water, waste management, organic management, eco-friendly products, issues related to climate change and green practices. These two strategies should be used in the future in order to ensure good care of the environment. Festivals have a huge potential of destroying the environment and efforts should be made to ensure that this is averted (Richardson, & Fluker, 2004, pp. 21). Conclusion In conclusion the paper presents a report on the development of tourist destinations through food and wine festivals. The report is based on the Manchester Food and Wine festival in England. There are cultural, social, and economic impacts arising from food and wine festivals. There are different strategies used to enhance these impacts. Destination marketing and industry involvement also impact both positively and negatively on the festivals. Festivals also have environmental and political impacts associated with them. Food and wine festivals require proper strategies so that the positive impacts are enhanced as the negative ones are eliminated. Bibliography Allen, J; O’Toole, W; Harris, R and McDonnell, I (2005), Festival and Special Event Management, 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons Australia, Milton, Queensland. Carlsen, J & Getz, D (2006) Strategic Planning for a Regional Wine Festival: the Margaret River Wine Region Festival, in J. Carlsen and S. 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