Development of Aging Tourists Market in China - Dissertation Example

? Development of Aging Tourists Market in China of Table of Contents LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction Development of Aging Tourists Market in China 1 CST and Market 1 Tourism Management 2 Tourism Consumption System 2 Tourism Behavior 3 Sustainable Tourism 3 Customer Satisfaction, Motivation and Customer Decision Making 3 Reference 5 LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction Tourism has greatly increased in these years and it is further expected to increase in the coming years. This has happened mainly because of the standard of living that is increasing and the urge of the people to see different places and educate themselves about the new places. A twist has however been observed in the aging tourists market which has developed slowly in China. The elderly population tend to travel more than the young ones, however, there are a lot of costs that are associated with them while they travel. Development of Aging Tourists Market in China CST and Market CST was founded in 1981 and it is the parent company of the Spring Airways’. Currently, the company has hired more than four thousand employees and the business areas include tourism, aviation, hotel reservation, tickets booking, conference and exhibition undertaking, business and sports events. The company has much goodwill established and the employees hold much experience. Today, CST is the first airways that set up by a private-owned travel agency, the first low-cost airways in China and the first airways that use B2C as their most important sales channel. CST has the opportunity to target the ageing tourist market in China and to increase their sales by providing services to them. This area which has been discovered is highly essential for CST because of the long-term benefit that can be seen in this area in terms of revenues and goodwill. Tourism Management Studies conducted by The World Health Organization revealed that ageing population includes the people who are 60 years of more of age. Although this population is more prone to opt for tourism opportunities, however, tourism management authorities have not been encouraging this because of the various costs that are involved with this from which the major ones include cost of security, medical and time. Tourism management refers to the management of all the activities that are related to tourism and this also includes those activities that are related to tourism. Furthermore, they also have to implement strategies that promote tourism and provide easy access to people for the purpose of tourism. Tourism Consumption System The authors, Dubelaar and Woodsie (2002) have defined the tourism consumption system (TCS) as the set of related travel thoughts, decisions, and behaviors by a discretionary traveler prior to, during, and following a trip. The central proposition that the authors have given by this theory is that the thoughts, decisions, and behaviors with regards to an activity have a major impact on the thoughts, decisions, and behaviors for the other activities. Further in the article, the authors have used exit interview travel data and quick clustering analysis for the purpose of examining the seven main propositions of tourism consumption system on the basis of which the tourists take decisions. It has also been said by the authors that this approach is very beneficial for the marketers and practitioners with regards to tourism and this would greatly help them in increasing the effectiveness of the tourism marketing strategies. Tourism Behavior The set of responses that the people develop with regards to tourism develop tourism behavior and this determines their likeliness and their interest. There are some elders who opt for places which are more lively and colorful while there are some people in the ageing population who prefer going to places which are calm and serene. Sustainable Tourism According to Dubelaar and Woodsie (2002), tourism involves a certain cost which can be monetary as well as time and energy of the tourists. Since the ageing population is 60 or more years of age, there are many individuals who have heart diseases, they get tired quickly and cannot take much stress. Moreover, their medical needs have to be taken care of and this makes sustainable tourism necessary. The idea of sustainable tourism is to make low impact on the environment as well as the culture, and generate future employment for the generation which is to enter the working class. The aim is also to make the experience of the tourists, tourism companies and the local people positive. This has become highly essential because of the growing pollution and global warming issues. Therefore, it is important to ensure that sustainable tourism is being practiced rather than making tourism a mess for the local people rather than enjoying from the generation of the revenues. Customer Satisfaction, Motivation and Customer Decision Making According to Goeldner & Ritchie (2008), customer satisfaction in this area plays a very crucial role especially for the ageing people and this is because they have a big social group. When the ageing tourists return from tourism, they tell their friends and family about their trip and also share their good and bad experiences they had with the tourism companies. Similarly, this develops the motivation of the other people to take the tour which the people belonging to the ageing population have taken and this greatly helps them in taking decisions. Normally, people tend to believe the others more rather than going for tourism to a place on their own. Therefore, they read experiences of the people on the Internet and also ask the people in their family if they have visited a place or have had any experience with a particular tourism company. CST must learn from this and implement improved strategies to encourage ageing population to travel to China. Therefore, it is important for CST to have the knowledge of the factors that determine the buyer decision power in tourism. Moreover, the company must also have proper understanding of the theory of motivation and appreciate the roles of the ageing tourists and the forms of tourism and their needs. To sell tourism products, it is also important to study the decision-making model and the models with regards to consumer decision making in the area of tourism. This would play a very important role in determining the interests and the likes of the ageing population and would increase tourism in China. Reference Bhatia, A. K. (2006). The business of tourism: concepts and strategies. New Delhi: Sterling. Conrady, R., Buck, M., Viehl, P., & Tittel, K. (2011). Trends and issues in global tourism 2011. Heidelberg: Springer. Dubelaar, C. & Woodside, A.G. (2002). A General Theory of Tourism Consumption Systems: A Conceptual Framework and an Empirical Exploration. Journal of Travel Research. May 15th, 2012. Retrieved from: http://jtr.sagepub.com/content/41/2/120 Ghillyer, A. (2009). Business Ethics: A Real World Approach. McGraw-Hill. Goeldner, C.R. & Ritchie, J.R.B. (2008). Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies. 11th Edn. Wiley. Kinicki, A. & Kreitner, R. (2009). “Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills & best practices”. 4th edn. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin Shoemaker, Stowe, Robert C. Lewis, and Peter Charles Yesawich. (2007). Marketing leadership in hospitality and tourism: strategies and tactics for competitive advantage. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson. Theobald, William F. (1998). Global tourism. 2nd ed. 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