Week 7- attractions and ancillary services

Political/ social-cultural is when someone from Romania for example cannot go to one country because it is hard to get there- for some ppl it may be more difficult because they need visas to visit another country

Tourist-generating regions and tourism demand:

countries and/or regions within a country become tourist generating areas if residents have: tourist-generating

• leisure time

• discretionary income

• freedom from political barriers to travel

• fast, safe, affordable transit routes

• in some cases, travel intermediate to organize the tourism experience

generating regions- allow others o come into their country, for example people in the European union will allow other European to travel to their country

TOURISM AS A COMBINATION OF PUSH-AND-PULL FACTORS (DANN, 1977):

push factors to push us away from a generating region

pull factors pull us toward a certain country- for example people want to go to Mallorca in the summer or skiing in the alps in the winter

push factors:

• personal drivers that prepidose a tourist to travel, for Finish off later

Attractions:

• attractions pull tourism

• visitor attractions are possibly the most important element of the tourism system because they draw tourist to destination and stimulate demand for transport, accommodation and other suppliers

• Boniface and Cooper (2009, p40) describe attarction as … the raison d’être for tourism; they generate the visit, give rise to excursion circuits and create an industry of their own.’

Attractions as pull factors:

• major pull factor to a destination

• determine the type of visitor, length of stay, expenditure and activity

• attractions may also be used by the host population of a destination

note down other one

main objectives of visitor attractions (Leslie, 2009):

• education and stewardship

• conservation and preservation

• profit

classification of attractions:

• permanent/ temporary

• types of ownership

• managed

• paid/free

• natural/ built

• man-made/ purpose-built

Other ways in which attractions can be classified (Leask, 2008)

• source markets- the distance visitors are likely to travel to visit the site

• ownership- whether ownership is public, private, or charity with access to public funds

• charging policy- wether admission is free of charge or paid by the visitor

ownership and objectives:

• Commercial sector: return on investment, contribution to cash flow, increase product awareness

• public sector: national level: protecting nation;s heritage, conservations+ education, attracting international tourists

• local level? increase the range of leisure facilities for the local community, educate the local community

• stimulate demand for tourism to the destination, economic regeneration

• voluntary organisations: protecting a limited resource for own+ other’s enjoyment now+ and in the future

Heritage attractions:

• man-made but not purpose-built

• need to be managed to protect the resource while earning sufficient revenue to maintain it

• need to be presented and interpreted to deliver info, educate, and satisfy visitors

Natural attractions- managed/unmanaged:

• Northern Lights/ Iceland: unmanaged attraction- unreliable

• International dark sky park (northern lights)

• whale watching

Man-made, purpose-built attractions:

• Permanent (London Eye) or temporary (Winter Wonderland)

• Management is key, attracting different markets, running events within, and more funds

• attractions with other purposes: template/ churches- Buckingham palace: different management issues, e.g. visitor’s behaviors, limited accessibility to rooms/times, entry charge, number of visitors

• entry charge helps with some maintenance costs

Which factors determine visitor numbers to an attraction?

• price of entry

• status of site- unique or ubiquitous

• reputation of the area as a visitor destination

• size of resident population (catchment area)

• ease of access

• opening hours

• locations

• marketing and promotion (including events)

• links to education and school curriculum

Walt Disney attractions:

• Disney has different parks around the world

• difference between them in the cultural context of these attractions

• American attractions being placed in France, Japan, and China

• Eurodisney- had very strict rules: no alcohol, male staff clean shaven- no facial hair- English is only spoken; then had to relax their strict standards, which is fine in America

• Now bilingual French- alcohol allowed

other types of events:

• Community event-

Volunteer tourism:

• Very often, poverty is what attracts tourists to engage in volunteer tourism to ‘give back’

Ancillary services:

it is the supplement of services that support tourism in the development of the destination. Tourists can navigate their way through the destination. They support:

• supplementary services

• provides support to tourists in the tourist industry

• a sign of tourism development

definition- services which aren’t essential for tourism to take place, but which facilitate tourism in a destination:

• marketing of the destination

• managing the destination- coordinating suppliers, managing impacts, sourcing funding, planning a destination’s future

• visitor management- info source, managing visitor flows (signage, guided tours, animation of public spaces), upselling, collecting data, parking, public toilets, accessibility

• Destination marketing organizations and destination management organizations

• National Tourism organisations (NTOs)

• fund and run communication campaigns

• develop a marketing strategy for target markets

• develop relationships with travel trade

• conduct research into inbound and domestic visitor markets for the industry to access

Tourist information centre(TIC):

• Welcome

• destination information

• retail- books, guides, and merchandise

• booking- accommodation, local events

• further services: Gallery/ exhibitions, toilets, cafe