Nature And Development Of Special Interest Tourism Tourism Essay

Nature And Development Of incident Interest touristry turn of eventsism Essay set- particular(prenominal) quest devourism is a part of serveive touristry industry today. Nowadays, volume are more than confident about travelling abroad and tone for something different rather than for sun and sand holidays. Special enkindle touristry is a type of holiday, transposition the traditional mass foodstuff travel packages and solelyows tourists to choose holidays appealing to their individual and personal needs. According to the world Tourism Industry or WTO, specific interest tourism rat be defined as the constringed tourism that involved individual or group tours by those sight who wishes to develop their presumptuousness interests or visit sites and places that has a relation or connection with their specific interest or subject.The heraldic bearing of impersonate is to satisfy specific needs or interests of individuals or groups.The structure of SIT is similar to that of the general tourism industry. There are many sub-sectors serving individual and personalized needs of tourists, such asTravel intermediariesTravel facilitatorsAttraction and sportActivity and events providersAccommodation providersTransportationTravel intermediaries provide development about destinations packages, travel options also making bookings for the customers. They faecal matter be represented in the trend of tour operators or travel agencies. The principal(prenominal) aim of travel agencies is to sell holidays and associated products such as insurance, cars hire.Travel agents act as the link between the customer and travel producers. They are usu onlyy good trained and female genitalia help clients with the advice or provide them with brochures, leaflets or any plusal teaching. They feel access online to GDS system, which gives worldwide enumeration of only transport.Tour operators sell combined holidays packages via travel agents or direct to the consumers. There are deuce types of tour operator the wholesaler operators, who operate only through travel agency, and the direct sell operators, who mart their products direct to the public. They purchase separate elements of accommodation (hotels, guesthouses, and self catering apartments), transport (road, sea, air) and travel services to refer a tour package. many another(prenominal) tour operators are making exceptional packages around a particular event, e.g., Olympic Games. There are many web sites specialize in authentic products, want lastminute.com that specialize in discounted accommodation.Travel facilitators are all the range of services offered to the consumers. It good deal be tourist information centre, tour guides, medical providers, currency exchange bureau.Transport providers are those operating any major form of transport. These would include airlines, water found transport and land found, such as roads and rails. place down based transport covers all fo rms vehicles such as bus, taxi, private car, and bicycle. Rail travel has become very pop since opening of the Channel tunnel. Rail companies provide a plan service within a al-Qaida uncouth and customers advise reserved the seats by themselves.The airlines freighter be shared out into scheduled, which operate with even published schedule, e.g., British Airways, and charter airlines, which fly to certain destinations chthonic charter to a tour operator. Many countries have their national airline, like British Airways in UK.Water based transport is represented by ferries and journey ships. Ferries operators provide vital links between islands, rivers, seas. Cruising can be river cruises, sea/oceans cruises, e.g. Mediterranean, Atlantic oceans, and can be considered as a special interest when there is something additional from cruise, like education or special hobby. Tourist choice of transport testament depend on price, destination, time, accessibility of the destination.A ccommodation can be reserved individually or can be purchased by tour operator. Guest facilities will vary according to the type of the place. Accommodation can be divided into two categories serviced accommodation (where all meals are provided), and self-catering accommodation (where occupants provide their own food). A 5 star hotel can provide a full range of services, such as restaurants, plasma TV, cheerction modes, mini bars in the rooms, room service available 24/7. In the caravan park you can only find profligate food shops and vending machines.Providers of attractions need to under pull in the market research in order to meet all the needs of tourists. Typical attractions can be man-made (theme parks, zoos), natural (mountains), cultural (Louvre Gallery in Paris). A forget me drug of destinations are promoted via special events (World Cup, Olympic Games) or various activities (diving, winter skiing resorts)In addition to attractions, a lot of destinations are promoted vi a special events or activities, which include World Cup, Olympic Games.The development of special interest tourism.Special interest tourism can date back to earliest forms of tourism. The first tourists travelled for specific reasons, e.g., religious, cultural or for trading purposes. Around the same period, the Greeks travelled to religious festivals, leading(p) to building of sea ports and accommodation.In Medieval Times the pilgrims and missionaries became the more or less active travelers. Pilgrims travelled to the sacred places such as Santiago de Compostella, Jerusalem, driven by their religious convictions.Tourism grew over the centuries and spread to all over the world.The revolutionary part of tourism, known as Grand Tour, was developed in the early 17th century under the reign of Elizabeth 1.The young men from wealthy families were travelling across Europe to complete their education. London, Paris, Venice, Rome were visited by the young aristocrats to improve their kn owledge in the arts and literature. The tours lasted as long as 3 years.In 1841 Thomas Cook put together the first package tour in history. Thomas Cooks organize tour consisted of accommodation, travel tickets, timetables, attractions, travel guides and tours, currency exchange. The first tours were for specific needs and catered more to the mass market with the growth of the company. Thomas Cook started offering tours within UK and soon moved to Europe.The development of tourism in the 19th century growingd due to advent of the railway. It became cheaper, easier and fullr to travel, so not only the privileged classes were allowed to travel.The industrial revolution brought leisure travel to Europe. The middle class had more time and money to travel thank to the efficient machinery.In the post war period the development of wide-bodied and faster aircrafts contributed to the growth of the mass tourism. plus in disposable income has made tourism accessible for a large majority of population. People could gift to take more than one holiday per year. Another factor that contributed to the growth of mass tourism was increase in global wealth leaving peck enough disposable income to spend on holidays. The semi governmental liberation of the colonized countries built a lot of new tourist destinations, reducing the cost of holidays.Nowadays, it becomes more touristy self-drive holidays to Europe, cruising holidays, Middle East destinations such as Dubai, Egypt, etc. Travelling on the cruise liner gives you opportunity to enjoy your time, there are a lot of activities on the board and the companionable life is very active, which move ins you enjoy holidays even more, staying on the board of enormous liner. Low cost airlines leading to mass tourism travel around the world, e.g. Easy jet airlines.The social factor which contributed to the growth of tourism is linked with the new attitude to world travel and leisure. People are searching for new destinations, nerve-wracking to find something unusual and unexplored. Development of leisure centers along with the increased independence of women has also contributed to the tourism. Changing demographics, such as aging population, grown up children have made a big impact on the SIT market.Sustainable tourism is one of the growing industries, which examineks to protect tourism destinations and reduce an impact of the purlieu and topical anesthetic culture. With the advent of internet, tourists can attend the statuss using web-based interface programmers at the same time reducing the traditional impacts such as travel, accommodation, food wastage.TASK 2 Understand how special interest tourism matches customers, products and services.2.1. Discuss the range and classification of tourism products and services available to travellers.There aremany kinds of special tourism interest it can be educational tourism, sports tourism, sex tourism, health and knockout tourism, arts and entertainment to urism and a lot more. Products can also be divided into various categories, such as rural, urban, over or under water, in the air and others.The classification of special interest tourism productseducationalCulturalAdventure pursuitsHistorical attractionsReligious eventswellness and wellnessSporting and entertainment events upbringingal TourismThere is no doubt that educational industry has already become one of the to the elevatedest degree popular types of special interest tourism. The Grand Tours of the 17th century were organized for youth with the purpose of education. Nowadays, many people are travelling to broaden the education, to learn a foreign language and to take a special course. As an sheath, the short term language courses are designed for students to improve their second language.Cultural tourismPeople who take cultural holidays are likely to visit museums, galleries and exhibitions, or going to opera or theatre. Heritage tourism is focused on historical attractio ns and resources.Cultural tourism gives visitors the opportunity to understand and evaluate the requirement character of a place and its culture as a whole, including-history and archaeology-people and their lifestyle-cultural miscellanyMany cities have had capital of culture status, including London, Dublin and Prague.Religious events tourismReligious holidays focus on visiting places with religious significance, like Lourdes in south of France or Holy Land Tour. The Holy Land is a land filled with history, passion and with presence of deliveryman. The tourists can uncover the world in which Jesus lived and also enjoy the activities, such as scuba dive, hike, and camel ride or just have fun on the sun. There are specialist tour operators which organize such tours, like The Pilgrimage Trust, a charity, which organizes tour to Lourdes for children with disabilities.Sporting tourismPeople can take holidays to watch the sport or participate in special events. There are specialist o perators offering packages for World Cup, Olympic Games. For instance, Club La Santa provides luxury Spain holidays, sports holidays and fitness activity holidays. The resort features over 25 different sports and different entertainment is available.Health and wellness tourismHealth and wellness tourism is now available for consumers seeking to enhance their well being through their travel experiences. The aim of tourists is to look and feel better, to lose weight, to slow the effects of aging, to resign pain or dis hassock, or to manage stress.This market has become very popular as people are becoming more health conscious. There are two briny types of health and wellness tourism spa resorts and medical tourism. There are many spa hotels offering fitness classes, beauty treatments and different types of massage.Holy Island is one of the best spas in UK, located off the west coast of Scotland. The break-dance and vision holder of the Holy Isle Project is Lama Yeshe Rinpoche, a Tib etan Buddhist supposition master in the Kagyu tradition. There are many retreat and course programmes taking place in the Centre for World Peace and Health. The island has several areas reserved for birds, animals and tree planting programme.(http//www.holyisland.org/)SIT can be classified according to the type of surroundLandAirWater basedRural/urbanNature/wildTrekking, cycling and hiking are examples of land based special interest tourism. The two main modes of travel are road and rail. Some luxurious trains appeal consumers special needs and allow passengers to see spectacular sights from the train.The Blue Train is a magnificent moving five-star hotel. The routes of The Blue Train both scheduled and chartered take guests through some of the most admirable places of the countryside.The train has luxurious suites with baths and double beds .The guests can enjoy exquisite meals freshly prepared on board by top chefs.Water based tourism can be presented in form of underwater acti vities, like diving, and above water, like swimming, cruising and surfing. The swell Barrier Reef is well known for its diving activities, situated on the north-east coast of Australia. It the worlds most extensive stretch of coral reef and is probably the richest area in terms of faunal diversity in the world.Nature and wilderness tourism focuses on observation of wild animals and birds in their usual environment. As an example it can be tours to Africa Safari or tours to botanical gardens.Wilderness tourism experiences with undeveloped natural environment, which can include isolation and challenging conditions.2.2. Diversity and classification of tourist types.The key to success in SIT is to ensure various tourist types are well matched to the tourist products.Demand for tourism can be influenced by 3 basic factors-purpose for travel (educational, cultural, for health, for sporting events)-ability to travel (sufficient disposable income, time, freedom of movement)-travel choices (knowledge about destinations, environmental factors, ability to travel)Various typologies have been made to classify tourists according their preferences.The best known are by Cohen and Plog.Eric Cohen classified tourists according to the nature of the environment they prefer. He places tourists into four following groupsOrganized mass tourist-typically they subvert pre-organised packages from tour operators prefer safe and secure environment and are likely to return to familiar places. individual mass tourist- compare to organised mass tourist show more flexibility and have a lot more personal choice.The explorer- aspect for unexplored destinations.The drifter- generally likes adventurous travelling, e.g. camping in the wilderness area.Stanley Plog describes three types of touristsAllocentric- confident travelers, who enjoy the travel and explorationMidcentric- tend to adopt the destinations after they have been observe by allocentricPsychocentric- are less confident and prefer secure environmentMarket naval division is a process of dividing the market into different groups with common needs and wants. The most common types areGeographic locationDemographicSocio-economic segmentationPsychographic segmentationGeographic location is based upon people live and can be subdivided by country, region, city size, and climate. Where people live in the city can also reflect their income take and ability to buy.Demographic segmentation is the most common in market segmentation. It can be divided by eon (snowbirds, empty nesters, young budget travellers)Gender (women trying to escape from the usual environment and go for holidays, ex. spa breaks men prefer to travel to more adventurous places)Religion (retreats, pilgrimages)Psychographic segmentation determines tourists behaviour, their lifestyles, activities and attitudes.Socio-economic segmentation considers aspects such as occupation, status, social class, income level.Task 3 Understand the appeal and motivatio n of special interest tourism for customers.3.1. Analyse the appeal to customers of special interest tourism features and benefits. draw can be characterised as a kind of tourism products that will enable customers needs to be satisfied. The motivation is closely linked to the appeal and seeks to identify peoples needs and wants.The appeal of the location can be influenced by different factors, like cost, time availability, facilities. If you are plan a family holidays to sea and sun destinations, there are a lot of countries to choose from. The specific location has to appeal to numerous needs and wants of the family, e.g. child-minding facilities, special kids menu, available playground, etc.Appeal can be influenced by features of the destination, like beaches, attractions, numerate of facilities within the resort.There are a number of other factors that can contribute to the appealUniqueness of the destination (Great Wall of China is one of the most appealing attractions all ar ound the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance).Level of comfort (the tourist seeking luxury accommodation may find the appeal in 5 stars hotels).authenticity of the location (the authentic cuisine or traditions appeal to many tourists visiting particular country).Political factors ( the political instability in Egypt led to a reduction in the flow of tourists)Environmental factors (tourists tend to forfend places affected by natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes)3.2. Identify and explain how the motivations of tourists are met by special interest tourism locations and features.Motivation can be defined as internal and external factors that stimulate desire and muscle in people to be continually interested in and committed to a business sector, role, or subject, and to observe persistent effort in attaining a goal.(Businessdictionary.com)Abraham Maslow outlined a motivational hierarchy consisting of five categories of pitying needs arranged in asce nding order physiological- basic needs satisfied by such stimulus as food and sleep security- need for a safe environment free from adjacent threat social-love needs and desire for social acceptance esteem-need for enhancement and acceptance of self and self-actualization-striving for full recognition of unique characteristics and electric potentials. The key notion in the model is that as a need category land in the hierarchy becomes satisfied, its determination of behaviour diminishes and the next higher need category becomes proponent (Adler, S., 1999, p 7).Maslows hierarchy of needs assumes that we all have similar needs and wants to be satisfied. Therefore, it is important to apply motivations in relation to different tourist types.Motivations for SIT can be divided into two groupsIntrinsic motivationExtrinsic motivationIntrinsic motivation includes internal desires to perform a particular task, do certain activities because it gives you pleasure, such as challenge, skill i mprovement or relaxation. The skill improvement relates to educational tourism and gives people opportunity to increase their knowledge in particular field (foreign languages courses, cookery schools in France). One of the main motivations for holidays can be a need to rest, to escape from everydays routine.Extrinsic motivation is the factors external to the individual and misrelated to the task they are performing. Examples include money, status, rewards, and sustainability.Motivation can also be influenced by demographic factorsEducation (tourists with high level of education are likely to participate in education based activities)Age ( old couples are seeking comfort and opportunity for sightseeing, while young people are looking more for fun and relaxation)Family life cycle ( parents with children are motivated by places with numerous kids facilities)TASK 4 Understand management needs and issues of special interest tourism.4.1. Evaluate the organizational and support logistics involved in the management of special interest tourism trips.Profitability- is the main goal of all the businesses. Meeting the tourist expectations and providing safe and secure travel arrangements will lead to profitable growth for travel companies. The main thing is to make products profitable attractive for customers by putting correct prices and making them attractive for the market.Market research is an essential tool for any businesses. It helps to identify potential customers, their needs and expectations. Target marketing is a group of customers to be aimed. Potential customers with similar needs and characteristics are identified and divided by market segments based on age, income level, etc.Each travel product is made up of several segments, e.g. hotel, transport, accommodation facilities and for the tourists is all have to be organized and put together well. There is a range of challenges coming with travel products, e.g. Tour packages, where the travel agents are respon sible for every aspect of the trip.Examples of operational challenges may includeTravel permits visas requirements al-Qaida essential shops, medical facilitiesLanguage difficulties in understanding the foreign languageTransport availability of remove coaches or taxis.Logistics is the management of business operations, such as the acquisition, storage, transportation and delivery of goods along the supply chain. (http//www.investorwords.com)An SIT sporting event package tour will include a number of logistic issues to take care of, includingTransportationAccommodation providersTour guidesEquipment suppliersAccess to the destinationApart from all the operational and logistical challenges, the SIT providers have a number of administrative requirements to deal with. Travel insurance provides the financial security measure in the case of unexpected harm of luggage or cancellation of the trip. It is important to read and understand all the policies before making a purchase. Visas issue s may vary according to the country tourists going to. For example, members of the family of the EU citizens do not need visa to travel to the EU countries. Vaccination against diseases is an important requirement for tourists travelling to remote control destinations, e.g. some parts of Africa.All the tour operators and travel agents should be aware of the laws concerning travel and tourism and pass the relevant information to the tourists.One of the main points to be considered for all the businesses is to have satisfied customers. It will results in more profitability, less marketing cost and a good reputation for the company.4.2. Discuss the ways operators reason out issues that affect special interest tourism.There are many issues that can affect special interest tourism, some of them are known in advance and others are unexpected. It is always better to identify the potential problem and create the awareness of possible outcome.The main categories of the possible issues in SI T are chance managementSocio-cultural issuesEnvironmental issuesEconomic issues (recession, oversupply)Quality assuranceRisk management is an important part of planning for businesses. The process of put on the line management is designed to reduce or eliminate the risk of certain kinds of events mishap or having an impact on the business. ( http//www.whatisriskmanagement.net/)There are many different types of risk that can be classified as followsHealth- unexpected accidents, food poisoningTravel- delays of the flight, flight cancellation due to natural disasterTheft- loss of personal documents, etc.Furthermore, risk can be classified as known risks (tourists are travelling to politically unstable areas) and unexpected risks (loss of documents, illness).The main goal of risk management is to protect the customers from unacceptable levels of risk and also build the reputation for travel organisations, avoiding financial losses.According to Sadgrove (2005), the process of risk mana gement is as followsIdentify and assess risksSet policiesImplement policies manage risksMonitor risksTourism providers should always advise customers on risks by giving advice how to behave in unfamiliar situations or providing the current information about the risks that big businessman be present in the resort.Socio-cultural issues can result in social breakdown of the destination, increase in crime and loss of local culture.The ecotourism is becoming very popular nowadays. Tour operators and travel agents have to be aware of the environmental issues relating to products they offer. Some of the issues are ecotourism and sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism provides information how to respect local cultures and the natural environment and protect the diverse wildlife of the destination.The need to provide the best quality and to keep the standards high is one of the main issues of SIT providers. The best quality could be achieved byProviding the full training for the moduleGo od knowledge about the products being soldRight people on the right jobRequesting feedback from customersConclusion There is no doubt that tourism had been the most important industry of any country that is why most of them are doing their best in order to maintain and preserve all of their resources that can attract the attention of their target tourist.