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Hypothetical Case: Tourism Industry

Description

Tourism is dependent upon global policies and politics. It is highly responsive to natural, economic and political occurrences and events. The needs, expectations and anticipated benefits of tourism vary greatly from one destination to the next, and there is no “one size fits all” approach to destination management. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to ask you to examine tourism for one specific case.

The Hypothetical Case:

Upon graduation you have secured employment to assist the minister of tourism in insert location here (you choose a country, province / state, city, region). Your minister has been directed to pursue tourism as an economic and social development opportunity. Your job is to assist your boss in preparing for tourism.

Your first task is to decide which country, province, state, city or region you will base your project on. Please note that Canada and any location in Canada are excluded from your location selection.

Using knowledge gained throughout the course and from secondary sources, you will document the overall current tourism situation and then analyze the location for future tourism opportunities and marketing.  You will need to use the Internet and library resources to access public documents and research associated with preparing your case study. Be sure to properly reference all sources using APA format, including websites.

Specific Guidelines for the Completion of Part A & Part B

Part A: Research & Outline

Prepare for your report by conducting your research and outlining your report. You will need to include the following:

• Create an annotated bibliography consisting of at least 8-10 sources that you will use in conducting your research for this report (at least 2 must be peer-reviewed journal articles).
  1. The annotated bibliography consists of your reference plus a paragraph (at least 3 sentences) below which describes how you will use this particular source. It should also provide a critique of the source (i.e. is your information reliable?).
• Create a cover page and table of contents, which will outline how you will address the questions listed below for the report.
• Write the introduction for your report and address the following:
  1. A brief history of tourism in your chosen location. For example, is your location a well-developed tourism destination with solid organization and continued growth, or is tourism a relatively new undertaking with little organization?
  2. The present demand for tourism based on a review of available tourism statistics (present this data in a table or in a visually appealing point format – be creative!). Include information such as:
     • Number of tourists and the revenue they generate
     • Origin of the tourists (i.e. where do they come from?)
     • Purpose of their trip
     • A description of the key months/key seasons for visitation. When do most arrive? Are there opportunities to increase visitation at other times?
     • Information about the evolution of visitation over the past 10 – 20 years (e.g. increasing, decreasing, stagnant)

Part B: Situation Analysis & Future Plans

Using the outline, research and introduction you prepared for Part A, prepare a report for your minister that examines the following. You can use the headings provided below as an organization guideline for formatting your paper.

Introduction and Overview of Tourism:

(Include content from Part A)

The Impact of Tourism:

• The benefits that tourism brings to your location.
• The barriers to tourism acceptance at your location.
• The impact of tourism on your location’s culture.

Tourism Management:

• Provide a brief description of how tourism is currently managed in your location. For example, are there government departments overseeing tourism in your location? If so, how is this structured? Are there strong LOCAL tourism organizations involved in tourism?
• An overview of the training (or lack of) available to tourism employees.
• Provide a brief summary of the components of a tourist destination area (TDA) at your location. Examine the adequacy of present supply (the five components noted below) with present demand (level of visitation). In other words, are the following five components of the TDA sufficient for tourism there? For each component comment on what is working and what you think could be improved. Provide evidence or examples to support your statements.
  1. Natural resources
  2. Infrastructure
  3. Suprastructure
  4. Transportation system
  5. Hospitality of the host

Note: If you have selected a location that you have personal experience with, your own experiences are a great starting point for research, but this report should be based on research and evidence. For example, don’t just say that the transportation systems seemed sufficient from when you were there. Do some research and reference your sources to support your statements.

• Where you believe your location fits on the life cycle of a destination; justify or explain why you chose a particular stage in the life cycle.

Tourism Planning and Marketing:

• An analysis of the tourism planning process (i.e. has your location gone through a tourism planning process)? If so, what steps were followed? What key dimensions were incorporated in planning (i.e. environmental, social, and economic)? If no planning has taken place, discuss how this has impacted this tourism destination.
• Using the basic 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, promotion), in general terms identify how your location is marketing itself today. Identify what could be changed and what could be improved for future marketing efforts.
• Based on a review of tourism trends (global and local) identify future tourism plans for your location as well as challenges that lie ahead. Identify these future tourism plans using the eight components of tourism as your framework (transportation, accommodations, food and beverage, attractions, events, adventure tourism and outdoor recreation, travel services, and tourism services). Use the next 3 to 5 years as your planning horizon. *Hint: Use the tourism planning process described in this course and your text as your example.

Conclusion:

Summarize your main points and provide a conclusion for the minister regarding your recommendations.

Format for Case Study Parts A & B

• All assignments must be typed in Times New Roman font, 12-point size, double spaced.
• Submit assignments in .doc or .docx or .pdf format.
• All assignments must be professionally organized and presented. Instant messaging (IM), chat and email slang and abbreviations are not acceptable forms of communication in this course.
• The final paper should not exceed 12 typed double spaced pages (excluding your title page, table of contents page, references page and appendices). Focus on being concise.
• Visuals such as maps, infographics or tables are encouraged. Visuals are not included in the total page number count, as they are not text.
• For in-text citations, references page, and title page, your papers must adhere to the guidelines set out in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 6th edition). There are many online resources that you can access to perfect this format.
• Submit your assignments using dropbox on or before the deadline shared through the course announcements.
• You are responsible for ensuring the safety of your work by making regular backups (i.e. extra copies).  “The computer ate my work, I lost my flash drive, my hard drive crashed, my printer isn’t working” are not acceptable excuses for late assignments. Expect that you will have technical difficulties and plan accordingly.