Impact of Special Interest Tourism on a Chosen Destination

This report analyzes the impact of special interest tourism on a chosen destination and how tourism providers respond to customer needs and expectations. It also discusses the scale and scope of the special interest market and provides relevant data and statistics. The report is prepared for Holiday Architect, a company offering small and special interest tours.

Special Interest
Tourist

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
An interpretation and assessment of relevant data and statistics on the scale and scope of a
chosen special interest market.....................................................................................................6
An analysis of the impact of special interest tourism on a chosen destination and how tourism
providers respond to customer needs and expectations...............................................................7
A critical analysis of the impact of special interest tourism on a chosen destination, applying
relevant data and statistics...........................................................................................................9
Examination of new and emerging special interest markets, products and providers.................9
Evaluation of the impact of market forces and trends on the development of special interest
tourism markets.........................................................................................................................10
Critical evaluation of the development and impact of special interest tourism and realistic
recommendations for future developments...............................................................................11
PART 3..........................................................................................................................................12
Covered in PPT..........................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
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INTRODUCTION
Special interest tourism is considered to be the tourism in which tailored tourism activities
are provided to the customers by the hospitality organisation with the aim to satisfy the special
need of the target market (Thrane, 2016). In this the focus must be on the highly dedicated
travellers which are small in numbers and are interested in unusual activities with ability to
spend on their interest as per the services they require. Special interest tourism came into
existence with the primary motivation and the practising hobbit of the individuals that arises out
of the hobbies, activities, any theme or destination which is attractive to the niche market. With
the changing taste and preference of the customers the expectation and the quality of the services
within the hospitality industry has been increasing and this has lead to the development of the
transportation, accommodation services, food industry etc. This report is prepared for Holiday
Architect which enables them to develop effective understanding of the travellers. The company
has been offering small and special interest tour since 2010 as per the need of the customers.
They are planning to expand their portfolio of tailor made holidays along with the capacity to
manage the increasing demand of the customers. For this they tends to offer better trainings to
their employees as part of their strategy of retaining their employees and enhancing the ability of
meeting up with the needs and expectations of the employees. This report includes an article
which provides an overview of the products and services of special interest tourism along with
the scale, scope and impact of special interest tourism markets. Apart from this expansion of
products and services are taken into consideration for the organisation.
PART 1
Special Interest Tourism
Special interest tourism is a provision with the help of which customised tourism activities
offered to a specific group of people for satisfying their specific need. In this four major
experiences of the customers are considered such as rewarding, enriching, adventuresome
experiences and learning experiences. Clients are interested in such activities as they seek to
learn more, enhance and enrich their awareness, improve their standard of living etc. An
organisation can offer so by identifying the type of tourism as per the dominant interest of the
group of people. The products within the tourism can be defined as “attractions” within the
tourism industry and they can be classified into two groups natural and cultural including natural
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sites and events. Holiday architect can look for various attractions that can provide their
customers excitement and thrill like through adventurous tourism so that high customer
satisfaction can be achieved and target customers like millennial can be attracted.
Assessment of how customer motivations, needs and expectations influence special interest
tourism
Special interest tourism has been growing among the travellers as people are more conscious of
their interest and specific to their due to which the interest towards hobbies and special areas has
been increasing. The tourism industry is increasing on the fact of unique needs of the travellers
which is influenced by various platforms such as social media platforms, influence by peer
groups etc. This leads to development of various tourism related services and product in various
categories such as urban, rural, underwater or air (Thanh and Kirova, 2018). The special interest
tourism is highly affected by the level of motivation of the customers as well as their needs and
expectations due to which it is important for organisation operating in industry to effectively
analyse them. Holiday architect can look forward to tourism places which can help in giving
them high satisfaction through increased value for their money by providing them with high
quality tourism services within their budget.
Customer motivation: Motivation is dependent upon both internal and external dimensions that
encourage individual to accomplish their needs as per their interest. People tend to accept the
change in the tourism towards special interest because they are not happy with their monotonous
routine and due to this the special interest tourism experience is motivated primarily. The leisure
motivation can be classified as escaping the monotonous activities or for seeking something new.
Holiday Architects motivate their tourist by customising the travelling programs as per their
interest to different locations either to find something new or to get better experience for interest.
Special interest travellers are motivated through both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in which
intrinsic are those motivators that gives pleasure in context of skill improvement or relaxation as
per the hobby and nature of interest. While extrinsic motivators can be the status, sustainability
and the demographic factors which developed from the people surrounding them. The level of
motivation among different people encourages them to have customised plans for them and by
taking into consideration such expectation Holiday Architects can ensure expansion of their
business (Novotná and et.al., 2019).
Expectations of the customers: With the changing taste and preference of the customer it can
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be identified that expectations are also increasing towards special interest tourism in context of
better services and facilities during the trip. The organisation within the industry has to take into
consideration such expectations to ensure the level of satisfaction of the customers. Holiday
Architects considered safety, value and belief, care, timely availability of all the services for their
customers along with various customised practices according to the customers. While
communicating for the trips the managers within the organisation various aspects such as
activities, facilities and aim of the individuals so that they can offer better special interest tourism
to the customers. Holiday Architect needs to conduct market research so that changing needs,
wants and expectations of customers can be monitored which can help in enhancing the customer
experiences.
Needs of the customer: Different customers have different needs due to which they look
forward for a variety of product and services within the tourism industry so that they can satisfy
their needs. In special interest tourism, most of the needs are related with food, accommodation,
activities, guidance, transportation etc. are considered by the customers as in this they generally
travel to an unpopular destination. Tour operators have to manage such needs efficiently so as to
offer a tailor made package with the aim by the needs of the customers (Normelani., 2017).
Analysis of the relationship between customer motivations and influences and special
interest tourism products and services
The motivation within the customer defines the product and services that they uses while
planning for their trips. The type of products and services that they decide are also based upon
the needs and expectations. The motivation as well as the needs and expectations of the
employees enable the businesses in ensuring that what services they have to offer to the
customers. For instance the type of tours along with their inclusions is offered to the travellers
with specific interest so that their needs can be met. The managers within the Holiday Architect
deals with the travellers in such a manner that their expectations are met and the trips are sold top
them efficiently. This can be ensured by them through effective communication among their
team members and other tour operators so that they can efficiently pitch their target market with
the capability of customising the plans as per their requirement.
Critical analysis of how diverse customer motivations and expectations are met by special
interest and niche tourism markets, products and experiences
On the basis of various studies it can be analysed that the experiences of the customers can be
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improved by offering them the product and service as per their expectation and also by taking
into consideration various factors that motivates them. For ensuring this most of the holiday
planning organisation considers the tailor made packages as with the help of this they can ensure
that the practices, activities and other related services are as per the special interest and demand
among the customers. In addition to this, the needs and wants of different group of travellers
vary from each other due to which the market of specific need is niche and for targeting the niche
market the offerings of the organisation has to be very specific (Henama and Sifolo, 2018). Due
to this the diverse need can only be satisfied by the Holiday architect by ensuring that their
products and services are tailor made.
PART 2
An interpretation and assessment of relevant data and statistics on the scale and scope of a
chosen special interest market
In present scenario, tourism sector is one of the fastest growing industry where number of
activities are needed to be performed by business entity to attracted customers. Talking about
Nepal which a land-lock country but still it is among one of the famous tourist destination. It has
been found that every year the percentage of tourist are increasing around 20% to 30% which is a
significant growth in current scenario (Nepal receives 1.17m tourists, 2019). According to the
report of immigration department, they have informed that there are around 969287 international
visitors who have visited Nepal through airways and on the other side there are 203785 who
came through roadways. It means that around 24.77% growth was seen then the year 2017.
Looking at the scenario, there is huge market for Holiday Architects as 10 world heritage site lies
within the Nepal which automatically shows the benefit that any of the hospitality industry can
obtain.
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(Figure 1: THE NEPAL BRAND, 2020)
(Source: THE NEPAL BRAND, 2020)
The above graph shows that the ratio of tourist who visits Nepal on a daily basis are increasing at
a rapid speed. The only reason to decrease in ratio of tourist in year 2015 was major earthquake
of 7.9 rector scale. Other than that, the ratio is always increasing which can be the positive sign
for organisation like Holiday Architects. In addition, the major benefits are seen just because of
the additional efforts which are being shown in the field of transportation, communication
channels and other adventure sports which are available in different part of the country (Frisvoll,
Forbord and Blekesaune, 2016). Holiday Architect can use its marketing strategies to promote
tourism in places like Nepal which have many adventurous places to offer to the customers
which can help in improving their satisfaction and also help in enhancing their value for money.
An analysis of the impact of special interest tourism on a chosen destination and how tourism
providers respond to customer needs and expectations
It needs to understand that there are number of factor which shows its impact upon
special interest tourist which even have its direct impact over tourism sector of Nepal. The main
thing which needs to understand that how any of the company can perform effectively so that
they can accomplish their goals and target in best possible manner. In context of Nepal, tourism
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is among the sector which has been contributing towards their GDP at a greater speed and even
increasing the number of job opportunity on a daily basis. In order to attain goals, it will be
important for the organisation like Holiday Architects to meet out the all of the requirements of
tourist and in additionally it must be able to contribute towards the tourism industry of Nepal.
Some of the main impact of Special Interest Tourism of Nepal has been discussed below in
detail:
 Creating demand: It need to be understood that special interest tourism always allow to
improve overall demand among the people or a group of people who likes to visit
different place. The major purpose behind visiting new place is just to express themselves
in more effective manner. The special interest of tourism generates higher percentage of
demand among traveller due to which they can allow to themselves to visit Nepal. Also,
their interest among local culture, tradition along with sports or adventure activity which
allow to meet out the demands of tourists. Not only this, as it is said that special interest
tourist always positive in nature because thinks to maintain the beauty of any specific
place by not increasing the percentage of pollution or garbage (Frantál and Urbánková,
2017).
 Offering customised services: Tourist are of different types where some of them likes to
visit new place by investing proper time whereas some of them are also there who have
very less time period. So, looking at the situation, customised offering services are quite
important because it allows to meet out the expectation of customers. Special Interest
tourist also focus towards offering customised services so that holiday can be spend well.
Industry offering customised services certainly allows to being positive impact upon
tourist as they gets opportunity to decide the place where they are willing to visit. Also, it
will give additional benefits to tourist to decide and plan their holiday according to their
available budget which is quite important in current scenario.
It is essential to understand that there are number of activity which needs to perform by
the tourism industry in order to meet or response towards every single expectation of tourist. The
needs and expectation can be also met if organisation is able to develop health relation,
delivering given work responsibility on time. In context of Holiday Architects, they are needed
to identify at initial level that who are their major customers and to whom they need to target so
that goals can be accomplished. Also, company must be able to deliver the package which are
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expected by customers because that has a huge positive impact upon organisation. Even there are
number of other activity which can be performed to meet out the expectation such as entity can
work for bring online facilities for customers where they can check about the services which are
being offered by organisation . Even all of the necessary training can be provided to employees
who can deal with customers in best possible manner.
A critical analysis of the impact of special interest tourism on a chosen destination, applying
relevant data and statistics
(Source: Nepal Tourist Statistics, 2019)
It needs to understand that special interest tourist always allow to increase the percentage
of demand at a greater speed. On a daily basis demand of special interest is increasing from
which people from neighbour country of Nepal shows major interest towards the nation as they
are the one who visit the most (Everett, 2016). It is among one of the main reason that tourist
from different part of world are also being attracted towards the Nepal and allowing the tourist to
learn something new on a daily basis. Tourist gets the opportunity to find something new about
new culture tradition and many which is quite impact to attract more number of special interest
tourist.
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Illustration 1: Nepal Tourist Statistics, 2019

Examination of new and emerging special interest markets, products and providers
The consumption patterns within the tourism industry in context of special interest tourism
are dependent upon the changing distant reference of the customers and the growth of interest
towards leisure modern society. With the increase in the number of travellers with special
interest the preference and planning for various products and services within the industry has
changed such as the focus of the travellers has been towards sporting tourism, health and
wellness tourism etc. Travel and Tourism industry contributes to the economic development due
to which the focus has been made on the trends that are prevailing in the industry. The managers
within Holiday Architects has identified various new and emerging special interest markets,
products and services that they have to take into consideration so that they can ensure expansion
of your business:
Domestic as well as regional travel: This trend has been observed among the travellers as they
tend to visit to their regional locations and domestic locations with groups to serve their interest
area. Due to this Holiday Architect need to emphasize upon level of expectation such as the local
people in Nepal are attracted towards various adventurous activities on the Himalayan range.
Along with this the world heritage site Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha attracts the people to the
destination (Ellis and et.al., 2018). These places can offer special tourism experiences to the
customers and help in improving their experience so that tourism can efficiently grow in the
selected country. Also this will increase the customer base of Holiday Architect as more number
of customers can be attracted by offering them with highly advanced facilities, tourism
experience within their budgets so that brand image of the company can also increase in market.
Individual travelling: Individual travelling has been emerging trend in the special interest
tourism as individuals has been looking forward for break from monotonous routine and search
for peace as well as for exploring something new and unique. It is taken as an opportunity the
individual to visit to the destination as per their interest without taking into consideration the
interest and itinerary of others. For example in Nepal various trekking team groups has been
operating that plan for various trips for the individual according to their interest in the mountains
but they are very lesser in number as only 13.1 % people visit to Nepal for mountaineering and
trekking as there area of special interest.
Mobility trends: People have been taking into consideration their comfort and fun at the time of
deciding means of transportation to visit to any destination. The trend that has been analysed
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among the travellers with special interest is through their personal vehicles so that they can
manage the activities as per their interest. For example Nepal includes various pilgrimage and
heritage sites along with natural beauty that is enjoyed by the groups mostly which their
personally hired vehicles (Dangi, 2017). Such arrangements are made by the tour operators so
that they can make their packages customise and serve their customers efficiently. Holiday
architect can also offer highly effective travelling facilities to the customers which can help in
increasing their ability in controlling the mobility trends thereby enhancing customer facilities
along with improving its reputation in market.
Evaluation of the impact of market forces and trends on the development of special interest
tourism markets
The development of any industry is dependent upon various market forces and the trends
prevailing among the individuals as their area of interest for special interest tourism. As per the
opinion of Vasileiou (2016), it can be analyse that various market forces such as political,
technological, environmental factors has direct influence on the businesses of tourism. The
government on the consistent basis implies various regulations which affect organising various
activities due to which attraction of customer get affected to the destination. In addition to this
various environmental factors affect various activities such as bungee jumping, trekking and
hiking, bird watching, paragliding etc. that are majorly part of special interest tourism. The
tourism industry of Nepal was affected due to the destructive earthquake in the year 2015 and
this lead to reduction in the number of travellers to the country. But gradually the development
took place as the activity within the nation attracts a lot of tourist for a variety of attractions.
Tourism has always seen trends in context of expectations and preferences of the customers
which are evaluated by the organisation so that they can directly identify its impact on special
interest tourism (Cicero, 2018). With increasing awareness and access to various social media
platform the trend of individual travelling has been increasing along with domestic and regional
travel with the motive of exploring the local places. This has adverse impact on the operations of
the organisation such as Holidays Architect as it becomes difficult for an organisation to design
individual trips with minimum prices as expected by the customers.
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Critical evaluation of the development and impact of special interest tourism and realistic
recommendations for future developments
On the basis of the above discussion on special interest tourism within Nepal, it can be
analysed that destinations in the country attract a lot of groups with special interest as major
tourist activities that are offered includes wilderness and adventurous activities. The people with
a special interest are attracted to these activities as they can connect with nature and aims to learn
something new as well as to explore something unique. Such people are also considered to be
sensitive towards the environment which implies that they do not harm the destination activities
such as dumping of the waste etc. Also, a lot of people visit the country for religious sites but
with this, it can be determined that the special interest tourism effects purchase made for a
particular type of destination such as mountaineering and adventurous activities area of interest
for different people varies due to this it affects the income of the organisation. The development
of special interest tourism within Nepal has improved the infrastructure so that better services
can be offered to the travellers and opportunity for employment to the local people can be
ensured (Cho, Bonn and Brymer, 2017).
On the basis of this, it is recommended to the Holiday Architect that they need to
emphasize upon travellers of different age groups and different segments of the society so that
they can offer customise or tailor-made package to all the people who visit with different aims
such as pilgrimage and heritage site, tourism for pleasure, travelling for enriching and learning
experience. This will facilitate them to enhance their profit as they can target people to different
locations as per their expectations and needs. To accomplish this company is recommended to
promote their packages through social media platforms along with relationship marketing in
order to identify the expectations for offering customised product and services by developing a
sustainable position for the future. The company can also focus on its expansion in other regions
so that a large number of customers can be targeted by the company by attracting them through
their holiday packages which have high quality of travelling and tourism facilities along with
enhancing customer satisfaction. Customers must be kept at priority by the company so that their
choices and needs can be given priority while selecting the services along with the ways in which
affordable services can be provided to customers at effective prices. Increased participation of its
employees in decision making can also increase innovative ideas that can help in dealing with
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customer needs and wants in an efficient manner so that high quality services can be offered to
them and company’s brand image can be improved in market.
PART 3
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that organisation within the tourism industry need to
focus upon changing taste and preference of the customer so that they can ensure attractiveness
of the product and services for different locations. The opportunity and gaps must be identified in
the destination with the aim to ensuring changes in the policies of the organisation as per the
trends and market forces.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Vasileiou, M., Tsartas, P. and Stogiannidou, M., 2016. Wellness tourism: integrating special
interest tourism within the Greek tourism market. Tourismos. 11(3).
Thanh, T. V. and Kirova, V., 2018. Wine tourism experience: A netnography study. Journal of
Business Research. 83. pp.30-37.
Novotná, M. and et.al., 2019. Special Interest Tourism in the Czech Republic: Introduction and
Overview. Czech Journal of Tourism. 8(1). pp.49-63.
Frisvoll, S., Forbord, M. and Blekesaune, A., 2016. An empirical investigation of tourists’
consumption of local food in rural tourism. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and
Tourism. 16(1). pp.76-93.
Cho, M., Bonn, M. A. and Brymer, R. A., 2017. A constraint-based approach to wine tourism
market segmentation. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. 41(4). pp.415-444.
Normelani, E., 2017. The Potentiality of Tourism Resources in Hulu Sungai Selatan Regency,
South Kalimantan. Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Development Studies. 5(1). pp.1-
8.
WATSON, A., 2017. Music tourism. Special interest tourism: concepts, contexts and cases,
pp.73-84.
Ellis, A. and et.al., 2018. What is food tourism?. Tourism Management. 68. pp.250-263.
Henama, U. S. and Sifolo, P. P. S., 2018. Religious Tourism in South Africa: Challenges,
Prospects, and Opportunities. In Global Perspectives on Religious Tourism and
Pilgrimage (pp. 104-128). IGI Global.
Balderas-Cejudo, A., Patterson, I. and Leeson, G. W., 2019. Senior Foodies: A developing niche
market in gastronomic tourism. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science.
16. p.100152.
Thrane, C., 2016. Students' summer tourism: Determinants of length of stay (LOS). Tourism
Management. 54. pp.178-184.
Everett, S., 2016. Food and drink tourism: Principles and practices. People. 10.
McKercher, B., 2016. Towards a taxonomy of tourism products. Tourism Management. 54.
pp.196-208.
Cicero, L., 2018. Special Interest Tourism. Concepts, Contexts and Cases. European Journal of
Tourism Research. 20. pp.153-155.
Frantál, B. and Urbánková, R., 2017. Energy tourism: An emerging field of study. Current Issues
in Tourism. 20(13). pp.1395-1412.
Robinson, R. N. and Getz, D., 2016. Food enthusiasts and tourism: Exploring food involvement
dimensions. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. 40(4). pp.432-455.
Dangi, V., 2017. Heritage and tourism: Issues and challenges. Research Journal of Humanities
and Social Sciences. 8(2). pp.217-222.
Jovicic, D., 2016. Cultural tourism in the context of relations between mass and alternative
tourism. Current Issues in Tourism. 19(6). pp.605-612.
Online
Nepal receives 1.17m tourists. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/nepal-receives-1-17m-tourists/>
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THE NEPAL BRAND. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-nepal-brand/>
Nepal Tourist Statistics, 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.nepalisansar.com/tourism/nepal-tourist-arrivals-2019-jan-reports-25-y-o-
y-rise/>
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