Special Interest Tourism: Meeting Customer Needs and Expectations in Maldives

This report focuses on special interest tourism (SIT) in Maldives and its impact on the tourism industry. It discusses the relationship between customer motivations and SIT products and services, as well as how diverse customer motivations and expectations are met by niche tourism markets. The report also includes an assessment of relevant data and statistics on the scale and scope of tourism in Maldives, and how tourism providers respond to customer needs and expectations. It concludes with recommendations for future developments in SIT.

Special Interest
Tourism

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
PART 1 – Article for Publications...................................................................................................1
Overview of special interest tourism products and services........................................................1
Assess that how customer motivates, needs and expectations influences special interest tourist
.....................................................................................................................................................2
Analyse the relationship between customer motivations and influences to special interest
tourism product & services..........................................................................................................2
Critically analysis of how diverse customer motivations and expectations are met by special
interest and niche tourism markets, products and experiences....................................................3
PART 2 – Written management report............................................................................................4
An interpretation and assessment of relevant data and statistics on the scale and scope of a
Maldives......................................................................................................................................4
Impact of special interest tourism on a Maldives and how tourism providers respond to
customer needs and expectations.................................................................................................6
Critical analysis of the impact of special interest tourism on Maldives, applying relevant data
and statistics.................................................................................................................................7
An examination of new and emerging special interest markets, products and providers............8

An evaluation of the impact of market forces and trends on the development of special interest
tourism markets...........................................................................................................................9
A critical evaluation of the development and impact of special interest tourism on a Maldives,
proposing justified and realistic recommendations for future developments............................10
PART 3 – Individual virtual/ online presentation..........................................................................11
Covered in PPT..........................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Special interest tourism (SIT) is the delivery of tailored tourism programs that represent
communities and individuals' unique interests. Tourist industry is done at the time to fulfil some
particular need or desire (Agarwal, Busby and Huang, 2018). It was planned to consist of four
core interactions such as rewarding, enriching, adventure some experiences and learning
experiences. SIT has become an essential part of current tourism business. The modern tourist is
much more willing to travel to different areas around the globe in which they can discover
something special than conventional mass tourism. It must be said that SIT encourages visitors
pick personal needs holidays to supplement the conventional mass tourism. This assessment
based on UK’s tour operator Holiday Architects which provide tailor made travel services under
the budget of their customers to maximise it products demands. This report covers several topics
such as part 1 consist article for publications, part 2 includes the written management report and
part 3 covers the online presentation.
It include the several topics about the special interest tourism (SIT) products & services,
analyse the scale, scope or impact of SIT and how they meet customers’ needs & expectations.
Assess the special interest tourism market and also design the pitch project with SIT products,
services and expectations.
MAIN BODY
PART 1 – Article for Publications
Overview of special interest tourism products and services
Holiday Architects is UK based tour Operator Company, in order to get growth in their
work they wanted to expand their product portfolio demand such as tailor-made holidays (Gu
And et.al., 2018). Tailor-made trip begin with empty sheet of paper and conversation with
client with the company's specialists, and it ends off with a vacation designed specifically for
customers. This company leave everything on customers that what they want, where they want
to stay etc. It seemed that tailor-made journeys were a fairly expensive method to go on holidays,
but it is no longer in this company case. They make sure that, they fulfil all the requirements
under customer's budget. Basically Holiday Architects tour operator company provide the
customize holiday packages as per the customer’s needs and expectations which comes under
special interest tourism. It further maximise the demand of product portfolio of the company.
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Assess that how customer motivates, needs and expectations influences special interest tourist
In order to motivate their customers, it is very essential to initially know their customers,
their interests, desires etc. Holiday Architect should motivate their customers through taking
necessary steps such as optimizing their websites which allow the visitors to understand the
things easy, make strong special media presence because most of the people like travel pages and
further they plan for the trip (Handayani And et.al., 2019). In addition, know your customers
through think about their requirements & interests and motivate them to take a tour. Holiday
Architect needs to expand their partnership with local companies. In 2019 the increase of tourists
searching for local experiences will begin. With quarters of visitors said they are looking for host
with good local food and guided tours experience and something that will still provide them
space. 12 percent have said that they want a host with whom they wouldn't have to speak and
30 per cent said it's necessary not to groups of host too much. Travel for local companies to have
each other promoted and motivate customers to take a trip.
Special Interest Tourism (SIT) is becoming an integral part of current tourism industry.
The modern traveller is more curious, inspired and optimistic in touring the world to new
locations in which they will discover something special than conventional tourism industry.
Special interest tourism (SIT) can be shown to allow tourists to select. Holidays of personal need
is replace traditional tourism growth. Special interest tourism is defined as focused tourism, as
per the UN World Tourism Organization, including person or group trips by such people who
seek to enhance their interests or find websites and areas that have a relationship with their
particular interest or topic.
Recently, SIT has become more popular, because it addresses individuals or groups' unique
needs or interests (Amerta, Sara and Bagiada, 2018). So basically, through providing customize
travel packages helps in motivating customers and their needs and expectations influence the
special interest tourist (SIT). Holiday Architect tour Operator Company should focus on their
tailor-made packages and fulfil customer’s needs as per their interest.
Analyse the relationship between customer motivations and influences to special interest tourism
product & services
Customer motivation and influence of SIT both are inter related because if products and
services for special interest tourism are attractive which influence the people and motivate them
to take a trip (Holloway and Humphreys, 2019). Holiday Architect should follow several ways to
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motivate customers and attract them towards travel destination and further tailor-made products
influence the customers to fulfil their needs and expectations. The connection between
inspiration and feelings, moods, company identity and affective structures such as commitment
to company and destination remains inexplicable. Those are undoubtedly important fields of
potential study, together with the process of how inspiration drives real behaviour of customers.
Holiday Architect need to motive their customers through optimising their websites, build
strong presence on social media sites, also gain the knowledge about their customer’s interests
and desires, motivate their staff who plays essential role to encourage people for the destination
holiday (Gibson And et.al., 2018). In addition, another way is to expand their partnership with
local tour operators which provide better travel experience to their tourists. Also attract them
through providing effective customer services because it is very valuable for them. These ways
will help the customers to motivate and influence them for special interest tourism (SIT) which
are beneficial for Holiday Architect who already provide tailor-made tour. Relationship among
customer motivation and SIT products and services help the assistant product manager of
Holiday Architect to maximise their product portfolio demand and helps in getting growth in the
domestics market or further maximise the future opportunities regarding its operational
expansion.
Critically analysis of how diverse customer motivations and expectations are met by special
interest and niche tourism markets, products and experiences
It has been critically evaluated that, customer’s extensions and motivations are essential for
tour operators to meet and it will be possible through offering tailor-made packages as per the
tourist’s desires and budget (Korstanje, Handayani and Seraphin, 2019). In context of Holiday
Architect, this company handle this work to the expertise that identify the customer’s needs and
expectations that where they want to go, where to stay, which type of facilities they want etc. All
the requirements will be listed in a paper and further company’s experts will go to address each
requirement as per the customers. After knowing all the requirements, they build special interest
tour which maximise the travelling experience with affordable cost. Because it is a general
perception that, customize holiday packages are expensive but Holiday Architect will provide
such services in niche tourism market with affordable budget.
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PART 2 – Written management report
An interpretation and assessment of relevant data and statistics on the scale and scope of a
Maldives
The tourism sector in Maldives includes 87 resorts in 9 seamounts, with a capacity of
around 16,000 seats (McKercher, 2018). Germany and Italy make up about 40 % among all
arrivals. The sector has a fairly high usage rate of bed capacity varying from 59 to 73 per cent
(Overview of Maldives Travel Industry, 2016). The room usage rate grew to over 78 percent in
the mid-1990s and decreased to 60 percent when a result of the dramatic growth in bed size
between 1997 and 1999. The rate of accommodation rise from 2000 however has reverted to
normal life. A visitor’s average period of stay ranges from 7-10 days.
Figure 1 Ministry of Tourism Maldives, 2016
During the year, the Maldives gain from strong competition for hotel and resort lodging.
From the period 2010 to 2015, the total number of international travellers expected to arrive at
Ibrahim Nassir International Airport grew steadily with a CAGR of 9.3%. Net international
visitors to the Maldives in 2015 were nearly 1.2 million as per figures from the Ministry of
Tourism (Data and Statistics of Maldives, 2016). The growth rate in 2015 however was lower
than in previous years due to the volatile nature created by the poor global and regional
economic performances. Excluding the slower development, provided the efforts of the
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Government to maintain the beauty of this island as a resort. The performance is expected to
recuperate in the medium to long - term.
Demand for tourism in the Maldives:
The market for tourists in the Maldives relies largely on foreign travels. The Chinese are
a prominent market segment that accounted for 29 per cent of all foreign arrivals in 2015 and has
retained its top spot as a trading hub over the last 5 years (Croy, 2018). While being the top
export industry for the Maldives, however, figures have decreased from about 364,000
international consumers in 2014 to 360,000 in 2015 with a rise in the European target markets.
Figure 2 Ministry of Tourism Maldives, 2016
The top 3 international markets in 2015 still consistent with the 2014 rankings; China,
Germany and the United Kingdom which contributed around 29%, 9% and 8% respectively to
the Maldives' total international tourism. Post the Rouble's deterioration, the Russian market,
which made a significant contribution 5 per cent of the total people arriving fell dramatically in
2014, and were exceeded by Italian and Indian tourists.
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Impact of special interest tourism on a Maldives and how tourism providers respond to customer
needs and expectations
There are several factors which affect the special interest tourism (SIT) and further impact
Maldives tourism business. In addition, with the help of it, tour operators of Maldives able
understand customer’s needs and expectation and customize their holiday packages accordingly.
In SIT, tour operators provide better transport facilities, increase in paid holidays, and long haul
travel via air jet aircraft. Visitors are concern about the environmental safety and impact of
tourism on nature etc. Basically customers show their interest about several things while they
planning for a holiday and these things affect the Maldives because it is such as beautiful place
along with several islands (Novotná, Frantál and Kubíčková, 2019). Tour operators need to fulfil
customer’s demand and make sure that it will be in favoured of Maldives travel business. SIT
helps in increasing overall demand of destination points of Maldives and identified several
opportunities. SIT offers Maldives travellers with better opportunities to participate in their
preferred sports, and improved learning. For tourists this is a much more worthwhile set of
memories than other aspects of entertainment. Tourism of special value has several different
aspects than conventional mainstream tourism, some of them being:
 This is more robust than most other tourist types.
 Offers more customized services.
 Similar to other forms of tourism, it is less organized.
 It does have a strong aspect of understanding, i.e. it gives useful insight, knowledge and
facts.
After evaluating the benefits or impact of special interest tourism (SIT), tourism provider of
Maldives will understand customer’s needs and expectations. But before developing SIT for
customers, they need to consider some aspects such as what type of services offer to the
customers, target the rights audience for the products & services, charge optimum price for the
services otherwise customers will shift to its competitors and also identify the effective method
for promotions and marketing. In addition, there are some other ways as well which helps in tour
operators to response their customer’s needs and expectations. Quality of customer services is
most essential to satisfy traveller’s needs because it helps in identifying individual requirement
regarding their tour. It is a vital factor in the growth of tourism, both as a way of fulfilling ever-
increasing consumer demands and as a method of ensuring company competitiveness. In order to
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improve their customer services, tour operators need to provide essential training to their staff
members to meeting company’s objectives (Pranita, Sule and Kaltum, 2020). Customer
orientation, their preferences regarding destination all are helps tourism operators to meet
customer’s needs and expectations.
Critical analysis of the impact of special interest tourism on Maldives, applying relevant data and
statistics
Due to special interest tourism (SIT), demand of Maldives destination is growing rapidly
throughout the period from 2010 to 2018. Below mention statistics provide better understanding
of international arrivals in Maldives which will be the greatest opportunity for the tour operators.
Figure 3. International tourist of Maldives, 2018.
As per the World Bank compilation of growth metrics, collected from officially recognised
sources, foreign tourism, numbers of arrivals in Maldives was registered at 1484000 in 2018.
Maldives is International tourism place where number of arrivals annually increases due to
customize holiday packages as per the customer's needs and expectations.
Below mention graph represent the age group of customers who like most to travel such
places.
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Above statistics shows that most of people who select Maldives as travel destination are
from 15 to 29 age categories. Around 33.87% people are from this category which related to the
young generation or mostly people visit this place for the honeymoon and enjoy their time with
their partners. This factor affects the special interest tourism of Maldives and provides several
opportunities through targeting right people for this destination.
Special interest tourism (SIT) positively impacts the Maldives destination for the
holidays because there are more than 44 tourist places to visit and it increases the international
arrivals every year. Maldives generally famous for its natural environment along with Blue
Ocean, beaches etc. These attractive places generate more demand with customize holiday
packages.
An examination of new and emerging special interest markets, products and providers
There are several new and emerging trends in special interest market which affect the
overall tourism industry of Maldives. Some of them discussed below:
Domestic and regional travel: Forced to live within their own country's borders, tourists
begin visiting their neighbouring regions and towns (Remondes And et.al., 2019). So long as it is
much more or less safe to leave the home, people may continue to pay for the break and search
for options for internal flights. For example: Go on beaches with friends and relatives, avoid
town for the crowded places and so on. Encourage their domestic visitors to go through the
islands and enjoy the nature’s beauty.
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Booking window: In the context of confusion, visitors have trouble preparing their
journeys in the same manner as before, which has an impact on booking slots. Travel firms have
modified the conditions of return or sale to allow consumers make payments with less costs.
United Airlines, for example, provides a flexible window on existing and new reservations up to
September 2020.
Solo travel: Formerly leisure travel was a family tradition or something else that people
did together. Now a day’s ever more people choose to hit out on their own. Going to enjoy a solo
trip isn't so uncommon anymore and this is progressively reflected by tourist trends. Single
travellers' requirements are diversified where some people just want to fly without getting a
partner disturbed. Most are young people pursuing social interaction or meeting a mate. Most
unmarried seniors also make use of long-term hotel accommodation or cruise ships as a
comfortable alternative to traditional elder care. Those trends in tourism are expected to grow.
Recognition technology: It is one of the highly significant developments in special interest
tourism market that are beginning to dive into a variety of different fields. To a daily traveller,
one of the most common recognition systems implementations is the bank of automated gates at
certain frontiers (Stone, Migacz and Wolf, 2019). The gates can check the information on the
valid ID card of the tourist and align it to their face utilizing camera and facial image
recognition. Recognition technology is among the main tourist trends in the market too, with
speech recognition being incredibly common in intelligent hotel rooms as a current controller.
An evaluation of the impact of market forces and trends on the development of special interest
tourism markets
There are several market forces and trends which help for the development of special
interest tourism market and some of them discussed below:
 Transport facility also affect the SIT market because travelling to the destination is very
essential which considered by the customers as important aspect.
 Increases in the paid holidays also a growth aspect for special interest tourism which is
beneficial for tourism market.
 Maximise the awareness regarding environment and mass tourism also affect the growth
of special interest tourism.
 Affordable budget for airlines and cheap tickets also impact the development of SIT
market for tour operators.
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 Another market force is high competition between the service providers because it helps
in attracting more customers and develops the special interest tourism market.
 Increase the communication based technology and marketing of destination through
highlighting natural features of tourist places. It further affects the growth of special
interest tourism market for the tour operators of Maldives.
 Through improving destination facilities and infrastructure impact the SIT and increase
its demand in the market.
The aim is to recognize the consumer's need and to draw up a travel plan which serves better
all the requirements and wants of the traveller. SIT-engaged visitors make an effort to learn
more, develop their skills, expand their experience and express themselves, anticipate high
quality levels and individualized attention. Understand the market requirement is also essential
for the growth of special interest tourism. Tour operators need to gather information related to
the profile of tourists, expenses of planed destination, motivation behind the travelling,
behaviour of tourist and their consumption pattern and at the end need to identify the satisfaction
level of customers.
A critical evaluation of the development and impact of special interest tourism on a Maldives,
proposing justified and realistic recommendations for future developments
It has been critically evaluated that growth and several market forces affect the special
interest tourism of Maldives because it is very essential for the tour operations to identify
customer’s needs and emerging factors which can provide opportunities to expand their business
or create demand as well (Tapada And et.al., 2020). After evaluating all the development
aspects, companies need to develop future plans for expansion of their operations or profit
margin. Growing demand from global investment firms in hospitality assets in the Maldives has
helped to hold the country's market value high. Overall sales are difficult to receive extremely
high levels next year due to economic absorption and island state unpredictability about the
performance of the hospitality assets. In the medium to long term, resort sales are expected to
gradually ramp up to stable rates before the 2018 general elections.
Recommendations:
 Tour operators should focus on multi generational travellers which provide them huge
profit and also aid in getting growth.
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 They need to increase the interest of visitors regarding private island experience
because it has much scope which provide worldwide growth and demand.
 Middle Eastern markets and growing Thai markets are the future trends for the
travelling companies.
 Promote the destination with special occasions and by using effective marketing which
helps in making people aware about it.
 Maldives resorts are primarily designed to fit with one island 's idea of a resort. To
really get away from the crowded world's hustle, each resort segments itself as a line
getaway.
 In order to maximise demand for their destination, tour operator should focus on brand
awareness
Above recommendations help the tour operators of Maldives to implement these growth
opportunities to make their brand and destination popular among the world. It will maximise the
overall demand of this destination which is beneficial in terms of profitability or provide huge
growth by using special interest tourist.
PART 3 – Individual virtual/ online presentation
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
From the overall discussion it has been concluded that special interest tourism is one of the
essential method to satisfy their customer’s needs and expectations regarding their holiday
destination. Through providing customized services to their visitors, tour operator companies
able to make their brand popular among the people and it also helps in satisfying their needs and
extenuations. In addition, there are several ways to motivate their customers who help in
maximising entire demand or male destination popular. Along with it, there are several emerging
factors which can be used by the tour operators for the development of special interest tourism.
With the help of latest trend in the tourist sector provide several opportunities and organizations
should focus on improving all the aspect for better results.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Agarwal, S., Busby, G. and Huang, R. eds., 2018. Special interest tourism: Concepts, contexts
and cases. CABI.
Amerta, I. M. S., Sara, I.M. and Bagiada, K., 2018. Sustainable tourism
development. International research journal of management, IT and social
sciences, 5(2), pp.248-254.
Croy, W. G., 2018. Film tourism. Special Interest Tourism: Concepts, Contexts and Cases, 6,
p.85.
Gibson, H. J. And et.al., 2018. Introduction to the special issue active sport tourism.
Gu, Q. And et.al., 2018. Wine tourism involvement: a segmentation of Chinese tourists. Journal
of travel & tourism marketing, 35(5), pp.633-648.
Handayani, B. And et.al., 2019. Street Food as a Special Interest and Sustainable Form of
Tourism for S east Asia Destinations. In Special Interest Tourism in Southeast Asia:
Emerging Research outh and Opportunities (pp. 81-104). IGI Global.
Holloway, J. C. and Humphreys, C., 2019. The business of tourism. SAGE Publications Limited.
Korstanje, M., Handayani, B. and Seraphin, H., 2019. Southeast Asia Tourism: Introductory
Chapter. In Special Interest Tourism in Southeast Asia: Emerging Research and
Opportunities (pp. 1-22). IGI Global.
McKercher, B., 2018. What is the state of hospitality and tourism research–2018?. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Novotná, M., Frantál, B., Kunc, J. and Kubíčková, H., 2019. Special Interest Tourism in the
Czech Republic: Introduction and Overview. Czech Journal of Tourism, 8(1), pp.49-63.
Pranita, D., Sule, E. T. and Kaltum, U., 2020, May. Co-Creation of Experience for Competitive
Special Interest Tourism. In 2nd International Seminar on Business, Economics, Social
Science and Technology (ISBEST 2019) (pp. 279-284). Atlantis Press.
Remondes, J. And et.al., 2019. Impacts Caused by the Web in Tourism Marketing. International
Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media, (5).
Stone, M. J., Migacz, S. and Wolf, E., 2019. Beyond the journey: the lasting impact of culinary
tourism activities. Current Issues in Tourism, 22(2), pp.147-152.
Tapada, A. And et.al., 2020. Astrotourism: stakeholders' views about a special interest tourism
proposal in Tua valley. Revista Turismo & Desenvolvimento, (33), pp.41-59.
Online
Data and Statistics of Maldives. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.hospitalitynet.org/file/152006404.pdf>
Overview of Maldives Travel Industry, 2016. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.tourism.gov.mv/pubs/TourismIndustryinMaldives/overview.htm >
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