Hospitality Destination Planning

This report analyzes the development and regeneration of tourism destinations, focusing on the London Eye as a case study. It explores policy approaches, the importance of holistic planning, and the roles of tourism planning in achieving sustainability and profitability. The report discusses various aspects like institutional and managerial approaches, technology adoption, marketing activities, and sustainable development strategies.

Hospitality Destination
Planning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
1: Policy approaches in managing the development and regeneration of tourism destinations..1
2: Importance of holistic planning for sustainable destination development..............................2
3: Roles of tourism planning in the destination development or regeneration...........................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Tourism refers to an activity of individuals who wants to travel and stays in such
attractive places for the purpose the different purposes which includes entertainment, education,
research etc. It may be within or outside of tourist's nation. It contributes maximum support to
the growth of economy of nation where the destination is located for example. London eye in
UK by generating huge employment opportunities and tax payments to the government.
Therefore, it is important to make suitable planning to manage and develop tourism destinations
and achieve huge sustainability for longer period of time. The present assignment is based on the
“London Eye” which is a giant Ferris wheel located in the south bank of river Thames in the
London. UK Government make all efforts in making such destination more popular so as to
receive huge number of tourists from various nations every year. The present report discusses the
policy approached, role of tourism planning in development of tourism destination.
TASK
1: Policy approaches in managing the development and regeneration of tourism destinations
According to the world Tourism Organisation (UNTWO), tourism consists of activities of
individuals visiting to and staying in attractive places outside of their usual environment upto
the one consecutive year for the purpose of leisure, business and others. In UK, London eye is an
attraction which grabs an attention of not only local people but also foreign visitors. It has
received over 3.75 million tourists on annual basis due to which generated huge revenues. It is
owned by Merlin Entertainment who is responsible to manage and develop such tourist place. It
can be developed through investing huge amount on implementation of advanced technology and
marketing activity so as to reach the information about the attractiveness of such tourist
destination to maximum number of people of different nations. There are various approaches
which can help in studying and developing the destination places. It includes:
Institutional approach: It refers to a study of various intermediaries which are involved
in conducting tourist activities. It mainly focuses on such institutions such as travel agency. Such
approach requires to make research of destination place such as London Eye in order to
identifying the problems, operating methods, cost etc. of its supportive institutions so that proper
actions can be taken for their development (Araslı and Baradarani, 2014).
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Managerial approach: Such approach mainly focuses on the management activities
operated by the management for the development of tourist places. It includes planning, research,
pricing, advertising, control etc. It is considered as popular approach which gives proper
guidance to the management regarding executing operating activities in more developed manner
so as to maintain sustainability of tourist destination for future [period of time.
Others approaches that assist in managing the development and regeneration of tourism
destinations were as follows:
Technology: Merlin Entertainment is real owner of London Eye due to which they are
responsible to make such destination more popular in and outside of UK. It can be possible
through adoption of various kinds of technologies such as internet which allows visitors of
foreign visitors to book tickets in advance through online. It reduces cost, increasing operation
efficiency and enhance the services of better customer experience. With the help of information
technology, the tourists can easily contact with the persons handling activities of London eye
regarding booking, accommodation services and others attractions (Camilleri, 2018).
Internet plays a major role in developing the tourism destination as it assist tourism business to
inform about the availability of tickets, services provided and other leisure activities to large
number of people through posting information on official websites along with an attractive
pictures and feedbacks collected from past guests. Therefore, it maximises the popularity and
number of tourists visited at London eye on annual basis.
Marketing activities: British Airways who is also engaged in managing and developing
London Eye should also perform different roles and responsibilities in order to increase revenue
and number of tourists. They put advertisements about availability of tickets, offers, timing of
departure etc. which favourably influences decision-making of tourists regarding visiting at such
destination. Social media is another popular advertising platform where millions of people are
active on daily basis. Therefore, to use such platform for promotional purposes easily grab their
attentions which directly makes positive impact on the revenues and developments of London
Eye tourism (Cvelbar and Dwyer, 2013).
2: Importance of holistic planning for sustainable destination development
According to Larsen and Guiver (2013), sustainable tourism development refers to an
understanding of tourist's perceptions of distance, a key to minimise the environmental impact of
tourism mobility.
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To achieve huge sustainability and profitability, the government and owner of London
Eye should make an appropriate plans and policies which assist such destination to remain exist
for at-least 3-5 years. It requires huge investment to maintain attractiveness of tourist destination
for future period of time. For an instance, London Eye has several attractions near to them such
as Aqvarium, Westmister, Tamisa etc. which should be developed over period of time in order to
gathered huge number of people at London Eye. It can be improved through investing in the
following aspects:
Tickets: The owner of the London eye should bring discounting offers on their ticket
prices so as to make easy for number of tourists to afford to buy who wants to take round of
wheel in order to see the vast are nearby. Membership cards may also helpful for retaining
regular customers to visit on annual basis with discounted prices on each journey. Providing
tickets online facilitate tourists of different nations to book tickets in advance so as to avoid any
shortage of tickets in future (Di Pietro, Di Virgilio and Pantano, 2012).
Safety: It is another important aspect which should be developed by the owner of London
Eye as the tourists took their safety as main priority while travelling. They prefer to visit at such
nation where they feel safe and secure due to which it is required for tourism business to ensure
tourists about their safety by investing huge amount of money to maintain their security. It
further promoted on interest as well so as to inform tourists about their safety equipments and
other security services which can easily influence the tourists' decision of travelling at such
destination place. For example, Large bags, motorcycle helmets etc. are prohibited while
entering into Coca-Cola London Eye for security reasons.
Proper disposal schemes: Tourists likely to visit at such tourist destination where they
get clear and healthy environment. As there are lots of tourists are visited at London Eye every
year which increases the possibilities of polluting environments by throwing garbage and
wastage nearby to the destination. It adversely affect their health which is the primary concern of
every tourists (Getz, 2012). Therefore, it is the responsibility of Merlin entertainment and British
airways to launch a proper disposal schemes which motivates individuals for energy
conservation and recycling of wastage. Keeping dustbin on very corner nearby to the destination
minimises the chances of polluting environment and recycling such wastage for further use. By
using marketing techniques such as social media, Hiring celebrities etc. help in creating
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awareness among to people to maintain healthy atmosphere. This will increases in the number of
tourists visited at London Eye year.
Promotion: There are many attractions are located around the London Eye such as
National Gallery, Somerset House, The Fourth Plinth, House of Lords and many more which can
easily grab an attention of maximum number of people. It requires proper marketing planning to
promote such attractions using various promotional tools such as social media, official websites
etc.
Internal environment: It requires to arrange proper sitting facility, shed at the Que
standing area, canteen, washroom so as to maximise the experience of targeted people which
brings motivation among individuals to visit at such destinations again in future. By conducting
marketing campaign, either through physical or online assist customers to know the service they
get if visited at such destination (Kilipiris, and Zardava, 2012).
3: Roles of tourism planning in the destination development or regeneration
According to Viken and Granås (2016) “Tourism development planning comprises of
series of systems of goals and arrangements depends on regional tourism, history, current
situation and market factors. By identifying the actual resources the tourism business for the
development of destination and utilise them in an optimum manner is referred as tourism
planning. It is done with a clear objective of increasing in the number of tourists visited at such
destinations every year. Such tourism planning includes various elements to develop tourist
destination which are given as under:
Market analysis: Planning is started with conducting market analysis by studying the
past and present trends, tourists needs and requirements, destination images etc. To develop
London eye, it is the responsibilities of merlin entertainment and British airways to conduct
market research through using online sources so as to identify the changes required to made
according to the visitors. This will increases number of tourists at such destination places on
annual basis (Pabel and Prideaux, 2016).
Assessment of available resources: There are number of resources utilised in developing
destinations. To develop tourism destination, it is important to maintain the attractions who grab
an eye of large number of visitors. For example, Aqvarium, Westmister, Somerset House, The
Fourth Plinth etc. are some attractions of London eye which must be maintained through making
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huge investments in hiring manpower, advanced infrastructure, speedy transpirations and other
support services. This will increases the existence of such destination for future period of time.
Marketing: It is an activity performed by responsible person of London Eye to select the
target, application of strategies to reach such target, establishing objectives, coordination of
efforts involved in promoting particular destination. For example, higher income people have
mostly visited at London eye due to their expensive ticket prices and transportations due to
which they are mostly targeted by influencing their decision of travelling through using various
marketing tools and techniques such as social media, hiring known celebrities etc. It brings
overall development of tourist destinations.
Economic and Financial analysis: Under this, economy and financial conditions has
been analysed which includes analysis of cash flow, available capital, interest rates etc. At the
global level, economic analyses includes balance of trade from inbound and outbound tourism.
For example, revenues earned by Merlin Entertainment from their tourism destination “London
Eye” are carefully analysed which motivates to spend on their own development by
implementing advanced technologies and marketing tools (Pike, 2012).
Environment: The main objective of tourism planning is to develop natural resources
without damaging the environment, and improve the natural beauty of it. Implementing disposal
schemes which motivates the tourists to protect the environment by disposing wastage in dustbin
which can be further recycled by management for future use. This will help in increasing brand
image of tourist destinations which can easily attracts huge number of customers.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above project report that tourism is one of fast growing
sector which supports the growth of economy of nation by creating job creation, tax payments,
protecting environment etc. This requires development of tourist destinations through making an
effective suitable tourism planning so as to achieve their huge sustainability for longer period of
time.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Araslı, H. and Baradarani, S., 2014. European tourist perspective on destination satisfaction in
Jordan's industries. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 109. pp.1416-1425.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. the Planning and Development of the tourism Product. In Tourism
Planning and Destination Marketing (pp. 1-23). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Cvelbar, L.K. and Dwyer, L., 2013. An importance–performance analysis of sustainability
factors for long-term strategy planning in Slovenian hotels. Journal of sustainable
tourism. 21(3). pp.487-504.
Di Pietro, L., Di Virgilio, F. and Pantano, E., 2012. Social network for the choice of tourist
destination: Attitude and behavioural intention. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Technology, 3(1), pp.60-76.
Getz, D., 2012. Development, and Marketing. Sport and adventure tourism. 49.
Kilipiris, F. and Zardava, S., 2012. Developing sustainable tourism in a changing environment:
issues for the tourism enterprises (travel agencies and hospitality enterprises). Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences. 44. pp.44-52.
Larsen, G.R. and Guiver, J.W., 2013. Understanding tourists’ perceptions of distance: A key to
reducing the environmental impacts of tourism mobility. Journal of Sustainable
Tourism. 21(7). pp.968-981.
Pabel, A. and Prideaux, B., 2016. Social media use in pre-trip planning by tourists visiting a
small regional leisure destination. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 22(4). pp.335-348.
Pike, S., 2012. Destination marketing. Routledge.
Viken, A. and Granås, B. eds., 2016. Tourism destination development: turns and tactics.
Routledge.
Online
Tourism Definitions. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.tourismsociety.org/page/88/tourism-definitions.htm>.
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