Visitor Attraction Management: A Comprehensive Guide

This comprehensive guide delves into the intricacies of visitor attraction management, exploring various types of attractions, their overlapping characteristics, and the impact of tourism on the UK. It examines key motivation theories, analyzes the needs and motivations of different visitor types, and highlights the environmental, social, and economic impacts of tourism. The guide also delves into the process of tourism development, outlining its stages and potential issues. Furthermore, it explores visitor management strategies, emphasizing their relationship with sustainable tourism practices. This insightful resource provides a thorough understanding of the complexities of visitor attraction management and its crucial role in the tourism industry.

VISITOR
ATTRACTION
MANAGEMENT

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................2
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................0
2.1 NEEDS AND MOTIVATIONS OF DIFFERENT VISITOR TYPES................................................................0
2.2 IMPACTS OF TOURISM ON VISITOR ATTRACTIONS IN UNITED KINGDOM.........................................2
2.3 EFFECTS OF THEORIES OF TOURIST MOTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF VISITOR ATTRACTIONS
ON TOURISM...........................................................................................................................................3
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................................5
3.1 AND 3.2..............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 4........................................................................................................................................................15
4.1 VISITOR MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES...............................................................................................15
4.2 RELATIONS OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES WITH SUSTAINABILITY..............................................16
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................19
1

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is one of the world's fastest-growing sectors and its importance has identified by nations
around the globe, this assignment is about tourism and visitor attraction management. This assignment
provides a brief understanding of visitor attraction management; it explains various types of visitor
attraction and overlap of visitor attraction. This assignment focused on motivation theories and their
impact on travel and tourism and different types of tourist and motivation. It also helps to highlight the
impact of tourism in the UK. Information about different kind of visitor strategy and management
techniques in sustainability added to this assignment. Process and potential issue related to tourism are
included in this assignment.
2

TASK 1
Visitor attraction are the sites where the tourist
goes to see and explore, this sites have some
special exhibitions. They are manmade, natural,
or cultural value to the world, there are many
tourist attractions in the UK, and they are very
popular among national and international
tourist. As a Tourism Consultant for a National
Tourism Agency Visit Britain, this article will
help to explore important places in the UK. We
will also discover how exciting they are to visit
as a tourist.
Natural Attractions
The Lake District
Source:
https://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/201707
1040492/lake-district-unesco-world-heritage-
site/
Natural attractions include lakes, beaches,
forest, and waterfalls. They created by nature
and have a lot of significance for conservation
of nature. Those who like to be with nature
tend to visits this spots often. One of the most
famous natural attractions is The Lake District in
the UK. The Lake District has an association with
some of the most famous poets of the UK like
Ruskin, Wordsworth and it is a UNESCO world
heritage site (Hello, 2017).
Heritage Attractions
Heritage attractions are old monuments,
buildings, or artic-facts that have certain
cultural or geographical value. They help people
to connect with the past and have a glimpse of
past life. UK’s The Stone Hedge is a very popular
heritage site along with Blenheim Palace. A
large number of visitors visits them every year.
Blenheim Palace
Source:
http://treasurehouses.co.uk/house/blenheim/
Purpose-built attractions
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Purpose built attractions made exclusively for
tourist attraction at a specific area; they help a
lot in tourism development (McKercher, 2016).
Designed on either historical or cultural
background or some unique fact about that
area they liked by all types of tourist. The main
purpose-built attractions of UK are Tower of
London, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and the
Alton Towers.
Events
Tourist events celebrated at certain dates
throughout the UK, they help to gather a lot of
international and national crowd and generate
jobs for local (Giulianotti et al., 2015). Some of
the most famous tourist events are Olympics
and the Paralympics. The London Olympics
helped to generate a £9.9bn wealth in the
economy and created a lot of opportunity for
employment and business for the local (BBC,
2013). Such events also help the country to
become the centre of the world and the
number of international events is growing in the
UK.
Overlap of visitor attractions
To explore the overlap of attraction in the UK
we will consider the example of Hampton Court
Palace. It is a Royal Palace and visited by a lot of
tourists every year. The main centre of
attraction at the Hampton Court Place is the
rich cultural heritage that is associated with it
and The Royal Garden that are flowering in it
(Palaces and Discover, 2016). The Hampton
Court place is also a centre of attraction
because of the Hampton Court Place festival
that is organised in June of every year. Various
national and internal artists come to present
their work at this festival and many national and
local tourists attend it.
The York Minster Church is the Church of Saint
Peter located in York; it has both historical and
cultural value. The construction of church
completed in 1408 and currently it is around six
hundred and ten years old. It is a prime place of
attraction for the religious visitor and the
historical visitors. It also has largest continuous
medieval stained glass artwork as well as
ancient art that is designed inside the church
(Brown, 2015).
The Stained Glass work at York Minster
Source: https://daily-norm.com/tag/york-
minster/
Importance of Visitor attractions
4

Visitor attractions play a very important role in
supporting local business and creating
employment. They also help to create an
international image and some countries have a
major part of GDP coming from tourism. There
are fifteen million visitors in London alone and
find it endlessly to explore, the tourism
development helps the local theatres to run full
at all times of the year. Special events such as
the London Olympics helped to generate a good
amount of wealth for the country. The famous
tourist spots such as the River Thames, The
London Eye are always full of people and tourist
activity contributes to 3.1 million total jobs in
the UK (Visit Britain, 2017). The cultural value
and the spirit of London are famous among
tourist in the world and the volume of
international tourist is going to rise to six
percent per annually (Visit Britain, 2017). The
UK ranked in top ten-tourist place in the world
because of the Hospitality and the leisure that
tourist experience in the country. It offers a lot
to discover and helps to sustain a unique
experience of travel throughout the lifetime.
The UK has the variety of tourist attractions and
it has the capability to content the tourist of all
types. Growth and development of new tourist
places and careful preservation of old and
natural tourist attraction help the UK to be one
of the most desired travel destinations.
5

TASK 2
INTRODUCTION
Tourism is related to a wide range of concepts and theories and proper market segmentation and
targeting in tourism can help to develop its volume significantly. In this report as a tourism consultant
with the national tourism industry, various points that are important for the marketing team to target
specific tourist for the UK have highlighted. This report also helps to identify the impact of various
theories of tourism motivation.
BODY
2.1 NEEDS AND MOTIVATIONS OF DIFFERENT VISITOR TYPES
A tourist is a person who executes a travel for the different purpose this purpose related to leisure,
business or other activity. An individual counted as a tourist only when his activity planned and purpose
to stay at the travel location only for less than a year. The tourist may have different need and
requirement for travelling to the different location, this requirement acts as a motivation for them that
initiate the travelling process. To grow and develop the tourism in the UK it is very important to find
what kind of different motives are available for tourist to travel. If the UK, as a country is able to fulfil
this need than it will be able to increase the volume of tourism in the country. This will help to generate
jobs, grow the business, and improve the international image.
The various type of tourist that visits the UK are:
 Religious tourist
Religious tourist visit to the UK for Pilgrimage tour, the most popular pilgrimage in the UK are St
Cuthbert's Way, St Winfried’s well. These tourists have different needs and special
arrangements are required to arrange during the season of pilgrimages ( Raj, et al., 2015).
 Sports and recreational tourist
Sports and recreational tourist visit the UK during the special sports events that are organised
every year. The highest volume of sports tourist observed during the London Olympics, proper
marketing could help to generate better revenue through all sports events throughout the year.
6

 Youth tourist
Youth tourist visit the nation with limited budget and luggage, they have requirement of low-
cost accommodation and food facility. The highest volumes of youth tourist that visit the UK are
due to its musical and movie culture.
 Sports Tourist
A lot of sports tourist visits the UK every year; most of them are a fan of football or cricket. The
sport tourism in UK has increased significantly the past decade (Visit Britain, 2017).
Accommodation and special tourist plan designed to address sports tourism will encourage its
progress.
 Medical tourist
Medical tourism in the UK has become high due to the good quality medical facility provided by
National Health Service (Heung et al., 2010). Patients from all over the globe visit the UK for
treatment of diseases related heart, kidney, and brain.
 Educational tourist
The educational tourism involves students visit UK the on study tour or a student exchange
program. The number of educational tourist in the UK is very high due to good universities and
vibrant culture. The UK ranks third in the list of most desirable education tourist spot (Visit
Britain, 2017).
 Business tourist
The number of business tourist visiting in the UK have been increasing fast, London being the
capital of UK most of the trips centred on it. The basic requirement of business tourist is quality
accommodation, fast transport and timed aviation services.
The marketing team must carefully develop various travel packages and products related to taking in
consideration different types of tourist. If the product designed according to the financial and facility
requirement, it is most likely that the number of tourist visiting UK will increase. For example, if
affordable transport and accommodation facility provided during the musical and sports festivals in the
UK it is more likely that the number of youth and sports tourist visiting the UK will increase.
7

2.2 IMPACTS OF TOURISM ON VISITOR ATTRACTIONS IN UNITED KINGDOM
Tourism results in a positive and negative impact on the UK, the various factors that considered to
amylase the impact of tourism are the environmental, social, cultural, and economic impact (Gössling
and Peeters, 2015). This analysis helps users to identify the result of the overall influence of tourism and
derive a measure that is required to control them.
 Environmental Impact
Tourism has resulted in negative impact over the environment due to the high amount of waste
generation, carbon emission due to transportation and requirement of the high amount of
water during some special events (Gössling and Peeters, 2015). The example of negative impact
is the distortion of beaches and high amount of waste generation in Cornwall. Tourism has also
helped to generate funds for the national parks and reserves in the UK, which have eventually
helped to conserve nature.
A beach at Cornwall
Source: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/sustainable-development/climate-
change-and-energy/what-are-the-potential-impacts-of-climate-change-in-cornwall/
 Social Impact
The positive impact of tourism on social factors of UK is it helps to generate job and revenue for
the local business(Gössling and Peeters, 2015). It helps to facilitate interaction between people
belonging to different culture and region as well as it helps to grow the hospitality industry. The
8

negative social impact of tourism is that it may result in the clash between different culture and
conflict between local and tourist.
 Economic Impact
Tourism has resulted in growth in employment rates and business revenue, it has contributed
around 9% to the total GDP of UK (Visit Britain, 2017). It has helped to create jobs in hospitality
and aviation sector, though out the UK. However, the negative impact of tourism is the seasonal
cyclic variation in the business, due to which it resulted in temporary job creation and increase
in inflation during the peak time.
2.3 EFFECTS OF THEORIES OF TOURIST MOTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF
VISITOR ATTRACTIONS ON TOURISM
By using the theories of tourist motivation and visitor attraction such as the responsible Tourism theory
and the smart consumer theory better and improved results can be attained in tourism. These theories
explain the factors that can improve tourism and create better utilities. The two theories are as follows:
 The Smart Consumer Theory
The smart consumer theory focused to maximise the travel contentment and minimise the
impact on the environment (Gretzel et al., 2015). It based upon the UNWTO rules set, that
makes a tourist look beyond the cultural aspect. The smart consumer theory focused on the
smart tourism system, which enables better interaction between people, resource, technology,
task, and reward. This interaction helps improve the system and minimise the overall impact on
the environment.
The smart tourism system
9

Source: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/smart_tourism_development?
view=abstract&listby=date
 Responsible Tourism Theory
The responsible tourism theory identifies the role of social, environmental, cultural, and
economic factors in developmental of tourism. The environmental factors are focused to
minimise the impact of environmental degradation by touristic activates (earth net, 2014). The
social factors focused to develop the interaction and participation of society in the development
of tourism. The culture factor is to respect the culture of visitor and take care of his cultural
needs as well as to use the culture of the host country to improve the quality of tourism. The
economic factors focused to generate wealth for everyone through tourist activates (earth net,
2014). The utilisation of responsible tourism theory helps to promote tourism by taking in hep of
all the possible aspects.
CONCLUSION
This report helps to gain insight into need and motivation of different type of tourist. It also elaborates
the economic, social and cultural impact of tourism in the UK. Theories of motivation for tourism such as
the smart consumer theory and the responsible tourism theory explained in this report with their effect
on tourism management.
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TASK 3
3.1 AND 3.2
Slide 1
11

Slide 2
12

Slide 3
Tourism Development
Tourism development done by drafting a tourism development plan; this plan is of long term,
medium term or short term. It done on the entire international, national, regional and tourist
spot level. It is done to create a eco system that will make the tourist feel content and their
needs are fulfilled like quality food, quality hotel and information regarding the tourist spots.
The tourism development is important and plays a vital role in tourism attraction at the place.
Various steps are taken by the government of UK to develop tourism all over the region.
13

Slide 4
The process of tourism development consist of seven stages, this seven stages related with each
other and describe the process of growth of a spot into tourist attraction. The seven stages that
are involved in tourism development are exploration, involvement, consolidation, stagnation,
rejuvenation and decline.
• Exploration
During this process the number of tourist that visit the spot are very few, the place remain
undisturbed due to tourist activity and there are very few number of faculties for the tourist.
• Involvement
During this phase the number of tourist visiting the place increaser with a growth in the facility.
14

Slide 5
• Consolidation
In this place the tourist place see good growth rate, but their many be some issue between the
local and the tourist visiting the area due to difference in view and points. During this phase the
number of tourist visiting the place are highest.
• Stagnation
In this phase, the facilities that are available at the tourist spot became out dated and public
interest in this spot also decrease, during this phase the number of tourist visit to that spot is
minimum.
15

Slide 6
• Rejuvenation
In this phase, various government and private investments made in the spot to update the
faculties and efforts are taken to make the spot popular in public. This process is very important
because it helps to save jobs and local business that are running out of tourism in that area.
• Decline
This is near to demise stage for the tourist spot because its popularity decreases rapidly and the
most of the business shuts down due to les number of tourist visits. This stage occurs only when
if rejuvenation is not done at the spot.
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Slide 7
The various issues that related to tourism development are:
• Environmental issues
Tourism is responsible for casing pollution and degradation; this controlled by taking measures
related to sustainable development in the area. The highest damage caused to the natural
tourist spot due to the tourist activity.
• Financial Problems
Due to scarcity of funds the growth and development of tourist spots is restricted, this caused
due to lack of government interest in growth of tourism or due to limited private investment.
17

Slide 8
Tactic Problems
These problems occur due to poor planning for the tourism related to accommodation,
transportation and food during peak seasons or special events.
Political Problems
Due to Brexit, certain problems may occur in tourism development in UK.
18

Slide 9
19

Slide 10
20

TASK 4
INTRODUCTION
As a tourism consultant, it’s important to understand different visitor management strategies to
improve the tourism. Visitor management is a process involving methods to know the need and to
address the need for the visitor to improve the quality of tourism. It is a complicated process, in which
data such as a number of visitors, visitor profile collected to ease the tourism service accordingly
(Cheung, 2013). It is very important to execute this process with sustainable tourism methods. This
report also highlights the relation between management strategies and sustainability.
BODY
4.1 VISITOR MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
Visitor management plays an important role in the development of tourism and hospitality. The
strategies of visitor management help to identify the problems and improve the problems related to
tourism. They also help effectively manage the facility and reduce the chance of collapse of the system.
Various visitor management methods classified into two types that are demand service and supply
service (Swanson and Edgell Sr., 2013). The demand service tells about the strategies to attract tourist
and the supply strategies tell about methods to improve tourist contentment at the facility.
Supply Services
 The visitor flow for the facility should manage well; sufficient measures taken to make it easeful
(Swarbrooke and Page, 2012).
 The facility should have flexible capacity to manage high volume during peak hours; it must have
arrangements for extra accommodation and dining facility.
 During peak hours, it must have the facility of additional staff and the staff must be multi-skilled
to do all sorts of work required in the facility.
 The footpaths of tourist identified to improve the visitor management.
 The facility must be able to fulfil the security demand of the tourist and take all the measure to
protect them from ill-happenings.
 It must use sign to make it visible and deliver information about the unique feature of the
facility.
21

Demand Services
 Price incentives and benefits provided to the tourist according to the special needs and
requirements. This will improve the volume of a number of tourists.
 Additional benefits such as dry-cleaning, laundry, hoteling, pick and drop must be provided to
the customer for better retention ( Swarbrooke and Page, 2012).
 The facility must take care of marketing by both digital and conventional mediums.
 Methods to improve the knowledge of tourist regarding the area implemented; this will act as
an education tool for them.
 Use of methods of lifecycle management and product lifecycle management implemented.
 New innovative features added to the facility for the development of tourism ( Swarbrooke and
Page, 2012).
4.2 RELATIONS OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES WITH SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable tourism is the process of growth and development of tourism without causing harm to
nature (Edgell Sr, 2016), this process happens in three different aspects economic, social, and cultural.
Sustainable tourism has a relationship with the tourism management methods and responsible to cause
an impact over it.
The management techniques should keep the economic aspect of tourism at various regional levels such
as national, international, regional, and local levels. It must also make sure that the sustainable
development planned at all this levels (Blackburn, 2012). The sustainable tourism helps in fulfilling
tourist acceptation and the possibility of tourist travelling back to the place is high. The social aspects of
sustainability must also be preserved and with regard to the heritage and cultural value. In management
techniques, the conflict between preservation and conservation with regard to an environmental aspect
of sustainable tourism must be in focus (Blackburn, 2012).
Overall, the relation between management techniques and sustainable tourism must be the centre to
for growth of tourism and preservation of nature. This will support a longer and better life cycle for the
tourist spots.
CONCLUSION
This report helps to understand the demand and supply strategies that implemented to improve the
visitor attraction. These strategies will help to develop customer service, brand image and focus as well
22

as it helps to save money. This report focused on sustainable tourism in relation to management
techniques.
23

CONCLUSION
This assignment helps to understand the aspects related to visitor attraction in detail. The points
covered in this report such as types of visitor attraction, an overlap of visitor attraction and definition of
it helps to gain insight in this topic. Explanation of theories of motivation for tourist and impact of
tourism in the UK helps to highlight the merits and demerits of tourism and methodology how they
controlled. This assignment also elaborates data related to travel and tourism in the UK and the process
and potential involvement in the development of visitor attraction. Overall, this assignment helps to
develop knowledge about visitor attraction management and insight gained in this report will be helpful
for future use.
24

REFERENCES
1. BBC, London 2012 Olympics 'have boosted UK economy by £9.9bn', 2016 ( Online available at
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-23370270 last assessed on 01 May 2018 )
2. Blackburn, W.R., 2012. The sustainability handbook: The complete management guide to
achieving social, economic and environmental responsibility. Routledge.
3. Brown, S., 2015. Apocalypse: the great east window of York Minster. Third Millenium Publishing
Limited.
4. Cheung, L.T., 2013, November. Improving visitor management approaches for the changing
preferences and behaviours of country park visitors in Hong Kong. In Natural resources forum
(Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 231-241).
5. Earth net, What is Responsible tourism? , 2014 ( Online available on https://earth-net.eu/what-
is-responsible-tourism/definition-of-the-concept/ last assessed on 02 May 2018 )
6. Edgell Sr, D.L., 2016. Managing sustainable tourism: A legacy for the future. Routledge.
7. Giulianotti, R., Armstrong, G., Hales, G. and Hobbs, D., 2015. Sport mega-events and public
opposition: A sociological study of the London 2012 Olympics. Journal of Sport and Social Issues,
39(2), pp.99-119.
8. Gössling, S. and Peeters, P., 2015. Assessing tourism's global environmental impact 1900–2050.
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(5), pp.639-659.
9. Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z. and Koo, C., 2015. Smart tourism: foundations and
developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), pp.179-188.
10. Hello, The Lake District is named a UNESCO World Heritage site, 2017 ( Online available at
https://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/2017071040492/lake-district-unesco-world-heritage-
site/ last assessed on 02 May 2018 )
11. Heung, V.C., Kucukusta, D. and Song, H., 2010. A conceptual model of medical tourism:
Implications for future research. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 27(3), pp.236-251.
12. McKercher, B., 2016. Towards a taxonomy of tourism products. Tourism Management, 54,
pp.196-208.
13. Palaces, H.R. and Discover, A., 2016. Hampton Court Palace. Retrieved, 9, p.12.
14. Raj, R. and Griffin, K.A. eds., 2015. Religious tourism and pilgrimage management: An
international perspective. CABI.
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15. Swanson, J.R. and Edgell Sr, D.L., 2013. Tourism policy and planning: Yesterday, today, and
tomorrow. Routledge.
16. Swarbrooke, J. and Page, S.J., 2012. Development and management of visitor attractions.
Routledge.
17. Visit Britain, Britain's visitor economy facts, 2017 ( Online available on
https://www.visitbritain.org/visitor-economy-facts last assessed on 03 May 2018 )
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