Tourism Development Strategy for Broadstairs, Kent

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URBAN
TOURISM
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3
PART 1...................................................................................................................................... 4
A. EXAMINING THE BENEFITS OF PRODUCING TOURISM PLANS FOR A COASTAL AREA
WITH EXAMPLES OF SUFFOLKS COAST THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED FROM IT....................4
B. EVALUATION OF IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATIVE PLANNING IN TOURISM SECTOR
AND JUSTIFY OF WHY THIS APPROACH WILL BE USEFUL FOR BROADSTAIRS COASTAL
AREAS. DISCUSS PROS AND CONS OF THIS APPROACH........................................................5
PART2....................................................................................................................................... 7
C. COMPILE A BRIEF TOURISM STRATEGY WITH CLEAR VISION AND OBJECTIVES WHICH
WILL ADDRESS THE CURRENT ISSUES AND CHALLENGES THAT BROADSTAIRS IS FACING. . .7
D. DESCRIBING HOW VISION AND OBJECTIVES COULD BE IMPLEMENTED AND IDENTIFY
THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN CHARGE OF DELIVERING THOSE OBJECTIVES.........................11
E. EVALUATING HOW STRATEGY WILL BENEFIT THE RESIDENTS SOCIALLY AND
ECONOMICALLY..................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 16
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 17
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INTRODUCTION
This report is based on the tourism of coastal areas whose business solely depends on
tourists from outside the nation, from various countries around the world. There is a huge
impact of technology on tourism, and this impact has increased the ratio of tourists in exotic
places worldwide, through online discounts and ease of accessibility. The focus is on a case
study of Broadstairs, which is a town in east Kent coast situated in the middle of Ramsgate
and Margate, this town is not able to generate tourism in spite of the new and ease of
technology, although this town is beautiful and is surrounded by 7 bays and various
different attractions in the city. To attract the customers there is a need for a tourism plan
so in this report, the formulation of tourism plan and the impact of this tourism plan on the
society or the local people economically and socially will be included (Lew, 2014). The
strategy will be compiled with the vision and objectives to solve the current issues and
challenges in the broad stairs. The stakeholders are also affected by the strategies
implemented, so the analysis of the impact on the different stakeholders is also to be done
in this report.
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PART 1
A. EXAMINING THE BENEFITS OF PRODUCING TOURISM PLANS FOR A
COASTAL AREA WITH EXAMPLES OF SUFFOLKS COAST THAT HAVE BEEN
AFFECTED FROM IT
Tourism plans are the strategic tools that are used to increase tourism in the area. Benefits
of tourism plans –
High tourists footfall- The implementation of tourism plans have resulted in a high inflow of
tourists both national and international, the tourism has increased tremendously, at
Suffolk's the major income source is only the tourism so the tourism plan has been initiating
and raising the number of people coming in the town on regular basis. And in the offseason
through conducting the events Suffolk’s have managed to generate off-season tourists in
the town (Lew, 2014).
Employment generation- Through tourism plans there is an increase in the tourist and thus
there is a need for more hotel, more staffs and hence more job employment more job
opportunities more people are having their daily bread and butter fewer chances of robbery
and crime thus the whole system is maintained and the economic stability is maintained for
the town. In Suffolk's through the implementation of the proper plan, the town has seen a
significant change in the job opportunities as compared to earlier times with less scope of
job opportunities (Ferguson, 2011).
Increase in economic inflow- through various tourists’ attraction there is an inflow of
money in the area. Through an increase in tourists, the economies of scale are improved.
There is the creation of job opportunities and hence people will have to increase a rise in
their income and will raise their standard of living, reduce poverty. Suffolk’s peoples
standard of living have increased and the technology advancement in the town is also
reflecting the growth of the town (Lew, 2014).
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B. EVALUATION OF IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATIVE PLANNING IN
TOURISM SECTOR AND JUSTIFY OF WHY THIS APPROACH WILL BE USEFUL
FOR BROADSTAIRS COASTAL AREAS. DISCUSS PROS AND CONS OF THIS
APPROACH
Collaborative planning is a model that means delegating the authority and responsibility to
the stakeholders directly not through various channels (Wray, 2011).
Collaborative planning is termed as the planning done together by the government and the
tourism committee of the broad stairs. Collaborating planning is important as the local
authority also have some responsibilities, cost budgets and some authority towards the
decision making of tourism planning. Both the parties are required for making the decision
and formulating the strategy for attracting high tourism and implementing the same.
Benefits of collaborating planning-
1. Proper formulation of the tourism plan with the people who care and respect the
state of the town, they are the ones who are affected majorly by the tourism and
tourism policy. These people are the residents who live in the city and are totally
depended on tourism so they have the right to make decisions regarding tourism
planning (Wray, 2011).
2. Proper execution of the tourism plan, the stakeholders will be more motivated to
implement the plan as they need change and are interested in the revenues and
income hence they will properly implement the strategy (Wray, 2011).
3. There is the creation of better and innovative ideas by the stakeholders that cannot
be done if the government solely decides and formulated the planning for tourism
strategy (Wray, 2011).
Pros of collective approach-
The stakeholders like private companies have new and innovative ideas as they have the
aim to achieve higher growth as compared to voluntary and government.Private companies
are more competitive so they help in promoting them and bringing in the urge of
competition (Wray, 2011).
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Cons of collaborative approach-
The decision taken by the stakeholders may be biased and decisions taken may not be
environmentally friendly or opposing the natural laws.
The stakeholders may ignore the tourist’s point of view and the preferences of tourists in
order to earn more and more profit, as private companies are profit and revenue oriented,
they can ignore nature and visitors but cannot ignore the profit (Wray, 2011).
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PART2
C. COMPILE A BRIEF TOURISM STRATEGY WITH CLEAR VISION AND
OBJECTIVES WHICH WILL ADDRESS THE CURRENT ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES THAT BROADSTAIRS IS FACING
Current issues and challenges faced by broad stairs-There are several issues in the broad
stairs but the main and core issue is low tourism attraction and very low tourists visit the
town. Broad stairs are unable to attract the tourists in spite of online accessibility and
technological advancement. Some of the major challenges are-
 Firstly there is a very low visit of families in the town, they prefer to go somewhere
else in spite of coming to the nearest coastal destination, this problem of fewer
family visit increases in the offseason or shoulder season.
 The second problem faced by broad stairs is that the tourists that visit the town are
mostly the short time visitors who don’t stay in the hotel for night or two, hence no
long term visits no that income through tourism. People come to visit for a few hours
and for short walks, not long-term walks.
 Thirdly there are no proper food joints in the town especially those multinational
brands and the local restaurants also don’t have celebrity chef endorsements, which
create no attraction for the tourists or nearby visitors.
Executive summary-
Broad stairs is facing some serious problems of fewer family visits especially in the offseason
where the tourism is so low that the town hardly manages to survive, if people come to visit
the city they come for a very short time of 3 to 4 hours no one wants to stay long so to
attract the customers a tourism strategy is to be made that will define the visions and
objectives of the tourism strategy. The tourism strategy will help in gaining tourist attraction
in the broad stairs and will help in the generation of income for the residents.
Vision – To make broad stairs a tourist’s spot especially for the family visitors and
simultaneously sustaining environmental safety is the vision of this tourism strategy.
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Objectives-
 The first objective is to attract a high amount of tourism through online and offline
means.
 Secondly, the objective is to develop the town with more amenities and facilities
including the luxury facilities
 To promote and advertise through a celebrity or any other endorsement and
develop food joints and restaurants is another objective.
 To ensure sustainability for the environment to ensure the safety of the natural and
manmade heritage of the town preserving the same for future generations is the
goal.
SWOT analysis-
Strengths
 Attractive beaches and attractive
landscape, especially the golden sandy
beach which attracts most of the tourists
 Clean and sandy beaches.
 Popular for its beaches and is also known
as the jewel in the Thanet's crown
 Strong goodwill in terms of local food
and drinks as the restaurants use local
produce.
 Different kinds of attractions which
include heritage, beaches, shopping and
nature.
 Good hotels for accommodation.
 Cycle hire and good transportation
system including railways that take give a
direct ride to London.
 It was once voted as a 2nd best seaside
coastal town in the UK.
Weakness
 Many people know this town for
smuggling and it was famous for its
huge smuggling activities earlier so
many people avoid coming to this
place.
 Less population of 25000 people and
very few families.
 Not famous for a specified activity of
water sports or any other sports.
 Low tourist’s attraction.
 Not a longer stay, most of the
tourists stay for only 1-2 nights in this
town at the percentage of around
40% and the people staying for 3-5
nights are in the ratio of 25% so this
affects the income this is because
there are not more places to visit in
this town.
Opportunities
 To be Appreciated and recognized as
most visited or most attractive tourist
spot for the people around the
world.
 To develop an attraction in the
people to visit this town.
 Advertisement and promotion
needed for maintaining the existing
leisure facilities.
Threats
 Threat from other coastal towns like
Suffolk coast.
 Continuous effect of global warming
and uncertainty in the environment
and uncertainty in climate changes,
these factors not only cancel the
current plans at the beach but also
cancel the future chances of tourists
attraction in future.
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 To develop the town with modern
and technologically advanced
amenities, luxury hotel, new and
multinational brands of food and
clothing.
 To attract the private companies to
invest or sponsor for developing
modern amenities spa, horse riding,
water sports.
 Approaching to celebrities or famous
personalities to visit broad stairs and
promote the same or become a
brand ambassador for broad stairs
and advertise for the same.
 To innovate the existing fest and
events at broad stairs in order to
attract the tourists to take part in the
events of broad stairs.
 To develop the lesser known places
of the town which have the capacity
to support visitors, the less popular
places can be modified and
transformed to something that is
more creative, attractive and unique.
 Providing significant discounts to
regular visitors in order to retain
them.
 To compete at a local level and
creating development pressure.
 Overreliance on the beaches and one
shopping market.
 There are miscommunication and
lack of teamwork between the
government, voluntary and private
sectors of tourism in the town. The
clashes and the conflicts have led to
more problems, no one tries to
compromise with their personal
objectives, there is no single
agreement because voluntary sectors
think of sustainability and nature,
private sector thinks for only profit
and public sector thinks for resident’s
development which led to slow
decision making and low tourism.
Cost Budgeting-
To decide the cost and budget for formulating and implementing the strategies, these
include the promotional and advertising cost through both online and offline platforms of
mass advertising. To formulate and implement the tourism plan there should be a specified
amount of £ 20, 00,000.
ACTIVITIES COST (£)
Promotional and advertising activity £ 1500000
Implementing the tourism plan £ 500000
Total cost £ 2000000
Controlling and Measuring-
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The main aim of this travel and tourism planning is to attract the tourists but the
sustainability or environmental health cannot be compromised, so to ensure proper
implementation of the tourism plan in the town proper governing or monitoring needs to be
done. In order to gain positive results and to fulfil the targets that were made before the
implementation of the tourism plan. If the plan or strategy is implemented properly then
only the cost of designing and implementing the strategy will be recovered. If the execution
of the strategic plan is not satisfactory then the whole strategy is questioned and the cost
will be wasted.
Controlling is done after measuring the performance and progress of the plan. The
measurement of the progress is often done through various tools and evaluating the
performance of the people responsible for the execution of the plan. There may be several
problems and conflicts that can affect the functioning of the plan; to solve those problems in
very less time comes under controlling and monitoring. Motivation is the key to achieve the
targets, so by explaining and communicating with the people about the results,
consequences and what will be the future benefits will lead to the development of the
whole town. Motivation is not only restricted here but is extended for the residents who
need to cooperate and coordinate with the travel and tourism planning. If the residents will
help then only the goal of achieving high tourism targets can be achieved. There are so
many people that rebel or oppose to the tourism because their peace is disturbed or the
tourists exploit the place and environment especially the water bodies, beach and the
tourist create huge junk of plastic at the beaches that destroy the beauty of the beach and
environment, so to resolve these type of conflicts proper monitoring needs to be done.
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D. DESCRIBING HOW VISION AND OBJECTIVES COULD BE IMPLEMENTED
AND IDENTIFY THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN CHARGE OF DELIVERING
THOSE OBJECTIVES
Vision and objectives of the tourism planning should be feasible, harmless to the
environment and should result in a positive or favourable change in the tourism i.e. increase
in tourists for the broad stairs. The complete plan of tourism summaries in its vision and
objectives so to design the vision and objectives is a very crucial and important task. To
implement the vision and objectives is more important than strategy formation.
Stakeholders
1. Residents- The residents are the major stakeholders of this plan because they are
the ones that will be helping in the proper implementation of the strategies if they
cooperate than the tourist's attraction will increase. Through promotion on social
media or through other mediums the residents can easily attract the customers. The
residents can help in providing innovative ideas in reference to the ways that can
modernize the amenities in the town. The residents can bring various adventures,
water sports or any other entertainment or amusement that will make people stay
longer than their average stay at the hotel (Heitmann, 2010).
2. Private organizations- These organizations can help in bringing the various different
ideas from the outside world that can create a competitive edge over the other
coastal town, like bringing the multinational companies of fast food joints or other
companies to create a new market for shopping in the town. The private
organizations can bring sponsorship in the town and bring the celebrities to endorse
to travel in the broad stairs. These private organizations also work as a mediator for
arranging the funds for the promotion and implementing the strategy. These private
companies are the best strategic planners as they search the best and profitable way
to promote and advertise the broad stairs (Heitmann, 2010).
3. Voluntary organization- These organizations are the big stakeholders that are in
charge of delivering the objectives of the plan through maintaining the ecological
balance of the town. These organizations are there to maintain sustainability
development at the beaches. These voluntary organizations sent their volunteers for
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fulfilling the objectives on time at the same time preserving the natural resources
and natural heritage of the town like beaches, historical monuments etc. (Heitmann,
2010)
4. Local Authority or Government- the government plays an important role in bringing
the idea to practical worlds. The government has the power and authority to
regulate the changes in the new plan. Through applying various policies and laws to
achieve the vision timely. The government has the power to influence the residents
and the companies to perform various tasks to attract more people in the broad
stairs, as well as influencing the other stakeholders for developing the town with
new amenities and new technologies in town. The government or the local authority
decides the budget of tourism strategy and allocate the cost and provide funds for
implementing the strategies to enhance tourism in the town (Heitmann, 2010).
5. Volunteers- The people who are transformers that transform the idea or strategy to
reality. These are the actual people who work for the achievement of the goals in a
tourism strategic plan. The organization employs them to initiate work for the
betterment of the town, aiming to attract more and more people through promotion
in various social media platforms (Heitmann, 2010).
6. Third Party Booking Companies- These are the mediators between the
consumer/visitor and the hotel or the company i.e. Third party or the agents are the
link between them so they play a direct role in achieving the targets of the town in
tourism sales. They directly talk to customers and their preferences; hence by
offering various discounts, they can grab a lot of visitors at one time. Some of the
regular customer’s only contacts to their fixed person for the bookings so if there are
special events or discounts in the town so these agents can communicate it to the
visitors or regular customers, hence directly increasing the income and revenues of
the town (Heitmann, 2010).
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