Report on the Strategic Business Impact of Warwick Castle

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic business impact of Warwick Castle, a prominent site of dark tourism. It begins with an introduction to dark tourism and the castle's historical context, followed by a summary analysis that includes a discussion of the dark tourism spectrum, STEEP analysis (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political factors), destination life-cycle, competitor analysis, and stakeholder analysis. The report also explores strategic options for Warwick Castle, considering factors such as market opportunities and promotional techniques. The report concludes by evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of these strategies and the overall impact on the business. The report is a valuable resource for understanding the complexities of managing a historical site within the tourism industry.

Strategic Business
Impact
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Summary Analysis...........................................................................................................................4
Introduction.................................................................................................................................4
Dark Tourism Spectrum..............................................................................................................4
STEEP analysis...........................................................................................................................4
Destination Life-cycle.................................................................................................................6
Competitor analysis.....................................................................................................................6
Stakeholder analysis....................................................................................................................7
Strategic options: ........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................11
Books and Journal.....................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Dark tourism has been characterized as tourism engaging travelling or movements to
location or places historically linked with deaths and tragedy. Dark tourism is a touristy process
and development that develop and involve individuals to be pull in and curious to places that is
connected or related with tragedy and death. Every tract of dark tourism shows an effect from the
past. These kind of location are the repulsion of various type of tragedy, where feeling and
death were happen. In current years, millions of traveller from across the globe are pull in to
sites of disaster and deaths like Anne Frank House in Netherlands, Pompeii in Italy, Auschwitz
in Poland, catacombs in France, Hiroshima in Japan and many furthers places that are linked and
connected with these kind of tragedy (Abid, and Gulzar, 2018). There are much requirement and
importance of education in historical substance. Education play a important role in transferring
the information from the past to current. Some other surveys and studies on this topic support in
a amended understanding of tourist behaviour, motivation that rule the tourist when they see
sites of dark tourism.
Background
Tourism upgrade the gross and income of the economy, and make thousand of
occupation, evolve the structure of a nation and works on cultural exchange among the citizens
and external people. There are numerous occupation or job developed by tourism in several areas
of the nation. Merlin is a British fantasy- adventure drama programme on television, which is
rely on the Arthurian legends regarding the connected connection of King Arthur and Merlin.
Legendary Wizard Merlin represent their story of his enmity or action against the Queen Mab of
the Sidhe and their initiation of Camelot. Merlin is a beast calved of Pagan magic, that is
surviving in a globe converting to Christianity. Merlin is a man of magic and mystery . The guy
Merlin wore several hats (Au, Han, and Chung, 2018). Merlin was an advisor, tutor, magician.
He come out as a immature male personality a boy with no father. He is very talented man and
come out as a old, wise man, providing their wideness to four sequential kings of British.

Summary Analysis
Introduction
Warwick Castle is a castle built in the town of Warwickshire, England. It was built in 11th
century and is situated on a meander of river Avon. It is a castle of motte-and-bailey type. It had
experienced bloodshed during Hundred Years War and is therefore, now treated as a site of dark
tourism.
Dark Tourism Spectrum
Dark tourism spectrum was given by P. R. Stone which had differentiated shades of dark
tourism from lightest to darkest. This spectrum helps in identifying framework of supply and
consumption. Dark camps of genocide such as the Nazi death camps in World War II found at
Auschwitz tops the list of being darkest site as the most gruesome form of violence perpetrated
here (A dark tourism spectrum, 2021). Stone distinguishes seven dark suppliers which consists
war sites and battlefields (Awwad, Bello, and Abdullah, 2018). It includes dark conflict sites,
dark shrines (places of remembrances), dark resting places (cemeteries of famous people), dark
dungeons (prisons and courthouses), dark exhibitions (places which exhibits death and suffering)
and finally the lightest known as dark fun factories (those tourist sites which emphasise
entertainment based on fear and darkness). Warwick Castle is a dark dungeon and is being
promoted as the same. It has been promoted as dark area and is therefore, marketed as visit if you
are brave enough. It is further recommended as not suitable for children under 10 years and even
the children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian (The Castle
Dungeon, 2021).
STEEP analysis
STEEP analysis is a marketing tool that is used to analyse external factors affecting
entity. Below mentioned is the STEEP analysis of Warwick Castle:
Social – Castle attracts only those kinds of tourists who are either interested in dark tourism or
knowing about architecture in history. Therefore, change in consumer behaviour and
decision making directly impacts operational feasibility of the castle.
Technological – Technology can play a crucial factor in changing revenue stream of the castle.
For example, operating company can make use of artificial intelligence and virtual reality to
give a new experience to the visitors.

Economic – Economic factors like taxes, inflation, business cycle, etc. affect castle operations as
they have an impact upon the choice of consumers in choosing tourist destination to visit.
Environmental – Castle is a centuries old destination and has stood by many environmental
challenges and still abides by all environmental regulations to ensure smooth visit to the
tourists.
Political – Castle plays an important role in tourism and development of the Warwickshire and
hence, government has always included in local tourism plan, which impacts the castle
operations (Balafif, and Haryanti, 2020).
Destination Life-cycle
Destinations are those places which a person travels to. As per the Professor Richard W.
Butler, each destination has a defined life-cycle which has been arranged into the model of
Tourism Area Life Cycle (Butler's Tourism Area Life Cycle Model, 2021) containing exploration
– involvement – development – consolidation – stagnation – decline – rejuvenation. Warwick
Castle was first opened to public in 1978 when it entered stage of exploration. Gradually , it
entered the stage of involvement and development wherein it becomes famous among visitors. It
soon became the centre of tourist attraction in Warwickshire and was placed in the stage of
consolidation by the local authorities by keeping it as the centre of local tourism planning.
Various activities were started to organise in it. It is still very attractive among local and
Illustration 1: Butler's Tourism Area Life Cycle
Model (TALC), 2021

international tourists and with the persistent efforts of the operating company and local
authorities, it has been able to save itself from entering the stage of stagnation and further decline
(Datta, 2017). Therefore, no situation for rejuvenation arises for the project. Pricing of the castle
is kept economical by the Merlin Entertainment and smooth connectivity to the place is ensured
by the local authorities. Further, various events are organised here to promote the place.
Competitor analysis
Warwick Castle is a popular tourist destination in Warwickshire, England from both
architectural point of view and cultural point of view. However, other than Warwick Castle,
there are six other castles in Warwickshire, which acts as competitor to the tourist destination.
They include Astley Castle, Brinklow Castle, Hartshill Castle, Kenilworth Castle, Kingsbury
Hall and Maxstoke Castle. Astley Castle was a fortified manor house which was originally built
in 13-14th century. Brinklow Castle was a motte-and-bailey castle built originally in 11th century.
Hartshill Castle was a keep-and-bailey type castle built in 12th century. Kenilworth Castle was
also a Keep-and-bailey type castle built around 12-14th century. Kingsbury Hall was fortified
castle built around 14th century and Maxstoke Castle is a quadrangular castle built around 14-15th
century. Out of all, Maxstoke Castle is the near most competition as other than Warwick Castle,
it is the only one which is substantially intact. Astley Castle and Kenilworth Castle are in
complete ruins and serve other types of tourism while Hartshire Castle and Kingsbury Hall are in
condition of fragmentary remains. Further, Brinklow Castle are at present in the condition of
earthwork (Gupta, and Bose, 2019).
Stakeholder analysis
Stakeholder refers to those people or group which are directly or indirectly related to the
operations of entity. Stakeholder analysis refers to the process of identifying correct shareholders
group, analyse their level of participation, interest and influence in the project and based on that
information, determined the best communication process with those stakeholders (Stakeholder
Analysis, 2021). Warwick Castle is at present owned by Secure Income REIT Plc and is operated
by Merlin Entertainments and both the entities represents its stakeholders along with the
employees that work in the Warwick Castle as their internal stakeholders (Ibidunni, and Falola,
2018). Further, its other primary external stakeholders include local authorities, government,
public and visitors. All the stakeholder groups have different influence over the castle operations.
For example, Government and local authority determine the plan of tourism development

according to their policies which are to implemented by operational entity. Therefore, all the
necessary developments regarding the castle are to be intimated to the authorities while on the
other hand, castle employees and visitors, both are only concerned with information that concern
them. Therefore, they are needed to be provided only those information that is concerned to them
(Kelm, Dohle, and Bernhard, 2017).
Strategic options:
Introduction: the Dark tourism gives an incredible experience of adventure to the dark side of
life by experiencing death and horror with the closure. Tourist and localities would like to get
involve into the castle to know the reason of its history and the giant building which is the heart
of England and attraction also. Warwick Castle now in the need to reciprocate the strategies
through which they have made existing exposure into tourism industry now there are in need to
get exposure of this attraction through analysing external opportunities and understand the
functional behaviour of tourism sector. There are a lot of changes occur into market
environment in terms of customer interest by the change of similar product or service. They want
new and existing every time they get into a tourism industry. Merlin group of organisations
needs to attract trespassers and other tourist to get a full insight of Warwick Castle overview and
get influenced by its beauty of death (Manning, and Soon, 2016). The business require growth
and expansion by undertaking a brief analysis of stakeholders and competitors into travel sector.
Competition make aware them about their existence and encourage to make reliable changes into
the monument. As through the historical castle and architectural attraction, it needs to be
constant due to its popularity onto England. Changes would be relevant which dos not change the
facts of building and the history overs its existence.
Strategic options of Warwick castle:
As there is need of strategic development in he context of Dark tourism by making the
major attraction of Warwick castle. Merlin group of entertainment reflects needs for its
development to attract large tourist and the whole of tourism scenario. For that instance, the
organisation significantly take advantage of market opportunities through taking external factors
into consideration. There is need to take essential points of promotion and marketing mix that
segregate their existing price, product and procedure aspect into well manner. Taking inclusive
efforts into marketing by targeting people and show them major popularity and reason behind its
historical attraction. The group of entrainment service make the product and price to their online

website by charging a valuable price over the castle. Strategic interference include promotional
techniques by giving first time visitor a memorable experience by discounted cards on their next
visits or in the situation when they give word of mouth of the destination to their other relatives
and friends. These schemes attract many audience as they also want something existing with
Dark and anew side of tourism industry.
Advantages and disadvantages:
The Warwick Castle is the most popular castle among all the stated above. As the
monument does not require any promotion between audience due to its own popularity into
historical terms. Merlin group has been concerning about its expansion from the very detective
phase. There have a lot of advantage and disadvantages into legal term. In order to get
popularised the castle, there could get legal obligation ion the organisation on reflecti8ng its fake
sides in order to make only promotions(Mirza, and Ahsan, 2020). By changing into the prices
and renovation, it would consider as an advantage for the company but it require high investment
and maintenance control at regular basis. Merlin group of entertainment is entitled and bound
with Warwick's growth and reinventing strategy that has been served from the few past years
into the history of dark tourism.
Suitability:
this strategy is suitable for the the customer and travellers who are looking for a historical
place at an affordable price and get to know about the country and place popularity. By making
use of marketing mix strategy in terms of price, product and promotion there has been need of its
effective implication of the pricing factor t get think of castle renovation as it is needed due to
old monument. All he points of strategic development is concerned about castle's popularity and
its centre of attraction which no one take changes without government permission. The
monument is under to subsidiary of UK government, that impacted on any misconduct would be
pledge to big fine and compensation. There are several castle and dark tourist places that
recommanded for renovation due to its old constructing material.
Recommendation:
it is highly recommanded that there is requirement of renovating the tenure into some
attractive implications by the time of recent scenario. There will be need to encouragement of
investors, shareholders and governmental authorities to make proper consideration in its re

building and make appropriate legal permission through which tourism industry get evaluated
into competitive market.
Risk analysis:
Risk could get analysis by the model of KPI indicators which reflect how the sector or
organisation have been implicated on the procedure of marketing factors. There need to be
generating the impact of legal influence which impact on any changes into dark tourism which is
known as the death sources. Sometimes, people are afraid to come over the monument due to
reflected humours and universal myth, this needs to be lower down in order to attract every age
of tourist whether they are child, middle age group or adults. Risk are involve with the fear of
dark side of business. That are not involved by many trespassers.
Recommended risk management strategies:
The strategies needs to be cover the risk are to engagements and conferences which
reflects and say truth about Warwick's history through which people will be keen to get engage
into its popularity. The castle needs to be more popularised due to its attractive features of large
river formation and fountains build under the coverage (Mwitango, 2019).
Ethical and a legal implications:
Ethical and legal implications are governmental provision over the places of country
which make them obliged to make any changes without permission on regulatory laws. The
undertaking organisation has shown an immense behaviour of customers by getting afraid
towards dark tourism sector, there will be much concern over government interference. These
factors have directly impacted on the merlin group which has become a part of Territory that
needs to be developed over the facts of its impactions. There is concerning factor of becoming an
overhauling process to get diversified range or tourism sectors so that both society and
communities get cooperate with the industry. The castle has been running with the due facts of
managing its chaos and historical adventures into the process. The entertainment group has
becoming a part of society fun and entertainment that needs to be ethically approved by the
customers and their beliefs. As it is an ancient building it is unauthorised to change its structure
by the authorities. It is tourism attraction for the country and result in growth of economy of the
country. So the government find it important to put legal implication on the changes in the
ancient structure if the organisation. As it provides adventure to the tourist and provides them an
haunted and thrilling experience in order to make their experience best in the castle. Government

also put an implication regarding the prices of tickets of castle. They need further permissions in
order to increase or decrease the prices of the tickets which is required to enter into the castle. It
is noted that it is the impact of legal restrictions that the castle still provides a thrilling and heart
throbbing experience to their customers. The haunted places are generally liked by people as it
gives them adventure to experience such things. Warwick castle attract hundreds of tourists in
the country (Rahimi, Møller, and Hvam, 2016). It attracts government to put legal restrictions on
the regarding several things.
CONCLUSION
The report on merlin group of entertained has been driven the facts about dark tourism
industry to get fair trade and attraction for trespassers and localities. Warwick Castle seen a
lower growth of tourist attraction in terms of large side and fearful locations that are not relevant
to reach for many tourists. Their main objective to take legal legislations at first place to take
initiative commencement orders from for implementing effective strategies in order to take them
renovate by undertaking shareholders, investors and other connected authorities from the
organisation Dark tourism is the adventurous sector that provide immense power. The smart
objectives derives the implications on the factors of being perfect factors towards tourism
industry. The dark side of the tourism industry must be over seen by the company.

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Online
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dark-tourism-spectrum/>
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The Castle Dungeon. 2021. [Online]. Available
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