Paradigms of a diversified and sustainable tourism
Outline of a problem.
The increase in purchasing power and cultural level in most developed countries as well as the current management of information on the Internet and many other media have led to a more demanding and sophisticated clientele to the tourist offer. Since few years many countries have also begun to prioritize the development of international tourism as a necessity for economic growth, especially in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America. Today in the world there are hundreds of tourist destinations that are struggling because their supply is increasingly attractive and gain access to a larger market share.
Moreover, it is common the occurrence of cyclical events affecting international tourist flow in general or locally, including economic crises, epidemics, terrorism and war. To conclude these threats to international tourism, you can add the effect of globalization on tourism, by which the major tour operators in the world have become powerful international groups that dominate the core value chain in tour packages.
Among other negative effects for tourism destinations, currently a manifest tendency to concentrate highlights: In the distribution network, the few large international groups have absorbed the large tour operators and travel agency networks in major source countries; In the offers distributed in the north-south flow of tourism are concentrated in Sun and Beach; In the destinations they operate, which tend to be reduced to those who actually provide the best return, especially in air operations; In the seasonality of tourism; which tends to concentrate only on the months of higher volume of customers; In reducing the average length of stay of tourists, increasing increasingly short vacations and weekend trips; In reducing the distance of the destination you visit, becoming stronger law closeness in the current tourist flows.
This international context imposes tourism entities need to adapt to the new rules ... and adopt new paradigms. One of the most important challenges is related to the need to achieve a diversified, sustainable and customer-focused tourism, which also helps to ensure a fairer geographical distribution of revenues generated by this activity in less developed countries.
Meanwhile, most of the existing technical literature on business management and marketing are generally focused on the activity of industries of consumer goods, and therefore the methods and procedures established need to be "interpreted" for application in a sector as specific as tourism services. For this reason, not many methodological work to guide successful management of destinations and tourism businesses.
diversified tourism, sustainable and customer focused.
Achieve a diversified, sustainable and customer-focused tourism is a must for tourist destinations to increase or maintain market share alternative, which also helps to ensure a fairer geographical distribution of revenues generated by tourism in less developed countries.
However, the experience gained so far indicates the high degree of difficulty faced by destinations or specialized companies in a kind of offer as sun and beach position to achieve successful alternative offerings.
On February 26, 2004 in Guadalajara, participating in a panel on competitiveness developed within the 88th Ordinary General Assembly of the CONCANACO-Servytur, Secretary of Tourism of Mexico said: "The major challenges facing the Mexican tourism to continue growing are achieve better air and road connectivity, and diversify tourist destinations so that there is a balance between the supply of sun and beach and other attractions that offer all states of the country. " These words remain the same force and effect in other Caribbean destinations, including Dominican R. CUBA and even in some other emerging tourist destinations in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
To achieve successful diversification of sustainable tourism, which includes a customer focus, we must consider four fundamental aspects of work;
- Knowing motivations and interests of current and potential customers and identify segments with specific needs.
- Provide travel experiences that contribute symbolic, functional and experiential utilities, effectively and style, in a leisure area with tourist resources, ensuring their preservation.
- Undertake a strategic product-market management, based on customer focus, developing a set of plans that define objectives, goals, actions, and also require human and financial resources to achieve them.
- Use new distribution channels, including the use of Internet and e-commerce.
Since its inception, the displacements have been part of the lifestyle of men. Mankind is known spreading around the world ... what changed were the reasons. In the development of the first of the above aspects, theories and models of human motivation to understanding of the basic and specific current and potential customers needs. Only deeply knowing the real needs, and adding new attributes to our tourism, we can build new products and services.
If you do not know what the real needs that must be met, we will continue detained in what we know (current paradigms) and not moving towards what people need (new paradigms). This task is essential to identifying customer segments, highlighting the discriminant and behavioral variables that determine a given in every segment of interest behavior.
In the second aspect, it must be guaranteed destination management and products, to ensure the achievement of a diversified tourism and sustainable customer focused, able to provide real travel experiences, what it is necessary to have information from customer surveys, and competition.
Professor Michael Porter argued that "a company without strategy is capable of anything". It is precisely the danger to be avoided with the proper development of strategic planning. Any planning process is a design of the future that must come. It relies on knowledge of target customer segments and tourism resources in each territory or tourism entity to meet them, and a methodology that takes us by the hand to establish goals, targets, actions and resource allocation.
The above tasks require the collection of large amounts of data and its subsequent conversion into information, which is essential for the establishment of a Marketing Information System and the timely completion of Market Research.
One last, but not least, shed work to ensure a comprehensive approach that comes to determining new sales channels more effective, is related to the use of Internet and Electronic Commerce, and that undoubtedly constitutes the distribution channel with more potential to commercialize alternatives to sun and beach offers.
Alternative offers to the sun and beach should preferably be based on qualitative rather than quantitative criteria, pursuing more expenses for customers and more profits: However, the main current distribution channels focus on the amount, and only Internet provides us with a means whose costs make it possible to realize offers and specific actions to different niche markets, smaller and geographically dispersed.
conclusion
To threats to tourism destinations and products present the current international globalization and the cyclical phenomena of crisis, the best defense is to achieve consolidate a diversified and sustainable tourism. The four strands of work outlined here bear a very close relationship consistency and to achieve this goal. Without this approach, each day will become more difficult for destinations and tourism entities maintain and increase market share.
Another essential option is the establishment of strategic alliances between destinations and tourism entities, rather than face threats and such complex tasks in a fiercely competitive environment: collaboration and exchange will increase the bargaining power with major international groups in the sector, and collective intelligence and resources together will advance more quickly and successes in the four aspects mentioned.
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