Introduction
The Visitor attractions are those places that include various natural and man-made locations that are the potential to draw attention of different tourists and local visitors as well. These sites form an essential factor in increasing tourism at a particular place and also helps in motivating the travelers in selecting a specifies destination of tourism. Tourism is a significant factor that helps in the development of a country by contributing to enhancing the GDP of the nation (Ritchie, Chien, and Sharifpour, 2017). The present report has been made with a focus on various visitor attraction sites of the UK. Accordingly, the report will contain discussion over the importance of these sites. Besides this, there will be a focus on various issues and procedures which are followed for the development of visitor attraction sites.
Task 1
1.1 Overlap of visitor attraction sites
The visitor attraction sites involve a number of places that can be classified under natural places, man-made buildings, religious places, theme parks, etc. Many such places are those which are based on sites that have the potential of attracting tourists for visiting the place because of its beauty, while on another hand, for some of the visitors, they have the importance of cultural purpose. In London, there are many examples of such type of locations that overlap the attraction purposes. It is essential that all such places of the attractions form a majority party that is able to attract travelers for visiting purposes. In London, there are various places that have major importance in relation to its cultural, heritage and natural sceneries (Salazar and Squire, 2015). As per this, they have special importance in providing economic, social and political advantages to the country. Besides this, the government and many other agencies who are responsible for the development of such sectors play an important role in the development of such sites so that they can have a large number of people visiting the places of tourism in the country. For clarifying the overlap that comes in the visitor attraction places, it can be understood with the illustration of a famous place in London.
The Windermere, in England, is the largest natural lake which is surrounded by the natural beauties of mountains and rivers. This place is very famous for the different activities that take place in this area. This site has the potential of attracting a large number of visitors and tourists because of its natural beauty and the places of adventure near it (Sirgy and Uysal, 2016). In its surrounding area, there are some small towns and villages that have the facility of cafes, good accommodation, restaurants, and cinemas as well. Besides this, half a mile from Windermere, there are lakes aquarium, steam railway and many more sites that are able to attract a large number of visitors towards it. A large number of activities also take place on this river that provides entertainment for the visitors. In addition to this, the major attraction point is the Windermere cup boat race that takes place in the lake. Apart from this, many of the visitors use to visit the place for enjoying the experience of the cruise in the lake of Windermere. Thus, the said place offers the natural beauty for visitors along with various opportunities for establishing commercial activities in the form of adventurous activities, cruise facilities, etc. Hence, it serves travelers from visiting the natural sceneries as well as have commercial importance as well in the form of events that take place in the lake (Yoo and Gretzel, 2016).
1.2 Importance of visitor attraction sites
The visitor attraction sites have important that give a number of benefits to the place and all other concerned persons. Some of the major areas due to which it has a high degree of importance are:
Attracting new business in the area: Various locations and sites like lakes, heritage buildings, art galleries, etc. have the potential to attract travelers in a large number. It is evident that these places are developed so that it can draw the attention of visitors in a large number. As a result, these places become a preferred location for developing new businesses. As mentioned in the above section, the Windermere is a lake that is surrounded by natural beauty because of which various tourists use to visit the place. Further, this place has attracted many business persons to develop new business in this area. Thus, in the surrounding regions, many resorts, lakeside hotels, etc. have been developed (Law, Qi, and Buhalis, 2010). Thus, the visitor attraction sites help in developing new business in the surrounding areas.
Generation of employment: The visitor attraction sites also include many human-made buildings apart from the natural beauties and sites. The places where many of the tourist destinations exist, a large number of employment opportunities are available in that place. These places offer good opportunities for employment in the field of travel and tourism, hotels, tour guides, resorts, etc. Thus, by developing the visitor attraction sites in an appropriate manner, large opportunities for the development of jobs can be created.
Enhancing local heritage and culture: The heritage and cultural buildings are the places and sites which are largely responsible for attracting the tourists for visiting. In London, there are various places of heritage and cultural importance like the Natural history museum, Victoria Theatre, Tower of London, Palace of Westminster, etc.(Mason, 2015). All these places are helpful in enhancing the cultural values of the country. This provides chances for different nations to exchange their cultures and have knowledge about heritage and cultures.
Preservation: Many of the heritage and cultural places of visitors attraction are developed and maintained so that tourism can be enhanced in that place. Thus, it aids in the preservation of culture and various heritage sites in the cities on a long term basis.
Task 2
2.1 Evaluation of needs and motivation of different visitor types
The types of visitors who use to visit different locations of London and other tourist places are numerous. Accordingly, the types of visitors can be categorized on the basis of demographic, geographic and psychographic. Each type of visitor has different interests and needs. For making a marketing plan and for the purpose of devising an evaluation of the needs and interests, these types can be taken into consideration. London has many places that are able to attract different types of visitors (Coghlan, 2012). On the basis of demographic segmentation, it makes a category according to income, education level, gender basis, etc. Therefore, the heritage and cultural places are visited by many of the students so as to gain information and knowledge about that place. Besides this, the researchers and archaeologists also take interest in these places. The people having a high-income level, plan for a tour to spend their holidays with family or friends.
On the other hand, as per the psychographic segmentation, there are various people having particular hobbies and interests. As per this, they use to make a selection of the place in which they have more interest. Thus, the visitors who like games and adventure, they would like to visit places of London like Alexandra palace, Battersea park, Parkour, etc. while the tourists who have an interest in cultural and heritage places would go for Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, etc. In addition to this, on a geographical basis, some visitors who belong to the cultural and religious places like China, Bhutan, etc. would like to visit the religious sites like St. Paul's cathedral. Thus, the tourist destinations and characteristics profile of travelers must be matched (Waligo, Clarke and Hawkins, 2013).
As per the above categories of visitors, it is evident that each visitor has different motivational levels as per their characteristics and profiles according to which they get motivated for visiting a place. Each person has a different motivational factor to have a visit and go on trips which differentiates the travelers from each other.
2.2 Impact of tourism on visitor attraction
The tourism activities have a number of impacts on a particular place which may be sometimes positive and other times it may be negative. In the sense of positive impacts, the major importance of tourism activity can be as follows:
Employment generation: London is a place which is visited by millions of tourists each year and many of the visitors prefer it as a favorite destination. Thus, the activities related to tourism is more frequent and common in London because of which it creates many employment opportunities for people (Leask, Fyall and Barron, 2014). This helps in enhancing the GDP and development rates for the country as well.
International relationships: The increased tourism in the country helps in making a close and sound link with different countries. It is evident that, every year, the largest number of visitors who use to travel London for tourism purpose are Chinese. As a result, the country has given many special facilities for China to increase the tourism in country. For instance, it has adopted the flexibility in Visa policies, where the Visa will be valid for Chinese tourists more than 5 years.
Besides the above positive impacts, there are some of the negative impacts of tourism on visitor attractions that can be understood from following points:
Pollution and risk of accidents: The visitor attraction sites draw the attention of large number of people. Thus, the tourism activities use to increase in the city, where the tourists travel from different means of transport. This enhances the level of pollution in the city and also due to heavy traffic, there are more chances of occurring accidents (Schwartz, Stewart and Backlund, 2012). In addition this, the level of pollution may also get increased more than the acceptable limit.
Environmental impacts: There can be serious damage to the environment and its different natural resources as a result of increased tourism. There can be the overuse of various natural resources like water, damage to the coral reefs and beaches from pollution and the use of plastic and other similar materials which can deteriorate the environment of the place.
2.3 Impact of tourism theories on the management of visitor attraction
The tourism industry is composed of various factors and is considered as one of the biggest sectors. The tourism activities are enhanced by motivating the tourists with the help of different concepts. In this sense, there is a concept of Responsible tourism which favors the tourism ion the basis of eliminating various adverse impacts and make it more sustainable. The responsible tourism is related to the impacts that tourism activities have on people and various communities residing at a particular place (Ritchie, Chien, and Sharifpour, 2017). The concept make an effort to develop the tourism at a place by bringing improvements in the working conditions, doing promotions of the cultural places and making provisions that can help in the enhancement of tourism through sustainability. The management people who are existing in managing the activities of tourism can take help of this model so as to protect and conserve the culture and natural environment of that place. Besides this, it also ensures spreading of local culture at international level so that the host country can present itself in the ideal and attractive way to increase more tourism. In addition to this, it also aids in enhancing the education and awareness among the local people and also tourists about the care and concern for environment so that they can also contribute in maintaining the better tourism activities within a particular place.
Another theory that is relevant in this aspect is related to Smart consumer theory which has a great impact on the management of Visitor attractions (Salaza and Squire, 2015). The major foundation of this theory is based on making a reliable arrangement which can help in enhancing the reliance of consumers on tourist destinations. For this purpose, the management of visitor attraction uses to adopt various tools and techniques that can help in establishing good communication and coordination with the consumers. For this purpose, the concerned authority provides details regarding visitor attraction sites and various latest information about the places which can help in attracting the consumers and tourist. Besides this, they also attempt to give them education and make them aware of various aspects that can aid in making them a smart consumer. As per the tourism-related aspect, the tourists are given education and information related to the latest trends which are helpful in enhancing their experience in traveling. Besides this, they are also communicated about the expected behavior while traveling and visiting which can help in less damage to the resources of the host place (Sirgy and Uysal, 2016).
Also Read: Quality Management
Task 3
3.1 Process and political issues in the development of the visitor attraction
The management of visitor attraction have their main objective to develop the locations and sites so as to attract a large number of tourists in that place. For this purpose, the concerned authorities take measures so as to develop a systematic process towards the development of various locations of visitor attraction. Therefore, the process of development take place within several steps which are enlisted below:
- Making a detailed study and analysis of projects to check its feasibility
- Including the local communities for greater participation in the development process
- Making plans and activities for the application of different projects
- Making recruitment of skilled and talented people in this sector
- Developing customer care services for giving assistance to tourists
- Management of crowds and resolving their queries
- Developing the facilities for reservation and bookings
- Developing coordination for internal and external communication
As per the above processes, there is a need for teams and concerned authorities who can take up the responsibility of executing the functions and responsibilities (Yoo and Gretzel, 2016). Therefore, many agencies and parties are employed in this sector who use to fulfill their roles and responsibilities in managing the work and activities. Some of the issues can also take place in this regard which is mentioned below:
Public-private partnership: For the effective development procedures in the plans and processes, it is necessary to have the right coordination between the public and private entities. Many private and public agencies work together in this field and make necessary improvements for developing visitor attraction sites. But, due to lack of right coordination, they fail to fulfill their responsibilities of improvements.
Implementation of policies: The framing of various policies and their implementation in the right way is a necessary process that can help in the right execution of planned procedures (Law, Qi and Buhalis, 2010). If the implementation of different policies that are developed for making improvements is not implemented in the right way, this can result in serious losses for the visitor attract