Topic: facility design project
Pages: 9, Double spaced
Sources: 1
Order type: Assignment
Subject: Tourism
Style: APA
Language: English (U.S.)
.0 Introduction
1.1 Tourism trend
Ever since the end of World War II, the world’s economy has dramatically expanded. During the post-World War II Economic Expansion Period between 1945 and 1970s, Western European and East Asian countries had experienced high and sustained economic growth. In accompany with China’s Economic Reform in 1979, Asia in particular has become the fastest developing continent with massive business opportunities, influencing demographic trends and global business operations significantly. Such development in economies and infrastructures has led to the rise of standard of living and quality of lives of citizens and consequently resulted in the increasing demand of leisure activities, which eventually encourages the rapid development and expansion in the tourism industry. Tourism has now become one of the fastest growing industries, being responsible for approximately 9.5% of the world’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 1988 (D’Amore, 1988; Okech, 2008; World Travel & Tourism Council, 2014).
1.2 Education trend
Education assists the development of the capacities latent in human nature and coordinates individuals’ expression for the enrichment, progress and transformation of society (Rohani, 2010). Adam’s paper in 1965 advocates that in the era of intensive technological competition, the parameter that differentiates a wealthy country and a poor country is education. Being the key to national progress, education is now a popular topic among societies, triggering a vast range of studies and teaching methods in pursuit of an effective education system to produce superior labour forces. Yet among the various stages of education, early childhood education in particular is essential in orienting the positive moral development of an individual; it is very influential towards the moral standard of an individual in adulthood, and individuals’ moral standard is valued heavily in workplaces (LaSala & Bjarnason, 2010; Narvaez, 2012).
1.3 The proposed facility
Hand to Hand is a farm-based facility located at the rural regions of Shanghai, China. Through the completion of series of activities that last one and a half day, Hand to Hand aims to deliver memorable experience to the participating families, promoting and enhancing family bonds and also gives lessons to children on various topics with an emphasis on moral education.
1.4 Farm tourism
Farm tourism has been primarily developed for its economic benefits as a substitute for the declining farm income in Europe for over a hundred years (Inskeep, 1991). Despite the long history, elements of farm tourism have remained high similarity (Table 1; Clarke, 1996). Davies and Gilbert (1992) segmented farm tourism into three categories, including accommodation-based, activity-based and day-visitor-based. Hand to Hand operates in similar fashion, with offering farm-based activities and provides accommodation. However the facility also combines elements of adventure tourism. Traditional definition of adventure tourism classifies adventure tourism as seeking for adventure recreation (Weber, 2001), however Walle (1997) argues the quest is for insight and knowledge. Since Hand to Hand is more of an educational activity destination that is suitable for children, safety is ensured.
1.5 Outline
This report identifies the major market segment of Hand to Hand and studies the motives and benefits that potential customers seek. The positioning strategies and image of Hand to Hand is then discussed. Next, layout of the venue as well as the use of orientation aids is examined. Finally, strategies on delivering quality experience and maintaining positive customer satisfaction are developed.
2.0 Market Segmentation Definition
A good product or service requires perfection in its quality or design, however to be a successful one, the target users of the product or service has to be reached. In order to deliver such products and services to the demanding end customers, studies of market segmentation have been done. Harley (1968) suggests in recent studies, three types of market segmentations have been commonly acknowledged. Geographic segmentation tries to divide market into individual geographical units and tailor specific market strategies for specific location. This provides various advantages such as effective advertising and accurate localisation strategies to fit products and services in the region (Nair, 2014). Secondly, demographic segmentation studies the population of an area and through the classification of individuals among the area, products and services are then able to be accurately delivered. However recent studies have showed the demographic variables such as age, gender, occupation and race are in general, poor predictors of behaviour. Behavioural segmentation on the other hand divides individuals into groups based on their knowledge, use or response of a specific product.
As tourism destinations tend to operate in a relative large scale and require frequent tourists visitation to maintain its status of operation, studies in geographic regions, population and individuals’ behaviour are all vital. Therefore in the context of the tourism industry, market segmentation methods are usually achieved with a combined study in the geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural factors.
2.1 Geographic segmentation
Since Hand to Hand is an activity-based tourism destination that emphasizes family cooperation and early childhood moral education, the market segments of Hand to Hand is very specific, that is, families. However among millions of families in the global scale, finding the correct group of families that demands such services offered by Hand to Hand is challenging yet the geographic segmentation method is helpful in targeting the correct customer group.
China’s one-child policy is one of the most significant yet controversial programs of planned fertility (Tan, 2012). It greatly alleviates pressures on physical livelihood of citizens, however is accompanied with various emerging social issues. Polit and Falbo (1987) have noted three discrepancies between only-children and children with siblings. Firstly children with siblings are able to exchange academic and social experience while only-children are not able to. Secondly only-children tend to be dominated by more self-seeing instincts and commanding more attention at home. Thirdly, only-children are more reliant on parents and less independent. These findings reflect the social phenomenon in China, that children are over-catered by parents who are eager and anxious to improve lives of their only-children, which has negatively impacted personality development of children, triggering individualism and selfishness (Tan, 2012). Thus the need for early-childhood moral education is in great demand in the Chinese society comparing to Western countries, and this creates the opportunity for Hand to Hand to operate.
2.2 Demographic segmentation
Knowing the market is in China, the use of the demographic segmentation method will able to further locate specific customer groups. An ideal location would be a place with large amount of young families, and Shanghai as China’s largest city matches such characteristic. Statistics suggests the residence of 4 million families in Shanghai, with approximately 240,000 child birth in 2009 (Ding, 2010). Yet among the total birth number in 2009, 79.52% of child birth are single child (Ding, 2010). This implies that not only Shanghai has a sufficient number of young families to bolster Hand to Hand’s operation, but also the significant high rate of single child birth verifies the hypothesis that families in Shanghai may be in need of education proposed by Hand to Hand.
2.3 Behavioural segmentation
Shanghai as one of the fastest developing cities shows unique characteristics in its residence. Studies has indicated residents in Shanghai pay less attention to politics, however showed significant interest in fashion and international trends. Therefore residents in Shanghai are relatively approachable in terms of the willingness of trying new things. Since Hand to Hand’s concept of education is not ordinary, such characteristic of residents in Shanghai shows good signal. Moreover, statistics have revealed the distinctive spending pattern of residents in Shanghai comparing to others in China (web3). Apart from necessities such as food, clothing and medical care, spending on education as well as entertainment has been increasing dramatically (Figure 1; Statistic report for expected household consumption in Shanghai, 2011). Survey (Chen, 2012) on marriage and family also revealed the heavy focus of childhood education of Shanghai parents, as it is indicated that the majority of children in Shanghai have participated in some forms of pre-school education to avoid “losing before the match starts”.
2.4 Profile of the target segment
It is clear that Shanghai has a significant large pool of customers. Through the use of three segmentation methods, the key characteristics of the demanding customers are identified, and it allows the profile of the target segment to be constructed
Hand to Hand specifically targets the populations in the Shanghai region, which is a large city embracing a significant number of families. Weaver & Lawton (Schanzel et al., 2012) posed and divided the traditional family life cycle in eight stages; the targeted families of Hand to Hand are Full Nest I and Full Nest II families as classified, representing families with pre-school age or school age children. The families are also expected to show heavy value in early childhood education and with the willingness of trying new things, to be willing to participate in activities provided by Hand to Hand.
3.0 Motivation
Motivation refers to an inner state that energises, channels, and sustains human behaviour to achieve goals (Pizam, Neumann & Reichel, 1979). It is driven by unfulfilled needs and wants; through a motivation process, individuals seek to fulfil goals and gain rewards at the end of the process (Figure 2, motivation process). In the context of the tourism industry, study of tourist motivation is vital not only because of its effectiveness in product and promotional strategy design, but also, it helps to understand the core desire of tourists and hence assisting to achieve increased visitor satisfaction.
Crompton’s (1979) classification of tourists motivation has been commonly acknowledged and applied in recent tourism studies (Guha, 2009). The push factor as identified covers internal motives of individuals, such as escape and relaxation, whereas pull factors on the other hand refers to the external forces, such as novelty and education, which attract individuals from leaving their current states. However the two types of factors do not necessarily weigh the same. Dann (1977) proposed that push factors always precede pull factors, as pull factors, such as an attraction, would not have been visited without the initial decision caused by the push factors. Moreover, in the discussion of what makes tourists travel, Dann’s study suggests two dominant push factors: anomie refers to the need of escape and isolation from the daily routine, and ego-enhancement refers to the need for recognition – the superiority in status over others through travelling.
Through the study of tourists motivation, key motives and benefits sought by potential customers of Hand to Hand can be investigated and focused, in order to improve customers’ on site experience and satisfaction. The motives and benefits are identified (Table2):
4.0 Image & Positioning
4.1 The perception process & application
Image differentiates tourist destinations from each other and is an integral and influential part of travellers’ decision process (Baloglu and Brinberg, 1997). Therefore providing a positive and distinctive destination image that matches the targeted customers’ desire is the goal for all tourism attraction. Morrison’s Positioning-Image-Branding Model (PIB Model) (Figure 3) illustrates the relationship between the three aspects. It is noted that destination image derived from visitors’ perception of the destination, hence perception of tourists needs to be firstly studied.
Perception is a process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment (Millett, Boyle, Robbins, & Judge, 2011). The perception process involves three stages: exposure, attention and interpretation (Figure 3).
Nowadays, individuals’ daily lives are surrounded by huge amount of information; however the extent of attention devoted by individuals is limited. This is because individuals generally only react to information that they are interested in (selective attention). The interpretation stage is also subjective due to the presence of selectivity of information in mind, by which individuals alter information that is inconsistent with the initial beliefs and attitudes (selective distortion) and retain partial information that is perceived (selective retention).
To capture the targeted customers’ attention in the case of Hand to Hand, this perception process is considered. The operation location discussed in the previous section, in fact, makes contribution: potential customers in Shanghai are easily exposed to Hand to Hand’s advertisement due to the high population density, and the heavy value of early childhood education of parents in Shanghai increases the likelihood of Hand to Hand being noticed and interested in.
However, Hand to Hand’s construction and delivery of its advertisement as well as its influence and management on customers’ interpretation of the destination depend on its positioning strategies; this will be discussed later.
When constructing the image of Hand to Hand, certain themes should be taken into account. Firstly, Hand to Hand need to be illustrated as doing activities with a casual sense of feeling. Despite the focus on education, the casual and comforting atmosphere throughout the activities is key in maintaining potential customers’ interest. Secondly, an emphasis on activities of Hand to Hand is vital. Since the venue is in a farm environment, the natural aspect of the farm life as well as the close interaction with farm animals is another attraction, therefore need to be promoted. Thirdly, the outcome of education has to be valuable from visitors’ perspective. One of the main reasons of participating in such activities is to enhance family bonds and receive quality education for the children. A high perceived value in the delivered education would greatly maintain customers’ interest and is decisive in deciding the final destination choice. Thus the big image of Hand to Hand perceived by public should be as a natural farm tourists destination that offers a series of creative and fun activities for families to enjoy alternative lifestyle, to improve family bonds, and to receive quality moral education for children.
4.2 Positioning
As Kotler (2003) suggests, positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinct place in the target market’s mind. In a tourism setting, positioning strategies aim to differentiate a destination from the universal environment. It adds perceived value to the destination, by which is expected to have strong influence on potential visitors’ destination choice.
Morrison’s 5Ds of positioning theory illustrates different stages in constructing an effective positioning strategy (Table 3). By following this theory, Hand to Hand’s positioning strategy can be discussed.
4.2.1 Documenting
There are several valuable benefits that potential customers seek in Hand to Hand. It is a chance for the families to escape from the daily routine and enjoy alternative farm lifestyle. Secondly, families seek to improve family bonds and expect quality moral education for children by participating in activities.
4.2.2 Deciding
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Hand to Hand wish to be perceived as a destination offering comforting and memorable experience of families doing fun activities together.
4.2.3 Differentiating
In the current state, no direct competitors have yet been found. The closest tourism type that offers similar activities is farm tourism. However despite the fact that Hand to Hand does plan to sell organic products in a small scale, the major offering of Hand to Hand does not collide with major offerings of other farm tourism destinations, by which often involves selling organic products and living with farmers.
4.2.4 Designing
The farm environment and farm related activities may be easily confused with ordinary farm tourism destinations by the public. Therefore the emphasis on family participation and education has to be made clearly in promotional methods.
4.2.5 Delivering
This is the most important stage in the entire process, as failure in delivery would make prior effort meaningless. Promotional methods generally include advertisement on TV, magazines and printed flyers and posts. The visual component is vital in communicating Hand to Hand’s distinctiveness to the public, therefore advertisement on radios should not be considered. Moreover, TV channels and magazines should be thoroughly and carefully chosen. For instance, ideal TV channel choices would be kids’ channels instead of adult audience dominated channels, because audiences of kids channels are more easily attracted by Hand to Hand’s offering. The chosen magazines’ audience should also be homemaker dominated as of the same reason. Physical flyers and posts are also more effective than electronic versions, as promotional Emails are often regarded as junks and rarely been taken seriously. Physical copies stand greater chance to be read and considered.
Thus, Hand to Hand’s positioning strategy is to firstly differentiate itself from ordinary farm tourism destinations; then emphasize its distinctiveness in operation and promote its value in education; finally the promotional methods are carefully chosen to maximise its extent of influence.
5.0 Layout and Orientation
Hand to Hand occupies in the rural area of Shanghai. In order to maintain the level of entertainment, Hand to Hand needs to offer a wide range of activities, in which requires a large venue consists of various components (Appendix 1). The venue of Hand to Hand involves basic farm features, such as one chicken farm, one vegetable garden, two fruit gardens and one organic food shop. Yet the lake in the centre and creeks throughout the venue allows diverse activities to be commenced. The venue also includes shelters for the participating families, and an assembly hall, where announcement of each day’s activities will be made.
Bitner’s Servicescape Model is an integrative framework that emphasizes on the impact of the physical environment in which a service process takes place (Bitner, 1992). Bitner proposed three components under the environmental dimension. Ambient conditions refer to the background characteristics such as noise level, music and lighting. Spatial layout and functionality refer to the physical arrangement of facilities and the facilities’ ability to meet customer and employee goals; signs, symbols and artifacts as orientation aids. By following this model and eliminating negative aspects as identified, the servicescape of a destination can be improved and would lead to a higher customer satisfaction level.
5.1 Ambient conditions
Although the venue is chosen in the rural area by which the noise level is very limited due to the isolation from the public. However management in ambient conditions still applies in Hand to Hand. The existence of farm animals inevitably generates certain level of noise which may be problematic to the tourists; as well as the smell may form discomfort. The potential problems are countered through the good positioning of shelters. As illustrated in the map (Appendix 1), all four shelters are located away from the noise and odour generating facilities. This prevents discomfort when resting effectively.
5.2 Spatial layout and functionality
Since Hand to Hand operates in a small scale and only host four families at a time, capacity management such as crowding and queue management may not be problematic. However good positioning of facilities provides convenience for customers and employees when participating and working in the venue. The assembly hall, where announcements are made daily, is a frequently-visited location by all members. Therefore the location of the assembly hall should be easily accessible. It can be seen that all shelters are reasonably close to the assembly hall, providing convenience for the families.
5.3 Signs, symbols and artifacts
Orientation aids are crucial in tourists destinations that disoriented visitors usually end with low satisfaction level and stayed for a shorter period of time. Hand to Hand’s open ground design as well as its farm characteristics is difficult for visitors to recognise and locate themselves. To counter this situation, signs and maps as basic orientation aids are employed to give direction. In addition, lakesides and creek sides may be dangerous in night time. Apart from the use of fences, solar powered lights may be a good choice to give direction at night time.
6.0 Experience Design & Satisfaction
6.1 4E strategy (four experience realms)
In 1998, Pine and Gilmore (1998) proposed the concept of the experience economy. It is argued that consumer experience should be a new major focus for businesses during the delivery of goods and services. This would differentiate businesses’ offering and may increase performance and profitability.
The 4E strategy (Figure 4) is also developed in Pine and Gilmore’s study, which illustrates four realms of experiential values that is to be added in businesses’ delivery of goods and services. The experiences consist of escape, education, entertainment and esthetics (aesthetics); the engagement of the experiences is affected by the extent of consumers’ participation level as well as customers’ absorption or immersion of the experiences.
6.2 Application of the 4E strategy
Hand to Hand’s management on the on-site experience and satisfaction of tourists is one of the parameters that determine the success of its operation. The 4E strategy is a good approach to monitor Hand to Hand’s delivery of various experiences and also helps to ensure customers’ satisfaction.
Each tourist destination has different focus on what it wishes to deliver. The visual presentation of the 4E strategy makes Hand to Hand’s focus clear to observe
Hand to Hand draws heavy focus on the delivery of education, given that it is the primary significance for customers’ participation. On the other hand, entertainment, aesthetics and escape occupy equal importance. The focuses on experience delivery is now clear, hence strategies that manage the delivery of can be then discussed.
6.2.1 Education
Hand to Hand aims to actively engage participants and to bring immersion throughout the education process, in contrast to the ordinary educational process which participants typically lack in participation and are in the absorption state rather than immersion state. Unlike literal explanation of knowledge as at school, children are more willing to participate in fun activities. This ensures the positive experience that participants would have but also is effective in engaging children’s thinking process. For instance, instead of using statistics of global poverty to teach children about the importance to not waste food, letting children to be part of the food production process (i.e. planting, gathering, processing, cooking) would allow children to realise the preciousness of food, therefore is more effective.
6.2.2 Entertainment, aesthetics & escape
Parents and children would receive different levels of entertainment and aesthetic feelings in Hand to Hand. This is because children may experience more excitement in participating activities as first-time-ers, whereas parents may not. Therefore two controls are employed to maintain the level of entertainment and a good aesthetic feeling.
Suggested in the categories of tourist settings classified by MacCannell (1973), a front region may totally organise itself to represent a backstage region. MacCannell (1973) also noted modern society demands good touristic experience regardless of the authenticity of the region visited. Therefore it may be effective to organise Hand to Hand, which is a front stage region (artificial farm), as if a backstage region (wild environment). Adult customers are expected to easily identify such approach; however, this staged authenticity brings immersion to children and enhances children’s experience.
Parents although recognise the staged authenticity, would have positive aesthetic experience due to Hand to Hand’s beauty in nature and isolation from urban areas, in contrast to parents’ busy daily lifestyle. This sense of escape naturally brings comforting entertainment and aesthetic experience to the parents.
6.3 Satisfaction
Everything has the potential for improvement; therefore complaints from customers are inevitable and necessary for Hand to Hand. Customers’ satisfaction is achieved with effort of all employees as well as a well-designed feedback system.
Activities involved in Hand to Hand may come in with difficulty, given that the activities are likely off the daily lives of participants. To prevent confusion and discomfort during the activities, the professionally trained employees will assist participants if help is needed.
All employees and Hand to Hand as a corporation are open to feedbacks, willing to take suggestions for improvement. Customers may provide feedback on site or through the website.
7.0 Conclusion
The improving living standard of citizens and change in lifestyle due to globalisation has led to the increase in spending on leisure activities. Shanghai as a fast developing mega city has showed huge potential in tourism, and the heavy value of education among the citizens implies the possibility of Hand to Hand’s existence.
This report firstly identifies the targeted market segment, and discusses the motives of customers; and uses the information to construct positioning strategies to form images for the public. The layout and orientation of the venue is also discusses in pursuit of a better on-site experience. Moreover, specific strategies in maintaining the quality delivery of various experiences are developed. At the end, employees’ behaviour on improving customer satisfaction is constructed. With such investigation and study on topics, Hand to Hand has the confidence to successfully operate in Shanghai.
8.0 References
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