Strategies for Destination Management
Discuss about the Place, Culture and Destination Management for Marketing.
The report aims at providing an insight into place, culture and destination management of Cambodia in the South east of Asia. The economic and social contributions have enhanced the importance of tourism for a destination. However, in doing so, sustainability has become a major concern for the decision makers as fierce competition amongst destinations have resulted in the development of unhealthy and unplanned approaches. The problem is solved by laying out effective strategies for destination marketing and management. The strategies for destination management helps in generating the incremental growth in the visitor economies and in maximizing the long term benefit necessary for ensuring the proper management of the destinations. The report provides an insight into the appropriate strategies for the destination management of Cambodia. There is also a discussion on the differentiation in communication of the various cultures and the impact of the cross-cultural communication in enriching and influencing tourism experience.
Cambodia represents the Southeast nation with an approximate population of close to 16 million. The country is rich in landscape that spans the low-lying plains, Mekong Delta and coastline on Gulf of Thailand (tourismcambodia.com, 2018). Tourism comprises nearly of a third of the GDP of Cambodia thereby bringing close to $5 billion to economy and more than 4.5 million visitors in a year (Turner, 2015). Angkor Wat, one of the archaeological sites extending over 400 square kilometers comprises of hydraulic structures, temples and communication routes is one of the popular destinations for tourist attraction in Cambodia that also represents the rich culture of Cambodia(whc.unesco.org, 2018). However, the appropriate strategies for destination management and marketing are as follows:
To maintain its growth as a tourism destination, promotion of Cambodia to the targeted countries should take place (Morrison, 2013). This would help in meeting and assessing the needs of the international tourist. In doing so prices must be competitive, that will enable the destination to thrive. This is necessary since Cambodia remains a mysterious country for most of the tourist. This leads to the creation of desire for most people in exploring a place that has remained unexplored by rest of the world. The government can reinforce such an image through commercials, various forms of social media and internet blogging. However, relying on the tour companies and the hotels for undertaking promotional campaign for a tourism destination is however not a great choice.
Targeted Promotion for Retention
The goal of this strategy is to ensure retaining the tourist for longer. Keeping the tourists in the Cambodia for a longer period will necessitate marketing of the country to the visitors beyond the Angkor Wat in North, Toul Sleng Prison in the Phnom Penh, Choueng Ek Genocidal Centre, Kratie-Dolphin, Rattanakiri Eco tourism, Kampong Thom and Preah Vihar (tourismcambodia.com, 2018). This includes marketing of Cambodia’s waterfront destinations like the Kampot and its beaches. This will enable the visitors in extending their stay to an additional three to four days. Cambodia also has seven beaches that can also receive importance while marketing. These beaches includes Koh Kong, Koh Rong Sanloem, Koh Rong, Kep, Koh Tonsay, also known as the Rabbit Island and Kep. Moreover, the tourist might return to the country after their first trip if they are shown outstanding tourism service and hospitality. A mention of the things that the visitors can perform in Cambodia would also help in attracting the tourist. This includes activities like boating and cruising, exploring cultures, facilities of scuba diving, golf and driving ranges, adventure activities and wildlife and nature. In recent times, Cambodia had an increasing popularity as a tourist destination amongst the Asian tourist and hence there has been availability of direct flights from the cities of Hanoi, Singapore and Hong Kong thereby increasing the probability of the return visitors amongst the growing demographic of the tourist. Most of the visitors sent to Cambodia by the countries like China, Laos, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. Further, the closer proximity of these countries makes them potentially efficient in returning the visitors. Retention and promotion of Cambodia tourism is also possible through up gradation of the airports of the country especially in the Siem Reap stretch (tourismcambodia.com, 2018). The airlines could also work in coordinating direct flights to facilitate easy movement between the primary attractions like Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.
China comprises of one of the largest demography of international tourist with the Chinese tourists spending close to $229 (Pine, Lam & Zhang, 2013). In the year 2015, China and Taiwan sent in a considerable number of tourists to Cambodia amongst a total 109 million tourists. The strategy should be targeting of these tourist that should also be a policy objective of the tourism industry of Cambodia. In addition, the government should undertake research for exploring the expectations of the Chinese visitors thereby working towards offering the tourists various ventures that will drive in huge groups of Chinese. Moreover, educating the tour and hotel services based on the wants of Chinese market will act as big help for satisfying them thereby making a comeback.
Targeting Chinese Tourists
Cambodia in spite of having various tourist attractions for the international tourist can fall short of certain aspects. Sometimes the tourist comes across inadequate cleanliness and hygiene at the hotels along with hospitality by poorly trained staffs often turns of the tourists. Provided the limited capacity of the government in dealing with the issues, the strategy should stress on incorporating private companies in dealing with the issue and take necessary initiative. However, it is recommended that Cambodian government should move into partnership with the private companies for attracting more tourism by undertaking polluted water, recycling and garbage programs (Yap & Saha, 2013). It is necessary because the piles of garbage often found outside luxury resort, temples and the waterways mask the rich beauty of Cambodia. Resolving such issues would not only increase revenue and tourisms but would also make Cambodia a viable tourist destination.
Communication across the cultures is challenging and each culture has own set of regulations and rules which the members considers (Bowe, Martin & Manns, 2014). Cultural imprinting begins at a very early age. While some rules, values, beliefs, anxieties and phobias are taught explicitly most of the information is subconsciously absorbed. Intercultural communication acts as a subject of importance not because of the increase in the globalization but because of increased diversity amongst the people both culturally and ethnically. Two people belonging to same culture never guaranteed of responding in the same manner. However, they provide clues on what a person might encounter when dealing with the members of a particular culture. Some of the instances of communication across cultures include:
Cultural differences influence international communication. The choice of the communication medium also has necessary cultural overtones (Asante, Miike & Yin, 2013). The deciding factor remains in whether a country falls in a higher context or a lower context culture. For instance, Central European, Latin American, African, Asian, Arab and the American Indian put higher context culture forward and leave the messages unspecified through the context, interpretation between the lines and non-verbal cues. Compared to this, lower cultural context mostly the English and the German speaking countries expect the messages to be not only specific but also explicit.
Some cultures consider time as linear commodity to either ‘save’, ‘spend’ or ‘waste’. While others consider time as synchronic implying experiencing a constant flow now and as the force that can neither be controlled or contained (Hurn & Tomalin, 2013). For instance, the North American, English, Dutch and Swedish follow a sequential culture thereby providing complete attention any agenda following a sequence, one after the other. On the other hand, South America, Asia and Europe follow a synchronic culture where the flow of the time is considered as circle representing interrelation between the past, present and the future. This influences how people from these culture approach strategic thinking and long term planning.
Private Partnership for Improvement in Hygiene and Cleanliness
The members of the neutral cultures do not portray their feelings and keep them carefully subdued and controlled. However, in the cultures with higher effect people shows put forward their feeling simply by smiling, grimacing, scowling, laughing and sometimes also by shouting, crying or walking out (Mead, 2017). This however does not imply that people belonging to the neutral culture are unfeeling or cold, they are in fact more careful in displaying the emotion. For instance, emotional reactions were hardly acceptable in Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Netherlands and UK while it finds acceptance in France, Italy, Singapore and United States. It is however easier for the people from the neutral cultures in sympathizing with the frustration of a Dutch manager than reasoning out with an excited Italian. Thus, when it comes to the aspect of communication, the things correct and most appropriate for one culture might be offensive for another.
The cross cultural communication is enriching the tourism experience as it helps in understanding the Cambodian culture and the society. It also helps in better understanding of the etiquette and customs of Cambodia (commisceo-global.com, 2018). The cross cultural communication helps in understanding the fact that Cambodia represents a collective type society where the protocol and etiquette are used for the maintenance of common harmony that helps in minimizing chances of offense. The cross cultural communication enriches the tourism experience in Cambodia by making the visitors understand that face represents a combination of dignity, honor and public reputation thereby making them aware of the face mechanics so that they does not cause a person to lose his/her face due to the unintentional actions. Through cross cultural communication visitors are also able to understand that the greetings between the Cambodians depend on the hierarchy/relationship between people. The traditional method of greeting is represented by a bow in combination with the bringing of hands together at the chest level (tourismcambodia.com, 2018). The cross cultural communication helps the visitors in understanding that the Cambodians practice of the shaking of the hands must be returned with an equivalent greeting.
Conclusion:
The report ends by throwing a light on how the cross cultural communication influences and enriches the tourism experience. There is also a discussion on differentiation in communication amongst the various cultures with special reference to the higher versus lower context culture, sequential versus synchronic culture and the neutral versus affective culture. The report also provides an insight into the strategies of the destination marketing and management. These strategies primarily focus on initiating a campaign for better promotion of Cambodia as a tourist destination, retention of the tourist through better facilities and hospitality, targeting the return tourist of the targeting countries and improving the quality of the stay of the visitors.
References:
Asante, M. K., Miike, Y., & Yin, J. (Eds.). (2013). The global intercultural communication reader. Routledge.
Bowe, H., Martin, K., & Manns, H. (2014). Communication across cultures: Mutual understanding in a global world. Cambridge University Press.
commisceo-global.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.commisceo-global.com/resources/country-guides/cambodia-guide [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018].
Hurn, B., & Tomalin, B. (2013). Cross-cultural communication: Theory and practice. Springer.
Mead, M. (2017). Continuities in cultural evolution. Routledge
Morrison, A. M. (2013). Marketing and managing tourism destinations. Routledge.
Pine, R. J., Lam, T., & Zhang, H. Q. (2013). Tourism and hotel development in China: From political to economic success. Routledge.
tourismcambodia.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.tourismcambodia.com/ [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018].
tourismcambodia.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.tourismcambodia.com/travelguides/provinces/preah-vihear.htm [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018]
tourismcambodia.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.tourismcambodia.com/culture/ [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018].
tourismcambodia.com(2018). [online] Available at: https://www.tourismcambodia.com/travelguides/provinces/siem-reap.htm [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018].
Turner, R. (2015). Economic Impact 2015 Cambodia. [online] Available at: https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic%20impact%20research/countries%202015/cambodia2015.pdf [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018].
whc.unesco.org (2018). [online] Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668 [Accessed 20 Jun. 2018].
Yap, G., & Saha, S. (2013). Do political instability, terrorism, and corruption have deterring effects on tourism development even in the presence of UNESCO heritage? A cross-country panel estimate. Tourism Analysis, 18(5), 587-599.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
