Analyzing the Current Situation and Issues Facing National Parks Board (NParks)
The National Parks Board of Singapore mainly aims at the enhancement of the greenery in Singapore. The Board had started the campaign in the year 1963. The Board encourages the community in Singapore to support greenery and make it an integral part of their lives. The board has set up a program named Community in Nature (CIN) with aim to engage the community in preserving nature (Nparks.gov.sg, 2017).
There are many types of activities that are offered by the National Parks Board. These programs include many types of offerings for all age groups. Many events and workshops are organized by the board in the weekends with the aim to engage them in the activities related to nature. The natural experience in the parks is an important factor. The visitors in the parks can have an outstanding experience in the surroundings. The visitors can also have a great family time in these parks in the lap of nature. Quality time can be spent with the family and friends in these beautiful surroundings. Visitors can also spend time and enjoy jogging, cycling, skating and many types of other sports (Newsome, Moore & Dowling, 2012). The children can have a fun time with their families in the beaches and the beautiful surroundings of the park. Dining facilities are also available in the parks. The cafes offer these facilities with nature in the backdrop. Some parks also have shopping facilities. The parks can also be booked for private and corporate events. Workshops and walks are organized for specific groups (Hall, & Page, 2014).
Some issues are faced by the National Parks Board in Singapore. One of the main threats include the rising incidents of illegal fishing and the notices that are being issued by the Board which has increased from 96 to 271 in the recent years. There are bulks of poaching cases in these parks. The increase in the number of poaching cases is believed to be caused by the increase in the number of enforcement. One of such incidents was detected by Mr. Ben Lee who was the founder of one the nature groups called Nature Trekker (Henderson, 2013). He had seen a group of individuals pulling a net and then checking for fish. He informed the authorities of the park about the incident. The group was then questioned with the help of police. The net was also captured. The public was then formally informed that fishing is prohibited in the parks. The cases of illegal fishing was further controlled at the reserves with the help of the preventive measures which were taken by the authorities. Whenever the officers spotted people outside the boundaries, they were warned and removed from there. The main problem faced by the parks is the managing illegal poaching. Enforcement patrolling was done with the help of a group of volunteers. The volunteers are trained people and they know the ways of approaching the poachers (Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016). The individuals who are caught are issued notice and if found guilty they can be penalized as well. The authorities are not that quick in taking actions against these poachers. This is the main reason behind the increase of illegal poaching activities. Illegal fishing is still common in the nature reserves in Singapore. The use of net in the illegal fishing activities causes a lot of damage to the lives of the fishes. This is turn affects the supply of food for the birds and other species. The entire food chain is affected due to these activities. Another problem faced by the national parks board is the human intervention in the movement of animals in the parks. The guided walks which were conducted on the wildlife bridge in the national parks was having an adverse effect on the movement of the animals on the bridge. These animals include Sunda Pangolin, various birds, snakes and the slender squirrel. The bridge connects Central Catchment area with Bukit Timah nature reserves. This helps the animals to move from the Bukit Timah to the Central Catchment area. The movement of the animals is important as the areas are divided due to urban development (Markwell, 2015). The facility of moving from one forest to another helps the animals to feed themselves and getting isolated. The walks were arranged for 20 people at a time so that they can learn about the reserves of the nature and also the animals that use the bridge. On the other the presence of humans was discouraging them from using the bridge. Due to this reason, the walks were totally stopped. The authorities have noticed people trying to visit the bridge on their own without any guidance, but they were warned against doing so. Advisories were issued and they were warned against doing so. The above stated issues are the main hurdles faced by the National Parks in the recent years (Tortajada, Joshi & Biswas, 2013).
Traditional Print Media Vehicles for NParks’ Advertisement
One of most beautiful attractions in the National Parks of Singapore are the Chek Jawa Wetlands. This area was opened to the public on 8th July, 2007. Chek Jawa Wetlands is an intertidal area. The most feasible time to visit this area is the time of low tides. This is adventurous tour and visitors who are keen on experiencing these adventures in the lap of nature are most likely to visit this place. Many guided tours are available in this area and need to be pre-booked.
The target audience for this ad campaign are the tourists who are ready to experience an adventure in the nature’s lap.
The area of Chek Jawa Wetlands is not quite known outside the area of Singapore. The local visitors are more prevalent in this area as compared to overseas tourists. The added advantage of this trip is the addition of the tour of the Pulao Ubin island along with the adventurous trip of Chek Jawa Wetlands. (Nparks.gov.sg, 2017).
The title of the Ad campaign would be “ DISCOVERING CHEK JAWA” . The advertising will contain the following description.
About Chek Jawa- The Chek Jawa Wetlands is an intertidal area. The most suitable time for the visit to these islands is the time of the low tides. The wetlands are submerged in water at the time of high tides. Knowledgeable and registered tourist guides are available to ensure safe travel of the tourists. This trip can be taken by the tourists who are up for some adventure. The Chek Jawa Wetlands are mainly connected to Pulau Ubin island. The Pulao Ubin island is a beautiful place to visit. The tourists who are in search of some for thrills and adventure are free to hire mountain bikes from the rental shops in the area and enjoy a drive on the rugged areas of Pulau Ubin. The ride from the Pulao Ubin islands to the Chek Jawa wetlands has to be made in a bicycle which are also available for hire. The tourists can walk if it is preferable. It takes around 40 minutes to walk from the Pulao Ubin islands to Chek Jawa. This trip will be a soothing experience for the tourists searching for some peace away from chaos of city life. People looking for some leisure time along with adventure are invited to take this tour atleast once in a lifetime (Tuten & Solomon, 2014).
Packages- The trip commences with the visit to the Pulao Ubin islands followed by the Chek Jawa wetlands. The tourists need to hire cycles or walk to the Chek Jawa Wetlands. The total expense of this trip will be $60 for each person. The bookings need to be done well in advance. The opening time of the Chek Jawa Wetlands is from 8:30a.m. to 6:00p.m. It is mandatory for the visitors to follow the provided guidelines to ensure their own safety. Couple discounts are provided. A discount of 20% is provided to the early bookings. Couple discounts are also available (Moriarty et al., 2014).
PowerPoint Presentation for NParks Advertising Campaign
The choice of advertising media is an important factor in the advertising campaign. The media of advertising needs to be chosen based on its ability to reach more number of people in less time and with less efforts. The cost of advertising also matters in this case. The media of advertising should be chosen keeping the budget in mind (Whitaker, Ramsey & Smith, 2013).
In this case, the two print media vehicles to be chosen to successfully place the advertisement so that it can have the most effect includes, newspapers and magazines. Newspaper Advertisements can be placed by showcasing the beautiful areas of the Wetlands and the heritage related to the Pulau Ubin island. Newspaper ads is mass medium and has an easy local reach. The cost is also quite low as compared to other print media vehicles. Newspapers have the capability to reach to a large number of people within less time. This reach is only confined within the local visitors. The production quality is also poor and life span is short. The reach of Newspaper Advertisements is not that effective beyond the borders of Singapore (Barrow, 2014). The newspaper chosen here is “The Straits Times”. Another effective way of advertising is Magazine advertisements. This is the new age way of effective marketing. This type of advertising has greater reach and has a greater life span. The loyalty of the reader is high as compared to newspaper advertisements. The trust imposed on the articles is also high. There also some disadvantages of this print media vehicle which includes, the frequency is low and the effect is not immediate. (Tietenberg & Lewis, 2016). The overseas visitors can get more knowledge about this place from the advertisements placed in the magazines as compared to those in newspaper ads. The magazine chosen here is an online magazine namely, “ The Smart Local.com”. This magazine provides different information to locals and tourists about places to travel in Singapore. From the above discussion it can be derived that the two print media vehicles which are newspaper ads and magazine ads is effective for the coverage of local and overseas visitors.
References
Barrow, C. J. (2014). Developing the environment: Problems & management. Routledge.
Hall, C. M., & Page, S. J. (2014). The geography of tourism and recreation: Environment, place and space. Routledge.
Henderson, J. C. (2013). Urban parks and green spaces in Singapore. Managing Leisure, 18(3), 213-225.
Horner, S., & Swarbrooke, J. (2016). Consumer behaviour in tourism. Routledge.
Markwell, K. (Ed.). (2015). Animals and tourism: Understanding diverse relationships (Vol. 67). Channel View Publications.
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N. D., Wells, W. D., Crawford, R., Brennan, L., & Spence-Stone, R. (2014). Advertising: Principles and practice. Pearson Australia.
Newsome, D., Moore, S. A., & Dowling, R. K. (2012). Natural area tourism: Ecology, impacts and management (Vol. 58). Channel view publications.
Nparks.gov.sg. (2017). Activities. National Parks Board. Retrieved 6 October 2017, from https://www.nparks.gov.sg/activities
Nparks.gov.sg. (2017). Guided Tours at Chek Jawa. National Parks Board. Retrieved 6 October 2017, from https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/pulau-ubin-and-chek-jawa/what-to-see/chek-jawa
Tietenberg, T. H., & Lewis, L. (2016). Environmental and natural resource economics. Routledge.
Tortajada, C., Joshi, Y., & Biswas, A. K. (2013). The Singapore water story: sustainable development in an urban city state. Routledge.
Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2014). Social media marketing. Sage.
Whitaker, W. R., Ramsey, J. E., & Smith, R. D. (2013). MediaWriting: print, broadcast, and public relations. Routledge.
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