VISITOR ATTRACTIONS

Challenges and Future Trends

TOUR 2000 International Tourism

22/10/2018
Tutor: Dr. Sherma Roberts
Kenny Bowen - 400001395
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 2
Attractions Overview .............................................................................................................................. 2
Challenges faced by Attractions .............................................................................................................. 3
Seasonality .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Increasing Competition .......................................................................................................................... 6
Future Trends: Technology................................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 8
Reference List ............................................................................................................................................. 9

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Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to look at the Challenges and Future Trends which Visitor
Attractions currently face and how these challenges and future trends are dealt with and
the pros and cons of the methods of response. Issues such as the challenges of
seasonality, Increasing Competition and Shifting Patterns of Demand as well as Future
trends such as Technological Advancements have been explored in an attempt to give a
better understanding of these topics.

Attractions Overview
Spencer (2018) defines attractions as places of interest where tourists visit, typically for
inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built
beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Visitor attractions come in many different forms
and fashions, and they can serve to preserve the natural and built heritage of a destination
and also can help to maintain the cultural identities and practices of that destination.
Visitor attractions play a crucial role in the development of and the success of the tourism
destination and according to Page and Connell (as cited in Roberts et al, 2015:61) within
Leipers Tourism System, attractions are seen as important pull factors in a destination
are known as the “first power” which essentially means that a tourist’s main reason for
visiting a destination is to experience some form of an attraction.
Attractions can be classified as Natural e.g. Harrison’s Cave which is an active stream
cave system that is 2.3km long and filled with stalactites and stalagmites located in St.
Thomas, Barbados. Man Made (these can be purpose built or non-purpose built) e.g. Walt
Disney World (purpose built) which is a collection of Disney Theme Parks located in Bay
Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida or Notre-Dame de Paris (non-purpose built) which is
a medieval catholic cathedral located in Paris, France. Last but not least, Events, and an
example of this is The Digicel Barbados Reggae Festival which is a series of reggae
related events lasting a week and ending with Reggae on the Hill at Farley Hill National
Park located in St. Peter, Barbados.

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Challenges faced by Attractions
In the modern day, there are quite a few challenges that visitor attractions are now facing,
these include but are not limited to Increasing Competition, Seasonality and
Environmental Impacts which I will be taking a further look into.

Seasonality
Seasonality is without a doubt one of the biggest challenges of the tourism industry as a
whole, this is especially true in areas where weather conditions are unfavourable.
Seasonality contributes to the peaks and troughs of destinations and attractions to a
lesser extent. What this means is that at times an attraction may have more visitors than
it can accomodate which would indicate problems with carrying capacity, this would be
known as a “High Season”, or there would be too little or too few tourists visiting an
attraction, and this would be a “Low Season”. Butler (2014) explains seasonality as “a
temporal imbalance in the phenomenon of tourism, which may be expressed in terms of
dimensions of such elements as numbers of visitors, expenditure of visitors, traffic on
highways and other forms of transportation, employment, and admissions to attractions”.
Seasonality is something that really cannot be totally eliminated, but there are
methods of evening out the peaks and troughs which the attractions face. According to
Goulding as sited in as cited in (Roberts et al, 2015:85) seasonal visitation bring with it
some operational effects such as capacity utilisation, cost of training and development
and staffing to state a few. Because of the nature of seasonality, there is a level of
predictability that comes with it, and thus strategies can be planned and implemented
effectively to combat these effects.
We shall take a look at the popular visitor attraction The Forbidden City in Beijing,
China, a Man Made, Non-Purpose built, Government owned attraction which has dealt
with overwhelming crowds for a number of years, and as such the visitor experience was
negatively affected, there was a vulnerability of visitor safety and lack of adequate crowd
control measures. In recent years their yearly visitor numbers have been rising steadily,
in 2014 and 2015 with 15 million visitors average and in 2016 facing a 6% increase in

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visitation. Daily during their peak season, they were getting visitor number of 100,000
persons per day which is already well over the Carrying Capacity, and there were two
days recorded where 140,000 visitors were at the Forbidden Temple. To combat this, in
2015 a policy was introduced which began limiting the amount of guests visiting daily
down to 80,000 per day at most, implementing a real name policy on ticket purchases
and also limiting ticket purchases to one per person. Domestic guests to the Forbidden
City now have to buy their tickets online in advance whereas foreigners will still be able
to buy their tickets physically from the passport window at the south gate, and as the
name suggests, the foreign guests must show their passport in order to buy a ticket. This
policy was implemented in order to improve the visitor experience, make it easier to
manage the crowds and reduce the safety risks that came with having so many guests at
once.
In addition to this method, directors of the museum saw that their visitation
numbers in their off-peak season were at most 29,000, so in an attempt to regulate these
numbers or rather as stated by Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum, “to attract
more visitors in winter to narrow the gap between peak and low season," they reduced
the price of low season tickets from 40 yuan to 20 yuan in the winter period.

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Shifting Patterns of Demand
The advancements made in technology in recent years and changes in tourist
demographics have contributed to the rise of what is known as the New Tourist or “New
Visitor” as stated by Voase (2003), he also contends that there is an emergence of
classifications or the sophisticated consumer as the “thoughtful” and the “smart” as well
as the “active” and the “passive” consumer. In (Roberts, S. et al. 2015:84) sums it up as,
whichever combination of these classifications the new consumer comes as is complex
in itself and thus requires different experiences at different times. With technology as
prominent as it is today, Voase (2003) proclaims “the arrival of the Internet and World
Wide Web, have progressively led to a saturating of populations in the advanced world
with informational messages. This has led to a democratization of knowledge; everyone
can become an ‘expert’ of sorts.” This is basically saying that anyone can spend a few
hours researching on a destination or attraction and be knowledgeable enough about it
that they are not easily impressed anymore, most young travellers want to experience
more so they expect there to be special places and or facilities that offer immersive
interactive and hands-on experiences. This is supported by Stănciulescu, Molnar,
Bunghez (2011) which said “"New" tourists however, are increasingly being seen to be
environmentally sensitive, displaying respect for the culture of host nations and looking
to experience and learn rather than merely stand back and gaze. "New" tourists are
participators not spectators”. Because of the overall changes in demand (Roberts, S. et
al. 2015:84) has said “these trends in consumer demand patterns will impact upon
operational costs in terms of retrofitting employee training, research and innovation and
product diversification.” this is essentially saying that to keep up with the changing
demand patterns, attractions have to seek to ensure their employees are well trained and
knowledgeable about the “new consumer”. They must also seek to be on top of the game
in terms of the management of the attraction, always looking for new innovative ideas to
implement new products and keep existing products fresh and fun to satisfy visitor
demand, but in doing all of this will require a healthy amount of financial resources which
Swarbrooke (2002:137) argues is the most important type of resource for visitor
attractions and it is crucial for the success of the attraction.

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Increasing Competition
(As cited in Roberts, S. et al. 2015:85) Swarbrooke has stated that since the turn of the
millenium there has been a rapid increase in the volume of attractions the world over. As
a result of this increase in visitor attractions which meet the needs of the consumer,
especially the “New Consumer” referred to earlier in the essay, there is now competition
for older types of attractions. Swarbrooke (2002) suggests attractions must analyse the
competition they face and seek ways to differentiate themselves from each other because
of the market saturation of attractions. Swarbrooke (2002) has also stated that due to this
increased competition, the life cycle of purpose-built attractions has been shortened such
that introduction to relaunch timing is about one or two years. This is particularly true in
the case of Walt Disney World, according to ("Updates To Disney's Pirates Of The
Caribbean Rides" 2018) their Pirates of the Caribbean Ride has undergone numerous
upgrades over the years to address problems such as misogyny being depicted in the
ride to keep in line with the Political Correctness nature of the “New Consumer”, or to
keep the ride up to date with the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie franchise, this
encourages repeat visitation because there is something new to see. The unfortunate
downside to this is it cannot work for all attractions, some do not have the financial income
like Disney does to be able to constantly refurbish their attraction and must search for
other ways to increase visitor engagement over the lifespan of the attraction. One of these
methods are tapping into new emerging markets such as the LGBTQ+ market, which
according to (Witeck Communications 2015) has been reported to have a combined
buying power of $917 Billion in the US.

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Future Trends: Technology
Swarbrooke (2002) states that technology has definitely been an important factor in
attraction development and management, in the modern day though, advances in
technology have made it an even more important and crucial factor. Technologies such
as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality play a role in diversifying attractions and
increasing competitive advantage of attractions (Jung and Dieck 2018). Augmented
Reality “Allows computer-generated virtual imagery information to be overlaid onto a live
direct or indirect real-world environment in real time.” (Lee, K. 2012:13). Virtual Reality is
“the use of a computer-generated 3D environment…that one can navigate and possibly
interact with, resulting in real-time simulation of one or more of the user’s five senses”
(Jung and Dieck 2018:95). AR and VR can be used as tools to enhance the visitor
experience of attractions; it allows guests to interact with the landscape in innovative
ways.
In terms of Virtual Reality, Six Flags parks have utilised VR headsets on their “New
Revolution Galactic Attack mixed reality VR coaster”. Guest put on the Samsung Gear
VR headsets, and are then transported to a futuristic world, racing through the galaxy and
experiencing all the drops and inversions of the ride.
On the AR front, we can look at the popular Augmented Reality video-game Pokémon Go
for Android and IOS smartphones. Six Flags parks have embraced the game and AR and
have used this experience to their advantage where they have seen the opportunity.
There are in game amenities known as Pokémon Go Gyms and PokéStops which are
mapped out to structures in the actual world, and to a lesser extent within the theme
parks. Theme parks have embraced this as a way to keep customers in queues
entertained or rather just as an added benefit to the visitor experience in the park, they
have gone as far as to create a Pokémon Go Guide for their parks, thus tapping into the
Video Gamer market.

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Conclusion
As visitor attractions are the primary reason visitors travel to a destination, it is therefore
important to manage these attractions effectively. Discussed were the seasonality of
attractions and how it had negative effects in both the peak and off-peak seasons and
how they attempted to solve these problems by introducing ticketing policies which limited
daily visitors and methods to regulate visitation so that more guests would travel in the
off-peak season to even out the numbers somewhat. In Shifting Patterns of Demand,
discussed were the changing demographics of the modern world and the “New Visitor” or
“New Consumer” which attractions have to cater to in a different way because of their
technologically savvy nature which leads them to be harder to impress and seeking for
more hands on experiences. Discussed in Increasing Competition were the
oversaturation of visitor attractions and methods of diversifying to get the competitive
advantage over other attractions. And finally Technological Advances in visitor
attractions, where visitor attractions are now fully incorporating Augmented Reality and
Virtual Reality into their operations to draw new market and enhance the visitor
experience.

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Reference List
Butler, Richard. 2014. ADDRESSSING SEASONALITY IN TOURISM: THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE Conclusions And Recommendations Resulting
From The Punta Del Este Conference, May 2014.. Ebook.
http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/sites/all/files/pdf/final_notes_richard_butler.pdf.

Chetthamrongchai, Paitoon. 2017. "The Influence Of Travel Motivation, Information

Sources And Tourism Crisison Tourists’ Destination Image". Journal Of Tourism &
Hospitality 06 (02). doi:10.4172/2167-0269.1000278.

Connell, Joanne, Stephen J. Page, and Denny Meyer. 2015. "Visitor Attractions And
Events: Responding To Seasonality". Tourism Management 46: 283-298.
doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2014.06.013.

E, Ismet, and Abuhjeeleh M. 2016. "The Analysis Of Tourism Policies By Different

Governments And Their Potential Implementation In North Cyprus Economy". Journal Of
Political Sciences & Public Affairs 04 (04). doi:10.4172/2332-0761.1000221.

Fyall, Alan. 2003. Managing Visitor Attractions New Directions. Butterworth-Heineman.

Jenne, Jeremiah. 2017. "Visitors To Beijing Palace Museum Topped 16 Million In 2016,
An Average Of 40,000 Every Day". Thebeijinger.Com.
https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2017/01/03/2016-visitors-beijing-palace-museum-
topped-16-million-average-40000-every-day.

Jung, Timothy, and M. Claudia tom Dieck. 2018. Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality
Empowering Human, Place And Business. 1st ed. Switzerland: Springer.

Kaihao, Wang. 2015. "Palace Museum Planning To Cap Number Of Visitors". China
Daily, , 2015. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01/28/content_19425180.htm.

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Plogstedt, Marc. 2018. "Augmented Reality Will Bring Together Games And Amusement
Parks". Venturebeat. https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/09/augmented-reality-will-bring-
together-games-and-amusement-parks/.

"Pokemon Go Player’S Guide To Six Flags Great Adventure | Six Flags Great Adventure
& Safari". 2018. Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari.
https://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure/newsroom/pokemon-go-guide.

Swarbrooke, John. 2002. The Development And Management Of Visitor Attractions. 2nd
ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Hienemenn.

"The New Revolution Galactic Attack Special Weekend (February 18-20 ) At Six Flags
Discovery Kingdom". 2018. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
https://www.sixflags.com/discoverykingdom/special-events/new-revolution-galactic-
attack-special-weekend.

"Updates To Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean Rides". 2018. Usatoday.Com.

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/experience/america/theme-
parks/2018/08/13/updates-to-disneys-pirates-of-the-caribbean-rides/37463777/.

Witeck Communications. 2015. "America’S LGBT 2015 Buying Power Estimated At $917
Billion". http://www.witeck.com/pressreleases/2015-buying-power/.

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