Tourist Experience Assignment One

REFERENCES Booking.com. (2020). Search B&Bs in Lake District. [online] Available at: https://www.booking.com/bed-andlake-district.en-gb.html?aid=375006;label=lake-districtd_GkYhOqsTCYlgJ5UAx5QwS388428052722%3Apl%3Ata%3Ap1%3Ap2% 3Aac%3Aap%3Aneg%3Afi%3Atikwd-102087784%3Alp9045481%3Ali% 3Adec%3Adm%3Appccp% 3DUmFuZG9tSVYkc2RlIyh9YbSsBl3MCvHsxhAhdA8ZHTY;sid=0e643bda3f62054de8f771cbbb7fb194;keep_landing=1&gcl id=EAIaIQobChMIkfij-4bh5wIVGp7VCh0BtQpcEAAYASAAEgI9tPD_BwE& [Accessed 20 Feb. 2020].

Cruz-Milan, O. (2017). Plog’s Model of Typologies of Tourists. The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Travel and Tourism.

Lake District National Park. (2020). Lake District facts and figures. [online] Available at: https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/learning/factsandfigures [Accessed 20 Feb. 2020].

Li, Y. (2000). Geographical consciousness and tourism experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(4), pp.863-883.

Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1999). The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Plog, S. (1974). Why Destination Areas Rise and Fall in Popularity. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 14(4), pp.55-58.

Selstad, L. (2007). The social anthropology of the tourist experience. Exploring the "Middle Role". Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 7(1), pp.19-33.

Smith, S. (1990). A Test Of Plog's Allocentric/Psychocentric Model: Evidence From Seven Nations. Journal of Travel Research, 28(4), pp.40-43.

Stamboulis, Y., & Skayannis, P. (2003). Innovation strategies and technology for experience-based tourism. Tourism Management, 24(1), pp.35-43.

Swarbrooke, J. and Page, S. (2012). Development and Management of Visitor Attractions. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Psychocentric Holidays Holidays made just for you.

I will be looking to Psychocentric tourists in this assignment and designing a 4 daybreak to match one of these tourists to go into an Ebrochure for a travel agency. I will also look into how managers will make this experience perfect for them and try to define a tourist experience.

DEFINE PSYCHOCENTRIC

Psychocentric and Allocentric tourists were first defined in 1974 it was stated psychocentric tourists are self-inhibited, nervous and not very adventurous they also can refused to travel by air due to psychological reasons plus they also prefer destinations they can get to by car and that are familiar and have developed tourism amenities. They also expect foreigners to speak their language and have a purchase of purchasing souvenirs (Plog,1974). Plog coined this definition but it has been looked at several times after with Smith looking back on it to define psychocentric tourists to have three characteristics: territory boundness where they travel less as adults and children, generalised anxieties where they have a stronger insecurities and they have a sense of powerlessness where they feel they have little impact in what happens with them in daily life (Smith, 1990). It has been also looked at recently in a 2017 model with it stating psychocentric tourist also known as dependables believe that what happens to them is beyond their control and they should make themselves safe with consistent choices by preferring popular things, the name comes from the individual centring themselves and thoughts (Cruz-Milan, 2017). The definition has been developed over the past years from its small definition in 1974 they all have great factors but the more up to date definitions are more useful due to their more detail as the Plog (1974) definition has just a small amount of information on the psychocentric tourist.

DEFINE EXPERIENCE They are loads of different definitions for experience especially in tourism as many people look at it in different ways, but the overall look is that each experience is significant to each individual (Li,2000).

Like Selstad (2007) it defines the experience to be a combination of what they individual want and their self realisation. But on the other hand, Pine and Gilmore (1999) state that the individuals experience the same things in different ways this is how they get their own personal experience. Jennings (2006) concluded on this stating that a tourist experience can interpreted by the specific individual involved only as they are the only one who experience this.

They are other definitions like Stamboulis and Skayannis (2003) who model the experience on what the tourist sees on-site and that they gather their experience from what interaction that they give to the destination. From looking at multiple definitions it has become clear that it is heard to define experience from a tourists point of view as each tourist has their own development of experience to make it what it is which is why only an individual can conclude on their own experience and to define how they want to make their experience special to them.

FORWARD CONTRACT The Seller and the Buyer have agreed to enter into this forward contract with regards to the sale of the 4 day break to the Lake District. This contract is will be agreed to and signed on for the payment of £700 for the bed and breakfast with 4 theatre tickets and 4 tickets to the castle included following this payment plan a deposit of £150 paid and the rest of the payment to be made 2 weeks before the visit.

The target market for this break is going to a psychocentric family of four who want to get away for a few days and want to see some national treasures like Kendal, Keswick and Ambleside. The holiday could complement this market because it is drivable so for a family this is better for a family that public transport also for the psychocentric it a lot easier for them to come and go as they like and it is familiarity along with the hotel as it will be home like impressing them and they locals are friendly making them feel at home and they speak their language which is a bonus plus they will be chain restaurants and shops making it even more familiar so they don’t feel too

LAKE DISTRICT

much of their comfort zone, along with the activities they are not out there they are some simple activities like walking, visiting a castle and going to the theatre which is something different but not scary for the psychocentric tourist. It also has something for the whole family to do so none of them will be bored and they are great facilities for children like parks and play workshops.

A reason why many families can go from allocentric to psychocentric tourist is from more responsibility for instance the adults may have lived a little going on to the wild side when younger but now with children they want to be more responsible they have more at risk and don’t want to put their children in danger and want to be nearby home which may be a reason they switched to being a psychocentric tourist.

HOW MANAGERS CHANGE THEIR EXPERIENCE

WHERE TO GO The 4-day break will take place in the Lake District. The Lake District is the biggest National Park in the United Kingdom covering 2362 square kilometres (Lake District National Park, 2020). It also has many mountains in its range, many natural sites and lakes making sure there is something for everyone to do (Lake District National Park, 2020). The Lake District also sees over 19 million visitors a year (Lake District National Park, 2020). The destination is perfect for a Psychocentric tourist for many reasons. As Plog (1974) stated that psychocentric tourists don’t like to travel by plane for personal reasons this makes the Lake District perfect due to the tourist able to travel by their own way like by car and it is very appealing for them. Another reason why it matches a Psychocentric tourist is because like Smith (1990) states one of the characteristics are that they have territory boundaries so this also means they don’t want to travel far so a British traveller will feel comfortable going to the Lake District.

THE ACCOMMODATION STYLE The 4-day break will also see the tourists stopping in a B and B type accommodation in the Lake District. They are many B and B’s across the Lake District range making it easier for the tourist to pick one as a psychocentric tourists they feel like they can be powerless (Smith, 1990) so giving them the choice to pick somewhere to go across the area will make them feel a lot more comfortable. Some examples of B and Bs in the Lake District are Ambleside Townhouse, Bowness Guest House and Westcliff (Booking.com, 2020). The B and B type venue would match a psychocentric tourist as they think things are out of their control and prefer to chose popular things to feel safe (Cruz-Milan, 2017) so therefore picking a popular b and b will make them feel much more comfortable. These types of tourists also like to be around people speaking their language (Plog, 1974) so using a local run business b and b they will most likely employ local people who will be English speaking workers making the tourist feel at ease.

They are lots of duties managers must do which are: planning, organising, budgeting, directing, staffing, reporting and co-ordinating (Swarbrooke and Page, 2012). All of these influence the customer experience.

The experience of a customer is made up of everything they have felt during their experience. The managers change the visitors experience for example in visitor attraction they have to organise the day and make sure everything run smoothly if the manager did not work to the best of their ability then the tourist would be unhappy and it would ruin their experience as something went wrong. Along with managers within an accommodation site they need to make sure that they have the staffing correct so that every duty can get done like cleaning, food preparation, etc. and that all staff are trained correctly of the managers don’t do this then the guests will not be receiving the best customer service and again ruin their experience. There are many reasons as to how managers aim to make a fitting experience for psychocentric tourists as well and this again is all in their duties. For instance with a psychocentric tourists they like to go to places that are familiar (Plog,1974) and popular (Cruz-Milan, 2017) so for the management team they need to organise their staff to get familiar products in as well as make themselves popular so the management team will need to perform their duty of organising the marketing team to develop their brand. Plog (1974) also states that psychocentric tourists like to have employees around them that speak their language, so managers have to fit around this type of tourist that do this by their duty of staffing. To appeal to a psychocentric tourist, they will employ English speaking workers but also to appeal to psychocentric tourists outside of the UK or non-English speaking they may employ workers who can speak other languages this is all down to the management and it would widen their market.

ACTIVITIES TO DO They are tonnes of activity to do at The Lake District for both allocentric and psychocentric tourists. For the Psychocentric tourists they will want more relaxing activities this is because like Plog (1974) state the psychocentric tourist is more nervous and less adventurous, so the activities have been made to match these elements of the psychocentric tourist.

The activity consists of going to the Theatre to see a show and a ticket to the castle will be included in the price of the break. These activities are included for a psychocentric tourists due to the fact that they like to do things that are familiar and that aren’t too adventurous (Plog,1974) so these are a perfect match as this is something that could be done in regular but still something special for the holiday and doesn’t push the boat out too much. The other activities the family could take part in is going sightseeing, walking and biking.

These are all simple activities that all have helping hands around the park to help tourists (Lake District National Park, 2020). These activities were chose because they believe what is going to happen to them is out of their control (Cruz-Milan, 2017) so doing these activities make them feel more comfortable due to the fact they have a lot more control on what they are doing and giving them power as they can also feel powerless (Smith, 1990).

CONCLUSION After looking into many different definitions on experience it has come to the conclusion that they are multiple opinions on what experience means but a quick example would be that everyone makes their own experience it is personal to them and that it made from what they feel while at the tourist destination. A conclusion was also made on what a psychocentric tourist is and that is someone who doesn’t put themselves out there as much, they can be a lot more nervous and they also like a lot of familiarity. This conclusion came from looking into Plog (1974), Cruz-Milan (2017) and Smith (1990).

By looking into these definitions there has been able to be a 4-day break modified for a Psychocentric family of 4 to make a holiday fitted to them to give them the best experience. This was made by looking into the characteristics of the tourists and choosing elements of the break like activities, accommodation and travelling to fit with their characteristics and make their experience the best it can be. An example of this was that because some psychocentric characteristics are that they can be nervous (Plog, 1974) the activities chosen were quite laid back and not scary. Along with Psychocentric tourists not liking to travel by plane often (Plog, 1974) they break chosen were in the UK, so they were no travelling making the experience a lot more appealing for them.