Examining Bermuda: Tourism Planning Essay

The beautiful island of Bermuda is a fish hook shape island determined in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 575 miles east of North Carolina. Bermuda is considered by galore(postnominal) to be a wonderful tourer polish with turquoise waters and first class accommodations and activities. Perhaps we never k novel that Bermuda is actually quiet of everywhere 100 islands. We aptitude as well non have cognise that due to the Gulf Stream, Bermuda has the most northerly coral reefs in the world.Bermuda technically is a British colony, but they have been self-governed since 1620. When we bechance the island of Bermuda from the viewpoint of the touristry constancy, we discount turn around much from Bermudas successes as surface as their attempts to revitalize their touristry industry. Hold on to your shorts as we examine touristry policy intend in a pink mother wit paradise. (www. bermuda touristry. com) In looking at Bermuda for the purposes of tourism policy think we are initially reminded of how many positive realities we can see in the Bermuda tourism picture.Needless to say, tourism is apparently a major part of Bermudas economy. Bermuda is an interesting object lesson make in that they were considered the ideal model for a narrowly defined tourist destination, but in the early mid-nineties fell into less prosperous times. Perhaps one could say that when it came to make money from the tourism commercialise, Bermuda became too fat and happy for their own long good. Michael V.Conlin sheds much light on this phenomenon when he writes in his case study on Bermuda tourism that notwithstanding the long-run success of its tourism industry, Bermuda undergo a square deterioration of its visitor count beginning in the early 1990s that had a somber impact on the unpolished as a whole. (Conlin, p. 1). By studying ups and downs of the tourism economy in Bermuda and the unfolding of Bermudas tourism committee work, we can hopefully learn roun d lessons to enable us to practice more successful and responsible tourism in the future.Bermuda is considered a mature international tourist destination that usually is quite successful and sparingally prosperous. By the middle of 1992, however, Bermudas tourism leaders had recognized that Bermudas tourism industry was not immune to the economic climate or, indeed, to the changes that were taking place in the global tourism foodstuffplace. (Conlin, p. 13). One of the changes that was taking place in the global tourism marketplace was that technological advances and increases in personal wealth were greatly boosting the tourism industry.In light of the great global growth of the tourism industry, we should obviously see the wishiness for more sophisticated planning and management in the this industry. In this light we can begin to see that tourism planning in many cases unavoidably to be an on release, flexible, and continually evolving touch. Perhaps this revealing was something that the Bermuda tourism board never sincerely grasped or believed until the 1990s. Once this divine revelation was understood, the Bermuda tourism authorities were in position to take steps to citation the critical issues and problems that were eroding their prosperity and market position.By the time the socio-economic class 1992 arrived, we could say that the Bermuda tourism board was ready to do some serious tourism planning When it comes to tourism planning we can say that thither are believed to be two sides to the planning process as well as the need for a type of corporate planning model. Indeed, Conlin writes that planning within the tourism industry takes place at both the little level and the macro level. (Conlin, p. 2) Macro level planning can be defined as dealing with the growth of tourist destinations as geographic, political, and kind units.In terms of the island of Bermuda, we can learn that many islands are specially susceptible to the to the conseq uences of poor planning given their small size and the relatively great impact that tourism can have on their development. (Stonich, 1995). Conlin seeks for us to understand that increasingly, the failure to plan pull up stakes not simply be a cosmetic issue but a more radical economic, ecological, and social look up. (Conlin, p. 4). The micro level of tourism planning could be verbalise to involve specific actions that operators undertake in one case they have honestly evaluated the realities of their lineage activities.In one sense, this is where a strategic planning and goal planning model are put into place. Conlin writes that ideally this model result be based on the goal of matching an organizations strengths with the market opportunities presented by a changing external environment. (Conlin, p. 3). In this model we will see such elements as a mission statement, stakeholder analysis, implementation, and strategic control. We might say that macro level planning in t he tourism industry is ultimately concerned with the growth and sustainability of a tourism destination.On the whole, we can say that when it comes to successful tourism planning at the micro and macro level there is the need to match overlap, price, location, and management expertise with the market and its expectations in a way that will attract investment. Increasingly, this is done with the needs of the host biotic connection as a major focal point. (Conlin, p. 5). In this case, the host community is, of course, Bermuda, with its turquoise waters, pink sands, and tempting culinary delights. allows continue on to see how these concepts were applied specifically to the case of Bermuda in the 1990s.We have already begun to see that as Bermudas tourism industry moved into the 1990s, it was characterized by a sense of complacency, a waver to innovate, a decreasing level of service quality, and a deteriorating physical plant. (Conlin, p. ). At this point the tourism planning co mmittee needed to make some changes to move Bermuda from beingness stagnated and losing market share to a place of revival and wisdom for the future. In 1992 they created the outfit on Competitiveness which was to examine the place of tourism and international business on the island.The commission was to explore new areas for economic stimulus. Conlin writes that the mandate of the commission reflected a broad concern intimately national economic well-being in a rapidly changing international marketplace. (Conlin, p. 15). The Commission on Competitiveness had representatives from the tourism industry, from the public sector, from educational fields, and from international business firms. To achieve a high level of community involvement, the Tourism think Committee created 16 task forces under the lead of prominent local stakeholders.At any given time, this structure resulted in approximately 120 persons being actively involved in the process of examination. It was truly a co mmunity activity. (Conlin, p. 16). Some of the important findings of the Tourism Planning Committee include understanding the following conclusions Bermuda is a model for ontogenesis tourism as a basis for a prosperous economy. Its yesteryear success should provide confidence that Bermuda tourism can improve in the future. The economy and quality of life in Bermuda are dependent upon tourism.Changes in world tourism, including new products, choices, and rivalry, will dictate many of the circumstances to which Bermuda will have to adapt. The cruise ship visitor cannot replace the stay over visitor for economic impact on the island. Bermudas tourism product is overpriced compared with some of its competitors, and it does not satisfy the price-value expectations of visitors. Bermuda must accept the need for fundamental change. It cannot dictate the terms of world tourism.This will require significant investment of resources and effort. There are no simple, single, or quick fixes for change the tourism industry in Bermuda. Conlin,1995). When we assess the actions taken by the Commission on Competitiveness we can see that their work was arguably thorough, with many valuable conclusions and recommendations. We should not be surprised that the actual implementation of these recommendations was let up in process. Conlin writes that the process of adoption was slow and involved trade-offs between competition interests. (Conlin, p. 17).In this situation we can see that when it came to revitalizing the economic conditions in Bermuda there existed an underlying theme of a call to a greater degree of public participation. (Haywood, 1988,p. 105). In this vein, we can as well learn close to what has come to be called community inclusive tourism planning. Involving the community in tourism policy planning often has positive consequences for policies being adopted and eventually successfully implemented. Including the community results in an increase in communication b etween the policy makers and the public, but this new relationship also carries with it the responsibility to carry on this communication and deal with the outcomes of policies and strategies.With growing concern about the environmental and social impacts of tourism, planning also has become more integrated (Gravel, 1979) and has matured to the point where it must consider the impact of tourism development on a number of fronts, not just site-specific economic sectors. (Conlin, p. 6). In this decade, all of us have become familiar with the outlet green movements, so it should not surprise us to hear that there is a call for more inclusive policy planning in the tourism industry.As we near the end of our brief look at the unfolding of tourism policy planning in Bermuda, we can also learn about the destination life cycle theory of tourism development. According to Conlin, the product life cycle continues to play an important division in marketing management, including applications t o the hospitality industry. (Conlin, p. 5). The idea of adapting ones advance to changing situations brought on by the stages of the product life cycle, when applied to tourist destinations, is called the destination life cycle theory. (Conlin, p. 5).A. M. Morrison described the life cycle as The product Life Cycle idea suggests all hospitality and tourism services pass through four predictable stages (1) introduction, (2) growth, (3) maturity, (4) decline. Marketing approaches need to be modified with each stage. Avoiding a decline is the key to long-term survival. Atlantic City, New Jersey is a great example of a travel destination that went through one life cycle (from a fashionable to a rather seedy seaside resort) and then got a completely new lease on life as an arouse gambling destination. Morrison, 1989).We see that through the efforts of the Tourism Planning Committee the island of Bermuda had the chance to revitalize and reposition itself to have its own new lease on l ife. We learned that even though a tourist destination whitethorn be considered to be mature, ideal, beautiful, and economically prosperous, there may and almost for certain will be the need to address declining and/or changing market position and then take wise and strategic steps to rectify itself.We also hopefully learned that tourism planning should be community-based, specially in a place such as Bermuda where the population is considered to be a major part of the tourism product. Mark Twain once wrote of Bermuda the deep peace and quiet of the country sink into ones body and bones and give the conscience a rest For anyone going to Bermuda, we wish you all the best in your activities and in your personal encounter with the deep peace and quiet of the island.