Understanding Tourism Destination

It is indeed a very well-known fact that Nepal holds the finest potentials in tourism development leaving behind all odds and complications. In terms of destination and its development there is no doubt we need to work harder to understand better. So far we have been only promoting those destinations that are promoted on their own without any significant effort from concerned stakeholders leaving exception to Pokhara. The terms such as destination management, brand, marketing, tourism destination, sustainable tourism, may have little value without knowing what exactly the term destination means. Looking forward (Pechlaner, 2003) defines destination as an area offering touristic services and activities, which has special attractions and can be chosen by a tourist for a trip. From a geographic point of view, the destination could be a continent, a country, a region, or any kind of place, and its border is determined by the distance of the home country of the tourists. In an optimal case, the destination operates as a management entity in spite of its numerous and heterogeneous players.

The destination should be seen as a concrete touristic service supplier, a “multi-product company” (Krippendorf, 1971). The definition of Flagestad (2002, p. 4) is the closest to the author’s interpretation, as he handled a destination as an entire entity of area: “A geographical, economic, and social unit consisting of all those firms, organizations, areas, and installations which when combined are intended to serve the specific needs of the visitors”.  

Whatever the destination must have been in case of understanding there is no doubt that Nepal needs to have a concrete research on tourism destination to enhance and boost its brand on national and international arena. We have multiple locations that are vibrant in terms of beauty and geographic appeal however lacking’s in appropriate support from human resource in infrastructure has kept many of our heavenly location isolated to that of underworld.

The success of tourism destinations in world markets is influenced by their relative competitiveness. Tourism destination competitiveness is becoming an area of growing interest amongst tourism researchers (see particularly Crouch & Ritchie, 1999; Pearce, 1997). The contention is that destination competitiveness has ‘‘tremendous ramifications for the tourism industry and is therefore of considerable interest to practitioners and policy makers.’’ (Ritchie & Crouch, 2000, p.6). Dwyer, Forsyth, & Rao (2000, p.10) reinforce this view, stating that it is ‘‘useful for the industry and government to understand where a country’s competitive position is weakest or strongest’’ and hence that it is important to know how and why competitiveness is changing.

The world has already figured out competitiveness in tourism destinations but in case of Nepal we are yet to build destinations, so the urgency for the policy makers in case of global scenario is already felt necessary.

The level of consciousness in case of destination can be followed as per the WTO, which indicates destination as a place, which possesses appropriate attractions, infrastructure, and touristic services, so as to be the place for touristic stay, and appears as an entire market player for the tourist (World Trade Organization [WTO], 1993). Destination in terms of definition may be very appropriate to what WTO indicated however in terms of the market, the destinations are sites of consumption and can be seen as the unit of touristic competition (Bieger & Laesser, 1998), and like this, it should operate as a strategic business unit, be independent from political limits, offer the guests the needed facilities for stay and experience, and have an obligation for brand and sales system building (Bieger, 1998). In the Nepalese context where we lack adequate study on tourism dynamics and on its value, destination profile study no doubt will have a very long-term importance moreover most important question is: “How should this strategic business unit, this multi-product company, be managed?” The “meta-management” or the overall management of the destinations appeared only in the last decades (Sainaghi, 2006) and can be defined as follows:

(...) Destination management is the strategic, organizational, and operative decisions taken to manage the process of definition, promotion, and commercialization of the tourism product [originating from within the destination], to generate manageable flows of incoming tourists that are balanced, sustainable, and sufficient to meet the economic needs of the local actors involved in the destination. (Franch & Martini, 2002; as cited in Presenza, Sheehan, & Ritchie, 2005, p. 3)

On the ground where we are yet to come across the study, the necessity for research and its strategic plans are vital and is only the means to uplift tourism market and brand of the country.

Policy and Developments

George lebrec a French national in 1959 suggested Nepal in his “General Plan for the Organization of Tourism of Nepal” to prepare with brochure, poster, postage stamp covering Himalayan peaks flora fauna and documentaries to promote tourism activities in Nepal, which even at present after all these years is still a vital strategies to put it in our priority. Thomas Cook and Sons who brought 60 tourists in 1955 and made us realize the necessity of systematic tourism activities management and development in Nepal. (Shrestha & Shrestha, 2010). Well we may be quite mature in case of policy and documents, there is no doubt, however new emerging nations such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, have tremendous achievement in their tourism industry.

Tourism Department in 1962 started keeping record of tourists and started the mileage on statistics. Nepal tourism development committee in 1969 started making tourism policy and strategies. Establishment of Nepal Airlines in 1958 and NATHM in 1972 were significant steps to enhance tourism in Nepal. Tourism master plan in 1972, Tourism Policy 1995 and establishment of Nepal Tourism Board in 1998 were all the best effort made to promote tourism in Nepal. (Shrestha, 2000). Our initial thoughts and our plans despite having excellent foundations did not come up with visible achievements.

Significance

There is no doubt if the study on destinations will be conducted it will be the beginning of Golden History in the tourism sector of Nepal. It is quite awkward that we as a nation without any distinct research are trying to implement tourism policy. It is now that we have no idea about the number of destination, their potentiality that we can possibly brand nor we have any marketing strategy associated with it. So it is irrelevant to complain NTB on its marketing policy. Is the concerned stakeholder equipped with appropriate tools and mechanism to enhance their objective? 

Tourism entrepreneurs, government of Nepal, concerned ministry, policy makers and scholars may find destination research useful. The research which may come along with grave information can be the guideline for future Nepal and in its National Planning Commission, Nepal Tourism Board, Tourism Department can make this research as their major task to incorporate the strategy needed for marketing various destinations as a product of Nepal in the global market in the longer run.

However even after all these years lacking in well versed research and extensive information to promote our destinations hinders national objective and priority, no matter how hard nation has been trying to promote itself in the international arena success is only possible once the nation has enough information to market and brand its destinations in appropriate manner which it lacks at present.

References

Bieger, T. (1998). Reengineering destination marketing organizations: The case of Switzerland. Tourism Review, 53(3), 4-17.

Bieger, T., & Laesser, C. (1998). Neue Strukturen im Tourismus—Der Weg der Schweiz (New structures in tourism—The way of Switzerland). Bern: Pauln Haupt.

Crouch, G.I., & Ritchie, J.R.B.(1999).Tourism, competitiveness, and social prosperity. Journal of Business Research, 44, 137–152.

Flagestad, A. (2002). Strategic sources and organisational structure in winter sport destinations (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Bradford, UK).

Franch, M., & Martini, U. (2002). Destinations and destination management in the Alps: A proposal for a classification scheme in the light of some ongoing experiences. In Presenza, A., Sheehan, L., & Ritchie, J. R. (2005). Towards a model of the roles and activities of destination management organizations. HTL Science Journal, 3, 13.

Krippendorf, J. (1971). Marketing in Fremdenverkehr (Marketing in tourism). Bern: Peter Lang AG.

Pechlaner, H. (2003). Tourismus-Destinationen im Wettbewerb (Tourism destination in competition). Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitats-Verlag/GWV Fachverlage GmbH.

Ritchie, J.R.B., & Crouch, G.I. (2000).The competitive destination: A sustainability perspective. Tourism Management, 21(1), 1–7.

Shrestha, Hari Prasad (2000), Tourism in Nepal: Marketing Challenges, Nirala Publication, New Delhi, India.

Shrestha, H.., & Prami, S. (2012), Tourism in Nepal: A Historical Perspective and Present Trend of Development, Himalayan Journal of Sociology & Anthropology-Vol. V (2012)

World Trade Organization [WTO]. (1993). Sustainable tourism development: Guide for local planers. Madrid, Spain: WTO