An innovative tool to performing management and planning of the Romanian tourism industry.
Ratiu, Monica
1. INTRODUCTION
In the contemporary world, travel and tourism are very important
from the business point of view, for the employment, as economic sector
and for the use of territory and resources. But first of all are
important for the tourist. There is no tourism without tourists! Tourism
is changing continuously. Truths of yesterday are no longer valid today.
Knowing these truths is needed for planning in tourism, for the
businesses in tourism, for tourism management and for establishing and
planning policies in this sector. Decisions based on questionable and
superficial information and are no longer enough to satisfy the growing,
various and full of insight nature of tourism demand.
The hospitality industry demands innovation in the coming decades
(Prahalad, 2008). The critical component to being competitive in global
markets over the next 20 years is the ability to be innovative. The work
of the Marketing Lab is based on concepts like: service innovation,
quality management, memorable tourist experience, and offers tailor made
solutions seeking to shape Romanian tourism development program with
internationally practiced tourism planning strategies. The mission of
the marketing laboratory is to facilitate tourism activities capable to
ensure the sustainable development of Romanian tourism. Marketing Lab
provides custom-made research to develop performing techniques to align Romanian tourism to international standards. An essential result of the
Lab's experience is to create a Tourism Development Plan to guide
marketing efforts for memorable tourist experience and sustainable
development capable to transform Romania in a successful tourism
destination.
According to the statistics of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), from the tourism industry growth perspectives point of view,
Romania is ranked the seventh country from the total of 176 countries
taken into consideration. Romanian tourism is developing, but we must
notice that it is sensitively growing only related to the outgoing and
to the internal tourism. The outgoing means actually import of services.
In Romania, we are importing tourism or we are selling it internally in
our country (Afacerea, 2008). We are not (yet) in the condition to
export our own hospitality industry and --actually--our country image.
The incoming--export of services--that means to bring foreign tourists
in Romania, is also growing, but less than the outgoing or the internal
tourism. Romania was ranked on one of the last places in top 50
destinations with potential in tourism, regarding the tourism income per
inhabitant.
Among the challenges facing the tourism industry in Romania, are
the following: identifying the key partners to engage in more effective
tourism activities; attract new markets; extending the stay of existing
travelers; market visibility in terms of product (accommodation,
information centers for visitors, attractions) training of tourism
operators. In this respect, there are three essential points for
Romanian tourism success: creating a coherent product, aiming to attract
profits, achieving a flexible strategy and the co-operation between the
private environment and the authorities. Romania could become a mass
tourism destinations, which means more flexible prices, or to become a
niche destination, using an aggressive marketing strategy, or could
adopt a specialized tourism scenario, as a sky or youth destination
(Tomatis, 2008).
Taking into account the mentioned issues, the strategy of
sustainable development of tourism in Romania and the providing of
memorable experiences to consumers, should consider the following
actions: 1) Define a business plan based on a proper marketing strategy
to develop a strong brand; 2) Develop marketing programs involving the
employers, the regional organizations and the tourism businesses,
considering both the most important markets, and the emerging markets;
3) Segmentation of visitors market in Romania as tourism destination, in
order to achieve strong brands; 4) Development of marketing actions
throughout all the media, intensifying the role of public relations in
tourism; 5) Development of tourism product in each region to provide
memorable customer experiences; 6) Increased diversity of quality
tourism experiences, offering a diversity of natural attractions,
cultural experiences, adventures and possibilities of accommodation
hotel, motel, hostel, camping; 7) Achieving a proper positioning with a
strong positive image; 8) Acknowledgement of national and international
recognition of Romania as a tourism destination (Purcarea, 2006).
The idea to develop this marketing laboratory started from the
necessity to train tourism specialists able to develop performant
strategies to provide memorable tourism experiences, to develop programs
for enhancing the results of the tourism sector and also to develop
effective strategic partnerships. Marketing laboratory in tourism plans
that, based on the conducted market studies, to identify effective
product strategies in the tourism sector, aligned to the expectations
and demands of visitors.
2. MARKETING LABORATORY--THE KEY TO A PERFORMING ROMANIAN TOURISM
STRATEGY
There is a growing demand among communities around the world to
design seriously the development and planning strategies in tourism. The
concept of proper planning of Romanian tourism eludes many management
organizations of current destinations. The laboratory will introduce the
concept of tourism planning in a sustainable way for community planners
and leaders of local, regional and national tourism organizations
(Purcarea, 2006).
This innovative solution aims to promote the knowledge of tourism
industry--of tourism offerers and tourists--to support training of
specialists in the field and also to identify and implement strategies
and advanced techniques for the sustainable development of Romanian
tourism. It delivers knowledge on multiple topics, themes, directions
regarding the tourism industry by the following: organizing conferences
and seminars in open forums; launch workshops on business strategy
development in tourism; contributions to the knowledge of marketing
strategy; surveys of trends in tourism industry; workshops on the
development of tourism products; conferences, lectures and courses
addressed to the future specialists in tourism. Marketing laboratory in
tourism performs researches for both domestic tourism and external
tourism. Each research has specific requirements. Here are some examples
of activities performed by the marketing laboratory in tourism: surveys
and questionnaires, researches on tourists' satisfaction; analysis
of visitors; analysis of post-consumption behavior of visitors; analysis
of research papers about tourism. This innovative tool produces and
promotes information about tourism and tourists based on scientific and
rigorous methods.
2.1 Who contributes to the activities performed in the marketing
laboratory in tourism?
The team consists of students and masters--supervised by an
educational leader, who is the executive coordinator of the program and
implementation procedures, along with a number of specialists from the
tourism industry. Team work is necessary and beneficial, involving the
sharing of the best information, training and evaluation being based on
competence. At the same time, team work facilitates external partnership
--contributions, including collaborations with the Ministry of Tourism,
the National Authority in Tourism, the Romanian Marketing Association,
with the Research Association--the Romanian Distribution Committee
(affiliated to the Scientific and Pedagogical Association AIDA Brussels), with the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and with the
Employers and managers of the tourism industry. Team work stimulates the
public-private partnership, making possible the achievement of the
objectives proposed in the Laboratory of marketing in tourism, opening
wide the window of opportunity to a process of effective branding.
Tourism can have a positive or negative impact on local
communities. To minimize adverse effects, the planning should be done
taking into account more interest. Therefore, to be successful, it is
necessary the participation of all stakeholders. By the participation of
the most renowned academics and practitioners of the field, the
marketing laboratory in tourism will prepare the future professionals in
tourism, and the leaders in the necessary disciplines to build and shape
a successful tourist destination.
In the marketing laboratory in tourism, are also involved qualified
practitioners with extensive experience in the private or public sector.
This program provides a training curriculum that prepares and encourages
those who make decisions to effectively contribute to providing
memorable experiences for visitors, implicitly providing benefit to
local communities. The analysis, studies and conferences held on tourism
topics by the marketing laboratory, all these will generate exchange of
ideas and will create relationships able to support the sustainable
strategic development of tourism in Romania.
2.2 How does the marketing laboratory in tourism work?
All activities carried out within the marketing laboratory in
tourism are supervised by the educational leader, who plays the role of
mediator between the academic (students, master, and teachers) and
practitioners. The educational leader coordinates the activity of all
members of the marketing laboratory of tourism in charge with collecting
and analyzing data, providing analysis based on existing data and
presenting evaluations and recommendations on the strategies for
sustainable development of Romanian tourism. The marketing laboratory in
tourism works as a network and possesses a number of experts and
specialists in various fields of tourism to ensure quality of delivered
services.
The project on the creation and operationalization of marketing
laboratory in tourism consists of three phases: 1) Planning and
organizing research on tourist satisfaction, analysis of
post-consumption behavior of tourists, feasibility studies, analysis of
research papers in tourism (activities in which will be involved
students, masters and other academic groups); 2) Providing a forecast
based on studies and drawing the directions for future sustainable
development of Romanian tourism (ensuring memorable tourists
experiences); and 3) Presenting the results in conferences and workshops
on current issues in the Romanian tourism and involvement of other
categories of partners which will contribute to the implementation of
proposals for sustainable development of the Romanian tourism.
3. CONCLUSIONS
Future tourism industry will be an exciting global market of growth
demanding leadership, partnering and professional management to handle:
information technology fast development where all traveling starts on
Internet, destination development, customer orientation, leadership and
management. The laboratory is an opportunity for learning and
accumulation of experience in tourism, focused on the academic community
and practitioners in tourism, providing dedicated solutions to
communities interested in creating a program of development of Romanian
tourism aligned with international practices in terms of planning
strategy in tourism.
One of the key results of the laboratory's experience is to
create a tourism development plan to guide the marketing efforts to
provide memorable experiences for visitors, which will ensure
sustainable development of Romanian tourism. This comprehensive plan for
sustainable development of Romanian tourism, created according to the
needs and expectations of visitors will turn the "tourism
destination Romania" into a successful destination (Tomatis, 2008).
The balance between the theory of planning in tourism and the practical
applications will ensure the accumulation of knowledge and necessary
expertise for persons with decision rights in the Romanian tourist
industry in order to produce tangible and sustainable results.
4. REFERENCES
Prahalad, C. K.; Krishnan, M.S. (2008). The New Age of Innovation:
Driving Cocreated Value through Global Networks, McGraw-Hill, 1 edition
Purcarea, Theodor (2006). Tourism marketing and sustainability
challenge, essential correlation for tourism viability,
"Marketing--Management" Review, vol. 4 / 2006
Tomatis, Joseph (2008). in Romanian tourism needs a new brand,
Rompress, Available from
http://www.ccib.ro/afacerea/BD_HOME_DETAILS.aspx?i
d_document_param=9378&id_language=1 Accessed: 2009-06-19
*** (2008) Another perspective: Romania as a destination for
American businessmen, Afacerea, February 13, 2008, Available from
http://www.ccib.ro Accessed: 2009-06-19
*** http://www.sustainabletourismlab.com/experience.htm Accessed
on: 2009-04-20
