ViewpomriConference reports

Those who believe that every individual should be entitled to a job and an opportunitv to exercise his talents. in this casein the US, should consider state and local interest in tourism, and should question whether the resources now committed to tourism devel- opment are commensurate with that interest. The proposed tour- ism budgets collectiveIy for the US for FY 1982-83 total just over $130 million, about 4% greater than last year. Of this amount, only $3.5 million. less than 3%, was directed toward the foreign visitor market.

The attention by the US toward the international market is particu- larly disappointing in view of the fact that foreign visitors spend four times as much per person as dom- estic travehers. Foreign visitors account for over 17% of all US hotel-motel accupancy.

I emphasize international tour- ism because the primary purpose of the US Travel and Tourism Administration is to bring international visitors to the USA. The total number of foreign visitors to the USA last year was about 2 1 million persons. About half of these came from Canada, about two and a half million from Mexico and the remainder, about eight mitlion visitors, were from overseas, Europe, Japan and the South Pacific especially.

USTT’A has offices in six coun- tries: Canada, Mexico, the UK, Japan, Germany and France. These offices work with these countries and their local communi- ties to educate the foreign travel trade on selling the USA as a travel destination; to deveIop product inspection tours so that the travel trade abroad can see first-hand the US destinations they are selling; to initiate and participate in travel shows which bring together the buyers and sellers of travel. To organize travel missions so that US travel sellers can contact the appro- priate travel buyers abroad; and to provide travel consumer inforrna- tion and to assist journalists with arrangements so that they have the opportunty to see and write about

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US travel destinations. These USTTA offices are the US govem- ment representatives to promote travel to the US.

Finally, an important step for the regional councils to take to become more involved in promoting tour- ism is to work with the various states in formulating comprehen- sive region-wide tourism policies. Such policies would help to ensure that tourism develops within the regions in a manner consistent with state and local priorities. It would cause highway departments. and departments of commerce and natural resources, to consider the possible effects of their actions- and budget decision-on the region’s tourism industry. Scarce budget dollarsstretch furtherwhen all agencies in a region are working in concert toward the same end.

Also regional tourism policies would demonstrate, to potential visitors and to residents as well, that the regions take tourism seri- ously; that they understand the benefits which tourism brings: that they care about the well-being and safety of visitors; that they are proud of the accomplishments of their people; and that they are pre- pared to assume the responsibili- ties of host. Various groups such as

the convention and visitors bureaux, chambers of commerce and others could pIay an important role in the formulation of regionai tourism policy.

In sum

The question is really one of whether those involved in tourism at the local level want their regions to share in the growing inter- national travel market. If so, they should put together a comprehen- sive and clear policy statement that spells out marketing operations. This will help gear research, poli- cies and coord:native efforts to- ward obtaining a bigger piece of the international travel pie. The local tourist officer must be pre- pared to go out in the marketplace to compete. for the worldwide competition for international visi- tors is intense.

David Edgeii Director, Office of Policy and

Planning US Travel and Tourism

Administration US Department of Commerce

Washington, DC20230 USA

Conference reports

The research debate “Travel Research: Its impact on the Travel Marketing Process”, I&h Annua/ TTRA Conference, Ba@, Alberta, Canada, 1245 June 1983.1

Questioning the value of research for the travel and tourism industry has become a preoccupation of TTRA conferences in recent years. A dose of reappraisal and setf- examination about what is essen- tiallytheraLsond’&reofthe’ITRA has seemingly provided a regenera- tion of the links between tourism and travel research suppliers, the academic community, and re-

search users in industry and gov- ernment-the main constituents of the TTRA membership.

The General Session on the first day gave ample witness of this catharsis, with a debate on the use of research conducted between senior executives from the indus- try. The concerns of the debate were foreshadowed in the keynote speech by J.A. ‘Boomer’ Adair,

Tourism IManagement December 1983

the Alberta Minister ofTourism and Small Business, who main- tained that decision-making based on full information remained CN- cial. He suggested that there was a danger of research not being used by the industry because it may not be presented in a ‘usable’ form. To overcome this, research users must know what they want to find out and the researcher should provide what the user wants.

Opening the debate, Neil Effman (TWA) stated that re- search formed a necessary part of decision-making in TWA: research enabled the avoidance of huge tac- tical errors in the business and could help identify shifts occurring that the decision-maker may be un- aware of. Research in TWA was important in relation to three areas:

product research, to examine whether a major product change should take place, for example in response to market shifts; service research, to determine how a product stands up in comparison to the competition; advertising research, to assess whether advertisements fulfil the need required, whether they are reaching the right market, and whether optimum use is made of the advertising budget.

Effman described a four month research project which had looked at the reconfiguration of TWA’s Boeing 747 fleet by putting in more coach-seats. The research had not only looked at the economics of such a change but at passenger reaction, optimization of seat design etc. Research for its own sake is a waste of time, according to Effman, and although it is a power- ful tool it is only as good as the people who use it. A plea for closer coordination between users and suppliers?

Bruce Wolff (New York Air), speaking against using research, enumerated a number of charges in relation to the organizational con- text into which research was directed:

l Research can be time-consum-

Tourism Management December 1983

ing and expensive; business decisions often have to be made quickly. Research may help along good projects and practices and help close down bad ones, but it will not affect any final decision. Much research is not actionable, and there is often no time for research to be digested by the decision-maker. Research will be ignored when it does not suit the decision- maker’s purposes. Research can provide a screen to insulate or protect particular views or positions.

Wolff then turned to drawbacks he saw with regard to the efficacy of research. In his view true research came from the experiences of being in the marketplace.

Herbert Wendlik (Lufthansa) maintained that research was essential in determining the strat- e,gic policy of a company, in addi- tton to its other uses. Lufthansa maintained two standard research programmes-the airport passen- ger survey and the in-flight survey. In the former a representative sample was taken of the 12 million passengers departing annually from FR German aiports in rela- tion to: market data; the true origin and destination of the passenger; the purpose of travel; the fre- quency of travel; routeing infor- mation; and social structural data. From this airport passenger survey Lufthansa was able to maintain a clear profile of its market share and related data.

The in-flight survey enabled con- trol of service standards and col- lected data on sales, ground hand- ling, inflight service, customer re- lations etc, which was correlated by purpose of trip. Wendlik also gave details of special research projects conducted by Lufthansa-an image survey, advertising aware- ness survey, and product survey. Research fulfilled an important early warning system for the air- line, offering flexibility in a fast changing economic environment. However, research had to be re- lated to business reality.

Conference reports

Research no excuse

Arthur Bass (Midway Airlines) argued that research provided no substitute for making a decision when it was actually needed. From a manager’s perception of a situa- tion, if he was good at his job he would know automatically what decision was needed. Frank Olson (Hertz) pointed out that the indus- try had historically not demanded much research, but had tended to rely on an in-bred intelligence net- work of personal contacts within the industry. Increasingly, data re- lating to economic, social and industrial trends were of signifi- cance to tourism and travel, and if a company wished to be competitive it must have research functions to supply information needs on which essential strategic planning depen- ded. Olson then specified the requirements for effective use of research: an appropriate organiza- tional and management context, the requirement to commit finan- cial resources, and the need for top-level support.

Michael Muse (Muse Air) des- cribed his experiences in setting up Muse Air which challenged the value of research, and suggested that since formal research is time- consuming and expensive, ‘just listening to the customer’ was an effective alternative.

The overall debate did highlight the perpetual dilemma of the businessman-whether to trust instinct or reach some kind of ‘scientifically based’ judgement; emotion versus reason. This was reflected in the adjudicators’ judgement on the debate: research is used by the industry as a real part of the decision-making process, but it is not currently being used properly and the relationship bet- ween researchers and users needs to be improved.

This judgement may to some ex- tent have been post-determined in that the following two days wit- nessed the industry, academics and researchers mutuallv reinforcing the role of research in travel and tourism, as well as forging new

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Conference rep0n.s

links and contacts. The introspec- tion and reappriasal may be under- stood in the context of the prag- matism and the process of adapta- tion now manifest in the North American industry as the heady days of growth and wide-scale opti- mism recede.

This wasclearly illustrated in the closing speech of the conference b> Kenneth L. Chamberlain (Pacific AreaTravel Association). Pointing out that tourism and travel’s growth curve has flattened and that it is no longer easy to reach sales targets, Chamberlain argued that priority must be given to research. There are currently marketplace data and attitudinal data, but little basic data. Researchers are more interested in the market than the marketplace. He believes research is used when it matches the views of the contractor, but much research is never used. There is an urgency to have the right information on

which to make decisions---the end object of marketing is to make a profit, not just promotion.

Research is an essential part of the decision process and the researcher must become an ‘insider’. Chamberlain feels that something must be done about the statistical base. Today the travel industry is more inclined to re- search than ever before, and travel research can take on a whole new dimension. The work is waiting to be done.

DC

Notes ‘This report relies in part on the “Highlights” compiled by Karen P. Dvea and Cindy E. Guernsey, which the author acknowledges fully. For details contact: Mari Lou Wood, Executive Director, TIXA, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utah. PO Box 8066, Foothill station, Salt Lake City, UT 84 108. USA.

The good and the bad in tourism

A five day seminar on the impact of tourism and recreation on the environ- ment was held at the Project Planning Centre for Developing Countries, University of Bradford, UK, 27 June - I July 1983.

The five-day University of Bradford seminar (27 June to 1 July) on the ‘Impact of Tourism and Recreation on the Environ- ment’ might have produced a series of horror stories. In fact only one such story was told (by John Roberts), of a Portuguese estuary whose character was being rapidly transformed by enthusiastic dev- elopment. This was one of the case studies collected for the 1980 OECD report on this subject, but not published. It was possible to see why the case studies had been criticized, although not by Mr Roberts, as being more descriptive than prescriptive.

Most of the thirty attending the seminar were more concerned with management measures to counter- act degradation. For instance. to a

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question whether the recreational development of Harewood House was not a betrayal of its intrinsic character, the prompt answer came that the maintenance of high quality was a prime principle (Wrench). It was suggested (Latimer) that tourism quality in- cludes authenticity, differentiation from ordinary experience, aesthetic form, but also welcome, cheerfulness, colour and good value, and that the second group of values could sometimes overrule the first.

This was not always for the worse; for instance, the bleak Yorkshire village of Haworth, home of the Bronte sisters, had given way to an attractive upland village which lbcal people visited for its own sake as well as for the

tourism attractions there. Tourism quality. in the sense of sensitive mergin_g into the environment, had been a feature of the development of most, but not all,gires in France, reported Wrathall. The prime objective, however. had been to arrest depopulation. In the Pennine Hills, UK, the objective was to arrest the demoralization consequent upon deindustriali- zation (IMachin).

France reported that caution and environmental concern had marked the recreational develop- ment of Kielder Water, UK. The Water has attracted more visitors than Hadrian’s Wall, but is hardly ideally situated for a recreational objective, though this becomes important now that the demand for water appears unlikely to justify the high cost of the project. Location too, could be criticized in the proposal to establish a Disneyland at Corby, Lincolnshire; the East Midlands have good transport linkages and this seemed not the best site (Wells).

Specifically it was the out-of- scale requirements of modem road and junction building that made the inner ring road proposals for the city of York unacceptable said Crease, and they were successfully resisted. Mr. Crease went on to make a strong case against Master Planning, saying that it was prone to exaggerated solutions and likely to be overtaken by changes in policy and technology in the course of implementation. Incremental planning was better, and this, with some qualifications, seems to be the viewpoint of the planners in Bradford metropolitan district, linked to Bradford’s tourism policy by membereship of the monthly tourism strategy group. Physical planning in Bradford is sympa- thetic to and supportive of tourism; its particular function being to take a long term view (Hughes). However, the experience of a local preservation society. the Paper Hall Preservation Trust, was that it was only when work actualIy started on the site that offers of support and money began to arrive

Tourism Management December 1983