University College of Northern Denmark

University College of Northern Denmark

Hospitality and Tourism Management

2nd Semester

Specialization Project

New Trends in Tourism

Written by:

Paulina Tsvetanska 2 G

Aalborg 2011

Table of Content:

Introduction...... 3

Problem Formulation...... 3

Methodology...... 4

Definition and description of “Tourism trends”...... 4

Description of a new trend in the modern tourism

Analysis of the new trends in tourism from a theoretical perspective...... 7

Analysis of practical examples of implementation of the chosen trend in a tourism company....9

Assessment of relevant stakeholders...... 12

Conclusion...... 13

Bibliography...... 15

Introduction

Tourism is one of the fastestgrowing industries, which has a great impact over the development of each country. From a historical perspective the extent of tourism can be explained by several factors which influence tourism and travel during the years. These factors can be the growing prosperity in society, vacations entitled by law, an increasing leisure time, new modes of communication, urbanization and a growing population. In addition, traveling has become an important part of our lives.Tourists’ demands are changing and increasing all the time, simply because people need frequently something new, something fascinating and exciting which will influence their decision making when they have to purchase.

Numerous trends can be found in the tourism industry at any moment. Nowadays the biggest shift has been against the destructive effects of mass tourism and towards sustainability. More and more now companies are trying to focus on a specific small market segment, in order to add a value to the service and offer customers more desirable feeling of exclusivity and great experiences.

Development and especially sustainable tourism has started to be a more and more interesting fields to all nations that want to take a long-term actions in protecting tourist areas.When it comes to Bulgaria, however, the Ministry of Tourism shows a lack of experience in thisdomain. Bulgaria is still promoting tourism as a mass consuming service. Black Sea cost is a unique area in the whole world, which is being degraded every day thanks to the mass tourism exploitation just because therehave not been undertaken proper business strategies.

“Golden Sands”, the sea resort which this project will be focusing on, is a good example of well-working business and developing tourist destination that adapts successfully to the new trends. However, the resort meets numerous problems and conflicts, regarding its mass overbuilt look. The further pages will explain why this is a trend and how does this resort manage to attract its customers and face their continuously changing demands.

Problem formulation

What kind of strategies and reforms can the Bulgarian trendy destination Golden Sands implement, in order to improve its tourism industryin the future?

Methodology

The goal of this project is to provide a short analysis of the actualsituation of Bulgarian Black Sea coast, andgive solutions and suggestions that might be taken into account, in order to avoidfuture decline in the development of the Bulgarian sea resort Golden Sands. The project will analyze how Golden Sands adapts to the new trends in tourism, offering its customers exclusive experiences and unforgettable memories. The paper was written based on desk research – relevant books and articles were examined, as well as a few official websites.

In order to answer the problem formulation, several steps are required. First of all, a definition and description of tourism trends in general as required, followed by the introduction of the trend chosen as a topic for this project. It is important to be clearly stated why the chosen matter represents a trend and why it is regarding customers.

Considering the fact that the resort is very popular tourist destination among domestic and foreign tourists, it is necessary to make a short presentation of main problems, which is facing. I will focus on tourism development part of this certain area as I consider it is a complex activity which is a useful research and it needs to be specified, in order to fit within the frame of this project that has been given.

Furthermore, I will use Butler’s lifecycle model to analyzethe growth and decline of the resort.

Finally, the tourism business will be investigated from the point of view of relevant stakeholders. Some advantages will be highlighted, and this will lead to a better understanding of the resort situation and its success.

Definition and description of “Tourism trends”

“Tourism is a global phenomenon that has experienced rapid growth in the post-1945 period, particularly in the developed countries of the world.”[1]

Meanwhile, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, a trend is defined as: “A general development or change in a situation or in the way that people are behaving.”[2]

The concept of tourism trends is often mentioned both by providers and consumers, and it has a strong impact on traveling behavior.

Basically, tourism trends are being used and evaluated in most of the tourism enterprises starting from the latest fashion to long term changes. A trend is a pattern of change over time in some variable of interest. It is a process of changes in the way we think, act and live.

“In addition to that trends are more than underlying shifts and fundamental forces of driving changes. Trends are about underlying shifts and fundamental forces that drive change. It requires an understanding of how the trend might collide or complement with world economics, government infrastructure, domestic and foreign policy, etc.”[3]

As the concept of trends has been defined, the next step is to research the factors that guide the tourism industry into certain directions. There are several global external factors which need to be determined in order to find out what makes people travel and the reasons behind their behavior and needs:

Social factors

The social factors that influence tourism and travel in the coming yearscan be divided into three sub-categories; social values of society, life-styles and demographics, according to Fahey and Narayan (1986). They closely bin together with cultural ones, since individuals are part of bigger social groups that influence their behaviour, which in turn are part of and influenced by the surrounding culture. The term culture can be described as a“set of beliefs, values, attitudes, habits and forms of behaviour that are shared by asociety and transmitted from generation to generation” (Bennett and Kassasjin,1982 in Mill and Morrison, 2002, p.244).

Technological Factors

Technology has significantly changed production, sales andconsumption. It has shaped the “new” consumer. “Technological developments create opportunities as well as pose threats to the tourism and travel industry as well. Tourism is first of all highly dependent upontransport technology. Secondly, it is reliant on information technology and finally,it needs innovations and scientific discoveries to renew and develop its productsand services.”[4]

Environmental factors

The most important and long lasting environmental factor with a substantial impact on the tourism industry is the climate change, which could lead to the loss of many destinations whose appeal depends on their natural environment. The environment will continue to be a top political issue, concerning as well as people all around the world. Moreover, trends like eco-tourism and sustainability have become highly popular at the moment and are expected to last.

Economic Factors

From an economical perspective, due to the globalization the tourism industry will change considerably:

-Improved quality/green products

-Greater access/lower prices

-Better technology

-Diversification of the tourism industry

-Increasing destination competition

-Changing demographic and economic trends

-Increasingly competitive global environment

-Growing number of “global nomads” which will generate VFR tourism

-Younger people’s values and expectations will be influenced

-Increasing mobility for the tourism labor markets which in the long run may pose threats to the cultural authenticity of the services provided.

Political factors

Many political issues and trends thus spill overinto other areas.As governments are forced to raise the levels of retirement, a slow in the travel sector for the senior market is expected. Another political consequence over the tourism sector is an expanding need for branding, in orderto show which international operators can be trusted.

Having analyzed all the major external factors which have an impact on tourism sector, it can be summed up that trends play an increasingly important role in the choice of products, especially as the economy nowadays is focusing on experiences. Meanwhile, consumers have become more and moredemandable, searching forauthenticity experiences.

Description of a new trend in modern tourism

“The relationship between coastal areas and tourism is an old as tourism itself. Early tourist favoured seaside locations and made journeys to fashionable resorts to bathe in sea water to take advantage of its alleged healing powers. This was a major departure in the eighteenth century from a time when the sea and coast were revered as places and even feared.”[5] According to Hall and Page (2005), the coastal environment is:

A magnet for tourists…although its role in leisure activities has changed in time and space, as coastal destinations have developed, waned, been reimaged and redeveloped in the twentieth century. The coastal environment is a complex system which is utilized by the recreationist for day trips, while juxtaposed to these visits are those made by the domestic and international tourists.

Coastal areas are of the great environmental and economic significance. They are generally defined as those regions affected by the proximity of the sea. Coastal tourism is growing at a fast rate than most other forms of tourism and this growth represents special management challenges.

“Visitors to coastal areas or resorts are more and more attracted to the combined elements contributing to the sense of place and imagery, associated with the area.”[6] They greedily are searching for new desired experiences from holidays and trips and unforgettable moments.

On the other hand, today’s mass tourism as a tourism trend can be very harmful in many ways. With respect to environment, the nowadays sea coast is becoming a sprawl of concrete, which is certainlythe most striking damage. Due to the concreting, the coast changes its natural environment, e.g. through deforestation, it is also sometimes responsible for weakening the soil and thus for creating greater vulnerability to natural catastrophes, as was the case with the Tsunami for example. To coast concreting, we must also add the over-consumption of water and pollution as regular consequences of non-responsible tourism. Finally, anarchic development fed by trends often leads to overexploitation of sites followed by their abandonment. Such sites are afterwards deserted and local populations left suffering from a decomposed social fabric.[7]And what happens then when the mass construction of hotels and small block of flats at the seaside becomes pointless?

Analysis of the new trends in tourism from a theoretical perspective

Here in this part a further analysis of the tourism trend form a theoretical perspective will be given.

To begin with, I will outline the Bulgarian industry growth.

Bulgarian tourism industry has undergone a real renaissance in the last decade, by drawing each year more and more foreign tourists, mostly from European Union countries. As a result of that there has been an increase in the construction of the beaches and ski resorts, which considerably tripled their number. Unfortunately, this new rapid development has not been viable and well-organized. Because of the lack of good state control and better legislation, the Black Sea coast, and also the mountain ski resorts are ‘suffering’ from mass overbuilding. Moreover, the illegal mass building is increasing in the country, which considerably strengthens the negative effects on the environment.

According to the recent forecasts many of the new hotels and small block of flats in Bulgaria that appear almost every week, soon will be destroyed – and once they left empty, their owners will start to lose money.

Golden Sands is one of the most famous resorts in Bulgaria. Its attractive beaches, good climate, unique nature and the variety of activities there, draw many foreign tourists every year. The resort is becoming more and more popular among foreigners and it even seems to be very prosperous city.However, its flourishing appearance is deceptive.

Experts’ forecasts state that there is a great possibility for Bulgaria to be put in the same position like the Spain's overdeveloped Costa del Sol 15 years ago.

While in the construction of hotels, restaurants and other tourism sites, actually a lot of efforts were thrown away. And still the green areas often remain neglected by the urban infrastructure.

What will befall with the tourism industry in Bulgaria, if it is still developingwithout any control, isthe gloomy precedent of Spain's Costa del Sol during the 60's and 70's, whenthe entire coastline was densely constructed with tall buildings. This forced the rich tourists to turn their attention to the less "spoiled" resorts, and leaving the hotelowners with empty buildings - a phenomenon known as "dead zones".

Bulgarian experts fear that the same scenario is going to be played out in their own country. For now, entrepreneurs lightly ignore the environmental problems; guided by the annual growth of the costs by 10 to15 percent, they are building at agreat speed, in order to satisfy theirgreedfor money. Tour operators, however, forecast that the boom could end with crash.

The further pages will examine and explain why the mass overbuilding of Golden Sands is a disadvantage and what kind of changes can be taken into account in order to create futuresustainable image.

Analysis of practical examples of implementation of the chosen trend in a tourism company

In this part I will make analysis of how the resort has become trendy and how it manages its business.

As mentioned above, one of the most famous sea resorts in Bulgaria is Golden Sands. Its attractive beaches, good climate, unique nature and the variety of activities there, draw many foreign tourists every year. The resortis situated 17 kilometres north of the city Varna.“It is a magnificent resort, the largest one on the Northern Black Sea coast, with plenty of wooded hills, white golden beaches and clear blue sea. The beach strip in the resort is 3,5 km long, up to 100m in places, and is known as one of the best sand beaches in Europe. It is flat, covered with fine golden sand.”[8] The resort has wonderful conditions for recreation, entertainment, sports and spa treatment and it offers 69 hotels, 14 of which are 4-stars, and the rest are 3-stars, 10 luxury villas and 200 camping sites, as well as numerous restaurants, fast food restaurants, bars and more. The capacity of beds is around 20,000 with a share capacity of the hotels is 1 / 3.Golden sands is becoming more and more popular among foreigners and even it seems to be very prosperous city. However, this popular tourist destination meet a lot of problems and conflicts, regarding its business management operations.

The priority role of tourism in socio-economic life of the country requires effective adaptation to the environment in which it operates. Global socio-economic change a serious challenge to this process, both nationally and globally.

The development of Bulgarian tourism is linked with many negative consequences, which have their impact on the development of appropriate tourist sites and resorts in the country. It is therefore imperative that the examination of problems, clarification of the reasons for their occurrence and formulating strategies to resolve this problems, as for the whole country and for the individual regions or complexes.

The resort Golden Sands is a typical example of a tourist complex on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, which develops in terms of problems and conflicts of various behaviors. In order to make an analysis of the resort, it is necessary to examine and inspect the following aspects of its operations and development:

1 / feature of the resort complex - capacity category of accommodation facilities, infrastructure and transport accessibility;

2 / analysis of issues affecting the development of the resort;

3 / strategic objectives for their possible solution;

Butler’s lifecycle model

To achieve a better understanding of the Golden Sands development situation, it is relevant for this project to make Butler’s lifecycle model. Having in mind the characteristics of all the six stages, Golden Sands could be situated in the phase of ending consolidation and future stagnation. This conclusion is based on the facts that the carrying capacity of the resort is over exceeded and it is becoming overcrowded of all new hotels appearing. Therefore soon it will reach the phase of Stagnation, in this case it is essentially important for the resort to be prepared with new strategy towards rejuvenation or otherwise it will face declining stages in its business, and tourist’s flows.