CHAPTER 4

Tourism Products – Attractions

and Destinations
Chapter 4 discusses tourism products—attractions and destinations, which includes; (1) tourism
products; (2) planning of tourism products and destinations and; (3) carrying capacity. Apparently,
tourism products play an important role in tourism industry and this should be considered. Every
country around the world has tourism products and they make income in their products.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVE: To introduce the tourism products – attractions and

destinations.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
After reading this chapter and completing the discussion questions and exercises, students
should be able to:

1. Make a synthesis on the tourism products.

2. Discuss the process of planning the tourism products and destinations.
3. Explain the carrying capacity of the tourism attractions and destinations.
 DETAILED CHAPTER MAP

LESSON 4.1. TOURISM PRODUCTS

SCOPE OF TOURISM PRODUCTS
- Tourism products includes all types of transportations, accommodation
services, catering services, meeting and tourist attraction activities, etc.
- Tourism products are a kind od service also, and tourism consumers
differentiate between tourism products provided by different providers on the
basis of their own feelings about service quality when making their purchasing
decisions.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TOURISM PRODUCTS

Intangible Nature – tourism can never be see, hear, taste or touch because what
tourist purchase are the experiences travel gives them, including taking the plane, staying
in the hotel, visiting museums, having fun and relaxing in a resort.

The Inseparability of Production and Consumption – when organization in the

tourism industry provides services to tourists, this is when tourist consume such
services and the two cannot be separated in terms of time.

Differentiation – the elements that make up tourism products and their quality
standards are difficult to control in a unified manner. This is because the core of
tourism products is to serve people., even when a tourism enterprise can regulate
behavioral standards when service staff are in certain kind of service situation, the
work experiences, work attitudes will all be different. Because of this, services
provided by different service staff in the same environment can never be
completely the same.

Perishability – tourism products cannot be stored like physical products and

prepared for sale in the future. For example, airline companies cannot store a
spare seat on right time flights to be used to cope with crowded morning or
afternoon flights.

Complementarity – tourism is made up of different activities such as eating,

travel, accommodation, entertainment and touring that is why every trip in tourism
requires the purchase of tourism services provided by various tourism
organizations because of this, one tourism product will always be affected by the
elements of other tourism products.

Immobility Ownership – this refer to the fact that it is only when services are
purchased that activities can be enjoyed to used. Tourist will only acquire an
experience, but not the ownership of the product.
 LESSON 4.2. PLANNING OF TOURISM PRODUCTS
AND DESTINATIONS

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE (PLC) AND ITS APPLICATION IN TOURISM

1. Product Life Cycle (PLC)

The concept of PLC is rooted in the theories of population ecology. It was originally used
to describe the lifetime of manufactured products and has been increasingly applied in
services and tourism as an explanatory tool. A standard PLC has four different stages,
introduction, growths, maturity and decline.

2. Application of PLC
Tourism product is a complex mixture of services and goods consumed by the tourists
making it as a bundle of activities, services and benefits that constitute the entire tourism
experience.

3. Application of PLC
Butler (9180) argued that it is possible to trace a cycle of evolution for destinations that is
similar to the PLC as what is being called “Destinations Life Cycle”. Destination as a
tourist product usually goes through six stages which differ from the “4-stage “ PLC.

Table 4.1 is a summary of destination characteristic in different stages of the

“Destination Life Cycle”, followed by their detailed explanations.

Stage Characteristics
Exploration • Few explorers or drifters visiting sites with no
facilities
• Visitors attracted to the destination by a natural
physical feature
• Specific visitor type of a selected nature
Involvement • Limited interaction between local residents and
the developing tourism industry lead to the
provision of basic services
• Increased advertising induces a defineable
pattern of seasonal variation
• Definite market is beginning to emerge
Development • Development of additional tourist facilities and
increased promotional efforts
• Greater control of the tourist trade by outsiders
• Number of tourists at peak periods far outweighs
the size of the resident population, inducing rising
antagonism by the latter towards the former
Consolidation • Tourism has become a major part of the local
economy but growth rates have begun to level off
 • A well-delineated business district has taken
shape
• Some of the older deteriorating facilities becomes
less attractive to visitors
• Local efforts are made to extend the tourist
season
Stagnation • Peak number of tourists and capacity level are
reached
• The destination has a well-established image, but
it is no longer in fashion
Post-stagnation • Five possibilities, reflecting a range of options that
may be followed, depending partly on the success
of local management decisions. At either extreme
are rejuvenation and decline
Table 4.1 – Characteristics of Destinations in Different Stages of the Destination Life Cycle
Source: Agarwal, S. (1997). The Report Cycle and Seaside Tourism: An Assessment of the Applicability
and Validity. Tourism Management, 18(2), pp 65-73

4. Purposes of Analyzing the PLCs of Destinations and Tourism Products

The main utility of the product life cycle (PLC) is an aid in understanding the evolution of
tourism products and destinations which provides guidance for strategic decision making
thus it suggests that tourism businesses and destinations should adopt a long-term
planning horizon in order to utilize PLC as an organizing framework for marketing and
development decision.

ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING IN DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT

Effective destination planning can be used to balance the economic opportunities with the cultural
and natural sensitiveness of the area. Planning destination is essential in all levels to achieve
successful tourism development and management.

There are several important specific benefits of undertaking destination planning, these
advantages include:

- Establishing the overall tourism development objectives and policies

- Developing tourism so that its natural and cultural resources are indefinitely
maintained and conserved for present and future use.
- Integrating tourism into the overall development policies and patterns of the
country or region in establishing linkages between tourism and other economic
sectors.
- Providing a rational basis for decision-making by both the public and private
sectors on tourism development.
- Making possible the coordinated development of all the elements of the tourism
sector.
- Optimizing and balancing the economic, environmental and social benefits of
tourism with equitable distribution of these benefits to the society.
- Providing a physical structure which guides the location, types and extent of
tourism development of attractions, facilities, services and infrastructure.
 - Establishing the guidelines and standards for preparing detailed plans of
specific tourism development areas for the appropriate design of tourist
facilities.
- Laying the foundation for effective implementation of the tourism development
policy and plan and continuous management of the tourism sector.

- Providing the framework for effective coordination of the public and private
sector efforts and investment in developing tourism.
- Offering a baseline for the continuous monitoring of the progress of tourism
development and keeping it on track.

LESSON [Link] CAPACITY

CARRYING CAPACITY – it sis the maximum number of people who can use a destination without
unacceptable changes in the environment and without unacceptable changes in the enjoyment
gained by visitors.

TYPES OF CARRYING CAPACITY

1. Physical Carrying Capacity
- amount of suitable land available for accommodation, tourist facilities and
services
- the number of people who can physically accommodated on a given facility
- the capacity of local transport systems

2. Environmental Carrying Capacity

- the tramping of grassland at picnic sites
- disturbance of wildlife
- physical erosion of important historic monuments by visitors’ feet

3. Psychological or Perceptual Carrying Capacity

- visitor’s demand
- visitors’ attitude to both the number and behavior of other users
- visitors’ tolerance of the physical wear and tear or pollution at the destination

4. Economical Carrying Capacity

- property prices raised to such an extent that local people can no longer afford
to purchase
- prices of daily consumption products keep rising due to the continuous
increase in visitors demand
-
5. Social-Cultural Carrying Capacity
- acceptance of tourist by the local population
- level of acceptance depends on previous experience and benefits that tourism
brings
HOW (WHERE) DO CARRYING CAPACITY PROBLEMS HAPPEN?

Whenever or whatever these capacities are exceeded various problems occur.

The problems may also arise:
- in tourist generating areas
- on transit route
- in tourist receiving areas