ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION FOR CULTURAL TOURISM

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP IN THE FIELD OF YOUTH

MODULE 7: External Environmental Impact on Cultural Tourism

Project Title “Entrepreneurship Education for Cultural Tourism”

Project Acronym EECT

Project Reference №: №: 2016-3-DK01-KA205-033887

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Table of contents: Module 7

Course Description……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1

I. Introductory concepts.………………………………………………………………..………………………………….2

II. Micro Environmental Factors…………………………………………………………………………………………..3

III. Macro Environmental Factors………………………………………………….…………………………………….6

IV. Useful tools to improve your business in cultural tourism field….…………………………………10

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MODULE 7: External Environmental Impact on Cultural Tourism

Course Description

In the current context of market dynamics, globalization and technology, external

environmental impact on cultural tourism is an important aspect that should be considered by

the entrepreneurs in the field, so that they meet the needs of communities and customers. Thus,

the module discusses this topic by providing concrete examples of good practices and useful

tools to initiatives in this field of cultural tourism.

Learning Objectives: As a result of engaging with the material in this module, youth

workers are intended to achieve the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge: Identify and examine the external factors that impact a business in cultural

tourism sector; identify and apply useful tools in the process of identification external factors

for a business

Skills: analytical thinking, the ability to work and learn independently, evaluate opinions,

generate new ideas;

Competences: risk identification, awareness and understanding about external environment

for a business; identify internal and external factors for a business in the field of cultural tourism.

Structure:

The module is divided into three main topics:

Micro environmental factors

Macro environmental factors

Useful tools to improve business in cultural tourism field

Learning content

Considering the importance of environmental factors for businesses, in general, this module

address the topic of external factors, with emphasis on cultural tourism initiatives. This course

will give some examples about how laws, economy, infrastructure and others can influence a

business, especially in cultural tourism sector.

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I. INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS

In every field of services there are some factors that can determine the success or the failure of

a business. Either we are talking about something simple as a corner shop or something bigger

like a resort or a large company, the main factors that can influence a business are grouped in

two main sections:

Internal environmental factors

External environmental factors

Internal environmental factors refer to a series of elements that have the nature within the

company and can be easily solved or predicted. Some of the most common internal

environmental factors that can be found in the business sector are management changes,

employee motivation and financial issues. Of course, depending on business, there can be many

internal factors that can influence the processes that are needed to be done. The point is to

identify them as soon as possible and find a mutual solution in order to achieve success.

External environmental factors, on the other hand, are harder to predict, not so easy to control

and come mostly outside the business. When it comes to identifying the external environmental

factors, the better way to do it is dividing them in two categories that are differentiated by the

amount of control that the business can have on them.

As we said in the beginning of this paragraph, external environmental factors are not easy to

control, but some of them are harder than the others, so here you have a simple graph that will

explain a little bit more clear the concept:

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Summing-up, the external environmental factors are grouped in micro environmental factors

such as customers, public perception, competitors and suppliers and macro environmental

factors such as laws, economy, weather, infrastructure and political situation.

This chapter will follow the second group of environmental factors - the external ones - and will

explain how micro and macro environmental factors can influence the success of a business

based in a cultural destination and will present examples from three countries situated on three

different continents that have successfully increased their visitors numbers by taking into

accounts this factors. Keeping in mind that their example can be used in any kind of business,

feel free to implement the lessons learned in your field.

II. MICRO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

According to businessdictionary.com, micro environmental factors are represented by factors

or elements in an organization's immediate area of operations that affect its performance and

decision-making freedom. Some of the most common factors are customers, public perception,

competitors and suppliers.

Customers - in each business the customers are the ones that will decide the success or

the failure of a product. If we are referring only to the tourism, the customers are

represented by the visitors that are coming to a specific destination. Here, by

recommending or giving a bad review to a location, the tourists can decide the faith of

a destination.

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For example, Romania - a small country in the southeastern Europe - is known by its pittoresque

and full of traditions villages that are settled in the heart of the country, in a region called

Transylvania. As Romanians did not focus so much their tourism campaigns on the villages that

are hidden between Carpathian Mountains, the main source of publicity came from other

tourists that have been here. It is well known the case of Prince Charles that discovered some

years ago the beauty of the Romanian countryside and decided to buy here some properties.

This action was like a trigger for a lot of foreigner tourists that, intrigued by the interest of the

prince, decide to plan a vacation in Romania.

Public perception - covers almost the same attributes like customers, with the main

difference that customer influence is something that works on the individual level.

Public perception make reference to the image that the general public has about a

certain subject. When it comes to tourism, the main “pawn” in the game is social media.

Social media can increase or decrease the interest of the tourists in just seconds. Using

multimedia files like pictures or videos, social media can influence a lot the customer's

decision.

Nowadays one of the biggest weapon that destination can use is Instagram. Instagram is a visual

platform that was released in 2010 and became lately one of the most used social media

platforms. What Instagram does is creating a free space where photography enthusiasts,

passionate travellers, aspiring models or simple people that like to share their lives can show

their pictures to more than 700 million monthly active users.

Using this platform, thousands of travel destinations were discovered. One of the most iconic is

Morocco. Even though Morocco was a popular destination also before 2010, after Instagram

become “the thing” for young generation of travelers, cities like Marrakesh, Chefchauen or Fez

were on everyone’s bucket list.

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Chefchauen is a small city situated in the north of Morocco. This blue city is similar to a gateway

to the past that leads to a time where the traditions and culture still matter and there is nothing

more important than this. Morocco is in general a very conservative country when it comes to

its culture but not all the cities are like this. Chefchauen is one of the places where you can truly

feel the Moroccan atmosphere and, of course, where you can take some spectacular pictures.

Competitors - can represent a threat as long as you see it as a threat and not as a lesson.

A good competitor can teach you how to improve your business and how to level-up

you game. In terms of tourism, competitors are always welcomed. They are coming all

the time with new ideas that can be implemented to your field, new strategies and also

new customers. If your marketing strategy is on point, a good competitor can be seen

as a new source of tourists.

Most of you heard about India and its vibrant culture. India is without any doubt one of the most

famous cultural destination in this world and still growing in terms of popularity. One of the

reason why India is seen as an ideal destination is because of its various type of tourism practiced

here and also because of the impressive numbers of landmarks.

Taking advantage of the India’s popularity, Sri Lanka, the country that is situated just right below

it on the map, succeeded to increase enormously its number of tourists. Sri Lanka used the same

strategy as India did and also focused on the main point of attractions of the Indian land. Maybe

you will not find another Taj Mahal in Sri Lanka, but for sure you will find a lot of traditional

villages, retreat resorts and natural parks. In this way, Sri Lanka used its main competitor to

succeed in the tourism field and got the well deserved nickname of “Small India”.

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Suppliers - represents the crucial factor which will push the “wheel” to spin. Suppliers

are an independent factor that can influence a lot any business. When we are talking

about suppliers, we are usually referring to the ones that are bringing food and

essentials to a certain destination.

Referring to our previous destinations, suppliers are playing a major role in the industry. If there

will be any crisis in terms of food or essentials in any of these locations, the tourists number will

alarming decrease and this will represent the “end” of that destination.

III. MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Macro environmental factors are composed by uncontrollable and hard to predict changes that

can occur during a specific amount of time that can influence the performance of a business. In

tourism field, macro environmental factors are represented by laws, economy, weather,

infrastructure and political situation.

Laws - this factor is pretty simple and clear to understand, but extremely difficult to

handle. Until there is any law that prohibit something that affect your business, the

“government is on your side”, when the things are totally opposite the situation

becomes a little bit confusing.

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Barcelona, one of the most visited cities in Europe, passed a law that follow the decrease of

tourists’ number. Due to the huge number of tourists that are visiting the city every year, the

Barcelona locals are always complaining about the noise, crowd and high prices. Because, were

are more than 30 million of visitors per year, for sure you will have noise, crowded spaces and

why not, higher prices. Another example here is Cinque Terre region from Italy that is taking into

consideration the same decision due to high number of tourists.

Economy - is one of the main factor that can influence a business in any sector. It can

“encourage” new branches or close forever others. In terms of tourism, economy plays

an important role and also the other way around. There are a lot of destinations that

are counting on tourists for a better economy.

Mostly of remote-islands that are touristic destinations have the economy based on tourism,

but they are not the only ones. Bigger countries like India, which is the world’s 7th largest

tourism economy in terms of GDP, according to World Travel & Tourism Council has also a part

of economy based on tourism. As data shown, India Tourism and Travel sector generated more

than 170 billion of euros, which is the equivalent to 9.6% of India’s GDP. Pretty impressive, right?

Also, Morocco tourism is an important part to the budget. Taking into consideration the growing

number of tourists and the hidden cities that are becoming more and more popular, Morocco is

expecting to become more and more prosper because of the tourists.

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In Romania, the numbers are still low when we are talking about tourism because the main

focus of the Romanian economy is not directed to tourism. In 2015, Romania generated only

8.3 billion of euros from tourism.

Weather - depending on the climate conditions, there are some periods of the year in

which crowds of tourists are arriving to certain destinations and others in which only

locals are taking the walks on the streets.

Morocco seasons are pretty the same on the coast side, but when you are getting close to the

center of the country the climate changes in the same time with the relief. The climate is

moderate and subtropical, cooled by breezes off the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea but

in the interior of the country, the temperatures are more extreme. Winters are pretty cold and

summers extremely hot. Taking into consideration this information, the best time to visit

Morocco is in the spring and autumn time when the weather is warm and dry.

When we are talking about India, this vast country has not four, but six seasons as it follows:

Vasant Ritu (Spring)

Grishma Ritu (Summer)

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Varsha Ritu (Monsoon)

Sharad Ritu (Autumn)

Hemant Ritu (Pre-winter)

Shishir/ Shita Ritu (Winter)

Depending on the region, the climate of India can be quite hard to predict or almost the same

all over the year. It is difficult to say a “perfect” season for tourism, but pretty easy to say which

is the worst. Monsoon or Varsha Ritu is the least pleasant season because of its heavy rains and

humid atmosphere.

In Romania the things are in general clear when it comes to weather. With four main seasons

and all levels of relief, Romania can be visited in every month of the year. During spring the

tourists can adventure in the heart of the country and admire some of the most beautiful

landscapes in Europe, when the hot weather hits the tourists can “run” to the Black Sea resorts,

while autumn can be a great season for visiting the Danube Delta and Transylvania and during

winter there are a lot of resorts among Prahova Valley where tourists are practicing winter

sports.

Infrastructure - Highways and airports construction are particularly important to

tourism industry. Talking about Morocco or Romania, none of them are known for its

infrastructure, but even so they have modern airports and highways that cross the

country.

India has over 130 functional airports, 64 of them have domestic status and 22 others have

international status. The busiest one is Indira Gandhi International Airport from Delhi, followed

by Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from Mumbai and Kempegowda International

Airport from Bengaluru. India has a road network of over 5,472,144 kilometres, the second

largest road network in the world after United States of America.

Morocco has one of the most highly developed infrastructures in Africa with almost network of

58,000 kilometres of road and 70 airports. The top three busiest airports in Morocco include

Casablanca-Mohammed V, Marrakesh and Agadir.

In 2014, Romania had a total of only 85,362 kilometres but this include some of the most

beautiful roads in the world. Transfagarasan road is well known as one of the most spectacular

roads from all over the world. Included several times in prestigious tops, Transfagarasan has a

length of 90 kilometres and cross one of the most scenic area of Romania. The Dracula country

is served by 16 airports, Henri Coanda International Airport being the largest and the busiest

one.

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Political situation - Government regulations in transport field, services or taxes can have

a huge impact on any business, especially in the ones related to tourism. Rarely they can

be predicted or solved so easily so the best way to succeed is to adapt and find the

solution that will save the business.

IV. USEFUL TOOLS TO IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS IN CULTURAL

TOURISM FIELD

The following tools can be used to improve any kind of business or organization, but we will

mainly focus on how this tools can help in the tourism field.

An easy yet effective instrument that everyone can use is SWOT analysis, which is basically a

table formed by four cells, two of them are representing internal issues and another two

external ones. The two internal are referring to strengths and weaknesses and the external ones

to opportunities and threats. The main point of SWOT analysis is to present the facts and then

try to transform all the weaknesses in strengths and threats in opportunities. Right that is not

always easy, but is always rewarding.

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PEST Analysis describes a framework of macro environmental factors and help in creating a

strong strategy for the management of any business. PEST analysis is more specific and more

complex than SWOT analysis but can help in identifying all of the external political, economic,

social, technological, legal and environmental factors that might affect a business.