Destination Awareness: What Is A Tourist Destination?

Destination Awareness
“The traveler sees what he sees; the tourist sees what he has come to see…”
− G. K. Chesteron, an English Writer, Poet, and Philosopher.
Destination is the basic component of tourism. Identifying and capturing the essence of
the place is vital for the tourism business to do well. If an attractive place is turned into
a destination, the place generates high revenue from tourism.
Today, Destination Management is an important subject in tourism studies. It focusses
on the development and management of destinations to provide highly satisfying
experience to the visitors without hampering the local culture and environment.
What is a Tourist Destination?

A tourist destination can be a city, town, or other area. It is dependent on the revenues
accruing from tourism. It is marketed or markets itself as a place for tourists to visit. It
may contain more than one tourist attractions. For example, Roros, Norway is a
destination with the label of mining town since last 85 years.
How Can a Destination Attract Tourists?

A tourist destination has certain characteristics that attract tourists to spend time there.
It can attract tourists for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical
significance, flora and fauna, natural or built beauty, offering leisure, adventure and
amusement.
The following factors shape the destination appeal −
The Five A’s

The following five A’s define the tourist needs and demands −
Accessibility
It is the ability to reach to a place of destination by opting one or multiple means of
transportation. The transportation should be timely, convenient, inexpensive, and safe.
Today there are various means of transportation like airlines, railways, surface
transportation, and water transportation.
Accommodation
It is a place where the tourists can avail food and shelter on payment. Today, a wide
range of accommodations are available ranging from a basic budget accommodation to
elite class seven-star hotel suites.
Attraction
It is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited, natural
or cultural value, historical significance, or natural or artificial beauty. The attraction
creates a desire to travel to a specific tourist destination. They also offer leisure,
comfort, adventure, or amusement.
For example, Paris draws tourists by offering Fashion as attraction.
Activities
Activities are what the tourists perform for fun and amusement. For example, boating,
scuba diving, canoeing, camel riding, and visiting a place.
Amenities
Amenities refer to the beneficial services offered to the tourists like visitor information
centers, telecommunications, roads, drinking water, toilet blocks, garbage bins, etc.
Types of Tourist Destinations

There are various types of destinations as given below −
Centered Destination
It is the most common type of tourist destination, where tourists spend most of their
time on occasional excursions to nearby places of attraction. For example, Andaman
Island is a centered destination.
Base Destination
It refers to that type of destination where tourists need to travel and explore
surrounding region.
For example, Sossusvlei Desert Camp of Sesriem is a base destination from where
tourists can explore the nearby desert mountain dunes and Sesriem river canyon.
Multi-Centre Destination
Here the destination comprises two or more destinations of equal importance. For
example, India is a multi-center destination where each Indian state or region offers
different culture, nature, and culinary experience.
Touring Destination
A touring destination refers to a place to visit as part of linear itinerary.
Transit Destination
It is a place of a brief halt en-route while the tourists are heading towards the final
destination.
For example, Abu Dhabi is a transit destination where tourists take a short break for
going to Cape Town, South Africa.
Building Online Destination Awareness

Exploiting the widespread reachability of the internet, the tourism businesses need to
build their online presence not only for offering various tours but for creating destination
awareness as well.
Destination websites act as the gateway for tourism information. They can also provide a
number of services such as promoting local attractions, culture, and activities, list of the local
ancillary tourism services, and provide regional historical and geographical information about
the destinations. This helps to shape the curiosity of the prospective tourists and can bring
momentum in tourism.
Tourism Management - Milieus

Milieu is nothing but the physical, cultural, or social environment in which the people
live or which influences people. The milieu includes one’s family, friends, the place of
residence, and the surrounding culture.
In the domain of tourism, the milieus are broadly divided into two different categories.
Let us see them in detail −
Geographical Milieus
These are the milieus divided according to their terrains.
Rural Area
It is the countryside area or area outside the boundaries of a city. There are less
number of settlements, low density of population, and less pollution in the rural area.
The pace of life is slower. Nature is more accessible with the beauty of farms and
fields, woods, plantations, and wild life. Less infrastructure developments are found in
the rural area.
Rural areas offer attractions such as beautiful landscape, vegetation and plantation of
specific crops, vineyards, gardens, water bodies and allied sports, farmhouse visits and
stays, and roadside flea markets.
Urban Area
It covers cities and developed towns. The urban areas have high density of population
and large number of houses and apartments. The cities are more affected by air and
noise pollutions. The pace of life is too fast in urban areas. The life and living here
boasts of contemporary infrastructure and technology.
Urban areas are usually home to man-made attractions such as Disneyland, theme
parks, museums, or vintage sculptures and architecture. They also attract tourists for
gourcmet food and local culinary experiences.
Coasts and Beaches
This area offers extra ordinary beauty of Terra Firma, vegetation, and water together.
Apart from the above stated features, the coastal areas are high on the list of tourism
destinations as they also offer exotic sea food, view of different forms of sea and
artistic sand sculptures, and water sports. The coastal areas also provide an
opportunity to see the marine life either in their natural habitat or in the marine
museum.
Beaches are tempting destinations for relaxation and recreational holidays. According
to the World Tourism Organization estimates, coastal areas represent one-third of
global tourism income.
Islands
Islands have developed thriving tourism over the last few years. They draw tourist
attraction for their breathtaking beauty of land surrounded by water, refreshing
breezes, and tranquility. They offer a wide range of water sports like speed-boating,
canoeing, snorkeling, and diving. They offer market for authentic pearls, mother-of-
pearl ornaments, and wooden handicrafts.
For example, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (India), Madagascar (Africa), Islands of
Hawaii, Bora Bora, Tahiti, and Morea (South Pacific Islands) are few examples of
highly frequented islands for tourism.
Mountainous Region
Mountains have indisputable tourist potential and they attract tourists of all categories.
The adventure tourists visit mountains for their remoteness, difficult access, unbeaten
mountain trails, and wilderness. The adventure sport liking tourists visit mountains for
climbing, hiking, skiing, mountain biking, and bungee jumping. Some tourists visit
mountains to see the beauty of rare flora and fauna, take fresh unpolluted air, and get
to know the unique local cultures. The pace of life in mountain regions is low.
For example, Andean Inca trails of Ethiopia, sacred Buddhist sites and in Himalayas.
Desert Region
This region is popular with tourists for its sand dunes, serenity, clean air, flora and
fauna, and awesome view of night sky. It also offers desert sports such as quad biking,
air balloon rides, and activities such as camel trekking and camping. The deserts also
offer introduction or engagement with unique local cultures. The pace and style of life is
very different in the desert.
For example, Thar (India), Sahara (Morocco), and Namib Desert (Coastal South Africa)
are famous tourist milieus.
Cultural Milieus
Cultural milieus are visited for their heritage, historical, archeological, educational, or
adventure importance attached to them. Some of them are also widely known for
sports or other entertainment activities.
Historical
This milieu contains the places of historical importance such as sites of ancient wars,
civilizations, ruins of sculptures revealing periodic cultures, monuments, castles, forts,
and ancient religious sites. The people studying or interested in history, human
evolution, manuscripts, cultures, and art around the world find these places attractive.
Historical milieus are protected by a country’s law.
Archeological
It is a place where one can find the evidence of historic or prehistoric activity that is
recorded by the discipline of archeology. This milieu offers ruins and remains of houses
and pottery, inscriptions, weapons, idols, biological remains such as bones and scales
which link to the past human activity or presence of a prehistoric animal at the place.
The archeological tourist places are bound by law and limitations on the tourist
activities laid by the government.
Educational
The sites and places of educational importance contribute a large portion of tourism. A
school trip is the simplest form of educational tourism. Most of the top universities
around the world impart the study abroad program for their students to provide the
students with short study sessions of a few weeks to a full year of cultural and linguistic
experience. Tourists attend educational cruises which make the people of common
interests come together to acquire knowledge.
Adventure
A place popular for adventure tourism calls for the interest in adventurers. Some
tourists have inclination towards trying their capabilities on extreme sports such as
bungee jumping, sky diving, mountaineering, hiking, parachuting, surfing, skiing,
sailing, and other similar action sports.
Sports
A wide range of sports are sincerely pursued by people, which make a noticeable reason for
tourism. National or international sports events such as Olympics, Commonwealth games, FIFA
or World Cup Cricket tournaments attract tourists greatly.

Destination Awareness: What Is A Tourist Destination?

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Destination Awareness: What Is A Tourist Destination?

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Destination Awareness: What Is A Tourist Destination?

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Destination Awareness

What is a Tourist Destination?

How Can a Destination Attract Tourists?

The Five A’s

Types of Tourist Destinations

Building Online Destination Awareness

Tourism Management - Milieus

You might also like