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2-Discuss how rulers used differing economic systems to increase their power and wealth.
3- Discuss how new technologies aided in the rise and fall of past civilizations.
4- Discuss the changes in gender, sexuality, and family from the Paleolithic to the Medieval eras
Assessment 3: Individual Report: Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics (40%)
Group coursework: 40% weighting. Word limit: (3000 words +-10%).
Deadline Academic Week 24: Friday April 5th 2019 at 5pm
You are required to submit your work to the Uni-help desk. In addition you must submit it electronically via Turnitin.
In this assessment, you build on the work that you did in Assignment 2, taking it a step further to develop an e-Marketing Strategy. However, for this assignment, you will work as an individual and produce your own individual report, building on the group work you did for Assignment 1. The task and assessment guidelines are detailed below.
Assessment Objective:
Through studying, reading, researching, attending lectures and previous assessment, students will have enhanced their understanding of how to develop an e-marketing strategy. Assessment 2 emphasised the implementation of industry, competitor and consumer research for the purpose of strategic goal-setting. Assessment 3 is aimed at further developing the understanding of e-marketing strategies through taking students to the next step of the plan, which is implementation. .
Task:
Individuals will develop an e-Marketing Strategy for the brand/business which they analysed in Assignment 2.
Assessment guidelines:
Your coursework must include the following format/content:
The first section in this assignment is Section 3. This is because Sections 1 and 2 were developed in Assignment 2.
Section 3: Implementation Plan
3.1 Strategies and Tactics to Achieve your Objectives
3.1a Design and Usability Factors
Outline the key issues that must be taken into account in order to optimise the design and usability of your business’s website. Refer to our lectures for more information for what to consider. Provide a wire frame diagram for the home page for your new site.
Provide a short brief (one paragraph) for the graphic design of the site. This should refer to the brand values, target audience, positioning strategy etc.
Outline the content, features, and functionality for the site. Discuss and justify based on your objectives, the positioning strategy, USP and target market.
Outline an approach for measuring the effectiveness of your website/digital marketing (See SHEET FOUR). This should include how you will monitor the ongoing design and usability, using professional services where necessary
(2 pages maximum.)
3.1b Getting Customers Attention – Driving Traffic to the Site: Search Engine Optimisation
Provide a list of the search engines, directories, portals in which you plan to be listed. Justify your choice.
Outline your search engine listing monitoring and optimisation strategies. (In other words, the way you will ensure that you continue to get top rankings and the methods you will use to monitor it. Also, how often you will monitor your web site search engine positions.)
(2 pages maximum)
3.1c Getting Customers Interest, Desire and Action – Driving Traffic to the Site
In this section you will:
Outline how your communications/promotions strategy will achieve your stated objects in relation to your target markets, brand values and positioning strategy...
(Use an Integrated Communications Strategy Model)
Outline and justify all online promotional strategies and tactics to be used.
E.g.: Linking Strategies, Banners, E-mail Marketing, etc. Identify each approach as ‘paid’, ‘owned’ or ‘earned’.
Provide the following:
Mock up of banner ad (line drawing/wire frame)
Wire frame diagram of web page where you will get customers to sign up for your e-mail
Copy (content) for your first e-mail letter.
List of all companies you plan to collaborate with in the first year. Provide a very brief description of each company to demonstrate why it is a suitable collaboration partner.
You should structure this section as follows:
Explain what you will do (e.g.: E-mail Marketing Campaigns – 4 times yearly)
Justify why you have chosen to do it. (Demonstrate that you understand the benefits of each type of promotional method.)
Demonstrate how it contributes to your brand values and positioning strategy, how it benefits your target markets, and what objectives it will help to achieve.
Identify whether the media used are ‘paid’, ‘owned’ or ‘earned’.
State when or how often it will be done.
If using a professional service, state which one.
Show how each method will be integrated with other methods
Banner ad
Web page wire frame
Copy for e-mail letter
List & description of companies you will collaborate with
(4 pages maximum)
NOTE: You must include all of the following: on-line advertising,
e-mail marketing, public relations, and collaborative programs (eg: contra deals, co-branding, linking, associates, affiliates etc.). You will need to choose two other methods and justify your choice.
3.1d Generating Revenue
Outline all additional strategies that you will use to generate revenue for your site. If already described above, just provide a summary in this section.
(1 page maximum.)
Section 4: Customer Service, Relationship and Loyalty Plan
Briefly outline your customer service and customer relationship management (CRM) strategy.
State your strategy for providing excellent customer service.
Outline your strategy for generating customer loyalty (e.g.: one-on-one strategies, personalisation, interactive dialogue, rewards, etc)
(1.5 pages maximum)
Section 5: Time Line for Promotion Strategies
Using a one year chart, show when each type of promotion will be done
Some forms of promotion will be done more than once over the year (eg: Banners, Email Marketing)
Some forms of promotion may be done in relation to specific objectives or specific offers (demonstrate)
Explain the rational for your timeline
(1 page maximum)
Section 6: The future
Provide a brief discussion of what new technologies and features you may add to your web-site in the future as they become widely available. Justify. (Half page maximum)
Provide a brief discussion of the options you plan to pursue in the five years after launch. Justify) (0.5 of a page maximum)
For how to best set up your promotional strategy, see SHEET SEVEN.
Assessment 3: Individual Report on the development Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
GRADING CRITERIA
MKT3033 E-Marketing Strategy and Social Media
Criteria for Assessment: Tutors Please write comments in the space provided
Assignments which exceed the maximum word limit by more than 10% will be awarded a maximum mark of 40%
Additional Comments Overleaf:
Seminar Tutor – Additional Comments
Total Mark for the presentation: _____/100
Seminar Tutor signature: Date: / / 2019
Internal Moderator signature: Date: / / 2019
Internal Moderator – Overall Comments:
Marketing Plans
Supporting Materials
SHEET ONE
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS AND COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Part One: Industry Analysis.
Your industry analysis should include the following 5 sections:
Industry Classification, Definition, Size and Growth Rates, Major Trends, and Expected Events
Your industry overview should provide some, if not all of the following information:
A way to define the industry and where your business and website will fit in.
Size of the industry in terms of the number of players, number of customers and volume of sales (by units or £)
Geographic dispersion and/or concentration of your industry
Annual Growth rate of industry
Reasons for/against growth.
General description of the client/user/customer.
General structure of the industry – how business is conducted, where it is conducted, etc.
Current and possible future trends and events affecting the industry.
Business Environment
The environment in which a business operates is made up of political, legal and regulatory forces; economic conditions and trends, socio-cultural factors and technological advances and processes. Each of these forces can present both opportunities and threats to the business, so managers need to identify and prepare for them. For your industry analysis, identify the PEST factors that might affect your business or your customers’ willingness and ability to purchase from you.
Key Political Factors that may affect your industry: Sector Regulation, Privacy Rules, Health and Safety Regulations, Product Regulation; Taxation, Employment and Environment Regulation. Identify current and planned regulation, as well as the ongoing debate and points of view.
Key Economic Factors: Business Cycles, disposable income; gross national income; Gross National Product (GNP); inflation; interest rates; investment; prices; productivity; unemployment and wage rates. Identify which economic factors will affect your business and the willingness and ability of your clients to use your services. Identify current economic conditions and five year trends.
Key Socio-Cultural Factors: Attitudes towards your product category; general changes in consumer attitudes, values and lifestyles that could positively or negatively affect you; consumerism; income distribution; levels of education; demographics; social mobility and values; ecological issues. Identify other lifestyle, demographic, and cultural factors that pose opportunities and/or threats.
Key Technological factors: New processes and technologies, general adoption of technology in society. Stages in adoption process of your customers.
Identify new and potential technologies that pose opportunities/threats to your industry/therapy.
Opportunities and Threats
From your review of the industry and business environment, summarise the key opportunities and threats to your proposed business/web site. Be as specific as possible. Suggest how you will deal with them.
4. Key Success Factors
Key Success Factors determine the financial and competitive success in the industry in general, not so much your specific business. Businesses can gain competitive advantage in an industry by concentrating on one or two Key Success Factors. Describe the Key Success Factors in your industry under the following headings or other headings that you deem relevant and important.
Skills/Training related: eg: Having certain type of training, having certain combinations of training (business/management skills, teaching and training skills; technology, human resource skills, etc). Ongoing training, affiliations, associations, networks.
Technology related: eg: Access to and/or use of certain technologies such as the internet, mobile communications, business management software, computer systems. Knowledge or certain processes/practices. Research. Innovation.
Distribution related: eg: Location(s), ability to provide service swiftly when needed. Ease of ordering/buying offered. Speed of delivery. Individual network advantages. Cost advantages.
Marketing related: Design, layout, image, brand, service offerings, price, payment systems, service, products offered, promotional, selling skills, customer (target market) related.
Other: Identify all other factors that you view as important to making your businesses in your industry successful.
5. Stakeholders
Stakeholders are any individuals, groups, or organisations that will be affected by or affect your business. They may include:
Investors/Shareholders Suppliers Government
Employees Training Establishments Media
Clients/Customers Special Interest Groups Competitors
Alliance/Network Partners Associations
State how any or all of the above may affect your industry and your business and how. View both positive and negative effects.
Part Two: Competitor Analysis
Competition from your on line business can be direct or indirect. It can also be current or potential. Direct competition could include other companies offering the same products and services as your site in an on-line environment as well as in an offline environment. Indirect competition includes other ways that clients may seek to deal with their particular need in addition to those listed above. You will need to be creative in defining and identifying both your direct and indirect competition; your current and potential competition.
For this section of the marketing plan, you will need to:
List all your key direct and indirect competitors, and
Rate the sites you consider to be your top three competitors. In order to rate the sites, you will need to create a checklist of factors to assess their sites. (See checklist used in Week Three classroom exercise as an example) Include the original checklist and the three completed checklists in your appendix.
Once you have completed the checklists, provide a summary of the key strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and a “gap” analysis – areas that your competitors are not doing a good job or parts of the market they are not covering which YOU could cover. State your competitive advantage again at this point.
In order to help you find your competitors and decide what factors to look for, please refer to some or all of the following references:
A. TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED – Finding your Competitors
Book/Text References
a) The following is a list of directories and publications that give industry and market information, research reports by sector, and information on your competitors. Most of these sources can be found in the University Library.
Kelly’s Business Directory (East Grinstad: Reed Information Services) – 82,000 companies listed in this database.
KOMPASS Register (East Grinstad: Reed Information Sources) – more detailed information on over 44,000 companies.
Major UK Companies (London: Financial Times, annual)
Key British Enterprise and Europe’s Major Companies Directory
(London: Euromonitor, annual).
The Worlds Major Companies Directory (London; Euromonitor).
Who Owns Whom (Annual) (High Wycombe; Dun and Bradstreet International, Ltd) – guide to the ever changing ownership of companies and brands.
Dun and Bradstreet Registers (High Wycombe; Dun and Bradstreet International, Ltd)– 30 volumes with detailed company information
FAME –financial information database on over 100,000 UK private and public companies. Available on CD-ROM at most University libraries.
FT Extel – part of the FT Group; provides financial and marketing information on companies around the world.
Standard and Poor’s Register of Corporations – a key American service.
Key Business Ratios (High Wycombe: Dun and Bradstreet International, Ltd, 1997) – a guide to British business performance.
Sources of secondary data on industry and market trends are:
Key Note Market Research Reports (London; ICC) – industry and market sector reports with background, trends, prospects, and major companies. Available most University libraries.
Market Intelligence (London: Mintel Information Group)-Mintel produces detailed research reports on key market sectors such as FMCG, consumer durables, leisure and retailing. They also do special subject reports each year (e.g.: “The gardening market”) and detailed financial reports on major companies. Mintel reports are available on CD-ROM at most University libraries..
Economist Intelligence Unit publications –market reports by sector such as the automotive sector.
Euromonitor Reports – market reports for Europe and international such as the European Marketing data and Statistics (1997); Market Research: Great Britain; Market Research: Europe; and Market Research: International.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)- publishes economic and market reports on member countries
Industrial Performance Analysis: A Financial Analysis of UK Industry and Commerce (Hampton; ICC Group, Ltd) – financial analysis of 27 major UK industries.
TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED – What to look for when critiquing your competitors’ sites.
Once you have found your competitors websites, you will need to decide how to evaluate the site. Keep in mind that you are building a marketing plan so you want to consider all elements of your competitor’s sites that demonstrate either good or bad marketing practices. In order to help you build your checklist of factors, review the materials we covered in lecture three - Site Design, Usability and Marketing.
TYPES OF QUESTIONS TO ASK – Tips
Below are a few ideas for what you might put on your competitor analysis checklist:
Layout of site
Amount of Information
Speed of Download
Ease of Use (Usability)/Navigation tools
Mentions of Future Plans
Affiliates and Links
Sources of Revenues
Customer Services
Ease of Contacting Live Person
E-mail options
Range of Products and Services
Sufficient Product Information
Ease of purchase and check-out procedures
Ease of finding full price including delivery
Speed of delivery
Customer return and customer service policy
Updated, interesting content.
Security/Privacy Policy
Any hidden charges
Price Comparision
Finance Options
SHEET TWO
TARGET MARKET ANALYSIS
For this section of the marketing plan, you will need to describe your target market(s). Target markets can be defined in a number of ways:
Geographic – where your customers live or are located
Demographic – the age, gender, income, education, stage in family life cycle, social group, ethnic background, etc.
Psychographic – lifestyle, values, attitudes, opinions
Stage in the Buying Process – Not aware, Aware, Interest, Information Search, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase, Post-Purchase, Re-Purchase, Complaint
Benefits Sought
Usage Rate – Heavy User, Medium User, Infrequent User, Non-User
Stage in Adoption Process – Innovator, Early Adopter, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggard
In the Internet era, we talk about one-to-one marketing. But remember, we still need to know as much about the consumer as possible so that we can best meet their needs.
Try to describe your target market(s) and market segments in as much detail as possible using some if not all of the criteria listed above. You may have to speculate at times, but provide a solid rationale for your argument.
SHEET THREE
SETTING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Objectives
You will need to identify four to seven key objectives for your marketing plan.
Objectives should be stated in terms of the outcomes expected from the marketing plan and from the promotional tools to be used.
A. Marketing objectives should include one or more of the following:
Examples:
1. Increase revenues by x% or x£ within the next year
2. Increase sales by x%, x£ or by unit volume by July 2002.
Increase profit by x%, or by x£ within the next financial year.
Increase market share by x% in 2001/2002.
In addition to revenue, sales, market share, and profits, marketing plan objectives should include one or more of the following promotion related objectives:
4. Build brand awareness (web site awareness)
Increase traffic
Sell products/services
Remind/reinforce/build loyalty
Inform of/demonstrate product benefits and attributes
Encourage brand switching
Establish and build distribution
B. Objectives should be both quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative objectives follow the SMART format. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and be set within a Time frame for achievement.
Quantitative objectives can relate to number of clients (volume of sales), revenues, market share, profits, practice awareness, etc.
Qualitative objectives reflect the philosophy that is driving your efforts and to less measureable objectives.
Eg: Build brand awareness
Contribute to the local community
Develop a culture which fosters innovation
Develop a culture which is honest and demonstrates
integrity.
Provide superior service and follow-up
SHEET FOUR
MEASURING MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
A range of methods and software exist to monitor your site users and to measure the effectiveness of your marketing and promotional campaigns. The key is to begin with goals and objectives and then design your metrics to determine to degree to which you are meeting those objectives. Metrics should be determined at the same time the site is being designed.
Determine WHAT you will measure.
Some of the factors you may wish to measure are:
Site Traffic
Hits
Page views
Visits
Av. Time on site (stickiness)
Number of visitors
Where visitors came from (search engines, referring site, affiliates)
Path through site
Most popular pages
Most popular entry and exit pages
Av # of pages views (HTML) per visit
Day of week, time of day, hour
Total # of new visitors and repeat visitors
Most common visitors by IP address
Most popular regions of world/country/org.
Type of browser used
Type of operating system
Bad URL requests
Bad links from other sites
Most common HTTP responses (e.g. 200 series ok; 300 series indicates a problem; 400-500 error messages)
Promotional and Selling Activities
Effectiveness and profitability of:
.e-mail marketing
.banner advertising
.sponsorships
.affiliates
.publicity/P.R.
.other promotion.
Cost of customer acquisition
.% of visitors by promo technique
.# of items sold
Revenues per item/order
Orders per visit/page view
Revenue per visit/customer
Items per order
Revenue per referring site
Word searches on site
Track sales by department, category, manufacturer, product
Conversion rate
Evolution of the customer base
Growth in visitors to Web site
Visitor churn rate
Visualization technique: the customer life-cycle funnel
Growth in number of customers
Customer churn rate
Evolution of visitor behaviour
Visit depth: growth in pages viewed per visitor
Growth in purchases per visit per customer
Growth in total revenue of purchases per visit
Proportion of abandoned carts
Evolution of customer lifetime value
Participation in loyalty-related activities
Percentage of customers participating in a customer-loyalty program
Percentage of customers participating in referral programs
Response rates to online surveys
Response rates to direct marketing offers
Growth rate of the personalization index
Determine HOW you will go about monitoring these factors.
Consider:
Use of software
Use of professional services and which ones (eg: most web hosting companies can provide this a lot of information on visitors to your site).
In-house methods.
Focus Groups, Surveys
3. Determine HOW OFTEN each metric will be measured/assessed.
SHEET FIVE
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Following is a list of some of the professional services that you may wish to employ during various stages of your marketing plan and implementation.
This is by no means a complete list, so do further research into other potential services and software that may be of help.
Web Site Design
Domain Name Registering Company
Web Hosting Service
Search Engine Positioning and Optimisation Assistance
Content Providers
Merchant Bank Account Companies (Provider for Online Transactions)
Web Benchmarking and Measurement Services
Advertising and Design Agencies
Media Buying and Placement Services
Public Relations Specialists
SHEET SIX
UVP, Competitive Advantages, Brand Values and Positioning
A Unique Value Proposition - UVP (also known as Unique Selling Proposition – USP or Internet Value Proposition IVP) is what makes your product-service offerings unique and better than those of your competitor. You should be able to state your UVP in one or two sentences maximum. Some of the more “run of the mill” UVP’s claim to have “better quality” or “better prices” or “Better service”. If this is going to be your UVP, then you had better demonstrate that it can be achieved. However, a better UVP will be more unique, truly offering something that the competitors do not offer or do not do as well as you will do. Be a bit more creative than better price, better service, and better quality. Your USP will of course be part of your competitive advantages, but your competitive advantage (s) will be often more than what the customer can see. For example, one of your competitive advantages might be faster delivery than your competitors (this is something the customers can experience), however in order to achieve this, you might have invested in a new logistics system to make your delivery more efficient and accurate (something your customers might not necessarily see). So competitive advantages can be things that your customers see and experience as well as things that you do to your business to make it better in some way – cost, efficiency, service, etc., than the competition. Be creative and thoughtful here, but not fanciful. Be sure it is something you can deliver.
Your brand values will drive your promotional strategy. Your brand values are what you want the customer to think of as well as to experience when doing business with your company. They will be built upon your USP and competitive advantages, but will be more extensive in describing what your company stands for and what kind of experience the customers will have. (See Branding and Communications Lecture materials and readings).
The outcome of your positioning strategy is how consumers will view your company and product lines in relation to your key competitors along one or more key dimensions. These dimensions might be, for example:
High price------Low Price
Depth of Product Range-------Few Products
Top of the Line Products ---- Value for Money Products
Basics in Category-------Top of the Range in Category
The dimensions might also be experiential and emotionally based.
Branded/Aspirational ----- Basics in Category (No Brands)
A good strategy will tie together your UVP, competitive advantages, brand values and positioning strategy. They should be clearly linked and highly related.
For more information on these concepts, please consult your marketing resources
SHEET SEVEN
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY - FRAMEWORK
In setting out your promotional strategy, I suggest that you use the following format:
PROMOTIONAL METHOD ONE:
eg: E-mail Marketing
Describe what the tool is and how you will use it. Provide details such as how often, to whom, via what list, etc. Provide an example of your email newsletter.
How Brand Values, Positioning Strategy and/or UVP will be conveyed using this promotional Method.
Explain how the above will be conveyed in your chosen promotional tool.
Which marketing/promotion goals this tool will contribute to achieving.
State which goal or goals will be achieved by the use of this tool (eg: This tool will help achieve customer retention and ……)
How the success of this method will be measured.
PROMOTION METHOD TWO:
eg: Linking Strategy
Describe how you will develop a linking strategy, specifically what sites or types of sites you will link with, etc.
How Brand Values, Positioning Strategy and/or UVP will be conveyed using this promotional Method.
Explain how the above will be conveyed in your chosen promotional toolWhich marketing/promotion goals this tool will contribute to achieving.
State which goal or goals will be achieved by the use of this tool (eg: This tool will help achieve customer retention and ……)How the success of this tool will be measured.
This format should be used for EACH promotion tool you choose. Remember, for this marketing plan, I am only asking you to discuss on-line methods of promotion, although most companies today would use both offline and online promotional strategies.
Make sure to discuss how you will integrate your Strategy using Integrated Marketing Communications.
TOU 1003
Economic Geography of Tourism
3rd Assessment
Case Study Essay – South Bank London
Tourism spend is nationally and ethnically determined
Word count: 2.500
xxxx
M00xxxx
Module leader : Rachel Granger
Introduction
The aim of this essay is to provide an overview of the visitors’ profile to the South Bank and to assess the data collected in the surveys in order to determine whether the tourism expenditure is nationally and ethnically shaped. Firstly, there will be provided a brief introduction to the tourism sector in South Bank and a short understanding of the various factors that affect tourism expenditure. Moreover, the focus will be on analysing the information gathered from the surveys conducted in the area and the notes and observations made, which show both tourism demand and supply sides’ opinion on the correlation between nationality, ethnicity and tourism expenditure. Eventually, the conclusion will bring a summary of the arguments discussed before and some suggestions for the future.
Background information
South Bank has developed hugely in time, starting from an unpleasant and isolated place with no connections to the other side of the river Thames, to being one of the most popular tourist sites in London nowadays (South Bank London, 2015). Early development focused on building cultural attractions, The Old Vic Theatre being the most representative, but then it was taken over by the industrialisation and was mainly populated by factories and became a very dirty and unattractive place to visit (South Bank London, 2015).
The area has always struggled with the competition on the north side of London and in the last century it has tried to regenerate continuously with the use of flagship projects (Imrie, et al., 2009). These massive constructions, like the London Eye, the BFI Imax cinema or the reuse of the old County Hall for the SEA LIFE Aquarium and the London Dungeon (South Bank London, 2015), have improved considerably South Bank’s image and consequently attracted a large amount of tourists; therefore mass tourism has developed in the area and that means recognition all over the world, expanding the area’s market towards all nationalities. Now, South Bank has already reached its carrying capacity and is looking towards new regeneration plans to maintain a leading position and fight the competition (South Bank London, 2015).
As stated in the introduction, tourism expenditure can be affected by several factors that have a greater or lower impact on it and literature studies show that the type of tourism, in South Bank’s case, the mass tourism, has a certain effect on how much tourists spend there (Sampol & Perez, 2000). Moreover, there are two types of data that influence tourism expenditure – the independent and dependent variables (Brida & Scuderi, 2012). While the independent data refers to age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, social and economic status of the tourists, the dependent one refers to the way tourists travel (individually or in a group), on what they choose to spend (food, attractions, accommodation, transport) or on the way they travelled to the destination, all of this information being gathered in the surveys conducted in the South Bank (Brida & Scuderi, 2012).
Furthermore, the data collected in these surveys and by taking notes and observing carefully the tourists in South Bank will be analysed in order to establish to what extent do the nationality and ethnicity of the tourists determine their expenditure while travelling there.
Findings
Research prior to the fieldtrip to South Bank and collection of the surveys resulted in statistic data from the Office for National Statistics, showing the countries which have spent the most while visiting London in 2013. The following pie chart indicates that outer-Europe countries have the biggest tourism expenditure (Office for National Statistics, 2014), however this depends on the number of tourists visiting from the USA and other Middle East countries compared to the ones visiting from France, Germany, Italy or Spain. Nevertheless, tourists coming from outside Europe have supplementary costs, such as more expensive transport due to long-distance flights, and the expenditure is therefore determined by the nationality of the visitors and the type of services that they have paid for, including if they chose to travel in organised trips offered by tour-operators or travel agencies or by their own, which are also highly affected by their country of residence.
The fieldtrip research was conducted on a weekday, on 3rd of March 2015, from 1PM to 4:30 PM, on a sample of almost 32 people, both tourists and employees or owners of the attractions found in South Bank. Therefore, the study is limited and the outcomes can only show a generalised view upon the actual situation in South Bank, failing at offering a more in depth perspective.
Results from the tourism demand surveys show that the most profitable tourists to the South Bank are the Asians, while the Europeans and especially the British tend to spend less, even though the number of visitors is slightly higher. As seen in Graph 2, Asian visitors are the only ones who have high expenditures (more than £200), spending on souvenirs and additional shopping or on more expensive accommodation. On the other side, British and European visitors usually spend less than £100, mainly on accommodation and attractions or only on transport to the South Bank. However, all the visitors give a high importance to food, being the product on which they spend the most.
The nationality of the visitors in this case is crucial in establishing how much they choose to spend. As observed during the fieldtrip and after interviewing the participants, most of the tourists who came from Asia planned visiting as many attractions as possible, while the other tourists focused only on the main ones, The London Eye being the most popular. Therefore, the expenditure of the Asian visitors increases as they spend more on attractions and also on souvenirs. The fact that for them is less accessible travelling to London more often is one of the causes why when they visit a touristic sight they choose to see as much as they can and bring as many memories back to their country. Also, the latest report of Tourism Highlights from UNWTO reveals that the Chinese are the top spenders in international tourism as a result of the fact that China has a fast-developing economy and that restrictions on travelling have been reduced over the past years (UNWTO, 2014).
Conversely, even though official statistics show that North Americans are the top spenders while visiting London (Office for National Statistics, 2014), no USA citizen was interviewed during the fieldtrip, which could mean that South Bank does not represent a place of interest for them when travelling to London.
A breakdown to countries proves that Chinese do spend the most in South Bank, as mentioned in the UNWTO report. Graph 3 also indicates that among the other Asian nationalities that have a high expenditure there are India, Taiwan and Malaysia. On the one hand, India is also one of the countries with fast-developing economies (Investopedia, 2015) and its history is directly related to the United Kingdom, therefore Indians have not only family related reasons to visit London, but also economic reasons to spend more when travelling to the South Bank. On the other hand, if only the economical power of the countries of origin was to determine the expenditure of the visitors in the South Bank, the nationality would prove to have no effect on how much tourists spend, compared to the data from the surveys.
Table 1 presents the countries of origin of the tourists interviewed in South Bank and how economically powerful they are. If we assumed that the nationalities which have the most powerful economy spend the most, the European countries, Australia and Taiwan (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013) should be categorized as high (>£200) or medium spenders (£101-£200), whilst, except for Taiwan, all the other nationalities mentioned are actually low spenders (<£100). In this case, nationality fails at influencing the tourism expenditure in the South Bank and this conclusion redirects towards other factors that may affect it, such as social and economic status of each individual interviewed.
Table 1: Countries of origin of the tourists interviewed and their GDP per capita
Source: Central Intelligence Agency, 2013
Ethnically, Asians are contributing the most to UK’s economy, as the average Asian visitor (1 out of 12) spends almost £123 pounds in the area. In comparison, the white other visitor (1 out of 14) spends on average less than half of the average expenditure of the Asians, just £60, while the only white British visitor interviewed spends considerably less, just £20. However, it must be specified that the expenditure is split across multiple sectors, as accommodation services, food and beverage serving services, amusement and recreational services and transportation services. Nevertheless, the Asian tourists still have a higher average expenditure regardless of the sector in which they spend and by using the Sector Type Multiplier 2010 table there can also be determined how much their expenditure impacts UK’s economy.
In accommodation services, they spend on average £71.25 and the GVA effect multiplier of the sector is 1.63, therefore the additional wealth created is £71.25*1.63=£116.1. In food and beverages serving services, Asians spend on average £33.4 and the GVA effect multiplier is 1.566, so the additional wealth is £33.4*1.566=£52.3. Using the same formula for amusement and recreational services, an additional wealth of £214.07 is created and for transportation sector one of £49.6 is created.
On the other hand, for accommodation services other white tourists create an additional wealth of only £75.38, for food and beverages serving services £45, for amusement and recreational services £88.8 and for transportation £9.09. The white British visitor has spent all his money on food; therefore he only brings additional contribution to the food and beverage serving services of £31.32.
The point of view of the attractions is represented in the tourism supply surveys by different types of companies. The attractions interviewed are the big players, London Eye, London Dungeon and SEA LIFE Aquarium, which are owned by the same firm (Merlin Entertainment Group), and three other private companies: a souvenir shop, an ice-cream shop and a cafe. All of the companies agreed that their main customer base is made of British and European visitors and that the most profitable ones are by far the Europeans. Apparently, even though Asian visitors seem to be the ones who spend the most while visiting South Bank, in the opinion of the attractions, they are the ones who bring the least profit to the companies.
Moreover, after discussing more in depth with the owners of the private companies, they admitted that they have never taken into account researching whether nationality and ethnicity influence the expenditure of their customers and all of them said that they would take into account expanding their market towards other nationalities. However, some attractions like the London Dungeon or the SEA LIFE Aquarium said that they would try to attract new markets as their main target is British and close European countries as France, Germany, Italy or Spain. An explanation for this was that their high season is during summer and bank holidays, when families come with their children or schools have organised trips to South Bank. Therefore, nationality plays an important role in the expenditure of the visitors to these attractions.
Assessing the average additional contribution per sector of every ethnicity interviewed and the points of view of the companies, it turns out that not only do nationality and ethnicity impact the amount of tourism expenditure in the South Bank, but they also affect how much tourists contribute on a larger scale to the economy of the UK.
Conclusions
This essay looked upon the extent to which nationality and ethnicity influence the tourism spend in the South Bank and attempted to create a general view of the visitors’ profile to the area. In the introduction, there was provided a short description of the development of the South Bank, which has started literally from scratch and has been through times of rise and decline, but has always found a way to regenerate and keep up with the other main tourist sites in London.
Moreover, the main body came with a more complex analysis based on the fieldtrip in the South Bank and also on an a priori research that helped in having a term of comparison to the data collected through surveys and on-site observations. The outcomes of this analysis prove that nationality can influence to some extent the tourism expenditure in the South Bank, as results show that visitors coming from Asian countries tend to spend more due to the fact that they do not have access to visit South Bank as often as visitors from closer countries to the UK. In addition, the economical power of the country of origin can determine how much tourists spend when visiting South Bank, but more detailed research proves that nationality cannot influence in this case the amount of money that tourists decide to consume as this goes down to their individual social and economic status, as seen European countries have the most powerful economies, but tend to spend the least when visiting the area.
The study continues with an explanation of how much every ethnic group interviewed contributed to the economy of the United Kingdom and with the points of view of the supply side made of a different range on companies. Their opinions were differentiated by the type of attraction that they represent and while tourism demand surveys showed that Asians are the highest spenders, these surveys proved that British and Europeans are the most profitable.
Finally, the study is limited because the sample of people interviewed is small and average expenditures are presumed to be correct. Also, it developed during a limited period of time. Therefore, it is only a generalisation rather than a deeply research into the subject.
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