Niche Tourism
The aim of this essay is to discuss the relevance of niche tourism and what facts may affect it. It discusses briefly what a niche market is and what role has in the tourism industry. Different facts are exposed during the essay in order to give a better understanding on how economy, politic, technology and social affect tourism in general and the construction of niche markets. In addition, other influences have been discussed to give more information on current facts affecting the industry. An interesting discussion of North Corea has been exposed as it is one of the most isolated countries of the world and why not, it could be an interesting niche market.
The significance of niche tourism
Tourism sector is seen as one of the world’s biggest industries. International tourism had over 25 million of international arrivals in 1950’s and increased to 625 million in 1988. This has been possible by having access to mobility, more leisure time and the increase of income (Ingram, 2008). Tourism has gone from a privilege activity where few people had access to a mass tourism consumerism. This has enabled to create a lot of different services. Here is where niche tourism plays an important role, different niche markets are appearing every day in order to offer something specific, unique ( MacLeod, 2003). According to Bowie and Buttle (2009) companies concentrate their marketing on a specific market segment, called niche marketing strategy, The use of niche market is to cover the needs of customers in that specific market segment. However, it is important to highlight that “niche” does not mean small as it can generate a large amount of tourists.
Many countries in the world have introduced niche tourism products; in some cases it is still quite new. This is the case of the Caribbean where more than 20 niche tourism markets have been introduced little by little such as bird watching, charity tourism, culinary tourism, etc. (Acorn Consulting Partnership Ltd, 2008). Nowadays
The significance of niche tourism
Tourism sector is seen as one of the world’s biggest industries. International tourism had over 25 million of international arrivals in 1950’s and increased to 625 million in 1988. This has been possible by having access to mobility, more leisure time and the increase of income (Ingram, 2008). Tourism has gone from a privilege activity where few people had access to a mass tourism consumerism. This has enabled to create a lot of different services. Here is where niche tourism plays an important role, different niche markets are appearing every day in order to offer something specific, unique ( MacLeod, 2003). According to Bowie and Buttle (2009) companies concentrate their marketing on a specific market segment, called niche marketing strategy, The use of niche market is to cover the needs of customers in that specific market segment. However, it is important to highlight that “niche” does not mean small as it can generate a large amount of tourists.
Many countries in the world have introduced niche tourism products; in some cases it is still quite new. This is the case of the Caribbean where more than 20 niche tourism markets have been introduced little by little such as bird watching, charity tourism, culinary tourism, etc. (Acorn Consulting Partnership Ltd, 2008). Nowadays
Bibliography: * Bowie, D., Buttle, F. (2004) Hospitality Marketing an introduction. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann. * Gorham, G., Mottiar, Z. (2010) Contemporary issues in Irish and global tourism hospitality. Dublin Institute of technology [Online]. Available at: http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=tfschhmtbook (Accessed: 26 May 2012). * Macleod, D. (2003) Niche tourism in question. Dumfries: University of Glasgow Chrichton publications. * Johnson, M. (20012) “Divisions over ‘Eurovegas’ plan for Spain”, Financial Times, 9 April [Online]. Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7e05513c-7e60-11e1-b20a-00144feab49a.html#axzz1w6IIgWSq (Accessed: 27 May 2012). * Sharma, R. (2010) ‘Tourism and lifestyles: Analysis of cross cultural interface’. Nepal Journals online [Online]. Available: http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HJSA/article/view/4675/3889. (Accessed: 01 May 2012). INTERNET * Acorn consulting Partnership Ltd (2008) Developing a niche tourism market database for Caribbean * Belfast (2012) Belfast Black taxi tour-Political insight or troubles tourism?. Available at: http://sluggerotoole.com/2012/05/21/belfast-black-taxi-tour-political-insight-or-troubles-tourism/ (Accessed: 27 May 2012). * Ingram, J. (2008) Volunteer tourism: does it have a place in development? Available at: http://eprints.utas.edu.au/9349/2/Honours_Thesis_2008.pdf (Accessed: 26 May 2011). * Key drivers (no date) Travel and Tourism in 2020. Available at: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/7942775/Travel-and-tourism-in-2020 (Accessed: 27 May 2012). * Little, A. (2009) Tourism industry in turbulent times . Available at: http://www.adlittle.com/downloads/tx_adlreports/ADL_Tourism_industry_in_turbulent_times_01.pdf (Accessed: 26 May 2012). * Mingsu, F. (2007) Understanding and Satysfying older people’s travel demand. Available at: http://www.cts.cv.ic.ac.uk/documents/theses/SuPhd.pdf (Accessed: 26 May 2012). * Nordin, S. (2005) Tourism of tomorrow. Available at: http://nordic-ictfore.vtt.fi/materiaali/ruotsi/nordin_tourism_of_tomorrow.pdf (Accessed: 27 May 2012). * Rossa, M. (2011) Travelobserve.com. Available at: http://www.travelobserve.com/Industry-Trends/north-korea-is-it-a-niche-travel-market-or-a-lost-cause.html (Accessed: 27 May 2012). * Tomas, D. (2011) El turismo Chino en Espanya . Available at: http://www.fundacionico.es/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/El_Turismo_Chino_en_Espana_2.pdf (Accessed: 27 May 2012). * Xinhua (2006) Italy sees Chinese tourists as emerging niche market. Available at: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200605/25/eng20060525_268394.html (Accessed: 27 May 2012).