HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
Brief tourism strategy for Broadstairs
Broadstairs is a tourist destination town situated on the East Kent Coast between Ramsgate and Margate. The seashore town is composed of a beautiful high street, seven sandy bays, pretty parks as well as numerous things to see and experience.
Broadstairs is about 80 miles from East London, with excellent transportation facilities and access points to the region. It takes approximately 41 minutes to drive from London to the Broadstairs beach.The township boasts of its seaside charm, including chic shops, retro ice cream parlors, and fishers cottages to attract consumers.
Figure 1: Satellite view of Broadstairs beach from London, Canterbury West
It is seen as a beautiful destination for young couples and families who prefermiles of scenic coast and a mild climate.
Figure 2: Broadstairs Beach (Sideview)
In Broadstairs, tourists can enjoy beaches, seaside shops, bars, restaurants, and other historic places hence considered as an attractive destination for young couples and families who prefer miles of scenic English coast as well as a mild climate.
Figure 3: Viking Bay in Broadstairs beach
However, despite enjoying features like seasonal tourist attractions, entertainment opportunities, and suitable nightlife for all ages, Broadstairs still struggle to compete in the global tourism market.
Mission
Broadstairs’ mission is to offer high-quality service, gain economic advantage, and attract a wide range of tourists from different regions.
Vision
Broadstairs vision is to become the most attractive, desirable, and memorable tourist destination for its clients.The vision supports the United Kingdom’s core values, which include originality, innovation, united, and profitable(Vogt et al. 2016).
Objective
Broadstairs is driven by its key objectives as well as a long-term objective. Its key objectives are(1) to build and maintain the coastal heritage, and (2) to grab the available opportunities to strengthen the UK’s economic framework.Broadstairs’s long-term objective isto build a sustainable, creative, and robust economy based onthe vibrant local entrepreneurship ventures that can fulfill not only the needs of residents and visitors but also investors.
In a bid to achieve its long-term objective, Broadstairs has partnered up with the local government in launching infrastructure and transport improvement projects within theBroadstairs town. AsMoutinho and Vargas-Sanchez(2018, p. 36)reckon, the partnership will lead to the creation of job opportunities for the residents, thus improving their standards of living.
Attractions in Broadstairs
Broadstairs contain different places to offer for both its locals and visitors. These places include traditional amusement restaurants, arcades, cafes, bars, bistros, flag sandy beaches as well as contemporary art galleries. Alternative beautiful places to visit in Broadstairs include the Crampton tower museum, LiliputMinigolf, Dickens House Museum, Broadstairs water gala, and Bleak House Museum. Broadstairs also contains free internet data for surfing, beach shops, beach huts, children’s ride, and cliff top and harbor walk. During Broadstairs’ adjunct food festival, opportunities for enjoying local food is given to visitors who also participate in the Broadstairs festival event. The town is also easily accessible by vacationists, and international tourists as the High-Speed rail is linked to the town from continental Europe and London.
Current issues and opportunities at Broadstairs
Currently, tourism promotion is decline as local authorities, and the government lack interest and will promote the advancement of tourism hence affects Broadstairs economicdevelopment. Promotional activities, for instance, hospitality, architecture, and food chain industry could attract more visitors.Moreover, Broadstairs does not use technology and does not market its services hence unable to attract international guests who seek a destination for their leisure time. The management of the beach also has no plans towards gaining cost leadership and effort to achieve sustainability.
During the 1970s, the town encountered growing competition from the cheaper flights from the United Kingdom to the European countries. This increased access to overseas beach holidays for locals; thus, reducing Broadstairs’ popularity as well as the number of holidaymakers within the United Kingdom and adversely affecting its economy. Besides, water pollution and ineffective waste management lead to a long-term decline in thetown’s reputation. Similarly, high-street shops have been unable to survive the growing competition from Westwood Cross. These shops are finding it hard to adjust to the modern modes of retail service, for instance, weekend opening hours andonline delivery service. Fundamentally, negligence by the municipality and local authorities in promoting sustainable tourism and using marketing and advertisement to promote Broadstairs significantly affects tourism.
Implementation of Broadstairs’ vision
As aforementioned, the Broadstairs vision is to become the most attractive, desirable, and memorable tourist destination for its clients. To achieve this vision, Broadstairscan adopt several strategies that, if well implemented, can significantly boost its presence in the hospitality and tourism industry. Firstly, Broadstairs has significant and attractive tourist sites such as the Crampton tower museums, the Dickens House, the award-winning St. Peter’s village, the iconic beach, bays, and cafes that lack proper marketing to foster tourism attraction. Therefore, Broadstairs management should invest in digital marketing to attract tourists to these tourist sites. It is noteworthy that with an increased touristinflux, Broadstairs will attract both domestic and international investors, consequently improving the living standards of living of its residents. As Petrova and Hristov (2016) reckon,the use of multi-lingual marketing strategies or the introduction of seasonal golf packages and rail offerscan cause UK tourists to be motivated to visit Broadstairs.
Secondly, through partnering with the local government, Broadstairs can quickly achieve its vision of becoming the most attractive, desirable, and memorable tourist destination for its customers. For instance, by negotiating a partnership, the local government will be able to mitigate the current water pollution and ineffective waste management crises facing Broadstairs. In the long run, this endeavor shall result in Broadstairs reclaiming its long lost glory. Additionally, it is understandable that Broadstairs may not have sufficient funds to renovate its tourist sites such as the Crampton tower museums, the Dickens House, the award-winning St. Peter’s village, its beach, bays, and cafes. On the other hand, however, the UK government can launch such renovations. Therefore, it would be a strategic exploit for the Broadstairs management to consider partnering with the federal government in reconstructing the town center hence, achieving its vision of being the most attractive, desirable, and memorable tourist destination for its customers.
Implementation of Broadstairs’ objectives
As mentioned earlier, Broadstairs is driven by its key objectives; (1) to build and maintain the coastal heritage, and (2) to grab the available opportunities to strengthen the UK’s economic framework. Additionally, it has a long-term objective of building a sustainable, creative, and robust economy based on the vibrant local entrepreneurship ventures that can fulfill not only the needs of residents and visitors but also investors. To achieve its long-term objective, the community team and the government should support the economic aim of the Broadstairs through the incorporation of Compton tower trust (CTT) plans within the policies of the council. In addition to this, they can also motivate international students to pursue their studies in the UK, thus increasing chances of international tourism to Broadstairs.
As for its key objectives, Broadstairs management should consider collaborating with other coastal community teams of Kent for a common forum to enhance further development of the town. The collaboration will provide a shared experience, therefore, enabling Broadstairs to find solutions to the problems affecting the entire coastal district of Kent. Besides, Broadstairs can negotiate a deal with the government in building and maintaining coastal heritage. After renovations, both Broadstairs and the government should conduct massive tourism marketing to boost tourism in the town, especiallythe Pierremont hall, Crampton tower museum, and the Retort house. These sites contain a sustainable mixture of the mode of leisure, commercial activities as well as a residential community in Broadstairs. The last crucial project involves the establishment of beach and harbor infrastructure without destroying the marine habitats, views, natural ecosystem, and historic buildings, especially the Viking Bay that serves as the leading tourist attraction site.
Broadstairs’ key stakeholders
Stakeholders are mandated to identify critical issues and solve partnership encounters that are related to the region’s development. Broadstairs coastal community team can alsoorganize monthly meetings for the review of the overall progress as well as inspection and analysis of the project work for further improvements. Key stakeholders are, therefore, given a chance to strengthen the proposed policies and act accordingly towards making the required delivery of the plan of action.
In Broadstairs, there are variousvital stakeholders with distinctfunctions that enhance the achievement of the proposed vision and objectives. First, the local municipalityorganizes monthly meetings to strategize on regional tourism. The local municipality also closely monitor and supervise the financing and designation of the town’s action plans.They also provide job opportunitiesfor the residents of Broadstairs.
State and Federal governments are the next stakeholders with the mandate of developing and improving the town’s structure and transportation facilities. These governments can help Broadstairs achieve its objectives and vision by introducing cheap flight prices in the UK and beyond to increase the number of both national and international tourists. In conjunction with other stakeholders like retailers, leaseholders, and landlords, Broadstairs town team implement and execute the local action plan. Further, the Broadstairs society is mandated to implement the beach management plan, repair of the local infrastructure, and take care of the destination management plan. They are also responsible for auditing public toilets around the town and beach center.
Other relevant stakeholders include the Broadstairs tourism and leisure association, and Broadstairs and St Peter’s Town Council. Broadstairs Tourism and Leisure Association audit the current offerings envisaged in the tourism brochures. At the same time,Broadstairs and St Peter’s Town Council works with property owners and leaseholders to improve the appearance of Broadstairs’ infrastructural. Also, Broadstairs and Leisure Associationare involved with identifying the best practice incorporated within the catalog, which is best suited to the visually impaired tourists.
Most importantly, through collaboration, Broadstairs coastal community team will work with other stakeholders to enhance sustainability in tourism promotion and development. Critical perspectives here involve growing and encouraging the retail sector and independent service enterprises for the local community.Broadstairs’ economic activities will be supported through active business engagements like festivals and conferences to attract interested customers and widen the tourism base. On the other hand, the local municipality and the developing authorities will enhance the development of a well-maintained environment, for instance, restoring gardens, beaches, museums, and other public places.
Socioeconomic benefits of the residents and visitors from the strategic plans
The aging population in Broadstairs are among the most vulnerable groups that requirehealthcare services and facilities. Through the implementation of the public health care facility as a part of the strategic tourism plan, the elderly community residents will enjoy the benefits of establishing hospitals, dispensaries equipped with highly qualified health practitioners trained by the government. Besides, emergency healthcare centers will be helpful for both tourists and residents.
Consequently, Broadstairs town refurbishment has led to the accessibility of primary public service in the region. The public service involves public schools, electricity, environmental protection, public buildings, roads and railways, and waterways as well as telecommunication facilities (Dredge and Jamal 2015). Refurbishment and improvement of Broadstairs have made the relocation of most public service offices into the town hence making the easily accessible to the residents. Tourists and visitors also get access to these essential facilities during their vacation stay in Broadstairs, therefore fostering safe tourism.
The strategic tourism plan has forced the local government to train and educate locals to empower locals with skills and fill the gap of the need for skilled laborers, which may later boost their productivity. Also, the restoration of the Coastal community housing markets will boost the local business sector’s confidence. This will be a crucial driver for economic growth and support local shops, which are a significant form of tourist attraction since they are part of the localtradition and culture(Elkin 2017). Lastly, improving the coastal townscape through the inclusion of public facilities, for instance, green space,street furniture, toilets, and car parking enhances the region’s aesthetic and provide a fresh environment. Similarly, visitors enjoy the memorable experiences of visiting a clean destination.
Conclusion
In summary, coastal tourismisamong the rapidly developing sectorglobally. As a result, the industry has madegreat efforts to offer or createa better experience for tourists through marine activities,for instance,windsurfing,boating,scuba diving, yachting, and fishing. The development of tourism within the coastal area highly depends on the cultural, environmental, physical as well as socioeconomic features of the region. The government must take into consideration the critical issues linked to failure in tourism. Similarly, the government has to promote tourism through both the legal and regulatory policies in different sectors, for instance,waste management, water supply, destination management, marketing, and transportation. Therefore, an effective tourism strategy attracts tourists and also improve the town’s socioeconomic status.
Reference
Dredge, D. and Jamal, T. (2015) ‘Progress in tourism planning and policy: A post-structural perspective on knowledge production,’ Tourism Management. Elsevier, 51, pp. 285–297.
Elkin, R. S. (2017) ‘Beyond restoration: Planting coastal infrastructure,’ in Climate change adaptation in North America. Springer, pp. 119–135.
Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. (2018) Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Petrova, P. and Hristov, D. (2016) ‘Collaborative management and planning of urban heritage tourism: Public sector perspective,’ International Journal of Tourism Research. Wiley Online Library, 18(1), pp. 1–9.
Vogt, C. et al. (2016) ‘Journal of Destination Marketing & Management’, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 5, pp. 36–43.
Indices
Attractions…………………………………………. 4
Broadstairs…………… 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
community team………………………. 6, 7, 8, 9
destination……………………… 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11
economic……………………… 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
government…………………… 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11
infrastructure…………………………. 4, 7, 8, 11
issues……………………………………….. 5, 8, 11
Mission……………………………………………… 3
museums……………………………………….. 6, 9
objective…………………………………. 3, 4, 6, 7
opportunities……………………………. 3, 4, 5, 8
stakeholders……………………………………. 8, 9
tourism………… 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
tourists………………….. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11
Town Council…………………………………….. 9
transport………………………………………… 4, 6
United Kingdom……………………………… 4, 5
Viking Bay…………………………………….. 3, 7
vision………………………………….. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8