After I read many articles about Beijing,tourism,Olympic Games.I found a very interesting thesis1 wrote by a student in NHTV.In her thesis,the author thought the form of tourism in Beijing is going to the direction of leisure tourism development according to the answers from tour operators,and natural tourism is getting more and more attention from tourists as well.Then she comapred Beijing to Bangkok and Tokyo,these two famous destination in Asia.I agree with her analysis about the market trends,but I think the competitors she chose is not suitable to some degree,so it seems not helpful to me.
First of all,I would like to say something about the consumer market trends in Beijing.Thanks to the China’s rapid economic growth,the continuous improvement of people’s living standards,and increased leisure time.While in today’s Beijing, people are more interested in the way of holiday travel after the intense weekdays instead of the traditional attractions.Accoding to the recent survey2,the first purpose for the residents of Beijing and domestic as well as the overseas tourists to travel is sightseeing,leisure is the second purpose,and the purpose of leisure tourism is becoming more and more important in recent years.So it is necessary to speed up the development of the primary tourist resort and construction to meet the needs of the public.The original intention for tourists to come to Beijing may be for its abundant historical resorts; however, more things on the program are expected. Leisure tourism is capable to attract cultural tourists and leisure tourists alike.Another market trend is natural tourism,like the topic of Beijing’s Olympic Games,green and healthy Olympics.Now the government have a strong desire in encouraging the protection of nature,whatever the mountains or rivers,the air quality as well as many other aspects.Especially for leisure tourists who have been to Beijing on other occasions tend to enjoy green products.Tourists who are from big cities and have stressful life prefer to have quiet,tranquil holiday without being surrounded by countless people.In other words, leisure tourism into the natural environment is the current trend of tourism development in Beijing.
Secondly,about the destination competitiveness,I have to say that I can not accept the two destinations the author compared to Beijing in her thesis.On one hand,Beijing is a very unique destination in many tourists’ mind,it has a very long history and many world cultural heritages,so people come to Beijing because it is the capital of china and it has many natural or cultural resorts.Of course Tokyo also has a long history,but obviously Beijing has the most pure ancint oriental culture,and majority people travel to Toyko for shopping or for its fashion,modernization.So Tokyo can not compare to Beijing absolutely,they belongs to different types of city destination,attract different types of tourists.On the other hand,Bangkok has abundant natural and cultural resources for tourism,its typical tropical environment,religion atmosphere attracts tourists a lot,and its river streets remind people of the name of eastern Venus.Beijing does not have water streets as Bangkok does, but Beijing has beautiful mountains surrounding the city and the climate of Beijing has four clearly distinguishable seasons.But in my opinion,Bangkok can not compare to Beijing now because of its unstable political situation.When we choose a destination to travel,the biggist point must be the safe environment there.So maybe we should select some other destinations to treat as competitors,like Macau,it also has a long and colourful history,many cultrual or architectural heritage.In additional,it has a big gamble industry that Beijing does not have.
In a word,from the thesis and some offical statistic,we can conclude the tourism consumer market trends and find some competitive destinations.Then we may design some projects or methods to develop Beijing’s tourism in a right and better direction.
Reference:
Tourism Brand of Beijing 2008:
Green Olympic Games and Sustainable Tourism
Author: Yifei Fan
Supervisor: Professor Ton van Egmond
Student at the NHTV University of Professional Education
International Tourism Management and Consultancy degree program
May 2007
Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau
Hello,
First of all, I like the fact that you come up with an alternative competitive destination. The example of Macau strengthens your statement about Bangkok and Tokyo not being the right destinations to compare Bejing to.
However, I do have a comment on the form of your article. I had troubles understanding what I was reading, as the article contains several grammatical errors and sometimes the sentence-building lacked clarity. I know that the content of the article is definitely more important than the grammar and the sentence-building, but it does become a problem when you have to read a sentence twice in order to understand what is said. It would be a shame if you cannot make your statement clear due to these errors. That is why I would advise you to have your article revised by another person before you hand it in, in order to see if it is easily understood what you want to make clear.
Other then that, I do think it is an interesting topic and you have made me curious on how the future of Bejing is going to evolve!
Nienke (TDM student)
Hi Sun,
I’m really interested in the topic of destination competitiveness. And it surprised me that you chose a thesis for your article.
I wonder if the thesis’ author provided any evidence or criteria for her choice for Beijing competitors or not!?
You might have a different point of view or/and competitiveness criteria from her, since then the way you chose competitors also differently. Beijing, Tokyo and Bangkok are able to be seen as competitors in some ways, for instance, since they are the most famous capitals in Asia and their tourism are also so attractive.
I agree with Nienke that you have to be careful with spelling and grammar errors. But, Nienke, please understand for us. We come from the countries where English is not popular. So, it takes us a lot of time & efforts to get used to it.
Best regards,
Hai
thanks a lot,Hai.actually,I agree with the comment from Nienke,I should pay more attenttion to it,the advise is helpful and important to me.and because of me poor English,I am not willing to talk to each other.But I know I must change the situation.the author did’t provide any evidence about why she choose these competitors.the reason maybe they are all very famous in Asia.
Hello again!
Off course I understand that it is really hard for you! That is also why I was doubting if I would make that comment. I am already really proud of you girls that you take so much effort to come to Holland and study an English course! I know that you are really intelligent girls, which is exactly why I would not like anybody to think any less of your articles because of grammar errors. Therefore I gave the advise of having it revised by somebody that is more used to the English language. So it definitely was not meant as an attack on your English skills Sun, but more like a tip in order to make the message that you want to carry out even more clear!
Nienke (TDM)
thanks a lot again.I have sent you an email to express my apprecition.and I will notice that next time.
best regards
Hello Sun,
Next to Hai I too think destination competitiveness is a very interesting topic. I am particularly interested in the evolving tourism industry in China because it is expected to be the biggest ‘grower’ in the coming years. Both inbound and outbound tourism is estimated to increase so much that I believe China must have developed some strategies and undertaken reseach in how to tackle that demand. This is an important criteria to take in consideration when building suitable product and infrastructural development.
Next to that i’d like to add that i think it is interesting to take a thesis as your main source. Remember that authors of theses do not belong to ‘academici’, therefore you’ll need to ask more questions to the validity of the source. In this case back-up information can be found from other sources to ensure the accuracy of the authors statement.
All the best,
Jorinda Ballering
(TDM Student, Masterprogramme NHTV)
thank you,Jorinda
I will remember next time,to use the academic reference,it is my first time to write and read this kind of article,so I made many mistakes,thank you for all of your comment.
Nice discussions!
Some suggestions about how to improve your framework. First, begin with right definitions. What do you understand from “the destination”? What are your boundaries? For whom is the Beijing a destination? Draw your framework. Accordingly begin to argue the destination competitiveness of Beijing. However keep in mind there is not yet a widely accepted causal model of destination competitiveness. Scholars agree on that the construct should comprise economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions. So, to what extent does your framework include these interactions?
good luck,
Erdinc
Hi, Sun
Greeting from a native Beijinger. Job well done. I like your article that addresses issues for tourism attraction.
Just bring you latest news. National Stadium is being operated to prepare the first Snow Festival for skiing and snowboarding. Other than daily operation workload, I am designing a winter promo for Beijing, including winter activities in Beijing.
Thanks and Best Regards,
online promotion is a very cool job, you are always looking for online customers~,.