Visitor attraction product

Visitor attraction product

Learning objectives :
 Definition of a product

 Describe three levels of products

 Understand the different trends of

visitor attractions
 Explain the recent developments of
visitor attractions
Product

What is a product?
 Is anything that can be offered to a
market for attention, acquisition, use,
or consumption that might satisfy a
want or need. Includes physical
objects, services, persons, places,
organisations, and ideas
What is the attraction product?

Definition:
 A product is an offering of a business
entity perceived by both present and
potential customers. Bundle of benefits
designed to satisfy the needs and
wants, and to solve the problems of,
specified target markets. Composed of
tangible and intangible elements
Visitor attraction as a service product

 First, staff involved in

producing and
delivering the product
are part of the product
itself, attitudes,
behavior and
appearance are crucial
to the way the product
is perceived by the
customer
Visitor attraction as a service product

 Staff recruitment, training and performance

by Disney at its theme park
Visitor attraction as a service product

 Second, customers themselves are involved

in the production process, use of the product
will reflect their own attitudes, expectations
and experiences
Visitor attraction as a service product

 Third, service products are not

standardized, product changing all the
time to reflect the changing
relationship between the service, the
deliverer, the customer and the
resources on which the product is
based.
Visitor attraction as a service product

 Fourth, product is perishable and

cannot be stored, produced and
consumed at one and the same time
Visitor attraction as a service product

 Fifth, no tangible
product to carry
home, virtually
impossible to sort
out problems in the
same way, service
providers must get
it right the first time
Visitor attraction as a service product

 Sixth, surroundings of the service

delivery process are a feature of the
service
Visitor attractions and tourism
products

 As well as service products generally, some

commentators have said there are also characteristics
of service products that are rather more specifically
related to tourism
 The 1st contention is that tourism products are unusual
because they offer shared use rights only to the
purchaser
 2nd, it assumed that consumers buy only temporary use
rights to tourism products
 3rd, is the idea that tourism, customers travel to the
product
Visitor attraction product as an experience

 Number of elements that affect the

experience:
 Tangible elements of the product e.g.
rides, shops and restaurants and the
cleanliness of the site.
 Service delivery element e.g.
appearance, attitudes, behavior and
competence of staff
Visitor attraction product as an experience

 Customers themselves in terms of

their expectations, behavior and
attitudes
 Range of factors which are largely
outside the control of either the
attraction operator or individual
customers e.g. traffic congestion and
weather etc.
Three levels of products

1) Core product:
 what the customer is really buying
 Main benefit or benefits the purchaser
identifies as a personal need that will be
met by the product
 Intangible and highly subjective e.g.
atmosphere, experience, relaxation or
convenience
Three levels of products

2) Tangible product:
 need to turn the core
product into a tangible
product
 purchase to satisfy
their needs
 five characteristics
including features,
brand name, quality,
styling and packaging
Three levels of products

3) Augmented product
 additional services and benefits the
customer receives, both tangible and
intangible
 total product bundle that should solve
all the customers’ problems
Benefits sought from the
product
 Visit attractions in the hope of receiving
benefits
 Potential benefits vs particular benefit a
customer look for and enjoys on a specific
visit depends on two major factors:
 Nature of the visitors:
 Elderly people look for economy, passive activities,
nostalgia, easy access
 Families with children look for entertainment for the
children
 See table 3.2 p. 47 for more
Benefits sought from the
product

 Type of attraction:
 Theme park looks for excitement, variety,
value for money, …
 Beach looks for sun tan, sea bathing, …
 Cathedral looks for history, …
 See table 3.2 p. 48 for more
Branding

 Name, term, sign, symbol or design or

combination of them intended to identify
the goods or services of one seller or
group of sellers and to differentiate
them form those of competitors
 One or combination to differentiate
themselves from competitors
 Represent familiarity and safety
Packaging

 For goods: external wrapping to the make it

attractive
 For attraction product:
 providing information and signposting to help
visitors find the attraction
 Attractive entrances to attract passing trade
 Combining the attraction other facilities to make it
more attractive or accessible
 Selling the product by making it part of the package
Price
 Difficult to fix a price:
 Many of the organizations that operate
attractions in the public sector and
subsidized, no return on investment
 “Price” of buying the attraction product
has three components:
a) direct cost
b) cost of extra discretionary purchases
c) cost of traveling to and from the attractions
Price

 Possible permutations of costing

 All-inclusive price
 No entrance or usage charge at all
 Lack of perceived competition
 Different pricings for different groups of
customers e.g. senior citizens, groups,
students, special interest groups, etc.
Attractions and the product life
cycle
 Products pass through several stages during
their lifetime.
 Different stages:
 Introduction
 Growth
 Maturity
 Decline
 Attractions e.g. Disneyland Hong Kong
(Introduction stage), Disneyland Anaheim
(Maturity stage)
Trends in the attraction product

 The 1980s
 New types of attractions appeared and
some well-established attractions were
relaunched and given a new lease of life.
Trends in the attraction product

 Developments resulted from a number

of factors including:
 changes in consumer tastes and
preferences
 introduction of new technologies
 use of attractions by the public sector as
a tool of economic development and
urban regeneration
Trends in the attraction product

 The early 1990s

 Opening of Euro Disney (Disneyland
Paris), largest attraction ever seen in
Europe
 Over 700 new attractions opened between
1982 and 1992 including craft centres,
farm-based attractions, factory-based
attractions, hand-on science centres etc.
Recent development in the
attraction products

 Rapid growth in the supply of

attractions
 Creates more competition for the more
established attractions
Recent development in the
attraction products

 Key trends include the following:

 Increasing concentration of ownership
 Attractions complete with other amenities
e.g. catering, retailing and accommodation
 Growth of new types of attractions e.g.
venue-based attractions
 Modern art galleries and non-traditional
museums
Summary

 The visitor attraction is a complex

concept and that in reality there a a large
number of different attraction products
 It viewed the attraction as a service
product, a tourism product and an
experience
 It makes us understand better in the
different stages of a product life cycle.