Enhancing Destination Management for Duke Nepal

Introduction

Destination management is one of the effective strategies for the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) to manage the destination and promote the organisation for better business growth (Ivars-Baidal et al., 2019). The organisation in the recent years, try to gain high competitive advantage by promoting the destination across the globe and retaining the customers for long run. Destination management provides a scope to the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) to strategise their business and represent the destination in the market to target the travellers for retaining them in long run, so that it would be possible for the organisation to strengthen their customer’s values and make the business successful. In this study, the destination management of Duke Nepal will be evaluation, where the DMO can promote the destination and attract the audiences at the market. The study also helps to develop effective recommendations for managing the destinations, STP and developing digital marketing strategy for attracting the travellers to make effective decision to travel to Nepal. If you are seeking geography dissertation help, evaluating the destination management strategies of Duke Nepal will help you get valuable insights into effective promotion and audience attraction techniques.

Destination

Nepal is a country in South Asia, and it is mainly located in the Himalayas and also a part of Indo-Gangetic plain. It is the 49th largest country by its population and 93rd largest country by area. It is situated between the Tibet autonomous region of China and India. It contains 8 of the world’s 10 highest peaks including Mount Everest, which is world’s tallest peak on the border with Tibet and Lumbini. It is the birth place of Gautama Buddha, a founder of Buddhism. Hinduism and Buddhism are co-existing here and the major attraction of the country is Chitwan national park, Lumbini, Buddhanath, Janakpur Dham, Mount Everest and Pashupatinath. The major rivers basins in the country are Karnali-Seti-Bheri, Shah, Dynasty, Rapti and Gandak, and another major attraction is Kathmandu Valley (Ketter, 2016). As per the season, there is monsoon, during June to September, clear and cool weather from October to December, cold from January or March, and warm weather from April to June; the major cities in the country are Kathmandu, Janakpur, Biratnagar, Boudhanath, Rajbiraj, Birgunj and Namche Bazar. The other attracted destinations in Nepal are Nagarkot, Haleshi, Daman, Annapurna, Tangting, Pokhara, Gorkha, Bhimdattanagar, Jorayal, where also the tourists are allowed to view the scenario.

As per the 6A analysis, the major factors are attractions, accessibility, amenities, available packages, activities and ancillary services. Through the 6A analysis, it is possible to analyse the destination and identify the services available at the country. The above mentioned attractions are including manmade, natural and heritage, which attract the tourists in the destination. The accessibilities are efficient in Nepal, where there are proper transportation system, terminals and vehicles which are serving efficiently to the travellers (Gross, 2018). The Indian citizens don’t need any visa for entering into Nepal, but they need to have pho, driving licence or passport, or government papers including voter ID, ration card to stay in the country. Tourist visa is available for the citizens of the countries including Nigeria, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Somalia, Liberia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Zimbabwe. The major points of entry into the country are Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Jamunaha, Nepalgunj, Mohana, Dhangadhi Birgunj, Parsa and Kunauli Bazar, Rajbiraj, Saptari. There are availabilities of the airplane, bus and cars which are effective to improve the transportation system of the country. In addition to this, as per the amenities, the country is efficient to develop infrastructure and there are established and reputed hotels, and restaurants which are attractive for the travellers to stay and enjoy the hospitality services at Nepal (Cassinger et al., 2018).

The hotels are advanced with their technology and efficient services where the managers are capable of serving the customers with high quality hospitality services, and additionally, the food quality and accommodations are also good to satisfy the travellers. For the available packages, the tour operators are efficient to manage the packages to travel in the country, and there are different packages, as per the needs and preferences of the travellers. Diversity in the packages with different services further attracts the travellers and helps them to choose the right package according to their needs and preferences. As per the activities, there are many adventurous activities, which further attract the adventure travellers who are trying to enjoy adventurous activities. There are paragliding and mountain climbing activities which also attract the tourists in the country (Neupane, 2019). Ancillary services are also improved in Nepal, where the hospitals are advanced to provide health and social care services to the individuals travelling in the country as well as the telecommunication system is also advanced. The banks and other financial institutions are effectively supporting the tourist where the tourist can withdraw money according to their personal bank accounts as well as there are ATM services which serve the travellers efficiently. On the other hand, there are agencies for money exchange, where the foreigners can stay easily at Nepal and exchange their currency for making effective purchase decision at the country and enjoy the destination successfully. The GPS maps are also useful to travel the country and there are many maps available at Nepal which are Garmin Nepal TOPO NPL Routable 2011.20 and Nepal Trilogy (Chhetri, 2018).

Through the PESTLE analysis of the country, it is possible for the organisation to identify the external business factors and design the strategies accordingly to target the right travellers where they can be interested to travel Nepal for enjoying its attractions. As per the Political factor, the federal democratic republic of Nepal is under parliamentary republic where there is also Tri-Party agreement in New Delhi (Wearing, Beirman and Grabowski, 2020). It was never colonized and the government is instable. Government investment in the infrastructural development is high as well as trade policies re efficient to enhance export of the products and services. Rapid financial reform and government’s strong commitment is there which makes the organisation to manage their operations possible in the country. As per the economic factor, the country is economically stable and there is high expert volume which enhances the performance of the economy. The social development is also there where there are huge population with creativity and innovation and education rate is also moderate, which ensure social development. Technological innovation is here where the organisation prefers more creativity and innovation or better customer management (Thapa and Panta, 2019). The country’s infrastructure is also developed well which further enhances technical advancement in Nepal. On the other hand, legal framework and export policies as well as travel related documentation further raise transparency and accountability which restructure the organisation to run their operations efficiently. Environmental sustainability is also managed well to protect the nature and improve environmental sustainability. The companies and government invest more for managing the heritage of Nepal and protect natural resources to manage natural scenic beauty of Nepal (Fyall and Garrod, 2020).

Recommendations for destination management

It is necessary for the DMO Duke Nepal to develop proper strategic planning for promoting the organisation and manage destination for attracting the travellers in the country. As per the above analysis, the country is efficient destination that attracts the travellers around the globe. The scenic beauty and the service facilities are also effective for the organisation to promote the destination and make suitable branding for sustaining in the business by strengthening their customer’s base. In this regard STP analysis and digital marketing strategic planning are mandatory to develop further so that the DMO Duke and promote the destination and attract the tourists for enjoying the attractions and heritage of Nepal.

STP analysis:

As per the STP analysis, the factors are segmentation, targeting and positioning. The organisation aims at segmenting the customer base and targeting the right consumers for retaining them in long run. In this regard, DMO should focus on market segmentation for better understanding about the customers in the travel and tourism industry. In this regard, the major segmentation of the consumers is demographic, gender and age group, personal preferences, economic class. In each segment, it is necessary for the organisational management team to target the right torus tint he market where the intention to travel to Nepal is high. For demographic segmentation, it would be beneficial for the organisation to target the people, who love Hinduism and Buddhist culture, where they can view the culture of Nepal and enjoy heritage of Nepal. On the other hand, age group and gender is necessary to be considered for targeting the right tourists across the globe (Van Niekerk, 2017). In this regard, the organisation must focus on targeting both the male and female groups for travelling to Nepal, which is safe place for travelling and enjoying the heritage and scenic beauty. The organisation also should focus on targeting the age group including 22 years to 45 years and also target the people, aged between 50 years to 65 years, where there is also intention among the individual to travel Nepal for its beauty and cultural heritage. In this regard, the economic class is also another crucial segmented for targeting the right customers in the market and in this regard, the organisational management team must target the medium and high economic class. There is different packaging system for travelling to Nepal and it is possible to target both the medium and high economic lass, to retain them for long run.

In addition to the above targeting and segmentation, the personal choice and preferences is one of the major segments to target the right tourist in the market. It is essential for the orgnai8staional managers to identify the personal needs and preferences of the travellers. In this context, the organisation should focus on diversify choice and preferences and peach the destination accordingly to meet their preferences (Seraphin et al., 2018). The managers must target the travel lovers who try to explore new areas and attractive places. This is important to retain the long run travellers for the organisation, where it would be possible to strengthen their customer’s base and promote the destination accordingly. In addition to this, it is also necessary to target the people, who love to travel in peaks and hilly areas, where the intention to travel to Nepal is high, as there are natural scenic beauty and sight scenes with Mountains. On the other hand, the organisational also needs to target the travellers, who love adventure tourism, as there are various adventurous activities at Nepal including mountain climbing and paragliding, which may attract more tourist parties in long run. These are the major target tourists in the market, where the organisational management team aims at attracting them through destination promotional and retaining them in long run. After segmentation and targeting, it is necessary for the organisational management team to focus on positioning strategy in order to manage the travellers in long run and retain them successfully.

In this regard, it is essential for the organisation to develop strategic planning for successful positioning of the brand. For position the organisation at Nepal, it is necessary to design the service, as it is mandatory to provide efficient hospitality services to the tours parties to satisfy them. The organisation should manage proper accommodation with different facilities at the hotels. It is mandatory to provide free Wi-Fi, complimentary breakfast to the travellers as well as clean place to stay healthy at the hotels. Additionally, the organisation also should improve the service efficiency by providing transpiration, where it is possible to pick up the tourists parties from the airport or bus terminals (Fyall and Garrod, 2019). The organisation also should provide an efficient guide to protect the tourist and share the information about the country heritage. The guide should be efficient and knowledge to provide proper information about the places and attractions at Nepal. Thus, proper guidance, communication and cooperation with the traveller are mandatory for the organisation for successful positioning, where it would be possible for the company to provide efficient services to the travellers and help them to enjoy Nepal by completing the sight scenes.

Branding:

It is necessary for the organisation to focus on branding, which is mandatory for designation management and promotion of the organisation to attract more travellers. In this regard, the organisational management team needs to restructure the brand name and tagline for attracting the tourist parties. Individual branding would be suitable for the management team to promote the organisation with proper tagline and visions statement. The private labels and brand extension are also necessary for suitable branding, where the private labels need to be attached with the brand name as well as it is necessary to create attractive brand logo. In the recent era of globalisation, there is also necessary to focus on sponsorship to provide proper idea about licensing and private organisation activities of the company, this further helps the organisation to improve branding and increase brand visibility in the market. Trademark and brand identity are also necessary to be improved in the country, where the organisational management team can promote the brand in the market and attract more long run travellers (Hristov and Ramkissoon, 2016). It is essential or the organisation to focus on promoting the company with effective strategic planning through destination management. It further helps the brand to attract the audiences and retain them to gain high competitive advantage in long run. The promotional activities are also effective hereby to have successful branding. The organisation needs to develop short term and long term strategic planning for successful branding. The short term strategies are to create brand log and tag line which would be beneficial to attract the travellers. Apart from that, it is necessary to improve trademark and create private licensing for successful branding in Nepal. The long term strategy would be possible through marketing mix strategic planning including the product design, pricing strategy, placing and promotional activities.

Marketing mix strategic planning:

The marketing mix strategic planning is another important aspect of developing proper tactics to manage destination and promote the organisation successfully. In this regard, the organisational management team or DMO Duke Nepal needs to restructure the organisational strategies planning through products design, pricing strategy and promotional activities.

Products:

For product and service design in hospitality management, the company needs to restructure their accommodation and tourism planning successfully to provide efficient hospitality services. There needs to include other additional facilities to serve the customers in a better way as well as it would also be necessary for the organisation to provide complementary drink and breakfast at the very first day of reaching at the hotels. The clean rooms, luxury activities and design are also necessary to be implemented and designed well for service innovation.

Price:

Pricing strategy needs to be developed well, where the packaging system is mandatory for the organisation. In this regard, the organisational management team needs to implement premium pricing strategy to promote the services where there are diversify packages according to the needs and preferences of the travellers. The packages are of different monetary values according to the hotel room rents, facilities, days and destinations coverage (Lozano-Oyola et al., 2019). More destination coverage and more days in the packages cost higher than the normal packaging system of the organisation. Diversity in the packaging system is open of the effective strategy of the organisation to retain the travellers in long run. In this regard, the organisation also should focus on giving discount in some off season, where there is lack of the tourists in the country.

Place:

For placing the services, it is mandatory for the organisation to manage the supply chain and distribution network. For tourism industry it is necessary to tie up with the hotel services, catering services and restaurant operators, who can manage the food and lodging activities strategically. In this regard, the tourist planner or the organisational management team needs to develop proper corporate relationship in order to handle the restaurant chain, food and lodging activities efficiently which further helps the company to promote the destination and serve the tourists efficiently.

Promotion:

Promotional activities are necessary for destination management and promoting the organisation in the market. In this regard, the company must utilise social media advertisement strategy for promoting the destination. In this regard, it is necessary to develop proper post with attractive pictures of Nepal, attractions and activities, creating clear and concise content bout Nepal to attract the people across the globe. In addition to this, the posts need to be uploaded through social platform such as Facebook, YouTube, twitter and Blog which are effective to promote the destination and retain the travellers towards the country. On the other hand, it is also necessary to create social campaign through online media, so that the organisational management team can introduce Nepal as a cultural heritage as well as provide clear videos and adventurous activities happened in Nepal which further helps to attract the adventure lovers as well as travellers to retain them in long run. On the other hand, it is necessary to develop company’s own website and mobile application which are effective for managing the travellers and promoting the destination successfully (Mariani, Di Felice and Mura, 2016). In this regard, the organisational management team needs to develop mobile application, where the services are available, and the customer’s access different packages to visit Nepal according with the number of day required, available facilities and places to visit. This further enhances communication and cooperation between the managements of the organisation and the tourists to create travel plan and visit Nepal.

Conclusion

Nepal is one of the attractive destinations, with cultural heritage, mountains and scenic beauty which retain the worldwide tourists towards the country. The organisational management team or DMO Duke Nepal aims at developing proper strategic planning to promote the organisation and manage the destination successfully. In this regard, it would be beneficial for the organisation to structure the services, giving additional facilities to the tourists as well as setting proper price according to different travel packages and promotional activities, where the digital media plays a crucial role to promote the destination and attract the tourists. It would be advantageous for the organisation to develop company’s own website and mobile application and utilises social media platform for promoting the brand through creating posts, videos with proper picture of the destination, cultural heritage, scenic beauty and adventurous activities.

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