Industry Case Study Report
Industry Case Study Report
Abstract
The world has become increasingly mobile or that is what the statistics shows us. The number of tourists across the world has been rising all through the years barring a few occasions like post 9/11 in 2001 and during the global recession period of 2008-2010. The latest data shows that the international tourist arrivals have increased by 4 % to reach a record 1.2 billion tourist arrivals in 2015 . Almost all the major markets exhibited positive results and is it is expected to upkeep the momentum in 2016 as well.
New Zealand also continued to show strong positive results in 2015. For the year ended March 2015, tourism contributed $10.6 billion to the GDP or it constituted approximately 5% of the GDP . The maximum number of tourists arrived from Australia, followed by China, U.K, Germany, United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The natural scenic landscape, movie locations and adventure sports and events are the major draw for tourists travelling to New Zealand. Cities like Queenstown are bustling with tourists during the peak season and the demand for rooms far outstrips the supply. Many of the country’s tourist spots have inadequate infrastructure to deal with the rise in the number of tourists. Tourism New Zealand also focuses on innovative marketing efforts, particularly in growing markets such as India and Indonesia. Of this, of particular interest is the India market, which has become the new favourite hunting ground for New Zealand tourism.
Thanks to the sustained marketing efforts by the New Zealand tourism authorities, there has been an increased awareness of New Zealand among Indian holiday seekers for the past one decade. Till then, for most Indians, New Zealand was just another cricket playing nation located close to Australia. Thanks in part also to the Bollywood (Indian film industry is called as Bollywood) industry, the film crew who were in search of new exotic locales arrived at New Zealand and showcased this beautiful piece of land in the southern hemisphere to the Indian travellers . As a result of these activities, New Zealand became a prominent blip in the radar of Indian tourists.
This essay focusses on the recommendations provided to the CEO of a soon-to-be opened hotel in Queensland, who is worried about ensuring customer satisfaction for the Indian tourists. The CEO also wants to know in detail about the culture and traditions of India and its citizens as well as the sales and marketing functions associated with the hospitality industry.
It is always a pleasure for our team to remind about the people who have helped us in completing this research exercise. Firstly, we wish to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Professor Name for meticulously planning the curriculum and ensuring that his students are not just theoretically and academically sound, but also have got the adequate on the field experience.
We also express our immense pleasure and gratitude to Ms. Tutor Name for her sincere guidance provided that has helped us immensely in completing this assignment.
We also wish to express our sincere thanks to all our friends and relatives who have lend us a helping hand to complete this assignment on time and to exceed the expected standards.
The completion of our report would not have been possible without the high quality write-ups, research work and statistics done and published by eminent writers and scholars. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them and their publishers, who have provided these invaluable pieces of information for us to build our research report.
Last, but not the least, we, as a team has coordinated well to gather the data on time, think and engage in debates and arrive at focused conclusions to make this research project a success. We would like to take this opportunity to appreciate all the team members for their sincere, constructive and impartial contribution.
Introduction
The essay focuses around the importance of ensuring customer satisfaction among the Indian tourists visiting Queenstown, New Zealand. Of late, New Zealand has become one of the most sought after destinations of the Indian tourist , who traditionally have focussed on European, North American and Asian destinations. The number of Indian tourists travelling to New Zealand is on the rise, owing to the increased awareness about New Zealand which has been created partly by the consistent marketing efforts of the tourism department of New Zealand . This essay is focussed around a case study, which talks about the severe demand-supply mismatch on the number of hotel rooms in the New Zealand city of Queensland. The city is bustling with tourist activity and many of the tour groups have to cancel their visit owing to the non-availability of accommodation in the city. It is in this scenario that the new hotel- Central Otago Resort is starting its operations. The CEO is particularly interested in gathering tourist traffic from the developing economies like China, India and Indonesia. The CEO wanted to have a good understanding about the Indian culture, the expectations of the typical Indian tourist and how the soon-to-be opened hotel can ensure customer satisfaction. This essay focusses on this topic and provides recommendations to the CEO based on the research conducted for meeting customer satisfaction, national culture and customs and sales and marketing functions in hospitality.
This essay is written with the following sections-
Literature review- This section is divided into three subsections- customer satisfaction, location, culture and custom and functional operation in hospitality. Three literature articles are identified for each of these sections and their review are done. Towards the end of this section, the research gaps are identified and the research questions are listed as well.
Research Design and Methods- Focuses on how the research methodology has been designed and executed. A brief about the secondary methods adopted in data gathering and analysis are explained in this section.
Data Collection- This section focuses on the data collection methodologies adopted for the secondary research. The methodologies of data collection adopted for this exercise and both are explained in detail in this section.
Data Analysis- The data analysis methodologies used for the data gathered using secondary research methods are discussed in this section
Conclusion- The final section has got the recommendations and the limitations. The recommendations are arrived at based on the results obtained as a part of the research. All-in-all, seventeen major recommendations are made to the management. This section also has a few of the limitations of this methodology explained.
The case in consideration here is in relation to Queenstown, a city which attracts a large number of tourists from across the world. One of the major problems facing the city is the acute shortage of rooms for the tourists. The demand-supply gap is huge and the city just does not have the adequate number of rooms to cater to the burgeoning demand. Large groups are unable to find enough number of rooms in the city and as a result, the groups are bypassing the nation itself from their itinerary. According to the Senior Manager in an inbound tour company, Queenstown is short of at least three 250 room hotels . Under this scenario is the four star hotel Central Otago Resort planning to open their operations in October 2016, at the top of Shotover Street. The hotel is owned by a local farmers’ mutual fund and does not have the backing of any international chain. Naturally, the CEO of the hotel is very much worried about the delivery of services, customer satisfaction and occupancy rates. The CEO has identified that the majority of the international tourists are from Japan, Brazil, India and Indonesia and are the offshore locations where New Zealand is promoting its tourism aggressively. All these locations are culturally diverse and catering to this wide diaspora will be a major challenge which the hotel will have to address. Ensuring high customer satisfaction forms the core of this research.
Cultural Background
The nation identified for this study is India and this section will focus on the cultural background of the Indian tourists. India is often called as a subcontinent, thanks to its rich and varied culture and heritage. There is a vast level of geographical, climatic, socio-cultural, scriptural/literary racial, lingual, religious, economic and political diversity in India , yet there is a sense of unity among the numerous categories of people living there. The four main features of Indian culture are longevity and continuity, unity in diversity, tolerance and union of spirituality and materialism . Indians are pre-dominantly vegetarian; however there are a sizeable number of non-vegetarians as well. Most of the Hindu non-vegetarians will not eat beef as cow is sacred according to Hindu mythology. Similarly, the Indian Muslims will not eat pork as it is forbidden for them. The non-vegetarian menu of Indians is largely limited to seafood, chicken and lamb. Traditionally, Indians used to travel with the family/extended family as the family bonds are strong and are highly valued. Of late, honeymooners and single backpackers from India are on the rise as the Indian economy is in the phase of transition resulting in a middle class boom, with a sizeable chunk of the population attaining the financial ability to work out a trip to New Zealand . Drinking has been considered a taboo or something to be done secretly in the Indian family circle in the past. But things are changing now as the young educated Indians who travel across the world are open to the drinking culture. Still, the Indian families may not openly admit or encourage it. Also, barring the young, educated and globally mobile Indian women, the older generation of women are never used to drinking and may consider it as an offence.
Functional Operations Background
The functional operations of a hotel can be categorized into various divisions like sales and marketing, food and beverages, restaurant operations, rooms division, gaming and entertainment, managed services, etc. In the sales and marketing function, the major activities include inquiry management, reservation requirements, catering and meeting services, event management services, advertising strategies and execution, market research information gathering, participating in events/trade shows, conduct road shows, promote events, devise discount plans and seasonal sales, etc. . The success or failure of a hotel can depend a lot on the effectiveness of the sales and marketing function. Just by opening a hotel with great amenities and a stellar restaurant will not ensure business to survive this supremely competent industry. Solid efforts are needed to announce your arrival through publicity, tie-ups with corporate and tourism departments, airlines and industry bodies, promotional schemes, etc. Also, it is extremely important to ensure customer satisfaction as word-of-mouth publicity works well in the hospitality industry. Today’s customer is empowered with access to various travel sites and social media sites where he can post his feedback. An appreciation will get noticed immediately and the hotel can get a mindshare among the future travellers. Similarly, a negative feedback may fly off even quicker and can cause considerable damage to the reputation of the hotel.
Research Purpose
The purpose of the research is to address the concern of the hotel management regarding customer service and satisfaction. The hotel is unaware of the Indian customs and traditions and wants to ensure adequate homework done in order to ensure customer satisfaction to the Indian tourists. Since the Indian tourists form a major chunk of the total visitors to the city, it is imperative for the hotel to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction to gain a high reputation. Multiple data collection and analysis methodologies are adopted to gauge the expectations of the Indian customer to ensure their satisfaction and convert them as brand ambassadors of New Zealand tourism back in their home country.
Literature Review
With the advent of globalization and progress made in the area of information and communication technology (ICT), the global nations are getting engaged with each other like never before. One of the major beneficiaries of this global paradigm shift has been the tourism industry. Till the end 1980s, transcontinental tourism remained affordable only to the citizens of the traditionally rich nations. Post globalization, the 1990s witnessed a global economic boom resulting in a demographic upturn with millions in developing nations getting pulled out of poverty or miseries, capacitating them with the ability to find new jobs, engage in extensive travel world over and spend their vacation in exotic tourist destinations. Countries like China, India, Brazil, Indonesia etc. were the major beneficiaries of this flip-over, resulting in a booming middle and upper middle class population in these nations. It is estimated that the middle class population of India alone is more than the entire population of Europe, even though millions are still reeling under poverty in India. Similarly, as per the global wealth report 2015, India is home to 19 million high net worth individuals, ranking 11 globally . The data simply means that there are millions of Indians who can afford international trips and presents itself as a huge lucrative market for the global tourism industry. The World Tourism Organization estimates that there will be around 50 million outbound tourists by 2020 and New Zealand can be one of the major beneficiaries of this. The number of tourists from India has witnessed a steadily rising trend over the past few years. For the period April 2015-March 2016, 46,512 Indians visited New Zealand out of which 22,864 have travelled as tourists . This is rise of approximately 15% over the corresponding period, previous year. New Zealand considers India as their next China and is gearing up to welcome the Indian tourists and promote New Zealand tourism vigorously in India.
Customer Satisfaction
A customer expresses satisfaction when he receives the services as per his expectations or more. There are numerous factors influencing the satisfaction level of the Indian customer. This article throws light on what are the key parameters that should be focused on and what the Indian customer expects on these parameters. Transforming the hotel’s service levels to match with that of the expectations of the Indian customer will help to ensure the making of a satisfied Indian tourist. Today’s Indian tourists are highly mobile and come with the experience of travelling to multiple international destinations. They will have some set expectations on the service that they expect; the hotels can win over, if they are able to gauge this and deliver services in-line with their expectations. Research data shows that 62% of the Indian tourists are satisfied with their experience in New Zealand . The literatures considered for this review is the report published by the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand on the culture and practices of India , an article published by Tourism New Zealand titled ‘Visitor satisfaction with New Zealand remains high’ and ‘Drive Value through outstanding visitor experience’, an article published in Tourism 2025 .
So what are the common needs and expectations of the Indian tourist? It ranges from the respect to their religious practice to service, food, shopping experience and many more. A brief on their expectations is summarized below, which in fact is the summary of the first article on the culture and practices of India-
Importance of Religion- Religious factors are major influencers for the Indian tourists on a variety of factors such as food, customs, culture and business.
Greetings- The traditional Indian way of greeting someone is to say Namaste with a slight bow of the head. A good morning will also work, but Indians will feel happier and feel more connected with the Namaste
View of Time- Though Indian tourist appreciate punctuality, they quite often do not practice it to the dot. 10 am may mean 10.10 am as well for the Indian tourist, so it is always best to keep a buffer while dealing with the Indian tourist
Communication Style- Indians require a lot of information to arrive at a decision and the hosts should expect a lot of questions from them. The host has to show patience, has to equip themselves with the service/product knowledge and stay prepared with attention to detail. It is also important to note that the junior members seldom make independent decisions and it is the seniors who have the ultimate authority to take the final call.
Service- Indian tourists who can afford a trip to New Zealand will be used to high levels of service back in India and may have a person to help them with their daily chores. It is important to hold the Indian tourist in high esteem as they appreciate recognition and status. The Indian tourist will show interest in the best and expensive merchandise, though a lot of bargaining can be expected from them. Also, Indians prefer complaint handling to be done by a senior male executive. Accommodation operators should note that Indians will expect a porter service on their arrival at the hotel and a detailed itinerary is readily available to ensure a seamless and unambiguous travel experience. Basically, the Indian tourist expects certainty in their transactions and travel.
Food- Indians are open to experimentation when it comes to food and admire Kiwi cuisine. Big families on vacation, particularly those involving tourists in the age group of 40+ prefers traditional Indian food, which will make them happier. As mentioned above, the chefs should expect a wide variety of questions from the Indian tourists as a good majority of them are pure vegetarians. Even the average non-vegetarian Indian will not consume beef or pork due to their religious beliefs and background. The Jain religious sect from India does not consume any vegetable from the ground (e.g. Onion, potato etc.). Indians love seafood as well as chai tea and sweets. It is important for the hotels to understand the delicate intricacies and preferences of the Indian customer before presenting their platter to them.
Alcohol- Majority of the Indian Muslims and Sikhs do not consume alcohol as their religious beliefs prevent them from drinking. Also, the traditional women do not consume alcohol, especially in the public. The younger and well-travelled new generation of Indians who are also educated are fine with drinking alcohol.
Shopping- Indian tourists are considered as good shoppers and they love to shop at local markets where bargaining can be done before the actual buy. Flexibility in pricing is preferred along with any freebies. Some of the most sought after items include duty free alcohol, chocolates, jewellery and local souvenirs.
The second article- ‘Visitor satisfaction with New Zealand remains high’, published by Tourism New Zealand in their corporate website focuses on the insights about customer satisfaction among tourists visiting New Zealand. The article says that international visitors rated New Zealand 8.9/10 with 95% responding to have their holidays met or exceeded their expectations . When it comes to the country-wise data, the traditional markets like U.S (81%), U.K (86%) and Germany (78%) scored high in satisfaction, whereas their Asian counterparts- Japan (60%), India (62%) and South East Asia (62%) have lower satisfaction levels . This data clearly shows that New Zealand has their work cut out when it comes to ensuring customer satisfaction for the tourists from the non-traditional markets like Japan, India and South East Asia.
The third article- ‘Drive value through outstanding visitor experience’ focuses on Tourism 2025 framework prompting the authorities to listen to their visors, understanding of the visitor needs and continuously improve the visitor experience . The article chalks out the plan for successfully implementing the framework and ensuring improvement in the experience quality for both the international and domestic tourists. The article starts with New Zealand’s competitive advantage, the environment of the country as the star attraction, importance of conserving the environment and playing the leadership role in protecting the environment. The article also focuses on the importance of promoting Maori tourism in order to facilitate culture to culture experiences, provide authentic experience and to leverage cultural connections. As the next section, the article stresses on the importance of imparting outstanding customer service with focus on providing unparalleled experience to the visitor. The article advises careful evaluation of the customer experience cycle as every element impacts the visitor either positively or negatively. The article identifies that the focus on delivering outstanding experience and superior customer service will guarantee a growing and profitable industry .
The articles reviewed in this section include-
‘India- Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette’, published in the website- ‘Kwintessential’
‘15 Fundamental Characteristics of Indian Culture’, an article published online
Indian Culture: Traditions and Customs of India, an article published in livescience.com .
One of the oldest civilizations of the world, India boasts of a tradition which is over 5000 years old . Currently, it is the largest democracy in the world in terms of population, a fast growing economy and one of the major military powers in the world. Post liberalization, Indian economy has made huge strides, particularly in the area of information technology and space technology. The country is located in South Asia with China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan as its neighbours. The country is seventh largest in the world in terms of the area and 2nd largest in terms of population.
The first article focuses on Indian culture, customs, values and tradition and provides guidance for those who are travelling to India for business purposes. The article starts with the basic facts and figures regarding India covering the location, climate, population and religions. In the Indian society and culture section of this article, the author talks about the hierarchical nature of the society where elders are seldom questioned. The article also talks about the Indian family structure, how it is benefitting the society and holds this structure responsible for imbibing values in young Indians and developing the nature of trust among relatives and friends. The article also highlights a very interesting nature of Indians- their reluctance to say ‘no’ to something as they believe that the other person might get offended by an outright ‘no’. Indians typically provides some excuses, if something is not doable by them or will indirectly hint to the other party of his inability to perform something. The article also elaborates on the etiquettes practiced by the Indians including meeting etiquette, naming conventions, gifting etiquette, dining etiquette, and business etiquettes and protocols.
The second article clearly lists and articulates 15 fundamental characteristics of Indian culture. The author is trying to highlight the diversity of India which is the reason behind India being called often as a subcontinent. India is akin to an amalgamation of different countries, rituals, practices, races, religions, languages, appearances, climatic conditions, food habits, culture, economy, politics etc. and many more. The author also highlights the fact that in spite of this whole diversity, there is tremendous unity among its citizens as well like geographical unity, religious and cultural unity and political and physical uniformities. The article highlights the fact that unity in diversity forms the crux of Indian culture, spirituality and tolerance.
The third article also focuses on the cultural diversity of India by talking about the variations one can find in the areas of language, religion, food, architecture and art, clothing and customs & celebrations.
Functional Operation in Hospitality
The articles identified for this section are-
Business Plan 2013-’14 published by Destination Queenstown
‘New Zealand launches new tourism campaign in India’- an article published in adgully.com
‘Bollywood star and New Zealand Tourism’s ambassador for India in Queenstown’- article published stuff.co.nz
The first article talks about the Queenstown Business Plan which includes the strategic priorities for the period 2013-’15. It also performs a situation analysis and identifies the ways of projecting Queenstown for the future. The article also proposes the concept of Special Interest Group Tourism, aimed at building demand for the city’s special interest group experiences like golfing, biking, skiing, wine tasting, etc. through focused marketing . It also details out an activity plan summary and the ideas for leveraging opportunities. The article has also identified the marketing channels to be adopted for the above said period and covers consumer marketing, marketing collateral and brand support, market insights, online marketing, social media marketing, communications, trade marketing and conference and incentives. The target markets identified for this campaign included India with the plans for the trade marketing team to develop relationships and foster awareness of various offerings.
The second article talks about a tourism campaign launched in India during the period July to October, 2015 . The campaign targeted independent professional travellers in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and was named as ‘Every Day a Different Journey’. It was an evolution of the 100% pure New Zealand campaign and an attempt to build a strong relation between people and to convey the idea of easy access to everything in New Zealand. The communication strategy of the campaign was devised in a way to move people from dreaming about the vacation to actually plan and then executing the plan .
The third article talks about yet another novel attempt by the New Zealand tourism to appoint the Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra as New Zealand’s tourism ambassador for India. As a part of the deal, the actor will film a video that highlights the major attractions in New Zealand, adventure games and activities and cultural experiences and present it to the target market in India. He will also spread the message of safe driving while driving in New Zealand .
Research Gaps and Research Questions
The research gaps identified include-
Feedback from the Indian tourists on the difficulties faced owing to the lack of a direct flight from India to New Zealand. (This is expected to be resolved soon as a deal is now in place for starting direct flights between the two countries ).
Response from the tourist on the difficulties they faced in finding accommodation in Queenstown
Awareness about New Zealand culture, traditions and practices
Information on the motivating factor behind the selection of New Zealand/Queenstown as their destination
Data on the Indian tourists’ primary area of interest while being in New Zealand
Data on the challenges faced by the hotels while dealing with Indian tourists
Data on the level of awareness among the hotel staff regarding Indian culture, traditions, practices and preferences of Indian tourists
Information on the low customer satisfaction among the Indian tourists in New Zealand vis-à-vis their American and European counterparts
Strategies adopted to attract Indians living in other countries
Data on the effectiveness of the various marketing campaigns done by the New Zealand tourism authority in India
Based on the above identified gaps, the following research questions are framed-
What are the challenges faced by the hotel staff while dealing with Indian tourists?
What is the level of knowledge among the hotel staff regarding Indian culture, traditions, practices and preferences of Indian tourists?
Has the hotel staffs received formal training in Indian culture, traditions and preferences?
Does the hotel appear in the booking sites for the tourists to make the booking?
Does the hotel have adequate tie ups with travel agents and tour companies who can ensure traffic from India?
Does the hotel have their website attractive enough for the tourist to browse through it and spend time there?
Does the hotel website have any content related to India? (e.g. Indian cuisine in the menu card displayed)
Does the website have content related to New Zealand’s customs, traditions, lifestyles, road manners, other legal and compliance requirements?
What are the strategies adopted by the tourism department of New Zealand to attract the Indians living in other countries such as Singapore, UAE, U.K, U.S, etc.?
How effective were the tourism campaigns done in India? Is there any study done and results available?
Research Design and Methods
Secondary Data
The entire research was designed to be performed as secondary and the methodologies were adopted considering this. Based on the case study provided and the requirements of the new Central Otago Resort, the requirements were identified and the methodology was designed to gather the information sufficient enough to arrive at reasonably strong conclusions and provide recommendations to the hotel CEO. Based on this, three parameters were considered for the research that included customer satisfaction, national culture and customs and functional operation in hospitality. The entire research design and methods were based on these three parameters.
Data Collection
Since the hotel CEO was interested in studying about the Indian tourists, the target market considered was India. For the customer satisfaction parameter, it was important to identify the expectations of the Indian tourist while travelling abroad. For this purpose, various sources including travel sites, tourism information portals, newspaper reports, journal articles, traveller blogs etc. were used to gather information. Identifying the national culture and customs of Indian tourists was comparatively easier, as there was data available in plentiful from various sources like study reports, newspaper/journal articles, research reports etc. Also there are many YouTube videos available that deeply analyses the Indian culture bringing out even the minute details in the video. Those videos also have many guest speakers talking about the various practices, differences and how much they value their culture and tradition. For analysing the sales and marketing function in hospitality, the different practices adopted by the hotel in New Zealand and other geographies were considered. The data was collected by going through the newspaper/journal articles, Tourism New Zealand website and the industry reports.
Data Analysis
For the analysis, qualitative data was gathered and analysed. The industry numbers gathered using secondary research has helped to identify the trend over the years, like the increase/decrease of Indian tourists visiting New Zealand, etc. The various data analysis methods considered for this exercise include-
Thematic analysis- Focuses on identifying and examining specific themes or patterns within the data gathered
Narrative analysis- Analysis of narrative descriptions during the course of a conversation sharing common grounds.
Discourse analysis- Discourse analysts consider the larger context to understand the meaning of the sentences, or they analyse the language beyond sentences. In the analysis, smaller bits of language like phonetics, morphology and semantics are considered to define the meaning
Template analysis- A way of performing thematic analysis of the qualitative data, particularly the data from texts like interview transcripts, electronic sources, open ended questionnaire etc.
Data display and analysis- Data analysis methodology utilizing the data from visual displays such as charts, matrices and networks.
The final conclusion and the recommendations made were based on the analysis of the data gathered using the secondary methodologies. The data collection and analysis methods adopted will be explained in detail in the following sections.
Data Collection
This section of the article will focus on the data collection methods adopted using secondary research. For gathering information for this research, as mentioned above, numerous sources were utilized that includes books, journals, periodicals, documents, reports, videos, interview transcripts etc. The whole data collection process adopted can be categorized under two major sources-
Method 1: Reports
Method 2: Newspaper
Method 1: Reports
A vast amount of data is available in the internet including all the sources mentioned above. Reports published by various authentic sources like government, annual / quarterly / monthly reports of tourism department, global consulting companies, reputed publications and television channel websites were referred while working on this research project. Special care was taken to ensure that the data was collected only from authentic sources and not from any blogs or Wikipedia. Paid online reports available from libraries were also searched for gathering data.
Method 2: Newspaper
In addition to the reports mentioned above, newspapers and other periodicals were also browsed thoroughly to gather information. The dailies and periodicals were referred to gain insights about the New Zealand tourism landscape and history, understand more about the initiatives by New Zealand in promoting tourism in emerging markets like India, news on cultural exchanges, dignitary visits, collaboration strategies, future tourism strategies, official numbers regarding the number of tourist arrivals, geographical split and also to gain knowledge about the travel trends of Indian tourists.
Data Analysis
The data gathered by the secondary research methods were analysed using the methodologies mentioned above. Out of the five analysis methods considered, two were adopted for this exercise- thematic analysis and template analysis. In this section, the method 1 will explain about thematic analysis and method 2 will talk about the template analysis performed using the data gathered through secondary research.
Method 1: Thematic Analysis
This is the simplest form of analysis and is the most suited method when the data gathered through the research consists mostly of generic data which are qualitative in nature, without any uniformity or structure. One of the major advantages of thematic analysis is that it is flexible. The analysis and the inferences made depend on how the researcher views and perceives the data. From the numerous data gathered, read and understood, patterns were identified as well as the information on the ground reality of the subject. As this research project involved extensive comprehension of vast amount of data in multiple formats, the thematic analysis made perfect sense as one of the choices.
Method 2: Template Analysis
Template analysis can be termed as an extension of thematic analysis and involves thematic analysis of the qualitative data, particularly the data from texts like interview transcripts, electronic sources, open ended questionnaire etc. Coding template was developed summarizing the themes identified and organized the themes in a meaningful and useful manner. Hierarchical coding is adopted starting with the broader themes and subsequently grouping the successively narrower and specific themes. The themes that appear to be in strong relation to the research objectives are identified and analysed to find out the content that is relevant to the research objectives. This process is replicated to the other themes downstream based on their relevance. Recommendations are developed based on the outcome of the research exercises performed. The list of recommendations and the limitations identified are explained in the following sections.
Discussion
A large amount of data related to this topic was available, but verifying the authenticity was critical and was one of the major challenges faced. Websites of government bodies like TNZ proved helpful as they had multiple reports and articles related to this subject. Referring to the newspapers and periodicals was a good decision, as they provided historical data and the major events happened in relation to tourism over the past few years. Throughout the research, high importance was imparted to the authenticity of the data.
As the research involved dealing with open information with no common platform to benchmark, the analysis methods mentioned above were chosen as they are the most appropriate to deal with unorganized data. The analysis methods- thematic and template involves reading and understanding the content. The major advantage of these methodologies is that they are very flexible. The analysis boils down to how the researcher perceives the information and in this case, it is the perception and understanding of our team members. Also, the other methods considered for the analysis will not have suited here as they require more structured and organized data to conduct the evaluation.
Conclusion
Based on the understanding of the requirements and the research conducted, the following recommendations are being made to help the CEO of Central Otago Resort in promoting the hotel in India and attract more customers by ensuring complete customer satisfaction. The recommendations include-
Focus on providing a stress free and relaxed atmosphere
Provide a unique experience to the tourist which he should perceive as a good value
Engage the tourists in evening and late evening activities by conducting in-house programs and events
A lot of Bollywood movies (Indian film industry) are being shot in New Zealand. The Indian tourist will have a special affinity to visit that location
Some of the activities which are rare in India like hot air ballooning, helicopter rides and skiing will make the Indian tourist happy and satisfied.
Offer special romantic packages to honeymooners by providing them with extra care
Impart due respect to the religion and religious practices
Be patient and be prepared to respond to a wide variety of questions
Junior members of the team are not the decision makers. The final word will come from the family head or the leader of the group
As mentioned above, India has different languages and a multitude of dialects. Communication may pose problems and it will be a good practice to always reiterate the message with them.
Acknowledging and wishing the Indian tourist is highly appreciated
Show respect to the elders and make sure that they are served first. Serving the ladies of the group first is also appreciated by many Indians.
Avoid saying a direct no to the Indian tourists. A direct no is offensive for most Indians, although the young and educated globe-trotting Indians will never mind it.
Pay them attention and hear them patiently. At restaurants the Indian tourist may ask numerous questions on the ingredients of a meal. They are just making sure that the meal is vegetarian and does not contain any non-vegetarian components. A vast majority of Indians, especially from the Hindu religion are hard core vegetarians.
The Indian tourist should get the feeling that he is offered the best services or products. They may not show interest if the cheapest items are offered to them. In spite of this, the Indians love to do a heavy bargaining before buying anything.
Indian tourists are wary about uncertainty. Having the entire itinerary readily available is highly preferred.
The Indian tourist may consider it offensive if liquor is offered to traditional Indian women.
The above mentioned are some of the recommendations. Now there are certain scenarios where the hotel may face limitations in serving them. Those areas include-
An Indian tourist group consisting of people from various religions, vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Menu planning will go for a toss.
Cancelling the Para-gliding activity or any other adventure sport due to bad weather/absence of the trainer
Wrong interpretation due to gaps in communication may lead to unwanted errors.
This report has been compiled using the data gathered from various secondary sources and are not the direct findings of the team. However, the team has ensured that the data has been taken only from authentic and reputed sources and no bad data has crept in. The availability of primary data would have helped to gauge our findings with the actual ground level data. This would have helped to infuse more veracity to the findings mentioned. However, by ensuring that the data currently used is all from reputed sources, we have been able to negate this drawback to a big extent.
References
Adgully Bureau. (2015, July 9). New Zealand launches new tourism campaign in India. Retrieved from Adgully: http://www.adgully.com/new-zealand-launches-new-tourism-campaign-in-india-62137.html
Anand. (2015). 15 Fundamental Characteristics of Indian Culture. Retrieved from Yourarticlelibrary: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/culture/15-fundamental-characteristics-of-indian-culture/47129/
Baker, C. (2015, October 14). Bollywood star and New Zealand Tourism's ambassador for India in Queenstown. Retrieved from Stuff.Co.NZ: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/72996553/Bollywood-star-and-New-Zealand-Tourisms-ambassador-for-India-in-Queenstown
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