Introduction
Nanaimo is popularly known as harbor City for several reasons. It is British Columbia’s sixth-largest city and has a series of attractive sceneries. The attractive sceneries serve as the major tourist attractions in the city. The city extends like a long, slant finger which is located beside the east coast of South-central Vancouver Island (Lee and Sainsbury, 2011). Tourism is a significant economic initiator for the Nanaimo area. The economic benefits of tourism are broadly spread all over a network of businesses that sustain the industries with the provision of goods and services. Tourists are drawn to Vancouver Island’s natural attractiveness and open spaces. They enjoy a selection of leisure activities, access to cultural facilities and inexpensive accommodation. Some of the major tourist attraction events and sceneries include: kayaking, biking, scuba diving, boating and hiking (Polovitz and Kerr, 2009). Seaplanes also take flight from dazzling blue waters which also form very attractive encounters.
The population of Nanaimo is fast growing and the city is no longer used simply as an entryway to Vancouver Island. There is a bravely revived downtown core with an amusing harbor-front pathway, a museum, more inexpensive art galleries and a number of cool shopping and dining experiences. These provisions form some of the good reasons to stay in the city a little while and have a refreshing moment. Nanaimo also has an extraordinary infrastructure network which has been designed to facilitate movements of tourists and services providers across the island. There is an outstanding communication network with a refined network of fiber optics. This provides excellent communication with a high level of trustworthiness. The city also has seaplane terminals, an airport and two ferries which facilitate transportation across the city (Reece, 2008).
Challenges
The tourism industry in Nanaimo is however facing several challenges which threaten its success. Most of the challenges are attributed to Economic downturn which has led to a decline in both international and domestic travel. This has also led to a serious decline in hotel occupancy. The ferries and the airports also have statistics which show that the number of visitors coming into the city has greatly reduced in the recent past. Consumer self-assurance is also very low and the personal disposable income is also reducing greatly. These factors have led to a slow recovery in the Nanaimo tourism industry. In order to help solve the situation, operators are required to stay focused and disciplined in their approach to cost control and marketing (Niosi, 2004).
The residents of Nanaimo have identified a number of tourism opportunities which should be pursued. The current infrastructure are however not sufficient especially during the high seasons. Therefore as suggested by the residents of the city, the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporations needs to embark on building new tourism infrastructure and implement new marketing strategies for the city. They should also consider developing new products and attractions which can also help in attracting more tourists. The tourism strengths for Nanaimo include: Marine resources, cultural assets, heritage splendor and the variety of parks in the city. The involvement of the residents of the city in making proposals to the responsible institution is a clear indication that the residents share the passion of tourism for their city (Polovitz and Kerr, 2009).
Marketing Strategies
Tourism in Nanaimo is extensively marketed both locally and internationally. They receive visitors from Vancouver Island and a number of international destinations. The city of Nanaimo markets itself through a number of ways aimed at increasing the number of visitors coming into the city. There is a robust marketing strategy which is mainly aimed at accomplishing the goals laid by the marketing team. Nanaimo markets itself through Tourism Vancouver Island. This is an association which has been contracted by the Ministry of jobs, Tourism and Innovation to provide marketing services particular to supporting tourism in the Vancouver Island Region (Reece, 2008). This contract provides fees for service and funds to provide the Trade overseas and media, Tourism Partner program, Community Tourism Foundations and Media Community Tourism opportunities. This Association is charged with the responsibility of marketing Nanaimo and other tourist destination in Vancouver Island. Nanaimo also markets itself through online media and engaging various stakeholders in forums aimed at increasing visitation and economic impact to the Vancouver region (http://www.investnanaimo.com).
Strategies for Improvement
In order to improve tourism in Nanaimo, several business goals have to be pursued both in the short term and long term basis (Kotler et al., 2009). This is aimed at building a strong establishment for downtown and makes it a destination for residents of downtown and other areas of Nanaimo. Some of the short-term strategies that can be implemented by Nanaimo include having a complementary retail shops to help in building a strong destination for shopping and varied established food and beverage industries to help in attracting a broader population to Nanaimo. Cultural experiences also need to be increased and a series of visible events be organized in bringing more visitors to the city. There are also some long-term strategies that if properly implemented can help in improving tourism in Nanaimo. They include having a technology based businesses whereby the residents and the visitors can be able to access skilled human resources and good connectivity. Growth in the education sector should also be encouraged to help in serving more students thus attracting more visitors to the city (Polovitz and Kerr, 2009).
References
Goody Niosi (2004) Nanaimo: The Harbour City Heritage House Publishing Co. Ltd
http://www.investnanaimo.com/documents/Media_Release_TLC_Strategic%20Plan_August_8_2012.pdf
John Lee, Brendan Sainsbury (2011) British Columbia & the Canadian Rockies, Lonely Planet; 5th edition
Norma Polovitz Nickerson, Paula Kerr (2009) Snapshots: An Introduction to Tourism, Fifth Canadian Edition with Student Access Kit. Pearson Education Canada; 5th edition
Philip R Kotler, John T. Bowen , James Makens (2009) Marketing for Hospitality & Tourism (5th Edition) Prentice Hall; 5 edition
William S. Reece (2008) The Economics of Tourism Prentice Hall; 1 edition
