Marketing after a Crisis Recovering From the Tsunami in Thailand

Executive summary Marketing recovery in businesses is essential especially in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries. It involves restoration of everything that has been lost because of a catastrophe or otherwise. A tsunami hit Thailand at one of its coastal beaches, affecting the tourism sector.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Marketing after a Crisis: Recovering From the Tsunami in Thailand specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This sector is one of Thailand’s economic backbones. For this reason, researchers included 250 travel agencies in a market research and collaborated with the government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand to establish a post tsunami-marketing plan to revive the tourism market. The marketing research, which mainly included advertising and promotions, attracted tourists increasing the number of tourists, though at a lower rate. Further, the assurance of safety by the governme nt enabled the tourists to return to the affected areas. However, there is still a need for the government to improve crisis management in the industry by designing physical infrastructures, which withstand the forces of such disasters when they happen. The travel agencies should also enhance awareness on the same to tourists. Introduction Tourism industry has been one of the leading factors contributing to the economy of Thailand. This is because of the attractive features and hospitality of the people in the country. The industry has continued to grow over the years by approximately 20 per cent, and the number of tourists reaching 12 million in 2004. On 26 December 2004, an earthquake, off the coast of Sumatra, triggered a tsunami that struck many countries throughout the Indian Ocean. The tsunami disaster affected both the infrastructure and human population, with 223,492 people losing their lives, other 43,320 declared as missing. 400,000 homes were destroyed, and more than 3,00 0 miles of roads and 118,000 fishing boats damaged. With more than 8,000 people, half of them being tourists, dead or missing in Thailand’s Andaman Coast, the tourism sector was severely hit (Carlsen Hughes 2007, pg.139). Moreover, many restaurants and rooms were wiped out, coral reefs shattered, and white sand beaches were moved into coconuts groves. The disaster caused not only a destructive consequence to the people there but almost destroyed the tourism market in totality (Rittichainuwat 2006, p.396).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Following the disaster, the number of tourists decreased by 10 per cent, with potential tourists cancelling their bookings assuming that all the hotels were destroyed. This spurred researchers to come up with the Phuket Action Plan to restore the tourism sector, which was the source of income and employment in the country. For instan ce, in Phuket alone, 300,000 people were employed. The researchers included tourism experts and several private and international organizations. The researchers aim was to assess the damages caused by the tsunami, to evaluate and adjust the impact and strategize on how to combat the crisis in the future. Objectives To restore the travel confidence among the foreign investors and tourists in the region To emphasize on the country’s flood prevention and control To study marketing strategy of travel agencies in the region Methodology The population picked included 250 Phuket travel agencies who were either owners or marketing managers involved in the tourism industry. A sample size of 20 agencies, with more than 4 years of work experience in tourism, was used. Face-to-face interviews were used to get open-minded answers from the respondents about the marketing plan adjustment. Literature Review For many countries, tourism is a significant foreign exchange earner. It is for thi s reason that countries seek to preserve it and enhance all aspects that boost its production. Thailand is no different from these countries. As indicated by Rittichainuwat (2006, p.397), Thailand’s GDP consists of 6% tourism revenue with more than 300,000 jobs guaranteed throughout the year. The peak season, which comes around October-November, creates an additional 20,000 jobs for locals as well as increasing the revenue collected to more than 7% of the GDP (Rittichainuwat 2006, p.399). This shows that any disastrous effects to the environment, as well as the locality, would adversely affect the way tourism is conducted in the area with loses being noted in all fronts. For this reason, the Thailand Government put across more than 300 million bahts (Thai currency) to set up tsunami warning systems to ensure that the economy does not suffer from any other crisis like the one that hit the Andaman Coast in 2004. As recorded by Carlsen and Hughes (2007, p.141), the Tsunami that hit the Indian ocean on the 24th of December 2004 was not anything that could be easily forgotten by those who suffered as its result. One of the areas that were hit and suffered substantial loses was the Andaman Coast of Thailand.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Marketing after a Crisis: Recovering From the Tsunami in Thailand specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This tsunami has to-date been recorded as the worst natural disaster in the country’s history. The areas, which were heavily affected, were Krabi, Phang-Nga, Ranong, Satun Trang, and Phuket. The disaster affected directly to the tourism industry especially Phuket, which resulted to fewer tourists and decreased revenue. In Phuket, the total number of deaths was 262, injured persons amounting to 1,111 and 700 missing. Such incidents are amongst those that the government is trying to do away with by setting up tsunami warning stations. Further, there is a need to create a recovery procedure that ensures the country gets back to its feet fast enough incase the disaster hits again. Carlsen (2006, p.70) encourages governments to look at several options and criteria that can be used to safeguard the tourism hotspots and ensure that the country does not lose on its share of international travels. For instance, it has been noted that a simple flooding issue can lead to more than a 15% decline in international bookings meaning that the country loses a lot in terms of revenue (Carlsen 2006, p.73). Further, the economy suffers from such a negative incident. Therefore, measures to safeguard this valuable sector need to be up and running to assure the tourists of their safety, as well as wellbeing, while touring the country. Findings The marketing campaign attracted tourists back into Phuket though there was a decrease in the number of tourists visiting the country. In 2005, 2.5 million visitors were received compared to 4.2 million in 200 4 and a rise of 40% in February 2005 compared to less than 10% in January. The decrease affected the employee’s salary negatively reducing it by 35.3% (Carlsen Hughes 2007, p.143). 61% of the respondents advocated for spare cash for emergencies and provision of safety drills and instructions in managing those natural disasters that may affect the industry (Carlsen Liburd 2007, p.266). It was found that 79.90% of the travel agencies did not have business insurance for either their property or the customers. 32.3% of the respondents needed assistance from the TAT to collaborate with the airline, tour operators and accommodation that was agreed by 90% of the travel agencies. On the other hand, 70% needed the government’s help in advertising and promoting the market as well as establish public relations on safety of the industry (Carlsen 2006, p.77). Discussion Marketing recovery is the potentiality to recapture or to enhance market due to loss resulted from a negative s cenario (Pforr Hosie 2007, p.252). Such a scenario can be equated to the 2004 tsunami, which occurred at the Andaman coast in Thailand. The main aim of the researchers was to look for ways of reviving the tourism industry, which was highly affected by this disaster.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More By doing this, the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) contradicted the reports from national televisions, which reported that most of the villages were destroyed. According to TAT, many of the popular beaches were relatively unaffected. For example, only 12% of Phuket’s hotel rooms were damaged. In order to restore and to correct the incorrect perception of the tourism industry; the researchers began examining the impact of the marketing campaigns that had been placed on all major markets, both locally and internationally, and through the Internet (Carlsen Liburd 2007, p.269). This included offering familiarization trips for the media from all the principal markets, broadcasting the status of the tourism industry through the local media especially on the television and radio and attending international trade shows and promotional fairs. Others included using road shows and promotional workshops in the major markets, purchasing advertising space on international tel evision and other media, having high-level delegations meet with tour operators and government officials in all leading markets and hanging welcome banners at the airport, and distributing a bi-monthly electronic newsletter to update keen tourists on the status of the industry. Lastly, the rest involved offering joint destination promotions with leading tour operators and airlines; and conducting continued market research on the perceptions of tourists in the country (Carlsen Hughes 2007, p.146). In addition, highly publicized events with a religious ceremony where the souls lost in that period were freed, and the priests and monks gave permission to the tourists to return to Southern Thailand (Pforr Hosie 2007, p.259). Moreover, they focused on the marketing environment. The natural disaster had destroyed the tourism environment in Thailand. The popular attractions especially in the Southern Thailand suffered from the disaster. In addition to this, the media continued giving nega tive reports on dilapidated beaches, hence deterring the tourists from travelling to Thailand (Carlsen Hughes 2007, p.149). Tourists not only worried about the occurrence of another tsunami as well as about their safety. To improve the market environment, the government approved $125 million to rebuild and market the beaches, which were destroyed to recover the original scenery. For instance, there was plenty of trash on the Ba-Tong beach after the tsunami. However, after rebuilding the beach, the scenery became neater (Carlsen Liburd 2007, p.274). The Thai government also designed historic travelling offers with reduced prices to attract travelers back into the country. In cooperation with the Thailand Airline Company, hotels and travel agencies, the government promoted the sale of premium-priced travelling packages to attract the travelers and raise the in-flow of tourists into Thailand (Rittichainuwat 2006, p.403). The government has also invested in the establishment of an ear ly warning system and disaster preparedness planning. There was also restructuring of the Kamala Beach into a safe and distinctive cultural orientation spot hence creating a cultural image rather the previous adopted modern image (Pforr Hosie 2007, p.263). The Strategies used to promote and advertise the industry included organizing a number of mega tourism events such as international tiger skins games, LG action sports world tour, Happiness Andaman tsunami memorial day, and colorful Andaman, which were meant to create more attraction to those not yet aware of the revamped tourism market in Thailand. Conclusion Conventionally, disasters affect the tourism industry in several ways. Declines in the airline bookings, as well as increased advisory reports, hamper any quick revival of an industry hit by disasters such as the tsunami. However, with great planning, in cases where tsunamis and earthquakes occur frequently, would help in stabilizing the industry through any disaster in the future. Thailand’s success in the tourism sector is mainly due to the cooperation between the government and the TAT in the provision of assistance to the country’s travel agencies and hotels. Funding by the government in the form of giving outstanding discounts to tourists and collaborating with organizations like the airlines to lower air tickets, contribute more in the growth of the industry. Though the long-term recovery efforts are still on course and the response has been slower than expected, the market will be revived with continued support by the government to reconstruct and promote the marketing of tourism. Thus, there will be an improvement in the overall economy of Thailand. Further, the confidence among the tourists is being restored with the emphasis being laid on the country’s flood prevention and control. Recommendations The government should, as Rittichainuwat (2006) puts it, â€Å"research more on designing and developing natural landscapes and physical infrastructure to stand out against natural forces of tsunami, while ensuring the natural beauty of coastal and marine landscapes† (p. 399). In addition, traveling agencies should insure their properties against natural disasters. Further, the local administration together with National marine parks and the royal Thai navy should assist the tourists with emergency evacuation, first aids treatment, and other lifesaving assistance. Political turmoil serves to lower investor confidence as well as reduce the number of tourists visiting the country due to insecurity issues. The TAT and the government should formulate a peace agreement that seeks to protect the interests of the tourists as well as enhance their safety while in the country. Reference List Carlsen, J. C., 2006. Post-Tsunami Tourism Strategies for the Maldives. Tourism  Review International, 10(1), pp. 69-79. Carlsen, J. C., Hughes, M., 2007. Tourism Recovery Marketing In the Maldives After The 2004 Ind ian Ocean Tsunami. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing,  23(2), pp. 139-149. Carlsen, J. C., Liburd, J. J., 2007. Developing a Research Agenda for Tourism Crisis Management, Market Recovery and Communication. Journal of Travel And  Tourism Marketing, 23(3), pp. 265-276. Pforr, C., Hosie, P. J., 2007. Crisis Management in Tourism: Preparing For Recovery.  Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 23(4), pp. 249-264. Rittichainuwat, B. N., 2006. Tsunami Recovery: A Case Study of Thailand’s Tourism.  Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration, 47(4), pp. 390-404. This report on Marketing after a Crisis: Recovering From the Tsunami in Thailand was written and submitted by user Coleman U. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

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Reality of Tularecito

Franklin looked into Tularecito's â€Å"mirror† and saw what Tularecito was. The Pastures views come from several directions. While one teacher sees Tularecito as a dog, needing to be trained, the other sees him as an idiot savant, needing only to be pushed into harmless fantasy. This leads a third view of Tularecito, one of a simple minded killer that needs to be locked up for his own good. Tularecito is viewed as less than human from the start. His name means "little frog", and his physical disabilities are seen by all, causing fear. As Steinbeck tells his story, it is obviously full of metaphors on the basic belief of our society that everything must be the same and reasonable at the same time. Tularecito should never have gone to school. He would have been happy living at home, simple as he was. In the end society takes Tularecito and makes him a monster. Since monsters are not allowed into human society, Tularecito goes looking for a different society that he does belong to, living with the gnomes. Unfortunately this society exists only in his mind, but to his mind it makes sense for he has no perception of reality to fantasy. He searches for a world of fantasy, and in his efforts, he creates a hole. â€Å"He studied the hold for a moment and then began to push dirt back into the whole with the side of his foot† (Steinbeck, 54). When this hole is covered up, it confirms Tularecito's belief in fantasy. There is only one problem with this. Tularecito believes that he created the hole and should n ot be destroyed. With school, work or his own fantasies, when something made by his sweat, his hand is destroyed he defends it the only way he knows how, through violence. â€Å"The fourth grade struggled out, seized erasers and begun to remove the animals to make room for their numbers. They has not make tow sweeps when Tularecito charged†¦.. Miss Martin aided by the whole school, could not hold him down.ï ¿ ½... Reality of Tularecito Free Essays on Fantasy/Reality of Tularecito Franklin looked into Tularecito's â€Å"mirror† and saw what Tularecito was. The Pastures views come from several directions. While one teacher sees Tularecito as a dog, needing to be trained, the other sees him as an idiot savant, needing only to be pushed into harmless fantasy. This leads a third view of Tularecito, one of a simple minded killer that needs to be locked up for his own good. Tularecito is viewed as less than human from the start. His name means "little frog", and his physical disabilities are seen by all, causing fear. As Steinbeck tells his story, it is obviously full of metaphors on the basic belief of our society that everything must be the same and reasonable at the same time. Tularecito should never have gone to school. He would have been happy living at home, simple as he was. In the end society takes Tularecito and makes him a monster. Since monsters are not allowed into human society, Tularecito goes looking for a different society that he does belong to, living with the gnomes. Unfortunately this society exists only in his mind, but to his mind it makes sense for he has no perception of reality to fantasy. He searches for a world of fantasy, and in his efforts, he creates a hole. â€Å"He studied the hold for a moment and then began to push dirt back into the whole with the side of his foot† (Steinbeck, 54). When this hole is covered up, it confirms Tularecito's belief in fantasy. There is only one problem with this. Tularecito believes that he created the hole and should n ot be destroyed. With school, work or his own fantasies, when something made by his sweat, his hand is destroyed he defends it the only way he knows how, through violence. â€Å"The fourth grade struggled out, seized erasers and begun to remove the animals to make room for their numbers. They has not make tow sweeps when Tularecito charged†¦.. Miss Martin aided by the whole school, could not hold him down.ï ¿ ½...

Management seminar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 9

Management seminar - Essay Example Where, if the firm uses employees from its country all through, the company will not impress the rest of the world. However, with outsourcing, the world feels appreciated because it provides opportunities for all people and this increases the market share globally (Sparrow, 2009). On the other hand, outsourcing is a disadvantage to the home people of the company who lose the opportunities occupied by the foreigners. In other words, the local people of the country the company is located lose their jobs and this leads to creating a recession in the domestic economy. Another problem related to outsourcing is that the overseas employees have experienced a problem of not being able to communicate effectively with the U.S customers due to difficult accents and problems of miscommunication. Finally, the emerging economies where outsourcing is done face tremendous energy shortages with the power outages done frequently (Blackman, Freedman & Levy, 2004). Sweatshops refer to the overseas manufacturing facilities of a company where the conditions of labor are not up to the satisfactory level as per the international labor standards. Long working hours, unsafe working condition, and abuse of the employees and lack of labor rights characterize the practices against the standards. The employees working in the facilities are tremendously exploited. In fact, most of the products manufactured in the facilities require repetitive kind of labor. Sweatshops exist for they provide a number of economic advantages to the multinational firms and to the host employees. Creating of the domestic employment and establishment of local infrastructures in the host countries helps to enhance the local economies of the countries. The employees working in the sweatshops are desperate because most of them do not have education or the required skills to get any form of

Essay on Anil

How does Valuable present the feelings of the young man in ‘Something Old, Something New? B) How does the writer present the feelings of a character from a different story in Sunlight on the Grass? In the story Something Old, Something New' Valuable presents the feelings of a young man as someone that is always being judged and looked down upon because of his religious choices and how he had converted from Catholicism to Islam.They did not understand that side of him', from this quote I can infer hat the young man's parents did not approve or understand his choice to convert from Catholicism to Islam. The word ‘understand' in the quote shows how the parents could not relate to this ‘side of him'. It also shows how this may create a barrier between the relationship of the young man and his parents as the convert may not have been what the parents had wanted but nevertheless, the young man still persisted with his choice in faith.In addition, the young man is shown by Valuable as someone who is uncomfortable with he big change in culture. This is shown by the quote: ‘Her country disturbed him'. This displays how the young man finds everything unusual. Zooming in on the word ‘disturbed' shows the reader that the young man has been put out of his comfort zone completely. The word ‘disturbed' brings negative connotations to my mind this shows that he is not only seeing a huge change, but he dislikes it too. Alternatively, the writer of the story Nail (Nor) portraysNail who is restricted by the life he was born in to. ‘His dreams were bigger than him', this shows that he had huge ambitions but they are too big for him and unachievable. This was different to the people that surrounded him with very little ambitions in life, or none at all. This is why Nail, the little boy, stood out in the story. The word ‘dreams' is positive and therefore shows that he has hope for the future and still a little bit of happiness, despite his unfortunate lifestyle.

The Implications for a New Technology Photosynth Research Paper

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Planning Lessons and Assessment in Schools Essay

Planning Lessons and Assessment in Schools - Essay Example The teacher then introduced the lesson of the day by mentioning that it would be a buildup of the previous lesson. The lesson of that day involved learning how to balance basic chemistry equations. The teacher began by introducing basic, acidic, and neutral compound. He then gave basic examples of a base, acid, and a neutral compound. Interestingly, he had an example of each of the compounds in class. A lemon represented an acidic compound, ash represented basic compound whereas water represented a neutral compound. Students were asked to name other similar compounds and at least a quarter of the class responded with accurate results. The teacher then went ahead to demonstrate on the blackboard how to balance the equations. Once he gave five simple examples, he asked the students to volunteer to go to the board and balance an equation. Each student who was able to balance the equations was given an orange. It was interesting to note the profound interest in which the students were re sponding to learning. The interest was actually boosted by the gifts for the students who got the equations correct. Near the end of the lesson, the teacher divided the class into four groups of five students each. He then requested the students to discuss what they had learned in class concerning balancing of equations as well as further examples of each compound. Each group was required to come up with three examples of each compound as well as three examples of balanced equations. The teacher collected the results and told them that the results would be discussed in the next lesson. Lesson planning is one of the fundamental aspect of any teacher. This is because the structure of the lesson determines the effectiveness of the learning process. When making such a plan, it is imperative for the teacher to understand the lesson objectives and most importantly, the strengths and weaknesses of the students. This way, it will be possible to articulate the lesson to benefit the students maximally. It is also important to understand each student so that the needs of every student can be incorporated in the lesson plan (Satterly, 1989). However, it is particularly necessary to classify the student depending on their learning abilities. This is because the bright students are more often than not sidelined in the learning process at the expense of the slow learners. For example, I realized that the teacher was concentrating more on the slow learners in the hope that they will catch up with the rest of the class. Assessment in Schools   A lesson is not complete with the full assessment of the realization of the objectives of the lesson. During the lesson, I noted that the teacher used various teaching and assessments methods. Most importantly, she ensured that the assessment activities are explicitly related to the stated learning objectives. Once the students had completed the given assessment activity, she took some time to reflect upon the results. When the learnin g objectives were not adequately achieved, the teacher revisited the lesson in a different manner. This allowed those students who had not comprehended adequately to gain more understanding of the topic discussed. In order to achieve this, the teacher used various assessment methods. One of them was quizzes. The teacher ordered the pupils to close their books and asked them some questions on what she had taught that day. Most pupils who had