Concept of Transformative Experiences - Coursework Example

Destination Management Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Course code: Institution’s name: Date of submission: Introduction A tourist is simply a person that tours all over the world in search of pleasure, fun, discovery, exploration or tourism experience. The tourism industry is rapidly growing due the high number of people that are getting interested in their services. Demand for tourism services has continuously improved as a result of the transformative experiences that tourists are nowadays acquiring. In this report, the concept of transformative experiences will be analysed in details. Transformative experience overview The tourism industry is continuously growing from time to time (Goeldner, 2005). This is as a result of the exceptional number of tourism sites that are being opened globally. Also, the existing tourism organisations are being developed further to match the needs and wants of the modern tourists. The rising rate of competition in the tourism industry is forcing these organisations to modify their services and products in a more modernized manner. In order to stay highly competitive in the tourism industry, tourist organisations all over the world are striving to ensure that their clients get opportunities to enjoy transformative experiences. Organisations such as the Gold Coast that offers such opportunities to clients have exceptional customer bases that has enabled the company realise its financial objectives (Habermas, 1987). The transformative experience is an extension of experience economy. Experience economy simply refers to the sale and consumption of experience related products such as the tourism products. A transformative experience simply refers to an experience that is sold to a tourist and has various impacts on the life of the tourist. The characteristics of this experience are shown in the below diagram: Figure 1: Characteristics of transformative experiences Most tourists travel all over the world for various reasons. Some of the reasons why tourists travel all over the world are outlined below: Recreational reasons Interaction reasons Business reasons Entertainment reasons Sporting reasons Learning reasons Medical reasons Regardless of all the reasons that tourists seek tourism services from different parts of the world, the experiences that they acquire have various impacts on their lives (Hall & Brown, 2006). Most tourism experiences impact the lives of tourists in the best way and bring a positive change to the society. The ability of a tourism experience to change the behaviour or way of doing things of an individual makes the experience a transformative one. The ability to change the behaviours of a tourist also changes what the tourist experiences. The approach enables the tourist to be a better person and to think outside the box. This simply means that on top of the nice feeling that the tourist acquires when enjoying a particular tourism service, the tourist develops positively or improves as a person. For example, the tourist acquires new ideas of how to make good decisions in his life or understands the real meaning of life or appreciates the importance of other people in his life. This approach also improves the competitiveness of the operator (Gilmore, 2009). A tourism organisation such as the Gold Coast needs to generate exceptional revenues in order to maintain their tourism operations. The company needs resources to keep of marketing its services and attracting more and more clients to the site. However, the stiff competition that the company is exposed both in Australia and globally threatens its success in realising its goals and objectives. In order to cope with this competition, the company can apply either price competitive strategies, non-price competitive strategies or both to establish a strong competitive position. One of the non- price competitive strategies that can be applied by the company is the offering of tourism services that give its clients transformative experiences (Mermiri, 2009). Once customers enjoy such services, they get satisfied both by the pleasure they acquire from the company’s tourism services and the opportunities to transform their lives positively. In most cases if consumers are satisfied by the services they are offered by a certain organisation, they stay loyal to the company. They market the organisation indirectly to friends and families by proposing its products and services to them. This simply means that once the tourism services of Gold Coast enable tourists to acquire transformative experiences, the company develops a competitive advantage. This is simply because the company develops an exceptional customer base that enables it to generate good revenues. The revenues generated enable it to run its operations smoothly and deal with any competitive threat that might arise. Case study Gold Coast offers a number of tourism services that make it an exceptional place to be. The company has a competent work force that maximizes its strengths to ensure that all clients visiting the organisation are satisfied with what is offered in the site. The services that the company offers can be accessed by people of all ages (Morgan & Pritchard, 1998). This is as a result of the integrity and morality values that drive the operations of the company. In all its sections, everything is run with respect to human beings and the society at large. This is one of the reasons that make this tourist attraction site a nice destination for families with young children from all over the world. From statistics, we can see that international visitors are so many as shown in the table below; Figure 2: Visitors data These visitors come from all over the world. This simply proves that the services offered by the company perfectly fit the tourism needs of German tourists and their families. This means that once effective marketing is done, German tourists might be encouraged or convinced to pay the organisation regular visits. Most families travel all over the world to seek tourism services that give them pleasure and change their lives in a positive dimension (Morgan, Pritchard and Pride, 2011). This is vital in facilitating good development of the young children in the families. Gold coast offers various tourism services that offer tourists transformative experiences. One of the services that offer tourists transformative experiences is the sporting facilities that the company offers. In real sense, sports give people opportunities to interact. It enables them to learn more from one another by exchanging ideas and information about their backgrounds. By bringing different people together, sports create a peaceful society with like-minded individuals (Nash, 2007). Also friendships arise that enables people to work together in the process of making the society a better place. This simply means that the good sporting facilities that the Gold Coast has in place for tourists to satisfy their sporting tourism needs results to transformational experiences. A family that visits the site get opportunities to play together and in the process bond with one another. This is very significant in the development of a family that is united. The family get opportunities to understand how to handle one another properly hence leading to development of good relationships. Family members get to know how to relate with one another and this reflects on how they will relate with other people in the society hence transforming their lives. In the process of enjoying the sports activities offered by the Gold Coast, the visiting families from Germany get opportunities to interact with one another. In the process of interactions, they get opportunities to exchange information on their cultural and religious backgrounds. This enables members of the families to respect one another and appreciate them as they are all human beings and therefore no one is superior to the other. This leads to the development of a society that is close and friendly since respect among people from different backgrounds is maintained. These interactions also lead to intermarriages because some people get opportunities to meet their couples when they are touring the world. From this discussion, we can see that the sporting services or activities that Gold Coast offers to families with young children and other tourists change their lives in one way or another. The services does not only offer transformative experiences to the visiting families with children but also gives them opportunities to have fun playing together and learning how to play various games. This enables them especially the young children to develop their talents and some become good athletes as they grow up. How DMO facilitates creation of transformative experiences In any business organisation, the management of the company is what determines the success or failure of the organisation in achieving its goals and objectives (Noy, 2008). This simply means that for an organisation such Gold Coast to meet its goal of satisfying clients’ needs, its management has to be super. If the organisation fails to ensure that all its services give customers transformative experiences then the management fails in its role. DMO plays a very significant role in the creation of transformative experiences. First of all, it determines the services that the organisation will offer clients. It approves tourism services that will enable the clients of Gold Coast satisfy their tourism needs and at the same time get inspired or transformed for good. The DMO ensures that the services that the company offer to tourists enable them to leave the place better persons than they were (Outwaithe, 1998). This is why the company offers a variety of tourism services such as sporting activities, gaming, entertainment, learning and gallery among others. The DMO also ensures that there are sufficient resources in the company for all organisation activities to be run smoothly. The management ensures that the employees of the company are very competitive and experienced in the tourism sector. The smooth flow of activities and the competent employees facilitate the offering of exceptional tourism services that give tourists transformative experiences. Conclusion The transformative experience is an extension of experience economy. Experience economy simply refers to the sale and consumption of experience related products such as the tourism products. A transformative experience simply refers to an experience that is sold to a tourist and has various impacts on the life of the tourist. DMO plays a very significant role in the creation of transformative experiences. It determines the services that the organisation will offer clients. It approves tourism services that will enable the clients of Gold Coast satisfy their tourism needs and at the same time get inspired or transformed for good. References Goeldner, C. R. (2005). Reflections on the historic role of journals in shaping tourism knowledge. The Journal of Tourism Studies, 16(2), 44–51. Habermas, J. (1987). Theory of communicative action, Vol 2: Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionalist reason. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Hall, D., & Brown, F. (2006). Tourism and welfare: Ethics, responsibility and sustainable well-being. Wallingford: CABI. 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