Tourism is a popular and lucrative activity in Canada. Almost every province in Canada is a tourist destination. Research has also proved that Canada has some of the best tourism destinations in the world. There are different activities and other reasons that would make tourists be attracted to a given location. This paper focuses on Tofino, a tourism destination found in the province of British Columbia, in Canada. The essay mainly focuses on the important key features that make this place a better tourism destination. The essay is an analytical report about Tofino in BC based on the current situation at the named place. The analytical report is then used to make recommendations for future growth opportunities in this place.
What Makes Tofino a Desirable Destination for Tourists and Visitors?
Tofino is a preferred tourism destination because it offers a magnificent selection of various types of holidays to many tourists from different parts of the work. It is a place suitable for individuals, families, children, and adult vacations. The area offers luxurious accommodation at very affordable prices. This destination also has wonderful five and three hotels that come at affordable prices. This makes Tofino a tourism attraction site that people within various income ranges can plan and visit. The area also provides various tourism activities to different people with different interests (Tofino, 2014). Thus, it does not matter what a person’s hobby is since Tofino will always have an activity to offer everyone.
All those people who love and appreciate nature will definitely want to visit Tofino since the place is filled with great natural sceneries. It has water bodies, wildlife that cannot be found anywhere, and many more nature attraction sites. It also has well-maintained botanical gardens that people can use for seeing different kinds of trees. This destination also has many activities that a person can do while on holiday. It is a suitable place to visit for those individuals interested in different cultural activities. Research has shown that the first nation occupants of Tofino have a rich culture that one can learn from (Tofino, 2014).
What are the target demographics of visitors to your chosen destination?
Tofino is a destination, which is suitable for individual and family vacations. This means that everybody of any age can visit the area. Since the area offers many activities, children too can find a place to fit their interest in Tofino. All the areas that have restrictions to a given age group make sure that the rules are followed to the latter. There is no restriction to the population that visits the area. People from different races and religions normally come to Tofino more often. Thus, it has no restrictions on anyone visiting. Studies have shown that the number of tourists that visited Tofino in the year 2013 was 75000. There is an expected rise in this number since Tofino is growing fast and has become a good place for tourism and holiday destination.
What are some of the psychographics of the target market?
The psychographics of any tourism destination is found based on the people’s attitudes, behavior, and tastes towards the destination. Research shows that the most important factor in the tourism industry is the visitor. The services offered at any given destination determine whether the visitor will come back or not. The target market of Tofino is interested in the quality of services provided in the area. Every visitor expects excellent accommodation and other hotel services. They also need to be experienced tour guides to take them around. Research shows that after the holiday is over, the only memory that the visitor will carry with them relies on how well or how poorly the services were provided at their holiday destination (Tourism Victoria, 2014).
The other psychographic factor of tourism is customer satisfaction. The customer needs to feel satisfied with the quality of services offered in the place they visit. To achieve customer satisfaction, there must be proper customer value. Customer value relies on how the customers are received and how the people at the site value them. The products offered in any tourist destination are an important factor to consider since it also helps in attracting clients. The management of a destination such as Tofino should be well familiar with the products that best suit the needs and wants of their clients (Dodd, 2012). For example, the area has expensive accommodation, natural sceneries, and many adventurous activities among others.
The management of such a place must also ensure that their products are cost-effective. The products offered to the tourist should be affordable to most clients. The cost of the products must also be set in a way that enables the management to make a profit while entertaining customers at the same time. Thus, the management of the tourist destination must be aware of their market position. This is because their marketplace enables them to work hard in meeting their clients’ needs (Tourism Excellence, 2014). This also gives them a proper understanding of their client so that they can offer quality services and uphold customer values.
What is Tofino’s strategic competitive advantage?
The most well-known factor about Tofino as a tourist destination is its ability to offer various activities that meet the needs of all its clients. Tofino offers fun activities like nature trails, wildlife, nice accommodation, rare species of wild and marine life such as bears and whales. Most tourists consider Tofino as an all-in-one holiday destination since the place offers other activities like surfing, fishing, whale, bear, storm, and bird watching. This place also has beautiful sandy beaches. People can also involve in other activities such as fishing, camping, and hiking (Tofino, 2014). The place also has lavish accommodation and delicious food.
Are the eight sectors of the tourism industry equally represented?
The eight sectors of the tourism industry include travel trade, transportation, accommodation, food and beverages, tourism services, attractions, events and conferences, and adventure tourism and recreation. From research, all these eight sectors are equally represented in Tofino as a tourist destination. The area provides activities and services among other factors that fall within these groups as is discussed above (Tofino, 2014).
SWOT analysis of the current tourism environment in Tofino
Tofino as a tourist destination has strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strength of this place include its ability to have activities for all the four-season, it is a prime tourist destination, it is affordable to all customers, offers quality services and have many in one activity for the whole family (District of Tofino, 2012). The place has growing winter products such as storm watching, it has partners such as UNESCO and it is a known destination locally and internationally. Weaknesses include the different schedules, for example, it is too busy in summer but has fewer activities in winter, environmental degradation, politics slows down development and needs to diversify more in tourism. Opportunities include, it has support from the government, increase activities in water sports such as surfing, access to the development of diversified tourism, and increased attention from the international media fraternity. Threats include competition from other destinations, changing methods in tourism, increased US, Canada border restrictions, and environmental pollution.
Does the destination’s strategy currently align with the Provincial government’s tourism plan?
The provincial government of British Columbia has started a plan to promote tourism development in the area. While promoting tourism, they also want to ensure that there is sustainable development and less environmental degradation as well as pollution. The current tourism strategy for Tofino follows the government requirements (District of Tofino, 2012). They also work closely with the provincial administration to meet the tourism strategies of the province.
What creative and innovative ideas do Tofino have for sustainable tourism and the triple bottom line approach?
The triple bottom line approach has to do with sustainable development, economic profitability, and sociocultural and environmental protection. The areas have an upper hand in this apart from the issue that they have not involved the first nation culture as part of tourism (Biaett, 2012). The creative and innovative ideas that Tofino has in place include projects that will curb air pollution, oil spill,s, and environmental degradation. They also want to include the first nation people into the tourism arena since they have rich unexplored cultures and cultural activities.
What opportunities does the destination provide for cultural events, in order to attract tourists to the destination?
The destination is known for its traditional activities such as fishing, watching birds and animals among others. They have decided to come up with cultural events such as the culture of the first nation people as an added product. They have decided to increase the number of festivals and cultural events in the areas (Biaett, 2012). This has been proved based on the increase in the number of tourists to cultural events by 20%
Suggest a potential tourism growth opportunity in your chosen tourism destination
The current and most outstanding growth opportunity for tourism in Tofino is the fastest growing practice in surfing. Research has shown that surfing and other water sport activities are in increasing demand with the tourists. This is because, for a long time, surfing has not been common in the province, but since it was started out as a sport, it has also been popular with tourists (Tofino, 2014). Surfing is a suitable sport and will develop well in Tofino because of its sandy beaches. These beaches have high waves and tides that support surfing.
Executive Summary
Tofino offers many tourism activities in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The area offers many tourism activities to its clients. They have adopted tourism strategies put in place to ensure sustainable development as well as curb environmental degradation and pollution. Tofino has recognized the importance of cultural events and has decided to include the first nation people as part of tourism activities. The destination has also decided to work hand in hand with the provincial government to meet the required standards of tourism in the province. Tofino as an area has the strength to boost its tourism activities since it is known internationally. This will also happen because the country offers many activities to different people.
References
Biaett, V. (2012). A quantified triple bottom line for tourism: experimental results. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/2646343/A_Quantified_Triple_Bottom_Line_for_Tourism_Experimental_Results
Dodds, R. (2012). Sustainable tourism: a hope or a necessity? The case of Tofino, British Columbia, Canada. Journal of sustainable development. Retrieved from http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/16688/11184
District of Tofino. (2012). Resort development strategy 2012-2016. Retrieved from https://tofino.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentDisplay.aspx?Id=4760
Tofino. (2014). Supernatural British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved from http://www.hellobc.com/tofino.aspx
Tourism Excellence. (2014). Understanding visitor need and expectations. Retrieved from http://www.tourismexcellence.com.au/Understanding-Visitor-Needs/Introduction.html