Travel Destination

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The answer should include some of the following points:

• Historical information on tourism revenue
• Number of tourists visiting
• Average number of activities done by tourists
• Average spending per tourists

You should share diagram 2 and 3 with an overview of the change in tourism in the last years.

A good answer would include:

• It seems that the number of tourists increased by 30% over the last two years, while the total revenue only increased by 20%.
• As a result the total revenue per tourist is decreasing.

There could be several reasons for this:

• The supply of tourist offering could have increased faster than the demand could respond, leading to overcapacity and a decrease in price.
• The demographics of Spain’s tourists could have changed (for instance more old people, who do fewer activities and spend less money).

Here the candidate should focus on the decreasing profit instead of only looking at the total revenue.

• The region is not maximizing revenue and therefore also not maximizing profit.
• As capacity is limited the region is getting less of a return on its limited resources.
• For the government itself it is bad due to the fact that they mainly make money through taxes like VAT on services in the tourism sector. They are getting less money but having more people using public goods, such as public transport, roads, etc., which will lead to higher costs.

There are many different capacities that can be measured:

Transport:

• Fixed capacity for handling flights at airports
• Fixed capacity for handling ships at ports
• Fixed capacity on roads and railroads

Accommodation:

• Capacity of hotel rooms

Other:

• Space on beaches
• Capacity of communal infrastructure (sewers, electricity, water)

Seasons:

• Bottle neck capacity during peak seasons

Capacity bottle necks in accommodation are considered to be more severe than in one of the transport sectors or on the beach. Without available accommodation no additional tourists will come to the region.

This shows that the region’s capacity during August is getting pretty stretched and that there may be some capacity issues in the peak season.
The off-peak season on the other hand is not fully utilized and occupancy levels are even below the level of the competitor countries. This is partly due to the fact that there are no business activities in the region (conferences, etc.).

Information that should be shared with the interviewee:

• Current terminal holds up to 400 passengers per hour.
• A new terminal would be able to process up to 900 passengers per hour.
• 100% of airport traffic is caused by tourists.

• Airport is open from 08.00 until 21.00 (13 hours).
• The maximum capacity is brought in every working hour.
• 6 million tourists per year. August is peak with 15% of the tourists.
• 40% of the tourists will go to Malaga, the rest has other destinations.
• 50% of the tourists arrive by plane.

Peak demand = 6 m tourists * 15% * 40% * 50% = 180,000 tourists

The main conclusion here should be that:

• The peak demand is already higher than the maximal capacity of the current terminal. It is obvious that on the long-run the terminal will be too small.

The main conclusion should be:

• Although total revenue is increasing, the number of tourists is increasing faster and therefore the average revenue from each tourist is decreasing.
• To increase revenue the region has either to increase the average revenue from each tourist or increase the capacity in August.
• Expanding capacity will take more time and will lead to a lower occupancy during the rest of the year (which is already only at 35%).
• A better alternative would be to attract tourists in non-peak seasons. This solution has major cost advantages as it would take better advantage of the existing capacity. This could be done by introducing interesting opportunities for business activities as conferences or special programs for companies (team building).

Other possibilities would be to increase the average tourist spendings:

• Charge more for current activities, increase the average number of paid or introduce more premium activities.
• Attracting tourist segments that spend more money.
• The decreasing revenue per tourist could be a sign of quality issues related to the capacity problem during peak-season, as it does not seem to attract high spending tourist segments.

Dealing with the airport’s capacity problem:

• The new terminal will increase the capacity remarkably, but it is not clear if the future demand growth will reach such high limits. In addition the terminal is not fully utilized during off-peak season.
• A cheaper solution could be to renovate the existing terminal or extend the working hours during peak season.
• Also other possible bottlenecks at the airport (runways, gates, staff and flight restrictions during night time) should be checked before making a decision.

Possible solutions:

• Distinction between domestic and international travel. Local and foreigners may have different opinions about area and also behaviours regarding tourism.
• Segmenting by distance to region. Tourists who are located far away face a different decision making process than nearer ones.
• Using demographic indicators: Age, income level, family status, etc. Different age groups and income levels could have an influence on the average spending of a tourist.
• Different types of tourism: winter, summer, health/spa, extreme tourism or ecotourism.
• Combining these segments: for instance trying to attract young, high income singles that prefer ecotourism and are willing to spend a certain amount of money.