Archive for July, 2011
-
travel and tourism industry
Tourists
The origin of the word “tourist” date back to 1292 AD. It has come from the word ‘tour’. A number of experts have defined the term:
“Tourists are the voluntary temporary travelers, traveling in the expectations of pleasure from the novelty and change experienced on a relatively and non-current round-trip”.
“Tourist is a person who makes a journey for the sake of curiosity for the fun of traveling”.
Tourists are:
-Persons traveling for pleasure, health and domestic reason.
-Persons arriving in the sea of sea cruise.
-Persons traveling for convention.
Tourism – the first commercial venture.
A religious Englishman called Thomas Cook in 1841 arranged, for a fee, a one –day rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough for 540 members of a temperance league. Thus the first bona fide travel agent was Thomas Cook.
While Cook himself did not make a profit on this first venture, he was a man of vision and was convinced that there was a need for a skilled “travel arranger”. So by 1845 he had become the first full-time travel agent, operating train excursions from Leicester. The next year he chartered a train and steamer for an excursion to Scotland for 330 people. In 1851 Cook arranged ocean steamship travel and accommodations for more than 1,50,000 visitors to the World Exposition in London and in 1856 he operated the first escorted “grand tour” of Europe. Tours to Europe and Middle East were also conducted and, in 1872, the first around the world tour was conducted.
Tourism as a Service Industry
Tourism as a service industry comprises of several allied activities which together produce the tourism product. Involved in the tourism product are three major sub-industries. They are: -
1. Tour operators and travel agents.
2. Accommodation sector (hoteling and catering) and
3. Passenger accommodation.
According to international estimates, a tourist spends 35% of his total expenditure on transportation, about 40% on lodging and food and the balance 25% on entertainment, shopping and incidentals.
The product in this case is not confirmed to travel and accommodation but includes a large array of auxiliary services ranging from insurance and entertainment and shopping, demand generation, in addition to the consumer motivation, is also heavily dependent upon powerful persuasive communication both at the macro (country) level and the micro (enterprise) level. The participants in the process of this service business can be illustrated by the figure below.
Some of the pointers to nature of tourism as a Service Industry
1. Tourism accounts for nearly 6% of world trade.
2. Bulk of tourism business is located in Europe and North America., with 1/8 of the market being shared between the other regions.
3. The highest growth rate in tourism in recent years has been in the third world.
4. Tourism, like most pure services, because of the character of inseparability, exemplifies a product, which cannot be sampled before purchase; the prospective consumers have to travel to a foreign destination in order to consume the product.
5. The major players in the tourism market include a number of intermediary companies. Some of them transnational in character, some of them exhibit
vertical integration, both backward and forward, acquiring interests in all major sectors of this service industry.
The Tourism Product- Factors Governing Demand.
Because of the unique nature of the nature of tourism product- it being an amalgam of the characteristics of a destination and the infrastructural as well as managerial efforts of the promoter, the determinants of tourists demand emanate from both individual tourist motivations and the economic, social, technological factors. Some of these are:
• Income Levels
In the last 30 years, disposable incomes around the world have shown upward trends, thus allowing more money for activities like leisure travel. Smaller families have meant higher allocations per person in the family. More and more women are entering the workforce and in real terms the cost of travel has fallen. The dramatic rise of tourism in the last 50 years can be attributed in a large measure to the combined effect of more leisure time and rise in both real and disposable incomes.
• More Leisure time:
Increasing unionization of labour right from 1930 onwards has reduced the number of working hours per week. Changing managerial orientations towards human resources have increased the levels of pay and paid vacation time in most developed countries. Now people have longer periods of leisure, which could be allocated to travel.
• Mobility
Better transportation and communication services have made the world a smaller place, and have brought both exposure and awareness of distant lands to larger sections of potential tourists across the world. Faster modes of transport have cut down on travel time, making it easier for people to economically plan and execute trips abroad.
• Growth in Government Security Programmes and Employment Benefits:
The growth in government security programmes and well entrenched policies of employee benefits mean that quite a large number of families may have long term financial security and may be more willing to spend money for vacations.
Tourist Classification:-
Tourists can be classified into the following seven demand categories:-
1. Explorer: – Very limited in number, these tourists are looking for discovery and involvement with local people.
2. Elite: – People who favour special, individually trips to exotic places.
3. Offbeat: – These are filled with a desire to get away from the usual humdrum life.
4. Unusual: – Visitors who are looking forward to trips with peculiar objectives such as physical danger or isolation.
5. Incipient mass: – A steady flow, traveling alone or in small-organized groups using some shared services.
6. Mass: – The general packaged tour market, leading to tourist enclaves abroad.
7. Charter: – Mass travel to relaxation destinations, which incorporate as many as standardized, developed world facilities as possible.
The Travel Decision:-
The average tourist is faced with considerable uncertainty regarding the decision and may have only scanty ideas about distant destinations. His evaluation of alternatives is also limited to the extent of this awareness about possible destinations. The stages of travel decision can be described as: -
1. Travel Desire:-
The first step where the need to travel is felt and the pros and cons are thought about.
2. Information Collection and Evaluation:-
This stage involves the process of finding out the trip from travel agents, books and acquaintances .information so collected is evaluated against criteria of cost and time constraints, alternative possibilities, relative attractiveness of destinations, perceived ‘safety’ o the alternative destinations etc.
3. Travel Decision:-
This is the decision phase involving selection of destination, travel, mode of accommodation and activities to be undertaken.
4. Travel Preparation and Experience:-
This involves tickets, bookings, travel, money and documents arrangement, clothing and undertaking of the travel.
5. Travel Satisfaction Evaluation:-
The whole tourism expenditure is constantly evaluated before, during and after the experience is used to influence future decisions.
The marketing concept for the travel and tourism industry is profit driven and customer centric (unlike sales which are volume driven and target centric).
Service Marketing Triangle
Service marketing is unique in many ways in the travel and tourism industry. There are 3 players in the transaction process:-
- Company: A travel and tourism company listens to the customers and evolves/develops the travel/tour package and it communicates the attractiveness and the utility of that very tour package directly to the customers. Here it (the company) performs external marketing. The company makes promises to the customers.
- Providers: They are a travel company’s internal customers constituting employees and agents. The company does internal marketing with the providers educating and motivating them about the idea of the particular tour package which they can offer to their customers. This is done to enable the providers to effectively carry out the service transaction process. The providers make provisions for office space, accessibility and connectivity. The company enables promises to be kept by this infrastructural association.
- Customers (Travelers): The customers are the reasons that the travel company exists and for whom the company has designed the traveling and touring package as well as set up the infrastructural facilities and spent money on employee development programmes. Here the providers are the only ones who interact with the customers, like the travel agents interact with the customers and not the company. The agents perform interactive marketing which is on-time, all-time, every-time. This is the most crucial aspect of service marketing in the travel and tourism sector. Those agents have the responsibility of ‘keeping promises’ made and enabled by the company. The providers (agents) are responsible for the perceived quality level of the service transaction. This underlines the uniqueness of service marketing.
Tourism Products:
1. Accommodation
• Hotels
• Motels
• Boatels
• Flotels
2. Destination
• Natural Scenes
• Historic Excellence
• Artificial Beauties
• Social Cultural Excellence
3. Transportation
• Infrastructural
i. Airways
ii. Railways
iii. Roadways
iv. Waterways
• Local
i. Local transport
4. Tour operators
• Travel companies
• Travel agents
• Guides
5. Shopping
• Handicrafts
• Handloom
• Books
Marketing mix for tourism product:
The designing of the marketing mix variables in case of tourism is significant as it helps the marketer in conceiving the right ideas, particularly to raise the acceptability of the tourist product by stimulating and penetrating the demand. Framing of a proper marketing mix is significant because it helps the tourist organization in accomplishing the objective and projecting a fair image.
Product Mix:
Tourism is a composite product with components like attraction facilities and transportation. Attraction deserves an intensive care. It includes natural site, places of historic interest, events and cultural attraction.
The facilities compliment attraction. The facilities include accommodation, food, transportation and recreational facilities. The transportation component includes the vehicles and infrastructure. Innovation in the tourism product helps raising the sensitivity. The users of the service are looking forward to better and improved product.
The provider of the tourist is a travel agent or the package tour. A well conceived and designed package tour, covering a wide range of tourist attraction at an economic price, helps in attracting the potential tourist.
The travel agent performs numerous activities such as hotel arrangement and accommodation, site seeing arrangement, domestic transport arrangement, air travel arrangement etc.
In a true sense the tour agents and the travel agents are the vehicles who can give a fillip to the tourism industry, provided they are well trained.
Pricing:
Pricing of the tourist product is complex. Geographical location of the destination, seasonality and varying demand affects the pricing decision.
In India the pricing strategies become important for promoting or contracting the tourism industry, since more than 40% of the total population are below the poverty line. In order to develop the tourism industry more and more potential users are to be transformed into actual users.
When a tourist proposes to visit a particular place, the total cost of his traveling also include the expenses incurred on transportation, accommodation and communication.
Liberal pricing strategy is found to be a productive pricing decision, particularly in case of tourism industry. The pricing strategy which includes low income group people, student and retired persons can be more effective. This is possible if the government concessional and subsidized infrastructural facilities to the potential tourist below the average income.
The different pricing methods generally used are cost based pricing, demand based pricing and competition based pricing.
Promotions:
The promotion mix includes advertising, publicity, sales support and public relations.
The purpose of promotion is to make available the information to the user. Advertising the sales promotion can be effective when supplemented by publicity and personal selling.
Radio, TV, newspapers, cinema and printings are some of the important vehicles for traveling of messages. Effective slogans raises the effectiveness of advertisement.
Another important component of the promotion mix is public relation. It helps in projecting the image of an organization. Public relation and publicity include regular articles and photographs of tour attraction, use of TV and travel journalists to promote editorial comment.
Public relation officer plays an important role. He should be efficient, active, impressive, intelligent and well-behaved.
Good image projection can be made if the PRO manages the affair like a professional. It is said that word of mouth is the best form of publicity. The word of mouth promotion is an important tool in tourism marketing.
Place:
The tourist centers should be located at suitable points if the tourists spots are natural there is no question of selection. In a vast country like India with a divergent socioeconomic and cultural patterns, the promotion of domestic tourism encourages unity in diversity.
Infrastructural facilities, transport and communication are important for development of tourist centres. The site selected should have natural surroundings, increased accessibility and improved amenities. At the same time it is also important that the ecological balance is not disturbed. Since growing ecological imbalances leads to pollution, some important steps like promoting afforestation, promotion and beautification may be undertaken in countering the side effects of atmospheric pollution and maintaining ecological balance.
-
HEALTH
HEALTH
Would I Become a Medical Practioner?
Who is a medical practitioner? This is the question which has embraced various facets in the presents-day life. All persons, Acharyas, Auyrvedic doctors, MBBS/MD degree holders, Homoepaths and even some of the unqualified persons prescribing herbs/medicines and Unani Hakims (whether by experience or by qualifications) come under the category of ‘Medical practitioners’. So is the case with Naturopaths who prescribe some natural/green herbs i.e. all to be used in the natural way- some use oils/ointments. The astrological principles provide the base for such persons and the combinations so prescribed some time make it difficult to pronounce whether the native is a medical practicing. Even some of the Yogis and those who are practicing Yogas/teaching yogas also prescribe some sort of medicines.
Astrology has many branches. The main astrological principles have been laid down by sage Prasara in his Prasara Hora and other classical works. We have Jatak-Parijat, Sarvartha Chintamani, Garg’s Hora, Varhamihira’s and so on. One other classic was given by Jaimini-Maharishi Jaimini- known as Jaimini Sutram. Jaimini system, though practiced by few has come us by way of English translation from various person including that of Prof. P.S.Sastri. Here the principles laid down in Jaimini system with regard to ‘medical practioner’ shall be examined:
(i) When the Moon is in a sign owned by Venus which should be Karakamsa Lagna and when this Moon is aspected by Venus, one becomes a Chemist.
(ii) When the Moon in Karakmasa is aspected by Mercurry one may become a medical practioner:
It may be noted that Jaimini system has laid very general principle and in actual practice it may be difficult to put them into practice. Be that as it may, we have to make use of the principles as laid down within the frame-work of Jaimini system. With regard to medical practitioners, in modern times various types of specialization in chemistry and medicine have come to stay. Considering the allocation of various parts of body to the different signs and houses, the following conclusions are possible:
-Preventive Medicine – Lagna, 6th house and 8th house
-Dermatology – Saturn and 8th house
-stomach ailments – 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th house
- Lumbago and its treatment – 7th house and Libra
- Urinary and kidney afflictions-their treatment – 8th house and scorpio
- Orthopedics – 9th house and saggitarus
-Throat, ears and Pharnx- E.N.T specialists – 3rd house and Gemini
-Othalmology -Capricorn aspects by Saturn
-Cardiologist – 7th house and Libra-consider also
the Moon, Mercurry, and Venus
- Radiologists – Aquirus or Scopio-Mars or Saturn
must be associated with Moon and
Mercurry
- Bones specialist – Saturn (under the main principles
of astrology, the sun is also for
bones
- Child specialist -5th houses, the Sun and Jupiter
- Surgeons (all types of surgery) – Mars (some attribute Rahu also)
- Gynecology – Mars and 8th house
Keeping in mind the basic principle that any specialization is provided by the mutual association of the Moon and Mercurry, the scope of bringing experts in the treatment of various parts of the body can be extended as under with reference to planets:
Field of Medical Practioner Planet responsible (broadly)
Including specialisation for this field
- Heart, circulatory system, blood, spleen, – The Sun
thyroid, spine etc.
- Digestive system, tumors, epilepsy, nausea, – The Moon
breasts, uterus.
- Piles, nasal ailments, genitals, muscles – Mars
(sex specialists)
- Respiratory system, lungs, nerves, – Mercurry
Pancreas, parathyroid, brain
- Liver, arteries, hips, diabetes, pancreas – Jupiter
(Pancreas are indicated both for Mercurry
and Jupiter)
- Kidney, ovaries, diphtheria, hair, neck, skin, – Venus
ulcers, veins
- Bones, mineral salts, teeth, knees, feet, gali – Saturn
Bladder, arthritis, all chronic complaints
Since Jamini system of astrology need to be developed/ practiced, those involved in this study and its practice may please mail their views to the editor, ASTROLOGY- THE SOUL OF ALL.
It may be mentioned that- the 1st house of ‘Kala Pursha’ is the head and brain (Self). According to rules of ‘triplicity’ (three houses), 1st, 2nd and 3rd houses represent self. 4th, 5th and 6th houses are attributed to comforts and pleasures of life. 7th, 8th and 9th houses represent sex’ and connected matters. Finally, ‘Karma’ and Dharma’ are assigned to 10th, 11th and 12th (including salvation).
Now, a word about the parts of the body, medical profession/medicine/chemistry etc. as to what other classics authorities say. With regards to distribution of limbs in Jaimini’s pre-natal astrology and Prasara’s natal astrology, it can be said that both agree that Head, face and stomach are signified by 1st, 2nd and 5th houses respectively. On other parts, difference of opinion is as under:
House Jaimini Prasara
3 Throat, ears, phyarnx -Hands
4 Arms -Heart
6 Shanks, Loins -Lions
7 Heart, back -Abdomen
8 Anus, genitals -Genitals
9 Legs -Thighs
10 Eyes -Knees
11 Ears -shanks
12 Nose -Feet
(Note the sharp difference specially for house no. 10, 11 and 12)
Varahamihira assigns loins to the 6th house and 7th house is attributed to abdomen.
It hardly need to be mentioned that medical profession runs into various specialized branches. Under Jaimini principles, it is seen that Moon and Mercurry need to be related to one another.
Here comes the role of ASTROLOGY- THE SOUL OF ALL. The astrologer has to apply his mind to the totality of the horoscopes keeping in view the significations of the houses, signification of the planets, planets occupying a particular and aspected sign/house by a particular planet. Apart from signs, planets and houses, we have Nakshtra based professions. For example, natives born under Aswini must give rise to doctors/engineers depending on the degree (Pada od Aswini). For detail, ask for S.P.Pahwa’s book on Aswini Naksthra- the complete ready- reckons for persons born with the Moon upto 13.20 degrees vis-à-vis results of other planets in Aswini.
-
Sports Memorabilia Value: What’s it Really Worth?
“I have a Derek Jeter autographed baseball. How much is it worth?” We hear this question all the time. Everybody wants to know how much money they can get for their sports memorabilia. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple to determine.
The short answer is, and the answer that many sports memorabilia dealers tell their customers, is that your sports memorabilia is worth what someone is willing to pay you for it! Although this answer is simple enough, there is a way to determine the value of an item. It may not be what we can sell the item for, but we certainly can find out what similar items have sold for.Let’s take the Derek Jeter autograph baseball as an example. We are at Yankee Stadium and Jeter is signing autographs on the rail before the game. We toss him a ball, and low and behold, he signs it. It’s our lucky day! We happened to be in the right place at the right time. We now own Derek Jeter autograph baseball.
What’s it worth?
When we get home from the game, the first thing we do is check the internet to see if we can find a value for our new prized possession. We go to our favorite search engine, type in “Derek Jeter autograph baseball” and, needless to say, we get the phone book. There are literally thousands of sites that have this.
We do some more searching and click on to Steiner Sports. Now Steiner is one of the largest memorabilia companies around, are based in New York, and do exclusive signings with Derek Jeter. They sell Derek Jeter autographed baseballs for $500 each. Does that mean my ball worth $500?
Lets continue.
Next stop, a sports memorabilia store that sell Jeter autographed baseballs for $399. In fact, this company is a Steiner authorized distributor, the ball is authenticated by Steiner, and is the exact same item that Steiner sells for more. So is my ball worth $399?
Not so fast, lets move on.
On to EBay. Here we find a very wide range of Derek Jeter autographed baseballs from many different types of sellers. Some have COA’s from Steiner, some from PSA/DNA, some from Joe’s Baseball Card Emporium, and some that have no COA’s at all. Selling prices are all over the board, from as low $50 in some cases, to over $900 in others. We don’t even know if half of these are real.
At this point we are totally confused. How can there be such a price difference for the same Derek Jeter autographed baseball? Well the answer my friends, is that they are not all the same! There are many factors that determine the value of similar items. Two of the most important factors are condition of the item and authenticity.
When you pay top dollar from a company like Steiner Sports for an autograph baseball, you get a brand new, snow white baseball, with a strong, smudge free Derek Jeter penned signature on the sweet spot. It is a top condition ball. If you pay less, you usually get less. A Derek Jeter autographed baseball signed on a dirty or soiled ball, or one that is signed on a side panel, or one where the autograph is fading, is certainly going to be worth much less.
The same is true about authenticity. If you are not sure that the ball has actually been hand signed by that player, it is worthless. Because of their reputation, a Derek Jeter autograph with a Steiner Sports COA is the best you can do. They witness every ball signed. You can’t beat that unless you see the player sign the item yourself, which is impractical in most cases. Other companies, such as Mounted Memories, Tri-Star, and UDA are reputable as well and their authenticity is not questioned in the industry. Reputation and integrity of the company or individual standing behind the product is more important than the product itself. That is why some people will pay top dollar for their items, because they know that it’s real.
So how does my ball compare with these. Well, it was a new ball before the game, but after Jeter signed it, he threw it back to me and I dropped it and it got a little dirty. Plus my friend got some mustard from his hot dog on it. Oh yea, Jeter signed it on the side panel with a sharpie, but I did witness it. Although who’s going to believe me if I want to sell it. But I still want to know what’s it worth?The answer. It’s worth what someone is willing to pay for it!
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011