The Future of Tourism

The Future of Tourism

Tourism is the business of attracting, accommodating and entertaining tourists. Tourism is a significant economic activity practiced by many states in the world. Tourism can either be domestic or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications to the country’s economy. Here, a scenario about the tourism in Catalunya is assessed and the future of tourism in this destination. Catalunya is one of the main tourist destinations in Europe and tourism evolution in Catalonia had gone through very many cycles. In the year 2017, Barcelona received over 30 million tourists with the tourists spending 48 million nights in the destination (Hernández,2016). Catalonia is used as the case study because of how the city manages tourism, and the transparency showed by the stakeholders. The city has formulated ways to ensure the growth of tourism in the region by addressing environmental, cultural diversity and social responsibility. This strategic planning aims to ensure that tourism is sustainable by attracting more tourists in the future and to enable the city to be able to manage any adverse effects arising from the tourism business in Catalunya.

To come up with the proper strategic plan for tourism in Catalunya, then it is important that we first have a history of how tourism has evolved in Barcelona in recent years. Tourism in Barcelona has experienced rapid growth since the 1992 Olympics (Bellini,2017). Tourists visiting the destination increased from 7 million in 1990 to 8 million in the year 2013. The rapid growth of tourism in Catalunya saw Barcelona become the fourth-ranked tourist attraction cities in Europe behind London, Paris, and Rome. The rapid growth of tourism has been a result of the implementation of policies, which favor the tourism sector in Spain. Barcelona has experienced rapid growth in the tourism sector because the management of tourism in the city is the responsibility of the Ajuntament de Barcelona and marketing is being carried out by Turisme de Barcelona. The division of labor in the tourism sector has contributed to the success of the tourism business in Catalunya. One policy that has contributed to the success of tourism in Catalunya is the determination of the responsible bodies to discuss widely on the issues, which arises on the tourism sector each year based on the published data. The Olympic games in Barcelona in the year 1992 was very crucial to the tourism sector in Barcelona because the activity drew to the world’s attention the dramatic and photogenic architecture of the city. Urban renewal programme of the city prior to the Olympics transformed the city to become a great place to live and to visit. Tourism sustainability in the city of Catalunya has been a critical comment among many intellects in Spain. New policies and reforms need to be put in place for the city to maintain its status as one of the most preferred tourist’s destinations in Europe.

The primary objective of the strategic plan is to highlight how tourism in Catalunya will be managed in the next couple of years. The strategic plan considers a number of different scenarios from the past years regarding the independence of the Madrid and Barcelona cities. The strategic plan aims to increase the number of tourists visiting the destination year after a year to make Catalonia one of the best destinations in the Mediterranean. The most significant objective of the strategic plan is to increase the number of tourists visiting the destination by 10 %. To achieve this objective in the previous years, Catalonia should establish marketing strategies, which would see the city win more tourists.  Structured advertisements should be put in place to ensure that all the people in the world are aware of the destination. Technology should be used to ensure that advertisements target all the tourists in the entire globe. Use of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook will create awareness about the attractive city of Catalonia. Pictures of the serene environments of the city should also be broadcasted on international television channels, which are commonly watched to ensure that a wide pool of tourists is reached. Another objective of the strategic plan is to ensure that Catalonia tourism offers a wide range of distinctive experiences with the high quality associated services. The other objective is to boost the financial impact of the sector by attracting tourists with high spending power. To ensure that Catalonia attracts tourists with high spending power then the management should ensure that the services offered in the city are of high quality and distinctive from other services offered at different tourist attraction destinations. The individuals in the management of tourism in Catalonia should be aware of their role to ensure that there is no confusion about the roles of the DMOs. The private sectors used in providing various services should be in agreement with the government to ensure that the supply of important services to the tourists do not stop and the result of these efforts will be increased number of tourists visiting the city of Catalonia.

Demographic factors that should be improved in Catalonia to improve its tourism business include infrastructure and the population of the people living in the city. The standards of the people living in Catalonia should be improved to ensure that they co-exist in peace and harmony (Santos-Lacueva,2018). Improving the standards of the people living within the destination will automatically attract more tourists because tourists are attracted by the standards of living in a place. Improvement of the infrastructure of the city such as constructing modern beaches will enable the city to attract more tourists with high spending power. Economic factors should also be put into consideration by the government of Spain. The government should ensure that the prices of essential commodities, which are used by most tourists are controlled to reduce the risk of inflation. Tourists always like to visit places that are not affected by inflation problems. Political temperatures in Spain should also be maintained low to ensure that peace and security prevail in the city of Catalonia. Laws in the country, which tend to frustrate the tourists should be implemented to ensure that tourists will have freedom while enjoying themselves in the destination. Technological advancement is also another key factor to attract more tourists in the city of Catalonia. Most of the transactions and communications between the tourists and the tourist guides should be through online means to attract more tourists.

In summary, Catalonia strategic plan will help the city to reach more tourists with high spending power. In the process of attracting more tourists, the demographic, economic social political and technological forces should be put at balance to make the city more attractive to the tourists. The standards of the people living within the city should be improved for the tourists to be pleased. The infrastructure of Catalonia need to be developed as outlined in the strategic plan to make lives easier for the tourists visiting the destination. For Catalonia to improve the tourism sector, high quality, and distinctive services to the tourists should be provided.