Attractions Management Individual Project

Hey Mindy! How are your studies in hospitality and tourism management?

I'm really surprised that we are studying such similar things although we're in two different educational institutes.

I'm so excited that you're visiting Singapore finally! I've looked through the attractions that you were interested in and I noticed that the Singapore Botanic Gardens is in your list! I've visited the Botanic Gardens several times before, and it has never ceased to amuse me!

As for your questions, I've spent some of my time to visit Botanic Gardens again to refresh my memory of the place! This is what I've found out through my research!

Background

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a public owned attraction that is owned by the National Parks Board whose vision is to convert Singapore into a "City in a Garden" instead of just a Garden City. The NPB's main priority is to create the best living environment through excellent greenery and recreation, in partnership with the community and through the Botanic Gardens, they are doing just that.

A) How will you classify the attraction according to the visitor market?

Target Market

The Singapore Botanic Garden targets couples, families with and without children and tourists who have personalities or lifestyles that are interested in greenery, scenic views, and nature in general.

Their target market age group varies quite largely from youngsters of 18 years of age to elderly to age of 50 who visit the botanic gardens for light physical activities such as using the foot reflexology path or taking a stroll through the various gardens in the area.

They also have a variety of monthly tours around the gardens for anyone to sign up, along with a calendar of unique tours queued up month after month for visitors who seek special tours. Their target market consists of both day and staying visitors, who simply are interested in Singapore's gardens.

(Unique Event : Mother's Day Concert!)

B) What are the motivating factors that will interest me to visit the recommended attraction?

Motivating Factors

Mindy, I've known you for so long and I can tell you that you wouldn't want to miss Singapore's Botanic Gardens when you're such an enthusiast for plants and eco-friendly acts.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a tourist destination that has a variety of attractions rather than a single attraction dominating the destination.

This is due to the fact that the Botanic Gardens has a variety of different plants to show off such as majestic mature trees over hundred years of age that can be found in the Heritage Trees Walking Trail, which is an initiative taken by the Botanic Gardens to preserve such important green landmarks of Singapore in order to conserve and educate the community on the importance of our mature trees, creating a sense of permanence and identity to the place we live in. These trees and plants come from all over the world, ranging from our neighbor, Malaysia to countries like Africa, Indonesia, Australia and many more.

(Tembusu tree that is featured on Singapore's $5 note!)

The Botanic Gardens also have attraction destinations in inside such as Tanglin Core, Central Core and Bukit Timah Core, and inside these destinations they have their very own attractions such as the Botany Centre(Below) in Tanglin Core which is located at the southern end of the Gardens where the gardens was first established in 1859. The area provides facilities for education and research with laboratories that houses the heritage collection of the herbarium and library. The Saraca Stream Walk, which is a man-made stream located in the Tanglin Core shows a large variety tropical plants along the stream, and you can walk along the paves provided to take a closer look at the flora.

(Botany Garden!!)

(Saraca Stream Walk, A newer attraction in Tanglin Core)

From these few examples, I'm sure you can only imagine the wide variety of flora they have imported from all over the world, never giving you a feeling where you're looking at the same plants over and over again.

Also, the Singapore Botanic Gardens have taken alot of measures to preserve important and significant trees as shown by the Heritage Trail, showing their efforts and interests in the eco-system. Thus, travelers from all over the world who believe in eco-friendliness may also be interested in the measures taken by Botanic Gardens.

The Botanic Gardens also provides a really educational experience for visitors interested in learning about plants and trees since they often host educational tours and workshops which occur monthly as I said earlier. I believe that by visiting Botanic Gardens even you'll be able to learn something new about plants as well! Maybe something about the art of Bonsai(dwarfing of trees) or even about Singapore's symbolic flower, the Orchid, in the National Orchid Gardens by paying a small fee of $5 for adults, $1 for students and senior citizens whereas children can enter for free.

3 Levels of Products

Core Product => Relaxation / Getaway / Education / Knowledge

Tangible Product => Brochures / Plants / Trees / Flora & Fauna / Signage

Augmented Product => Carpark / F&B Facilities / Weather / Opening Hours

Tangible Benefits => Feel the plants / Fresh air

Intangible Benefits => De-stress / Getaway / Family Time / Personal Time

C)Describe the unique nature of the attraction as a service product, in the context of your selected attraction. What challenges does this pose for the attraction?

Description

When we look at an attraction as a service product, it explains that the attraction is not simply a product that affects the visitor/user when the visitor interacts with the attraction, but it is actually a product that has other facilitating factors of the attraction which as part of the product as the factors also affects the visitor's impressions and emotions and satisfaction when using the product.

Factors

These factors include the staff, who are involved in producing and delivering the product itself, which shows that the staff are actually part of the product itself, due to the fact that the staff's interaction with the visitors prove as a "Moment of Truth" where the visitor will be affected by the staff's attitudes, behaviors and appearances. In the context of Botanic Gardens, the visitors will be affected by how the staff provide information to them, tend to the flowers and plants, and explain certain aspects of the gardens to other visitors.

The second factor of looking at attraction as a service product believes that the visitors themselves are involved in the production process, which is also known as inseparability between the visitors and the production process itself, where the product reflects the visitors' own attitudes, expectations and experiences, since the product is customized by the visitors. In the context of Botanic Gardens, visitors are involved in the production process since they are the one that choose the different attractions to go to, out of the large variety of attractions available, and these different routes will provide a different experience every time they're at the Botanic Gardens. Some routes may provide more educational information about trees and plants just like in the Central Core, where you can visit the Healing Garden, Evolution Garden and EJH Corner House where they have signage on most of the plants explaining what they are whereas others may provide more nature viewing and relaxation such as by visiting the Tanglin Core and sitting by the Gazette while taking a look at the Vanda Miss Joaquim, the Orchid Garden.

(The Bandstand(Gazette)) (Vanda Miss Joaquim(Orchid Garden))

The third factor believes that a service product is not standardized, which is known as the problem of variability, where the product is changing all the time, reflected by the relationship between the product, service deliverer and the customer itself. In Botanic Gardens context, visitors who visit the Swan Lake to look at the black and white swans may not be able to see the swans clearly if the swans do not swim close enough, and they may blame the staff for not trying to lure them over, whereas some staff may attempt to lure them over to entertain the guests whereas other staff may care more about the well-being of the swans and not want to affect the swans' moods.

The fourth factor believes that a service product is perishable and cannot be stored, where revenue will be lost if tickets are not sold out. However, in the context of Botanic Gardens, there is no actual perishability since majority of the gardens is accessible with no charge.

The fifth factor explains that there is no tangible product to carry home in a service product, explaining intangibility of a service product, where the customer will not be able to inspect a good before purchasing it, and neither will the customer be able to ask for a refund or exchange if the service experience was unsatisfactory. In the context of Botanic Gardens, visitors may be afraid of the opportunity cost of time lost while visiting the gardens, whether or not the time spent there will be worth it.

The last factor explains that the surroundings or ambiance of the location where the service is delivered is also a feature of the service. Which is the problem of environment in which the service is delivered, whether or not it is suitable for and attractive to the visitor. In the context of Botanic Gardens, nature lovers visiting may prefer a quiet ambiance where they can look at nature away from the hustle of the city, in peace and quiet, whereas for families visiting the garden, they may just want to have a good time out, and may not need a quiet ambiance to satisfy their needs.

Conclusion

This 6 factors pose as a challenge for the attraction as the Botanic Gardens will need to conduct researching of trends, training, and other measures in order to lessen the impacts of not fulfilling these factors satisfactorily, in order to increase or maintain visitorship in the vicinity.

D) Share why you think the attraction has been highly ranked on TripAdvisor.

Well, Mindy, like I said, I've visited the Botanic Gardens several times before, and if I were to choose, I'll still continue visiting it over other gardens, including the Gardens by the Bay.

Firstly, it's due to the fact that the Botanic Gardens is located in a place where you will not be bothered by the busy buzz of the business district or traffic and noise, which is a good place to forget about the busyness and stress of everyday life.

Secondly, it's a beautiful, clean garden where families can gather to have a simple picnic and spend a lazy afternoon together playing ball, reading stories, having chit-chat sessions et cetera.

Thirdly, it's such a grand and lavish garden where nature lovers who want to take a break from their work would visit to look at the large variety of trees, flora, and appreciate the beauty of nature.

Lastly, they have such a large variety of attractions or sub-gardens, and other facilities that tends to so many different types of people, allowing different people with different needs to visit the garden and yet have their needs satisfied.

Hence, I believe that in general, it's due to Botanic Garden's large array of attractions, gardens, facilities that it has been highly ranked, since multiple target market's needs would be satisfied, and it would be more possible to satisfy most of the tourists needs, since one of the main reasons tourists visit Singapore is to explore our parks and wildlife. The Botanic Garden is also very unique in a point where it has many sub-gardens in it to cater to the different needs of different target markets.

E) Comment on the impact the attraction has on Singapore

Economic Impact

The 154 year old Botanic Gardens definitely has quite a few impacts on Singapore since it has been around for such a long period of time, and yet still it's standing strong. Firstly, the economic impacts of the Botanic Gardens include the improvement of crops such as rubber and orchid hybrids. The scientific plant research held at the botanical gardens not only had a technological impact on Singapore but a economic impact as well since they were able to offer the research to other countries at a price. Just last year, the Botanic Gardens attracted 4.4 million visitors and these visitors would draw significant foreign currencies into the country. These visitors also increase income for government since these visitors spend money on F&B, accommodation and et cetera, and taxes would be charged for those purchases. The visitor expenditure also has a multiplier effect within the local and regional economy, improving the economy. When the regional economy improves, they would also in turn think about investing in Singapore, increasing the amount of cash injections into Singapore. These taxes also provide jobs for locals since the government would take the taxes to build facilities, buildings and other attractions, increasing the amount of jobs available in the market.

Environmental Impact

For environmental impact, the Botanic Gardens also provide a positive impact, where it provides the public with a peaceful and quiet environment where families and couples can spend time to de-stress and spend time together, taking a short break away from the stress of the fast-paced environment of Singapore. It also serves as a heritage and educational site for visitors and locals alike to learn more about our environment and the important of being eco-friendly, as shown by the Heritage Trails, and this will in turn improve the environment and socio-culture of Singapore as the locals and visitors learn to appreciate the environment better, and treat it better.

Socio-cultural Impact

The socio-cultural impacts of the Botanic Gardens is also positive as the "isolated" Botanic Gardens serves as a place where people can have fun without disturbing people who are busy with work or studies alike, providing a spot for youths, families, couples and tourists to visit to have fun and enjoy themselves. Also, as said before, the heritage and educational sites available in the Botanic Gardens will also improve people's mindset of the environment, teaching them to be eco-friendly.

So, Mindy, I hope that I have successfully persuaded you to visit the Botanic Gardens as it's a really nice place to go, especially since it's open to public with no ticketing charges. I hope that I have helped you with your questions and perhaps we could meet up while you're here!!