global tourism - assessment 2 - vienna

0594617 Assessment 2 Global Tourism

Tourism development within a destination can be exorbitantly influenced by both

positive and negative issues taking place in or around a destination. These issues

may be of an environmental, socio, cultural, economic or political nature and can

either directly or indirectly influence tourism development within a destination. The

purpose of this essay is to firstly look at the current situation of tourism development

in Vienna and discuss the destination in relation to Butler’s Lifecycle Model (Butler,

1980). Following this, the paper will identify some of the current issues in and around

Vienna and the implications that these either positive or negative issues have on

tourism development within this iconic tourist destination. Finally, the essay will

review Vienna’s current tourism strategy for 2020 (Brauner & Kettner, 2014) and

identify and explain the goals/objectives within that strategy in relation to the issues

that currently affect tourism development within Vienna.

Currently, tourism within Vienna is booming as in 2013 there were a recorded 12.7

million overnight stays, whereas in 2003 there were only 4.8 million which shows a

60 percent increase of overnight stays in Vienna over just 10 years (Brauner &

Kettner, 2014). When analysing where Vienna sits within Butler’s Lifecycle Model,

one needs to identify each stage of the cycle the destination has already achieved

(Butler, 1980). At the exploration stage of a destination, visitor numbers are low and

at irregular intervals, whereas contact with the locals is high. This can be due to the

destination having low level facilities and accessibility. As a tourism destination

Vienna was within this stage until the 15th-16th century, which marked the age of the

Classical Period. During this era, Vienna experienced an upsurge in music and the

arts, which not only drastically increased visitors to the city, but also placed Vienna

on the map for becoming a tourism destination, mostly for scholars and the

European elite (Sherrane, 2012). This allowed Vienna to develop as a tourism

destination to the involvement stage of the Butler Lifecycle Model (1980), where

communities within the city begun to highly encourage tourism to the destination

which resulted in significant improvements to infrastructure such as universities, art

galleries and distinctive architecture unique to that period of time in order to attract

visitor numbers. This would continue until the 18th century where the development

stage of Butler’s lifecycle would be reached. By now, the visitor numbers were

exceeding those of the locals and improvements and additions to the current

infrastructure became necessary and rural areas were consolidated into the city of

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Vienna (TravelSmart Limited, 2016). Furthermore, in the latter half of the 19 th century

the entrance of Thomas Cook saw the early formation of mass tourism were

organised group travel arrangements to Vienna begun. Despite taking serious blows

during World War I and 2 in the 20th century, Vienna persevered as a destination and

quickly rebuild thanks to the aid of the United States and technological

advancements following the wars. This also resulted in Vienna becoming heavily

reliant on a tourism as an economic revitaliser which led to diversification into other

areas of the arts such as film tourism and accessibility to Vienna was drastically

improved (TravelSmart Limited, 2016). This allowed Vienna to develop to the

consolidation stage of Butlers Lifecycle. Throughout the late 19 th and 20th centuries,

Vienna continued to more than incrementally develop as a tourist destination which

eventually in the early 21st century would reach the stagnation stage of Butler’s

Lifecycle where peak numbers within the destination had been reached (Hall, Smith

& Marciszewska, 2006).

Stagnation of tourism development within a destination can lead to numerous

problems. Examples experienced by Vienna include a significant increase in day

tourists which less income, a decline in the duration of stay, a strong reliance on

seasonal tourism and the exertion of Vienna’s maximum carrying capacity (Muller,

Peters & Blanco, 2010). In relation to the issue of seasonality one of the big issues

influencing tourism destination within Vienna, is the significant climate shift/change in

Europe (Schinko, Koberl, Friedl, Prettenthaler, Toglhofer, Heinrich & Gobiet, 2012).

As tourism in Vienna during the winter season is extremely reliant on snow within the

vast number of alpine ski resorts, the climate change within Europe has had a

noticeable impact on ski tourism within Vienna (Probstl, Prutsch, Formayer,

Landauer, Grabler, Kulnig, Jesch, Dallhammer & Krajasits, 2013 and Fischer, Olefs

& Abermann, 2011). The climate shift in Europe has resulted in reduced snowfall,

shorter winter seasons and significant overhead costs for resorts as many have had

to resort to using snowmaking machines which can be costly to run for long periods

of time. In addition to these problems, the climate change has severely impacted on

agricultural seasons within Vienna. Often this would usually not severely affect

tourism within a destination however in the case of Vienna, quite a large portion of its

tourism is achieved through the wine it produces, also known as gastronomy. Due to

wine production being affected this has resulted in tourists who would usually go to

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Vienna for its wine rather choosing alternative destinations such as Germany,

Switzerland or the Czech Republic as they border Austria and are also large wine

producers (Schinko, et al., 2012). Finally, other problems caused by the climate

change in Austria include increased rainfall which means there are less sunny days

for tourists to go sightseeing than previously and a notable decrease in fresh drinking

water as Vienna receives its water supply from the lower Austrian Alps rather than

using groundwater (Rudel, Matzarakis & Koch, 2007).

Another important issue to consider and usually the most important deciding factor

on whether a tourist travels to a destination or not is the political stability of that

destination. In regards to Vienna, the Austrian political stability in general is

extremely stable which often can be a deciding factor of visitors travelling to Vienna

over other surrounding European countries. However, there have been some recent

political issues within Austria which have been within high discussion of tourists

looking to travel to Vienna. One such issue has been the policy surrounding refugee

entry across the Austrian border (Kreichenbaum, 2016). Earlier in 2016, a

conference was held with a decision to effectively close the borders for refugees on

the ‘Balkan route’ which blocks entry from refugees’ entry into Macedonia from

Greece. Furthermore, the Austrian government has severely reduced the number of

refugee applications overall and now only allowing 3,200 refugees a day across the

border (Kreichenbaum, 2016). Austria’s decision to close the border has received

sharp criticism by a majority of the countries within the EU. This political activity

would potentially be a major deterrent for tourists to travel to Vienna as these

activities have been very public and travellers may view Austria as a very racist

country based on the government’s view on refugee foreign policy, especially the

majority of Vienna’s tourists are from the European countries they are receiving

criticism from. Tension between the Austrian foreign minister and Turkey’s

counterpart even exacerbated to the point where Turkey’s minister referred to

Austria as “the capital of radical racism” (Huet, 2016).

A politically related issue to the refugee crisis is terrorism. Although there have been

no recorded major terrorism incidents within Vienna or Austria in general in recent

years, there have certainly have been within neighbouring or nearby European

nations. More often than not, fear alone of travelling to a tourist destination due to

acts of terrorism which have taken place recently within that destination or another

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nearby destination can become a primary deterrent for a tourist choosing to not

travel to that destination. Terrorism within Europe has reached its peak within the

past two decades and with the fairly recent terrorist attacks by ISIS within France

and Germany (amongst other European nations), vigilance by antiterrorism units is

on red alert as feared attempted terrorism attacks using chemical warfare or car

bombings are feared to be imminent (TV-Novosti, 2016). In addition, the two of the

terrorists involved with the November 2015 bombings in France, were arrested in

Austria which is an issue which further discourages tourists from travelling to Vienna

(TV-Novosti, 2016). Although there have been extreme restrictions on the number of

refugees who can now seek asylum within Austria, the large number of refugees who

are now within Austria are creating significant issues. Firstly, there has been a

noticeable increase in crime, especially by refugees. Over 11,000 refugees have

been suspected of committing criminal offences within just the first half of 2016

compared to a just over 15,000 for the whole of 2015 (TV-Novosti, 2016). Despite

only 13 of these issues being related to terrorism acts, these staggering numbers set

a noticeable restraint on current tourism development within Vienna. Secondly, the

influx of refugees has stirred further internal political issues which include but are not

limited to soldiers replacing police as embassy guards in Vienna in order to fight the

refugee crisis, more Austrians turning to firearms following the terrorist attacks in

France and Germany, and even clashes between left and right wing activists within

Vienna which have resulted in riots from the Identitarian Movement who are often

described as a racist and Islamophobic group (TV-Novosti, 2016). All of these

predicaments can potentially or have already become barriers or hindrances to

tourism development within Vienna as they are directly linked to travellers perceiving

Vienna currently as an ‘unsafe’ destination due to all the negative media being

displayed which can often be even more subjective than it realistically is.

Finally, in order for a destination to be able to monitor and improve tourism

development within that area, a tourism strategic plan for that location is paramount

for that destination to reach their goals and objectives. Currently, Vienna have a

tourism strategy which focuses on three primary goals that the Vienna Tourist Board

wants to achieve by 2020 (Brauner & Kettner, 2014). The number of international

visitors to Vienna has quadrupled since 1980 and is expected to increase by 65

percent by 2030. In order to maximize benefits from this growth, the goals the

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carefully formulated strategic focus on improving Vienna’s competitiveness within the

international tourism market and strengthen its ranking as a one of the most highly

sort after and well-connected tourist destinations on a global scale (Brauner &

Kettner, 2014). The Vienna Tourist Board use a formula within the strategic plan in

order to create plan’s primary objectives. This formula is known as

‘Global.Smart.Premium’ with each of these three areas related to a primary goal or

objective which the board wants to achieve by 2020. Global focuses on Vienna as an

international destination both as a centre for political decisions, economic

development and at its role as a primary European tourism destination based on its

location, accessibility and level of urban and cultural development. As Vienna is

regularly used for conference and business and educational type tourism, the Tourist

Board has placed extra emphasis on developing Vienna on a global scale in order to

compete with European destinations who are developing at a similar rate such as

Zurich, Munich and Geneva (Dill, 2015).

In order to maintain and develop Vienna within this context, the Global objective

looks at improving connectivity to and within Vienna and developing and adding to

the already renowned number of influential enterprises, universities and research

facilities which Vienna is already home to which attract world class talent (Brauner &

Kettner, 2014). The Smart goal looks at Vienna from both an environmental and

liveability standpoint. This area is extremely important in relation to the climate

change issue which is currently affecting tourism seasonality within Vienna. The

Vienna Tourist Board is looking to further reduce the cities already small ecological

footprint in order to lessen the impact of the climate shift for the foreseeable future.

In addition, in regards to liveability there are plans for technological and innovation

projects in order to further increase the appeal of Vienna as a tourist destination

which extremely safe and secure from both a political and a social standard while

also reducing resource consumption and increasing resource sustainability (Brauner

& Kettler, 2014). The Smart goal is an ideal objective in once again combatting the

climate shift problem and also contesting the current safety issues within Vienna due

to politics and terrorism which deter tourists from travelling to Vienna. Finally, the

Premium goal looks at increasing the luxury quality of products within Vienna which

standout from its European destination competition. Due to Vienna’s location and

immense accessibility, it is a popular choice for short stay tourists. Rather than focus

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on increasing the length of stay by visitors, the Tourist Board is looking to increase

the amount of money that the visitors are spending within Vienna (Brauner & Kettler,

2014). These is a specific goal to achieve a revenue of €1 billion in the hospitality

sector and 18 million bed/nights by 2020 (Steffens, 2014). This revenue is extremely

important as although this goal does not directly relate to the climate or political

issues within Vienna, portions of this money can be used to fund environmental

projects, improve liveability and overall positively promote Vienna as a safe,

sustainable and stable tourism destination to the rest of the world.

In conclusion, it is obvious that Vienna is one of the top European travel destinations

in the world. Although having achieved the Stagnant stage of Butler’s Lifecycle

Model (1980), history shows that Vienna as a tourist destination is determined to

persevere and push forward ahead of its competition. The major current issues

influencing tourism development within Vienna as previously discussed are the

European climate shift, slight political instability caused from refugee issues and fear

of impending terrorism attacks and from acts of terrorism which have already taken

place within neighbouring nations. However, in the large scheme of things these are

relatively small hurdles for Vienna as a tourism destination as tourism statistics in

recent years have shown. In addition, the Vienna Tourism Board has developed a

well-constructed tourism strategy, which if it is as efficacious as the previous

strategies in recent years will achieve auspicious results. Nonetheless, future issues

would could potentially significantly affect tourism development within Vienna are

unforeseeable, so as a tourism destination the Vienna Tourism Board should be

optimistic and have contingencies in place just in case such issues were to take

place. In the short to midterm scheme of things however, it is to all appearances that

Vienna will continue to improve and flourish as a tourist destination.

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References

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Tourismusstrategie-2020_EN.pdf

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for Management of Resources. Canadian Geographer, 24(1), 5-12.

doi:10.1111/j.1541-0064.1980.tb00970.x

Dill, K. (2015, March 5). Vienna Tops 2015 List Of The Most Livable Cities On Earth.

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