Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
1. CASE STORY.........................................................................................................................................
2. TRAVEL AND TOURISM......................................................................................................................
2.1. TRENDS IN TOURISM...................................................................................................................
2.2. DESTINATIONS AND COMPETITIVENESS................................................................................
2.3. CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING TOURISM IN PRAGUE.........................................................
3. MANAGING COOPERATION..............................................................................................................
3.1. CHANGING FOR THE BETTER..................................................................................................
3.3. MODEL OF CHANGE...................................................................................................................
3.4. CASE RELEVANT QUESTIONS..................................................................................................
REFERENCES:.........................................................................................................................................
1. CASE STORY
In August, I decided to visit Prague for the first time. As always, I spent some time in
researching various forums and web sites, in an attempt to identify things that could happen
to spoil my vacation. Now, besides the usual warnings of thieves and restaurants and taxi
frauds, people gave a lot of attention to the money exchange.
Feeling sure that I had covered all the potential obstacles to having a perfect tourist
experience, I ventured into the unknown. Prague turned out to be more than I expected, and
we enjoyed our stay tremendously. However, soon I found out that the time I had spent
researching was wasted.
Figure 1: No commission,
When we arrived to
Prague,
our
guide
while exchanging 10 or 20
euro?
exchanged
into
crowns
crowns.
50
euro
Anyway,
for
the same transaction. The next day, I needed more money and I stopped by an exchange
office in the very centre of the city, which was properly marked and seemed like a decent
place. I checked the sign on the door, and read that I would receive 270 crowns for 10 euro.
Feeling confident, I approached the cashier and asked How much will you pay me for ten
Euros? She confirmed the amount on the sign. With an attitude I am a tourist but I will not
be easily cheated, I continued: Any additional charges? She said No. I gave her 10
Euros note. She typed something into the computer and provided me with the receipt and the
money. I went out, and counted the money I received 162 crowns instead of 270! And on
the receipt it was neatly written: 4 Euros charge per transaction.
I counted to ten, trying in vain to control my anxiety, and returned into the exchange
office. When I asked for an explanation, she said that she was sorry and that her English was
bad. Annoyed, I left the office without further discussion. I rechecked the signs on the
entrance and there was nothing about any additional charges. My good feeling was gone and
the first thing I did upon arrival to the hotel was to announce the scam on Facebook. Not that
it helped, but eventually I decided to let it go. It was only 4 euro and not exactly the end of
the world. However, this unpleasant event made me reluctant to shop in Prague, and I decided
to leave the souvenirs and presents for another occasion.
I picked this experience to show how one simple and rather unimportant service can
spoil the efforts of many people who have been working hard to promote and maintain the
image of the city. Even now, that event is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think
of Prague, despite all the natural beauties, welcoming people and gorgeous architecture. I am
aware that many people have had the same experience, and what truly bothers me is the
attitude of the city authorities towards such a practice. After all, when visiting the city famous
for its culture and tradition, who can expect to be cheated?
Despite the increase in visitors, number of overnight stays has dropped as well as total
expenditure per visitor and the length of stay (Czech Tourism, 2013).
Budapest, Belgrade, Dresden ... The tourists are well informed, price sensitive and prefer
online communication.
3. MANAGING COOPERATION
As said, service in tourism is a result of a range of public and private organizations
activities. Each of them contributes to the visitors experience. Due to the marketing efforts of
Prague City Tourism, people perceive Prague as a place of culture and tradition. Therefore,
when they are faced with scams and cheat in the rather routine activity of money exchange,
their perception of the quality of overall experience in Prague, despite all other aspects of
their visits that they rated as excellent, changes and causes dissatisfaction.
Exchange offices are a small part of the overall product of tourist destination. But
their behavior is not consistent with the activities of other parties, nor with the brand image of
Prague. Therefore, the change is needed.
The key partners are private firms in various sectors that benefit from tourism, as well
as local authorities. The power in the private sector comes from their size and income, and
more powerful they are, more interested they will be in cooperation and in future growth. The
local authorities have power to introduce regulations and provide mechanisms that ensure that
the business behave in compliance with these regulations.
Does the leader (Prague City Tourism) have the authority to conduct the change
term?
How to persuade the partners to forego short term financial benefits?
How to ensure that the partners realize that individual consumers can impact the
REFERENCES:
1. Anholt , S. (2007). Competitive Indentity. New York: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
2. Cameron, E, Green, M. (2009) Making sense of change management : a complete
guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change, London: Kogan
Page Limited.
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3. CNBC,
2015,
Most
popular
cities
to
visit
in
2015,
Available
from:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/03/most-popular-cities-for-tourists-in-2015.html, Date
of access: 19th November 2015
4. Czech Tourism, 2013, Czech Republic Marketing Strategy, available from:
http://www.czechtourism.cz/getmedia/8a83c526-c17f-48de-8d73b4e2668974b8/04_06_14_marketingova_koncepce_eng.pdf.aspx, Date of access: 19th
November 2015
5. GFK,
2014,
Place
branding
research,
Available
from:
TRAVEL
TRENDS
REPORT,
2014,
http://www.itb-
berlin.de/media/itbk/itbk_dl_en/WTTR_Report_A4_4_Web.pdf
7. Kotler, P., Keller, K.L. (2012). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River,New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
8. Mariani, M.M., Buhalis, D., Longhi, C., Vitouladiti, O. (2014) Managing change in
tourism destinations:Key issues and trends, Journal of Destination Marketing and
Management, Volume 2, Issue 4, 269-272
9. Prague Post, 2015, Record number of tourists visit Czech Republic, available from:
http://www.praguepost.com/czech-news/43877-record-number-of-tourists-visitsczech-republic, Date of access: 19th November 2015
10. UNWTO (2007) A Practical Guide to Tourism Destination Management.
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