Section 2: Disciplines and Areas of Study
7. Finally, list the attraction’s strengths and weak- nesses and describe possibilities for innovative
2.16 Tourism Clusters
Tourism Clusters 117 Table 13. Potential benefits of the local production systems in the tourism industry. (From Costa and Souto-Maior, 2006.) Benefits Potential applications to local tourism systems
Risk reduction and dealing with uncertainties
The tourism market is seasonal and subject to changes in the external environment, such as economic crises, terrorism and epidemics. However, local production systems in tourism can be structured to provide greater security to the partners, protection against the market, and risk distribution, benefits that would be too costly for a small or medium- sized business to face alone.
Deal with external competition
Dealing with foreign competition is becoming increasingly associated with destinations and agglomeration than individual companies. Local production systems in tourism may result in barriers to the entry of new competitors, in addition to generating competitive advantages (due to cooperation among its components) for small and medium-sized companies to compete in foreign markets.
Increased participation Typically, small and medium-sized companies do not have large market shares, and the tourism industry is predominantly composed of small and medium-sized businesses.
If the local production systems in the tourism industry improve their destinations and their attractiveness and competitiveness increase, creating an opportunity for tourism companies to expand their market participation.
Continued Table 12. Definitions and concepts of a cluster.
Author Definition of cluster
Nadvi (1994) An agglomeration of small and medium-sized businesses of a specific industry, usually specializing in one phase of the production process. Interrelated by a subcontractual production agreement and located close to each other in a well-defined geographical space, such companies remain linked due to the existence of social categories and common values.
Michael Porter (1996) A geographic concentration of integrated companies and institutions in a particular field of activity that jointly increase their competitiveness as their integration increases.
Rosenfeld (1997) A geographic concentration of similar businesses that are related and complementary (with active channels for transactions, communications, and dialogue); that share specialized infrastructure, labour, and services; and that face common threats and opportunities.
CNI (1998) A grouping (cluster), in a geographic reference, the agglomeration of companies within the same location, which carry out their activities in a coordinated manner and with a common economic logic, based on, for example, a given allocation of natural resources;
the existence of labour, technological, or local business capacity; and the sectorial affinity of their products. The interaction and synergy that result from the articulated activity provide competitive advantages to the group of companies, which are reflected in a superior differentiated performance compared with the isolated activity of each company.
Michael Porter (1998) A geographically concentrated grouping of interrelated companies and correlated institutions in a particular field, linked by common and complementary elements. The geographic scope varies from a single city or state to the country as a whole or even a network of neighbouring countries. A cluster can also be defined as a system of interrelated businesses and institutions whose value as a whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Galvão and Vasconcelos (1999)
The local industrial systems comprise groups of companies that are geographically concentrated around one or more industrial sectors. In such systems, there are strong interactions among the companies within the local socio-cultural environment and through market and informal relationships that generate positive externalities for the group of companies.
Orssatto (2002) The concept of industrial clusters refers to the emergence of a geographic and sectorial concentration of companies from which productive and technological externalities are generated.
118 Chapter 2.16 when applied to tourism. Silva’s most significant
and surprising conclusion is that
...the cluster model, in the conception of Michael Porter, of a markedly entrepreneurial and micro- economic approach, characterized by the presence of large industries, of national magnitude and with high spatial scale and a high level of aggregation, does not apply appropriately to tourism and cannot be regarded as a regional development strategy.
The grouping, which has tourism as a core activity, focused on the tourism destination perceived as a microcluster and that exhibits the characteristics of delimitation of the geographical scale of its sur- roundings, delimitation of the territorial coverage of the group itself, delimitation of the main tourist segment and its subsegments, as well as the target market, can be described as a tourism cluster that meets the conditions of modelling strategies and promoting growth and development of micro- regions or tourist areas. Thus, the micro-cluster constitutes the model that facilitates the scope and the support of regional development, as a result of
the interaction between the role of specialization – tourism and territory – the tourism destination and its immediate surroundings.
(Silva, 2004).
Thus, according to this author, the cluster con- cept should be redefined with respect to its applica- tion to tourism because a cluster will yield good performance only if it is viable as a micro-cluster due to the inherent features of the tourism industry.
Moreover, Silva criticizes the simple transposition of exogenous practical theories and models that do not account for the multiple factors that are char- acteristic of each global region, particularly in Brazil.
Operationalizing
For a better understanding of this topic, one might consider the example of the tourism cluster of Bonito, in the Mato Grosso do Sul state (MS) in Brazil, which is a nature-tourism destination that is Benefits Potential applications to local tourism systems
Potential applications to the local tourism systems
In knowledge-based societies, information has become valuable for guiding the strategic decisions of organizations. However, access to quality information can be unaffordable for small and medium-sized companies acting alone. Local tourism production systems can establish links to research and scientific development institutions to facilitate studies that expand knowledge about their offers and demands and would divide the costs among the participating organizations. Knowledge about tourists, markets, environments and processes (developed jointly) can lead to innovations, both in tourism management and in the products that are offered by the small and medium-sized companies.
Improve knowledge and generate innovations
Enhancing the reputation of the destination is a crucial marketing component of the local image of the tourism destination. By relying on the various social actors that comprise the tourism destination, local tourism production systems can create a consolidated image if the marketing efforts are commonly oriented and the tourism products that are offered truly match the promoted image. This strategy can potentially ensure a more consistent position within the market.
Reducing transaction costs
Analyses of the transaction costs incurred by small and medium-sized tourism companies in the local production systems of traditional sectors have revealed that these expenses can be reduced by reduced opportunistic behaviour, reputation enhancement and, consequently, lower formalization of actions.
Creating more value for the customer
Innovations in products and services offered, the customization of these products and services, the cohesion of the information provided, the greater quality and efficiency, and the reduction of costs (leading to lower prices) may create value for the tourist if these methods are adopted by the tourism organizations in local production systems.
Producing positive effects on the local economy
Tourism is an activity that potentially has multiple economic and social impacts, both positive and negative. The local economy, in terms of income and employment, may be benefited by the local tourism production systems if the cooperation between the social actors concerned with sustainability has a positive impact by improving employment rates and levels of workforce training and education, raising tax revenues, promoting environmental conservation and encouraging entrepreneurship, among other benefits.
Table 13. Continued
Tourism Clusters 119 recognized in Brazil and abroad. The following
data were obtained from Portal Bonito (http://
www.portalbonito.com.br) and a study by Barbosa and Zamboni (2000):
● Emancipation date: 2 October 1948.
● Area: 4934 km².
● Altitude: 315 m.
● Population: 16,956 (IBGE Census, 2000).
● Distance from the state capital city: 330 km.
● Climate: tropical.
● Temperature: 22°C (average).
● Vegetation: cerrado.
● Economic activities: livestock production, tour- ism, agriculture and mining.
● Paraguay River basin; subbasins: Miranda River and Aquidauana River.
● Rivers: do Peixe, Formoso, Formosinho, Perdido and Sucuri.
● Minerals: sand, limestone, uranium, copper, lead and dolomite.
● Average number of annual tourists: 100,000 people.
Barbosa and Zamboni (2000) provided the follow- ing description of the Bonito tourism cluster. The cluster, with the position occupied by each of the actors and the correlations established among them, is composed of a graphical representation comprising five rings. The epicentre is formed by the attractions, of which the ecotourism mode constitutes the most important vector. The second ring, which corresponds to trade, covers the basic tourism infrastructure – hotels, travel agencies, guides, bars and restaurants, as
Rural env
iron
ment A ccess st
ructure Urban environment
Tea ching
andresearch
Business support Supralocal support institutions
Planning andpublic policies
Tourism muni
cipal
council Unions City council – Tourism department
Local support institutions
Tourism infrastruct ure Ecotourism
Leisure Tourism
guides
Travel
agencies Restaurants Tourism
retail Hotels
Adventures Attractions
Fig. 34. Graphical representation of the Bonito-MS tourism cluster. (From Barbosa & Zamboni, 2000.)
120 Chapter 2.16 well as transport and tourism-related commerce. The
third ring combines the social actors that are directly and permanently connected to tourism activities, including local government agencies, collegiate bodies and professional associations. The fourth ring com- prises the support agencies with supralocal activities.
At this level are the federal and state government agencies that oversee tourism and the environment, the parastatal organizations that focus on business training and worker qualification, teaching and research institutions, and NGOs that focus on eco- tourism and the environment. The fifth and final ring provides the backdrop upon which tourism is devel- oped, encompassing all of the urban and rural areas and the supralocal competence structure (Fig. 34).
Exercise
According to Silva (2004), before building a tour- ism cluster, certain essential questions must be answered, including the following:
● What is the sectorial specialization activity?
● What is the similarity between the specialization activity and the other economic activities in the region?
● What is the geographical/territorial size?
● What is the scope of the geographical/territorial proximity?
● What is the degree of homogeneity and compat- ibility among the function, the specialization activity and the territory?
● How is the core activity directly linked to the final product?
● What are the complementary, support and related activities?
● How should one envisage and reach the end market?
● What is the degree of nationalization and inter- nationalization of the structure?
● What is the origin and magnitude of the eco- nomic leaks caused by the degree of exogeny derived from the previous question?
● Finally, following up on the previous question, what is the degree of endogeny of the tourism development – current, possible and desired?
For the tourism clusters in Brazil, which include the Serras Gaúchas (the highlands in the state of Rio Grande do Sul), the state of Bahia and Bonito-MS, access the websites of these destinations and attempt to answer the above questions. In addition, try to identify the theoretical and operational rela- tionships among the proposals.
References
Barbosa, M.A.C. and Zamboni, R.A. (2000) Formação de um Cluster em Torno do Turismo de Natureza Sustentável em Bonito-MS. IPEA, Brasília. Available at http://www.ipea.
gov.br/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=
article&id=4023 (accessed 10 May 2016).
CNI (1998) Agrupamentos (clusters) de Pequenas e Médias empresas: Uma Estratégia de Industrialização local. Confederação Nacional da Indústria, Brasília.
Costa, H. and Souto-Maior, A. (2006) Sistemas produ- tivos locais em turismo: relacionamentos estratégicos e aglomeração territorial como vantagens competiti- vas. Observatório de Inovação no Turismo – Revista Acadêmica 1, 1–22.
Galvão, A.C. and Vasconcelos, R.R. (1999) Política Regional à Escala Sub-regional: uma Tipologia Territorial como base para um Fundo de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Regional. Discussion paper no. 665.
IPEA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
IBGE Census (2000) Demographic census. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Brazil. Available at: http://www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/popula- cao/censo2000/ (accessed 10 May 2016).
Jappur, R.F. (2004) A Sustentabilidade Corporativa frente às Diversas Formações de Cadeias Produtivas segundo a Percepção de Especialistas. Masters dis- sertation, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.
Nadvi, K. (1994) Industrial Districts Experiences in Developing Countries. United Nations, New York/
Geneva.
Orssatto, C.H. (2002) A Formulação das Estratégias da Empresa em um Ambiente de Aglomeração Industrial.
PhD thesis, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.
Porter, M.E. (1996) What is strategy? In: Porter, M. (ed.) Harvard Business Review 74, 61–78.
Porter, M. (1998) On Competition. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts.
Silva, J.A.S. (2004) Turismo, Crescimento e Desenvolvi- mento: Uma Análise Urbano-regional baseada em Cluster. PhD thesis, Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Further Reading
Michael, E. (2006) (ed.) Micro-clusters and Networks:
The Growth of Tourism. Elsevier, London.
Portal Bonito. Portal da cidade de Bonito, em Mato Grosso do Sul. Available at: www.portalbonito.com.br.
Rosenfeld, S.A. (1997) Bringing business clusters into the mainstream of economic development. European Planning Studies 5, 3–23.
Thomazi, S. (2006) Cluster de Turismo: Introdução ao Estudo de Arranjo Produtivo Local. Aleph, São Paulo, Brazil.
121
© G. Lohmann and A. Panosso Netto 2017. Tourism Theory (G. Lohmann and A. Panosso Netto) According to the American Marketing Association
(http://ama.org), marketing can be defined as an organizational function and a set of processes involving the creation, communication and delivery of value to customers, and managing the relation- ship with them, in ways that benefit the organization and its interested public. For Kotler (2003), market- ing is not just a short-term sales activity, it is a long- term effort that requires investment. It is a process that should begin even before the company or prod- uct enters the market and should extend until long after the sale. Peter Drucker (1973), known as the father of modern management, stated that market- ing should make the act of selling superfluous.
To facilitate understanding, McCarthy (1960) created the ‘4Ps’ approach to marketing, which act as its foundations:
● Product: the object in question that will be sub- ject to the marketing activities; it will be placed and promoted in a particular market at a par- ticular price.
● Place: defines the location at which the market- ing activities are developed and the distribution channels through which the products will reach customers. There may be a primary location and secondary locations.
● Price: the application of a monetary value to something that will be put on sale in the market.
● Promotion: the actions that are designed to encourage the spread and commercialization of the product that is now being made available on the market.
Lovelock and Wirtz (2006) found that the 4Ps of marketing were inadequate for the service sector in which tourism and leisure are located. This is because the products that are most commonly mar- keted in tourism and leisure are services (e.g. an airline ticket, a night at a hotel, an artistic show), not necessarily goods. They thus suggested expand- ing the list to the 8Ps of service management:
● Product/service: physical characteristics, pack- aging and labels of products supporting or com- plementing services. This does not only refer to goods; service is part of this item because it becomes the product when it is consumed.
● Place and time (moment): location of service delivery and when it will be performed, includ- ing business hours.
● Process: organization of the sequence of activi- ties necessary for service delivery.
● Productivity and quality: the establishment of adequate levels to offer in service delivery.
● People: the management of relationships between everyone involved in service delivery:
customers, employees, etc.
● Promotion and education: although more diffi- cult to understand, the service must be promoted and the customer taught the best way to use what they are receiving, etc.
● Physical environment: all physical evidence related to the service delivery and perceived by the customer, from the visual aspects of the façade, window and uniforms, to the decoration, fleet, and spaces for moving, circulating, wait- ing and so on, which become more important because of the intangibility of the service itself.
● Price and other service costs: the amount to be received depending on the type of service deliv- ery, credit and financing conditions, and the value perceived by the customer.
Other authors no longer accept the idea of the 4Ps (Wymer et al., 2006; Morrison, 2013) and have proposed expanding this number to up to 20Ps (Pearson, 2014).
In tourism, the topic has gained such importance that 30% of the articles published between 2008 and 2012 in three of the area’s most important English- language journals (Journal of Travel Research, Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management) are about tourism marketing (Dolnicar and Ring, 2014).