Individual Reflection
Identification of model and its utilization experience
The customer-centered business model is one of the efficient models of tourism as well as the hospitality industry. The key thing of hospitality, as well as tourism business, is customer preferences, the thing that the customers want to explore. If the customer needs are avoided while planning for hospitality concerns or tourism destination development, the project may face a failure. The customer-centric business model always gives more priority to customer preferences over other things. Based on customer preferences, the other things of the project are designed. The figure below shows a reflection of the customer-centric model.
Figure 1: Customer-centric model
Source: (MacDonald, 2020)
While taking measures related to tourism destination development, the customer-centric model is followed because it better leads to design the measures based on customer priority or needs. The choice of customers is changing rapidly based on the situational changes and development in the industry. In the case of the hospitality industry as well as the tourism sector, the needs are changing in a dynamic way. It is important to track the changing needs to continue to make further decisions. In the case of tourism and travel decisions, customers always find variety and new experiences or to explore new places that are not hindered before (Lakkisto, 2020). The development of Colonsay Island as a tourism destination will explore the cultural context as well as the natural beauty of the UK. There are other traditional places that are visited by people due to their popularity. But there are also some places that are known by very few people, but these places contain tourism identities that need to be explored by people.
Likewise, the beauty and culture of Colonsay Island need to be explored by tourists as a new place to be visited in the UK, unlike the traditional ones. While developing the place as a better tourism destination, many things are considered like travel facilities, accommodation, food and beverages, and recreation. These things are the base of a tour package. All the things are considered based on following the customer-centric model. While utilizing this model, I get to know about many things like the service package of a tour should be based on customer preferences, and there needs to be variety in the activities, where people can choose the best ones for their package. Other things that are considered in this context are ethical factors, which is one of the keys to every business. The ethical consideration needs to be maintained from sides, customer side, and organization side. To ensure the ethical factor from both sides, strict guidelines and regulations will be followed.
The development of the destination aims to explore much of the place and to evaluate a cultural difference for the tourists. The customer-centric model also reflects many things like business growth, commitment, building relationships, and customer loyalty. These things are also considered for the tourism sector as the satisfaction of the customers leads to more sales and expansion of the customer base. The model will be followed in future decisions related to tourism destination development.
Support of this model in personal development
The customer-centric model not only helps me to take measures related to the present development of tourism destination but also strengthens my understanding of global hospitality. Personal development is crucial to understand a thing in-depth manner. The understanding of global hospitality and the ways it works is needed to develop a new tourism destination. A tourism destination not only includes the specific place where the tourists will visit, but it includes severe related services that make the tour successful. A perfect combination of all the services and the alignment with customer preference is required necessarily (Diaconu and Dutu, 2014). While making a tour package, if the customer preferences are not considered, then it may not feel attractive for people. People always find such a tour package that is affordable in nature but can fulfill the needs of their tour.
Following the customer-centric model, it became possible for me to think about the importance of the tourism destination as per their perspectives. The customer-centric model helps me to understand the importance of cost strategies and other metrics to attract customers towards a different tourism destination. Many people prefer to visit places that are visited by many people. It happens due to strong marketing and the number of visitors in the place. The tourism infrastructure also works simultaneously to strengthen the framework of a specific tourist destination. The customer-centric model not only adds value to my project but helps me to gather key facts about tourism and its infrastructure. The hospitality sector is dynamic in nature and changes due to change in the global as well as the national situation. The global pandemic hampered the hospitality business a lot, as the tourist spot are declared as closed or a few months. However, the situation is now under control, so the hospitality industry is trying to back to its original place.
The customer-centric model is useful to develop tourism and hospitality-related decisions based on the changing needs of the customers as well as market dynamics. It has followed throughout the project and will be followed in future decisions. The ideas that are gathered from the model and its utilization will help me make similar decisions in the future. A theory-based model, if used for personal development it provides both practical as well as theoretical knowledge, and both the important for greater success. The customer-centric model strengthens my theoretical background about customer importance as well as ensures the applicability of this model in my future decisions. The personal development that is carried out with the help of this model gathers many ideas about customer relationships, customer engagement, and customer loyalty. These things are helpful for the future development of tour packages.
References
Diaconu, M. and Dutu, A., 2014. Business model in the hospitality industry, from traditional to open innovation. Sci. Bull. Econ. Sci, 16, pp.3-10.
Lakkisto, P., 2020. CUSTOMER-CENTRIC BUSINESS MODEL FOR REMOTE MONITORING SERVICES.
MacDonald, S., 2020. How To Create A Customer Centric Strategy For Your Business. [online] Superoffice.com. Available at: <https://www.superoffice.com/blog/how-to-create-a-customer-centric-strategy/#:~:text=Customer%2Dcentric%20(also%20known%20as,and%20build%20long%2Dterm%20relationships.> [Accessed 16 November 2020].