HOS804 Visitor Behaviour and Management: Forbidden City Assessment Answer

Visitor behaviour and management

Executive summary:

Forbidden City in China is one of the suitable places for the tourist and there are many factors that attract people a lot. Hall of Central Harmony, Hall of supreme harmony and Hall of preserving harmony are the most visiting places in the Forbidden City. The main competitor of the Forbidden City in Chengdu. Also, there are some attractive features are nightlife of the Kuanzhai Alley, Jinli Street, Qing dynasty styles buildings, Panda breeding and few more. The issues like lack of availability of ticket, the thick layer of smog are hindering the growth of the Forbidden City. Authority should have to state the clear information about the availability of the ticket and also need to arrange all the infrastructures so that tourists can enjoy the place. 

Introduction

Tourist spots in a country play a significant role in the economic growth of that country. In this report, Forbidden City in China is selected in order to grasp knowledge about the influence of the place in tourist’s attraction. Moreover, in this report, the stakeholders who are responsible for the promotion as well as for managing the place is given below some utmost reasons that are effective to attract visitors are also discussed in this report. 

Finding:

Overview of the destination

The Forbidden City is located in downtown Beijing. Beijing is the capital of China. The Forbidden City is also named as “Old Palace” or “Palace Museum”. The tourist spot is situated in the Northeast portion of the country. Along with that, the size of this region is quite high as compared to the size of a capital region of China. The area is borders by the Chinese sea and also it captures a massive part in the city centre. It is mostly visited tourist spot of China although it generates heavy pollution every day. The GPS coordinates of Forbidden City is 39° 54' 54.70" North/116° 23' 25.71" east. The address of Forbidden City is “4 Jingshan Front St. Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, chine 100006 (Wonders-of-the-world. 2020). 

Forbidden City has various unique selling points that attract visitors every year in a huge number such as, China has become one of the largest tourist attraction places across the globe. Near about 56.9 million every year visits the places in China that leads the nation to capture the fourth position in the World tourism barometer (Discoverchina. 2020). Apart from that, China holds the first position among the Asian countries. China offers its customers various prosperous factors those are a decrepit hotel, crumbling infrastructure and disgusting food. One of the unique value propositions of Forbidden City is shady trees, ancient temples, teas house and so on. 

The spot is under the management of SACH that is the State Administration of cultural heritage. The cultural ministry is responsible for managing for conducting every aspect related to the construction of Forbidden City. Apart from that, the vice president responsible for managing the society of Forbidden City is Jin Hongkui (Dpm. 2020). The management board of the place are also responsible for the promotional activities of Forbidden City. Promotional activities of Forbidden City are unique as well as very strategical. The authorities conduct cultural events, and also offer luxury cruises for the promotion of the palace. Officials of Forbidden City try to increase the number of promotional activities by concerning the number of visitors. 

Reasons behind visiting Forbidden City

Numerous reasons are present for visiting one of the ancient palaces over the world. Some of the most significant reasons behind visiting the Forbidden City are as follows; 

The history of this palace is very significant as well as long that it is the evidence of falling two dynasties Ming and Qing. After the destruction of the Qing Dynasty near about Twenty-four emperors died in that place. Apart from that, the city is also evident the cruelty of Zhu Di. The place consists of three great buildings such as Hall of Central Harmony, Hall of supreme harmony and the rest one is Hall of preserving harmony. These great buildings are the soul of the city. These harmonies can swarm a people eye. Along with that, supreme harmony is the largest building in that region that attracts people to visit more and more to that place (Ricky. 2018). 

After passing through the outer halls tourists came into the inner halls through the gate of heaven. In this place, emperors and their families lived in and main spots of this place are, Heavenly purity, Earthly Tranquillity and Hall of the union. 

Moreover, the gates of Forbidden City occupied nine by nine array of glided door and statues of dragon, lions and phoenix can invoke prosperity. Also, the outer court of this region has no trees that represent the sight of defence. Along with that, the museum is one of the largest cultural museums across the world that is why tourists willing to visit that place every year. 

Identification of any environmental, ethical, political or cultural/social issues 

One of the most pressing issues is the high number of footfalls in the Forbidden City in Beijing that are damaging the integrity and sanctity of the historical site. According to Business Insider (2020), the 7 million tourists that visit the Forbidden City each year would be restricted and alternates such as buying tickets in advance or in the afternoon would be encouraged as a measure. This may send a wrong message to the tourists who may remove the destination from their itinerary entirely. The thick layer of smog that is severe and problematic for the tourists is also a deterrent for them to visit the Forbidden City which is at the heart of Beijing. The developmental attitude of the country at all costs has re-emerged as the pollution level of the country is on the rise with smog level and soot content of the air at critical levels. The communist political agenda of China is also another issue that may affect the success of the tourist destinations of the country. The oppressive regime and the violation of human rights in the country has also meant the tourist from around the globe are sceptical about visiting the country and the Forbidden City as well. It is necessary for imposing the menial regulations of humanity on the country by restricting the tourist footfalls in China. According to Sala (2020), it was also reported that the degrading quality of the palace and historical artefacts inside the museum has led to quality degradation. This is certainly one of the most prominent reasons that may affect the success of the Forbidden City as a grand tourist destination. In a nutshell, the combined effect of the smog, negligence of the care, restricting administrative decisions and other negative impressions of the country on a global scale is bound to have some detrimental effects for tourists visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Identification of the main competitor and analysis of relative strengths and weaknesses 

According to Wendy Wu Tours (2020), Chengdu is one of the most famous and attractive tourist destinations within China by their people. It can be considered a competition due to several reasons. The gourmet dishes that are offered in Chengdu is not so in the Forbidden City that has a huge positive influence on the tourists. The high number of visitors in the Forbidden city also deters people from visiting due to excess gathering and hankering. The tickets for the visit are also not readily available for sale which is one of the weaknesses of the Forbidden City in comparison to Chengdu. Other salient features of the Chengdu are the nightlife of the Kuanzhai Alley, Jinli Street, Qing dynasty styles buildings, Panda breeding are some of them that attract a lot of millennial visitors to the city (Wendy Wu Tours, 2020). The national people also prefer this destination in comparison to the Forbidden due to the variety of options that are available during the holidays. 

The strengths of the Forbidden city are their international appeal and UNESCO heritage site declaration that has brought it to the notice of the people around the globe. The weaknesses of it are the huge number of international visitors and unavailability of tickets during peak tourist season majorly affecting the success of it as a major tourist destination. The rising pollution in the city and globalization meant reducing the number of tourists in the city and the decisions of the administration to limit the number of visitors are also not helping (Wang and Lei, 2018, p. 436). It is believed that the right marketing of the Forbidden City combined with diligent care for the relics and historical monuments of the country can spell success for the Forbidden City in Beijing to become the most attractive tourist destination in the country.

Recommendations for Forbidden City

1. The authorities of Forbidden City should appropriately manage its tourists to prosperous the visitors in the long run. The size of the place is truly massive these people confuse oftentimes that where to go and where they should not go. Also, visitor sometimes confused regarding the price of tickets as every specific area has a separate ticket. People purchase a ticket by thinking that they will reach that place which they want but it is not happening. Therefore, the authorities of Forbidden City should concern about the perception of visitors in order to attract them. Also, the authorities should spread awareness to people regarding the pricing of hall tickets (China Highlights. 2020). Along with that, the management department of Forbidden City should manage ques properly as people often frustrated due to huge line regarding ticket purchase. 

2. Furthermore, the government bodies of China should work hard and fast for fostering the changes regarding tourist attraction. Near about 9.1 per cent of tourism sector contribute to the overall GDP of China (Statista. 2020). Alongside, ten million people visit China every year. Therefore, the number is massive and the authorities should focus on the retention of visitors. But, the decreasing infrastructure of China fails to capture the foreign tourists nowadays this the authorities should worry about the same. The spending over-tourism in China is limited due to which the number of visitors continuously declining. Hence, the management board of China regarding forbidden City should invest more money on the sustainability of the ancient palace. Moreover, the authorities of China should remove their complex administration regarding tourism. Outdated facilities are one of the vital reasons behind tourist lost, therefore, the government of China should offer a more unique value proposition to visitors to sustain Forbidden City in long run as well as to manage present visitors’ number. 

Conclusion

According to the above analysis, it is found that the Forbidden City effectively attracts customers due to its ancient culture as well as the evidence of the rise in dynasty and falling dynasties. The place of this region is very attractive regarding its natural beauty. Although, the authorities responsible for the management of Forbidden city should invest in the promotional activity in order to sustain the growth of that region.