The product needs to reflect the pricing. Amenities and facilities should be first rate, although guests should be made to understand not to expect a top of the line service experience, as Kingbilli simply does not have the staff to support that.
The promotion at present emphasizes the nature and animals at the estate, but it does not focus on the quality of the experience that the customer will have. The promotion, while maintaining the low-key feel of the present promotion, should going forward emphasize the customer experience. Consumers are willing to pay a premium price if they feel that they are receiving a premium experience. Kingbilli needs to understand that its marketing must appeal to the consumer, to the consumer's perspective. This means ensuring that the message emphasizes the customer.
C. Kingbilli has a few strengths. The first is the animal rescue center, which allows customers to directly commune with nature. The second is the region, which is a bucolic region of Australia without mass tourism, but still within easy proximity of Melbourne. Such remote but accessible areas are generally considered to be among the best for ecotourism, because the remoteness is attractive (Hall & Boyd, 2005). The weakness of the estate is that it is not professionally run as a resort or tourism destination. It falls into the ecotourism category as much for its rusticity and lack of professionalism as it does for its ability to offer a truly nature-oriented experience. There are service gaps that will need to be addressed in order to justify high price points going forward. It is necessary to address these gaps because ecotourism appeals to a higher-end demographic than is presently being served by Kingbilli Estate (Bricker, 2002).
The economic downturn affords Kingbilli a tremendous opportunity to build its business anew. The Australian domestic travel industry has been growing rapidly for many years (Tourism Australia, 2009) and the downturn has made domestic travel more cost-competitive,...
The industry did suffer early in the crisis (Creedy, 2008) but as the crisis eases opportunities arise. This opportunity arises because ecotourism in the Asia-Pacific region remains largely underdeveloped. There are a few direct competitors in the local area, but even at that there is plenty of market for everybody. Indeed, another excellent opportunity is to work with other similar resorts in the area to build an ecotourism cluster that will attract Australians to the area in general.
There are a number of threats, however. The first is that the economy could crumple anew, dragging down the Australian tourism market further. The second comes from competition -- on the small scale there are a number of competitors, both locally and across Australia. Additionally, as popular as ecotourism is, it could become a fad and demand could fall precipitously. Another threat comes local competitors, who could balk at the idea of cooperation and choose instead to challenge Kingbilli directly.
Works Cited:
Kingbilli Estate website. Retrieved January 13, 2010 from http://www.kingbilli.com.au
Ecotourism Australia website. Retrieved January 13, 2010 from http://www.ecotourism.org.au/
Hall, C. & Boyd, S. (2005) Nature-based tourism in peripheral areas: development or disaster? Channel View Publications.
Bricker, K. & Kerstetter, D. (2002). Ecotourists and ecotourism: Benefit segmentation and experience evaluation. West Virginia University. Retrieved January 14, 2010 from http://fama2.us.es:8080/turismo/turismonet1/economia%20del%20turismo/turismo%20y%20medio%20ambiente/ECOTOURISTS%20AND%20ECOTOURISM%20BENEFIT%20SEGMENTATION%20AND%20EXPERIENCE%20EVALUATION.PDF
Creedy, S. (2008). Global downturn to hit Australian tourism industry. The Australian. Retrieved January 14, 2010 from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/news/downturn-to-hit-local-tourism/story-e6frg8ro-1111117873418
