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Iceland visiting evaluation

1. Customer expectation

The scenery there is the same as I expected, it was breath-taking. And the service is better than what I expected. Customers have expected basics like quality service and fair pricing. When I was in Iceland, we could feel Iceland's service to customers all the time. I originally thought that a tourist city like Iceland has a large number of people and local people would have a bad attitude. But they were not. Every day when I meet the hotel staff, they will say hello to me. That was a very comfortable service, that means they did not have an arrogant attitude and each of them was friendly enough to speak clearly. Probably because Iceland is a tourist city, they know how to make customers satisfy. Consumer expectations reflect both past and current product evaluation and user experiences (Smith, 2018). I think it would be better if Iceland could add more public toilets in some places. As facilities are provided and awareness grows, visitor numbers will increase. (Butler, 2005) When we were climbing the snowy mountains in Iceland, I noticed that the fences on both sides of the boardwalk were fragile, just a rope, and in some places, there was no protection. In this case, once the flow of people becomes large, it will be very dangerous. Iceland should also add some basic protection facilities.

2. Tourism sustainability:

“Sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Achieving sustainable tourism is a continuous process and it requires constant monitoring of impacts, introducing the necessary preventive and/or corrective measures whenever necessary.” Tourism is like the economic driver. Tourism development is vital to a country. But if not developed well, it also may cause damage to the local people or environment. The aim of sustainable tourism is to increase the benefits and to reduce the negative impacts caused by tourism for destinations.

Iceland set slogans for environmental protection, it is the most convenient and simple way to warn people to protect the environment. And I also found that cigarette butts rarely appear on the ground in Iceland. When a place is clean, people who have the habit of throwing garbage everywhere will be embarrassed to litter. For decades, the notion of sustainability has been a challenge for many developing destinations in peripheral areas (Espiner et al., 2017). Environment impacts to destination can be positive and negative. Because of its unique scenery, there still many tourists would like to go again. But at the same time, there also have people think even though Iceland is very beautiful, they would not come again because of the cold weather. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a polar climate. Every tourism area has a “carry capacity”. As I mentioned above, in addition to increasing protection measures, the method of protecting tourists' safety when climbing snowy mountains can also control the flow of people up the mountain and climb the boardwalk in batches.

3. Tourism motivation:

Tourists tend to occupy a significant place in the socio-theoretical landscape. The major purpose of the traveller is to have a glimpse or to gaze at the surroundings like a piece of land, a sea, a group having a different ethnicity or a ritual. All these tend to interact with each other and determine the traveller’s perception and also influence his observations on the basis of any pre-visit narratives which the tourist tries to construct. According to Swarbrooke , the six categories of motivation are: ‘physical’ (chief purpose being relaxation, improvement of health, need for exercise and sex); ‘cultural’ ( to experience novel culture and for the purpose of sightseeing); ‘status’ ( driven by the desire to be exclusive and to seek fulfilment ; ‘personal development’ ( to seek knowledge and to learn novel things); ‘emotional’ ( as a source of nostalgia, fantasy, romance, adventure as well as spiritual needs) and ‘personal’ ( for visiting friends and relatives or to escape from something). Tourists are majorly concerned about their own experience and try to get the maximum out of each experience irrespective of the length or purpose of visit. (Pearce, 2015: 6). “The need for destinations to create a unique identity – to differentiate themselves from competitors – is more critical than ever.” (Morgan & Pritchard, 2002)

Iceland is well known for its untouched nature and unique atmosphere. Most people travel to Iceland for reasons of Aurora and beauty. Many people travel thousands of miles to Iceland just for its distinctive snow scene and watching the aurora. And it has been insisting on developing its own characteristics. There are many introductions and guides about Aurora in the hotel lobby where I live. Tourism is considered as a world-wide socio-economic phenomenon which has arisen from the basic human need of seeking leisure, to establish contact with nature and also the desire to travel to new places and experience different kind of cultures. Tourism plays a key role in contributing towards the well-being of tourists by providing opportunities to spend their holidays, entertain themselves, escape from boredom as well as fulfil their other human needs and desires.

4. Life cycle

There is no doubt that tourism areas are changing all the time, from butler’s tourism area life cycle we can divide the life cycle of the attraction into seven parts: Exploration, Involvement, Development, Consolidation, Stagnation, Decline and Rejuvenation. The TALC has gone on to become one of the best-known theories of destination growth and change within the field of tourism studies. It is arguably one of the most significant contributions to studies of tourism development because of the way it provides a focal point for discussion of what leads to destination change, how destinations and their markets change and, even, what is a destination. I think Iceland is still developing. The development stage reflects a well-defined tourist market area, shaped in part by heavy advertising in tourist-generating areas. As this stage progresses, local involvement and control of development will decline rapidly. (Butler, 2005)

(from: Wikipedia)

It is clear that Iceland's tourist population has continued to rise in recent years

Tourism can involve location, local transportation, accommodations, entertainment, recreation, nourishment and shopping. All this together made up a destination. If a tourist attraction wants to extend its “life”, it needs to strengthen sustainable development and customer management. Customer management can be achieved from the perspective of target marketing. Targeting marketing can divide customer into different categories. While categorizing, tourism destinations can choose the desired customer group. This can control the flow of people and limit customer behaviour at the same time. As Iceland is a tourist destination known for its nature, Iceland needs to maintain sustainable development and protect the environment to extend its “life”. Through Doxey’s theory, Iceland is still in the “APATHY” stage. Services provided to foreign tourists were for a long time an insignificant part of the Icelandic economy, rarely contributing more than 2 percent to GDP. Doxey’s (1975) ‘Irridex’ model suggests that communities pass through a sequence of reactions as the impacts of an evolving tourism industry in their area become more pronounced and their perceptions change with experience. Thus, an initial euphoria is succeeded by apathy, irritation and, eventually, antagonism. Human feelings are mutual, and the attitude of local residents towards tourists often depends on the behaviour of tourists. Another important factor affecting the development of tourist destinations is seasonality. Most people choose to go to Iceland in winter because it is a good season to see the Aurora and scenery at that time is the most beautiful. Iceland could do some activities during the off-season.

Conclusion

Iceland is still developing. It can have better development or decline in the future depends on its tourism policy.

Reference

https://www.salesforce.com/research/customer-expectations/

Morgan, N. and Pritchard, A. (2002) Destination Branding. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann

Smith, S., 2018. Customer Expectations: 7 Types All Exceptional Researchers Must Understand. 2 march.

Espiner, S, Orchiston, C & Higham, J, 2017. Resilience and sustainability: a complementary relationship? Towards a practical conceptual model for the sustainability-resilience nexus in tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 25, 1385–1400.

Swarbrooke & Horner (2011). Consumer behaviour in tourism. Routledge: Abingdon.

Pearce, P. L. (2005). Tourist Behavior: Themes and conceptual schemes. Clavedon: Channel View.

Butler, R. (Ed.). (2006). The tourism area life cycle (Vol. 1). Channel view publications.

"krpano - thorsmork". Vr-iceland.grandpano.sk. Retrieved 13 August 2018.

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Tuesday 3.3

Today we are leaving for Iceland. In the morning, my friends and I thought it was 10 o’clock, so we arrived at the pick-up point very early. We were afraid to miss the car, so we looked around hope to find classmates. Finally, the teacher came to pick us up at eleven o'clock.

Seven o'clock in the evening, we finally arrived. It was snowing all over the place, the beautiful scenery outside the airport made us very excited, even though we were very tired. After arriving the hotel, my friends and I took a little break and went out for dinner. We looked for a well-known local restaurant, but we were too hungry, so when we passed a scented Vietnamese rice noodle, we decided to eat it directly. Fortunately, the taste of Vietnamese rice noodles was very good, and then we went back to the hotel after eating and drinking, ending the first day of the trip.

Wednesday 3.4

Today we went to the South Shore. When we stopped under a large waterfall for the first time, my friends and I were so excited that we could not wait to get off and take pictures.

It was stunning.

The second stop was a waterfall, too. Next to it is a snowy mountain with a boardwalk above it, we can climb up to see the scenery.

At the beginning we climbed very smoothly, but because the snow was constantly being stepped on, some of the snow on the steps became ice cubes, very slippery. The people from the left reminded us not to go up anymore, the steps above were very slippery and too dangerous. I was shocked to see many people giving up climbing and sliding straight down the ice. After we continued to climb for a while, we chose to give up because it was too dangerous.

There is a small black beach where we have lunch. My friends and I went to there early after lunch. When we took photos on the beach, something unexpected happened, the white waves suddenly attacked us. We were too late to dodge, and the shoes were full of water and sand. Then we set off for our last attraction of today: the real black sand beach. Because of what happened before, my friends and I didn't dare to be too close to the sea, so we just took some pictures on the side and went back.

After a full day of travel, my friends and I found a Thai meal for dinner and went shopping in the city centre. We found something interesting, traffic lights in Iceland are some cute patterns, like this:

Thursday 3.5

Today we went to the blue lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa in southwestern Iceland. The spa is located in a lava field near Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula. It was comfortable and really let us relaxed. Each of us can get a milkshake and a mask for free. I took some pictures with my friends, and then I went upstairs and took off my makeup before applying the mask. The water there can be a little harmful to the hair, so we applied a little conditioner to the end of the hair before taking the hot spring.

After finishing this enjoyable spa, my friends and I went to the city centre for dinner again. Today we ate Italian food. The steak and pasta were very delicious. After the meal, we walked from the city centre and returned to the hotel. On the way, we saw a breath-taking beauty, just like in the movie.

After returning to the hotel, I took out the prepared gloves, earmuffs, hat and camera. In addition, I wore an extra coat and pants. Because tonight, we will do the Northern light hunt.

At nine in the evening, we gathered at the hotel door and set off to find the Aurora. At the first stop, the wind was strong and the weather was very bad. I felt like I was about to be blown away. After staying for a while, nothing happened. We got in the coach and went to the next place. In the second place, we waited for a long time and did not wait for the aurora, but we saw a lot of constellations, such as the Big Dipper.

Friday 3.6

It was the last day, we went to the golden circle. After a drive, we arrived at the first stop and everyone went to the bathroom, so my friends and I thought it was just letting us go to the bathroom. We returned to the car after going to the toilet. There was no one in the car, and we were excited that we didn't have to let other people wait for us this time. Then, the driver seemed to feel that something was wrong and told us that this is an attraction. We have to visit it and spend about half an hour walking to the next place to get on the bus. After we said thank you, we set off. It was dazzling, white snow in the sunshine. We walked down the mountain while taking photos.

As we passed another step, Joyce fell over because the ice on the step was too slippery. It seemed difficult for her to walk at first, so we helped her and walk slowly. It was almost time for the assembly. It seemed to be scared by Joyce's fall, all of us forgot the driver's words and walked back slowly. At the place where we got off the bus, we searched for the coach everywhere. Finally, we remembered the words of the driver, so we immediately speeded up and went down the mountain. I was so sorry to keep the classmates waiting for a long time, but everyone did not blame us, which moved us so much. Then we went to Geisher Geyser and had lunch there. It was cold stand by the fountain. We took some photos and went back. We also fed pony on the way to the last attraction. Golden waterfall was the last stop. The valleys were awe-inspiring, majestic waterfalls roll down in the ancient deep valleys. The most charming is the most dangerous, you need to pay attention to slipping while walking cause the canyon is very steep.

Saturday 3.7

On the day we need to go back, the happy time was always very short, and the trip to Iceland was over. It was really happy days.

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Vik beach (Reynisfjara)

I would like to introduce the amazing black sand beach to you. There are many black sand beaches in the world, for example, in the Hawaii and New Zealand. But Reynisfjara maybe one of the most famous black sand beaches. Reynisfjara has wide black pebbles, pyramid-like basalt pillars, and plenty of birds.

Formation

The black beach is a sandy beach formed by volcanic stones. An ancient volcanic eruption in the ancient times, the mud layer on the sea floor turned out of the ground and merged with the mud on the seashore. From then on, it is indistinguishable. In addition, the role of seawater and wind for many years has forced the lava and soil to being broken down, finally become today's endless black sand beach.

Scenery

Black sand beach is indeed pure black sand, a bit rough, but the sand is still very fine near the sea. The black sea and sand, combined with dark clouds, are not too much of a devil's territory. When tourists first arrive here, they will feel a dark area. At first glance, even the sea water is black, but in fact it is not, because the beach is black and the black sand-lined sea water is black. Look carefully at the seawater is still blue, the coconut trees and some green plants on the sand contrast with this black. There are often some turtles crawling on the beach. It can also be exciting to see the creeping white turtles on the black and black beaches.

Legends

When visiting the black sand beach, the Reynisdrangar / renisdranga pillar rising from the Atlantic Ocean is equally striking. According to folklore, these huge basalt pillars are the remains of Icelandic trolls. At dawn, trolls who want to drag a sailboat into the sea meet the sun and turn into a rock. Another legend says that a man's wife was kidnapped and killed by two trolls. The man chased the troll to Rennes' black beach, sealed the troll, and ended the tragedy.

Reynisfjara and the Reynisdrangar pillar have also entered modern legends: the throne game (Song of Ice and Fire) was filmed here in Season 7 to show the cold views of the north wall.

At last, remember to be careful when you near the beach. The waves are high and rapid, and it is easy to drag tourists near the waves into the cold sea. The black sand beach is connected to Antarctica without any land block in the middle, and the waves can accumulate thousands of kilometres of energy. No matter the weather is peaceful or violent, the black sand sea area will always produce such sudden waves, bringing people into the ocean. Be careful！！！

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My name is Menglu Wang, I am 19 years old. I come from China. Now I am a sophomore studying in the university of central Lancashire. I like travelling, my major is international tourism management. I have a course named international study visit during this term. Next week our course teacher Deborah and Pam will take us to the Iceland to do the study visit.

I heard a lot about Iceland before. It is a place with a lot of hearsay and imagination. It is said that it has breath-taking sceneries covered with snow and presents a sense of desolation, some people even said that it was like the end of the world. I like snowy days so much that I am really looking forward to the beautiful snow country. Since last week, my friends and I have found many travel guides about Iceland. We went to the shopping mall to buy waterproof gloves, masks, earmuffs and hats. We also knew from those who have been there before that waterproof boots are necessary, so we each prepared a pair of waterproof boots. From travel guides, we knew the blue lagoon is especially famous. We can get a milkshake and a mask for free. Each of us bought a waterproof mobile phone bag so that we can take beautiful pictures while soaking in the blue lagoon. Since lot of us have not seen snow this year, we have high expectation to this trip. I cannot wait to see the eye-opening snow mountains. Another thing that people always think of when they think of Iceland is the aurora. Through the itinerary teacher gave us, we know that we have the chance to look for the mystical Northern light, I got my camera ready even though it is heavy. At the same time, I also downloaded an app called ‘Aurora Now’ that can predict the local aurora probability. Now everything is ready for the day.