Tourism

In recent years tourist attractions centers have become major sources of foreign exchange in third world and developed countries. With the high sources of revenue to cater for the increasing budget expenditures in most of the countries, tourist attraction centers have been given priority as a major source of governments income. There is a high number of natural and man made tourists attraction centers which have played a vital role in economic growth of countries. For instance, in UK major tourist centers includes Tale Modern, London Eye, British museum, the Tower of London, Madame Tussauds and Science Museum. The high number of local and foreign visitors who visits the tourist attraction sites in London has greatly contributed to the expansion of London city and the surrounding towns. In addition, it is important to note that these London attractions were viewed as places of interest where people visited as a way of relaxation after a long duration of work. The major intention for touring such places was to enjoy different cultural values, historical implications and the sites natural beauty. Today tourist attraction centers are viewed as a profit making undertaking as a result of high charges levied on those who visit the centers. This paper will intensively analyze in depth London eye tourist center, one of the top ten tourists attraction center in UK. The paper will also discuss visitors management strategy used by the company and key challenges facing the company. In the same way, the paper will propose management strategies that the center need to focus on including visitor segmentation, target market, marketing strategies, human resource management as well as product diversification.
Brief overview of London eye tourist site

London eye is a tourist attraction center located in London near Westminster Bridge. It has the Worlds largest observation wheel which is designed to provide tourists with the wider view of London city in less than half an hour. London eye was established in 1999 with an aim of marking the new millennium. The company has received over 40 million tourists since its opening in the year 2000.Around the Ferris wheel is capsules used by visitors. The capsules are enclosed with state of the art glasses that enable a 360 degrees view of the London city for over 45 kilometer. Having been constructed by a group of experts who included Nic Bailey, Julia Barfield, Steven Chilton and David Marks London Eye has offered an exciting site in the entire continent of Europe due to its attractive nature. The magnificent observation wheel stands at a height of 442 ft making it possible for the visitors to clearly view the London city and its surroundings. Another important point to note is that the attraction site which was officially opened by Tony Blair, the former UK Prime Minister is operated by Merlin Entertainments. During the New Year celebrations, London Eye gives the local and foreign visitors ample opportunities through which they freely intermingle as they enjoy 10 minutes of fireworks exhibitions. Merlin Entertainments took over the management of the London Eye in 2008 after an acquiring Tussauds group, another entertainment firm which was based in London. To be able to attract and enhance the visitors loyalty towards the centre, the management team rebranded the center in 2009 from the initial London eye to Merlin Entertainment London eye.

Discussion of Characteristics of London Eye Company based on the Laersk, (2008)
According to Laersk, (2008) it is important to recognize that visitors attraction centers operate within a number of interrelated internal and external environmental factors that affect the site. For example, many visitors attraction sites play a vital role in conserving and protecting the nature as well as in building historic heritage. Others have an explicit educational functions geared towards maintaining specific culture identities and practices. As a result, managing visitors attraction is influenced by range of issues. The diagram below gives candid information on the characteristics of London eye which makes it more attractive than any other attraction site in London.

Source- Laesk (2008, p. 4)
The Merlin entertainment London eye has variety of products that it offers to the visitors one of the products in the park is the Ferris wheel. The wheel serves as a flourishing tourist attraction due to its features as well as the services it offer to the visitors in the park. This product is historic in that it makes people to look back and focus on the past and in the future while admiring the beauty of the Ferris wheel. It has also brought a culture in London city and world wide, since it has become the focal point of London new year celebration, with over 10 minutes fireworks  (Wilson and Emily, 2004).These fireworks are always fired from the wheel itself as it takes a complete revolution in a breakthrough journey across the city. Thus it has become the center of yearly cultural celebration in the city hence serving local, regional, national and also international market.

The fact that London city is surrounded by river Thames, which is a natural resource, has great impact on the London eye. This is due to the fact that the management team was able to establish river cruises which are used to give the visitors a ride around London city. This has thus become another major resource as tourists globally visit the site with one major aim. The river cruises is therefore effective in giving a ride around the city as visitors experience breeze and snow falling. The river cruise also gives visitors a wide view of historic building and other features, visitors are able to discover Londons hidden riverside gem and magnificent landmarks are seen well from the river. In this way, tourists are able to view these historic resources with the help of river cruises riding along river Thames. In the same way, visitors are able to walk some distance to learn about the secrets of Westminster Abbey and Parliament square. London Eye Park has an objective of providing visitors with magnificent and diverse products. In addition, to the Ferris wheel and river cruises, the park has established other resources such as hotels and catering services for those visitors who intends to stay for long, meeting halls for corporate meetings as well as other facilities like field and other facilities for relaxation purposes. The management team has also ensured that each facility is charged a reasonable charge with discounts for elderly people who are over sixty years of age, disabled people as well as free admission to children under four years of age. In this way, the park ensures that their visitors are served well so as to maintain its competitive edge in the market.

Discussion of the London Eye Attraction products based on the Wanhill, (2008)
According to Wanhill (2008), visitors attractions are consumed through sight seeing in respect of product variation, creativity of the design as well as its appeal. Wanhill model emphasizes that visitor attraction centers measure their performance based on the number of visitors. The object is to generate memorable benefits for the visitors and consequently attachment leading to more visit in future by the same visitors. The illustration below intensively analyzes London Eye attraction products as stipulated by the Wanhill, (2008).

Source-Wanhills (2008 p18)
In order to enhance visitors attraction and experience, London Eye Company has put up tangible objects which include collection of both natural and artifacts in the companys environment as well as support services in the park. To attract large number of visitors globally, the company has established the famous millennium wheel as mentioned earlier in this paper. Basically, the two major tangible visitors attraction aspects (Ferris wheel and river cruises) are aimed at providing the visitors with a memorable experience in the ride around London city so as to ensure that they return visits (Shackley, 2000).

In addition, London Eye Company has established other forms of support services to supplements the major attractions. These support services include hotels and dining rooms where visitors refresh themselves while taking a rest after a long excursion of the center. The company also has venues which are used for meetings and special occasions thus ensuring that the visitors are served well. London Eye has complimentary catering services that ensure that visitors are served with variety of foodstuffs and drinks.

Other attractions areas, for visitors are activities like games and movies. It is imperative to note that the company has life films which keep the visitors entertained such films include the 4D experience and the 3D films. With such exciting packages of attractive initiatives, London eye has succeeded in attracting new visitors while maintaining the existing clients both in UK and from foreign countries. The matrix below indicates the aspects depicted by Wanhill (2008) and which can be used to analyze London Eye position in the market.

Source- Wanhill (2008)
According to the above analysis, it is prudent to note that the park offers quality products which bring about customers loyalty to the products. In the same perspective, this analysis groups Merlin Entertainment London Eye as a wonder attraction due to its choice of the product as well as the support services which compliment the major attraction sites. The tangible features provide visitors with a wonderful tour around London city in different perspective. Ferris wheel provides a magnificent ride by lifting the visitors over 40 meters high from the ground to have a wonderful view of the city at where they view more than 40 kilometers around the city.

In this way visitors are able to explore various places. Likewise, the river cruises provide a magnificent view around the city having a wider view of the city from the river as well as viewing other historic sites around London city. To be more attractive as compared to other tourists sites, the park has included other support services in order to ensure that visitors are well catered for. These services include social amenities, housing as well as catering services which offers diversified range of delicacies to the visitors. These strategies have positively enhanced the image of the park on the eyes of the public.

Future key challenges for London eye
Being one of the largest and the famous attraction site, London Eye Company is likely to face a lot of challenges. This part will analyze the macro environment challenges that are likely to face London Eye Center in the next five years and how the managers can address them.  

Competition challenges.
Tourist attraction centers have become a major focus for developing and developed countries in recent years. They have become a source of revenue for both the companies managing them as well as the government. As more tourists gain access to countries that have major attraction, the government has taken initiative to levy taxes to them (Cooper et al, 2008). In the same way, the attraction companies have taken a step in maximizing revenue from the visitors who keep coming to view their resources. London Eye Company will in future face very stiff competition from other attraction centers including Legoland, Madame Tussauds, dagerlands, Durgeons, Heide park as well as Alton tower among others. This is a challenge due to the fact that these competitors tourist attraction offer same services to the customers as London eye tourist center. The competing attraction centers offer a wide variety of features as well as support services in order to attract visitors. In this way, these attractions pose a great test on Merlin entertainment London Eye due to the fact that they are likely to outdo the site by taking over the London Eye regular visitors. In this regard, the park will in future charge low prices which might result to reduced revenue.

To address this competition, London eye managers should invest in more innovation which will put the high number of competitors at bay. In addition to the Ferris wheel which is the only unique tangible product that the park provides, the park will attract more visitors resulting to   more revenue (Sharpley, 2002). Likewise, the company should adopt effective marketing strategies especially through the internet to enhance stronger awareness of the company products.

Changes in the government policies
London Eye Company is a very large initiative that requires large financial need in order to cater for visitors as well as maintaining the two major attractions sites (Ferris wheel and river cruises). In the same way, the park is one of the major sources of government revenue in the form of corporate taxes paid by the company. As a result of the increased number of visitors in the park, increased revenue will mean higher amount of corporate tax paid to the government. As challenges government policies pose a great danger to the company finances as the company ability to settle its debts, which have continued to accumulate each year, will be adversely affected. In the recent years the London Eye financial status has been weak as portrayed by the high level of debts. For example, at the end of the year 2007, the company had a debt of over 1.2 billion US dollars as compared to 2006, financial year when the company owed 610.4 millions US dollars to creditors. In order for the company management team to address the challenges of increased taxes, there is need to streamline the collection of fees and levies from the visitors. This will ensure that even if the corporate taxes increases, a higher net profit is left to cater for the expansion of the company as well as to settle its huge liabilities (Lennon, 2004). This is a challenge in that the center may fail to manage various sections within the park. This may greatly affect the site since visitors will seek refuge to competitors attraction sites hence London eye would lose its competitive edge in the market.

Economic challenges
Economic challenges greatly affect the expansion of tourism sector due the fact that most of the companies do not adjust their prices downwards even during recession. For instance, the recent global economic downturn negatively affected all the sectors of the economy and especially the firms dealing affiliated to the tourism industry. With the decreased disposable income and low level of investment, members of the public have been faced with little or no money to cater for luxuries goods and services (Evans et al, 2003). Most of the people have therefore concentrated in designing new strategies which will enable them to return to their original standard of living after the economic downturn. The little income available to household has been diverted towards acquiring necessities and health services. In this regard, London Eye is likely to experience low number of visitors in the future based on the economic challenges facing the local as well as foreign residents. As a result, the competitors who charge lower fees may take this opportunity to adjust their prices downwards so as to attract more visitors who visits London Eye. In addition, due to high operation costs incurred by the center, reduction in future revenue will limit the expansion of the sector. To solve this problem, managers need to adopt strong promotional strategies. These may include seasonal reduction of prices for the visitors as well as holding competitions within the park. In this way, the management team will attract high number of visitors regardless of the economic hardships which have recently affected both domestic and foreign tourists. Another way the park managers can overcome economic challenges, is to adopt diversification strategies which includes introduction of more income generating activities both within and outside the park (Allen et al, 2008).

Recommendations
I recommend that the Merlin Entertainment London Eye initiate corporate social responsibility such as sponsoring students who are interested in taking tourism courses in London. In the same way, the center needs to initiate tourism colleges in London city so as to train potential students who may work effectively for the company. By doing this the company will be rewarding the members of the community and the customer due to the loyalty that they have towards the products and the company.

London Eye is in maturity stage in the product life cycle. This is due to the fact that it has built a strong brand name and has succeeded in maintaining brand loyalty to the visitors. This is achieved through diversified products it offers and also the high quality products that have given visitors desire to visit the center regularly. Management strategies.

This part evaluates the London eye management strategies which will enable the management team to serve the visitors well and to keep the companys operation. The strategies covered include visitor segmentation, target market, marketing strategies, HRM, product diversification, branding and packaging among others (Swarbrooke, 2002).

Visitors  segmentation
London Eye Company has ensured that their visitors are properly segmented to enable the company deliver quality services for the visitors. Visitors segmentation technique includes adults, children, disabled, individual groups as well as corporate groups.

Target market
The company has targeted people worldwide. As discussed earlier, London eye targets adults, children, disabled, senior adults that include people aged sixty and above. This is evident in their pricing strategies as the company has set different prices for their tickets in the Ferris wheel and also in other recreation facilities such as river cruises.

Marketing strategies
This strategy involves the use of the 4Ps which include product, place, pricing and promotion. London eye has fully used the 4Ps as its vital marketing aspects. It is fundamental to note that the company offers a variety of products which includes riding in the Ferris wheel, river cruises, hotels and dining among many others. The company is strategically located in London city where its main purpose is to provide the visitors with a wonderful view of the city (Whitfield, 2009). In promoting its products the company uses their website as well as advertising media in the country. One of the most important methods of promotion is through use of discounts on the fees paid by the visitors. In this way, the company has been receiving more visitors leading to increased profitability.

Human resource management
Human resource management is one of the best aspects which organizations should emulate in order to achieve their goals. Through proper division of labor, employees are motivated to work towards achieving the goals of the firms. In this regard, London Eye Company has recruited experienced and qualified guides who are responsible for interpreting recreation facilities for the visitors as well as guiding them around the company. In this way, the company ensures quality services for the customers.

Product diversification
London Eye Company has diversified its product in a way that fully meets the demand of the tourists. Their product range from Ferris wheel, river cruises, accommodation facilities, dining halls to catering services. The company deals with a wide range of products to ensure visitors satisfaction and strong products loyalty (Fyall et al, 2008).

Technology and innovation strategies
London eye uses high level of technology to cater for their visitors. For instance, the company has luxurious facilities such as spacious hotel and rooms for visitors who wish to spend nights in the center. In addition, the center has magnificent dining rooms and wide range of catering services (Coles and Hall, 2008). The innovations provide visitors with diverse satisfaction and relaxation. The Ferris wheel is also built with high technology equipments such as high- tech glass capsules, which cannot be easily broken by any object. This is a strong strategy in that it gives assurance of security to the visitors using the wheel (Drummond and Yeoman, 2000).

Differentiated pricing
This strategy involves setting up different prices for different facilities. It also entails, setting different prices for adults and children. For example, London eye has established prices for different facilities including riding in the Ferris wheel, river cruises, accommodation and many other facilities in the company In the same way, the company has different prices for frights including birthday offers, flexi standard fright among many others. For birthday offers, the price for adults is 10, children aged between 4 and 15 years pays 5 while children below 4 years are provided with free tickets. Capsules used by the Ferris wheel also have different prices (Page and Connell, 2009).  This entails private capsules which charges 450, beauty capsule with the powder puff girls and wine charges 900 while the ones with champagne are charged for 940.Children party capsule charges  29.50 per child. River cruises prices are also different since they charge 12 for adults and 6 for children aged between 4 and 15.

Conclusion
Based on the above analysis of the London Eye tourist attraction center, it is very clear that despite the recent economic recession that has hit many countries in the world there are many unexploited resources which countries should utilize to create wealth. By use of modern technology and innovations, its my view that jobs can be created and poverty reduced in developing countries through use of tourists attraction avenues which emulate modern technology such as Ferris wheel. In addition, even though the tourists attraction sites offer exciting places for relaxing, they offer long-term sources of government revenues. Another important point to remember is that proper maintenance of cultural values can be a great source of government revenue especially when the revenue from other sources are limited.

It is also very important to note that contrary to other attraction sites which offers competition to London eye, the center effectively targets both local and foreign market. Likewise, the company targets wide range of clients who includes organizations, individuals, disabled people, artists, and families in US. It is also fundamental to note that with the current improvement in the film industry, the company target artists who visit the place with an aim of shooting their videos and films. This is due to the fact that London eye is designed with new and advanced technology that uses sensory effect such as wind, snow and even smell to bring to life images on the screen.

As indicated by this paper, Ferris wheel offers excellent and convenient location for shooting films and videos. This is based on the attractive nature of the wheel. In meeting the need of families and individuals, London eye have private capsules which can accommodate more than 20 peoples while taking their trip around the wheel. To maintain the customers loyalty especially in the current competitive business world, it is crucial for companies to effectively address the needs of the customers. In this regard, London Eye has high value for its customers. For example, the capsules include catering services for the families or a group of people visiting together.

The visitors are also provided with drinks and snacks while taking the trip. In doing this, the company ensure privacy of its visitors. This is one of the strategies which are aimed at retaining the visitors while at the same time attracting new customers. Even though the main aim of London Eye is to provide excellent tourism services as depicted in this analysis paper, the center has implemented a seasonal use level. This implies that only those who book and pay in advance to use and enjoy the ride in the Ferris wheel and river cruises are allowed to enjoy the services. This is aimed at keeping out other people from interfering and especially when there is an occasion by some group of people. It is also aimed at increasing profitability of the company since it enables use of such services for only those who pay in advance.

It is very clear as indicated with the overall analysis of the London Eye that firms should adopt effective and well researched strategies to penetrate the global market. Since most of the regional companies regardless of the industrial sector they are based, have put emulated globalization as a major avenue to increase profits it is vital to undertake extensive market research. According to my view, this will be attained by increasing budgetary allocation for research programs in organizations.