Creating Tourism Uniqueness To Hua Hin

History of Hua Hin

Hua Hin is one of the most well-known tourist destinations for decades, and currently, the island has been transformed to a major tourism hub with the well-prepared infrastructure and services to accommodate millions of tourists around the world every year.

Hua Hin now can provide highest standards of wellness care, blended with Thai hospitality. The ingredient of world-class wellness service with the charming & warm hospitality makes Hua Hin the favorable health & wellness destination of the world. There is more to Hua Hin than its white sandy beaches, fantastic bargain shopping, water and land sport activities and entertainment.

Furthermore, Thailand is one of leading tourism destinations for decades. Many cities have been transformed to a major tourism hub with well-prepared infrastructure and service to accommodate tourists around the world every year. With the number of tourists has been increasing every year, tourism related infrastructures have been developed. One of the infrastructures we really put our effort to medical infrastructure, originally to ensure all of the tourists for any emergency health incidents during their holidays. Thailand is leading Asia as a medical tourism destination.

Major reasons that enabled Thailand to dominate this growing market are the low cost of medical treatments, the quality of treatments provided by hospitals and private clinics, and the highly developed tourism industry.

As the population in the potential tourists searching for better life continues to grow, the demand for health and wellness trips tend to increase. Health and wellness tourism represents the recent trend to converge two of the world’s largest industries, healthcare and tourism.

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Hua Hin has been acknowledged as the healthiest city in Thailand. The combination of health tourism hub is between beautiful and natural tourism destination, with the international standard of healthcare perspectives. It has no doubt on the beauty of Phuket Island, together with various supporting factors; pristine beaches, delicious Thai & seafood, varieties of entertainment, fun shopping and tropical luxurious spa. Those combinations have made Phuket to the outstanding tourism destination in world map.

Location

Hua Hin is a coastal town in Prachuab Kirikhan Province, 200 kilometers south of Bangkok.

It can easily be reached by car. Hua Hin has an airport which links the seaside resort by daily flights to Bangkok, Phuket and Samui. Regular buses leave Bangkok’s Southern Bus Terminal for Hua Hin and Prachuap Khiri Khan many times daily. Trains leave Bangkok Central Railway Station for Hua Hin 12 times daily.

Climate

Hua Hin is located in the hot zone, but refreshed by a cooling sea breeze. The average temperature is 24C to 32C. It has one of the lowest rainfalls of any beach area in Thailand. Therefore, tourists can visit the town all year round. Due to the excellent weather and climate, there are a large number of the retire staying permanently there. One of facilities plays important roles to non-residents and local people is the medical and health services.

Vision

Hua Hin is a world source of health tourism. It will be broadly recognized as a magic place to healing and become the destination of choice for visitors whose primary intention is to enjoy health and wellness experiences. Its products and services will be delivered with a world class standard to fulfill customer needs.

Mission Statement

Hua hin welcomes all local and international visitors with top class of health and wellness facilities which are rare to find elsewhere. Unique identity of historical city together with natural resource and splendid long beach are attractive and draw health seekers from around the world and known as the best of destination for wellness.

Objectives

• To create tourism uniqueness to Hua hin.
• Strengthen Hua hin reputation in term of wellness and health destination.
• Increase standard of hotel and resort in Hua hin to average of 4 stars in 5 years of implementation.
• Create commitment of city owner to local people and educate the sustainable benefit of following destination strategic marketing.

Situation Analysis

Market analysis

Growth rates within the health and wellness tourism market are significance. Based on research, the global market size of health and wellness tourism is estimated at 5 million trips annually. As the population in the potential tourists searching for better life continues to grow, the demand for health and wellness trips will increase.

However, even though in Thailand, wellness tourism is just in an early phase of growth, it is growing.

The promise of low-cost, high quality healthcare is attracting more than tourists a year to key locations. Based on Bangkok Post 2004 Mid-Year Review, a health and wellness tourist spends an average of USD 362 a day, compared with the average traveler’s spending of USD 144 and 50 % cheaper than in Singapore, three times cheaper than in Hong Kong, and five to ten times cheaper than in Europe and the USA.

Competitor Analysis

Domestic Competitive Environment

Phuket has been discovered only recently as one of the most well-known tourist destinations and has undergone rapid.

Strength: with the investment of international healthcare facilities, Phuket now can provide highest standards of wellness and medical care, blended with Thai hospitality. The ingredient of world-class healthcare service with the charming and warm hospitality makes Phuket the favorable health and wellness destination of the world. There is more to Phuket than its white sandy beaches, fantastic bargain shopping, water and land sport activities and entertainment.

Phuket’s hospitals provide patients with access of highly qualified medical personal. We emphasize that such international accreditation is the key successful factors and is a guarantee of our commitment for best medical services.

The rapid changes of our planet today bring us to more challenging era. The world has been changed, both in positive and negative ways, and the most worried development to our mankind is the development of the sickness. In another word, may I say, sickness has no barriers, anyone living in anywhere in this world would have chance to experience any kind of sickness or diseases. And most of the time, sickness can be cured only for the permission time. With this believe, Phuket is the best place for medical treatment, as we possess the edge when it comes to the availability of services. And you will found that there is no queue or much waiting time for medical treatment in Phuket.

International Competitive Environment

Many countries now actively market themselves as health and wellness destinations. This further expansion of health and wellness tourism has positively impacted incoming tourist receipts by boosting average spend per visitor and reversed the general trend towards shorter, more frequent breaks. It has also provided an element of stability to the travel and tourism market, as activities are generally in-door thus avoiding the problems and fluctuations of seasonality.

Source Market Region

General Competitive Environment

Competitive Strengths

India

• Long history of wellness from folk know-how, such as Yoga, Ayurveda and Unani.
• Fast-paced life style increases demand for wellness tourism and alternative cures.
• Diversity of tourism destinations and experiences.
• Unique experience in heritage place and hotel.
• A very wide variety of hotels is present in the country that can fulfill the demand of the tourists.
• There are international players in the market such as Taj and Oberoi & International Chains. Thus, the needs of the international tourist travelers are met while they are on a visit to India.
• India offers a readymade tourist destination with the resources it has. Thus the magnet to pull customers already exists and has potential grow.
• Quality and Range of Services.
• Affordable costs.

Singapore

• Strengths as a tourist destination.
• Singapore’s land use planning, zoning controls and environmental regulations in destination management.
• Innovation, ICT and Singapore’s business sophistication factors.
• Implementation of the VICE model by Singapore to maintain sustainable tourism (Visitor, Industry, Community, Environmental).
• Achieving international-standard training and acquiring improved
• Knowledge & skills in the hospitality & tourism industry, to strengthen Singapore’s position as a top “Human Capital Excellence” destination.
• The significance of Singapore’s destination brand values.
• Partnering of tourism and hospitality industries to support Singapore’s tourism development.
• Partnering of tourism and hospitality industries to support Singapore’s tourism development.

Source:

http://www.gourkanjilal.com/tourism-s-w-o-t-analysis-india/index.htm, 31 Aug 2010

Conference on Tourism in India – Challenges Ahead, 15-17 May 2008, IIMK

http://discoversvg.com/index.php/en/home/latest-news/425-competitive-tourism-destination-lessons-learnt-from-singapore

India

India is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, which is mysterious to tourists. It is considered a land of contrast – of ancient farming and agricultural techniques in one area to bustling, cosmopolitan cities in another.

While much of the country is poorly developed, a medical tourist can rest assured that their hospital and, for a price, their hotel will be extremely modern and pristine. Venturing beyond these, however, a traveler is virtually guaranteed to suffer from diarrhea and intestinal parasites are common even for cautious eaters. Likewise, the odds of contracting a serious disease are low, however several additional vaccinations are strongly recommended that are not necessary in the other hubs.

India is positioning itself as a primary global destination for the most-complex medical procedures, and is committed to delivering these services by obtaining US Joint Commission International Accreditation to help in increasing US market share. India deals with a higher proportion of major surgery tourists than minor surgery and check-up tourists than the other major hubs, which has given rise to specialist hospitals across India.

It is the cheapest destination. Most estimates claim treatment costs in India start at around a tenth of the price of comparable treatment in America or Britain.

These hospitals are far out of the reach of most Indians and cater specifically to foreign tourists for very specific needs – for example some centers will focus strongly on heart surgery while others will deal with joint replacements. These specialist hospitals are very new with top rate medical teams, high volume and experience in their specialty and the best equipment available. High volume of heart surgeries does not translate into high volumes overall, however, and these hospitals rely heavily on agents, especially on the internet, to recruit prospective patients. These facilities also offer procedures that are rare or unavailable in the United States, such as hip polishing or resurfacing, which is a popular surgery for medical tourists.

The most popular treatments sought in India by medical tourists are alternative medicine, bone-marrow transplant, cardiac bypass surgery, eye surgery and orthopedic surgery. India is known in particular for heart surgery, hip resurfacing and other areas of advanced medicine.

The south Indian city of Chennai has been declared India’s Health Capital, as it nets in 45% of health tourists from abroad and 30-40% of domestic health tourists.[77] Other major cities where medical tourists are catered to include New Delhi and Mangalore.

By 2015, India’s medical tourism sector is expected to experience an annual growth rate of 30%. Estimates of the value of medical tourism to India go as high as $2 billion a year by 2012.

Advantages for medical tourists include reduced costs, the availability of latest medical technologies and a growing compliance on international quality standards, as well as the fact that foreigners are likely to face a language barrier in India. The Indian government is taking steps to address infrastructure issues that hinder the country’s growth in medical tourism.

Ministry of Tourism India (MoT) is planning to extend its Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme to cover Joint Commission International (JCI) and National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH) certified hospitals. A policy announcement of this effect is likely soon.

However, tourism in India can be impressive and at the same time quite uncomfortable. Its infrastructure is very poor. Although excellent hotels and western restaurants are available, they are extremely expensive. India has magnificent sights to see, however, from Hindu shrines to Islamic monuments and palaces and a vibrant modern culture.

Conclusion: India is a good choice for major surgery, but it is necessary to make sure you are going to a hospital with a strong track record in your particular condition. Tourism options after treatment are not as comfortable as the other hubs but are among the most interesting.

Singapore

Singapore has a world-renowned and well-established healthcare and medical system. Based on the WTO (2007) Singapore was voted the “Best Medical/Wellness Tourism Destination” by TravelWeekly (Asia) Industry Awards 2007. There are a dozen hospitals and health centers with JCI accreditation.[91] In 1997 (published 2000), the World Health Organization ranked Singapore’s health care system sixth best in the world and the highest ranked system in Asia.[92]

Patients from developed countries such as the United States and the UK are also beginning to choose Singapore as their medical travel destination for relatively affordable health care services in a clean cosmopolitan city.

Pros

• The WHO ranked the quality of healthcare in Singapore as 6th in the world.
• Singapore is a highly urbanized, orderly and spotless country so medical tourists should not expect the same chaotic environment that are typical in other Asian destinations
• There are several JCI-certified hospitals and healthcare facilities in Singapore.
• English is one of Singapore’s official languages and is spoken by all doctors and medical staff
• Although the cost for medical procedures in Singapore is not as low compared to India or Thailand, the prices are still lower then Western Europe and the USA.

Cons

• Medical procedures and treatments done in Singapore are more expensive compared to other Asian medical tourism destinations such as Thailand, India and Malaysia.
• The climate in Singapore is hot and humid, which may be uncomfortable to most westerners particularly during the post-procedure and recovery stages
• Prices of goods, transportation and accommodation in Singapore are relatively more expensive than other Asian countries
• For US and Canadian medical tourists, travel times to Singapore are very long

3.4 SWOT Analysis

The following SWOT points have been identified based on secondary-qualitative research.

Strengths

• Hua Hin’s current position as a desirable tourist
• Affordable cost
• Not far from Bangkok
• Low cost of wellness products and services with high quality
• Accessibility: by car, air shutter
• Reputation and Marketing
• Reputation

Weaknesses

• Lack of consumer awareness
• Some doctors are employed part time
• Language and Culture Barrier
• Unskilled Workforce

Opportunities

• Many factors have contributed to the increased public awareness of health and wellness. Higher rates of heart disease.
• Wellness tourism market is large and increasing.
• Tourism policies from government, tourism industry will be strategically supported from government.
• Provincial strategy group will create more obvious tourism development roadmap.
• The continued growth of the Thai economy, resulting in growth of domestic tourism and raise opportunities to local tourism development.
• Information technology and internet allow the distribution of travel information to be more convenient and faster.
• Global trend towards health conscious.
• Fund flow from local and foreign are key for development in tourist destination province like Hua Hin.

Threats

• Travel understands how to package but healthcare facilities do not.
• Unstable political situation in Thailand.
• Global economic situation is difficult to expect, may impact spending of target market especially if problem occurred in target country.
• Speaking about medical factors, for the definition, which comes from the research in preparation stage, we have found that there are four factors to make destination ready for international medical services.

Destination marketing strategies

The experience of Hua Hin thus serves to illustrate factors that are critical to destination development, raising two pertinent questions:

1. What are the best models of tourism marketing that focus on total customer needs, wants and experiences, and which recognize the essential nature of fun, high quality and diversity of choices at the destination?

2. Is it necessary for a destination / country to have a marketing strategy for attracting tourism? If the destination aims to host tourists in a way that leads to economic growth while balancing the needs of the citizens, then a structured and coordinated approach, a marketing strategy is the optimal approach to achieving these goals.

Recommendation

The findings revealed several strengths of Hua Hin tourism in terms of destination marketing. These included: effective tourism organizations, continuing tourism product development, a unique variety of activities and culture, variety of accommodations and hospitality programs, thorough overseas market segmentation, targeting, and positioning activities. Stability of economic, politic and social in Thailand is major factor of developing through strategies. However, if current government can sustain itself in medium term and serious implement of tourism destination development, Hua Hin is one of the most potential to famous globally likes others destination in Thailand.