Report on Volunteer Tourism

Question: Create an STP plan for Australian Tourist Market. Answer: Executive Summary This is a research report on the development of a STP or Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning plan for the Orangutan Foundation which is actually an orangutan conservation organization. The various benefits of volunteer tours has been identified and linked with the STP plan for Orangutan Foundation. This way conservation of natural environment along with the efforts for developing local communities and educate them has been identified as among the various benefits of volunteer tours. Along with that the selection procedure for the Australians interested in the volunteer tour has been discussed so that the most appropriate person can be sent for the same. This way various abilities and pre-requisites are identified so as to select the Australians who are fit for the job. Background information a. Introduction This is a report on the volunteer tourism project that has been developed overtime in different countries with a view to preserve the natural environment and safeguard the interest of the people living in the backward or less economical developed areas, regions and countries. In this report the case of Orangutan foundation has been discussed where the volunteer tourists are sent from Australia with a view to support the noble cause of preserving the environment by fencing the natural habitat and along with that supporting the education programs for the local residents. b. About Orangutan Foundation The Orangutan Foundation is an orangutan conservation organization. The foundation is located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Indonesian Borneo runs the volunteer tours in these area for construction of buildings and fences to protect the orangutan living in the wild from outsider approach. This organization has been protecting the natural habitats of various breeds of orangutan in Asian countries. They also work for the development of the local communities and spread of education in these areas. This organization does not only support the idea of saving orangutan but to recognize their habitat in the local and global communities so that the forests can be saved on which they are so dependent. Thus efforts are made in various directions including saving forest, preserving climate, delivering education along with the saving and recognition of the Orangutan habitat(OrangutanFoundation, 2015). c. About Volunteer tourism Volunteer tourism is an emerging trend in the tourism sector which attracts volunteers from different parts of the society to come ahead and work for the environment. The best thing is that these volunteers are offered holidays along with the responsibility that they are expected to deliver during the travel. This way the volunteers who want to have a life time of an experience of helping others, saving environment along with the enjoyment holidays participate in such Volunteer Tourism Programs. In Australia, there are a number of volunteer projects that are offered for the purpose of cultural immersion, seeking camaraderie, giving back to the world and bonding opportunities with the host(Leonard Onyx, 2009). d. Aim of report The aim of the report is to evaluate the various benefits that the volunteer tourism can yield to the Orangutan foundation. Also the various methods of selecting the Australians for the specific purpose has been discussed. Finally a STP or Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning plan has been discussed to make the volunteer tourism concept a big success in Australia by making appropriate selections and achievement of the desired goals in Orangutan foundation. e. Scope of report The Scope of the report includes the Australian public, specifically the people interested in volunteer tourism projects. Also the scope includes the Orangutan foundation projects that are meant to conserve natural environment and safeguard the interest of the local residence who need support of the western people to develop. Finally the scope includes the local people in the Indonesian region which lives near the area of operation of Orangutan foundation that are given educational and financial support to lead an improved life and learn about the outer world. Brief Literature review Volunteer tourism is actually organized by various Volunteer tourism organizations so that the potential volunteers can take the benefit in intrinsic and even extrinsic form from the experience they will have from the offer. Thus a number of reasons affect the decision of the volunteer in accepting the offer for volunteer tourism which includes family bonding, achieving cultural immersion and accomplishing an inner thrust of making a difference. Some of the volunteers may even accept the offer for getting camaraderie. This volunteer tourism are mostly made in the developing and under developed countries so that the social and environmental issues can be dealt which rose as a response to the Boxing day Tsunami that occurred in year 2006 and later the September 11 attacks. This way efforts are made to bring a level of understanding between people in different countries by investing in various humanitarian projects to support the development in the under developed countries (Wearing Gr abowski, 2011). A number of programs for placement of university students in countries like Fiji, Mexico and Vietnam has been developed in the recent years. This is due to the reason that these programs are meant to initiate and support the developing process in these countries by the young students of the western countries. The benefits that are tried to be achieved through these International Volunteering and Service initiatives includes education development, supporting development projects and increasing harmony among the western groups and people in the under developing country. This way various volunteers are selected for living a life time experience in the holidays that are meant to help the people in the under developed countries (Palacios, 2010). Tourism has become an essential business in every country. Through tourism various people in the country gets employment and therefore a chance to earn a good living. Due to this reason, efforts are made by the government of different countries to achieve a sustainable tourism in their respective country(Wong et al., 2014). This includes stimulating the travelers behavior so that they have an attractive and luxurious travel and do not feel reluctant to come to the country. The volunteer trips are rising in the United States as the volunteers wanted to move and support the people in the under developed country along with having a great time of holidays. The most popular volunteering program in the United States is One Million hours for Haiti (Cohan, 2010). The Canadian government has been making consistent efforts in sending nearly 8,500 volunteers to the developing and under developed nations since year 2004. The main objective behind is to help the local NGOs to cooperate in the development process and achieve operations of power and empowerment through the Voluntary Cooperation Programs (Laywine, 2013). The role of volunteers in the Volunteer Tourism program is therefore to act as a change agent. A pre-trip motivation is actually achieved in these volunteers so that they can perform the duty they are assigned along with having a memorable holiday in the under developed country. This way the volunteer tourist along with the volunteer tourism organization and host community come together to plan for a holiday that could benefit all these stakeholders. This way a cusp of opportunity is made available to the volunteer who hasto perform multiple tasks in the multiple locations in the host country which is both serving the community and enjoying holidays (Wearing McGhee, 2013). CVA or Conservation Volunteer Australia took various initiatives in the recent years to send volunteer tourist in North Queensland for supporting various volunteer projects. It was however observed the volunteer were actually tempted towards going to such volunteer projects because they wanted to meet new people, observe the natural environment and engage in an effort for saving environment. This way the volunteers motivation towards volunteer tourism helped in achieving the desired goal of offering assistance by the volunteer and enjoying holidays along (Pegg et al., 2014). Recently the volunteerism among the local community at the Blackwood River Valley in Western Australia has confirmed that people want to participate in the development projects. Although the lack of time and money hinders their progress, but they are inner motivated to make direct or indirect participation in the development projects that could result in development of the underdeveloped (Alonso Liu, 2013). A group of Grey Nomads has been in existence from last 50 years who work for the development in the rural areas of Australia. Thus by using range of skills and willingness to volunteer various community supporting projects these people have actually achieved the target of serving the humankind (Leonard Onyx, 2009). This way various doctors and scholars are sent to various rural places so that the projects of public welfare can be supported (Smith, 2009). STP plan for the Australian Tourist Market The STP or Segmentation, targeting and positioning plan through the Australian tourist market concentrates on the economic, environmental and social development of the host country. Thus the Volunteer tourism is meant to achieve development of the areas where the volunteers are sent. In our case the volunteers especially from university and colleges consisting of young Australians are sent to central Kalimantan, Indonesia so that the Orangutan foundation can be supported in terms of building fences and buildings to safeguard the orangutan in the forest. Also efforts are made to educate the people in this backward region. Finally the medical and financial assistance is provided to these people in the backward areas so that they can improve their life and could connect with the outside world considering the western culture caring for their concerns. On the other hand, the Indonesian Borneo tour helps in achieving a memorable holiday for the volunteers who are motivated towards meeting new people and making difference by serving environment and humanity as well(Jayachandran, 2004). The STP plan for the Australian tourist market is therefore described as below. Segmentation The customer segmentation is actually required to be done in the Australian tourist market because this can help in deciding on the person for sending on volunteer tours as per his capabilities. This way the Australian tourist market can be segmented on the following basis. 1. Demographics The demographic of the Australian tourist shows that the country has a huge number of applicants ready to become various tourism programs in Australia. The most of the volunteers are in age between 21-27 years including both male and females in equal number. This shows the motivational factor of meeting new people and seeking camaraderie. However there are still volunteers who want to work so that they can give back something to environment(Pegg et al., 2014). The volunteers of 21-27 age group people are best fit and ideal to be sent to the Orangutan foundation in Indonesia so that they could easily work in the wild environment along with the Orangutan. This way they could apply the youth fitness of their body to deal with the raw environment and earn a life time of an experience(Leonard Onyx, 2009). 2.Psychographics The psychographics of the Australian volunteers for tourism is observed to be different. That is, these volunteers look for cultural immersion through which they can meet new people. However others seek for camaraderie and earn experience. However there is no scarcity of volunteers who has a thought of giving back to the world. Finally there are volunteers who try to achieve bonding opportunities with the host country people so that they could achieve eternal peace(Laywine, 2013). The STP plan for Australian tourist as per the different psychographics will therefore will require selecting those volunteers who are looking for cultural immersion and desires to give back something to the world. These people will prove best for the work as they will whole heartedly and avoid any discretion from their respective target due to financial needs or any other discourse(Alonso Liu, 2013). 3. Geographical The Australian volunteer applies from various parts of Australia. Since the Orangutan foundation has to work in forest, therefore the volunteers should be selected from the area of Tasmania forest. This is so because the volunteers of this area will have in-born ability to adapt as per the forest environment(Palacios, 2010). The STP plan would therefore be selecting of the volunteers from Tasmania forest. As it would not difficult for them to work in the Indonesian Borneo forest for the fencing and building of structures to safeguard the Orangutan in the area, because of the similar background they are brought up in (Cohan, 2010). Targeting: A number of types of targeting techniques can be used for the selection of the Australian volunteers for the Orangutan Foundation noble cause. There are different types of targeting techniques which are as follows. 1. Undifferentiated targeting An undifferentiated targeting is done when the selection is made at the macro level without consideration factors and aftermath. Undifferentiated targeting cannot prove successful for sending the volunteers for supporting work of Orangutan foundation without any further considerations. This may result in problems and various health issues for the volunteers(Trevifio Brown, 2004). The STP plan for Australian volunteers would be to target volunteers and select after careful consideration of their background so that they can easily cope with the changed environment while sent on the expedition(Smith, 2014). 2. Concentrated targeting The concentrated targeting is method of mixing different kind of volunteers so that they can work together to facilitate each other and help in accomplishment of the desired goal from the Voluntary tourism plan. However the concentration is made of different kind of people with similar skills and abilities(Trevifio Brown, 2004). The STP plan for the Australian volunteers would not include any concentrated targeting method as this would not properly meet the required targets. Thus it will not be a wise decision to select from the concentrated targeting method for the volunteering tourism plan(Laudon Laudon, 2009). 3. Multi-segment targeting The multi-segment targeting results in gathering people from different backgrounds so that they could work efficiently and effectively as per there diverse skills to achieve the desired goal(Malhotra, 2002). The STP plan for Australian volunteers would work well when the people with different skills are selected from the nearby areas of Tasmanian forest. The different skills here include the ability to manage stay, work, prepare food and understand the flora and fauna. Thus the multi-segment targeting will effectively help in getting most appropriate outcome when the doctor, engineer, manager all of them work together for one desired objective(Wearing Grabowski, 2011). Positioning: The positioning of the Australian volunteers requires proper identification ofthe abilities and matching it with the requirements of the program so that only the fittest is allowed to be placed in that area(Jayachandran, 2004). The positioning therefore requires the following considerations. 1. Brand image The brand image of the Orangutan foundation is very good so there exist a number of volunteers in Australian tourist market who are interested in offering their services in the Indonesian region to safeguard the interest of the Orangutan. Also there are volunteers who want to work as educators in these areas(Wearing McGhee, 2013). The STP plan for the Australian tourist market therefore includes selecting of the most desirable volunteers out of the huge number of interested people. Thus it is not a point of concern with the already created and maintained brand image that positively motivates the volunteers in Australia to volunteer for the project meant to serve the main objectives of the Orangutan foundation(Wong et al., 2014). 2. Customer perceptions The customer perceptions stand for the thoughts and views of the people towards a specific brand. The customer perceptions in case of Australian Volunteers for tourism for Orangutan foundation are positive. People are interested and in fact always thrilled to see the wild life in their natural habitat(Leonard Onyx, 2009). The STP plans would therefore be to include the already motivated people who have positive perceptions about the volunteer tourism program. This way more can be expected than just delivery of responsibility from these volunteers(Cohan, 2010). 3. Competing products The competing products in our case study includes various other similar volunteering projects as saving wildlife like saving tiger, preserving environment like ensuring lesser output of industrial waste and gases to ozone layer and decrease global warming etc.(Pegg et al., 2014). The STP plans would be to attract more volunteers for the noble cause of Orangutan foundation using various strategic promotional activities. This includes advertising on television, dispersing pamphlets, displaying on boards and other hoardings. Thus the STP plan is to attract the maximum number of volunteers using the latest technological strategic promotional activities(Cohan, 2010). Conclusion In the end, the Orangutan foundation is working hard to achieve a definite level of conservation of wild life especially orangutan in the Indonesian region. The Australian Volunteer tourism is aiding the Orangutan foundation in achieving the targets(Alonso Liu, 2013). This way these organizations are trying to achieve the goal of securing life of Orangutan from poachers. Also they work together to build fences to secure the movement of the human being and orangutan in the region. However these organizations also work to ensure education delivery to the people in this region so that they could realize the role of the west in improving their life conditions(Cohan, 2010). This way a proper STP plan has been developed and discussed which explains about the related information of the Australian tourist market. Recommendations After going through the whole research work it is therefore recommended that the segmentation of the Australian tourist volunteers should be done after careful consideration of the psychographic, geography and demography of the Australian people. Also the target should be to place the right person for the right job. That is the selection from the volunteers should be made after reviewing the requirements of the project(Jayachandran, 2004). The most suitable volunteers are selected for the said project which brings in desired outcome and lesser of problems. Finally the positioning of the Orangutan foundation project is done carefully so that the maximum number of volunteers could apply for the project(Leonard Onyx, 2009). By use of various strategic promotional activities people from around the Australian continent can be tempted to join the project and work as volunteer for tourism so as to secure the orangutan in the Indonesian Borneo region where the Orangutan foundation is workin g(OrangutanFoundation, 2015). This way the Orangutan foundation will be able not only support the idea of saving orangutan but to recognize their habitat in the local and global communities so that the forests can be saved on which they are so dependent. 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