Sheffield Business School
BSc (Honours) Hospitality Business Management
Title: Marketing Strategy of Theme Park: Improving the Ocean Park Case
Name: Wong Ting Wai Emily
Student No: 91206516 (SHU) 107013407 (SHAPE)
Month Year: April 2011
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Business School
Title: Marketing Strategy of Theme Park: Improving the Ocean Park Case
FULL NAME: Wong Ting Wai Emily
STUDENT No: 91206516 (SHU) 107013407 (SHAPE)
Supervisor: Professor Ray Pine
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Business Management.
Month Year: April 2011
Executive Summary
The tourism in Hong Kong is one of the major drivers of the economy and the pursuance to deliver the quality service and entertainment gives the additional opportunity for the country. However, due to the various economic constraints and uncertainties, the Ocean Park should establish a strong marketing strategy wherein they can continue to promote the tourism and the product life in the Hong Kong.
Ocean Park, the original theme park in Hong Kong, is facing keen competition recently since another theme park-Hong Kong Disneyland has developed in Hong
Kong in 2005. Hence, Ocean Park must aim to develop the appropriate marketing strategy in other to gain competitive advantage. The aim of this study is to improve the marketing strategy in Ocean Park and to gain competitive advantage. To achieve this aim, there are three objectives. First, it should investigate the marketing strategies of Ocean Park. Second, it must study the attributes importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park for evaluation of the Park‟s image and likelihood of revisit. Last, effective strategies can be recommended to Ocean Park based on the findings of this study to gain competitive advantage.
To achieve the aim and objectives, both secondary research and primary research are used. Secondary research is used to investigate Ocean Park‟s existing marketing strategy. Primary research is to find out attributes importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park for evaluation of the park‟s image and likelihood of revisit. Importance-performance analysis (IP analysis) is adapted. According to the findings of the questionnaire, there are five issues about Ocean Park‟s performance that is not perceived well by visitors. The issues including “Fantasy environment”,
“Live entertainment/shows”, “Passes include all charge plus 2 way ticket of transport and 1 meal inside the park”, “Admission passes selling on Internet” and “Admission passes selling in convenience shops”. However, these factors are important in visitors‟ i mind as they choose a theme park. Therefore, Ocean Park should focus on them in order to gain the competitive advantage. They should devise different marketing strategies to satisfy different needs of visitors. In addition, overall satisfaction level of
Ocean Park‟s visitors is high and the image of Ocean Park is positive according to the findings. Moreover, word of mouth is one of the promotion methods. The satisfied visitors can recommend their friends to visit Ocean Park. Therefore, satisfied visitors are more willing to revisit Ocean Park.
The information in this study can help to realize the strengths and weaknesses of
Ocean Park and devise the competitive strategies that improve and sustain the performance.
ii Table of Content
Executive Summary ...... i
Table of Content ...... iii
List of Figures ...... vi
List of Tables ...... vii
List of Appendices ...... viii
Acknowledgements ...... ix
1 Introduction ...... 1
1.1 Background ...... 1
1.2 Hong Kong Ocean Park ...... 2
1.3 Outlines of the project ...... 3
2 Purpose of the study ...... 4
3 Literature Review...... 5
3.1 Visitor attractions and Theme Park ...... 5
3.1.1 Definition of the visitor attractions ...... 5
3.1.2 Definition of the theme park ...... 5
3.1.3 The role of the visitor attractions and theme park ...... 6
3.1.4 Challenges facing theme parks ...... 7
3.1.5 The importance of theme parks‟ image ...... 7
3.2 Marketing strategy ...... 8
3.2.1 Targeting ...... 9
3.2.2 Positioning ...... 9
3.2.3 Marketing Mix ...... 10
3.2.3.1 Product ...... 11
3.2.3.2 Price ...... 12
3.2.3.3 Promotion...... 13
iii 3.2.3.4 Place ...... 14
4 Methodology ...... 15
4.1 Secondary Research ...... 15
4.2 Primary Research ...... 15
4.2.1 The research framework ...... 16
4.2.2 The survey instrument...... 16
4.2.3 Pilot Test ...... 17
4.2.4 Sample design ...... 17
4.2.5 Data analysis ...... 18
4.2.6 Data coding and data entry ...... 18
4.2.7 Statistical Analysis ...... 18
4.2.7.1 Frequency Analysis ...... 18
4.2.7.2 Importance-Performance Analysis ...... 18
4.2.8 Limitations ...... 19
5 Findings and Analysis ...... 20
5.1 Secondary research findings ...... 20
5.1.1 Targeting of Ocean Park ...... 20
5.1.2 Positioning of Ocean Park ...... 20
5.1.3 Marketing mix strategy of Ocean Park ...... 21
5.1.3.1 Product ...... 21
5.1.3.2 Price ...... 21
5.1.3.3 Promotion...... 22
5.1.3.4 Place ...... 22
5.2 Primary research findings and analysis...... 22
5.2.1 Demographic profile of the respondents ...... 23
5.2.2 Perceived importance and performance of Ocean Park ...... 24
iv 5.2.2.1 Importance-Performance Grid ...... 24
5.2.2.2 Most effective marketing tool ...... 28
5.2.2.3 Overall satisfaction, revisit intention and to recommend
Ocean Park to others ...... 29
6 Conclusion ...... 31
7 Recommendations ...... 34
8 References ...... 36
9 Appendices ...... 41
v List of Figures
Figure 5.1 IPA Gird ...... 28
Figure 5.2 Most Effective Marketing Tools ...... 29
vi List of Tables
Table 5.1 Demographic Profile of Respondents ...... 23
Table 5.2 Perceived importance and Performance of Theme Park Attributes of
Ocean Park ...... 26
Table 5.3 Response of Most Effective Marketing Tools ...... 29
Table 5.4 Overall satisfaction, Revisit intention and Intention to Recommend to
Others ...... 30
vii List of Appendices
Appendix 1 ...... 41
Appendix2 ...... 42
Appendix 3 ...... 43
Appendix 4 ...... 44
Appendix 5 ...... 45
Appendix 7 ...... 46
viii Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following persons for their helps in the whole in the whole process of the research and the completion of my dissertation.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Ray Pine, my dissertation supervisor, for his patient guidance and precious comments. Professor Pine provides valuable advice throughout the stages of the research.
Also, thanks for all my friends and family who helped in the research process. Their supports help my study finish smoothly.
ix
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
As stated by Swarbrooke (1995), „Visitor attractions are at the heart of the tourism industry, they are motivators that make people wants to take a trip in the first place‟.
The visitor attractions can affect the attractiveness of a place and number of tourist arrivals to a destination. The value of specific visitor attractions within a destination can also be a key motivator in attracting business to the destination. Therefore, Fyall,
Garrod and Leask (2003) pointed out that the quality and success of these interrelationships depend not only on visitor attraction itself, but its contribution to development of the critical mass of the destination product offering itself. Obviously, visitor attractions are the important component for the tourism industry and destination development.
Theme parks provide an opportunity for entertainment during an individual‟s free time and these are considered as a form of leisure activity (Milman, 1991). As Fyall,
Garrod and Leask (2003) state that theme parks have emerged as prominent attractions characterized by their artificiality. They are part of a rapidly evolving entertainment industry driven by mounting regional demand for leisure products. In the broad sense, the rapid urbanization is the trend all over the world, it contributes to the demand of leisure activity and the growth of the theme parks definitely. In addition, Milman (2001) mentioned the popularity of theme parks and attractions will continue to grow as they are more associated with new experience of vacation.
Moreover, numbers of theme parks emerge and theme park planners continue to innovate the unique themes in order to attract as much visitors they can. As the theme parks are facing this competitive business environment, successful marketing strategies and differentiation from competitors are important for a theme park to gain 1 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management competitive advantage. As Kotler, Brown and Makens (1996) mention the success of business depends on determining the needs and wants of target markets. It is essential to delivery desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors.
Therefore, identifying the theme park attributes importance, understanding the perceived performance and image of the theme parks are important because these can facilitate a theme park to deliver desired satisfaction to target market effectively. The information can help to realize the strengths and weaknesses of a theme park and devise the competitive strategies that improve and sustain the performance.
1.2 Hong Kong Ocean Park
Ocean Park is the biggest educational park located in an 870,000 square meter of land in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. The theme park receives four million local and international visitors every year. The educational park operates as a non-profit organization. The vision for Ocean Park is “to be the world leader in providing excellent guest experiences in a theme park environment connecting people with nature”. The concurrent mission of Ocean Park is to provide visitors with a memorable experience through a combination of education and entertainment while at the same time encouraging visitors to take interest in conservation and environmental learning. As a provider of public service, the company seeks to achieve financial soundness while at the same time providing visitors a wide range of quality products and services at competitive prices. Ocean Park provides a wide variety of activities including an entertainment theme park providing games and rides, nature tours to visit land and sea animals, and educational activities such as interactive museums and feature galleries.
To enhance value for consumers, Ocean Park also has booths and shops providing souvenir products as well as food and beverage. Soon with the completion of its
2 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management redevelopment project in 2012, Ocean Park would soon be able to provide hotel accommodations (Ocean Park 2010).
Ocean Park develops its appeal by developing a unique business concept by combining education, entertainment, and environmental conservation into a single park experience. Unlike zoos, Ocean Park plans interactive learning activities involving visitors, animals and nature. Unlike Disneyland and other leisure parks,
Ocean Park provides entertainment through exciting experiences for individuals, peer groups and families of the natural environment. In this sense, the company retained its core traditional values but developed activities that meet the interests of current consumers.
1.3 Outlines of the project
The project includes seven chapters. Chapter one introduce the research background and the basic information about Hong Kong Ocean Park. The second chapter will states the purpose of the study, aims and objectives. Chapter three is the literature review. In this chapter, it will define the visitor attractions and the theme park. In addition, the role of visitor attractions and theme park will evaluate. Moreover, chapter three will define the marketing strategy which the topic that the study focus.
In chapter four, it will evaluate the methodology of the study including secondary research and primary research. The fifth chapter analyzes the research findings.
Finally, the last two chapters will be the conclusion and the recommendations of the study.
3 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 2 Purpose of the study
The aim of the study is to improve the marketing strategy in Ocean Park. Marketing is more than ever the primary focus for management in the globally competitive conditions of nowadays in travel and tourism. It influences the entire business as a corporate response embracing the frontline staff. It is equally relevant in helping organizations to meet their customers‟ needs. Thus, Marketing is a good topic for me to study. Moreover, Ocean Park is one of the most successful projects of the country that can clearly help to establish the competency and boost the confidence of the country in facing the international market. The tourism in Hong Kong is one of the major drivers of the economy and the pursuance to deliver the quality service and entertainment gives the additional opportunity for the country. However, due to the various economic constraints and uncertainties, the Ocean Park should establish a strong marketing strategy wherein they can continue to promote the tourism and the product life in the Hong Kong. The ongoing competitions and the international market can create different assessment in the business cycle of the Ocean Park. Clearly, it can affect the overall performance of the business in the industry of tourism and through the broad managerial strategies. Therefore, Ocean Park can adequately gain the competitiveness by improving the marketing strategy.
To achieve the aim, the objectives are as follows:
1. To investigate the marketing strategies of Ocean Park;
2. To study the attributes importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park for
evaluation of the Park‟s image and likelihood of revisit;
3. To recommend effective strategies to Ocean Park based on the findings of this
study to gain competitive advantage.
4 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 3 Literature Review
Literature Review aims to understanding the academic literatures and theories relating to the theme and marketing strategy. It provides the background and demonstrates the purpose of the study marketing strategy of Ocean Park.
3.1 Visitor attractions and Theme Park
3.1.1 Definition of the visitor attractions
According to Fyall, Garrod and Leask (2003), the universal definition of visitor attractions is required in order to „record, map and monitor attractions for information and statistical purpose‟. A details explanation has been suggested by ETC (2000b), „ A permanently established excursion destination, a primary purpose of which is to allow public access for entertainment, interest or education; rather than being principally a retail outlet or venue for sporting, theatrical or film performances. It must be open to the public without prior booking, for published periods each year, and should be capable of attracting tourists or day visitors as well as local residents. In addition, the attraction must be a single business, under a single management… and must be receiving revenue directly from visitors.‟ The main reason for developing a definition is to allow international comparison. For example, a new generation of „destination attractions is emerging wherein consumers are offered a comprehensive range of services and facilities for entertainment, shopping, eating and drinking, and other aspect of leisure (Stevens, 2000).
3.1.2 Definition of the theme park
A theme park is „an amusement park that has themed attractions, be it food, costumes, entertainment, retail stores and/or rides‟ according to the International Association of
5 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Amusement Parks and Attractions as mentioned by Wong and Cheung (1999). Theme parks are distinguished from other amusement park in that there is a theme that runs through all or most of these attractions. These attractions might be marketed under one general idea or personality, or they could comprise a cluster of different themes at one central location (McEniff, 1993).
Moreover, Milman (1991) indicated that theme parks are generally designed to cater to the family as a visiting unit, and they are viewed as a form of leisure activity because they provide an opportunity for entertainment during an individual‟s discretionary free time. According to Young and Riley (2002), theme parks are also part of modernity, agent in the homogenization of place and become key pilgrimage sites within today‟s mass cultures. Similar to other tourist attractions, they have grown into anodyne place where modern people can relieve the anxieties in their lives and the crises in their societies.
3.1.3 The role of the visitor attractions and theme park
As stated by Swarbrooke (1995), „Visitor attractions are at the heart of the tourism industry, they are motivators that make people want to take a trip in the first place‟.
Richards (2001) points out that while it can be argued that attractions do not always literally „attract‟ visitors, they „certainly do provide focus for much tourist activity, and are an essential weapon in the arsenal or tourism destinations engaged in a competitive struggle for tourist business‟. Visitor attractions‟ role within a destination forms only one part of a complex network of tourism service providers within the broader tourism product; however, they often used key products in marketing activities. The main interrelationships and interdependencies between visitor attractions and the wider tourism industry appear to focus on standard areas of mutual
6 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management benefit, with an increasing move to develop more formal partnerships and collaboration being seen in recent years (Fyall, Leask and Garrod, 2001).
3.1.4 Challenges facing theme parks
There is increasing number of theme parks and being more important in tourism industry in recent years. Therefore, more competition in the theme park market and many parks are expanding their activities to increase their competitive.
As the rapid changes take place in the business environment, many operators in the tourism and hospitality industry must adapt to the external and internal forces that shape their future. Milman (2001) pointed out that theme parks and attractions must act in response to changes in multiple environmental factors such as economic conditions, technology, global competition, worldwide politics, social and demographic changes, and internal problems.
3.1.5 The importance of theme parks‟ image
Image of theme park is important because it may strongly affect the motivation to visit a particular park. Moreover, Kemperman (2000) pointed out that images and the expectations of trip experiences are closely linked in customers‟ minds. As Wong and
Chueng (1999) mention, the theme park industry is part of the service component of the tourism industry. Owing to intangible nature of services, the creation of an identifiable image is critical for service marketing. Even though the image and the theme are not identical in nature, the theme helps project an image by the sort of theme chosen and theming. In addition, the decision made by a consumer to purchase a product or service is directly influenced by the image the individual has of himself/herself and the perceived image of the product or seller (Wong and Cheung,
1999).
7 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management From the marketing point of view, marketing image concept implies that an individual will form an image based on benefit or exchange value they expect to be derived from product or service (Tapachai and Waryszak, 2000). Kotler, Brown and Makens (1996) also mention that marketing image that represented the way customers view the exchange value of the product offered by company. Therefore, a company has a strong marketing image if customers think that they get high value when they buy from that company. This kind of image would affect the buying behavior of customers which stated by Kotler , Brown and Makens(1996). To be successful in marketing, the product must have good image, otherwise, the customer will be disappointed (Firat,
Shultz and Clifford, 1997).
3.2 Marketing strategy
Marketing strategy is a long-term marketing plan and it is the central issues to the use of marketing function. It provides an overall achievement of objectives and broad plan of actions for corporate (Greenley, 1989). Cravens (2000) also states that marketing strategy provides concepts and processes for gaining a competitive advantage by offering superior value to the business‟s customers. Thus, the businesses must have more distinctive and purposeful marketing strategies and they must be effectively implemented to deal with the current challenges (Carvens, Merrilees and
Walker, 2000).
Targeting, development of differential advantage through positioning and development of marketing mix program are three of the components of marketing strategy. These components will affect the market performance of companies (Shaw,
1994). In this part of literature review, it will base on the three components.
8 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management
3.2.1 Targeting
The factor that determines whether or not an attraction is successful is how the market responds to the product it offers (Swarbrooke, 1995). Targeting can be used to develop products and tailor marketing programs to each selected segment. According to Cooper et al (2005), the fundamental starting point for the creation of a successful marketing mix strategy is to ensure that the target market is clearly defined. While the target market is not part of the mix, its role in dictating the different ways in which the mix is used makes it indistinguishable from the concept and of paramount importance.
Targeting is a technique to divide a market into distinct groups of customers who might require separate product and/ or marketing mixes. Furthermore, it is the process of dividing the total perceived market into subsets, in each of which the potential customers have common characteristics, which lead to similar demand needs for a product or service (Kotler, Browen and Makens, 1996). Simply, market segments are large identifiable customer groups in a market (Kotler, 1994), and the purpose of segmentation is to select a target segment or market with the best potential on a range of criteria (Cooper et al, 2005). Identification of target market segments or markets is the top priority under marketing strategy (Sharma, 2004).
3.2.2 Positioning
Effective positioning can assist organization to optimize its marketing and operational capabilities, which in turns generates demand as well as retains existing customers
(Aleda and Marjolijn, 1991). According to Kotler, Bowen and Makens (1996), a product‟s position is the way the product is defined by consumers on important attributes- the place the product occupies in consumers‟ minds relative to competing
9 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management products. Positioning refers to the place that a product occupies in the mind of a prospect or customer relative to other products in the competitive set for that product
(Hsu et al, 2008). There are some positioning strategies suggested by Middleton and
Clarke (2005). Marketers can position their products based on specific product attributes. Products can also be positioned on the needs they fill or the benefits they offer. They can also position for certain classes of users. Moreover, a product can be positioned against an existing competitor. Finally, products can be positioned against another product class. The positioning functions originated as strategic activities in the marketing of consumer goods. As the importance of service sector has grown, the application of positioning has expanded to include the recognition that the unique characteristics of services required a different branding approach to products (Hsu et al, 2008).
Similarly, Ries and Trout (1986) stated that positioning has to be correctly addressed, as it is the best way to counteract the confusion created by the communication jungle.
The company must carefully select the methods in which it will distinguish itself from competitors (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 1996). To have successful positioning, product and services differentiation is important. Marketer can plan positions that will give their products and services the greatest advantage in selected target markets and then design marketing mixes to create the planned positions (Kotler, Bowen and
Makens, 1996).
3.2.3 Marketing Mix
Marketing mix can be defined as the core of all marketing planning. It affects how the marketing budget is allocated, forms the bedrock of the marketing plan‟s strategy, and provides the marketer with the techniques to optimize budgetary expenditure
10 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management (Holloway, 2004). The marketing process involves several key elements (Hsu et al,
2008). The combination of these elements is called the marketing mix. Perreault and
McCarthy (2006) suggested that it is useful to reduce all elements in the marketing mix to four Ps: product, price, place and promotion. According to Kotler, Bowen and
Makens (1996), the four Ps framework calls upon markets to decide on the product and its characteristics, set the price, decide how to distribute their product, and choose methods for promoting their product. In addition, Kotler, Bowen and Makens (1996) pointed out that, the marketing mix must be just that- a mix of ingredients to create an effective marketing offer for the target market. The following part is to define marketing mix in terms of theme park attributes.
3.2.3.1 Product
The effectiveness of planning the marketing mix depends as much on the ability to select the right target market as on the technique in devising a product offer, which will generate high levels of satisfaction (Cooper et al, 2005). According to Kotler,
Bowen and Makens (1996), a product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, service, places, organizations, and ideas. The customers look for a product that will be a solution for their problems or needs. In general they therefore buy a product for the benefit it brings them rather than because of the specific attributes of the product (Swarbrooke, 1995). Kotler (1994) suggested there are three levels of product: Core product is what the customer is really buying; tangible product is an entity which customer can purchase to satisfy their needs; augmented product which includes all the additional services and benefits the customer receives. Please refer to appendix 1 which illustrated with the example of a
11 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management theme park by Kotler (1994).
In addition, Milman (2001) also mentions that core product of theme park indicated themes and attractions, and the most likely future themes for theme park would be fantasy and mystery, interactive adventure, space, nature and ecology, educational, seasonal themes, etc. Haahit and Yavas (2004) devised a measurement set of 13 attributes for theme park evaluation. Those attributes are related to basic facilities, infrastructure, economic factors and sensory stimulants-theme. It is obvious that the classification of theme park product should not only base on its core products of attractions but also its supporting elements, such as catering and merchandizing. It is because visitors tend to choose a park, which can satisfy different needs of all members in their travel parties (Braun and Milman, 1994). Please refer to appendix 2.
3.2.3.2 Price
Mentions by Kotler, Bowen and Makens (1996), price is the amount of money charged for a good or service. More broadly, price is the sum of the values consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service. It is important for marketers to have an understanding of price. Charging too much chases away potential customers; charging too little can leave a tourism enterprise without enough revenue to maintain the operation properly. As a critical variable in the marketing mix, the price must be right. As Goeldner and Ritchie (2006) observed, the right price will be that which satisfies the needs and expectations of customers while also meeting the profit objectives of the organization. It is important to realize that price is not only the expense incurred by customers in obtaining the product, but also the cost of other related services that consumers may bear in purchasing or using the service (Lovelock,
2001).
12 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management In the theme parks industry, prices are associated with admission fee, catering services expenses, buying souvenirs, etc. Therefore, the marketer of theme park have to consider how to price, whether to price only for the entry, or for admission charge, or to include transport and lunch as full package (Kau, 1993). In addition, repeat visitors are more prices sensitive (Braun and Milman, 1994). Hence, implementation of strategic pricing is important to the marketer. Cumberworth (2001) suggested that the theme park can initiate some incentives such as discounted admission fee, seasonal tickets and children membership club to stimulate repeat visits. Moreover, number of factors will affect customers to be less price sensitive. Cooper et al (2005) mentions that customers are less sensitive to a product‟s price the more customers value any of its attributes that differentiate it from competing products. Perhaps, a higher price may signal that the product has superior quality, therefore, the result may be less sensitivity to price.
3.2.3.3 Promotion
Promotion is the descriptive term for the mix of communication activities that tourism organizations, or tourist boards, carry out in order to influence those publics on whom their sales depend. The important groups, which need to be influenced, are not simply the target market group of current and potential customers (Cooper et al, 2005).
Promotion mix includes advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and public relations. Marketers need to choose the way of communicating informative and promotional message to the public effectively (Holloway, 2004). Marketers can also use promotional strategy to demonstrate some sort of differential advantages among competitors and it is important to attract visitors in competitive environment (Fodness and Milner, 1992).
13 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management To established theme park, Kau (1993) pointed out that more promotional efforts and needed to raise public awareness before or after the opening of new theme park.
Moreover, theme parks need to provide incentives, to stimulate more customers to have the intention to visit again (Cumberworth, 2001).
3.2.3.4 Place
Place means the place of purchase and includes distribution channels. In other words, it is how the consumers are given an opportunity to buy the product (Swardbrooke,
2002). Accordering to Cooper et al (2005), the special characteristic of the tourism product have led to specific forms of distribution. The tourism product is one where no transfer of ownership takes place and services is simply rented or consumed.
Marketing channels can be viewed as moving goods from producers to consumers
( Kotler, Bowen and Makens ,1996).
It was rare for people to buy tickets in advance for attractions, and where such advance booking has taken place, it has involved direct contact with the attraction itself generally (Swarbrooke, 2002). For theme parks, Cooper et al (2005) pointed out that if they are no form of prior booking, there are almost always excess supplies available and queuing is the method of allocation in peak periods.
In recent years, it is common that people can buy tickets through attractions are sold via packages arranged by tour coach operators or group visit organizers. Some major attractions can be pre-booked by telephone or direct mail, and computer reservations systems operate for attractions where capacity is limited and pre-booking is the norm
(Swarbooke, 2002).
14 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 4 Methodology
To achieve the objectives of this project and recommend effective strategies to Ocean
Park, secondary as well as primary researches will be used. Secondary research is to find out the marketing strategy that Ocean Park using. Primary research is to find out attributes importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park for evaluate the image of Ocean Park and the likelihood of revisit.
4.1 Secondary Research
The study has used Ocean Park‟s webpage, annual reports and news release to find out the marketing strategies that they are using. The news from other media such as newspaper and magazine are also reviewed.
Secondary research uses information gathered previously for other purposes, available from internal or external sources, to answer the current question (Hsu et al, 2008). It is a cost effective method to collect valuable information about the present marketing strategies of Ocean Park. Moreover, secondary research usually obtains data more quickly and at a lower cost than primary research (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 1996).
4.2 Primary Research
Primary research uses data collected specifically for answering the research on hand.
To investigate the attributes importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park,
Importance-performance (IP) analysis is applied for primary research. IP analysis is based on the conceptual foundations of multi-attribute choice models and in its original or variant forms it has been applied in different product and service settings
(Haahti and Yavas, 2004). Moreover, Haahti and Yavas (2004) pointed out that IPA can be used to find out tourists‟ satisfaction with various attributes forming the image
15 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management and use the information to predict their future behavioral intentions, such as revisit and recommend to others. In addition, by referring the study of “A multi-attribute approach to understanding image of a theme park-The case of SataPark in Lapland”
(Haahti and Yavas, 2004), it shows that there is application value of IPA in the case of
Hong Kong Ocean Park.
4.2.1 The research framework
In this study, the statistical techniques Importance-performance (IP) analysis will be used for the research. To achieve the stated objectives of the project, a structured questionnaire is devised as instrument.
The objectives of the structured questionnaire are as follows:
1. To identify visitors‟ perceived importance of theme park attributes in theme park
selection;
2. To identify visitors‟ perceptions of Hong Kong Ocean Park‟s performance by
using theme park attributes;
3. To measure the visitors‟ overall satisfaction levels of Hong Kong Ocean Park; and
4. To investigate the Hong Kong Ocean Park visitors‟ likelihood of revisit.
By using the IP analysis, the mean of importance score for all theme park attributes and the score of Ocean Park perceived performance are computed. The results are shown in tables and plotted in the Important-performance Analysis Grid (IPA Grid)
(Please refer to appendix 3), it aims to facilitate devising recommendations of effective marketing strategy to Ocean Park.
4.2.2 The survey instrument
The structured questionnaire included three sections. The first section is the
16 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management demographic characteristics of respondents including gender, age, education level and income level. The second section divided into two parts, part one is to identify visitors‟ perceived importance of theme park attributes in theme park selection. Part two is to identify visitors‟ perceptions of Hong Kong Ocean Park‟s performance in terms of theme park attributes. Part three is to measure the visitors‟ overall satisfaction level of Hong Kong Ocean Park and their likelihood of revisit.
4.2.3 Pilot Test
A pilot test can be used to test the logistics of the data collection procedures and evaluation (Hsu et al, 2008). Therefore, to ensure that questions are unambiguous, the questionnaire is to put to the pilot test before distribute. It aims to find out any problems in the questionnaires such as wording, choices and procedures. For the test,
10 respondents who have been to Hong Kong Ocean Park in the past one year are invited to join. All of them are able to read English. Misleading items were corrected after pilot test.
4.2.4 Sample design
The target of the questionnaires is the visitors who have been to the Hong Kong
Ocean Park in past one year. The target sample size is 100. It has planned to distribute on the internet through a questionnaire website because this is convenience to the respondents to answer the question instead of survey. Although using survey is more directly, it is hard to ask the visitors outside the Ocean Park. For the limitations, please refer to chapter 4.2.8.
17 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 4.2.5 Data analysis
Descriptive statistical analysis is applied in the research. It includes Frequency analysis and Importance-performance (IP) analysis.
4.2.6 Data coding and data entry
In the research, it will use the use of rank-order, itemized rating and likert scale, coding is incorporated into the design of questionnaires. After conducting the questionnaires, data was used to compute through Qualtrics Survey Software which is the software that the questionnaire website used.
.
4.2.7 Statistical Analysis
There are two types of analysis that are used in the research: frequency analysis and
Importance-performance (IP) analysis.
4.2.7.1 Frequency Analysis
It was carried out most of the questions of the third part of section two in the questionnaire. Mean ratings were computed through using Qualtrics Survey Software.
The results can show the most effective promotion method and the likelihood for their revisit.
4.2.7.2 Importance-Performance Analysis
The mean of importance score for all theme park attributes and the score of Ocean
Park Perceived performance and plotted in the four quadrant IPA Grid (Please refer appendix 3). It combines the measures of theme park attributes importance and Ocean
Park perceived performance into a two-dimensional grid. It can facilitate the data
18 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management interpretation and devise practical suggestions (Oh, 2001).
4.2.8 Limitations
There are some limitations of secondary and primary research during the study. These limitations should be acknowledged.
1. For the primary research, due to the limitation of time and resources constrains,
sample size is insufficient to have greater research reliability;
2. As Ocean Park rejected the researcher‟s application for conducting the survey at
Ocean Park, the questionnaires needed to distribute on the website;
3. The questionnaires are not accessible to all visitors because not all visitors know
about the questionnaire website;
4. The list of the theme park attributes list might exists bias because of lack of
modification from professionals of theme park industry;
5. For secondary research, the data was collected based on the accessible information
of the existing marketing strategies of Ocean Park but without investigation the
internal information.
19 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 5 Findings and Analysis
5.1 Secondary research findings
The secondary research findings are based on the study of Ocean Park‟s website, annual reports and news release. The news from other media is studied. The results of secondary findings provide basic information for this research and facilitate to devise recommendations to Ocean Park.
5.1.1 Targeting of Ocean Park
According to the Ocean Park Annual Report (2010), the target market of Ocean Park is local and overseas visitors as family unit. Because of the Closer Economic
Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) by China Government, the number of visitors from
Mainlander is over 53% of all Park Visitors (Ocean Park, 2010). As the Chinese visitors are a large group for Ocean Park, they are the major target market for Ocean
Park apart from Hong Kong citizen.
5.1.2 Positioning of Ocean Park
Ocean Park positions itself as an environmental friendly and social responsible theme park. Their aim is to provide all guests with memorable experiences that combine entertainment and education, while inspiring lifelong learning and conservation advocacy. Also, maintain a healthy financial status, while striving to deliver the highest standards of safety, animal care, products and guest service (Ocean Park,
2010).
In addition, Ocean Park is positioning itself in the market as a unique educational and recreational destination by developing its nature conservation slogan. This is to differentiate itself from Disneyland, which is its strongest competitor. While
20 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Disneyland feature animated and cartoon characters, Ocean Park provided fun and interactive activities that visitors can have with animals and nature. This manner of positioning enabled Ocean Park not only to establish its brand but also to set itself as an alternative to Disneyland. (Ocean Park 20010)
5.1.3 Marketing mix strategy of Ocean Park
The findings of Ocean Park‟s present marketing mix strategy can facilitate the research analysis and help to devise the appropriate recommendations to the park.
5.1.3.1 Product
Ocean Park is the original theme park in Hong Kong. It has a balance mix of entertainment education and conservation. The main theme of Ocean Park is the marine mammals. In March 2011, new flagship Aqua City theme zone was opened to attract more visitors. Apart from provision of various mechanical rides, aquariums and live performance of animals, it also arranges different seasonal event over the years.
According to Ocean Park Annual Report (2010), the five major seasonal presentation are: Summer Splash, Chinese Year of the Tiger with the unveiling of Emperors of the
Sky, blossom garden in Valentine‟s Day, Animal Month and 3D animation of How to
Train Your Dragon.
5.1.3.2 Price
According to the Ocean Park‟s website, the price of general admission ticket is $250.
The price of ticket, compare with the main competitor Hong Kong Disneyland, which cost $350, is relatively low. There are three types of admission tickets in Ocean Park,
21 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management including general admission tickets, group packages and annual passes. For general admission tickets, children who are 3 to 11 years old can enjoy the 50% discount.
Children under 3 years old, Hong Kong citizen over 65 years old and the holder of
Registration Card for people with Disabilities are free to entry the park. For the group packages, travelers, education organization and welfare groups can enjoy different kinds of discount packages. In addition, three different types of annual passes are offer to the visitors under different terms and conditions. (Please refer to appendix 4)
5.1.3.3 Promotion
In the financial year of 2009-2010, Ocean Park invested 58.3 million Hong Kong dollars in advertising and promotion which higher than last year about 4 million
(Ocean Park, 2010). Because of the new attraction opening, Ocean Park unveiled the
TV advertisement of Aqua City in Hong Kong and Guangzou, in order to strengthen its brand in the Mainland Market. Moreover, Ocean Park has used internet advertisement for promotion and social network such as Facebook, to interact with the potential customers. (Please refer to appendix5)
5.1.3.4 Place
There are five major distribution channels for ticket selling: on-site ticketing in Ocean
Park, travel agents, convenience shops, online ticketing on Ocean Park website and the City Bus Company service centers in Admiralty which provide admission ticket with transportation services to visitors.
5.2 Primary research findings and analysis
There are various findings and analysis from primary research. First is the
22 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management demographic characteristic of respondents including gender, age, education level and income level. The data can facilitate to devise appropriate recommendations to Ocean
Park. Second, IP analysis is adopted in order to study the visitors‟ perceived importance of theme park attributes and perceptions of Hong Kong Ocean Park‟s performance. After data collection process, results are plotted in IPA Grid. The attributes which need to be concerned or improved are shown on the grid clearly.
Lastly, most effective promotion tool, overall satisfaction, revisit intention and intention to recommend Ocean Park to others mainly indicate visitors‟ satisfaction level and likelihood to revisit.
5.2.1 Demographic profile of the respondents
Table 5.1 shows the demographic characteristics of respondents. The respondents who are female (59%) is more than male (41%). The dominant age groups are 21-30 (42%) and 21-40 (36%). Most of the respondents are having college education level (48%), follow by graduate education level (45%) and high school education level (7%). The most frequent cited occupation category among respondents are student (36%), follow by white collar worker (29%), civil servant (17%), professional (15%0 and self employed (2%).
Table 5.1 Demographic Profile of Respondents (N=100)
Age N % Education N %
12-20 7 7 Elementary 0 0
21-30 42 42 High School 7 7
31-40 36 36 College 48 48
41-50 8 8 Graduate 45 45
23 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 51-60 7 7 Occupation
61 or above 0 0 Management/ 1 1
Administration
Gender Professional 15 15
Male 41 41 Self Employee 2 2
Female 59 59 Civil Servant 17 17
White Collar 29 29
Worker
Student 36 36
Others 0 0
5.2.2 Perceived importance and performance of Ocean Park
Table 5.2 shows the mean score and standard deviation of the importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park in terms of theme park attributes. All the data in table 5.2 is processed and the results are plotted in the IPA Grid (Figure 5.1). The
X-axis represents the average performance score of Ocean Park in relation to theme park attributes, while the Y-axis represent the average importance score of theme park attributes.
5.2.2.1 Importance-Performance Grid
According to Figure 5.1, the IPA Grid is divided into four quadrants and it is constructed based on the mean score of the IP analysis. Scale mean score is used to the cross-hair point, the scale mean for importance is 3.3 and the scale mean for perceived performance is 3.2.
24 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Quadrant I
Quadrant I is “Keep up the Good Work” (Oh, 2001). Factors in quadrant 1 are evaluated high in both importance and performance (Haahti and Yavas, 2004). It captures the attributes that visitors think are important to the theme park selection and on which customers also perceive Ocean Park performs well. Attributes in Quadrant I include “Educational value”, “Seasonal themes”, “Exciting mechanical”, “Passes include admission charge and activities”, “Attractive advertising”, “Promotion through Internet” and “Admission passes selling in Ocean Park”.
It shows that sevens out of twenty two factors that the visitors thinks it is important and perceive Ocean Park performs well. What is needed here is to “keep up the good work”.
Quadrant II
Quadrant II is “Possible Overkill” (Oh, 2001). The attributes falling in this quadrant are relatively less important, however, Ocean Park performs well on the attributes.
The attributes falling in this quadrant include “Nature and ecology”, “Interaction with animals”, “Annual Pass” and “Promotion through Public Relations”.
It shows that Ocean Park mainly focus on nature, ecology and animals interaction.
However, visitors think that in not important for the theme park.
Quadrant III
Quadrant III is “Low priority” (Oh, 2001). The factors in quadrant 3 indicate those rated low in terms of both importance and performance (Haahti and Yavas, 2004).
Attributes in Quadrant III include “Interactive adventure”, “Attractive Character”,
“Charged at a base pricing, pay for each activities”, “Admission passes selling in travel agents” and “Admission passes selling at City Bus Service Counter”.
25 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Because of their low salience, these attributes are considered low priority and require no immediate action. Ocean Park should ignore these factors and concentrate in
Quadrant IV.
Quadrant IV
Quadrant IV is “Concentrate here” (Oh, 2001). The attributes in this quadrant are considered high in importance but the performance of Ocean Park is rated substandard.
Therefore, Ocean Park should focus on these attributes to improve its performance.
The attributes in this quadrant are “Fantasy environment”, “Live entertainment/shows”, “Passes include all charge plus 2 way ticket of transport and 1 meal inside the park”, “Admission passes selling on Internet” and “Admission passes selling in convenience shops”.
It is important for Ocean Park to concentrate on the attributes of this quadrant thus have better performance and gain the competitive advantage.
Table 5.2 Perceived importance and Performance of Theme Park Attributes of Ocean Park
Importance Performance Theme Park Attributes Mean (a) Std. Mean (a) Std. Deviation Deviation 1) Educational value 3.7 1.25 4.1 0.32 2) Fantasy environment 4.5 0.53 1.9 0.57 3) Interactive adventure 3.0 1.56 2.8 1.05 4) Nature and ecology 2.8 1.14 4.3 0.67 5) Seasonal themes 3.5 0.97 3.8 0.42 6) Exciting mechanical 4.1 0.99 3.7 0.82 7) Attractive Character 3.3 1.34 1.9 1.10 8) Interaction with 3.3 0.95 3.5 1.08 Animals 9)Live 3.4 1.26 2.9 0.74 26 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management entertainment/shows 10) Seasonal themes 3.8 0.79 3.5 0.97 11) Passes include 4.7 0.48 4.3 0.67 admission charge and activities 12) Charged at a base 1.7 0.67 1.6 0.84 pricing, pay for each activities 13) Passes include all 3.6 1.17 2.5 1.08 charge plus 2 way ticket of transport and 1 meal inside the park 14) Annual Pass 3.1 1.10 4.1 0.74 15) Attractive advertising 4.1 0.57 4.4 0.70 16) Promotion through 4.3 0.95 4.3 0.48 Internet 17) Promotion through 2.8 0.79 3.3 0.67 Public Relations 18) Admission passes 2.3 0.48 3.0 0.94 selling in travel agents 19) Admission passes 3.7 0.95 4.2 1.03 selling in Ocean Park 20) Admission passes 3.7 1.25 2.4 0.84 selling on Internet 21) Admission passes 2.5 0.85 2.8 0.79 selling at City Bus Service Counter 22) Admission passes 3.5 1.08 2.4 1.43 selling in convenience shops (a) Mean Scale: 1 (Extremely Unimportant) to 5 (Extremely Important)
27 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management (b) Mean Scale: 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree)
Figure 5.1 IPA Gird
5.2.2.2 Most effective marketing tool
According to the results in table 5.3, television advertisement is the most effective market tool that attracts visitors to go Ocean Park which is 47 respondents out of 100.
Follow by Magazine (18%), internet advertisement (14%), website of Ocean Park
(11%), recommend by friends (8%) and news paper (2%). Ocean Parks is mainly focus on TV advertisement to promote the new theme zone in past six months. It shows that the TV advertisement is successful to attract the visitors.
28 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Figure 5.2 Most Effective Marketing Tools
Table 5.3 Response of Most Effective Marketing Tools
Tools Response %
Television 47 47
Newspaper 2 2
Magazine 18 18
Radio 0 0
Website of Ocean Park 11 11
Internet Advertisement 14 14
Friends 8 8
5.2.2.3 Overall satisfaction, revisit intention and to recommend Ocean
Park to others
In Table 5.4, the results shows that the mean value of overall satisfaction level of visitors is 4.3. The mean value of Intention of revisit the park is 4.2 and the mean of 29 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management intention to recommend Ocean Park to others is 3.9.
It indicated that the overall satisfaction level of Ocean Park‟s visitors is high and the image of Ocean Park is positive. Moreover, word of mouth is one of the promotion methods. The satisfied visitors can recommend their friends to visit Ocean Park. In addition, satisfied visitors are more willing to revisit Ocean Park.
Table 5.4 Overall satisfaction, Revisit intention and Intention to Recommend to Others
Mean Std. Deviation
Overall Satisfaction Level 4.3 0.48
Revisit Intention 4.2 1.03
Intention to Recommend to Others 3.9 0.99
30 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 6 Conclusion
The aim of this study is to find out the marketing strategies of Hong Kong Ocean Park and to gain competitive advantage by giving recommendation after secondary research and primary research. Secondary research is used to investigate Ocean Park‟s existing marketing strategy. Primary research is to find out attributes importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park for evaluation of the Park‟s image and likelihood of revisit.
First, to investigate the present marketing strategies of Ocean Park, secondary research is applied and it is dine based on the marketing mix strategy. The target market of Ocean Park is local and overseas visitors as family unit. Ocean Park positions itself as an environmental friendly and social responsible theme park.
According to the marketing mix strategy, Ocean Park is the original theme park in
Hong Kong. It has a balance mix of entertainment education and conservation. The price of Ocean Park is relatively low compare with the main competitor Hong Kong
Disneyland. Moreover, there is variety of distribution channel that visitor can buy the ticket. For the promotion, Ocean Park has put a lot of effort in this area to attract local and overseas visitor. These findings provided the basic information for this study and it facilitates the primary research analysis.
Second, to study the attributes importance and perceived performance of Ocean Park for evaluation of the Park‟s image and likelihood of revisit, Importance-performance analysis is applied. 22 theme park attributes are separate in five dimensions based on marketing mix strategy. Those theme park attributes are used in the questionnaires.
The result of the questionnaire is shown in the IPA Grid.
According to the IPA Grid, there are seven out of twenty-two attributes are in
Quadrant I-“Keep up the Good Work” which the visitors thinks it is important and
31 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management perceive Ocean Park performs well. For the theme and product, the results show the visitors value the theme park about providing educational value to the visitors, having different seasonal themes in different period of time and having exciting mechanical.
Ocean Park can create and maintain this image successfully. For the promotion, visitors think Ocean Park has provided attractive advertising through Internet. For distribution channel, the results show that it is essential to have ticket selling in Ocean
Park. Moreover, all-inclusive admission passes, which the charge of admission activates, should be provided.
In Quadrant II-“Possible overkill” which the attributes falling in this quadrant are relatively less important but Ocean Park performs well on the attributes. Ocean Park concerns the interaction with animals and invests a lot on nature and ecology aspect.
However, as visitors choosing a theme park, the park which interaction with animals and with nature and ecology aspect does not highly affect their decision. According to the annual report of Ocean Park, the management concerns the promotion through
Public Relations so much. In fact, visitors do not think that promotion through Public
Relations is critically important. For ticket selling and distribution channels, Ocean
Park has tried to widen the types of ticket and provide Annual Pass. However, this does not highly affect the visitor decision.
In Quadrant III-“Low priority” indicates those rated low in terms of both importance and performance. The theme park which has interactive adventure and attractive character are not the main factor affect the visitor decision and Ocean Park are not focus on these areas. The ticket that charged at a base pricing and pay for each activity does not include in Ocean Park and the visitor think that is not an important factor.
Admission passes which selling in travel agents and at City Bus Service Counter is not an importance factor to the visitors and the result reflected that Ocean Park does
32 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management not doing well in this two distributional. These five attributes can ignore and Ocean
Park should focus on other area.
In Quadrant IV- “Concentrate here” which considered high in importance but the performance of Ocean Park is rated substandard. Therefore, Ocean Park should focus on these attributes to improve its performance. Visitors think that the fantasy environment and live entertainment or shows are important to them to choose a theme park and they think that these factors can be improved in Ocean Park. Moreover, as
Ocean Park does not locate in the centre of Hong Kong, visitors must go there by different means of transport. Visitors think that Ocean Park can provide ticket include all charge plus 2 way ticket of transport and 1 meal inside the park. In addition, more promotion on the distribution channel of Internet and convenience shops which visitors think need to improve. Ocean Park should mainly focus on Quadrant IV to improve the performance.
Regarding to the evaluation of the Park‟s image and likelihood of revisit, Ocean Park has the positive image because of high overall satisfaction level of visitor. Moreover, the intention of revisit is high.
Finally, after the data of the questionnaire is processed, effective strategy to Ocean
Park are recommended in Chapter 7 based on the findings, in order to gain competitive advantage. IP analysis and IPA Grid in this study have provided a clear picture for Ocean Park management to improve its marketing strategies and gain competitive advantage.
To conclude, Ocean Park has a satisfied marketing strategy recently. However, they should continually improve their performance. Ocean Park should devise the appropriate marketing strategy for different target market.
33 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 7 Recommendations
According to the findings of this study, the attributes which fall in the Quadrant IV of
IPA Grid should be mainly focus and improve its performance. In this chapter, based on the five attributes, recommendation will be provided to Ocean Park to improve their performance and gain competitive advantage in future.
For the theme and the product area, visitors think that the fantasy environment and live entertainment or shows are important to them to choose a theme park and they think that these factors can be improved in Ocean Park. Ocean Park should introduce some new attractions that are fantasy. For example, the new theme zone Aqua City and the Ocean Express can add more special decoration to let the attractions look fancy. In addition, Ocean Park is going to introduce a numbers of theme zones in future. According to the Annual Report of Ocean Park (2010), the Rainforest, a brand new theme zone that will feature an expedition trail, a rapids ride, fantastic animal exhibits and a number of entertainment presentations in a tropical jungle environment.
It is believe that the new theme zone can increase the perceived performance by the visitors. Moreover, Ocean Park can develop more live entertainment or shows and do more interaction with visitors. It should try to increase the attractiveness of different entertainment and shows by creativity.
For the tickets aspect, as Ocean Park does not locate in the centre of Hong Kong, visitors must go there by different means of transport. Therefore, Ocean Park can cooperate with different transportation company to provide admission package with transportation. In fact, Ocean Park has cooperated with MTR Corporation Limited to sell the admission package with transportation recently (Please refer to appendix 6). It is suggested that Ocean Park should cooperate with more transportation company in order to satisfy customers‟ needs. Advertising should be used to promote this kind of
34 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management packages to let visitors know.
Lastly, visitors think that it is not performing well in the area of distribution channel, especially selling on Internet and Convenience shops. As the online ticketing is requiring credit card for payment, some of the visitor may not have credit card. It is suggest that Ocean Park can cooperate with PPS which is a 24-hour bill payment service and not require using credit card. Thus the visitors can choose the payment method and make online ticketing more convenience. In addition, visitors are not clear that the ticket can buy in the convenience shops. The website of Ocean Park does not show the details about the method of ticketing and the shop list of convenience shops which are selling ticket of Ocean Park. It is suggested that more promotion and information on the distribution channel of Internet and convenience shops should be provided to the visitors.
Lastly, it is recommended that Ocean Park can do the periodic assessments that would be helpful to the management, in order to formulate more precise and appropriate marketing strategy in the future.
35 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 8 References
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40 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management 9 Appendices
Appendix 1
The three levels of product-the example of a theme park (Kotler, 1994)
41 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Appendix2
The marketing mix in context of the overall marketing system (Stanton, 1981)
42 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Appendix 3
Importance- performance Grid (Haahti and Yavas, 2004)
43 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Appendix 4
The ticket price of Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland
(Ocean Park, 2011)
(Hong Kong Disneyland, 2011)
44 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Appendix 5
Ocean Park‟s Public Relations on Facebook
Appendix 6
Value Pack Coupon of MTR and Ocean Park (MTR Corporation Limited, 2011)
45 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Appendix 7
Sample of Questionnaire
The questionnaire is concerning the marketing of Ocean Park Hong Kong. To enable the researcher to make the necessary conclusions and recommendations for this study, it would be very much appreciated if you answer all the items in this questionnaire.
Information given will be treated in strictest confidence.
Thank you!
Part 1
a. Age
( ) 12-20 ( ) 21-30 ( ) 21-40 ( ) 41-50 ( ) 51-60
( ) 61 or above
b. Gender
( ) Male ( ) Female
c. Highest Educational Attainment
( ) Elementary ( ) High School ( ) College ( ) Graduate
d. Occupation:______
Part 2
Directions: Choose the best choice that accurately corresponds to your level of agreement with each statement.
1 2 3 4 5
STRONGLY DISAGREE UNDECIDED AGREEE STRONGLY AGREE DISAGREE
46 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Factor Level of importance in Level of agreement for choose a theme park Hong Kong Ocean Park Extremely Extremely Strongly Strongly Unimportant Important Disagree Agree
Theme 1) Educational value 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 2) Fantasy environment 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 3) Interactive adventure 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 4) Nature and ecology 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 5) Seasonal themes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Product 6) Exciting mechanical 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 7) Attractive Character 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 8) Interaction with 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Animals 9)Live 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 entertainment/shows 10) Seasonal themes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Price 11) Passes include 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 admission charge and activities 12) Charged at a base 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 pricing, pay for each activities 13) Passes include all 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 charge plus 2 way ticket of transport and 1 meal inside the park 14) Annual Pass 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Promotion 15) Attractive advertising 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 16) Promotion through 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Internet 17) Promotion through 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Public Relations
47 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management Place 18) Admission passes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 selling in travel agents 19) Admission passes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 selling in Ocean Park 20) Admission passes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 selling on Internet 21) Admission passes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 selling at City Bus Service Counter 22) Admission passes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 selling in convenience shops
23) Which method was mainly affecting you to make decision to go Ocean Park Hong Kong? (Please choose one only)
( ) Television ( ) Newspaper ( ) Magazine ( ) Radio
( ) Website of Ocean Park ( ) Internet Advertisement ( ) Friends
( ) Others:______
24) To what extent, are you satisfied with Ocean Park‟s overall performance? 1 2 3 4 5 Most Dissatisfied Undecided Satisfied Most Satisfied Dissatisfied
25) How likely will you visit Hong Kong Ocean Park again in near future? 1 2 3 4 5 Most unlikely Unlikely Undecided Likely Most Likely
26) How likely will you recommend Hong Kong Ocean Park to others? 1 2 3 4 5 Most unlikely Unlikely Undecided Likely Most Likely
48 ______Wong Ting Wai Emily – 91206516 Hospitality Business Management