Tourism Management Project
Sheffield Business School
BSc (Honours) Tourism Management
Title Diversi fication of Hong Kong Tourism – Can Museums become major visitor
attractions in Hong Kong?
Name SIN Wing Man
Student No 91206403
Month Year April 2011
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Tourism Management Project
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Business School
Title Diversification of Hong Kong Tourism – Can Museums become major visitor
attractions in Hong Kong?
FULL NAME SIN Wing Man
STUDENT No 91206403
Supervisor: Monica Law
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in
Tourism Management.
Month Year April 2011
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people who have helped her in some way while she was working on this project:
Ms. Monica Law, Lecturer, SHAPE (VTC), Hong Kong
Mr. Alvis Chiu, Student, Sheffield Hallam University, Hong Kong
and specially thank you Ms. Monica Law for her valuable guidance and support of the dissertation throughout the period, her advice and knowledge has helped me to conduct and finish this project.
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Abstract
This study seeks to find out if the museum in Hong Kong can become one of the major visitor attractions with a framework focus on Hong Kong Space Museum which is one of the “Major Museum” suggested by Hong Kong Government.
Concluded motivations include to be entertained, to learn, because they are on holidays, as a social family outing, and visiting a particular exhibition are found in literature review and the factors influencing the success of visitor attractions suggested by
Swarbrooke (2003) is the background and theory underpinning this study. The factors include the organization and its resources, the product, the market and the management of the attraction. Furthermore, Qualitative approaches, secondary data research and observation, were use to developing a data base for evaluating the potential of Hong
Kong Space Museum in being a major visitor attraction
Results found that Hong Kong Space Museum had developed an excellent vision and missions statement which can fulfill the criteria of motivations and factors influencing the success of visitor attractions. Also, the financial condition is in a good situation due to the funding from Hong Kong Government. However, the vision and missions is not fully achieved yet. From the findings, significant problems occur in human
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resources and the product. Staff behavior, attitude and service quality are needed for further improvement. Moreover, the diversification and maintenance of on-site attractions should manage carefully.
In the study, the final conclusion is Hong Kong Space Museum cannot be a major visitor attraction right now but it can be if it conducts a comprehensive improvement.
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Table of Contents Page
Acknowledgements I
Abstract II
Table of Contents IV
List of Tables VI
List of Appendices VII
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of Museum in Hong Kong 1
1.2 Objectives and Purpose of Study 4
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Definition of Visitor Attractions 5
2.2 Definition of Museum 7
2.3 Motivation 8
2.4 Factors Influencing the Success of Visitor Attractions 9
2.4.1 The organization and its resources 9
2.4.2 The product 10
2.4.3 The market 12
2.4.4 The management of the attraction 14
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Research Method 15
3.2 Data Collection 17
3.2.1 Secondary Data 17
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3.2.2 Observation 19
3.3 Limitations 22
Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis
4.1 Organization and Resources 23
4.2 The product 30
4.3 The market 36
4.4 The management of the attraction 37
Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations
5.1 Conclusions 39
5.2 Recommendations 40
Reference List 42
Appendices 48
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List of Tables
Page
Table 2.1 - Different Categories of Attractions 6
Table 3.1 - Observation Check List 20
Table 4.1 – Vision, Mission and Values of Hong Kong Space 23
Museum
Table 4.2 - Hong Kong Space Museum (Admission Fees) 26
Table 4.3 - Hong Kong Space Museum, Financial Figures for 27
2009 / 2010 (Expenditure)
Table 4.4 - Hong Kong Space Museum, Financial Figures for 27
2009 / 2010 (Revenue)
Table 4.5 - Detail Findings of Human Resources 28
Table 4.6 - Attractions’ languages 32
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List of Appendices
Page
Appendix 1 – Lesson Information 48
Appendix 2 – Observation Result 49
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Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background of Museum in Hong Kong
Most of the museums in Hong Kong are government owned and managed by Leisure and Cultural Service Department (LCSD); others are manage by different private organizations. Cheng and Kwong (1992) said that unlike countries with a long indigenous cultural heritage that facilitates the development of an integrated and evolving museum culture, the short history of Hong Kong society poses seemingly insurmountable constraints for the development of an appreciable museum culture.
Fortunately, under the management of the LCSD, museums acquire, conserve, research on, exhibit and communicate for the purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment. Museum collections form a composite picture of our cultural, historical and natural heritage, and the preservation of such collections represents a long-term commitment to existing and future generations. Moreover, LCSD stated in their website that large-scale thematic exhibitions are held every year to add variety to the permanent exhibitions with the ultimate goal to attract more people to visit museums.
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There are total 27 museums in Hong Kong provides fascinating insights into arts, history, heritage, antiquities, film, medical sciences, housing, police and much more.
There are also museums of science, space, and such special interest subjects as tea ware.
Beside of those, some of them are in territory's colourful history and development, and includes one dedicated to one-time resident and China revolutionary Dr Sun Yat-sen. In addition, seven museums were highlighted as "Major Museum" which is highly promoted by Hong Kong Tourism Broad (HKTB). They include
Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum;
Hong Kong Heritage Museum;
Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence;
Hong Kong Museum of History;
Hong Kong Science Museum; and
Hong Kong Space Museum.
However, those museum sound diversity and interesting, this is still not a popular visitor attraction in Hong Kong. Moreover, in the “Festive Hong Kong 2010”which is a significant and major promotion organized by Hong Kong Tourism Board that promotes Hong Kong as an exciting year-long sequence of festivals and events, did not
2 Tourism Management Project mention any word on museum in Hong Kong. They are also not very popular for local as a weekend entertainment activity.
This project will focus on Hong Kong Space Museum which is one of the “Major
Museum” that strategically located at the seaside of Tsim Sha Tsui. Hong Kong Space
Museum owns a unique egg-shaped dome that renders the 8000-square-metre museum and being one of the most famous landmarks in Hong Kong. Also, it often launches related activities to public. There is an interest about can Hong Kong Space Museum become a successful visitor attraction.
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1.2 Objectives and Purpose of Study
In the project, the aim is to find out if the museum in Hong Kong can become one of the major visitor attractions. In order to achieve this goal, the following list of objectives is set.
1. To analysis the situation of Hong Kong Space Museum which include those
incomes, activities, characteristics and current promotions.
2. To find out factors that stimulates motivations to visit museum.
3. To discuss whether the museum in Hong Kong can become one of the major visitor
attractions, for residents and tourists.
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Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1 Definition of Visitor Attractions
Attractions is a complicated terms in the tourism industry. Swarbrooke (2002) believe
that there is no generally accepted definition that is relevant to all visitor attractions.
Therefore, some definition is found out by few parties.
A visitor attraction is a place that primarily, or as a side-effect of its main purpose,
caters for visitors, be they tourists, day-trippers or those on an educational mission.
The term is now the preferred term in the UK for what was formerly called a tourist
attraction (WorldiQ, 2010).
Suleberger (2010) states that a tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists
visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance,
natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities.
The attraction must be a permanently established excursion destination, a primary
purpose of which is to allow public access for entertainment, interest, and education,
rather than being primarily a retail outlet, or a venue for sports, film, or theatrical performances. It must be open to the public without prior booking, and should be
5 Tourism Management Project capable of attracting day visitors or tourists (British Tourist Authority, 2000, cited in
Swarbrooke, 2002).
According to above definitions, a visitor attraction should be a place or venue that provides interest and fun, an opportunity to being educatede and an eenjoyable time.
Also, it should be primarily set out as a place to attract visitor from ressident or tourist populations.
Table 2.1 – Different Categories of Atttractions
On the other hand, attractions can be divided into natural and man-made source. In other categorization refer to table 2.1, it can be divided into five categories including cultural attractions, natural attractions, events, recreation and entertainment attractions.
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2.2 Definition of Museum
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is the only international organization
representing museums and museum professionals (International Council of Museum,
2010). The ICOM update a definition of museum in ICOM Statutes (2007) that a museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment. Moreover, some organizations put museum into lot of categories. Modern museums concentrate on a particular subject, and most museums belong to one or more of the following categories: fine arts, applied arts, archaeology, anthropology, ethnology, history, cultural history, science, technology and natural history. Within these categories many museums specialize further, e.g. museums of modern art, local history, aviation history, agriculture or geology (WorldiQ, 2010).
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2.3 Motivation
Motivations, or reasons for visiting museums, are one of the most popular research
topics for museum (Kawashima, 1999). Zhang and Marcussen (2007) stated that
tourism motivation is a multi-motive dimensional. Tourists often have more than one motives for choosing a certain destination, for example, people can choose one
destination with a motive of relaxation in a pleasant safe place combined with visiting
a local historical heritage. Motivation is also a dynamic and flexible variable. Pearce
(1993, P.113-134) suggested that the design of a motivation list ‘must be flexible
enough to incorporate individual changes across the life-span and consider the effects
of broad cultural force on tourist motivation’.
Gil and Ritchie (2009) stated that when individuals make the decision to visit a
museum, they do so for different reasons (or motivations). Prentice, Guerin and
McGugan (1998) found that the following motivations were the most important
influences on the decision to visit a museum: to be entertained, to learn, because they
are on holidays, as a social family outing, and visiting a particular exhibition. Gil and
Ritchie (2009) found that the above motivations coincide well with those identified by
Jansen-Verbeke and Rekom (1996, cited in Gil and Ritchie, 2009) and Kotler and
Kotler (2001, cited in Gil and Ritchie, 2009) stated that the main motivations for
8 Tourism Management Project visiting a museum are being with people and enjoying social interaction, doing something worthwhile, feeling comfortable with the surroundings, enjoying the challenge of a new or unusual experience, having a learning opportunity, and participating actively.
2.4 Factors Influencing the Success of Visitor Attractions
Swarbrooke (2003) suggests that while nothing guarantees success, there are a number of factors which contribute to the success of visitor attractions. The suggested factors include the organization and its resources, the product, the market and the management of the attraction. In the following sections, there are some reviews on the above factors.
2.4.1 The Organization and its Resources
If the organization has experience of developing and managing attractions, the
chances of developing a successful new visitor attraction are greatly enhanced.
Swarbrooke (2003) believed that an organization with previous experience will
also probably have a human resource team that will have skills and knowledge to
develop an attraction successfully.
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Moreover, the most important type of resource and is crucial to successful
attraction development stated by Swarbrooke is financial resources. It is because
visitor attractions are very expensive to run and need financial resources to allow
them to provide high-quality facilities and service. In the public sector, many
attractions will never be profitable, so the organization will always need to be able
to have the financial resources to continue to subsidize the attraction.
Attractions must also have the financial resources to allow them to spend
considerable amounts on marketing to establish and maintain their market position
and to respond to problems such as poor seasons.
2.4.2 The Product
Tourism product development aims at long-term sustainable development by the
execution of a number of strategies (Gluckman, 2005). Having a clear and definite
development direction is important. In recent years, most of the most successful
attractions have been those based on a novel approach or a unique idea. This is
crucial at a time when the market is highly competitive and consumers are
becoming increasingly sophisticated and demanding (Swarbrooke, 2003).
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Location
On the other hand, another important factor in relation to the product is location.
Swarbrooke (2003) believed that location determines the catchment area, which is
based on how many people live within a certain journey time from the attraction,
which can be from thirty minutes to several hours. The most successful attractions
tend to be those which have a densely populated catchment area as this maximizes
the number of potential day-trippers.
Attraction
Moreover, many successful attractions have a variety of on-site attractions to
ensure that there is something for visitors of all types and tastes in all weather
conditions. Also, most attractions have recognized the importance of secondary
on-site attractions such as shops, themed catering and entertainment. Other
variety of the product is special events which are often designed to encourage
repeat visits or attract people interested in the theme of the event (Swarbrooke,
2003).
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Environment
Visitors are increasingly seeking a high-quality environment for their day out, so
there is a growing demand for cleanliness and an aesthetically pleasing
environment at attraction (Swarbrooke, 2003).
Price
The final important point about the product is price. Espinet et al (2003) mention
that pricing strategies are more flexible than other marketing strategies and more
easily adjusted to a changing environment. They are closely related to seasonality,
price regimes and different facilities. Sometime, the pricing will affected by the
internal and external factors. Kotler and Armstrong (1996) suggested that internal
factors of pricing include marketing goals, marketing strategy mix, cost and
organization. External environment factors contain the nature of the market and
demand, competitors and other environmental factors.
2.4.3 The Market
Zhang and Marcussen (2007) stated that market segmentation is based on the
profiles of target groups and measuring the attractiveness of the market.
Attractions select one or a few segment as their target markets and develop the
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products and marketing strategies accordingly. Effective market segmentation
must exhibit the following characteristics: (1) Measurability – the degree to
which the size and purchasing power of the segment can be measured; (2)
Accessibility – the degree to which the segment can be effectively reached and
served; (3) Substantiality – the degree to which the segment are large and/or
profitable enough; (4) Action ability – the degree to which effective programs
can be designed for attracting and serving the segments (Kotler et al, 1999).
Furthermore, there is a popular marketing concept “Marketing Mix” designed by
Neil Borden in 1953. “Marketing Mix” is a set of controllable, tactical marketing
tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.
“Marketing Mix” is known as “4Ps” is composed of four elements including
product, price, place and promotion. In case, product, price and place (location)
are already mention about. Thus, promotion is introduced here. Promotion is the
way a company communicates what it does and what it can offer customers. It
includes activities such as branding, advertising, public release, corporate
identity, sales management, special offers and exhibitions. Promotion must gain
attention, be appealing, tell a consistent message and give the customer a reason
to choose your product (The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2009).
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2.4.4 The Management of the Attraction
An effective and efficient management is significant to affect an attraction to
become successful. Swarbrooke (2003) believed that it is important that
attractions have experienced professional managers across all aspects of the
operation. Attractions without such management are often weak in one or more
areas, including marketing, financial control, the management of people and
strategic planning.
Sheng and Lo (2010) suggested that top management should be achievable of the
following assessment: is able to adopt a strategic management philosophy, has a
long-term vision for the sustainable development of the museum, is aware that the
museum sector is confronted with opportunities and challenges from the tourism
industry, tends to adopt a service orientation attitude in encouraging visitation and
is able to provide financial support to research and development.
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Chapter 3
Methodology
In this chapter, methodology is discussed. In order to get more information for further
discussion, qualitative approach is used. Qualitative research is a type of scientific research. In general terms, scientific research consists of an investigation that seeks answers to a question, systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the question, collects evidence, produces findings that were not determined in advance and produces findings that are applicable beyond the immediate boundaries of the study (Mack et al, 2005).
3.1 Research Method
Two qualitative approaches were adopted in developing a data base for evaluating the
potential of Hong Kong Space Museum in being a major visitor attraction.
The first approach is secondary data research. Secondary data is the data that have
been already collected by and readily available from other sources. Such data are
cheaper and more quickly obtainable than the primary data and also may be available when primary data cannot be obtained at all (Management Study Guide, 1998-2011).
Thus, it is economical, saves efforts and expenses. Also, it is time saving as the data is
15 Tourism Management Project ready. On the other hand, Romano (2011) stated that secondary data is existing data collected for another purpose that researcher employ to answer the research question.
The other approach is observation. Lake (2011) stated that observation is a method of data collection in which the situation of interest is watched and the relevant facts, actions and behaviors are recorded. By using observation, it can provide some information that cannot be found in books, articles, introduction leaflet and website.
For example, the quality of facilities and environment such as cleanliness of the museum, display is in good shape, computer provided is work and the total maintainability, etc, is in stable standard. The biasing effect of interviewers is either eliminated or reduced. Data collected by observation are, thus, more objective and generally more accurate (Management Study Guide, 1998-2011). Also, observation is not necessary to rely on the willingness of respondents, thus, it can be conduct easily.
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3.2Data Collection
Secondary data research and observation research method are use to obtain more comprehensive details. The following is the details of data collection of the project.
3.2.1 Secondary Data
For secondary data, the following resources are use.
Books
A Golden Gate Fantasy on the Kansas Prairie
Consumer Behaviour in Tourism
Frommer’s Hong Kong
Museum Basics
The Business of Tourism
The Development and Management of Visitor Attractions
The Manual of Museum Management
Journals
Effect on prices of the attributes of holiday hotels: a hedonic price approach.
Evaluating The Tourism Potential of Public Museums in Hangzhou: A
Supply-Side Perspective
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Repatriation and the development of Indigenous museum models in Australia and
North America
The Future of the Theme Park and Attraction Industry: A Management Perspective
The Quality of Visitors’ Experience in Art Museum
Understanding the Museum Image Formation Process
Knowing the Public: A Review of Museum marketing Literature and Research
Visitor Learning at a Heritage Attraction: A Case Study of Discovery as a Media
Product
Reports
Marketing and the 7Ps
Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide
The Other - Hong Kong Report
Tourism Management Review Guide
Using Secondary Data
Websites
Attractionsmanagement.com
Financial Times
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Hong Kong Space Museum
Leisure and Cultural Services Department – Cultural Services (Museum -
Introduction)
Leisure and Cultural Services Department – Cultural Services (Museum –
LCSD’s Museum)
Management Study Guide – Observation Method
Management Study Guide – Secondary Data
TravelDailyNews – International.com
The Chartered Institute of Marketing – Learning Zone
The Chartered Institute of Marketing – Marketing Resources
Articles
Future Management Plan on Attractions
Tourism Product Development
Tourist Motivation, Market Segmentation and Marketing Strategies
Brochures
ArtMap
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HK360
Hong Kong Map
The 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival
3.2.2 Observation
Observation was conduct in Hong Kong Space Museum on 13 March 2011
(Sunday) and 14 March 2011 (Monday) at three to five o’clock. Observation was
conducting on two days due to observe different guest flow between holiday and
weekday. It is because some factors maybe vary with different visitors flow and
special day. With reference to Swarbrooke (2003), a check list showed in table
3.1 is formed to examine the criteria and factors influencing the success of visitor
attractions which the information is hard to find out by secondary data
researching. The result in appendix 2 will show in findings and analysis.
Successful Factors Influencing Visitor Attractions
Organization Human Service & Attitude and Resources – Resources On-Site Staff
Product On-Site What to do? Attractions
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Visitor Participation
Environment Comfort and Peaceful
Cleanliness
Facilities Workability
Market Market Local Segment
Inbound Tourist
Management Operation Crowd Control
Clear Direction of All Thing
Interpretation
Table 3.1 – Observation Check List, adopted from Swardbrooks (2003)
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3.3 Limitations
In this section, the limitation of the above research methods will be discussed. For secondary data, the appropriateness of secondary data is not known and the data may be outdated. Moreover, large amount of data need more spirit and mood to filtrate.
Also, some data may be subjective with the view of the researcher.
For observation, the limitation is the inability to observe such things such as motivations, customers/consumers state of mind, their buying motives and their images. Also, something maybe misses due to different situation in the site and personal mistakes.
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Chapter 4
Findings and Analysis
The secondary data research and observation were done. In this chapter, those results will be shown and being analyzed according to Swarbrooke (2003) the successful factors influencing visitor attraction.
4.1 Organization and Resources
Hong Kong Space Museum was commissioned in October 1980 owned by government
and managed by LCSD. It is the first local planetarium for the popularization of
astronomy and space science. Table 4.1 is the vision and mission statement and the
values of the museum.
Vision We aim to provide world-class museum facilities and services and
develop the Museum into an astronomy and space science education
centre of the region.
Mission Enrich life by providing quality museum services and lifelong
learning environment for all
Promote professionalism and excellence in museum services
Provide highly educational and entertaining programmes and
exhibitions in multi-languages to promote community interest in
astronomy and space science and encourage cultural exchange
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Provide activities to establish the museum to be an education
centre
Provide a safe, clean, comfortable and friendly environment and
achieve a high level of visitor satisfaction
Establish a good collection on the heritage of astronomy and
space science of the region
Build a highly motivated, committed and satisfying workforce
Values We achieve our mission by embracing these core values:
Visitor focus
Quality
Creativity
Professionalism
Continuous improvement
Table 4.1 – Vision, Mission and Values of Hong Kong Space Museum (Hong Kong
Space Museum, 2011)
Hong Kong Space Museum had developed a long-term vision. Mission statements is
tend to adopt a service orientation attitude and it fulfills the motivations influences visitors want to be entertained, to learn, because they are on holidays, as a social family outing, and visiting a particular exhibition (McGugan, 1998; Gil and Ritchie,
2009; Jansen-Verbeke and Rekom, 1996; Kotler and Kotler, 2001).
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Financial Resources
The two significant sources of revenue by the museum itself are admission and hiring that occupy more than 98% of the total annual revenue in 2009-2010. According to the admission fees illustrate in table 4.2, the prices for sky show and exhibition halls is not expensive which are around $12 to $32 and $5 to $10 respectively. Other types of admission such as school show which can achieve the mission to develop as an education centre, museum pass for around $25 to $100 which can encourage repeat visit. Hong Kong Tourism Board (2010) promoted a weekly pass by LCSD charge
$30 for an unlimited admission to the seven “Major Museum” in a week. Also, the lecture hall is suitable for lectures, small-scale performance and film shows which can bring considerable revenue to the Museum.
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Omnimax Show / Sky Show ( Seating Plan )
Standard $ 24 ( Front Stalls), $ 32 (Stalls)
Concession 1 $ 12 ( Front Stalls), $ 16 (Stalls)
1 Concession is applicable to full-time students, people with disability and senior citizens aged 60 or above
School Show
Student (At least 20 students a group with a $ 16 free teacher ticket)
Exhibition Halls
Standard $ 10
Concession 2 $ 5
Weekly Pass 3 $30
Free Admission for children under 4 years old, but they must be accompanied by adults
Museum Pass #
- Individual $100 (full year 4), $50 (half year 5) - Family (for a maximum of 4 $200 persons with kinship) - Concession 2 $50 (full year 4), $25 (half year 5)
Table 4.2 –Hong Kong Space Museum (Admission Fees)
Furthermore, Hong Kong Space Museum will hold some charged activities shown in appendix 1 such as “Astronomical Observation”. Holding different activities are also part of financial resources. On the other hand, refer to table 4.1 and 4.2 below, it shows that in last year, total expenditure is HKD$43,266,000 and total revenue is
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HKD$9,046,000. There is a significant deficit about -HKD$34,220,000. As Hong
Kong Space Museum is owned by Hong Kong Government under LCSD, all the financial support is from Hong Kong Government.
Expenditure ( in HK$ )
1 Salaries 16,456,000
Operating Costs 2 (technical and specialist services, 16,511,000 maintenance and contract services, etc. )
3 Electricity, Cleaning and Security 4,035,000
4 Publicity 896,000
5 Artefacts and Exhibitions 5,368,000
Total 43,266,000
Table 4.3 Hong Kong Space Museum, Financial Figures for 2009 / 2010 (Expenditure)
Revenue ( in HK$ )
1 Admission and Hiring 8,872,000
2 Other Revenue 174,000
Total 9,046,000
Table 4.4 Hong Kong Space Museum, Financial Figures for 2009 / 2010 (Revenue)
To analyze, the admission fee is not expensive. According to McGugan (1998) statement in literature reviews, half price discount for full-time students is an encouragement of learning and is a motivation to visit a museum. The museum is not
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expected to earn money. Obviously the financial condition does not affect the operation of the museum as it is supported by Hong Kong Government. There is funding under the management of LCSD.
Human Resources
Human resources is analyze from the observation about staff service and attitude. The detail findings are shown in Table 4.5.
Stage Cases Service and Attitude Purchasing Some visitors are confuse Two staff stationed at that area did
Ticket will the price and other not help them to solve the problem
information such as the show and just chatting.
time of the film.
Purchasing ticket in the The staff of ticketing is efficient,
counter. she listen careful for what visitor
needs and the process was fast.
Also, she usually smile and quite
friendly
Going in the The staff, who dresses like a His sitting posture is not proper and
Hall security, sitting in the looks like taking rest.
counter.
Ticket checking by above When visitors give him the ticket,
same staff. his facial expression is not kindly
that make visitors feel not peaceful
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Inside the Hall Joining some activities. The staff of some activities such as
“Moving Around in Space” is
enthusiastic, helpful and friendly,
he was active in helping visitors to
play, kindly remind visitors to take
along the belonging and pleased to
answer visitor’s questions.
Table 4.5 Detail Findings of Human Resources
It seems that staff at different position have different attitude at work. Some staff are enthusiastic and the others are not. Swarbrook (2003) said that human resources with skills and knowledge led to successful. Here, the behavior of staff will affect the satisfaction of the visitors. Hong Kong is a city of quality service. Thus, the frontline staff may need more training about their communication skills, quality service skills and other related customer service skills in order to develop a successful attraction as a major visitor attraction.
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4.2 The Product
In this section, three areas including location, attractions and environment are being discussed with reference to Swarbrooke (2003).
Location
Hong Kong Space Museum located at the seaside of Tsim Sha Tsui in 10 Salisbury
Road that near some of other visitor attractions such as Hong Kong Cultural Centre,
Clock Tower, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Avenue of Stars and famous hotels such as
The Peninsula Hong Kong, Sheraton Hong Kong Hotels, Inter-Continental Hong Kong and so on. The transportation systems around the site include Star Ferry, different bus line along Salisbury Road and Nathan Road and Tsim Sha Tsui Mass Transit Railway
(MTR) Station which make the Hong Kong Space Museum highly accessible.
Hong Kong Space Museum is successful here due to the good location in the densely populated catchment area. It is located near to lots of popular attractions with excellent transportation networking.
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On-Site Attractions
The Museum comprises two wings, east and west. The former, the planetarium's nucleus, has an egg-shaped dome structure. Beneath it are the Stanley Ho Space
Theatre, the Hall of Space Science and workshops. The west wing houses the Hall of
Astronomy, the Lecture Hall and Gift Shop.
There are 14 exhibition areas in the museum, however, by the observation, each area is quite small that can only accommodate around twenty to thirty visitors. Over the capacity, the area becomes crowded. Usually there are some information broads with a corner of one or few displays. There are totally four activities that visitors can try such as Rocket Guidance, Moving Around in Space, Moon Walking and Sky Flying. For visitor participation, visitors are actively trying some display such as only press a bottom. However, for the above four activities, which is in an open space area that everyone are watching you to play, adult visitors are not active enough and teenagers may reject parent to join but child were excite to play. Moreover, there are different
OMNIMAX show in the Stanley Ho Space Theatre, the current show are Hubble and
Arabia. According to Table 4.6, the languages provide is not consistence. Referring to the mission statement by Hong Kong Space Museum (2011), it aims to provide exhibitions in multi-languages to promote community interest in astronomy and space
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science and encourage cultural exchange. The museum is originally design for locals.
However, tourists from mainland China is a majority in market segments of Hong
Kong tourism industry, Hong Kong Space Museum as one of the “Major Museum”,
mandarin should be provide in every section in order to attract and to satisfy this segment.
Attraction Language provide
Most video display and activities Cantonese and English
One video Mandarin only
Activity “Moving Around in Space” Cantonese, English, Mandarin and
Japanese
Table 4.6 Attractions’ languages
The secondary attraction includes a small gift shop that most products are related to
dinosaurs and biology. There are no catering services, snack shop or automatic drinks
selling machine.
For special event, the museum organizes plenty of extension special events each year,
including monthly introduction of night sky in the Space Theatre, fun science lab
sessions, astronomy competitions, lectures, GeoAstro summer tour and astronomy film
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shows, etc. From secondary data, The 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival will
take Hong Kong Space Museum as one of the venue (Cho, 2011; HK International
Film Festival Society, 2011).
To analyze, display is not enough as it is important attraction. Swarbrooke (2003) said
that most attractions almost invariably need a diversity of on-site attractions. The
on-site attractions should add more display, instead of information broad that can
enhance the attractiveness. According to literature review, most attractions have
recognized the importance of secondary on-site attractions. Although there is no space for extension of catering services and snack shop, there should be an automatic drinks selling machine. Also, the gifts shop should sell more related products. On the other hand, special events attract people interest such as the film festival, which is an international event, can enhance the awareness of the museum.
33 Tourism Management Project
Environment
This part is related to observation result of comfort and peaceful, cleanliness and
facilities workability. For comfort and peaceful, visitors number in weekday is
obviously low thus that day is quiet. However, visitor’s number increase in holiday, it
is quite noisy and crowded. Moreover, chairs are provided in front of the information
broad. There is a embarrass situation occur when someone sitting here and other one
want to see the broad. There is a stair lift provide for disability to going upstairs,
however, there are few areas upstairs do not provide this service
Here seems that the site setting is not appropriate. Some problems occur that affect
museum to be high-quality environment. The museum should be careful in facilities
set-up that does not affect the participation of visitors and they should provide stair lift in every stairs to make facilities accessible.
For cleanliness, it is clean as no waste on the floor. However, some stains can be find as the carpet look old. Also, there are gummed tape leave on the bottom that look dirty and some visitors avoid touching that bottom. Some tools and unused display board, ladders for workmen are not keeping in backstage that look not tidy.
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Swarbrooke (2003) said that there is a growing demand for cleanliness. Although the
cleaning duty perform well that no waste on the floor, some facilities is already
getting dirty. Here, the responsibility is on the organization. They should renew some
dirtied facilities.
For facilities workability, on both observation days, one sunlamp was broken, three
videos were not available. The electric wire of the speaker is not tided properly, two
speakers with the electric wire exposed outside and one speaker was broken. The size
of the screen is not suitable and the facilities such as television are really old.
It seems that damaged facilities were not to be handling properly. The museum should beware of the facilities workability as this is a part of their asset. They should check the facilities regularly and renew damaged one. Ensure good maintenance can keep a quality environment.
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4.3 The Market
Market Segment
From the observation, there are some different in different market segment of the museum, local and inbound tourist. For locals, couples and student group are the
major visitors on weekday. On holiday, most locals were visit as group of family. For
inbound tourist, all tourists are independent traveler. Also, foreigner is more than
tourist from mainland obviously in both days.
Hong Kong Space Museum does not have a focus market segment specifically.
However, in reference of the mission statement (Hong Kong Space Museum, 2011), it
really acts as an education centre. Most activities provide in Cantonese and English
only may lead to different number of visit between foreigner and mainland traveler.
Promotion
Promotion in the four elements of “Marketing Mix” is lastly discussed here.
Promotion can be advertising and public release. For advertising, Hong Kong Space
Museum advertises their recommended OMNIMAX show in MTR station and on bus.
Also, as it is one of the venues of The 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival,
Hong Kong Space Museum can enjoy free promotion in all the advertisement of the
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festival. Also, some tourism related brochure such as ArtMap (Lau Ching Ping, 2011)
and HK360 (Asia Travel Media Group, 2011) had topic about Hong Kong Space
Museum.
As the museum is not aim to earn money, its promotions use to introduce current
event to public. Thus, the above advertisement is appropriate. However, for being a
major visitor attraction, more promotion is needed to increase awareness.
4.4 The Management
Management refers to the opening hours, crowd control and interpretation. The
Museum is closed on Tuesday. Opening hours of Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday
is from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., weekdays are from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The opening
hours on holidays are three hours longer then the weekdays, this can serve more visitors
and let visitors to be more flexible in planning their holiday.
From the observation, result of crowd control, clear direction of all thing and interpretation is found. On holiday, visitors number increased. Museum had setup queue for the four open space activities with clock and clear signage of waiting time.
Visitors can decide whether wait or not waiting for the activities. For the clear
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direction, some displays without clear introduction of how to use or play such as The
Xuanji. The direction signage is not clear. After visit the exhibition hall 1, there is no
sign to direct visitor to exhibition hall 2. Some visitors may miss the other hall, even the
researcher miss exhibition hall 2 on the first observation day. For interpretation,
information broads, video and display are the major tools for interpretation. Parts of it
have lighting effect in specific sound introduction.
Refer to the top management assessment suggested by Sheng and Lo (2010).Hong
Kong Space Museum is not able to meet the standard. It can only achieve a part of the
first assessment which is able to adopt a strategic management philosophy. It conducts good queue management and as mentioned it conducts some marketing strategies in promotion. There are some long-term visions and missions but parts of it such as promote professionalism and excellences in museum services are not achieved. From the observation, the museum is not service oriented. In over view, although there is a great financial support by government, development of the museum is seems to be stopped.
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Chapter 5
Conclusions and Recommendations
5.1 Conclusions
Hong Kong Space Museum cannot be a major visitor attraction right now but it can be if it conducts a comprehensive improvement. It had developed an excellent vision and mission statement which can fulfill the criteria of motivations and factors influencing the success of visitor attractions. However, the vision and missions is not fully achieved yet.
From four major factors in the findings, each factor has some problems toward what the professionals said is successful. First factor, organization and resources, significant problems occur in human resources. The service quality, staff behavior and attitude are not good enough to be a major visitor attraction. Second factor, the product, on-site attractions is not diversified; information broads, video and display are the major tools for interpretation. This is not attractive or fun enough for visitors to be entertained as one of the motivation. Different problems found in the environment sections. Wrong facilities setting, lack of service for disability to reach, low level of cleanliness, damaged facilities and lack of maintenance, those keep the museum away from world-class standard which the museum want to achieve in the vision. Third
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factor, the market, do not have a clear target market that cannot develop well to satisfy
visitors’ needs. Lastly, the management, fail in the top management assessment
suggested by Sheng and Lo (2010). Because of the above failure in the theory, Hong
Kong Space Museum cannot be a major visitor attraction right now.
5.2 Recommendations
After the research of this study, some recommended improvements according to the
above problems for Hong Kong Space Museum were suggested.
In human resource aspect, museum should organize training program to improve
communication skills, quality service skills and other related customer service skills
in order to enhance customer service quality and develop a successful attraction as a
major visitor attraction. In the aspect of on-site attraction, as the attractions is not
diversified enough to entertain visitors, museum might provide regular story telling guide to make the exhibition funnier. This suggestion can avoid over crowding due to
adding new displays into the small exhibition hall. Moreover, careful facilities
resetting is needed. Stair left service should provide is every stairs. Old and broken
facilities should be renew and keep regular maintenance. In the market aspect, museum
should set a clear target market, develop and management with more consideration to
40 Tourism Management Project the target market and gain a better visitor satisfactions. Development a target market can concentrate all the resources and manage specifically toward the target needs and wants for gaining better visitor satisfactions. In management aspect, museum should adopt strategic management philosophy across all aspects of the operation, solve the above problems and adopt a service orientation attitude all the time in management.
Finally, this study has some limitations. The findings are also limited to the variables selected for the study. There may be other theory to evaluate the topic. Moreover, result of observation is seems to be subjective. And the data analysis often requires judgment, subjectivity may be exerted by the researchers. Future research might select other data research approaches to obtain objective data base, for example, large sample of questionnaire survey may be adopt.
41 Tourism Management Project
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Appendix 1 – Lesson Information
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Appendix 2 – Observation Result
Organization Human Service & Attitude and Resources – - Area of admission, staff is chatting & did not
Resources On-Site Staff help visitor to solve problems.
- Ticketing staff is efficient, listen to visitors
needs. Usually slime and is friendly.
- Staff sitting in the counter is not sit well, like
getting sleep. Not kindly at all.
- Activity controller of “Moving Around in
Space” is enthusiastic, helpful and friendly.
Active to remind visitors, pleased to answer
visitor’s questions.
Product On-Site What to do?
Attractions - 14 areas with information broad with a corner of
few or even one display.
- Some displays and videos with bottom provide
Cantonese and English.
- Only one video provide Mandarin.
- 4 open space activities (Moving Around in
Space provides Cantonese, English, Mandarin
and Japanese.
- Small gift shop, most products is about
dinosaurs.
- No catering service, snack shop or automatic
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drinks selling machine.
Visitor Participation
- Active in display and video that only need to
press a bottom.
- For 4 open space activities, teenagers and adult
visitors are not active. Child is more excite to
join.
Environment Comfort and Peaceful
Weekday: quiet, not need to wait for activities.
Holiday: noisy and crowd.
- Chairs are set in front of the information broad.
- Only one machine provide for disability for
going upstairs.
-
Cleanliness
- No waste.
- Some stains on the carpet which look old.
- Gummed tape leave on the bottom.
- Tools and materials are not keeping in
backstage.
Facilities Workability
- Sunlamp is broken.
- Untidy electric wire with broken speaker.
50 Tourism Management Project
- Some electric wire is exposed.
- Size of television is not appropriate.
- Facilities are old.
-
Market Market Local
Segment Weekday: pairs and student group is a majority.
Holiday: Most are family.
Inbound Tourist
- All tourists are independent.
- Foreigner is more than tourist from mainland
obviously in both days.
-
Management Operation Crowd Control
- Good queue management with clock and clear
signage of waiting time.
Clear Direction of All Thing
- Some displays without clear introduction of how
to use. (e.g. The Xuanji)
- Two hall without appropriate collection, some
visitors may miss the other hall.
Interpretation
- Most are information broads, video and display.
- Lighting effect in specific sound introduction.
51