Tourism POI Saturation

If you are concerned in optimizing the tourism value of a destination, you should read this.

Tourism development has been inspiring old and recent travel advocates as well as political administrators of many areas globally. Looking at the successful countries and cities like Dubai and Seoul that have created highly robust economies thanks in part or largely to tourism, other countries have started planning and implementing site developments designed to create tourism points of interest (POIs) to catalyze the economic growth of those areas.

However, and although this is hardly studied owing to the absence of published research and case studies, there is such a thing as single-themed tourism POI saturation. Trust me, when you finish reading this article, you’ll have some sort of epiphany on how you can optimize the development of some contiguous tourist destinations.

Before going into the concept of single-themed tourism POI Saturation, we first have to understand the dynamics of the travel market. That is, they are hardly satisfied by a single attraction when visiting a destination (with possible exception of highly niche markets). Their number of days for travel is often limited, and there’s this another concept that we could name Tourist Satiation (I’m writing another article on that).

Now, what is single-themed Tourism POI Saturation? The idea is actually very simple. That would be setting up tourist attractions (POIs) with a single theme in a particular area. Now, this can actually work when you talk of tourist facilities and services, to a certain extent, as the competition, or more like coopetition, would create more noise and interest to a destination where a highly interesting theme can pull in the tourists. A good example for this would be an area where a cluster of facilities offer chicken and beer as the main poi theme.

But when it comes to tourist attractions, there is a saying in travel that states, “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” Although a small population would deny this concept exists, this painfully applies to most tourists of all nationalities. Some examples we can look at are the palaces and temples in different destinations. Because of the limitation of time, the most visited sites would be the major ones, and the level of interest and actual tours significantly decrease after a visit to a next palace or temple. Sites that are not compelling or do not offer unique features or stories often fall out of the tourist must-visit list.

Make no mistake that I seem to lack interest in palaces or cultures, In fact, I fully support that every cultural treasure should be protected and ensured to exist for the sake of the people’s or a country’s heritage. It’s just that there are realities in tourism that we must recognize IF we are utilize cultural treasures for tourism.

I’m guessing that you are thinking now of other examples where the concept of single-themed tourism POI saturation can be considered? The best example I can think of would be the development of rivers for tourism. Many sites have developed rivers and river banks to improve the quality of both natural and built environments. Often, such undertaking is done for the sake of the communities along the rivers. The reasons may be varied from beautifying the site to adding security features for the locals.

Single-Themed Tourism POI Saturation

As I said, riverside development is often done for the sake of the local communities. But when you include tourism as an element, things will have to greatly change. Because the reality is, the mono-themed development of a river, no matter whether it is 200 meters or 20 kilometers long, would represent only ONE point of interest. Mono or single-themed development would be the setting up of the same features over the entire length of a river. That could come in the form of landscaping, paving, lamp posts, trails and facilities for tourists. So when a person walks (or drives/bikes) along the river, he would soon grow physically and visually tired of the site and eventually leave after a few hundred meters. When the concept of “been there, done that” kicks in, you don’t expect that tourist anymore to visit or take a second look at the river. That is one consequence of POI saturation.

Solving the Tourism POI Saturation

Again, the solution is very simple - create a variety of development and features to the effect that a single river would have different POIs that can exponentially increase its tourism value. People, both locals and tourists would increase their number of visits which can then add to the socio-economic value of the site. Such undertaking can increase the interest and buy-in of more stakeholders as the benefits would be clearly spread into multiple points and not just a linear strip.

Another program where single-themed poi saturation can be prevented is the conduct of river cruises. Even if the entire length of a river is possible for cruising, the entire length of the river should not be utilized. For the mainstream tourists, the experience of river cruising may only last for about 30 minutes and hardly more than an hour. That means that the entire length of a river cruising could only be 2-3 kilometers (but will have to pass through interesting spots). So this would mean that different take off points for river cruising can be developed, thereby (again) increasing the tourism impact of the river.

This concept of single-themed tourism POI saturation can be applied to many other sites. Just think for a minute that a single tourism asset can actually be turned into multiple-themed POIs and increase its overall tourism and socio-economic values.

Did you enjoy reading this article. Let me invite to to read these other posts on more practical (and sustainable) tourism possibilities -
Tourism City for Manila
Understanding the Boracay Algae Problem