Explora Caribe: Capitalizing on Sustainable Tourism

Explora Caribe Capitalizing on Sustainable Tourism Terrence Donlin, Lauren Dechow, Lauren Huber, Christian Hansen, Alexandra Holmes Monday, April 21, 2014

Thank You! We as a team would like to thank Research Librarians Sarah Carter and Jennifer Friedman for taking the time to assist us in our project research, their expertise and guidance is invaluable.

We would also like to thank Timothy Rummage for sharing his knowledge of sustainability and the environment with us.

Last but certainly not least we would like to thank Dr. Stephen Diasio for heading this class and leading us through Strategic Planning. Through this class we have learned to be open communicators, step into leadership roles, and take on difficult situations with confidence.

Sincerely, Terrence Donlin, Lauren Dechow, Lauren Huber & Alexandra Holmes

Monday, April 21, 2014

Strategic Planning This course focuses on the strategic planning of analysis, decisions, and actions an organization undertakes in order to create and sustain competitive advantages. These evolving concepts make up the strategic management process of formulating, implementing, and evaluating to answer the central questions of: How should a firm compete in order to create competitive advantages in the marketplace? How can a firm create competitive advantages in the marketplace that are not only unique and valuable but also difficult for competitors to copy or substitute?

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The Team

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Lauren Dechow Lauren Dechow is a third year Business of Art and Design. Through her business, art history, and studio courses and her experience as an IT intern at ASO Corporation, she has honed skills such as the ability to work in a team, strong communication, self initiative. In the future, she hopes to go on to work in the marketing field..

Christian Hansen is a rising senior, majoring in Business of Art & Design at Ringling College of Art and Design. She is set to graduate in 2015.

Outside of school, Christian works at a women’s fashion boutique.

She dreams that one day she will be working in the fashion industry doing that one thing she loves, styling. Other than having the love for fashion, Christian also enjoys staying active, whether it’s rowing or just interval training; she likes to keep focused doing the things she loves.

Lauren Huber is a rising senior studying Business of Art and Design at Ringling College of Art and Design. In the future Lauren hopes to work in the film industry and aims to become a producer. When she’s not behind the camera lauren enjoys traveling, art, going to the beach, and creating signature scents.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Alexandra Holmes is a third year Business of Art and Design student from

Northern Virginia. She enjoys making films for people who need a break from the stresses of reality, and giving them an escape to another world. Besides filmmaking, her passions are writing and photography. She hopes to combine these mediums to help me tell stories in a way that my audience will understand.Â

Terrence Donlin is a rising senior at Ringling College of Art and Design, majoring in Business of Art and Design. Terrence is interested in curatorial work and working for large creative companies. Terrence enjoys art history, rugby and creating signature dance moves.

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Vision We as a team envisioned Explora Caribe as a sustainable tourism company centered on fun, adventure and environmental education.

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Mission Our Mission as a Team was to help Explora Caribe capitalize on their status as a sustainable tourism and to create a competitive advantage out of their existing business model. To do this we set out to expand their brand recognition, increase their web presence, and offer ideas about new services they can offer as a leader in sustainability.

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Research Much of our research centered on trends in sustainable tourism, brand development, current trends in environmental education, as well as researching other competitive businesses.

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Sustainable Tourism - To minimize their influence on the environment - To develop awareness and respect for the environment - Support and Benefit Conservation - Support Human Rights -Support their Local Economy

These five pillars of Sustainable Tourism created the framework that we would use to create our recommendations for Explora Caribe.

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Minimizing Influence on the Environment - Offer Bike tours as opposed to motorized tours to reduce emissions and offer guests a unique experience - Use Electric Vehicles to transport guests - Create a Recycling Program within the company for guests and employees to use - Offer green and environmentally friendly products to your guests

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Developing Environmental Awareness

- Explain the importance of the reefs and their ecosystems on the tours

- Offer ways for guests to be environmentally friendly both on vacation and at home

- Kayaking tours that show ecofriendly ways to enjoy and interact with nature

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Benefitting Conservation - In order to benefit conservation, a percentage of every months revenue can be donated to conservation efforts in Cozumel - Explora Caribe could organize a company wide beach clean up effort to promote the company and engage the community - Setting up donation centers in Explora Caribe Headquarters and with local businesses specifically to benefit conservation efforts

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Supporting The Local Economy Partnering with other Local Business Offering deals at local restaurants Partnering with other green businesses

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SWOT Analysis SWOT analyses examine a companies Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Through SWOT analysis we are able to examine where Explora Caribe stands in terms of their local and global economies, where they need help, and where they are succeeding These analyses also help us as a team to make recommendations to Explora Caribe

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Strengths - Sustainability Certification - Established company in the community - Steady business and incoming tourists - Strong partnerships with the cruise industry

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Weaknesses - Little to no web presence, this hinders tourists ability to find Explora Caribe and is holding back their business - Lack of brand recognition was keeping Explora Caribe from becoming a strong unified company, by visually unifying themselves they can create an identity within the community and online - Limited sales outside of the cruise industry keeps Explora Caribe from expanding their customer base

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Opportunities - By increasing their web presence Explora Caribe will increase awareness of their company through web advertisements, a website, and increased social media presence - Creating a brand identity through a cohesive corporate appearance - By capitalizing on their status as a sustainable tourism option Explora Caribe can open themselves up to a new and quickly growing audience interested in sustainability and the green movement

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Threats - Competition from other tour based businesses in the area competing through price point or similar business models - Little recognition as a cohesive brand means Explora Caribe does not stand out from the crowd of other tour businesses in the area - Contacting Explora Caribe separately from the cruises is very difficult, losing them business - Lack of web presence makes it impossible for tourist to establish contact with Explora Caribe, decreasing business and offering no information as to what services are offered

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Milestone I Milestone 1 focused on research and analysis of the tourism industry in the Yucatan Peninsula.

When researching we made sure to look into competitors, industry data, trends, opportunities, sustainability in tourism, cultural communication, cruise data, and sustainability attitudes locally and internationally.

The goal of this research was to develop an ability to collect, analyze, and synthesize data into a way that can be easily understood and communicated in framing the deliverables.

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Five Forces Model The Five Forces Model is a measurement of the five forces that shape competition between businesses of a similar nature.

Threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products, power of the supplier, and power of the buyer all have a direct influence on the success or failure of a company.

We used the five forces model to examine and then illustrate the five competitive forces that are shaping Explora Caribe’s current successes and failures.

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Milestone IV Mileston IV centered on refining our project in terms of perfecting our presentation, clarifying ideas, eliminating mistakes, and responding to feedback from our class.

Milestone V Milestone V centered on the final presentation with Explora Caribe. We presented our ideas as a team using a Power Point projection.We practiced first to assure everyone knew what to speak on and how to make our presentation flow well and clearly presenting our ideas.

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Milestone II Milestone II involved presenting our research in a visual presentation to research librarians here at Ringling College.

The research focused on sustainability, tourism, the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as trends in tourism.

Our research was then critiqued for authenticity, relevance, clarity, and presentation.

Milestone III Milestone III involved re-presenting our research to Sarah and Jennifer. The goal of the meeting was to respond to prior criticism and go more in-depth in research.

This meeting was held with individual teams and helped us to clarify our talking points, focus our research points, and create a clear presentation of our research.

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Five Forces Model Power of Supplier

Power of Buyer

Competitive Rivalry

Threat of New Entrants

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Threat of Substitute Products

Mascot As part of our recommendations to Explora Caribe, we created a mascot for them to increase brand identity and have a recognizable figure that can be associated with them.

Senora Explora is a turtle who cares about sustainability and keeping her home safe and free from pollution.

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