• 
• History of Visitors
• Market Segments
• Summary
• Beaulieu's Income
• Beaulieu Marketing Statistics
• Visitors to Beaulieu
• Buckler's Hard - The Visitor Experience
• The Visitor Experience
• Challenges and Choices
• The Marketing of Beaulieu
• Beaulieu & Buckler's Hard as Leisure
• The Aims Of The Organisation
• Organisation & Management
• The Beaulieu Estate Today
• The History of Beaulieu
• 
• Your Day Out
  • Plan your visit
  • Lots to see
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    • National Motor Museum
    • Palace House
    • Beaulieu Abbey
    • Gardens
    • James Bond Experience
    • Secret Army Exhibition
    • Art of Custom
    • 
  • Lots to do
  • Where to eat
  • Where to shop
  • Getting around
  • Getting here
  • Opening times and prices
  • 
• Events
• Hospitality
• Education
• Groups
• Press
• News
• Contact Us

Challenges and Choices
For a leisure destination such as Beaulieu, in the early 21st Century, effective management demands creative responses to a series of external challenges and internal choices.

External Challenges
For the leisure operator, external challenges arise from two main sources:

1. Rapid changes in the national, social and economic environment.
2. Challenges from developments in the international and national leisure industry.
3. Challenges from the national / social / economic environment.
4. Recession

Changes in the general pattern of employment, have led to a communal feeling of insecurity, even amongst those currently employed. Where feelings of financial security reduce confidence in freedom to spend, workers tend to protect their sports and health club membership but eat out less often, and avoid day visits to paid leisure destinations. This is obviously bad news for operators of leisure sites.

Sunday Shopping
Changes in the law, which allow many shops to open on Sunday, have had a major impact on the leisure activities of the population. Sunday shopping is now a national preoccupation, and is regarded as a leisure activity, whereas previously many people may have visited leisure destinations on that day.

National Lottery
Many national and local charities claim that the launch of the National Lottery has resulted in a major decrease in their annual income. Instead of feeding collecting boxes, many people tend to buy lottery tickets with available cash. Leisure destinations also suffer as a result of this trend. As, whatever their income level, people tend to spend their money on the National Lottery, which leaves insufficient cash in the weekly budget to pay for visits to leisure destinations.

Challenges from the Leisure Industry
As a leisure destination, Beaulieu faces challenges from the growth in tourism at both international and national levels.

International
The past twenty-five years have been marked by a rapid growth in international tourism. Many new nations have entered the tourist arena, while long-established countries have seen tourism as an invaluable additional to their national income. At the same time, the general increase in affluence of the British population, accessibility, availability and intense competition amongst tour operators have ensured that many long distance tourism destinations have become more affordable. About one third of transatlantic flights from Britain, for example, are British tourists heading for the major leisure destinations of Florida and California.

Challenges from the National Leisure Industry
Tourism is now the third largest industry in Britain and has been characterised in recent decades by rapid growth. The growth in the market has, however, been matched a phenomenally rapid growth in the number of destinations seeking their share of the business. 60% of all attractions opened in the past 15 years during which time, the growth in the number of destinations has outstripped the growth in the market. In such circumstances, existing destinations seek to maintain their market share, and in the 1990s Beaulieu has failed to achieve this objective, although current visitor trends are on the increase. Moreover, the development of prestige projects with National Lottery funds has become a very significant factor in increased competition not only in the visitors it attracts but also in the 'non - commercial' standards it sets for interpretation material. The advent of increased free entrance to major government funded museums, particularly in London, is also affecting the market.

Moreover, many of these new destinations developed almost from scratch can tailor their product to meet the perceived needs of the visitor in the 21st century. This places pressure on established destinations such as Beaulieu to constantly update and develop the presentation of their product. As the tourism market continues to mature, and more destinations upgrade their product, competition will continue to intensify.

Internal Choices
The reversal of growth trends at Beaulieu during the 1990s greatly increased the need for internal choices. Although all the management team are firmly committed to the corporate objectives of the organisation, each has an individual view as to how these objectives may be achieved. Naturally, every manager seeks to defend and develop the activities of his or her own department. In this extremely competitive internal market, there are difficult choices to be made, and senior management is required to carry out a fine balancing act. Sources of potential conflict are endless, but a few examples follow:

1. Conservation or Access?
   The Beaulieu Estate encompasses historic landscapes, historic buildings, and collections of important historic objects. Should conservation of these resources take priority, or should we seek to increase income from visitors by improved access? Can improved access for some historic resources generate sufficient income to ensure improvements to their conservation? 
2. Options for Investment
   There are various centres of interest at Beaulieu and all compete each with the other for limited resources. Should we increase spending at Buckler's Hard to improve the quality of the visitor business, or should expenditure be concentrated on the Beaulieu complex. Within the Beaulieu complex, where does the priority lie? Should expenditure be targeted at Palace House, Beaulieu Abbey, the showing of the National Motor Museum, the Gardens & Grounds, Special Features, or Living History staff?
3. Staff Needs v Visitor Needs
   Should limited available funds be spent on improved working conditions for the staff, or improved facilities for the visitor? Possible improvements to working conditions for staff could range from replacement of the roof of an office block to installation of a networked computer system to improve booking management. However, neither of these expensive options would produce any detectable improvement in the quality of the visitor experience. Expenditure of similar sums on the visitor business could result in the introduction of a new visitor facility, or completion or improvement of an existing opportunity.
4. Choices in Marketing and Product Development
   In the current intensely competitive environment, should Beaulieu continue to focus all its marketing efforts on a general appeal to the whole market? Or should it switch some of its resources to concentrate on the development of niche market - senior citizens, adult groups, incoming European tourists, educational groups, etc., or technology versus people? In terms of the visitor experience, should our major investment be in modern technology (e.g. interactive computer programmes), or in more people (e.g. strengthening of the Living History team?) Which of these would be of greatest benefit to the visitor experience, and what are the long-term cost implications of each?

It would be possible to add many other examples of challenges and choices, however, this selection of challenges and conflicts should be sufficient to demonstrate the complexity of managing a leisure destination.