Blog #2 - PRM 380

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burrnett was a book that I loved to read when I was a young girl. The is about a girl who goes to live with her Uncle and ill cousin in a huge mansion surround by a large amount of land. One day while wondering around the property she came across a wall covered by over-grown vines, as she followed the wall she discovers a mysterious locked gate. When she finds the key in one of the rooms of the house, she uses it to enter the gate and discovers the Secret Garden. She realizes that the garden has been unkempt a left to whither away. Mary, the young girl, becomes determined to save and bring back life to the suffering garden. Over time with love and appreciation the garden grows back as well as the suffering relationships between the characters in the story. 

Just like Mary, one summer in Colorado I spent hours in the my Grandma's garden. She cleared a plot for me to grow my own flowers and herbs and I would pretend that I was Mary and it was my Secret Garden and I was bringing life back to the garden. I even named and talked to the squirrels in the near by trees just like Mary would in the story strengthening my bond with the natural surroundings.

The Secret Garden was a very important piece of my childhood that helped create my relationship with nature. I hope one day to share the story with my children and help the book shape their relationship as well. 

Myself and Nature - Blog #1 (PRM 380)

When I think of nature, and myself I think how lucky I am to have the Grandfather I do. My grandfather who I call Opi loves nature and enjoys learning about it and spending time with it. When I was younger he would take me up the Four Peaks and guide me on hikes. All along the way he was stop to explain what tree, plant, animal or insect we were seeing. I never enjoyed going on these trips but my mom would make me, so I would reluctantly drag my feet and go. He would get so excited and pack lunches and snacks and bring different pieces of equipment that he thought I would enjoy using. I never understood his overwhelming excitement for being in nature; I just learned to accept it.

            My Opi recently purchased a summer home in Montana and he called it a shack... and I thought he was kidding. My mom and I went to visit one summer and after we drove through miles of dirt road and fields we arrived to literally to my Opi’s shack. It was a run down old house with one bedroom, one bathroom with a door that did not close and no air conditioning. I thought to myself, “how can anyone live here?”

            Then I realized that my Opi was happy, he lives on 20 acres of what seemed like untouched land. Land that has grasses two-feet-tall, horses, deer and a small creek for fishing. He had started a small garden and showed us his compost that he was very proud of creating. He explained to us that he used the garden for the vegetables for all his meals and what he did not end up using would go back into the compost and would be used again as the garden’s fertilizer.

            Now that I am older I look at nature the way my Opi does and respect it the way he does. I remember everything he taught me on our long unbearable hikes in the four peaks and now value that knowledge. He is a man that loves nature and loves being in it and I am honored that he has shared that love with me. 

TDM 401 - Blog #1

I started my SWOT analysis on Arizona specific sites, I then began to wonder how do other location's tourism websites compare to Arizona's? I was really excited to compare Arizona's site to the country of France, a place that is huge for international tourism. Needless to say, below is the SWOT analysis's I have done on 5 tourism websites:

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Visit Chandler website SWOT analysis:

 

Strengths – The website is very user friendly and really easy to navigate around. There are links for information that the average tourist would be interested in learning right up front and easy to locate. Links such as “Featured Events”, “Things to do” and links even specified for meeting and event planners. 

 

Weaknesses – In the Photo tour link it is labeled, as “Phototour” are they trying to make-up a new word? Although the pictures look professional and very interesting, the labels explaining what the pictures are, are not very well displayed. Some photos also lack information, for example there is a picture of the slide at the Aquatic Center at Hamilton high school but the photo label simply read “aquatic center”. It did provide any information to viewer as to where the aquatic center is located.

            Another weakness I did notice was how general the “contact us” link was; the link did not provide specific information to whom the viewer would be contacting. The link did not provide an e-mail address for the viewer to e-mail their questions too, only a mailing address and phone number with Monday-Friday hours. It is important to make things quick and convenient and be able to win the viewer over as quickly as possible.

 

Opportunities – There are opportunities for the website to make the font of the text, the information and the picture a little more fun to look at. The font of the information is pretty standard and I feel like I do not focus on the information that I want to know and I get bored and leave the page. Maybe if the text was larger and more to the point I would be interested in reading what it had to say.

 

Threats – I feel as though the slogan for the website could potentially be a threat to the growth in tourism for the city of Chandler. “ Where trips feel more like vacations” makes Chandler sound like only a day trip location versus a place where you can plan a vacation. Chandler has a lot to offer to more than just day visitors, there is the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa in Chandler, as well as Kai the only five star and five-diamond restaurant in the state of Arizona. The Chandler Fashion Center is a great day activity with a Harkins movie theater on property also. Downtown Chandler is also enhancing the experience of Chandler with the local restaurants, art galleries and The Chandler Center for the Arts just catty corner from the San Marcos Resort.

 

Visit Chandler. Retrieved from  http://www.visitchandler.com  

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Arizona Office of Tourism

 

Strengths – A great website to access for people who want to do research on Arizona Tourism. The website offers a variety of information from the annual report to the marketing plan and programs guide for the state.

 

Weaknesses – What a boring homepage… The website lacked photos and images. The color is very bland and does not do well in representing the many different colors that can be found in Arizona nature.

 

Opportunities – The website can enhance the aesthetic appeal to the website with using more pictures and color. Something to make the website more attractive to visitors and people who are interested in traveling to Arizona.

 

Threats – This website is developed more for the state of Arizona tourism companies, not for the traveler. The website has a lot of great information for different tourism entities within the state however lacks the information for the actual traveler. The third link on the page is “travel deals”, I was expecting to find travel deals for all different locations in Arizona but only found instructions for companies to register to become an official provider of Travel Deals, and found the website arizonaguide.com that was created for companies to list their travel deals. The AZOT website can confuse the interested traveler and maybe unaware of the arizonaguide.com website.

 

Arizona office of tourism. Retrieved from http://www.azot.gov/default.aspx

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Arizona Travel and Vacation Guide from the Arizona Office of Tourism

 

Strengths – Very well organized website, user friendly and great use of images and photos. The slide show of photos on the homepage of the website has a great mix of representation of dining, culture, art and recreation in Arizona, reaching out to many different tourism markets. There is also a link for planning your itinerary while visiting Arizona and up-to-date events for a convenient experience for the traveler.

 

Weaknesses – This is me being picky on the weaknesses of the AZOT travel and vacation guide but there is a lot of empty space, the text is a little small in the portions that provide information and for some reason the time that they have posted on the bottom of the screen does not update on my computer.

 

Opportunities – The website has a Trip Advisor link on the homepage, Trip Advisor is widely used resource for travels to honestly rank and comment about their various trips. Having the positive comments listed on the homepage can provide additional information and plans for the traveler. It may create a trip that the traveler never considered taking while in Arizona but the reviews sound like a trip of a lifetime. The website also has the opportunity for viewers and interested travelers to become fans of AZOT on Facebook and to follow them on Twitter. The website also provides the option for the view to read the pages in Spanish or French.

 

Threats – When I click on the “where to go” tab, it looks like the page does not load or is empty, however when I scroll down to the bottom of the page the locations are in fact listed. People may think that there is not any information and leave the page unseen. The same thing happens when I choose the “where to stay” tab, maybe it is just the computer that I am using and the website is not as compatible with Macs however this can be a threat to the website if people are not seeing the information they are seeking.

 

Arizona Travel and Vacation Guide from the Arizona Office of Tourism. Retrieved from             http://arizonaguide.com/Default.aspx

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France Travel - (worst) 

 

Strengths – With this website I like colors and the picture of the Eiffel Tower as the main focus. I also like the top France destinations listed on the side of the homepage. This makes the search more specific for the traveler to access information. There is section under “France Guide” labeled “Best of France” I think this is great for people who really have no clue what to do in France and really want to experience the best of it when they are there, like visiting the province of Champagne!

 

Weaknesses – Holy information! When I visited this website I had no idea where to start. There is information listed for just about everything. Everything from MBA programs in France to France Festivals like the Cannes Film Festival. Surprisingly the same information is listed twice but in different sections of the website, very confusing, I thought I was finding more information when in fact I found the same information just a new place where it was listed.

 

Opportunities – More pictures please. France is so beautiful why not show more pictures of it? Another opportunity is to take some of the ads off of the pages; I was getting confused that the ads were part of the information I was searching for. The website could make the “Hotels in France” section more obvious, lodging is a very important part of travel and this website stuck the information in the upper right hand corner.

 

Threats – Ads, ads and more ads! There are ads all over this website. It makes the website appear very disorganized and messy. Some ads are not even relevant to the topic, like an ad for which hearing aid is the best? Again there are not very many pictures and when a picture is present the website does not label what/ where the picture is in France.

 

France Travel – Your Guide to France. Retrieved from http://www.justfrance.org/

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Lonely Planet - (Best)

 

Strengths – I love this website. It is the current events website for the tourism industry. There are so many interesting stories and photos of different places around the world in one website. Great use of photos and web page space, it is very eye catching and leaves me wanting to read more. The website is also very well organized and easy to navigate around. Under the destinations link, a map of the world comes up and a viewer can pick any location on the map they are interested in visiting or learning about. Then when a location is chosen the website lists its top picks of things to do or visit in the country. The slide shows and videos of destinations are put together wonderfully; the pictures are professional and informational.

 

Weaknesses – A viewer must register with the website in order to comment on posted stories, the website does not have the opportunity of the viewer to comment as a “guest” of the website. The website reaches a broad range of information and a viewer may have to switch to another website to find out more personal answers to questions.

 

Opportunities – The chance to clean up the Lonely Planet shop may increase product sales. The page is messy and full of random items and the font is very generic and boring.  Another opportunity is to have a link for a specific destination with a question and answer forum for interested travelers. This would provide a quick and easy way to get a question or concern answered by a professional in the industry.

 

Threats – Where is the Facebook? There is not any information on becoming a fan of Lonely Planet on Facebook, which is a huge social market that are missing out on. There is also a lack of a rating system on the website when searching for a specific destination’s lodging, restaurants and places to visit. Word of mouth is a big factor in the tourism industry; every little comment can help make a decision.

 

Lonely Planet travel guides and travel information. Retrieved from             http://www.lonelyplanet.com/   

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Other websites visited:

Scottsdale, AZ: the official web site of the city of Scottsdale, Arizona. Retrieved from  http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/ 

Visit Glendale. Retrieved from http://www.visitglendale.com/ 

Phoenix convention center and venues. Retrieved from http://www.phoenix.gov/phxpccd.html