New Product Development in Spiritual Tourism
Fedorova, Alina (2016)
Savonia-ammattikorkeakoulu
2016
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016121320155
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016121320155
Tiivistelmä
Although practised since ancient times, spiritual tourism is a complex phenomenon, which is yet to be recognised as a separate type of tourism. The ever-growing popularity of spiritual practices of all kinds in the Western world and the fundamental lack of academic research on the subject underline the importance of further investigation of this topic.
The purpose of this thesis was to devise a new product for the case company, which is a travel agency that specialises in spiritual tourism and is located in northern India. The thesis was prepared in accordance with the wishes and goals of the case company that acted as a commissioning party. In response to its needs, the new-product strategy was developed and presented in the report as the outcome of the preceding research.
All primary data presented rely on in-depth semi-structured interviews with the owner of the company. This method belongs to observational methodology, namely a case study, which is categorised as qualitative research method. The secondary data consists of academic materials published by other researchers, organisations and journalists.
The report is divided into two parts and begins with a theoretical overview of the tourism product within the framework of spiritual tourism, which is then followed by the description of the newly developed product for the case company. The fully described new product hence represents the final outcome of the study and is evaluated with respect to the development strategy of the case company.
The purpose of this thesis was to devise a new product for the case company, which is a travel agency that specialises in spiritual tourism and is located in northern India. The thesis was prepared in accordance with the wishes and goals of the case company that acted as a commissioning party. In response to its needs, the new-product strategy was developed and presented in the report as the outcome of the preceding research.
All primary data presented rely on in-depth semi-structured interviews with the owner of the company. This method belongs to observational methodology, namely a case study, which is categorised as qualitative research method. The secondary data consists of academic materials published by other researchers, organisations and journalists.
The report is divided into two parts and begins with a theoretical overview of the tourism product within the framework of spiritual tourism, which is then followed by the description of the newly developed product for the case company. The fully described new product hence represents the final outcome of the study and is evaluated with respect to the development strategy of the case company.